Promoting menstrual health among persian adolescent girls from low socioeconomic backgrounds: a quasi-experimental study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research in the past decade has revealed average to poor menstrual health among many Iranian girls. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a health promotion project on improving menstrual health in adolescent girls in Iran.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A quasi-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the health intervention program. A total of 698 students (study participants and controls) in several schools in Mazandaran province, Iran were included. The project comprised 10 two-hour educational sessions. Educational topics included the significance of adolescence, physical and emotional changes during adolescence, pubertal and menstruation health and premenstrual syndrome. A self-administered questionnaire measuring demographic characteristics, behaviors during menstruation, menstrual patterns, sources of information about menstruation and personal health data was administered. The questionnaire was administered to all participating students after the experimental group received the training.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the most significant results was the impact of educational sessions on bathing and genital hygiene. A total of 61.6% in the experimental group compared with 49.3% in the control group engaged in usual bathing during menstruation (p = 0.002). Individual health status was significantly statistically correlated with menstrual health. Attitude towards menstruation was also significantly related to menstrual health.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study confirms that educational interventions, such as the health promotion project in this study, can be quite effective in promoting menstrual health.</p

Investigation of Semiconductor Quantum Dots for Waveguide Electroabsorption Modulator

In this work, we investigated the use of 10-layer InAs quantum dot (QD) as active region of an electroabsorption modulator (EAM). The QD-EAM is a p-i-n ridge waveguide structure with intrinsic layer thickness of 0.4 μm, width of 10 μm, and length of 1.0 mm. Photocurrent measurement reveals a Stark shift of ~5 meV (~7 nm) at reverse bias of 3 V (75 kV/cm) and broadening of the resonance peak due to field ionization of electrons and holes was observed for E-field larger than 25 kV/cm. Investigation at wavelength range of 1,300–1320 nm reveals that the largest absorption change occurs at 1317 nm. Optical transmission measurement at this wavelength shows insertion loss of ~8 dB, and extinction ratio of ~5 dB at reverse bias of 5 V. Consequently, methods to improve the performance of the QD-EAM are proposed. We believe that QDs are promising for EAM and the performance of QD-EAM will improve with increasing research efforts

Targeting the MAPK7/MMP9 axis for metastasis in primary bone cancer

Metastasis is the leading cause of cancer related death. This multistage process involves contribution from both tumour cells and the tumour stroma to release metastatic cells into the circulation. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) survive circulatory cytotoxicity, extravasate and colonise secondary sites effecting metastatic outcome. Reprogramming the transcriptomic landscape is a metastatic hallmark but detecting underlying master regulators that drive pathological gene expression is a key challenge, especially in childhood cancer. Here we used whole tumour plus single cell RNA sequencing in primary bone cancer and CTCs to perform weighted gene co-expression network analysis to systematically detect coordinated changes in metastatic transcript expression. This approach with comparisons applied to data collected from cell line models, clinical samples and xenograft mouse models revealed MAPK7/MMP9 signalling as a driver for primary bone cancer metastasis. RNAi knockdown of MAPK7 reduces proliferation, colony formation, migration, tumour growth, macrophage residency/polarisation and lung metastasis. Parallel to these observations were reduction of activated interleukins IL1B, IL6, IL8 plus mesenchymal markers VIM and VEGF in response to MAPK7 loss. Our results implicate a newly discovered, multidimensional MAPK7/MMP9 signalling hub in primary bone cancer metastasis that is clinically actionable

Assessment of Anterior Cervical Discectomy

AbstractBackground: The purpose of this study is to evaluate anterior cervical discectomy. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 43 patients underwent surgery through standard Smith-Robison Technique with fusion. Postoperative follow-up period was 24 months. Clinical assessment was done through Odom criteria, Neck disability index and VAS for neck pain. Results: According to Odom criteria, patients after surgery had more than 80% acceptable satisfaction. Based on Neck disability index and VAS, patients had significantly improved. Before surgery, none of the participating patients had lack of disability or mild disability. The most common indicator in these patients was severe disability which was observed in 34 cases (79.1%). After surgery, no one had complete disability while mild disability was the most common indicator among 20 patients (46.5%). The successful fusion rate was 95%. The most common symptom was neck pain and sensory disorder was the most prevalent sign. The most common level involved was C5-6. Medium-term of medical treatment was 4.5 months. The main causes of surgery were motor defect and neck pain. Conclusion: Due to the possibility of complete discectomy and complete removal of compression, anterior surgery approach is preferred over posterior one.

The role of group A beta hemolytic streptococcal infections in patients with tic and tourett&apos;s disorders

&quot;n Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Background: Recently, many cases diagnosed as pediatric autoimmune neuropsy-chiatric disorders associated with group A beta hemolytic streptococcus infection (PANDAS) due to production of autoimmune antibodies. Object of this study was comparison the titer of antibodies against group A beta hemolytic streptococcus (ASOT, Anti-DNase B, and Anti streptokinase) between children with movement disorders (tic and tourett&apos;s disorders; pediatric autoimmune psychiatric disorders) and healthy control.&quot;n&quot;nMethods: A cross sectional/ cases control study in pediatric neuropsychology ward and clinics in two referral hospitals (Rasoul &amp;amp; Aliasghar) affiliated by IUMS had done in Tehran, Iran (2008-2010). We selected 53 children with tic disorder and 76 healthy controls (age matched children). The antibody titers (IU/ml) in their area were compared and analyzed statistically. The area under ROC, sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of tests calculated.&quot;n&quot;nResults: Age of cases was between 4-16 years. All antibody titers had significant difference between two groups (p&amp;lt;0.0001; p=0.05; p=0.002 for ASOT, Anti-DNase and Antihyaloronidase respectively). ASOT (cut off level&amp;gt; 200IU/ml) had 75% sensitivity; 84% specificity and 80% PPV; Anti- streptokinase (cut off level&amp;gt; 332IU/ml) had 34% sensitivity; 85% specificity, and 90% PPV; Anti-DNase (cut off level&amp;gt; 140IU/ml) had 70% sensitivity; 99% specificity and PPV 90%.&quot;n&quot;nConclusion: Patients with tic disorder had a significant high antibody titer against streptococcal infection in comparison with healthy children. It presents possible role for streptococcal infection in tic disorders. Treatment of streptococcal infection is achievable by using of long acting Penicillin in our country. Use of aggressive treatment like plasmaphresis etc needs future RCT studies

In situ growth of nanoparticles through control of non-stoichiometry

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