44 research outputs found

    Molecular detection of TEM broad spectrum β-lactamase in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli

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    Resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, along with clinical isolates, frequently results to production of β- lactamase enzymes. In recent years, the production of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) among clinical isolates, especially Escherichia coli has greatly increased. On the other hand, β lactamase genes have several subfamilies, and designing universal primers could be valuable to detect all of them. The beta lactamase enzyme producing E. coli, resistant to β-lactam antibiotics, created many problems for the patients. The TEM gene is responsible for β-lactamase resistance. The purpose of this study was to find out the percentage of E. coli strains that carry TEM in genes. In total, 500 clinical samples were collected from different Hospitals in Tehran. All the samples were isolated on EMB and MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The identification was carried out by conventional biochemical tests. Out of the 500 samples, 200 were identified as E. coli. The TEM gene was determined by PCR method on the isolates, which were already identified as Phenotypic by disk diffusion agar and combined disk. Out of the 200 isolated E. coli strains, 128 (64%) were producing ESBls. The PCR results show that 74 isolates of E. coli (57.8%) had the TEM gene. Our findings show that the majority of the ESBL positive clinical isolates of E. coli carried the TEM gene.Key words: Escherichia coli, β-lactamase enzymes, TEM-type extended spectrum beta-lactamases

    Food and nutrition literacy status and its correlates in Iranian senior high-school students

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    Background: Planning interventions to promote food and nutrition literacy (FNL) require a better understanding of the FNL status of the target group and its correlates. Aims: This study aimed to examine the FNL status and its determinants in Iranian senior high-school students. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, FNL and its components (food and nutrition knowledge, functional skills, interactive skills, advocacy, critical analysis of information, and food label reading skill) were evaluated by a locally designed and validated, self-administered questionnaire. Besides, socioeconomic, demographic, anthropometric measures, as well as academic performance of 626 senior high-school students were assessed. Results: The mean ± SD of the total FNL score (within potential range of 0 to 100) was 52.1 ± 10.96, which is below the minimum adequate level of 60. The probability of high FNL knowledge score was significantly higher among students who majored in Natural Sciences (OR = 1.73, CI = 1.09�2.75), had better school performance (OR = 1.13, CI = 1.06�1.20) and higher SES score (OR = 1.20, CI = 1.01�1.44). The score for food label reading was significantly lower in girls (OR = 0.45, CI = 0.31�0.67), while those who had a family member with the nutrition-related disease were more likely to have a higher score of food label reading skill (OR = 1.48, CI = 1.01�1.64). Conclusion: The level of FNL in senior high-school students in Tehran was relatively low. These findings have key messages for the education system and curriculum designers to have more consideration for food and nutrition-related knowledge and skills in schools. © 2021, The Author(s)

    Magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of iron overload: A comparison of MRI, echocardiography and serum ferritin level in patients with β-thalassemia major

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    Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate iron levels in cardiac and hepatic tissues using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2*. Methods: Cardiac and hepatic MRI was performed for 93 patients with β-thalassemia major. Results: Cardiac T2* was in the range of 2.9-56.6 ms. Myocardial siderosis was detected in 44 of patients; 25 patients had moderate and severe siderosis with serum ferritin level (SFL) of 576-10,284 ng/ml. There was a significant correlation between SFL and cardiac T2* (p<.001). Conclusions: The effective role of MRI as a noninvasive producible method in measurement of iron concentration in tissues is not accessible with conventional techniques. © 2012 Elsevier Inc

    Hybrid particle swarm optimization for rule discovery in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease

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    Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the major and important causes of mortality worldwide. The knowledge about the risk factors which increases the probability of developing CAD can help to understand the disease better and also its treatment. Nowadays, many computer-aided approaches have been used for the prediction and diagnosis of diseases. The swarm intelligence algorithms like particle swarm optimization (PSO) have demonstrated great performance in solving different optimization problems. As rule discovery can be modeled as an optimization problem, it can be mapped to an optimization problem and solved by means of an evolutionary algorithm like PSO. Methods: An approach for discovering classification rules of CAD is proposed. The work is based on the real-world CAD dataset and aims at the detection of this disease by producing the accurate and effective rules. An approach based on a hybrid binary-real PSO algorithm is proposed which includes the combination of binary and realvalued encoding of a particle and a different approach for calculating the velocity of particles. The rules were developed from randomly generated particles which take random values in the range of each attribute in the rule. Two different feature selection approaches based on multi-objective evolutionary search and PSO were applied on the dataset and the most relevant features were selected by the algorithms. Results: The accuracy of two different rule sets were evaluated. The rule set with 11 features obtained more accurate results than the rule set with 13 features. Our results show that the proposed approach has the ability to produce effective rules with highest accuracy for the detection of CAD

