Effects of Dialectical Behavior Therapy on Executive Functions, Emotion Regulation, and Mindfulness in Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent depression, manic, and hypomanic episodes. Patients with BD are also likely to experience difficulties with executive functions and emotion regulation. The literature review states that little research has been done on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for BD, and there has not been an examination of this therapy on BD patients� executive functions and emotion regulation. The present study addresses this absence of research with a pilot study on 60 BD patients. Participants in the intervention group received twelve 90-min sessions adapted from a standard DBT protocol for BD and the control group was on a wait-list for treatment. Participants completed measures of mental wellbeing and executive functioning at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 3 months later as a follow-up. Results showed that the intervention group improved over time, having lower scores in mania, depression, and emotion disregulation than the control group post-treatment. Further, the intervention group had higher scores in mindfulness, planning, problem-solving, and cognitive flexibility than the control group. The findings highlight that DBT, alongside prescription medication, can be an effective therapy for BD as well as leading to reduced manic and depression symptoms and improved executive functions, emotion regulation, and mindfulness. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Effect of melatonin in reducing second-generation antipsychotic metabolic effects: A double blind controlled clinical trial

Introduction The use of second-generation atypical antipsychotics has an increasing role in the development of metabolic syndrome. However, these medications due to metabolic disorders can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and subsequently mortality as well as reduced adherence to treatment. The main objective of current study was to determine the ability of melatonin to reduce the metabolic effects of second-generation antipsychotics. Methods This double blind controlled clinical trial was conducted on 100 patients aged 18–64 years old were treated with the second-generation antipsychotics for the first time. The patients were divided randomly into two groups of 50. The case group received slow-release melatonin at a dose of 3 mg and the control group was given oral placebo at 8 p.m. Results The findings in melatonin group indicated significantly increase of HDL and decreased fasting blood sugar and systolic blood pressure, as well as had statistically significant increase in waist circumference, weight and BMI compared with placebo group. Conclusion According to the findings, it can be claimed that the addition of melatonin to atypical antipsychotics has led to a reduction in some of the metabolic effects of these drugs. In this study, HDL level was increased, and the mean systolic blood pressure and FBS were decreased in the melatonin group. Considering that these factors are contributing to cardiovascular disease as a leading cause of mortality in psychiatric patients, so the use of melatonin can reduce some of the medical effects of long-term treatment of atypical antipsychotics. © 2017 Diabetes Indi

Evaluating equality in prescribing Novel Oral Anticoagulants (NOACs) in England: the protocol of a Bayesian small area analysis

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting about 1.6% of the population in England. Novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are approved AF treatments that reduce stroke risk. In this study, we estimate the equality in individual NOAC prescriptions with high spatial resolution in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across England from 2014 to 2019. Methods A Bayesian spatio-temporal model will be used to estimate and predict the individual NOAC prescription trend on ‘prescription data’ as an indicator of health services utilisation, using a small area analysis methodology. The main dataset in this study is the “Practice Level Prescribing in England,” which contains four individual NOACs prescribed by all registered GP practices in England. We will use the defined daily dose (DDD) equivalent methodology, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), to compare across space and time. Four licensed NOACs datasets will be summed per 1,000 patients at the CCG-level over time. We will also adjust for CCG-level covariates, such as demographic data, Multiple Deprivation Index, and rural-urban classification. We aim to employ the extended BYM2 model (space-time model) using the RStan package. Discussion This study suggests a new statistical modelling approach to link prescription and socioeconomic data to model pharmacoepidemiologic data. Quantifying space and time differences will allow for the evaluation of inequalities in the prescription of NOACs. The methodology will help develop geographically targeted public health interventions, campaigns, audits, or guidelines to improve areas of low prescription. This approach can be used for other medications, especially those used for chronic diseases that must be monitored over time

Specific heat and magnetocaloric effect in Pr1-xAgxMnO3 manganites

The magnetocaloric effect in alternating magnetic fields has been investigated in Pr1-xAgxMnO3 manganites with x=0.05-0.25. The stepwise reversal of the sign of the magnetocaloric effect has been revealed in a weakly doped sample (x=0.05) at low temperatures (~80 K). This reversal is attributed to the coexistence of the ferromagnetic and canted antiferromagnetic phases with different critical temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Internet of Things; a system for improving the higher education system

