Salivary Testosterone Levels Under Psychological Stress and Its Relationship with Rumination and Five Personality Traits in Medical Students

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the salivary testosterone levels under psychological stress and its relationship with rumination and five personality traits in medical students. METHODS: A total of 58 medical students, who wanted to participate in the final exam, were selected by simple random sampling. Two months before the exam, in the basal conditions, the NEO Inventory short form, and the Emotional Control Questionnaire (ECQ) were completed. Saliva samples were taken from students in both the basal conditions and under exam stress. Salivary testosterone was measured by ELISA. Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures, paired samples t-test, Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analysis. RESULTS: Salivary testosterone level of men showed a significant increase under exam stress (p<0.05). However, a non-significant although substantial reduction observed in women. A significant correlation was found between extroversion (r=-0.33) and openness to experience (r=0.30) with salivary testosterone (p<0.05). Extraversion, aggression control and emotional inhibition predicted 28% of variance of salivary testosterone under stress. CONCLUSION: Salivary testosterone reactivity to stress can be determined by sexual differences, personality traits, and emotional control variables which may decrease or increase stress effects on biological responses, especially the salivary testosterone.

Monitoring airborne iron oxide fumes in beam rolling mills factory, in Ahwaz, Iran

To determine the indoor iron Oxide [FeO] concentrations in two production lines 630 and 650 and compare them with REL- NIOSH. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene [NIOSH] No 550 is used for the determination of FeO concentrations in Beam Rolling Mills Factory. The total size sample was 80 for indoor FeO in each production Line 630 and 650 respectively. Samples [FeO] were collected using Low volume sampling pump operated at flow rate of 2 L/min-1 on membrane fitters with pore size 0.5 micrometer and 27mm diameter. CTA 3000 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used. There is a significant difference between mean FeO concentrations in Lines 650, 630 and NIOSH [5 mg/m3] [Pc 0.05]. It is not a serious health problem for workers. 100% Mean value of Iron oxide concentrations i.e., 20 stations in production Lines 650 and 630 are at a safe level

Study of alkaline phosphatase from human hydatidiform mole

Study was performed on purification of alkaline phosphatase from Hydatiform mole. The sample of mole Hydatidiform subjects from Taleghani Hospital, Tehran, Iran was studied. An Alkaline phosphatase from Human Hydatidiform mole was purified by a protocol involving solubilization using precipitation by butanol, acetone, Ammonium sulphate, Sephadex G[200], Ion exchange chromatography and preparative electrophoresis. The enzyme was purified 800-fold to apparent homogeneity. This enzyme has 5.2% carbohyrate content. The optimum Temperature and pH were 40 centigrade degree and 10.4, respectively. Human Hydatidiform mole alkaline phosphatase is a novel alkaline phosphatase