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Introduction: The goal of research is to create a learning environment that can increase learning. This study aimed to investigate the effect of contextual interference on spatial accuracy and motor reprogramming of the sequential motor task in people with Parkinson's disease.Methods: The research method is a quasi-experimental type with a pre-test and post-test research design. 64 people with Parkinson's disease (mean age = 62.93 ± 3) were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into four equal groups (16 people) including blocked - high similarity, blocked - low similarity, random - high similarity, and random - low similarity. The participants performed 180 trials (12 blocks of 15 trials) for three sequential movement tasks. The error of movement patterns performance was calculated in all stages. In the acquisition stage, the 2 (contextual interference) × 2 (sequence similarity) × 11 (acquisition blocks) ANOVA with repeated measures of the last factor, and for the retention stage, the 2 (contextual interference) × 2 (similarity of sequence) × 3 (stages) ANOVA with repeated measures of last factor, and for the transfer and reprogramming stages, the 2 (contextual interference) × 2 (sequence similarity) ANOVA were used at P=0.05 level of significance.Results: The results showed that in the acquisition phase, the blocked-high similarity group performed better, and the interactive effect of the group and sequence similarity was not significant in the retention and transfer stages. In the reprogramming phase, the random-high similarity group was better.Conclusion: According to the elaboration hypothesis, random practice increases the strength of memory representation and forms deeper processing in memory.

Background: The study aimed to determine the effect of zinc consumption on cell immunity in healthy 6-year-old children. In a double-blind clinical trial after the license of parents, 40 children 6-7 years old were enrolled. The male healthy and 6-7-year-old children were included and those with chronic disease, failure to thrive, and usage of another zinc supplement in the past two months, were excluded. In the case group (N=20), twenty mg of zinc sulfate syrup has been prescribed orally for 6 months. The control group (N=20) received a placebo the same as the case group in the volume, color, bottle size, and shape. Serum zinc level and cellular proliferation were measured before intervention and 12 hours after the last dose of zinc sulfate. Zinc serum was measured by manual colorimetric method technique. A zinc level of less than 65 ug/dl is considered zinc deficiency. The lymphocyte proliferation before and after zinc treatments have been compared by paired T-test analysis. Results:The mean weight of children in the case and control group were 20.37±2.21kg and 20.92±1.98 kg respectively (P= >0.05). Serum zinc level was within the normal limit and did not differ between the two groups before and after intervention (P=0.86). After 6 months of supplementation of 20 mg zinc sulfate per day for 6 months, there were no significant improvements in Lymphocyte proliferation (with/without PHA). Conclusion: This study indicates that moderate supplementation of zinc for six months cannot efficiently improve Lymphocyte proliferation (with/without PHA) in healthy male children.

Abstract Breakthrough multi-response miniature dosimetry/spectrometry of electroneutrons (EN) was made on surface and in-depths of whole-body polyethylene phantom under 10 cm × 10 cm electron beam of 20 MV Varian Clinac 2100C electron medical accelerator commonly applied for prostate treatment. While dosimetry/spectrometry of photoneutrons (PN) has been well characterized for decades, those of ENs lagged behind due to very low EN reaction cross section and lack of sensitive neutron dosimeters/spectrometers meeting neutron dosimetry requirements. Recently, Sohrabi “miniature neutron dosimeter/spectrometer” and “Stripe polycarbonate dosimeter” have broken this barrier and determined seven EN ambient dose equivalent (ENDE) (µSv.Gy–1) responses from electron beam and from albedo ENs including beam thermal (21 ± 2.63), albedo thermal (43 ± 3.70), total thermal (64 ± 6.33), total epithermal (32 ± 3.90), total fast (112.00), total thermal + epithermal (l96 ± 10), and total thermal + epithermal + fast (208 ± 10.23) ENs. Having seven ENDE responses of this study and seven PNDE responses of previous study with the same accelerator obtained at identical conditions by the same principle author provided the opportunity to compare the two sets of responses. The PNDE (µSv.Gy–1) responses have comparatively higher values and 22.60 times at isocenter which provide for the first time breakthrough ENDE responses not yet reported in any studies before worldwide.

