Share of nations in 37 international public health journals: an equity and diversity perspective towards health research capacity building

This paper contributes to further exploration of inequity in access to health research capacity development by examining the representation of different nations in international public health journals. It also aims to examine the degree of diversity that exists in these journals. This study is a descriptive survey. It was done with objective sampling on 37 ISI health journals on October of 2008.The number and nationality of people in different editorial positions of the journals was identified. The second analysis involved recalculating the numbers obtained for each nation to the population size of nations per million inhabitants. In order to better compare countries in terms of presence in editorial team of the journals, a 'public health editor equity gap ratio' [PHEEGR] was developed. Low income countries have occupied none of the leadership positions of chief editor or associate /assistant chief editors and middle income countries at maximum shared less than 5 percent. The PHEEGR gap in access to the different editorial positions between highest to the lowest representation of countries was 16/1 for chief editors, 12/1 for associate editors, 335/1 for editorial boards and 202/1 for associate editorial boards. However, after normalizing the data to the country's population, the gap increased significantly. There is an imbalance and possibly even inequity in the composition of editorial boards and offices of international health journals that should be paid significant attention. This can contribute to fill the equity gap exists between health in developing and developed countries

[Effect of therapeutic play on postoperative pain of hospitalized school age children in pediatric surgical ward]

A majority of children experience moderate to severe postoperative pain. To ensure adequate pain relief in pediatric patients, non pharmacological techniques are needed for use in conjunction with pain medication. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of therapeutic play on postoperative pain of hospitalized school age children in surgical ward of Sheikh's Pediatric Hospital affiliated to Mashhad Medical University in 2009-2010. In this randomized clinical trial, 40 hospitalized children in surgical ward between the age of 8 and 12 years old were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental group who participated in a session of therapeutic play that lasted between 30 and 45 minutes whereas those in the control group received routine care. Data collection tools included demographic questionnaire and Objective Numeric Pain Scales. The intensity of pain was assessed before [Phase1], immediately after [Phase2], and 15 minutes after [Phase3] intervention or routine care. The validity of 'Objective Pain Scales' and 'Numeric Pain Scales' were determined by concurrent validity [0/89] and between 'Objective Pain Scales' and 'Face pain Scale' [0/95]. Reliability of 'Objective Pain Scales' was measured by inter -rater reliability [0/95]. Data were analyzed by SPSS v16. The results showed that children in the experimental group reported having significantly less pain [p. The finding of this study have shown the positive effect of therapeutic play on postoperative pain of hospitalized school age children

[ effects of menastil on primary dysmenorrhea]

Considering the prevalence of dysmenorrhea and its importance for women as well as social qualities and public tendency toward alternative complementary and herbal drugs, this study was carried out to determine the effect of Menastil on primary dysmenorrhea on students residing in Dormitories' universities of Saveh 2005. This placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial was performed on 72 single students between 18 and 26 years old with primary dysmenorrhea. Data were collected through a questionnaire which included demographic factors, exercise, stress factors, use of medicines, and the McGill pain ruler for determining of pain severity. Subjects were classified into two groups of moderate [4