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Background and Aim: Medical students experience a high level of stress, with potential adverse consequences on their academic performance. Stressors cannot be modified in numerous cases but students' abilities to cope with stressors should be upgraded. In this study, we investigated the effect of stress management training (As part of the Life Skills Curriculum in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences) on perceived stress, coping style in medical college students and also persistence of the effect of training. Material and method: This was a quasi-experimental study (before and after). The sample size was 35 medical students and included all of the second semester medical students. Sampling method was census. Stress management training included four two-hour sessions for four consecutive weeks. Assessment was carried out by use of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS-21) in four steps (before, immediately, 3 and 6 months after classes). Collected data were entered into SPSS17 software and analyzed by paired t-tests., ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. Result: Before training, the mean value for perceived stress among students was 33.42 which decreased to 32.70, 31.50 and 29.22, after one, three and six months after training, respectively. We found significant differences in perceived stress only between the stages conducted before training and six months after training. (P-Value: 0.012). The dominant style of copping with stress in all periods was that of problem oriented but changes in a variety of styles in different periods were not significant. Conclusion: In this study, reduced perceived stress can be related to the training, but the role of confounding factors should be kept in mind. Lack of change in the students´ coping style after training can be attributed to short-term training and defective contents of the training. It seems that other factors such as students’ level of education and compulsory training can interfere with the results of this study. Therefore, further studies are required to carry out alterations in the life skill curriculum in Kurdistan University of medical sciences. Key word: Medical student, life skills, Stress management, Perceived stress, Copping style with stress. Received: May 11, 2013 Accepted: Jun 10, 2014

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Background and Aim: Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common human infections. Although the association between H.pylori infection and Alzheimer's disease has been suggested in some studies, few studies have dealt with the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and memory function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the memory function in the students with H.pylori infection.
Material and Methods: This case-control study was performed in Sanandaj universities. 106 H.pylori positive and 119 H. pylori negative students were compared using Wechsler memory test. In order to analyze the data, independent t-test and multiple regression were used.
Results: The results of this study showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between Wechsler memory final score and H.pylori infection (p = 0.24). But there was a statistically significant relationship between the visual memory subscale (p = 0.01) and mental control (p =0.003). By controlling the confounding effect of age, H. pylori had a negative effect on mental control (P = 0.03). Also, male gender (p = 0.02) and Helicobacter pylori infection (p = 0.007) had a negative effect on the visual memory.
Conclusion: In our study H.pylori infection was not significantly related to the overall memory function of the individuals, but due to the association of this infection with some subscales of memory, further studies are recommended.