Background and Objective:Nowadays, information technology, has affected the production, distribution, and use of knowledge-based processes. Among other things, the Internet of Things as a network of objects connected to each other can bring new capacities in all fields. The aim of the present research is to examine the opportunities and challenges that the Internet of Things can have in relation to the higher education system. The concept of connecting devices and objects to each other is a new development on the Internet; anything anywhere can connect to the Internet and be "smart". Connected devices can communicate with each other and share information, then this information can be processed and lead to making decisions. This concept is called the "Internet of Things (IOT)." The wide range of applications of IOT has enabled educational environments at all levels to benefit from it. In terms of the role of IoT in higher education, this domain includes energy storage, monitoring the health and safety of students, optimizing the physical envriornment of the campus and classrooms, as well as enabling students to attend remotely. The main point that seems to differentiate IOT from other past technologies is that older methods cover a limited range of areas of higher education. With the use of various IOT tools, all these tools and facilities can be made intelligent and use for educational, research and service providing purposes. The aim of this study is to investigate the role and function of the IOT in the processes of knowledge production, transmission and application in higher education system. Methods: For this purpose, the systematic approach and the Chelkland SSM method were used. By refer to several internal and external scientific information databases, 25 related articles were identified. Then, without any sampling, all of these articles were studied by the researchers and their contents are divided into four categories: the introduction of the internet of things, the role of the internet of things in educational functions, the opportunities of the internet of things for higher education and the challenges of the internet of things in higher education, and they were organized in the dimensions of the input, process and output of the higher education system. Findings: The findings of the research indicate that the internet of things, by providing advanced information services, provides a flexible and measurable system for academic community that can be used to personalize training and reinforcement of learning, better management of educational processes, and more effective logistic management etc. The use of the internet of things will also challenge higher education, which violation of privacy, security issues, and rising costs are some of these challenges. Conclusion: In the present study, an attempt was made to introduce IOT and its opportunities and challenges for higher education system by reviewing the related literature. IOT is a technology that covers a wide range of applications in the university, from classrooms to laboratories, colleges and parking lots, and more. Within the system, IOT can be used to support the higher education chain and facilitate communication between input, output, and the process, and facilitate monitoring, control, and management of the university's system. In other words, the IOT operates communication center for the university system. In the dimension of higher education and university process, the IOT can be effective in student interaction and participation, evaluation, mental and physical health, classroom management, satisfaction, attendance, time saving as well as faculty management, energy saving, information searching, improving security in the university environment, providing real learning, personal growth and development for both the university instructors and the students, and so on. Of course, as mentioned, the use of this technology has cetain challenges. These challenges include security and privacy risks, high costs, connection to the Internet, scalability, self-organization and acceptance, etce. But despite this, experts generally see the future of this technology as more practical and important than it is now.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2020 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

Geographical and socioeconomic inequalities in female breast cancer incidence and mortality in Iran: A Bayesian spatial analysis of registry data

Background In Iran, trends in breast cancer incidence and mortality have generally been monitored at national level. The purpose of this study is to examine province-level disparities in age-standardised breast cancer incidence versus mortality from 2000 to 2010 and their association with socioeconomic status. Methods In this study, data from Iran’s national cancer and death registry systems, and covariates from census and household expenditure surveys were used. We estimated the age-standardised incidence and mortality rates in women aged more than 30 years for all 31 provinces in the consecutive time intervals 2000–2003, 2004–2007 and 2008–2010 using a Bayesian spatial model. Results Mean age-standardised breast cancer incidence across provinces increased over time from 15.0 per 100,000 people (95% credible interval 12.0,18.3) in 2000–2003 to 39.6 (34.5,45.1) in 2008–2010. The mean breast cancer mortality rate declined from 10.9 (8.3,13.8) to 9.9 (7.5,12.5) deaths per 100,000 people in the same period. When grouped by wealth index quintiles, provinces in the highest quintile had higher levels of incidence and mortality. In the wealthiest quintile, reductions in mortality over time were larger than those observed among provinces in the poorest quintile. Relative breast cancer mortality decreased by 16.7% in the highest quintile compared to 10.8% in the lowest quintile. Conclusions Breast cancer incidence has increased over time, with lower incidence in the poorest provinces likely driven by underdiagnoses or late-stage diagnosis. Although the reported mortality rate is still higher in wealthier provinces, the larger decline over time in these provinces indicates a possible future reversal, with the most deprived provinces having higher mortality rates. Ongoing analysis of incidence and mortality at sub-national level is crucial in addressing inequalities in healthcare systems and public health both in Iran and elsewhere

The frequency of osteoporosis in hip fracture following minor trauma and the resulting mortality rate and direct treatment costs in patients over 45 years old in Kashan Naghavi hospital during 2005-2007

Background & Aims: Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease. In the recent decades due to the increase of population age, the prevalence of osteoporosis has been increased. The most important complication of osteoporosis is bone fracture, especially in the hip. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of osteoporosis, its mortality rate and direct treatment costs in patients over 45 years old referred to Kashan Naghavi hospital following hip fracture during 2005-2007. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 119 patients with hip fracture following minor trauma admitted during one year to Naghavi hospital in Kashan Iran. Demographic findings, types of fracture, costs of hospitalization, treatment and prosthesis were recorded in a questionnaire. BMD of lumbar spine & neck of femur was done with Osteocore II instrument by DXA method. Data analysis was done by SPSS 14. Results: Mean age of patients was 71/6±9/35 years. From all, 72/3 were female and 27/7 was male and 67/8 had fracture of neck of femur and 23/2 had intertrocanter fracture. In whole, 65 had osteoporosis. In 51.3, it was in lumbar and in 23.5 it was in femur. Mean hospitalization period was 7.92±3.66 days. Mortality rate was 17/2. Mean cost of hospitalization and treatment was 277 and mean cost of prosthesis for each person was 1670. Conclusion: Osteoporosis is a predisposing factor for hip fracture in old patients after minor trauma. Since Hip fracture places a high cost burden on the healthcare system, wise programming for prevention of hip fracture seems to be highly necessary