Introduction: Zinc has a key role in reproductive physiology, immune modulation, growth, and development. To determine the effect of zinc supplements on the anthropometry of healthy 6-yearold children.Methods: In this double-blind placebo-controlled trial was carried out on 40 children 6-7 years old. The intervention group (n=20) received 20mg of oral zinc sulfate syrup and the control group (n=20) received a placebo daily in the same buttle and same test for 6 months duration of study. Serum zinc levels and anthropometric measurements (weight, height, head circumference, and arm circumference) were measured before and after intervention. Zinc deficiency was defined as serum zinc level < 9.9 μmol/l.Results: Serum zinc level did not differ between the two groups (P=0.86). Zinc supplementation resulted in a significant increase in height (P= 0.008).Conclusion: This study showed that zinc supplements have a significant increase in the length of male 6-year-old children.

Cryptosporidium is an intestinal apicomplexan protozoon that causes cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal disease affecting gastrointestinal tract of a wide range of vertebrates, including humans, livestock, wild animals, and birds. In the present study, Cryptosporidium spp. infection was diagnosed in sheep using two staining methods: Modified Ziehl–Neelsen (MZN) and auramine O (AO) staining. A total of 260 fecal samples were collected from sheep. All the samples were subjected to the formalin-ether concentration technique. The fecal smears were stained using the MZN (acid-fast stain) and AO (fluorescent stain) staining methods and then observed under a light and a fluorescent microscope, respectively. Cohen's kappa was used to check the significant agreement between the two diagnostic methods. According to the results, there was substantial agreement between the two methods. However, since there are many fluorescent artifacts in sheep feces, the detection rapidity of Cryptosporidium spp. in sheep feces by MZN staining is higher than that of AO staining. Therefore, it is suggested to use MZN staining for diagnosing cryptosporidiosis in sheep flocks.

Introduction: The present study aimed to determine the effect of imagining the play strategies in comparison with imagining the motor skills on performance during a sports competition course.Methods: Participants were 30 (19 men, 11 women) karatekas who were evaluated as upper than moderate in terms of performance level. In the beginning, participants' ability and past experiments in motor imagery were assessed. Then, they took part in a quasi-experimental design of one of three strategic imagery, movement imagery, or control groups. Each person immediately after combatting with an opponent performed the required action depending on the group and finally competed against the same previous opponent, again.Results: The results showed that karatekas had excellent imagery ability, especially in preserving the temporal characteristics of the movement, and at the past competitions, specifically before their matches, they had used both cognitive-general and cognitive-specific imagery. Also, the nonparametric analysis demonstrated that in the quasi-experimental design, the strategic imagery group gained a higher point difference during the post-test, however, the movement imagery or control group did not differ significantly.Conclusion: The research findings revealed that strategic imagery has more advantages compared to skill imagery, suggesting that strategies of play can be used between the matches as an effective factor in sports success.

In this paper, evaporation rate of nanofluids in subatmospheric pressure with different hydrophilic particles has been experimentally investigated, and compared with deionized water evaporation rate. The particles shape and dimensions were examined through SEM images. Then, the values of heat flux and evaporation rate were measured at different temperatures, according to the differences in the geometry and thermal conductivity of each particle with different amounts of particles, and compared. Investigation of the SEM images showed that the size of the aluminum and phlogopite particles were around 40–250 μm and the size of the silica particles were around 30–50 nm. The shape of the aluminum and phlogopite particles were as flake and the silica particles were as sphere. The obtained results revealed that the geometry, quantity and thermal conductivity of each particle were key parameters in the measured values of evaporation rate, meaning that their combined effects might lead to an increase in evaporation rate values.

