[Comparative defense style used by nurses in stressful situations]

Introduction: Nursing is a stressful occupation that its related tensions could affect individual spiritual health. Therefore, defense style against stress is very important for nurses. The aim of this study was comparative defense style used by nursing personnel in stressful situations, in Abadan College of Medical Sciences

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out at the Abadan College of Medical Sciences. The study population consisted of 100 nurses from Abadan and Khorramshahr hospitals' that was selected by purposive Sampling method. Data were collected by questionnaires include demographic data and [Defensive Styles Questionnaire-40] that consist of three parts of mature defense style, neurotic and immature. Cronbach alpha of the questionnaire was 0.82 and data were analyzed using SPSS/18 software. Appropriate statistical analysis such as one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and t-test were employed to analyze the collected data

Finding: The results showed that 67.3% of Taleghani Hospitals and 67.2% of Vali-e-asr hospitals' Nurses used mature defense style as defense mechanism. The mean score for mature defense style was 11.55???2.4 which illustrates that most nurses used this type of defense style

Conclusion: Although the results of this study showed that most nurses' in front of occupational exposure to stress used appropriate and mature defense mechanisms but around one - third of them used inappropriate defense mechanism. Teaching defense style to nurses to cope with anxiety and stress is suggested for future study work

Effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Avena sativa L. on morphine withdrawal signs in male mice

Background and Purpose: It showed that antidepressants may reduce the abuse potential of opioid. In other hand, studies showed avena sativa has antidepressant and sedative properties. So the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ethanolic extract of Avena sativa on morphine withdrawal signs in male mice

Material and Methods: In this experimental study forty male NMRI mice [20-30 g] were randomly divided into 5 groups of 8: control groups received morphine and normal saline [10ml/kg] and other groups received ethanol [3%] and different doses of ethanolic extract of Avena sativa [50,100 and 200mg/kg] .Morphine dependency was induced using a four- day schedule method with 50, 50, 75 and 50 mg/kg dosing respectively. In fourth day 2 hours after single dose of morphine, naloxone was injected [5 mg /kg] and withdrawal signs were recorded with number of jumping and diarrhea, grooming, wet dog shake, teeth chattering, writing, climbing as scores of 0 to 3 during 30min.The data were expressed with one-way ANOVA for quantities and Mann-Whitney U test for qualities data's and they were analyzed with SPSS 15 and P values less than 0.05 were considered significant

Results: The present study findings showed that all doses of ethanolic extract_ of Avena sativa compared to control group, significantly and dose- dependently decrease the number of jumping in morphine dependent mice [56.12 +/- 6.46, 40.0 +/- 5.33 and 31.5 +/- 2.5 respectively]] P<0.05 and P<0.01 respectively].Grooming and teeth chattering also decreased with all doses of extract [P<0.05]. Wet dog shakes, climbing and rearing significantly decreased only by high doses [200mg/kg] of extract. Diarrhea also decreased with 100 and 200 mg/kg of extract [P<0.05]

Conclusion: Findings of present study showed that hydroalcoholic extract of avena sativa attenuate morphine withdrawal signs .But, Further studies need to be carried out to better understanding of their mechanism

[Effects of ciliary neurotrophic factor on oligodendrocyte progenitor cells differentiation and induction of opalin, olig expression in the cuprizone induced multiple sclerosis mice]

Oligodendrocytes are myelinating cells in the central nervous system [CNS] which develop from oligodendrocyte progenitor cells [OPCs]. Opalin is a unique molecular marker for mature and myelinating oligodendrocyte. Olig1/2 plays a regulatory function in the differentiation of OPCs to oligodendrocyte. Ciliary neurotrophic factor [CNTF] has been shown to play an important role in the proliferation and maturation of oligodendrocytes. In this study the effects of CNTF on Opalin, Olig1/2 expression in the cerebral cortical extracts of Cuprizone induced multiple sclerosis [MS] has been investigated. The mice were treated by Cuprizone for five weeks in order to induce MS. The mice were then divided into 3 groups. The first group was injected subcutaneously [SC] by CNTF in the amount of 2 microg/kg BW. The second group [SHAM] was injected SC by phosphate buffered saline [PBS] and the third group was left without injection as the control group. After five weeks the mice were killed and the cerebral cortex was harvested and the expression of Opalin and Olig1/2 was studied by Western blotting. The results from this study show that the expression of Opalin, Olig1/2 was significantly increased in the CNTF injected group as compared to the other groups. It is concluded that CNTF enhances Opalin, Olig1/2 expression and may play important role in the pathophysiology of MS. It is also concluded that CNTF may be a regulator in the differentiation of oligodendrocyte from OPCs

[Incidence, severity and risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity in premature infants with late retinal examination]

To determine the incidence, severity and risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity [ROP] in premature infants with late retinal examination at Farabi Hospital from 2001 to 2006. In a cross-sectional study, hospital records of premature infants who were examined later than 9 weeks after birth were reviewed for possible risk factors of ROP including gender, singleton or multiple gestations, gestational age [GA], birth weight [BW], oxygen therapy, blood transfusion, phototherapy, and respiratory distress syndrome [RDS], as well as the age at initial examination. From 693 infants referred for ROP screening, 191 [27.6%] had late retinal examination at mean age of 144.8 +/- 158.4 [range 64-1460] days. Of these 191 infants, 75 [39.3%] had different stages of ROP, 58 [30.4%] had stage 4 or 5 disease and 27 [14.1%] had stage 5 ROP in both eyes which were untreatable. GA and BW were associated with development of ROP [P<0.001]. The high prevalence of premature infants with late retinal examination and high incidence of severe ROP necessitates prompt intervention to optimize referral and early screening of premature infants