The Persian Wednesday Eve Festival "Charshanbe-Soori" fireworks eye injuries: a case series

PURPOSE: To describe the clinical spectrum and severity of eye injuries sustained during the Persian Wednesday Eve Festival "Charshanbe-Soori" and to identify the fireworks devices involved. METHODS: Prospectively, consecutive patients treated for fireworks-related eye injuries in the emergency room at Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, over 3 days around the occasion in 2000, 2001, and 2002 were studied. RESULTS: Four hundred thirty-seven cases of eye injuries with an age range of 2-74 (median 17; SD 11.1) years were studied: 84.6% were male; 18.6% of the injuries were bilateral; 79.9% of the injured were bystanders or passersby. Eleven types of devices were involved, of which seven were explosives and eight were homemade. "Narenjaks," homemade grenades, were involved in 62.2%, firecrackers in 14.8%, and sparklers in 6.2% of the events. Injuries were categorized as severe in 49% of cases, and 45 (10.4%) people were hospitalized. Five eyes with no light perception and/or enucleation, 33 cases of monocular blindness, 54 (12.3%) cases of open globe (including intraocular foreign bodies) were observed. Grenades, bystander and passerby roles, outdoor context, a relatively older age, lower socioeconomic status, and male gender in the subset of passive roles were the determinants of more severe injuries (all p values < 0.05). Lid injuries (67.7%), corneal abrasions (51.6%), hyphema (48.1%), superficial foreign bodies (32.5%), and corneal contusions (13.8%) were the five leading injuries. CONCLUSIONS: In Iran, fireworks cause frequent and diverse injuries during the Wednesday Eve Festival and are a leading cause of severe eye injuries and monocular blindness.     

The Effects of Solvent Polarity on Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Securigera Securidaca (L.), Achillea Eriophora DC,and Portulaca Oleracea Extracts

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal - The effect of solvent polarity on bioactive extraction contents of three famous medicinal plants (Securigera securidaca, Portulaca oleracea and Achillea...     

The Effect of Counseling Based on EX-PLISSIT Model on Sexual Dysfunction and Quality of Sexual Life of Married Women with Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Sexuality and Disability - Sexual dysfunction is one of the most common complaints of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study aimed to determine the effect of counseling based on the...     

Sperm chromatin integrity in a man with macrocephaly syndrome

This study reports chromatin status and ICSI outcomes in a case of sperm macrocephaly syndrome(SMS), showing 100% of spermatozoa with abnormal morphology. Percentages of sperm DNA fragmentation for TUNEL (31.7% versus 6.5%), SCSA (33% versus 25%) assays, chromatin maturity tests, CMA3 (58% versus 29%) and aniline blue (63% versus 35%) staining were higher in case sample compared to the fertile sample. Artificial oocyte activation resulted in a similar fertilisation rate between case and control samples (71% versus 66.7%), but the case showed delayed embryo development on day 3 post-insemination. Unlike fertile case, no embryos reached the blastocyst stage. The result of this case study shows that macrocephaly is associated with reduced chromatin maturity and DNA integrity. Although both cases showed a similar chance for fertilisation through artificial chemical activation for only macrocephalic man, the developmental competency is jeopardised in such cases.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Valued Living Questionnaire in a Black American Sample: Implications for Cognitive Research and Practice

The assessment of values is an important aspect of clinical care and of determining mechanisms for change in psychological interventions. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the performance of the Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ) in a Black American sample. A one-factor model of the VLQ composite scores did not converge. Consequently, a CFA was conducted to test the theoretical grounds that the importance and consistency scales of the VLQ may be best utilized as independent subscales. A one-factor model of the importance scale demonstrated good fit (CFI = .96, RMSEA = .06), as did a one-factor model of the consistency scale (CFI = .96, RMSEA = .05). These results suggest that the two sections of the VLQ, the first 10 importance items and the proceeding 10 consistency items, may be appropriate to use as separate scales for research on values.     