Introduction: The serum 25(OH)D response to vitamin D supplementation, differs between individuals. The goal of this study was the evaluation of the relationship between socioeconomic and demographic factors with the hugeness of response to vitamin supplementation, defined by statistical analysis artificial neural network (ANNs). Methods: The prospective interventional study was conducted on 529 participants aged 19-12 years old. All participants were administrated to receive nine vitamin D capsules (50000IU vitamin D) over nine weeks. The response variables were the following: the differences between the concentrations of vitamin D before and after intervention. Results: Among various sociodemographic factors which affect the increase in serum vitamin D amounts in response to supplementations, baseline serum vitamin D (%28.1), BMI (%13.8), physical activity (%12.1), age (%7.6), mother›s education (%6.4), and father›s occupation (%5.8) be important variables. Conclusion: This interventional study provides specific sociodemographicrecommendations to achieve 25(OH)D targets in cases with severe vitamin D deficiency, perhaps indicating that a higher dose is require to obtain optimal Vit D levels in some individuals.

Abstract Breakthrough whole body energy-specific photoneutron (PN) dosimetry was made in/out-of-field in polyethylene phantom organ surface/depths remote from isocenter of 10 × 10 cm2 field prostate cancer therapy in 18 MV X-rays Varian Clinac 2100C medical linear accelerator for PN tissue-specific second primary cancer (PN-SPC) risk estimation. A novel miniature neutron dosimeter/spectrometer with polycarbonate/10B/cadmium inserts was invented and applied. Each dosimeter determines seven tissue-specific dose equivalent (mSv)/Gy X-ray dose at each measurement point providing seven major energy-specific responses for beam thermal, albedo thermal, total thermal, total epithermal, total fast, sum of totals (thermal + epithermal) and sum of totals (thermal + epithermal + fast) PNs dose equivalents. The neutron dosimeter is simple, efficient, and unique with high spatial resolution and provides matrix of energy-specific PN dose equivalent (mSv)/Gy X-ray dose on surface and organ depths for tissue-specific PN-SPC risk estimation. The dosimeter also performs like a “miniature neutron spectrometer” and is unique for other applications in health physics in particular individual neutron dosimetry, medical physics, space flights, science and technology.

The aim of the study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Iraqi version of the Gross Motor Development Test - Third Edition TGMD-3 in Iraqi children aged 5 to 9 years. The second aim of this study was to compare the development of gross motor skills of Iranian and Iraqi children. The participants were selected from 400 people by cluster sampling method from Iraq and were evaluated using TGMD-3 test. Finally, 30 Iraqis in the age group of 8-9 years were randomly selected and compared with a similar group of 30 Iranian children. Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation coefficient, factor analysis and t-test were used to analyze the data. Internal consistency reliability coefficients for locomotor, ball skills and total scores were 0.77, 0.85 and 0.87; test-retest reliability coefficients were 0.89, 0.90 and 0.91; inter-rater reliability coefficients were 0.77, 0.85 and 0.88; intera-rater coefficients were 0.66, 0.80 and 0.84, respectively. Also, there was no significant difference between the performance of Iranian and Iraqi children in the subtests of locomotor and ball skills and the total score of gross motor skills (P

