Tehran University Medical Journal

---

Background: Premenstrual syndrome is one of the most incidencial problems in women’s during reproductive age. That effect personal performance in family and society status. Varied therapeutic treatment has been studied for its promotion. The main attention was to find a method without complications. This study performed with aim of assessing effect of one period of continuous aerobic exercise on premenstrual syndrome in 18-25 years female students in jahrom medical school.
 Methods: This study was a kind of semi experimental study with two group plane. Forty students were assessed for premenstrual syndrome with regular mense, without previous history of Diabetes mellitus and Thyroid, Gynecologic and psychological disease. Twenty subjects (with similar VO2 MAX) were selected and randomly divided to two experimental and control groups. Data gathering was from ILPDD questionnaire concluded 11 question about signs and symptoms of mental and physical complain related to premenstrual syndrome that filled by samples. All samples have positive five complain that four of them depend on mental symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Intensity of quantity of premenstrual syndrome and levels of estrogen and progesterone were measured. Then, exercise regime including continuous aerobic exercise, were performed for eight weeks, with frequency of three sessions every week. At the end of 8th week, posttests were repeated in the situation similar to pretest. Analytic statistic as a Nonparametric Mann-whitney test, and nonparametric Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used for comparing variables.
Results: This study showed that after two method of aerobic exercise, somatic and effective complain was decrease in case group (p>0.05). Hormonal change in two groups was not significant.
Conclusion: Releaving aerobic experiences is effective for somatic and affective complains secondary to premenstrual syndrome and this plan can be replace by other methods of medical management.

---

Background: Body weight is regulated by both food intake and energy expenditure. Ghrelin, a hormone produced by the stomach and pancreas, enhances appetite. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of intermittent treadmill running on acylated ghrelin and appetite in individuals with obesity. Methods: Nine inactive male students, with a mean age of 20.56±0.48 yrs, a body mass index of 32.68±0.84 kg/m2 and a maximum oxygen uptake of 34.21±1.48 ml/kg/min, participated in the study in two trials (control and exercise) in a counterbalanced, randomized design. The protocol included intermittent running with a constant intensity at 65% of VO2 max on a treadmill. Blood samples were collected before, during, and 2h after cessation of the exercise. Results: Acylated ghrelin concentrations and hunger ratings decreased significantly in the second phase and remained lower than baseline (P=0.006 and P=0.002, respectively) at the end of the exercise. The total area under the curve values and hunger ratings (all P<0.0005) were significantly lower in the exercise trial compared with the control state. Similarly, growth hormone rose significantly at the second phase and remained higher than baseline (P=0.033) at the end of the exercise trial. Conclusion: These findings indicate that acylated ghrelin and appetite are reduced by running at 65% of VO2 max and remain lower than baseline even two hours afterwards in individuals with obesity. Growth hormone seems to be more responsible for this suppression. Further studies are required to investigate whether this protocol could elicit the same effects in short-term training programs.

---

Background: Alpha-actinins are located in the skeletal muscle Z-line and form actin–actin cross-links. It belongs to a highly conserved family of actin-binding proteins- the spectrin superfamily, which also contains the spectrins and dystrophin. Mammalian skeletal muscle has two isoforms: alpha-actinins-2 and alpha-actinins-3. However, the response of alpha-actinins to exercise training is little understood. This study examined the effects of 8 weeks of resistance training on muscle mass, ACTN3 (alpha-actinins-3) gene expression levels and fiber type composition in the flexor hallucis longus (FHL) muscle.
Methods: Forty five female Sprague-Dawley rats (Initial body mass: 169.25±9gr age: 3 month) were obtained and assigned to a control (C n=18) or exercise training (T n=22) and pilot (P n=5) groups. The resistance training consisted of climbing a ladder carry-ing a load suspended from the tail and the weight increased progressively. Real-time PCR and Immunohistochemistry techniques were used to measure gene expression leve-ls and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) composition, respectively.
Results: Following 8 weeks of training, we observed significant increase in absolute muscle mass in FHL (P=0.01). Results showed that no significant difference was found in ACTN3 gene expression levels between training and control groups (P=0.852 respecti-vely). Also, Pearson coefficient didn't indicated any significant relationships in gene expression and Fiber type IIX in response to resistance training in FHL (r=0.12).
Conclusion: However, resistance training effects on sarcomeric proteins development, these results showed no effect of resistance training on alpha-actinins-3 levels. Althou-gh alpha-actinins-3 has an important function to produce and progress of force in sarco-mere, but didn't changed significantly in response to resistance training.

---

Background: Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a mutation in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. It is classified into five types (from type 0 to 4) based on the age of onset of symptoms and maximum motor function. This autosomal recessive mutation results in progressive weakness and atrophy of the proximal muscles. Due to the high cost of treatment, the critical timing of intervention, and the varied responses of patients, many individuals do not sufficiently benefit from current therapeutic methods. This study evaluates the impact of resistance training on the quality of life and fatigue in patients with SMA type III, considering the potential benefits of such training.
Methods: The present study was developmental and semi-experimental. Fourteen ambulatory patients with SMA type III were randomly assigned to exercise and control groups. The exercise group engaged in lower limb resistance training at an intensity of 6 to 8 on an adult resistance exercise scale for 10 weeks (25 sessions). During this period, the control group maintained their usual daily activities. Patients in the exercise group did not engage in any exercise activity other than the protocol of the present study. Patients' quality of life was measured with the Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire, and fatigue severity was measured with the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), both evaluated pre- and post-intervention. The assessments and exercises were conducted in the occupational therapy department of Shariati Hospital, Tehran, from July 2023 to September 2023.

---

Background: As survival rates among breast cancer patients improve, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has emerged as a leading cause of long-term morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal survivors. This epidemiological transition from oncologic risk to cardiometabolic vulnerability reveals a critical yet underexplored dimension of survivorship care. Structured exercise training represents a promising intervention, and this narrative review-grounded in a systematic literature search investigates the effects of aerobic, resistance, and combined training modalities on cardiovascular health in postmenopausal women with breast cancer. The review synthesizes evidence across physiological mechanisms, clinical outcomes, and implementation challenges to provide a comprehensive perspective on exercise oncology in this underserved population.
Methods: A systematic search of reputable international databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and Google Scholar as well as Persian databases SID and Magiran was conducted to identify relevant human studies, clinical trials, and randomized controlled trials published between January 2000 and April 2025. Screening, selection, and synthesis of the studies were performed in Iran between October 2024 and January 2025.
Results: Accumulating evidence supports that structured exercise especially combined aerobic and resistance training exerts substantial cardioprotective effects through multiple mechanisms, including reductions in systemic inflammation, improvements in body composition, regulation of blood pressure, enhancement of cardiorespiratory fitness, and improved left ventricular function. Combined interventions consistently outperformed single-modality programs, underscoring the importance of integrative approaches in oncologic rehabilitation. Despite this promise, persistent barriers such as limited access to trained personnel, lack of individualized protocols, and weak institutional support impede translation into routine practice. Notably, few existing reviews have bridged mechanistic, clinical, and operational domains in this population, highlighting a significant gap in the literature.
Conclusion: Exercise training is not merely an adjunct to care it is a clinically potent, physiologically grounded, and policy-relevant strategy for mitigating cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal breast cancer survivors. Given the increasing burden of CVD in this group, integrating personalized, evidence-based exercise into oncologic care pathways is both urgent and essential for advancing survivorship standards and informing future clinical guidelines.