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This research is an attempt to identify the most important dimensions of vocational education and training (VET) on empowering rural women, a topic that has received less attention. The present study is a quantitative, non-experimental, applied, survey research, whose statistical population includes rural women and girls who participated in VET classes. The research tool was a researcher-designed questionnaire. The reliability and validity of the research tool using a pilot test and calculating Cronbach’s alpha, AVE, and CR coefficients were shown to indicate the high capability of the research tool to collect data. The results showed that among the four dimensions of VET, the role of content and educator was more than other dimensions and these dimensions of training had improved the economic empowerment of rural women, which was often at the lowest level. The conceptual framework presented can be used as a guide to achieving sustainable development goals of the millennium; and should be considered at the national and international levels. The paper makes an impact on the growing body of knowledge by emphasizing on more important dimensions of education; which can be effective for the empowerment of women, especially in the economic dimension. In the existing studies on empowering rural women, none of them examined the effect of all different components of education on women’s overall empowerment, which are among the innovations of the present study and should be considered in future planning.

Background: Oxidative stress contributes to neuropathic pain. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is used for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. However, there is no report regarding the therapeutic effect of CoQ10 on neuropathic pain. Objectives: The present study investigated the effects of CoQ10 on pain alleviation in animals with chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Materials and Methods: Wistar male rats were randomly allocated to four groups. Nerve injury was induced by four loose ligatures around the sciatic nerve. CoQ10 (200 mg/kg) or vehicle were daily injected intraperitoneally for 10 days. Behavioral tests were performed before nerve injury and on fifth and tenth days after injury. Radiant heat, Randall Selitto test, and Von Frey filaments were used to assess the pain threshold. At the end of the experiment, the animals were perfused transcardially. Lumbar spinal cord was removed and prepared for Nissl staining. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Mann-Whitney were used for statistical analysis. P-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Reduction in pain threshold and the number of neurons in dorsal horn of the spinal cord after nerve injury (P ≤ 0.001) were resulted. Injection of CoQ10 and vehicles increased the pain threshold (P ≤ 0.001 and P ≤ 0.01) and prevented cell loss in neuropathic rats compared with injured animals with no treatment (P < 0.05). Significant differences observed between animals that had received coQ10 compared with vehicle treated ones (P < 0.05). Conclusions: CoQ10 abolished neuropathic pain in CCI rats. Prevention of cell loss might be attributed to the analgesic effect of CoQ10. Hence, it might be used as a therapeutic intervention for neuropathic pain.