Considering lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentration in nasal-wash (NW) as a marker in evaluating the outcome of patients with bronchiolitis

Background: Estimation of bronchiolitis severity in infants is still an important issue and there are no standard methods to help physicians for better evaluation and management of clinical status of these patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the role LDH concentration in NW as a biomarker in evaluation the outcome of patients suffering bronchiolitis in Bu Ali Hospital, Ardabil.Methods: 100 children with bronchiolitis aged below 2 years entered the study. Nasal wash sample was extracted from all patients using 2 ml of normal saline. Samples were sent to laboratory to measure LDH level. Data were analyzed by statistical methods in SPSS.16.Results: The mean age of patients was 6.9±3.7 months and 57% of them were male. 42% of patients had mild bronchiolitis and 58% of them suffered from severe bronchiolitis. The LDH level of nasal wash fluid was neither related with gender nor with age. But it was significantly lower in patients who required oxygen therapy and had fever compared with those who did not require oxygen therapy and without fever. Moreover, LDH level showed a significant negative association with hospital stay (r= -0.570, p<0.001) and bronchiolitis severity (r= -0.440, p<0.001) in a way that its concentration was significantly lower in patients with hospital stay longer than 24 hours compared with hospital stay shorter than 24 hours, and in patients with severe bronchiolitis compared with mild bronchiolitis.Conclusions: According to results of this study, LDH measurement in nasal wash fluid can be used as a biochemical marker to evaluate clinical outcomes of bronchiolitis in children younger than 24 months

Lipid oxidation in fresh and stored eggs enriched with dietary w3 and w6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E and A dosages

Two experiments were planned to study the influence of dietary fat sources (fish oil (FO) or sunflower oil (SO)) and dietary doses of -tocopheryl acetate (-TA) (0, 60 and 120 mg/kg of feed) and vitamin A (0 IU, 10000 IU and 20000 IU) on lipid oxidation of stored eggs in three stages of 0 or fresh, 1 and 2 months of storage time. In the first experiment, 96 hen layers in six treatments including two oil sources (FO and SO) and two dietary [0, 60 and 120 mg/kg doses of -tocopheryl acetate (-TA)] were fed for 75 days. In the second experiment, 96 hen layers in six treatments including two sources of w3 and w6 (FO and SO) and three doses 0, 10000 and 20000 IU of vitamin A were fed for 75 days. The results showedthat using -TA supplementation, lipid stability of enriched eggs increased and was very effective throughout the stored period of the eggs. Yolk TBA value was higher in fish oil than sunflower oil groups (p &lt; 0.01). The treatments that contained 120 mg/kg of -TA in diets, showed lower lipidperoxidation than other groups in stages of 2 and 3 storage time (30 and 60 days). The degree of lipid oxidation in fresh, 1 and 2 months of storage eggs was measured by the lipid TBA values. The results showed that TBA value in fresh and stored eggs was higher in groups containing fish oil than other groups (p &lt; 0.01). The MDA value in stage 1 was higher in fish oil group and in 2 and 3 stages was lower in FO + A1. Therefore, addition of Vitamin E and A as natural antioxidants in diets containing oil source for the prevention of lipid oxidation is recommended

Psychosocial predictors of Barriers to cervical cancer screening among Iranian women: the role of attachment style and social demographic factors

Objectives. Despite advances in screening and treatment during past several Decades, cervical cancer remains a major health problem for Iranian women. Recent researches have focused on factors related to development of health behavior in an effort to design effective early interventions. The current study aimed to investigate the role of attachment styles on cervix cancer screen- ing barriers among women of BandarAbbas-Iran. Methods. In an analytic-cross sectional study, 681 women aged 21-65 referring to health centers were selected randomly and after completing written informed consents were investigated by Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS) (Collins and Read), Pap smear screening barriers and demographic data questionnaire. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regressions and chi-square test. Results. The results showed significant association between attachment styles and screening barriers. There was a negative significant relation between secure attachment style and screening barriers and there was a positive significant association between insecure attachment style (anxiety and avoidant) and screening barriers. The regression analysis indicated that insecure attachment style (avoid- ant) were predictors of barriers to the Pap smear screening test in this regard. There was a significant association between age and residential area and participation in Pap smear test. Conclusions. Insecure attachment style is associated with hazardous risk behaviors and these results can be useful for health service providers in preventive planning of screening and identi- fication of people susceptible to risk and the design of the inter- vention

Consequences of AphanizomenonFlos-aquae(AFA) extract (StemtechTM) on metabolic profile of patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: Blue- green algae is one of the most nutrient dense foods which is rich in substances that have useful effects on human health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a water- soluble extract of the cyanophyta Aphanizomenon Flos-aquae (StemtechTM) as a functional supplement on CD markers, lipid profile, glucose levels as well as its side effects in Iranian patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: During this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial 49 type 2 diabetic patients, aged between 20 and 60years with a HbA1C�7.5, were allocated. Patients were divided into two groups of placebo and treated with an equal ratio 1:1. The subjects in StemtechTM group received one capsule of StemFlo (508mg) before breakfast and two capsules of StemEnhance (500mg) after each meal for a period of 12weeks, and placebo group was instructed to take placebo with the same pattern. During the intervention period, subjects were asked to keep usual diet and prohibited to take any functional foods or dietary supplements. Metabolic panel has been measured as the primary outcome of study at the beginning and end of the intervention period via blood sampling. Results: StemtechTM supplementation for 12weeks decreased fasting blood glucose (FBG) and Glycatedhemoglobin (HbA1c). Mean serum chemistry parameters (Triglyceride, Total Cholesterol, LDL, HDL, CRP, AST, ALT, BUN and Creatinine) as well as CD 34+, IL-6, TNF-aα in treated and control groups before and after the study showed no considerable dissimilarities. Conclusion: StemtechTM intervention brought in positive consequence on blood glucose levels in Iranian patients with type 2 diabetes, consequently suggests the StemtechTM as a functional food for the management of diabetes. © 2015 Sanaei et al

