Acta medica Iranica
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2012
Medication errors in an internal intensive care unit of a large teaching hospital: a direct observation study.
Medication errors account for about 78% of serious medical errors in intensive care unit (ICU). So far no study has been performed in Iran to evaluate all type of possible medication errors in ICU. Therefore the objective of this study was to reveal the frequency, type and consequences of all type of errors in an ICU of a large teaching hospital. ⋯ According to our results, the rate of errors is alarming and requires implementation of a serious solution. Since our system lacks a well-organize detection and reporting mechanism, there is no means for preventing errors in the first place. Hence, as the first step we must implement a system where errors are routinely detected and reported.
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Burns are injuries which may require long hospitalization and may result in important impairment and disability. Burn injuries are still common especially in developing countries. Assessment of the epidemiology of burns is very important for introduction of preventive methods. ⋯ Mean total body surface area burned (TBSA) was 6.16% (±9.93). This study showed a high incidence of burn injuries at home and in the workplace. The burns were mostly preventive and many of them can be prevented by education.
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2012
Effects of lithium on peripheral neuropathy induced by vincristine in rats.
Vincristine (VCR) as a frequently used antimitotic agent which is commonly prescribed for wide spectrum of neoplasm, causes mixed sensorimotor neuropathy. Several evidences show lithium could be a neuroprotective agent, therefore to assess whether a pretreatment and at subtherapeutic dose it could prevent the peripheral neuropathy produced by VCR, rats were treated with VCR 0.1mg/kg i.p. for 3 alternative doses and / or lithium chloride (20mg/kg or 40 mg/kg i.p. daily from the first day to the day of sacrifice). Erythrocyte lithium concentration (ELC) and plasma lithium concentration (PLC) were measured at the seventh day of study and the day of scarification. ⋯ Only VCR treated rats showed behavioral, electrophysiological and histological evidences of a mixed sensorimotor neuropathy by significant increase in hot plate latencies and a marked decrease in total distance moved and conduction velocities in both sensory and motor nerves. Lithium at the dose of 20mg/kg and specially 40mg/kg robustly reduced the rate of mortality, general toxicity and was able to ameliorate mixed sensorimotor neuropathy induced by VCR. These results suggest that lithium at dose of 20mg/kg and 40 mg/kg, potentially by its effects on cell survival pathways such as inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3β), can prevent both motor and sensory components of VCR neuropathy.
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2012
Case ReportsConcurrent peripheral pathologies and complex regional pain syndrome type 1 as contributors to acute post-stroke shoulder pain: a case report.
Post-stroke shoulder pain is associated with either a peripheral or central pathology. However, most of the time, it is challenging to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the suggested pathology and shoulder pain reported. ⋯ Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment did not improve his shoulder pain. Later he developed complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) of the right hand and the initial shoulder pain subsequently relieved following resolution of the CRPS.
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2012
Situation of medical sciences in 50 top countries from 1996 to 2010--based on quality and quantity of publications.
In research outputs both quality and quantity are of critical value and evaluation of both aspects is required for best evaluation. Several studies have worked on single or two-dimensional methods that provide the assessment of quality, quantity or both simultaneously in different branches of sciences, but none of them have played a role in a particular area of medicine. This study has been conducted to compare countries worldwide in the field of medical researches. ⋯ In PPPm Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark ranked the top three with scores of 13.34, 11.67 and 10.32, respectively. Iran ranked 71 in CPPm and 141 in PPPm. Ranking countries makes it possible to identify countries which have performed better in research outcomes by means of quality and quantity; thus, reforming policies can be taken into action to lower the waste of money, higher quality and quantity of outputs while providing helpful tip(s) for institutions to improve.