Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Spasticity is a clinical deficit of upper motor neurons lesions that presented immediately or at delayed times after lesions and occurs in about 38% of stroke patients. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been recently reported as a safe and effective method for reducing spasticity in stroke patients. In the present study, we sought to investigate the impact of the ESWT on post stroke spasticity using a meta-analysis method.
Methods: All primary reports of spasticity indexed in PubMed, MEDLINE, Science Direct, Scopus and search engine of Google Scholar from January 2000 to December 2016 were searched. The following terms were used as keywords: Spasticity, muscle hypertonicity, ESWT, stroke and hemiplegia. Any report was included if it met the following criteria: involving clinical trials, full-version availability, and being written in english. Two reviewers selected articles independently and reviewed the studies considering quality and eligibility, and then they extracted general information on objectives, design, participants, and outcomes. The methodologic quality of each study was assessed using the Pedro Scale. In the statistical analyses, we considered two outcomes; Modified Ashworth scale (MAS) grade and passive rang of movement (PROM). The meta-analysis was done using random effect model in Stata, version 11 (Stata Corp., TX, USA).

Background: The previous studies showed that the odor can improve balance in the elderly. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effect of olfactory stimulus and its gender specific effect on the balance of young healthy people.
Methods: This is a pretest-posttest semi experimental study comprised 40 healthy volunteers (age range 18-73 years) from February 2016 through May 2017. The static balance test with one-leg standing time (OLST) and dynamic balance test using Biodex balance system to measure overall stability index (OSI), anterior/posterior stability index (APSI), medial/lateral stability index (MLSI) and overall limit of stability index (OLOSI) randomly were performed before and after application of lavender scant as the olfactory stimuli. A two-way repeated measurement ANOVA was used to assess the effect of olfactory stimulus conditions and gender on dynamic balance indexes (OSI, APSI, MLSI, and OLOSI). Since the distribution of the OLST was not normal, the generalized estimating equations (GEE) method was used. Significance level of P<0.05 was adopted for all comparisons. Means are reported±SD unless otherwise stated. SPSS software, version 21 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA) was used to carry out all statistical analyses.
Results: The results showed that in comparison of the two different conditions (no odor/with odor), there was no significant difference in any of static and dynamic balance indexes (P>0.05). There were significant differences in relation to the interaction of the gender and odor in OSI (P=0.026), APSI (P=0.019). For gender, there were statistically significant differences in OSI (P=0.002, F (1,38) =11.649), APSI (P=0.001, F (1,38) =12.057), and MLSI (P=0.007, F (1,38) =8.228) for females.
Conclusion: Although there was no effect of odor on balance control of young healthy people, we found that the odor has gender specific effect. This is probably due to the more sensitivity of females to the odor.

Background: The transverse abdominis (TrA) muscle is one of the most important muscles that contribute to the stability of the lumbar spine. Strengthening of trunk muscles that have a significant role in trunk stability is very important in the field of professional sport, sport medicine and rehabilitation of patient with low back pain (LBP). Identifying the exercises that can improve the strength and endurance of these muscles in the efficient way is an important challenge in rehabilitation of LBP patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of maximum voluntary isometric contraction of upper and lower limb muscles on ultrasonic thickness of the TrA muscle.
Methods: This is a pre-test post-test study. Thirty healthy young male subjects with mean age of 23 years were recruited from the university staff and student population (non probability sample). Ultrasonic thickness of the right and left TrA muscle (as an indirect measure of muscle activity) was taken at rest and during maximum isometric contraction of six muscle groups: shoulder and hip flexor, extensor and abductor muscles. Mixed-model ANOVA with repeated measures design were used to analyze data. To further analyses post hoc comparisons were performed with paired t-tests adjusted with the Bonferroni method. The significance level was set at P<0.05.
Results: The result showed that mean TrA thickness on right and left sides during maximum isometric contraction of the upper and lower limb muscles was significantly thicker than in resting position (P<0.001). The type of isometric contraction had a significant effect on the thickness of the TrA muscle on dominant side (P<0.05). As a result, the greatest change in the thickness of TrA muscle on dominant side was observed in hip isometric extension (P<0.05). There was a significant difference between the thickness of TrA during upper limb isometric contraction of dominant and non-dominant side (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Isometric contraction of upper and lower limb muscles especially in hip extension can increase the ultrasonic thickness of the transversus abdominis muscle.