Computational fluid dynamics of coronary arteries with implanted stents: effects of Newtonian and non‐Newtonian blood flows

This study introduces and compares computational fluid dynamics of Newtonian and non-Newtonian blood flows in coronary arteries, with and without considering stents. Three blood flow models, including Newtonian, Carreau, and non-Newtonian power-law models, were simulated to investigate their effect, and the solution algorithm includes drawing the geometry, creating the desired mesh, and then simulating Newtonian and non-Newtonian blood flow different models and comparing them with each other, is presented in the article. A Newtonian fluid model has been commonly used in the simulation of blood flow, whereas blood has non-Newtonian properties due to the nature of a solution containing suspended particles. The goal of this research is to investigate the differences between the models built with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid assumptions. In addition, a stent was designed and the effect of the stent on blood flow parameters was investigated for all three flow models, including Newtonian, Carreau, and non-Newtonian power-law models. Stents are medical devices that can be placed in arteries to open up blood flow in a blocked vessel. Stents can affect the wall shear stress. Knowing the slight deformation of the shear stress makes the importance of stent implantation and also helps to optimize the design of the intravascular stent, which can affect the occlusion of the vessels. The distribution of the velocity, pressure, and wall shear stress in all blood flow models with and without considering the effect of stents have been investigated and finally compared. Therefore, in general, the innovation of this article is to find the effect of implanted stents on blood flow parameters with different blood flow models, both Newtonian and non-Newtonian. A comparison of Newtonian and non-Newtonian flows showed that in the case of the Carreau non-Newtonian model, the wall shear stress was higher. In addition, in the results of the geometric model with a stent effect compared to the geometric model without a stent effect, it is evident that there was a higher velocity and wall shear stress

Evaluation of coronary stents: a review of types, materials, processing techniques, design, and problems

In the world, one of the leading causes of death is coronary artery disease (CAD). There are several ways to treat this disease, and stenting is currently the most appropriate way in many cases. Nowadays, the use of stents has rapidly increased, and they have been introduced in various models, with different geometries and materials. To select the most appropriate stent required, it is necessary to have an analysis of the mechanical behavior of various types of stents. The purpose of this article is to provide a complete overview of advanced research in the field of stents and to discuss and conclude important studies on different topics in the field of stents. In this review, we introduce the types of coronary stents, materials, stent processing technique, stent design, classification of stents based on the mechanism of expansion, and problems and complications of stents. In this article, by reviewing the biomechanical studies conducted in this field and collecting and classifying their results, a useful set of information has been presented to continue research in the direction of designing and manufacturing more efficient stents, although the clinical-engineering field still needs to continue research to optimize the design and construction. The optimum design of stents in the future is possible by simulation and using numerical methods and adequate knowledge of stent and artery biomechanics

Effect of vowel auditory training on the speech-in-noise perception among older adults with normal hearing

Introduction: Aging reduces the ability to understand speech in noise. Hearing rehabilitation is one of the ways to help older people communicate effectively. This study aimed to investigate the effect of vowel auditory training on the improvement of speech-in-noise (SIN) perception among elderly listeners. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 36 elderly listeners (17 males and 15 females) with the mean±SD of 67.6±6.33. They had the normal peripheral auditory ability but had difficulties in SIN perception. The samples were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The intervention group underwent vowel auditory training; however, the control group received no training. Results: After vowel auditory training, the intervention group showed significant changes in the results of the SIN test at two signal-to-noise ratios of 0 and -10 and the Iranian version of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale, compared to the control group (P<0.001). Regarding the Speech Auditory Brainstem Response test, the F0 magnitude was higher in the intervention group (8.42±2.26), compared to the control group (6.68±1.87) (P<0.011). Conclusion: This study investigated the effect of vowel auditory training on the improvement of SIN perception which could be probably due to better F0 encoding and receiving. This ability enhancement resulted in the easier perception of speech and its more proper separation from background noise which in turn enhanced the ability of the old people to follow the speech of a specific person and track the discussion. © 2020 Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on Increased Life Expectancy of Male Patients with Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the world, which is classified as a multifactorial illness. Most canceric patients experience a period of stress. Since being patient and positive thinking play an effective role in coping with chronic diseases. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy group on being patient and positive thinking in gastric cancer patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 92 men with gastric cancer who were referred to the Tooba Medical Center in Sari who were randomly divided into two groups of 46 test and control groups. The two groups completed the standard questionnaire of positive thinking (150-30 points) and being patient (100-0 score) in the pre-test phase. The test group was trained of cognitive behavioral therapy for ten sessions of 90 minutes. The control group did not receive any special intervention. Then, both groups completed the questionnaires again in the post-test phase. FINDINGS: The mean score of positive thinking before the test in the test group was (88.71±24.21) and in the control group was (94.54±24.23). The mean score of being patient in the test group was (26.66±22.20) and in the control group was (30.45±22.42) that they were not significant. However, in the post-test phase, positive thinking (test group 106.33±28.16 vs. control group 94.43±24.71) (p<0.01) and in terms of being patient (the test group 23±23.5) /40 versus 30.91 ± 20.89 control group (p<0.01) had a significant difference. CONCLUSION: According to the results, -behavioral therapy group can increase being patient and positive thinking in patients with gastric cancer