Background:Sick Building Syndrome is a diseases associated with indoor air quality accompanied with symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, coughing and sneezing, irritation of eyes, throat and nose mucous membrane, and skin itching and inflammation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the symptoms of the syndrome and its related factors among nurses in teaching hospitals of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.Methods:The study was conducted amongst nurses of three teaching hospitals of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, in Yazd. In this study the MM040EA questionnaire of sick building syndrome and indoor air quality was used and data extracted from the questionnaires were analyzed using the chi-square test and t-test.Results:The prevalence of sick building syndrome was 86.4%. The prevalence of the syndrome was in no association with age, gender, employment history and type of shift work. The most common symptoms reported by nurses included headache, fatigue and dry hands. Lack of sense of airflow, unpleasant odor in workplace (P<0.05), and also the amount of workload (P<0.001) were in relation with sick building syndrome.Conclusion:The high prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms in the nursing environment was associated with factors of unpleasant odor and high workload of environment. So improvement of environmental conditions such as increasing the efficiency of the HVAC system, increasing fresh air flow in the sector, reducing the nurses workload as well as enhancing the quality of working life, will motivate the nurses and increase productivity in the workplace.

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common cause of disability among people and it is a common disease of joints that can lead to cartilage damage. In this study the analgesic effects of a herbal ointment containing cinnamon, ginger, mastic (Saghez) and sesame oil is compared with Salicylate ointment in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis. It was a double-blind randomized controlled trail study. Patients with diagnosed arthritis were involved in the study and they were divided in two groups via block randomization method. For six weeks, twice a day, intervention group applied herbal ointment and control group used Salicylate ointment. The severity of pain, morning stiffness and limited motion were measured using Visual Analog Pain Scale. In order to analyze the trends of these three indexes, repeated measurement test was used. Ninety two participates with the mean age of 52.2 (+/- 12.4) years and with the mean disease period of 30.45 (+/- 30.3) months were involved in the study. There was no significant difference between two groups regarding the distribution of sex, weight, height, BMI and the duration of illness. No statistical difference was observed between two groups regarding pain relief, morning stiffness and limited motion; nevertheless in repeated measurements during second, forth and sixth weeks in both groups the decreasing trend of these three indexes had been statistically significant (p < 0.0001). It seems that using this herbal combination is clinically effective for patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis in order to decrease their pain, morning stiffness and limited motion; its effect is comparable with Salicylate ointment.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an 8-week resistance exercise program on balance, walking speed, and muscle strength in elderly women.   Methods: This randomized controlled trial was performed on 50 elderly women aged 60-66 years who were assigned to two groups of experimental and control. The Time Up and Go test, was used to measure dynamic balance, Romberg's test was used to measure static balance, and the 10 Meter Walk Test was used to measure walking speed, and the 30 Second Chair Stand test was used to measure muscle strength. Paired t-test and independent t-test was used for comparing balance time before and after the exercise program.   Results: The mean duration of static balance increased in the experimental group from 21.64 ± 10.98 before exercise to 28.20 ± 13.47 after exercise (p < 0.001). The mean duration of Up and Go Time decreased from 12.88 ± 1.45 seconds before exercise to 10.80 ± 1.80 seconds after exercise (p < 0.001). Ten-meter walking time in the experimental group decreased from 1.15 ± 0.1 seconds before exercise to 1.00 ± 0.11 seconds after exercise (p < 0.001) and muscle strength in the experimental group increased from 7.8 ± 1 before exercise to 9.56 ± 1.71 after exercise (p < 0.001).   Conclusion: Lower limb resistance exercises with elastic band improve static and dynamic balance and also walking speed, which possibly improve muscle strength. It is recommended that these exercises be considered in developing the elderly women's health care programs due to their accessibility, affordability, and reliability.

Introduction: Balance in the elderly is one of the important issues, and imbalance can create irreparable problems for the elderly. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Frenkel balance exercise and aerobic exercise (walking) on improving the balance of elderly patients in Kerman province in 2016-2017.  Methods: We used a randomized block design, with 4 participants in each block; 48 elderly men and women living in the nursing homes of Kerman province were randomly assigned to two groups, balance (Frenkel) exercises and aerobic exercises (walking). The two groups performed Frenkel exercises and aerobic exercises (walking) for three 10- to 15-min sessions a week for five weeks. The balance time using the Sharpened Romberg test was recorded to measure static balance and the Get Up and Go test used to measure dynamic balance before and after the exercise program. To describe the variables studied, central tendency indicators and dispersion were used. Paired t-test was used to compare the time of balance before and after intervention and independent t-test to compare changes in balance time between two groups. Results: The mean static balance (with Sharpend Römberg test) was increased from 3.16 s to 6.01 s in Frenkel exercise, and from 3.33 s to 4.95 s in aerobic training group, indicating an improvement in the static balance after intervention. The mean time of dynamic balance (in the Get Up and Go test) during Frenkel exercise reduced from 17.07 s to 12.03 s, and during aerobic training from 17.08 s to 10.9 seconds, indicating an improvement in dynamic balance (p < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in the mean changes in the duration of dynamic and static balance before and after intervention in the two groups. Conclusion: Both Frenkel exercise and walking equally improve static and dynamic balance in the elderly in different settings.

Introduction: Menopause can change the musculoskeletal system by reducing estrogen hormone levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of regular resistance training accompanied by vitamins D and calcium supplements during pre-menopausal period on muscle tissues of Wistar rats’ postmenopausal period. Methods: In this experimental study, female Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, placebo, vitamins D, Calcium, excercise, vitamins D- Calcium, vitamins.D- excercise, Calcium - excercise, and vitamins.D‐ Calcium - excercise groups. Control and placebo groups were fed with a standard diet and sesame oil, respectively. The amount of calcium consumed was 35 mg / kg and the amount of vitamin D was 10000 IU during the two-month period, and in the resistance training groups, two months of training was performed with a ladder. Then ovariectomy was done and sample of the gastrocnemius muscle was taken and the diameter of muscle fiber, the number of muscle and adipocyte cell as well as the number of inflammatory cells were studied. The statistical analysis by means of one-way ANOVA and SPSS version 20 was performed. Results: Compared to the control group, the increase in the number of adipocyte cells were observed in the vitamin D, calcium-vitamin D, vitamin D-resistance exercise and placebo groups but it was not significantly different. Muscle fiber diameter significantly increased in all groups compared to the control group (P <0.001). The number of muscle cells increased significantly in the calcium-resistance exercise group (103± 9), vitamin D-resistance exercise (105 ±6.9) and calcium-vitamin D-resistance exercise (114 ± 3.16) compared to the control group, while, there was a significant increase in inflammatory cells only in the control and placebo groups (p≤0.05). Conclusion: Regular resistance exercise accompanied with vitamin D and Calcium supplements in premenopausal period can improve muscle fiber diameter and muscle cell numbers; in addition, the process of decrease in the muscle strength and muscle inflammation during menopause will be delayed.