Initiation to global Finslerian geometry

After a brief description of the evolution of thinking on Finslerian geometry starting from Riemann, Finsler, Berwald and Elie Cartan, the book gives a clear and precise treatment of this geometry. The first three chapters develop the basic notions and methods, introduced by the author, to reach the global problems in Finslerian Geometry. The next five chapters are independent of each other, and deal with among others the geometry of generalized Einstein manifolds, the classification of Finslerian manifolds of constant sectional curvatures. They also give a treatment of isometric, affine,

Sur les espaces de Finsler à courbures sectionnelles constantes

We give a characterization of the isotropic and constant sectional curvatures Finslerian manifolds. We determine necessary and sufficient conditions so that an isotropic Finslerian manifold is of constant sectional curvature K. In the case where the manifold is geodesically complete, we establish a classification of these manifolds according to the sign of K. We define three "axioms of planes" allowing to recognize if a Finslerian manifold is with constant sectional curvature in Berwald connection, or in Finslerian connection, or is Riemannian.Nous donnons une caractérisation des espaces de Finsler isotropes et à courbures sectionnelles constantes. Nous déterminons des conditions nécessaires et suffisantes pour qu'une variété finslérienne isotrope soit à courbure sectionnelle constante K. Dans le cas où la variété est géodésiquement complète, nous établissons une classification de ces variétés selon le signe de K. Nous définissons trois «axiomes du plan» permettant de reconnaître, si un espace de Finsler est à courbure sectionnelle constante, dans la connexion de Berwald ou dans la connexion finslérienne ou s'il est riemannien.Akbar-Zadeh Hassan. Sur les espaces de Finsler à courbures sectionnelles constantes. In: Bulletin de la Classe des sciences, tome 74, 1988. pp. 281-322

EFFECT OF COUNSELING ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WITH DROPOUT*

Introduction: University students are faced with a lot of stresses such as workload, maltreatment, etc. They cope with these problems differently. The coping may be manifested as depression, anxiety, changing life style, etc., which will affect their educational performance and sometimes causes dropout. To prevent this loss, it is essential to understand the phenomenon of dropout and find the causes and decrease or remove them. Methods: The population of study was students referring to the University Counseling Center during 1998. They came either voluntarily or in response to invitation. Invitations were made for those who had been known as high-risk students according to the screening study of entering year (1996, 1997). The intervention was counseling for psychological, educational, familial, and social problems. The effectiveness of intervention was assessed by comparison of the students' average grade before and after that. Results: The mean of average grades increased after intervention. This was more prominent in three groups: students with higher average grades from high school, students with university averages below 14 (out of 20), and not married students. Conclusions: This study was a part of a university project for prevention of dropout. As previous researches showed, it may be concluded that taking care of students, and counseling their problem may result in less dropout and improve their achievement. To apply this, establishing a Student Health Center with counseling supports is recommended

Biofeedback Therapy Effect on Facial Nerve Palsy and Prevention of Synkinesis

Objective: Synkiesia is a sequel of facial nerve palsy. It usually begins 3-4 months after axonal regeneration and progressed up to two years afterward. Treatment of synkinesia is very difficult and sometimes impossible.The aim of our study is find a better procedure to treat facial nerve palsy and prevent synkinesia. Materials and Methods: Twenty nine patients with facial nerve palsy were selected by electrodiagnosis tests. They were divided in two groups. The experimental group was treated by biofeedback electromyography and the second group was treated by common physiotherapy. The evaluation of all patients was done by Photoshop assessment and facial grading scale before and after treatment. Result: After the treatment, a significant general improvement was observed in both groups (p<0.05), but in experimental group (biofeedback) showed better result than the other one. The number of patients with synkinesia as well as the severity of their synkinesis in experimental group were lesser than the other one. Conclusion: Biofeedback therapy is more efficient than common physiotherapy.By using this approach, control and reducing synkinesia is more feasible. Assessment by Pohotoshop procedure showed better accuracy than facial grading scale

Comparison of Enzymatic Assay and Multiple Tube Fermentation Technique in the Assessment of Microbial Quality of the Karoon River

Microbiological monitoring of surface waters designated for use as drinking water is essential by water utilities for the design and operation of drinking water treatment plants. Enzymatic assays have been applied as a rapid alternative approach to assess the microbiological quality of freshwater. In this study, the LMX broth (LMX) as an enzymatic assay was compared with the standard method of multiple tube fermentation technique (MTF) for the microbial monitoring of the Karoon River. Enumeration of total coliforms and E. coli averaged 9928 and 6684 MPN/ 100 ml by the LMX and 7564 and 6546 MPN/ 100 ml for the MTF, respectively. This difference was statistically significant for TC but the overall analysis revealed no difference between E. coli recoveries on LMX and MTF. In conclusion, LMX can be used for the enumeration of coliforms and E. coli in surface waters as it is less lobar-intensive, yields faster result, and simultaneously detects both total coliforms and E. coli

