THE EFFECT OF HOLY QURAN RECITATION SOUND ON VITAL SIGNS AND ARTERIAL OXYGEN PRESSURE OF UNCONSCIOUS PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED IN ICU

Introduction: Treatment of diseases may be one of the numerous aspects of the divine verses of Quran. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of playing holy Quran recitation as a tranquilizer on vital signs and arterial oxygen pressure of unconscious patients hospitalized in ICU. Materials and methods: This is a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study conducted on 20 unconscious patients in ICU that were almost homogenous in terms of consciousness level and cause of coma. Participants were divided randomly into case and control groups. For participants in the case group, the Yasin surah with the voice of Al-Menshawi was played every day for 15 minutes by an MP3 player. The vital signs and arterial oxygen pressure of two groups was checked before and after intervention. The collected data was analyzed by means of SPSS 16 software and by paired t-test. Results: Results of this study showed that after intervention, in the case group, the mean systolic P=0.04] and diastolic P=0.05] blood pressure, pulse rate P=0.001] and arterial oxygen pressure P=0.04] had significant differences in comparison with before intervention. However the difference was not statistically significant about the breath rate and body temperature. discussion: Playing the holy Quran recitation led to the balance in blood pressure and arterial oxygen pressure of patients. Therefore it is possible to use it as a treatment method in order to make a balance in the vital signs of unconscious patients

Atherogenic index of plasma: A valuable novel index to distinguish patients with unstable atherogenic plaques

Background: Plaque instability is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Numerous efforts have been made to figure out and manage unstable plaques prior to major cardiovascular events incidence. The current study aims to assess the values of the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) to detect unstable plaques. Materials and Methods: The current case-control study was conducted on 435 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention due to chronic stable angina (stable plaques, n = 145) or acute coronary syndrome (unstable plaques, n = 290). The demographic, comorbidities, chronic medications, biochemical and hematological characteristics of the patients were entered into the study checklist. The baseline AIP was measured according to the formula of triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein logarithm. Binary logistic regression was applied to investigate the standalone association of AIP with plaque instability. Receiver operating curve (ROC) was depicted to determine a cut-off, specificity, and sensitivity of AIP in unstable plaques diagnosis. Results: AIP was an independent predictor for atherogenic plaque unstability in both crude (odds ratio [OR]: 3.677, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.521–8.890; P = 0.004) and full-adjusted models (OR: 15, 95% CI: 2.77–81.157; P = 0.002). According to ROC curve, at cut-point level of 0.62, AIP had sensitivity and specificity of 89.70% and 34% to detect unstable plaques, respectively (area under the curve: 0.648, 95% CI: 0.601–0.692, P < 0.001). Conclusion: According to this study, at the threshold of 0.62, AIP as an independent biomarker associated with plaque instability can be considered a screening tool for patients at increased risk for adverse events due to unstable atherosclerotic plaques