RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Iranian people celebrate the last Wednesday eve of the year as Chaharshanbe Suri and use explosives and firecrackers as part of this festival. OBJECTIVES: This study concerned fireworks injuries related to the Chaharshanbe Suri festival in Tabriz, a provincial capital in East Azerbaijan, Iran, to evaluate the epidemiology and provide data to prevent and manage these accidents. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was comprised of patients who were treated at the emergency department of Tabriz Sina hospital with burn injuries related to fireworks. The patients' demographics, time of the accidents, locations of the burns, and the type of explosive were recorded. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Forty-nine patients were seen in the emergency department. The mean age was 17.16 ± 9.1, ranged from 3 to 36. Forty patients were male (81.6%) and 9 were female (18.4%). Twenty-one patients had second degree burns (47.7%), 10 patients had first degree burns (22.7%), 9 patients had third degree burns (20.5%), and 4 patients had first and second degree burns (9.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that walking in the streets or driving with open windows can be dangerous in Iran during Charshanbe suri.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Rising fuel cost and subsequent increase in transportation prices encourage people to use cheap transportation such as a bicycle. This vehicle can also be used for sports and recreation. Bicycles are widely used in Iran, like other countries. There is not enough data about bicycle-related traumas in our country. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to obtain the epidemiology of this type of injury in Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital as a referral center in northwest of Iran during 2009 to 2012. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred bicycle-related patients during the three years were entered in this descriptive cross-sectional study. Patient's demographics, place and time of crash, mechanism of trauma, helmet and other safety device usage, and disposition information were gathered by a researcher-made checklist. Admission rate and ward as well as the site of injuries were also collected. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: All the patients were males with a mean age of 31.3 ± 23.12. Seventy six bicycle-related injuries occurred during weekdays and 24 happened on holidays; 71 patients attended the emergency department in the morning and 29 at night. Only three of 100 cyclists had helmets during the accident. The rates of injuries were as follows: 65 head and face, 20 abdomen, 14 chest, 11 soft tissue, eight lower limb, eight cervical spine, six upper limb, four thoracic and lumbar spine, and three pelvis injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Head and face are the most common sites of injury and skull fracture is the most common one. Considering the preventable entity of trauma, the use of helmets seems to be beneficial to prevent most bicycle-related injuries.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In previous studies, the bronchodilator and antitussive effects of Nigella sativa have been demonstrated on guinea pigs. OBJECTIVES: In the present study, the effect of the hydroethanolic extract of N. sativa on tracheal responsiveness in guinea pigs exposed to cigarette smoke was examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three groups of guinea pig models of COPD were given drinking water alone (COPD group), drinking water containing vitamin C (COPD + VC group), and N. sativa (COPD + NS group). Tracheal responses to methacholine were measured as effective concentration causing 50% of maximum response (EC50 M) in control animals (group C) and three groups of guinea pigs with COPD (n = 7, for all groups). Tracheal responses to 0.1% ovalbumin in comparison to contraction obtained by 10 µM methacholine were also examined. RESULTS: The tracheal responsiveness to both methacholine and ovalbumin in guinea pigs with COPD were significantly higher than those of controls (P < 0.001 for both cases). The tracheal responsiveness in the COPD + VC and the COPD + NS groups to both methacholine and ovalbumin were significantly decreased in comparison to the COPD group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: These results showed the preventive effect of hydroethanolic extract of N. sativa on tracheal responsiveness of guinea pig model of COPD, which was as effective as vitamin C.