Effect of Vitamin D supplementation on weight loss, glycemic indices, and lipid profile in obese and overweight women: A clinical trial study

Introduction: Vitamin D (vit D) deficiency has defined as a health problem worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that obesity is an epidemic of the 21st century. Previous studies have shown that obesity may increase the risk of Vit D deficiency. Furthermore, other studies have demonstrated that vit D insufficiency was accompanied with higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and obesity. The aim of this study was to survey the effect of vit D supplementation on weight loss among overweight and obese women aged 20–40 years in Isfahan. Methods: This double-blind clinical trial was done on 50 overweight and obese women who were divided into two groups, in which one group received vit D supplements and the other group received placebo. Intervention group received vit D with dozes 50,000 IU/w for 6 weeks. The levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), fasting blood sugar (FBS), insulin (ins), homeostasis model assessment of ins resistance (IR), C-reactive protein (CRP), height, weight (WT), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and blood pressure (BP) were measured before and after intervention. Results: After using vit D supplementation for 6 weeks, WT, WC, and body mass index (BMI) were decreased significantly and serum vit D increased significantly compared to control group (P 0.05). Conclusions: After 6 weeks of intervention, the means of WT, BMI, WC, and HC decreased significantly. Previous studies have shown that vit D deficiency was more prevalence in obese people and there was an inverse association among vit D with BMI and WC. The relationship between vit D and lipid profiles such as glycemic indexes, anthropometric indexes, CRP, and BP is not clear and needs more study in the future

How health information is received by diabetic patients?

Background: Knowledge of correct information-seeking behavior by the patients can provide health specialists and health information specialists with valuable information in improving health care. This study aimed to investigate the passive receipt and active seeking of health information by diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: A survey method was used in this research on 6426 diabetic patients of whom 362 patients were selected by a no percentage stratified random sampling. The Longo information-seeking behavior questionnaire was used to collect data and they were analyzed by SPSS 20 software. Results: The most common information source by diabetic patients was practitioners (3.12). The minimum usage among the information sources were from charity organizations and emergency phone lines with a usage of close to zero. The amount of health information gained passively from each source has the lowest average of 4.18 and usage of this information in making health decision has the highest average score of 5.83. Analysis of the data related to active seeking of information showed that knowledge of available medical information from each source has the lowest average score of 3.95 and ability in using the acquired information for making medical decisions has the highest average score of 5.28. The paired t-test showed that differences between passive information receipt (41.68) and active information seeking (39.20) considered as statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Because diabetic patients are more passive information receivers than active information seekers, the health information must be distributed by passive means to these patients. In addition, information-seeking behavior during different time periods should be investigated; to identify more effective distribution of health information

Physical Child-Abuse in Tehran, Iran

Objective: Child-abuse (physical, mental and sexual) is considered as one of the important problems faced by persons specialized in behavioral Sciences and Forensic Medicine, physicians and pediatricians. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the status of physical child-abuse in Tehran. Materials & Methods: Forty-five pediatric residents, trained for this purpose, conducted this ten-day study in three teaching hospitals (Children's Medical Center, Bahrami Hospital, Hazrat Ali-Asghar Hospital). A questionnaire on physical child-abuse, designed and proposed by the WHO, was completed for 3019 children (male=1578, 52.3% female=1441, 47.7%) less than 18 years of age, who attended the emergency department of the above hospitals. The children and their parents were interviewed and physical examination was performed for the children. Results: A total of 347 children (male=14.5%, female =9.6%), which is 12.2% of the total number of children studied, were physically abused. Injuries were mostly present on the face, upper extremities, back and lower extremities, among which 12.8% of the cases were severe and 87.2% were moderate in intensity. Fathers and mothers were responsible for 51.2% and 34.1% of the cases of child-abuse respectively. Among the persons responsible for causing child-abuse, 34.1% had themselves been physically abused during their childhood period and 26.4% had physically abused children before. Hyperactivity, bed-wetting and an unwanted child were among the most common causes of child-abuse. Conclusion: Factors precipitating child-abuse included: large numbers of children in the family drug addiction of one of the family members, and acute or severe psychological stress during the past 6 months. Using the Chi-square test, a significant relationship (P value=0.00l) was found to exist between physical child-abuse and demographic factors such as age, sex, site of residence, history of divorce or separation of the parents and history of physical abuse in the parents' childhood days