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Introduction & Objective: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common important arrhythmia of cardiac surgery. Magnesium, like several other pharmacologic agents, has been used in the prophylaxis of postoperative AF with varying degrees of success. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of magnesium administration in reducing postoperative AF after cardiac surgery. Materials & Methods: In a double blind randomized clinical trial, over an 18-month period, 162 patients that electively scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass were studied. The patients were randomly assigned to magnesium receiving (n=81) and placebo (n=81) groups. In magnesium group, the patients were received an intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate, 2 g, immediately after the termination of cardiopulmonary bypass. Total serum magnesium concentration was measured before induction, immediately after operation (before magnesium infusion), and 24 hr after ICU admission. AF was sought with a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) from the end of surgery up till 72 hr after operation. Results: AF occurrence in magnesium group (7.4%) was lower than placebo group (34.6%) and the differences were statistically significant (p<0.0001). There was no significant difference in serum magnesium level during the follow-up. In patients with AF, the serum magnesium concentration before operation was significantly lower than others (p=0.0001). In all patients, the serum magnesium was decreased immediately after operation (p<0.0001). Conclusion: This study showed that hypomagnesemia is a common finding after postoperative cardiac surgery and it is associated with post operation AF. The use of magnesium in early postoperative periods is highly effective in reducing the incidence of AF after coronary artery bypass grafting

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Introduction & Objective: Surgical wound infection is one of the common nosocomial infections. During operation, members of the surgical team which are in contact with the tissue incision should observe the standards of infection control in the operating room since it has a great role in prevention and control of these infections. The present study aimed to determine the performance of the operating room personnel in observing the standards of infection control in educational hospitals of Yasuj University of Medical Sciences in 2009. Materials & Methods: Forty two operating room personnel participated in this cross-sectional analytic-descriptive study. A check list was used for unnoticeably collecting the data about the performance of personnel in respect of infection control standards at three different times. Their performances were classified into four levels (very weak, weak, moderate and good) and the results were shown as absolute and relative frequency distribution. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and Fischer exact test by the SPSS software. Results: Performance of personnel in following the standards of infection control in this study was moderate. Conclusion: The results indicate that the participants of the study do not follow some of the standards of infection control in the operating rooms. Therefore, further activities of the committees of infection control and using of new antiseptic for surgical scrub are recommended.

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Background & aim: learning style(s) is one of the factors effective learning. Information about students learning styles can aid the presentation of teaching appropriate to their individual style. The purpose of this study was to determine the learning styles of Yasuj nursing and midwifery students based on the VARK model in 2013. Methods: The present research was a descriptive- analytical study which was conducted on 140 students from nursing and midwifery faculty of Yasuj university of Medical Sciences in the academic year of 2013. Sampling was done using census method, and data were collected using demographic information questionnaire followed by questionnaire of learning styles. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 18, and descriptive- inferential statistics. Results: The mean age of the students was 20.68±1.34. Of the total of 140 students, 98 (70%) just selected only one type of the learning styles, whereas, 42 students preferred combination of different styles. Reading-writing style was the prevailing style among single learning style which selected by 43 students but the most frequent style among multi style was double style which was selected only by 15% of the participants. Conclusion: Most of the students had an individual learning style. Identifying the dominant learning style(s) of the students and adjusting them to the teaching methods of lecturers and also developing lesson plans based on learning styles could improve educational objectives.

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Abstract

Background & aim: Kynurenine pathway (KP) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disorders. In neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD) and several autoimmune diseases such as Multiple sclerosis (MS), brain neurons are initially involved and gradually destroyed. In the present review article, the role and effect of changes in the balance of KP metabolites in the exacerbation of neurodegenerative disorders will be discussed

Methods: In the present review, we conducted a comprehensive searching method in various online databases including MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar to collect all research studies that have been done in recent years to study and evaluate KP and its metabolites in neurodegenerative diseases and MS

Results:Regarding the prevalence and importance of these diseases, there is an urgent need to develop new and more effective therapeutic strategies to fight these destructive diseases. One of the molecular pathways involved in all these diseases is the KP, which the effects of its metabolites are observed in many diseases, including neurodegeneration process. In all of these diseases, an imbalance in the levels of tryptophan and its metabolites has been observed. Animal studies have shown that if the levels of neurotoxic and neuroprotective metabolites of the pathway return to the normal range, the symptoms of the disease will decrease or the disease process will be slowed down. While disturbing this balance leads to disease progression and worsening of symptoms.

 

Conclusion: The KP is an important determinant of immune responses and tolerance in T cells. In such conditions, it seems that by increasing the degradation of tryptophan and the production and accumulation of a large number of downstream neurotoxic metabolites, disruption of protein synthesis and suppression of the production and proliferation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) occurs, which leads to the development of neurodegeneration process