Frequency of Sports Trauma in Elite National Level Greco-Roman Wrestling Competitions

Background: Trauma is an inescapable part of sports competitions. It occurs more frequently in contact sports such as wrestling. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of injury in Greco-Roman style wrestling competitions at national level. Patients and Methods: This descriptive epidemiological research included 50 Greco-Roman style wrestlers who participated in national level competitions between the years 2003 and 2008. A questionnaire was completed by each participant, itincluded; the number of injuries to skin, muscle tissue, bones and joints. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated by a test – retest method (r = 0.83, P = 0.0001). Results: The most frequent injuries encountered by the wrestlers were; skin lesions (62%), followed by muscle (22%), bone (9%) and joint (7%) injuries, respectively. Conclusions: Greco-Roman style wrestlers are at high risk of skin injuries.Therefore, they need appropriate instructions on how to avoid injuries and adequate care after their competitions

An epidemiological study of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Kashan (2007-2008)

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a parasitological disease, which is common between human and animals. This disease cause always serious health problems for the human communities. This disease is prevalent in many parts of the world. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a prevalent parasitological disease with diverse clinical manifestations in Iran. It is an important health problem in many parts of Iran as well and its incidence has doubled over the last decade. This study was designed to determine the epidemiology of CL in Kashan during 2007-2008. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which 5098 persons were randomly selected in thirteen rural and urban districts of Kashan. The disease was diagnosed based on clinical examination and microscopic observation of the parasite in the ulcer site. The patient's information such as age, sex, job, number and sites of ulcer(s) or scar(s), date and place of the ulcer, and results of clinical examination and laboratory tests were recorded. Data analysis was performed using statistical Ki-square test. Results: The prevalence rate of disease in 5089 inhabitants studied was 6.4. One hundred and three persons (2) had active ulcers and 223 persons (4.4) had scar. Fifty three out of 200(26.5) infected male suffering from CL, and fifty out of 126 (39.7) infected female had active ulcer (P=0.013) The highest frequency and the least infected age groups were observed in 20-29 years old patients with a rate of 23.3 and 0-9 years old with the rate of 7.8, respectively. 49.5 of the infected cases were under 30 years old. 64.1 of the patients had one and 35.9 had two or more ulcers. The most common location of ulcers were on hands (46.6) and then on feet, on face and on the other parts of the body. 75.8 of the patients were infected in Kashan city. The estimated rate for CL incidence was approximately 37.6 cases in 100000 people in Kashan during 2007-2008 Conclusion: The prevalence and incidence rate of CL are higher than expected rate in Kashan city. Such a high prevalence and incident rate is alarming and require control and prevention measures. Further epidemiological investigations of disease particularly CL are suggested

Effects of submaximal aerobic exercise on regulatory T cell markers of male patients suffering from ischemic heart disease

There are confirmed beneficiary effects of exercise on atherosclerotic inflammation of ischemia-Associated heart diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise on T-regulatory cell markers of IL-35 as well as FoxP3 and T-helper2 marker of IL-33 in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). This research was performed on 44 asymptomatic male patients with ischemic heart disease. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups of submaximal aerobic exercise and control group. Blood samples were collected before and after the termination of the exercise protocol. Serum levels of IL-35 and IL-33 as well as the amount of FoxP3 gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were measured by Elisa and Real time PCR, respectively. Serum levels of IL-35 (p=0.001) as well as the amount of FoxP3 gene expression increased significantly (p=0.012) in exercise group even after controlling the likely confounding effects of age, length of ischemia, duration of the disease, and the amount of such factors before exercise (p≤0.042). It seems that exercise may yield a better control of atherosclerotic inflammation in patients with ischemic heart disease through the induction of regulatory T cells

Chemical Polymerization Kinetics of Poly-O-Phenylenediamine and Characterization of the Obtained Polymer in Aqueous Hydrochloric Acid Solution Using K 2

The oxidative chemical polymerization of o-phenylenediamine (OPDA) was studied in hydrochloric acid solution using potassium dichromate as oxidant at 5°C. The effects of potassium dichromate, hydrochloric acid, and monomer concentrations on the polymerization reaction were investigated. The order of reaction with respect to potassium dichromate, hydrochloric acid, and monomer concentration was found to be 1.011, 0.954, and 1.045, respectively. Also, the effect of temperature on the polymerization rate was studied and the apparent activation energy of the polymerization reaction was found to be 63.658 kJ/mol. The obtained polymer was characterized using XPS, IR, UV-visible, and elemental analysis. The surface morphology of the obtained polymers was characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TGA analysis was used to confirm the proposed structure and number of water molecules in each polymeric chain unit. The ac conductivity (σac) of (POPDA) was investigated as a function of frequency and temperature. The ac conductivity was interpreted as a power law of frequency. The frequency exponent (s) was found to be less than unity and decreased with the increase of temperature, which confirms that the correlated barrier hopping model was the dominant charge transport mechanism

An Item Analysis of Written Multiple-Choice Questions: Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Background: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are one of the most common types of exams used in evaluation of students in any educational setting. The question items making up these exams need to be examined if they are to meaningfully contribute to the student scores. Such characteristics are amenable to examination by item analysis. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to examine the quality of MCQs used in Nursing and Midwifery Faculty and to compare the results with the other faculties in Kashan University of Medical Science in the academic year 2008-2009. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 101 multiple-choice exams were randomly chosen for the study, and 37 exams were selected from the faculty of nursing and midwifery. The difficulty, discrimination indices and Cronbach’s Alpha were calculated for every exam and then mean values for each index were calculated by LERTAL 5.0 software purchased from Assessment Systems Corporation of the United States. Results: A total of 7062 MCQs in the university and 1793 items in the faculty of nursing and midwifery presented to the students by different instructors were analyzed. The average of difficulty index of the faculty of nursing was 0.5. The discrimination index was 0.36, and the average of Alpha-Cronbach was 0.82 in the faculty of nursing. All the values were significantly better in the faculty of nursing and midwifery compared to the rest of the university. Conclusions: The difficulty index, the discrimination index and the Alpha-Cronbach values in the faculty of nursing were within the acceptable range recommended by experts in the field of educational measurement. However, some of the tests had values less than the recommended

ADJUSTMENT IN THE FLIGHT PHASE OF 1M SPRINGBOARD FORWARD PIKE DIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate the variability in 1m springboard forward pike dives (101B). Variability of body orientation angle at takeoff and water entry together with joint angle time histories of 15 forward pike dives, performed by an international diver, were determined using video analysis. A computer simulation model was used to investigate the effects of initial conditions variability and flight phase configuration variability on outcome (orientation at entry) variability. It was found that the variation in the simulated orientation at entry arising from variability in the initial conditions was greater than the actual variation. This indicates that the diver used feedback correction to make adjustments during flight to reduce the variability of his entry angle

ADJUSTMENT IN THE TAKEOFF PHASE OF 1-M SPRINGBOARD FORWARD DIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate whether any adjustment is made during the board contact phase of 1-m springboard forward dives. Variability of body orientation angle at landing from hurdle (touchdown) and at takeoff together with joint angle time histories of 15 forward pike dive takeoffs, performed by an international diver, were determined using video analysis. A computer simulation model of a diver and springboard was used to determine the effects of perturbations of initial conditions on takeoff variability. The variation at takeoff obtained in the simulation outcome was much greater than in the actual performance, indicating that the diver made adjustments during the board contact phase. The diver varied his body configuration during the board recoil phase to adjust his body orientation, leading to low variability at takeoff