Adolescent Offspring of Mothers With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

PurposeThe goal of this study was to determine whether adolescent offspring of mothers with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have higher prevalence of CFS and report more fatigue, greater pain sensitivity, more sleep problems, and poorer cardiopulmonary fitness in comparison with offspring with no exposure to maternal CFS.MethodsA total of 26 adolescent offspring of 20 mothers diagnosed with CFS were compared with 45 adolescent offspring of 30 age-matched healthy control mothers. Study measures included structured interviews and medical and laboratory examinations for CFS; tender point examination; maximum oxygen uptake and perceived exertion; dolorimetry pain ratings; and questionnaires on fatigue severity and sleepiness.ResultsIn comparison with offspring of healthy mothers, those exposed to mothers with CFS reported higher prevalence of fatigue of at least 1-month duration (23% vs. 4%), fatigue of 6 months or longer (15% vs. 2%), and met criteria for CFS (12% vs. 2%), although these differences only approached statistical significance. CFS and healthy mothers differed on almost all study outcomes, but offspring groups did not differ on measures of current fatigue severity, pain sensitivity, sleep, mean number of tender points, and cardiopulmonary fitness.ConclusionsThe higher prevalence of fatiguing states in offspring of CFS mothers, despite the lack of statistical significance, suggests that familial factors may potentially play a role in developing chronically fatiguing states. Alternately, perturbations in pain sensitivity and cardiopulmonary fitness may be consequences of CFS. Future studies should focus on examining the impact of maternal CFS and associated disability on psychosocial functioning of offspring.     

Oxidative stress status and DNA damage in saliva of human subjects with oral lichen planus and oral squamous cell carcinoma

J Oral Pathol Med (2012) 41 : 736–740 Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate oxidative stress status in the saliva of patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: Thirty‐two patients with OLP, 26 patients with OSCC, and 30 non‐involved subjects were enrolled in this study. The study was conducted at the Cancer Department, Clinic of Oral Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The unstimulated whole saliva malondialdehyde (MDA), as an indicator of lipid peroxidation, the total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and 8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG) were assayed by thiobarbituric acid, ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), and ELISA method, respectively. The TAC/MDA ratio was used as an index of oxidative stress status. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by the Tukey’s post hoc test. Results and Conclusion: There were no significant differences in saliva TAC and MDA levels between OLP and control, and also between OLP and OSCC patients. MDA and 8‐OHdG were significantly higher but TAC was lower in OSCC patients than control. TAC/MDA ratio was significantly lower in patients with OSCC than both OLP patients and control. TAC/MDA ratio was significantly lower but 8‐OHdG was higher in patients with OLP compared to control. This suggests that patients with OLP and OSCC are more susceptible to an imbalance of antioxidant‐oxidative stress status.     

Neuropsychological Functioning and Treatment Outcomes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain

Neuropsychological (NP) performance has been associated with psychosocial treatment outcomes in nonpain conditions, but has never been investigated in chronic pain. We performed a secondary analysis on the association of baseline NP performance with treatment outcomes among veterans with chronic pain (N?=?117) undergoing an 8-week acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention. Participants completed measures of pain interference, pain severity, quality of life, activity levels, depression, and pain-related anxiety at baseline, midtreatment, and post-treatment. Executive functioning, working memory, processing speed, learning, and verbal memory were assessed at baseline. All study measures significantly improved from baseline to post-treatment. NP performance was related to changes in depression and pain-related anxiety during treatment. Specifically, relatively lower executive functioning and processing speed was associated with greater decreases in depressive symptoms, and relatively lower processing speed was associated with greater decreases in pain-related anxiety. Consistent with research in nonpain conditions, those with relatively lower NP functioning received greater benefit from psychosocial treatment, although most study outcomes did not differ as a function of NP performance. Our results suggest relatively lower NP functioning is not contraindicated for participation in psychosocial interventions like ACT but instead may be associated with greater relief.