Abstract Neutron spectrometry in science and technology applications in general and accurate exotic photoneutron (PN) dosimetry of cancer patients undergoing high-dose high-energy X-rays therapy in medical accelerators in particular is of vital need. In this study, a novel passive multi-directional multi-detector neutron spectrometry system was developed and home-made using 6 polycarbonate/10B detectors on 6 sides of polyethylene (PE) cubes used bare and also embedded at center of PE spheres of 8 different diameters. The system provided well-resolved unfolded directional PN spectra showing thermal and fast PN peaks of 6 sides and mean spectrum in 5 field sizes at isocenter and other locations in 18 MV Siemens ONCOR medical linear accelerator bunker. The neutron spectrometry system developed has unique characteristics such as being simple, efficient, low cost, practical, and insensitive to low-LET radiation with well-resolved directional and mean spectra easily applicable in medicine, health, environment, science and technology in developing and developed laboratories.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of Nintendo Wii-based motor and cognitive training on executive function of children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. Statistical population of this research included boys with ADHD, aged 8-11. Years. 27 eligible participants were selected from Avand development center and were randomly assigned and were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group. The experimental group participated in a selected gaming program for 24 sessions, 60 minutes per session. At the beginning of the study and after eight weeks of intervention, participants were assessed with Corsi-Block-Tapping test, GO/No-Go test and Tower of London (TOL) test. R Statistical software were used for data analysis. The resulting data were analyzed using ANCOVA and MANCOVA. The results showed that working memory and response inhibition in the experimental group were significantly improved in comparison to the control group, in assessing planning, there were significant differences between groups in TOL score that measured correct solved problems. But there were no differences in TOL scores that measure performance of planning time and planning speed (P >0.05).. These results suggest that Nintendo Wii game playing might be a simple and cost effective way for improving executive function of ADHD children.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a selected balance training program under dual and single-task conditions on working memory of children with developmental coordination disorder. The research method was semi-experimental and a pre-test-post-test- follow-up design with a control group. In this study, 39 boys with DCD were selected by the available sampling method and randomly assigned to three groups: Dual-task training (n=13), single-task training (n=13), and control (n=13). The two experimental groups performed a selected training program with two different conditions for 8 weeks. All subjects were evaluated in three stages of pre-test, post-test and follow-up test (two months after post-test) by the Corsi block-tapping test (working memory test). Data analysis using ANOVA with the repeated measure as well as one-way ANCOVA showed that in the post-test, working memory in dual-task group was superior to both single and control groups (P

Objectives: During life, many factors cause functional impairment and imbalance in body balance process. One of these disabilities and functional impairment is Parkinsonchr('39')s Disease. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of attentional instructions and exercise with resistance socks on the static and dynamic balance of Parkinsonchr('39')s patients. Methods & Materials: In order to investigate this, 25 females (Mean±SD: 62.20±2.31) were purposefully selected among the patients with Parkinsonchr('39')s disease with over 60 years of age in Shahrood City and were randomly assigned into five experimental groups: 1. External attentional instruction group along with exercise with resistance socks; 2. Internal attentional instruction group along with exercise with resistance socks; 3. External attentional instruction group along with exercise without resistance socks; 4. Internal attentional instruction group along with resistance exercise without socks; and 5. Resistance exercises group without socks and without justifying instructions. The training protocol of present study was 90 minutes, three times a week for 8 weeks in a state of exercises in water for each of the five groups of resistance and non-resistance training. The static and dynamic balance of participants was recorded in the pretest-posttest phases. Results: The findings of One-way Covariance Analysis (ANCOVA) showed that the external attentional instruction group along with exercise with resistance socks performed better than other groups in the static equilibrium index, only in the open eye conditions (P= 0.04, η2= 0.31). These findings were repeated in the dynamic equilibrium index (P= 0.02, η2= 0.44). Conclusion: According to the findings of present study, it is suggested to coaches and therapists to use external attentional instructions along with exercise with resistance socks during their training and modifying interventions in the water to improve the patientchr('39')s static and dynamic equilibrium. However, future supplementary studies are suggested.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a selected training program under dual and single-task conditions on the cognitive flexibility of children with developmental coordination disorder. The research method was semi-experimental and with a pre-test-post-test- follow-up design with control group. The statistical population of this study included male students with developmental disorder in Ahvaz city. From the mentioned population, a sample of 39 subjects who were eligible for inclusion in the study was selected by available sampling method. After the Trail Making Test as a pre-test, they were randomly assigned to three groups: Exercise Dual task (n=13), single task training (n=13) and control (n=13). Then, the two experimental groups performed a selected training program with different conditions for 8 weeks and 3 sessions each 45 minutes each week. At the end, all subjects were followed by a Trail Making Test and two months later, a follow-up test. Data analysis using one-way covariance analysis as well as t-test showed that in post-test, cognitive flexibility in dual task group was superior to both single and control group (P < 0.05). In the follow-up test, this superiority remained only rather than the control group. Also, the single task group was superior to the control group in the post-test (P

