Elham Salari; Fatemeh Ayoobi; Zahra Assadollahi; Hossein Azin; Pouya Abedi; Mahdieh Azin
Volume 25, Issue 8 , 2023
Abstract
Background: Gender differences, in favor of males, exist in motor skills and motor imagery (MI) ability in healthy people. The MI ability in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients was altered; however, the reduction rate in the two genders has not been compared. Knowing the gender difference in MI may be used ...
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Background: Gender differences, in favor of males, exist in motor skills and motor imagery (MI) ability in healthy people. The MI ability in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients was altered; however, the reduction rate in the two genders has not been compared. Knowing the gender difference in MI may be used in rehabilitation programs based on MI.
Objectives: Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether gender difference in MI is evident in MS patients.
Methods: Forty-nine relapse-remitting MS patients (23 men) and also 51 healthy subjects (21 men) participated in this case-control study. The MI ability can be measured by Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire-20 (KVIQ-20), mental chronometry based on Box and Block test, and hand mental rotation task.
Results: Healthy men performed most MI tasks better than healthy women. Unlike healthy participants, no gender differences were observed in the KVIQ-20 scale (P=0.904), mental chronometry duration (right hand, P=0.199; left hand, P=0.374) and reaction time of hand mental rotation (right-hand stimuli, P=0.057; left-hand stimuli, P=0.059). However, MS men responded to hand stimuli significantly more accurately than MS women (right-hand stimuli, P=0.007; left-hand stimuli, P=0.027).
Conclusion: Our findings showed that MS men exhibit MI abilities similar to MS women. Perhaps motor deficit in MS males was influenced more by neurocognitive impairment. Perhaps in MS men as compared to MS women, MI practice as motor rehabilitation, could better improve their physical performance.
Fatemeh Ayoobi; Parvin Khalili; Maryam Mohamadi; Hamid Hakimi; Narjes Soltani; Ali Esmaeili-nadimi
Volume 23, Issue 4 , 2021
Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the globe. Activity status is used as a social class marker of CVDs.
Objectives: The present study aimed to analyze the associations between occupational status and CVDs in Iranian population.
Methods: The ...
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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the globe. Activity status is used as a social class marker of CVDs.
Objectives: The present study aimed to analyze the associations between occupational status and CVDs in Iranian population.
Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 9,990 subjects aged 35-70 years enrolled in the Rafsanjan Cohort Study (RCS), as one of the Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in Iran (PERSIAN). Occupational status, socio-demographic characteristics, physical activity, cigarette and hookah smoking, opium use, and alcohol consumption were assessed through six pre-designed questionnaires. Anthropometric, body mass index (BMI), medical history, and laboratory tests were also performed. CVDs were defined as the presence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) or myocardial infarction (MI). Prevalence ratios were calculated for each activity status and CVD using Poisson regression models.
Results: The occupational activities were assigned to two classes: homemaker (40.17%) was the largest group of class I, followed by self-employed (34.44%), employed (13.03%), retired (10.38%), and unemployed (1.62%). In class II, the largest group included pistachio farmers (12.61%), copper miners (3.62%), and others (83.76%). A percentage of people were illiterate (9.50%), especially in the homemaker group (61.39%). In general, 8.71% and 2.98% of participants suffered from IHD and MI, respectively. After adjusting the socio-demographic and other characteristics, there was no significant association between occupational status and CVDs.
Conclusion: As evidenced by the obtained results, activity status was not associated with the risk of IHD and MI.