    Clinical effects of Streptokinase in acute myocardial infarction

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    Background: With respect to the efficacy of thrombolytic agents in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction, the present study was conducted on CCU patients in Shaheed Beheshti hospital in Kashan in 1999-2000. We have determined the efficacy of streptokinase (Sk) based on anti-streptokinase before and after the treatment. Materials and Methods: For this clinical trial 45 patients with acute myocardial infarction were selected. Their diagnosis was made according to their clinical manifestations as well as EKG and paraclinical studies. Anti-streptokinase was measured by ELISA method. The efficacy of streptokinase was determined by Q wave in EKG.Results: Of 45 patients, 35 had low and 10 had high level of anti-streptokinase. In 35 patients (28 with low and 10 with high anti-streptokinase) the Q wave remained unchanged following the drug administration. Drug side effects were hypotension (15.5), bleeding (9) and allergic reactions (4.5). No mortality was reported. Conclusion: With respect to the high prevalence of streptococcal infections in our society, determining the anti-streptokinase level prior to the therapy is recommended. In case of low titer, we suggest streptokinase otherwise other thrombolytic agents should be administered

    Observance of patients� rights in emergency department of educational hospitals in south-east Iran

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    Purpose: Patient right is the most important ethical right in the hospital, which equally, belongs to every human kind. Observance of patient right is responsibility of all treatment staff when they offer treatment and care for patient. This study aims to investigate observance of patients� rights in emergency department of educational hospitals in south-east Iran. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a cross-sectional design and was conducted in four educational hospitals affiliated with the Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2018. Using a two-section standard questionnaire of Patients� Rights Charter, this study assessed patients� rights observance using a census method, N = 382. The data from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviations and analytic statistics such as Kolmogorov � Smirnov, ANOVA, t-test and Pearson test using SPSS 21. Findings: Means of total score for observing all essentials of patients� rights in emergency department of educational hospitals were at a moderate level (43.10 ±15.05) from the viewpoint of patients. The area of �providing health services based on respecting patient�s privacy and observing the essentials of secrecy and confidentiality� enjoying the highest mean score (86.89 ± 24.39), was at a good level compared to other areas. The area of �having access to effective complaint management system� showed the lowest mean score (23/85 ± 23/07) from the participants� perspective proving a poor level. Between the patient rights observance and gender, education level, resident status and duration of hospitalization, a significant relationship was observed. Originality/value: As regarded in this study, the degree of patients� rights observance was moderate so, culture, paying attention to the rights of all stakeholders, identifying barriers and various factors, including the professional and environmental differences in the assessment of the need, should be considered by policymakers to design promotional and regulatory programs for improving the rights of the patient. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

    Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy among deputy's administrative staff of Kerman University of Medical Sciences

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    Introduction: Emotional intelligence (EI) and self-efficacy are important factors that lead to success in work, life, and education. Various studies assessed the relationship between EI and well-being, performance, and self-efficacy in educational levels, but this topic has been rarely assessed in the occupational and administrative environments. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between EI and self-efficacy among administrative staffs of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Methods: The study employed a descriptive-correlational design and was conducted in six deputies supervised by the Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2019, and 275 participants were selected using a census method. The research data were collected using the Goleman's EI framework with a reliability coefficient of α= 0.87 and Sherer General Self-Efficacy Scale with a reliability coefficient of α = 0.78. Data analysis was performed through Kolmogorov-Smirnov, analysis of variance, Tukey, and Pearson's correlation coefficient techniques at P < 0.05 significance level. Results: The mean score of EI was 98.8 ± 11.1 and the mean score of self-efficacy was 60 ± 7.17. There was a significant positive relationship between the scores of EI and self-efficacy. In addition, the findings indicated a positive significant correlation between self-efficacy with self-awareness, self-regulation, and social skills. Conclusion: The findings of the current study confirm that EI has positive relationships with administrative personnel's self-efficacy. Therefore, implications of the findings can help in the selection, training, counseling, and retention of administrative personnel to the improvement of medical sciences universities' occupational performance. © 2020 Journal of Education and Health Promotion