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different levels of impulsivity on learning of skills in open and closed environments. Participations were forty-eight male with 10 to 12 years old that signed in low impulsivity, med impulsivity, high impulsivity and control groups (combined group) in accordance to the distribution of impulsivity scores. Before and after basketball skills training program, Harrison’s basketball shooting test was used to evaluation of performance and learning of skills in open and closed environments during pre-test, post-test, retention and transfer test. The results showed a significantly differences between groups for attentional functions (p=0.0001). The results of post-test and retention showed advanced performance in open environment with the increased levels of impulsivity (p=0.003). While about closed environment, progressive performance was aligned with Low levels of impulsivity groups (F=0.001). But in the transfer tests, differences between the groups were not significant (F=0.09), that was performed under the competitive goal condition. It is possible that impulsivity has a facilitator and an attenuator role in learning of various sportive skills, perhaps in open and closed environments.

Objectives Balance maintenance is one of the indices of determining independence in older people. Identifying other factors that have considerable impact on the independence of older peoples is an interesting research topic. The present study aims at determining the effect of Neurofeedback and Mental Motor Imagery practices on balance in the elderly. Methods & Materials The population of this study consisted of elderly people of Mashhad, a city in northeast Iran. A total of 24 elderly people with age ranging from 60-82 years old volunteered to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to three groups (with eight participants in each group). The participants of experimental groups were involved in the special training (neurofeedback training and mental imagery practice) for eight weeks (with three sessions each week)while the control group were not involved in any practice. Stork Balance Stand Test and Timed Up and Go (TUG) tests were used to assess the static and dynamic balance of participants respectively, before and after the training sessions. The Shapiro–Wilk test of normality was used to check normality of data. Additionally, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine the effect of training with pre-test scores used as covariate. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics 21 at a=0.05. Results The results of Analysis of Covariance revealed that there was a significant effect of neurofeedback and mental imagery on the static and dynamic balance of elderly people (P

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of equipment modification on acquisition and retention of basketball free throw skill in children aged between 9 and 10 with an emphasis on working memory capacity. 40malestudents were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups of modified and standard equipment with high and low working memory capacity based on the Memory for Digit Span assessment by Wechsler. Mini-basketball rules were used as a reference. The acquisition phase included 10 sessions, 4blocks each session and 15 attempts each block. Free throw basketball test (AAHPERD) was conducted as the pretest and acquisition and retention tests were conducted after a week. In the acquisition phase, 2x2x2 multivariate analysis of variance (eqipement×working memory×test) with repeated measures showed that interactive effect between working memory (high and low) and test (pretest and posttest) on performance was significant. Also, interactive effect between equipment (standard and modified) and test (pretest and posttest) on performance was significant while the interactive effect of working memory, equipment and test on performance was not significant. In retention phase, 2x2 multivariate analysis of variance (eqipement×working memory) showed that the main and interactive effect of working memory and equipment on performance was significant. The results showed that the effect of equipment employment in working memory levels on performance was similar in both pretest and posttest and also it seems that the effect of the modified equipment on performance in retention test was better in children with low working memory than children with high working memory.

