Tehran University Medical Journal

---

The main goal of this study is to determine the auditory feedback effects in improvement of speech production process in prelingual totally deaf children who used cochlear implant prosthesis. For this reason, we recorded speech of four prelingual cochlear implant children pre and post of operation. Then we extract some static features of vowels-such as fundamental frequency, formant frequencies, vowel duration and vowel energy-from their stable mid-section and analyze them using a longitudinal prosthesis-on/off analysis. These patients-where are in the range of 7-13 years old-were operated in the cochlear implant clinic of Amiralam hospital. At each session, patients read the sentences once in device-on condition and then after 30 minutes stay in device-off condition. Quantitative results show that at least for the features under study, the patient's reliance on the auditory feedback decreased consistently by time (about 65%-averaged on all three vowels under study and all patients). So we concluded that after a sufficient time of operation, the speech motor patterns of patients will be trained for the correct production of static features of vowels and the relation of patients to auditory feedback for the production of such features considerably decreased by time.

---

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Approximately 2-15% of the global population suffers from migraine headaches. Since acupuncture is one of the treatments for this disorder, the aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of this modality on patients with migraine.
Methods: In this experimental interventional study, we enrolled 180 patients with migraine headache attacks at a documented frequency of at least 2 attacks during last 6 months. For all patients, the number, duration and intensity of the headaches were recorded before treatment. To treat the patients, the point with maximal pain was first determined and the meridian was distinguished. Then, the related acupoints were found and stimulated by percutaneous electrical acupuncture for several minutes. The procedure was repeated once per week for six weeks. After completion of all treatment sessions, the patients were visited and questioned about the number, duration and the intensity of headaches.
Results: The mean of number of attacks (9.55±8.26 vs. 3.50±6.77, p=0.001), the mean duration of each attack (9.11±6.59 vs. 3.33±3.65, p=0.001) and the intensity of the attacks (1.83±0.38 vs. 0.61±0.78, p=0.001) were significantly lower after treatment.
Conclusion: Application of acupuncture in patients with migraine headaches is associated with a significant decrease in the mean number, duration and intensity of attacks. Thus, this method of treatment is strongly recommended for migraine headache.

---

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the mid-term outcomes of concurrent total correction of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) after pulmonary valve (PV) replacement and its relation to QRS duration and MRI results.
Methods:  In this study, 51 patients with TOF who had the TOF surgery and PV replacement enrolled the study. Demographic data, MRI results such as, right ventricular end diastolic volume, right ventricular end systolic volume, systolic and diastolic indexes noted. Moreover, QRS duration and the patients' cardiac functional class were evaluated immediately before and 6 months after the surgery.
Results:  From 51 patients, 27.5% were female and 72.5% were male. The mean age of participants was 23.48 (SD=5.82) years. Functional class changes were statistically different (P<0.001) comparing the status before and after the surgery. The mean QRS duration before surgery was 130.20 (SD=16.89) ms which was in significant contrast with post-surgical states, 122.45 (SD=16.90) ms (P<0.001). Mean QRS duration before and after surgery was statistically lower in asymptomatic patients (P=0.028 and P=0.025, respectively). There was a statistical relationship between pre-surgical systolic and diastolic indexes to post-surgical functional class as asymptomatic patients had lower systolic and diastolic indexes (P=0.005 and P=0.028, respectively).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that QRS duration before and after surgery can be an indicator to evaluate the cardiac function after surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot. Moreover, systolic and diastolic indexes are factors affecting the good prognosis of patients therefore, PVR surgery needs to be done before the deterioration of systolic and diastolic indexes and cardiomegaly.

---

Background: Regarding the limited number of studies on the feasibility of resection and repair of the small intestine by ligasure, we performed this study to compare ligasure with linear stapler for the previously mentioned operation.
Methods: This phase 1 clinical trial study was performed in Ghaem Hospital, an educational hospital affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, from 2010 to 2011. After obtaining permission from the University's ethics committee and a written informed consent from each patient, we recruited 18 patients. The participants who had morbid obesity and were candidates for laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery were randomly allocated to two stapler and ligasure groups. The data were collected and analyzed by three statistical tests, including Mann-Whitney U test, by SPSS 16.
Results: All patients were female with the age range of 20-65 years. Cost in the stapler group ranged between 29,500,000 to 40,000,000 Rial (mean 31,830,000± 3,500,000 Rials) and in ligasure group it was between 24,000,000 to 35,000,000 Rials (mean 26,720,000± 3,290,000 Rials). There was a significant difference between the two groups in cost (P=0.004(. Duration of the operations were 200±3.4 and 240±10 minutes in the stapler and ligasure groups, respectively. The difference in duration was significant between the two groups (P=0.043). No significant differences were observed in complications.
Conclusion: Application of ligasure in resection and reconstruction of small intestine is more cost-effective than stapler, although duration of surgery is longer.

---

Background: There is a concern by some doctors that not interrupting the patients' initial statements of concerns can lead to too long medical visits. Therefore, in this study, the duration of the patients' initial statements of concerns was studied. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from August to October, 2011 in the Emergency Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran. 100 patients entered the study through convenience sampling. Based on a 5 level triage system Emergency Severity Index (ESI), patients who were not life-threatening conditions (level 5) entered the study and critically ill patients and foreign patients were excluded from the study. Demographic data of the patients and durations the patients' initial statements of concerns were recorded and measured. Results: Fifty-six percent of patients were men. 79 percent of them had academic degree less than diploma and most of them have Persian ethnicity (60 percent). The mean age of the participants was 37.09 (SD, 1.68). The mean durations of patients' initial statements was 71.60±2.37 seconds. The minimum time was 22.51 seconds and the maximum time was 206.51 seconds. There was significant difference between age (P=0.001, r=0.382) and gender (P=0.032, df=98, t= -2.17) with the durations of patients' initial statements. But education level (P=0.996, F (2, 97)=0.004) and ethnicity (P=0.266, F (6, 93)=1.3) did not have a significant effect on the durations of patients' initial statements. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, duration of patients' initial statements of concerns is less than what which leads to an increase the time of medical visits.

---

Results: The recovery rate of lesions in cutaneous leishmaniasis cases was found to be 96.7% by the intralesional treatment and 93% by the systematic one. The mean recovery time for cutaneous leishmaniasis patients was 8.00 weeks for the intralesional treatment and 18.00 days for the systematic treatment. The only significant variable in the intralesional treatment was observed on cases with thigh lesions, meaning that those patients who had CL lesions on their thighs experienced a significant reduction in their recovery time. Furthermore, the lesion variable was also significant (P=0.039) as the recovery chance of those patients who had four or more CL lesions was 30% less. Conclusion: The existence of lesions on CL patients’ thighs and a low number of lesions in CL patients can decrease the recovery time. The use of the Cox regression model in medical studies is more appropriate because not only does it consider the occurrence of the event but also it can reveal the occurrence time of the disease.