Background: Spasticity is a common motor impairment in patients with stroke that not only has a negative impact on the patient’s quality of life but also has high economic burdens for society. Recently the application of shock wave therapy has attracted considerable attention as a safe and effective method in treatment of spasticity. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of application shock wave on spasticity of quadriceps femoris and triceps surae muscles in patients with stroke.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study on 15 stroke patients which were selected according to inclusion criteria between September 2016 and May 2017. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The intervention included one session placebo shock wave and three sessions of true shock wave. Level of the spasticity was measured at quadriceps and gastrocnemius muscles by Ashworth scale (AS) and passive range of motion (PROM) of the knee and ankle joints was recorded by a manual goniometer (Enraf-Nonius Corp., Delft, Netherlands). Participants were assessed at baseline, after the placebo shock wave, after the final session of active shock wave and 4 weeks after the last treatment.
Results: Placebo shock wave had not significant effect on grade of AS of spastic muscles as well as PROM of knee and ankle joints. True shock wave induced a statistically significant reduction in AS of triceps surae and quadriceps femoris muscles and improvement of PROM of knee and ankle joints. The reduction in AS of triceps surae and improvement of ROM ankle joint continued 4 weeks after the last treatment.  However, after 4 weeks, there was a significant reduction in the PROM of knee joint compared to the last session.
Conclusion: Three sessions shock wave therapy can reduce the tone of triceps surae and quadriceps muscles and improved the passive range of motion in the knee and ankle joints for up to 4 weeks, but these effects were not stable on the PROM knee joint.

Background: Cervix insufficiency is diagnosed based on a previous history of pregnancy loss in the second trimester, followed by painless cervical dilatation or premature rupture of the fetal membranes. Abnormal cervical tissue structural appears to be the cause of this complication. There are no diagnostic methods for cervical insufficiency before pregnancy, but magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), hysterosalpingography, and ultrasound can detect uterine anomalies that are risk factors for cervical insufficiency. Cerclage is known as a common procedure for prevention of the preterm labor, caused by cervix insufficiency. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of cerclage and it’s complications and prognosis based on the patient’s age, history of cervical insufficiency, history of preterm labor, history of miscarriage, curettage, and cervical and vaginal abnormalities.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted, including 65 patients, from March 2012 to March 2018, in Valiasr Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Data including the age, history of cervical insufficiency, history of abortion, history of cervix surgery and curettage, gestational age, presence of vaginal and cervical anomaly as well as complications such as bleeding and severe cervical pain and prognosis of cerclage were extracted.
Results: In our study, 65 women who undergone cerclage were evaluated, the mean age of the participants was 28.4 years. Abortion was present in 27.7% of cases, 16.9% once, 7.7% twice and 3.1% three times. In 21.5% of cases, there was a history of curettage and 66.2% had a history of preterm labor. For 4.6% of the subjects, the length of cervix was under 10 mm. Gestational age at the end of cerclage was under 26 weeks in 5.8% of patients. The termination of pregnancy was higher in patients with lower gravida, and the termination of pregnancy was significantly higher in those who were not curetted (P= 0.001). There were no complications, and the prognosis is considered good, in case the termination is above 32 weeks. The birth weight mean was 3041.5 grams. According to our study, the failure of the cerclage is associated with previous history of dilation and curettage (D&C) and higher gravidity.
Conclusion: Putting all the results together, 80% of the cerclage, performed in our institution were successful, without any complications.