Development of specific nanobodies (VHH) for CD19 immunotargeting of human B-Lymphocytes

Objective(s): CD19 is a transmembrane glycoprotein of immunoglobulin superfamily. In order to treat lymphoma, monoclonal antibodies (mAb) can target different antigens, including CD19, CD20 and CD22 on the surface of B-cells. Along with biotechnology progress, a new generation of antibodies is introduced, with the purpose of eliminating the defects of the previous generation. Among the most developed one are nanobodies (Nb). Nbs are a unique kind of camelid single domain antibody fragments with a broad range of medical applications. Unique physicochemical properties of Nbs have made them ideal candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Materials and Methods: An immune gene library was created, and several CD19 specific Nbs were selected through antigen panning process, and their molecular properties as well as specificity, sensitivity, affinity and immunoreactivity against CD19 positive and negative cells were evaluated. Results: The Nb library was prepared with 7.2 �107 members. We managed to isolate a panel of CD19- specific Nbs after the last round of selection with the affinity of isolated Nbs being estimated at the standard range of 15-35 nM. Sequence analysis of positive clones was indicative of the fact that 12 variable sequences were confirmed. Of all these 12 clones, 2 clones with the greatest level signal in ELISA underwent subsequent analysis. Our sequencing results indicated high sequence homology (approximately 90) between the Nb and Homa variable immunoglobulin domains. Conclusion: Specific Nbs possess the potential to be used as novel therapeutic approaches in order to treat autoimmune diseases and B-cell lymphoma. © 2018, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Development of specific nanobodies (VHH) for CD19 immunotargeting of human B-Lymphocytes

Objective(s): CD19 is a transmembrane glycoprotein of immunoglobulin superfamily. In order to treat lymphoma, monoclonal antibodies (mAb) can target different antigens, including CD19, CD20 and CD22 on the surface of B-cells. Along with biotechnology progress, a new generation of antibodies is introduced, with the purpose of eliminating the defects of the previous generation. Among the most developed one are nanobodies (Nb). Nbs are a unique kind of camelid single domain antibody fragments with a broad range of medical applications. Unique physicochemical properties of Nbs have made them ideal candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Materials and Methods: An immune gene library was created, and several CD19 specific Nbs were selected through antigen panning process, and their molecular properties as well as specificity, sensitivity, affinity and immunoreactivity against CD19 positive and negative cells were evaluated. Results: The Nb library was prepared with 7.2 �107 members. We managed to isolate a panel of CD19- specific Nbs after the last round of selection with the affinity of isolated Nbs being estimated at the standard range of 15-35 nM. Sequence analysis of positive clones was indicative of the fact that 12 variable sequences were confirmed. Of all these 12 clones, 2 clones with the greatest level signal in ELISA underwent subsequent analysis. Our sequencing results indicated high sequence homology (approximately 90) between the Nb and Homa variable immunoglobulin domains. Conclusion: Specific Nbs possess the potential to be used as novel therapeutic approaches in order to treat autoimmune diseases and B-cell lymphoma. © 2018, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Quantifying the Effects of Prosody Modulation on User Engagement and Satisfaction in Conversational Systems

As voice-based assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant become ubiquitous, users increasingly expect to maintain natural and informative conversations with such systems. However, for an open-domain conversational system to be coherent and engaging, it must be able to maintain the user's interest for extended periods, without sounding boring or annoying. In this paper, we investigate one natural approach to this problem, of modulating response prosody, i.e., changing the pitch and cadence of the response to indicate delight, sadness or other common emotions, as well as using pre-recorded interjections. Intuitively, this approach should improve the naturalness of the conversation, but attempts to quantify the effects of prosodic modulation on user satisfaction and engagement remain challenging. To accomplish this, we report results obtained from a large-scale empirical study that measures the effects of prosodic modulation on user behavior and engagement across multiple conversation domains, both immediately after each turn, and at the overall conversation level. Our results indicate that the prosody modulation significantly increases both immediate and overall user satisfaction. However, since the effects vary across different domains, we verify that prosody modulations do not substitute for coherent, informative content of the responses. Together, our results provide useful tools and insights for improving the naturalness of responses in conversational systems.Comment: Published in CHIIR 2020, 4 page