    Toxicity Prediction in Pelvic Radiotherapy Using Multiple Instance Learning and Cascaded Attention Layers

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    Modern radiotherapy delivers treatment plans optimised on an individual patient level, using CT-based 3D models of patient anatomy. This optimisation is fundamentally based on simple assumptions about the relationship between radiation dose delivered to the cancer (increased dose will increase cancer control) and normal tissue (increased dose will increase rate of side effects). The details of these relationships are still not well understood, especially for radiation-induced toxicity. We propose a convolutional neural network based on multiple instance learning to analyse toxicity relationships for patients receiving pelvic radiotherapy. A dataset comprising of 315 patients were included in this study; with 3D dose distributions, pre-treatment CT scans with annotated abdominal structures, and patient-reported toxicity scores provided for each participant. In addition, we propose a novel mechanism for segregating the attentions over space and dose/imaging features independently for a better understanding of the anatomical distribution of toxicity. Quantitative and qualitative experiments were performed to evaluate the network performance. The proposed network could predict toxicity with 80% accuracy. Attention analysis over space demonstrated that there was a significant association between radiation dose to the anterior and right iliac of the abdomen and patient-reported toxicity. Experimental results showed that the proposed network had outstanding performance for toxicity prediction, localisation and explanation with the ability of generalisation for an unseen dataset

    MODIFYING FAT DIET IN PREGNANT AND LACTATANT WOMEN: DOSE IT AFFECT ON NEONATAL AND INFANTILE LIPID PROFILE?

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    Introduction: Transferred fats from utroplacental barrier have different concentration about their saturation degree. So, the diet during pregnancy seems to have an important role in determining the serum lipid level of the fetus. This study investigated the influence of modifying the maternal dietary fat on the serum lipids of the cord and one year old infants.&#13; Methods: This single blind randomized clinical trail was done on 180 pregnant women who was at 4th month gestational age. All subjects proved to have a fat unmodified diet through a 4-day food record dietary questionnaire. We divided them randomly in two groups. The intervention group was kept on a fat-modified diet including saturated fatty acid &lt; 10 percent, monounsaturated fatty acids: 10-15 percent, polyunsaturated fatty acid up to 10 percent and cholesterol &lt;300 mg/day as well as a dietary advice for the pregnancy period. The control group were given. only the latter advice. All subjects were followed up monthly. The blood samples were done at delivery from cords and after one year from infants. The serum lipids including total cholesterol (T.cho), triglyceride (TG), and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) were analyzed through enzymatic methods. The level of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated by Friedewald formula.&#13; Results: The mean level of T.cho in the interventional and control group was 70.3±15. 9,81.4±17.2 mg/dl, respectively (P&lt;0.01). TG (85.3±16.7 VS 97.5± 18.2 mg/dl), LDL-C(27.8 ± 15.2 VS 34.8± 17.1 mg/dl) and non-HDL-C (44.5±7.2 VS 54.5 ± 8.1) wre higher in cord blood samples of unmodified dietary fat. In one year old infant the comparison of serum lipids were as follow: T.cho (145.7 ± 51.4 VS 161.4 ± 56.2, P&lt;0.003), TG (90.1 ± 31.8 VS 98.3±33.1, P&lt;0.02), LDL-C (85.6± 20.4 VS 92.3±19.6, P &lt; 0,05) and non-HDL-C (113.6±30.2 VS 128.8±34.8,P &lt; 0.04). There was no significant difference in HDL-C. &#13; Discussion: According to the results, there is a significant decrease of T.cho, TG, LDL-C and non-HDL-C levels with no significant increase of HDL-C in the intervention group with the fat-modified diet. We conclude that the modifying maternal fat diet could be suitable way to prevent cardiovascular disease
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