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BackgroundHealth-related quality of life (HRQL) assessment is an important measure of the impact of a wide range of disease process on an individual. To date, no HRQL tool has been evaluated in an Iranian population with cardiovascular disorders, specifically myocardial infarction, a major cause of mortality and morbidity. The MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life instrument is a disease-specific HRQL questionnaire with satisfactory validity and reliability when applied cross-culturally.MethodA Persian version of MacNew was prepared by both forward and backward translation by bilinguals after which a feasibility test was performed. Consecutive patients (n = 51) admitted to a coronary care unit with acute myocardial infarction were recruited for measurement of their HRQL with retest one month after discharge in the follow-up clinic. Principal components analysis, intra-class correlation reliability, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were assessed.ResultsTrivial rates of missing data confirmed the acceptability of the tool. Principal component analysis revealed that the three domains, emotional, social and physical, performed as well as in the original studies. Internal consistency was high and comparable to other studies, ranging from 0.92 for the emotional and physical domains, to 0.94 for the social domain, and to 0.95 for the Global score. Domain means of 5, 5.3 and 4.9 for emotional, physical and social respectively indicate that our Iranian population has similar emotional and physical but worse social HRQL scores. Test-retest analysis showed significant correlation in emotional and physical domains (P < 0.05).ConclusionThe Persian version of the MacNew questionnaire is comparable to the English version. It has high internal consistency and reasonable reproducibility, making it an appropriate specific quality of life tool for population-based studies and clinical practice in Iran in patients who have survived an acute myocardial infraction. Further studies are needed to confirm its validity in larger populations with cardiovascular disease.

ics, family history, environmental factors and social and behavioral characteristics have critical role in the incidence of hypertension [2]. Despite our understanding of the disease and accessibility of treatments, it was estimated that around 30% of the world's population will be affected by this disease by 2025, indicating a major unrelieved public health burden [3-5]. Herbal medicine has been used for a long time to achieve therapeutic goals [6]. Extracts of olive leaves (Olea

Background: Anxiety after myocardial infarction is a very common problem leading to an increase in complications and hospitalization length. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate a 12-month follow-up of the effect of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) on anxiety levels in myocardial patients. Materials and Methods:This study was a clinical trial study. Sixty myocardial patients were selected using convenience random sampling and divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group (n = 30) received EMDR in two 45 -90 sessions. No treatment was given to the control group (n = 30). The instrument for collecting data in this study was the Beck anxiety inventory which was completed in both groups in three steps: before and after intervention, and at the end of a 12-month follow-up period. Results: The findings collected during the 12-month follow-up indicated that EMDR was effective for treating anxiety in myocardial patients. Conclusions: EMDR is an effective tool for curing or decreasing the level of anxiety in myocardial patients.

Background. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome is one of the most common respiratory disorders in humans. There is emerging evidence linking OSA to vascular disease, particularly hypertension. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms that link OSA to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, congestive heart failure, and atrial fibrillation are not entirely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) with coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD). Methods. A questionnaire survey based on Berlin questionnaire and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was conducted among 406 patients to assess demographic data and the symptoms, such as excessive daytime sleepiness and snoring. Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Berlin questionnaire were completed by all of the patients. Venous blood samples were obtained for biochemical tests. Characteristics of coronary arteries were collected from angiographies' reports. All patients were divided into two groups based on results from Berlin questionnaire: low risk patients for OSA and high risk patients for OSA. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 13. Results. Mean age of patients was 61.8 ± 10.5. 212 (52.2%) patients were categorized as high risk group for apnea. Also, excessive daytime sleepiness was reported in 186 patients (45.8%). The severity of coronary artery involvement, daytime sleepiness, and electrocardiogram abnormalities was significantly higher in high risk patients for OSA compared with low risk patients. High risk patients had higher level of FBS and LDL and lower level of HDL cholesterol (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Our study found a strong correlation between the number of stenotic vessels and OSA. Based on our findings, OSA can be a predisposing factor for cardiac diseases.