مقدمه: عامل رشد عصبی مشتق شده از مغز (BDNF یا Brain-derived neurotrophic factor)، پروتئینی است که نقش مهمی در حفاظت نورونی، نورون‌زایی و شکل پذیری سیناپسی دارد و به واسطه‌ی آن، می‌تواند نقش مهمی در یادگیری حرکتی ایفا کند. وجود پلی‌مورفیسم تک نوکلئوتیدی val66met در یکی از نواحی ژن BDNF، منجر به اختلال در بیان این پروتئین می‌شود. هدف از انجام تحقیق حاضر، بررسی تأثیر این پلی‌مورفیسم بر یادگیری مهارت حرکتی پیچیده بود. روش‌ها: 100 دانشجو از دانشگاه‌های شهر کاشان (با میانگین سنی 20/2 ± 60/21) به صورت تصادفی انتخاب شدند و پس از انجام آزمایش‌های ژنتیک، 46 نفر فاقد پلی‌مورفیسم val66met و 54 نفر تحت تأثیر این پلی‌مورفیسم شناسایی شدند. 28 نفر از افراد هر دو گروه ژنتیک (56 نفر)، پس از اجرای پیش‌آزمون، به 10 جلسه تمرین دراپ کنترلی بدمینتون پرداختند و 72 ساعت پس از آخرین جلسه‌ی تمرین، پس‌آزمون اجرا شد. برای بررسی طبیعی بودن توزیع داده‌ها، از آزمون Kolmogorov–Smirnov و برای تحلیل داده‌ها، از آزمون‌های Independent t و Repeated masseurs ANOVA، در سطح معنی‌داری 05/0 = α استفاده شد. یافته‌ها: هر چند هر دو گروه، پیشرفت قابل توجهی در اثر تمرین داشتند، تفاوت معنی‌داری در مراحل پیش و پس‌آزمون بین دو گروه وجود نداشت. نتیجه‌گیری: در کل، نتایج این تحقیق نشان از عدم تفاوت بین افراد دارای پلی‌مورفیسم val66met و افراد فاقد این پلی‌مورفیسم در یادگیری مهارت دراپ کنترلی بدمینتون بود. این عدم تفاوت، می‌تواند ناشی از عوامل بسیاری از جمله نوع تکلیف و شیوه‌نامه‌ی تمرینی مورد استفاده در این تحقیق باشد.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks selected sport trainings on perceptual- motor skills among typical obese girls and girls with Down syndrome (aged 7-13). Materials & Methods: In this quasi-experimental study with control group, 22 obese children with Down syndrome and 22 typical obese children who were selected purposefully participated in 24 purposeful sport training sessions. All groups were assessed with Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency before and after training sessions. Results: The findings showed that both groups of participants significantly developed in their gross motor skills (P

The aim of this study was to investigate impulsiveness features of soccer players in different positions according to the mastery orientation approach. For this purpose, 40 soccer players in Iran first division league with mean age of 28.65±3.9 years in different positions participated in this study. To measure impulsiveness features, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and Continuous Performance Test (CPT) were used. Multivariate analysis of variance results indicated that goalkeepers and defenders achieved higher scores in cognitive and motor variables of impulsiveness factors and in misdiagnosis of continuous performance test items than the middle players and offenders (F(9,82)=3.126, P=0.001, Wilks Lambda 0.228, partial η2=0.389). Based on these results, it can be stated that impulsiveness is one of the main explanatory factors of players' tendency towards different soccer positions along with other relevant variables.

Objectives: the present research aimed to study the effects of whole body vibration, mental practice and combined vibration and mental practice on static and dynamic balance of elderly men. Methods & Materials: this was a semi-experimental research. The participants included 42 healthy, elderly men aged (60-80 yrs) from Mashhad who was randomly categorized into 4 groups: vibration (n=12), mental practice (n=10), combined practice (n=10) and control (n=10). The experimental groups practiced their specific protocols for 8 weeks, 3 sessions a week. The vibration group practiced 6 body positions based on the overload principle with intensity 30-35 HZ and 5 mm amplitude. The mental practice group practiced for the same duration of time as the vibration group meanwhile the control group was just engaged in their daily life routine. Static and dynamic balances were assessed using stability tests on Biobex and TUG tests, respectively. One-way ANOVA with Gabriel post Hoc was applied in order to analyze the data. The significance level was set at α0.05≥. Results: our results showed a significant difference between the control group and mental practice (P=0.005), and combined training group (P=0.026) regarding their static balance. However no difference was observed between the control group and vibration group (P=0.422) or between the two experimental groups. Results of the dynamic balance of the control group and the vibration group (P=0.001) the mental practicing group (P=0.004) and the combined training group and mental practicing group differed significantly. Conclusion: Eight weeks of mental, vibration and combined vibration and mental practice could improve dynamic balance of the participants and mental practice, and combined vibration and mental practice could improve their static balance.

