Quality of Journal Club Meetings from the Perspective of faculty members and postgraduate students of physical therapy

Introduction: Regarding the importance of journal club in improving the quality of education, improving critical thinking and learning, and applying for evidence-based medicine, the first step for improving the quality of journal club is to assess the current situation and identify the gap with standards. This study endeavored to evaluate the quality of journal club meetings from the viewpoints of professors and postgraduate students of physical therapy department. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the sample consisted of 40 faculty members and post-graduate students attending the sessions. Data collection was accomplished using the Journal Club Quality Assessment Questionnaire, which included 25 items in 7 domains for assessing skills such as searching articles, understanding and appraising articles, power point preparation, presentation, study habits, improving in treatment's interventions, and overall effect of journal club meetings. Data were analyzed through Excel 2013 and descriptive statistics including frequency table. Results: In the searching articles, understanding and appraising articles, power point preparation, presentation, study habits, improving in treatment's interventions and overall effect of journal club items, 65.8%, 72.6%, 63.3%, 79.4%, 88.9%, 76.7% and 86.7% of the participants, respectively, reported good to excellent quality of journal club. Conclusion: Considering the good satisfaction of such meetings, it is recommended to conduct these meetings in other faculties of rehabilitation sciences and related fields with proper need assessment and planning

Balance control and weight bearing asymmetry under different levels of cognitive demands in stroke patients

Introduction: Balance control impairment and weight bearing asymmetry (WBA) are the most common complications in stroke patients. Interactions between sensory-motor and cognitive systems are necessary for balance control. Cognitive task can affect the balance control and weight bearing asymmetry in these patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cognitive task and its difficulty on balance control and weight bearing asymmetry in chronic stroke patients. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two patients with chronic stroke (30.7&plusmn;42.2 month post-stroke) and 23 healthy individuals participated in the study. All the patients could stand independently and had weight bearing asymmetry towards the nonparetic leg. We used two force plates to collect balance related data including Area, Amplitude, velocity of cop displacement in ML and AP planes in standing position. In addition, simple and difficult stroop (color-word) tasks were used as cognitive tasks. All the participants underwent 5 test conditions including standing, sitting and simple cognitive, sitting and difficult cognitive, standing and simple cognitive, and standing and difficult cognitive tasks. Results: Interaction effect of group in cognitive task was not significant for any of COP parameters and WBA. Also no significant difference was seen between COP parameters and WBA for simple and difficult dual tasks. Main effects of group and cognitive task were significant for WBA, standard deviation of center of pressure sway amplitude and sway velocity (p< 0.05), showing increasing pattern from patient to healthy group and from single to dual task. Conclusion: Results showed that stroop task is challenging enough that cognitive demand arising from it both in simple and difficult levels, by the same amount deteriorates upright balance and increases WBA in stroke patients

Comparing the Efficacy of Duloxetine with High Tone Power Therapy in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathic Pain: A Double-Blind Randomized Phase III Clinical Trial

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract:&lt;/strong&gt; &nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background and Objective:&nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;Diabetic neuropathy pain is a common pain condition that has a major negative impact on health-related quality of life. However, despite many studies, it remains difficult to treat neuropathic pain. This study aimed to&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;compare the efficacy of duloxetine with high tone power therapy (HTPT) in diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain.&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Materials and Methods:&nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;The study is a single-centre, phase III clinical trial comparing the effect of HTPT versus treatment with duloxetine in diagnosed diabetic neuropathy patients between October 2019 to December 2020. In the case group, the HTPT was used with a four-second duration for 30 minutes daily. This treatment was continued twice a week for 10 sessions. The control group received duloxetine (30 mg/m2 once a day). The treatment response was assessed based on the VAS score.&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results:&lt;/strong&gt;&nbsp;The results showed that in both groups, there was a significant reduction in pain severity. In HTPT group, the average pain decreased from 7.36 to 4.6 and in duloxetine group from 7.7 to 4.8. During 8 measurements after the intervention; decrease in VAS score was higher in HTPT group (5.6) than in duloxetine group (6.5) in the first and fourth times after the intervention (P-Value=0.01). Further analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between pain severity and age so that, the pain also increases with &nbsp;advancing age.&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion:&nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;The results of the present study showed that both duloxetine and high tone therapies are safe and effective methods for neuropathic pain relief.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keywords: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://zums.ac.ir/journal/search.php?sid=1&amp;slc_lang=en&amp;srchterm=Diabetic+Neuropathy"&gt;Diabetic Neuropathy&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://zums.ac.ir/journal/search.php?sid=1&amp;slc_lang=en&amp;srchterm=Duloxetine"&gt;Duloxetine&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://zums.ac.ir/journal/search.php?sid=1&amp;slc_lang=en&amp;srchterm=TENS"&gt;TENS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt

Gender Differences in Intra Limb Coordination while Walking in Older People

Objectives: Knowledge about gender differences in intra-limb coordination during walking provides insight into the adaptability of central nervous system for controlling gait in older adults. We assessed the variability and phase dynamic of the intra-limb coordination in older men and women during walking. Methods: Twenty two older people, 11 female and 11 male, participated in this study. They were asked to perform walk on a treadmill at their preferred speed. Deviation phase and mean absolute relative phase values-indicators of variability and phase dynamic of intra-limb coordination, respectively-were calculated using the data collected by a motion capture system. We used independent sample t-test for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that women had a significant higher deviation phase in pelvis-thigh inter-segmental relationships on both sides. Additionally, the mean absolute relative phase of left pelvis-thigh, thigh-shank and shank-foot were significantly different between men and women. Discussion: While women showed a lower mean absolute relative phase in pelvis-thigh, men had a lower mean absolute relative phase in shank-thigh inter-segmental relationships. We suggest that gender could affect the intra-limb coordination variability and phase dynamic during walking in older people. This may be a reflection of the great adaptability of neuromuscular system to modify control strategies for walking in older women/men