Background: When Parkinson's disease progresses, complications such as impaired balance, can affect patient's quality of life. Results have indicated that complementary program processes such as physiotherapy can reduce these complications while the brain and its waves are ignored. This study aimed to verify the effect of neurofeedback training on postural stability and fall risk in patients with Parkinson's disease. Methods: This was an experimental research with pre-, post-test method and control group. 16 patients were selected through purposive sampling and were randomly divided to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in 8 sessions of actual neurofeedback training as well as control group participated in 8 sessions of sham neurofeedback training. Before and after the training, the pre- and post-test of postural stability and fall risk were administered using biodex system. Findings: The mean scores of fall risk and the postural stability improved significantly after the intervention in experimental group (P < 0.001), while there were no significant changes among control group in fall risk (P = 0.450) and the postural stability (P = 0.750) scores. Conclusion: Our results showed that the neurofeedback training can be used to control the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, especially postural stability and fall risk.

The goal of this study is searching effective time (before, during and after physical practice) for mental practice in learning the Volleyball Service Skill. Forty-five beginner students, aged 12–14 years, with no history of Volleyball Service Skill participated in the study (45 Male ones). Most of them were Secondary school students. All were unable to serve Volleyball correctly. The subjects were divided into the three groups (MP before PP, MP during PP and MP after PP). All subjects performed mental and physical practice in 21 sessions and for 30 minutes per session. The subjects were tested at the end of the 7th, 14th, 21th, and 28th sessions. The Volleyball Serving Test was used for test comparing the rate of learning. The result of this research showed there was significant difference between means of the MP-during-PP group, and the MP-before-PP and the MP-after-PP groups in improving their Volleyball Service skill. Moreover, the MP-before-PP and MP-after-PP groups did not differ from each other concerning the scores. The retention test showed that subjects in the MP-before-PP and the MP-after-PP groups, in contrast to the MP-during-PP group, did not significantly improve their Volleyball Service skill. This study suggested that coaches and P.E teachers apply mental practice (10 minutes) as an essential part in programs and teach the beginners that use mental practice in every time of physical practice (spatially during physical practice).

Attention is one of the effective factors when learning and performing motor skills. Focus of attention is a method to increase the efficiency and learning. Previous studies have shown that focus of attention plays an important role in learning and performing motor skills. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of the instruction of far and near external focus of attention on dynamic balance task performance. In this study, sixty male undergraduate students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, who had taken the general physical education course in the second semester of 1388-89, were assigned randomly in three groups: far external attention group (attention to those signs far from the feet), near external attention group (attention to those signs near the feet) and control group (no attentional instruction). The stabilometer (Biodex) was used to collect the data. Each participant performed three 20-second trials in dynamic balance test. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics such as one-way ANOVA and Duncan post hoc test. The results showed that far external attention group performed significantly better than control group while near external attention group did not reveal any significant difference compared to the control group.

Objectives: The aim of current study was to determine the effects of Hata yoga training on dynamic and static balances of elderly women in Mashhad. Methods and Materials: The present study enjoys the semi-experimental design. The statistical population of the study, which has been carried out in 2009, were elderly women of Mashhad who were voluntarily invited to participate in the research. 29 healthy elderly women aged 56-72 years old have been selected who haven’t had any disease history during the last one year such as: advanced osteoporosis, hip replacement, glaucoma, Parkinson’s disease, common occurrences of dizziness, or any surgery. Before and after doing the Hata yoga training program which was performed in 3- sessions of 1- hour during 8 weeks Dynamic and static balances were evaluated by fall risk test and postural stability test respectively by Biodex Balance System. Finally data were analyzed by using Variance analysis (GLM-repeated measures) and Dependent T-test and the significance of results was α=0.05. Results: The effects of 24 sessions of Hata yoga training were significant on static balance: overall (P=0.001), anterior-posterior (P=0.002), medial-lateral (P=0.006) and dynamic balance of elderly women (P=0.00). Conclusion: Considering the positive influence of Hata yoga training on dynamic and static balances, it is concluded that Hata yoga training has led to the improvement muscle strength among elderly women particularly endurance and strength of muscles in lower extremity and may increase the efficiency of neuro- motor system and improve somatosensory of muscles and joints by ameliorating the existed balance and decreasing fall risk in elderly women.