A Review on the Relation between Sepsis and Vitamin D Level among Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Infants

Background Neonatal sepsis is a critical condition caused by a generalized bacterial infection in the first month of life. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and neonatal sepsis. Materials and Methods: A search of online databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE-Ovid, and Scopus) were carried out for randomized control trials and non-randomized prospective or retrospective clinical studies published in English till April 2020. Two reviewers selected the studies. Results: In the first study, the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D in the cord-blood sample of infants in the Early-Onset Neonatal Sepsis (EONS) group was significantly lower compared to the control group. 25(OH)D level (19 ng/ml) in the control group were significantly higher compared to the 25(OH) level (8.6 ng/ml) in the sepsis group. In the third study, the serum 25(OH) level showed a significant decrease in the affected neonates (6.4 nmol/L) compared to healthy neonates (42.5 nmol/L). In the fourth study, the sepsis and control group had a significant difference in the level of 25(OH)D (69 +/- 7.5ng/ml and 35 +/- 19ng/ml). According to the fifth study, the serum 25(OH)D level was insufficient in the case group and sufficient in the control group (p<0.0001). In the sixth study, the odds of very-early-onset neonatal sepsis among the neonates who had the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency were lower compared to the odds among neonates who did not have serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency. Conclusion The level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the blood sample of infants in the sepsis group was significantly lower compared to the control group; further studies required to confirm the results by considering more confounders

Effect of listening to qur'an recitation on severity of pain and anxiety during labor: A systematic review and mehta-analysis

Background and purpose: Labor pain and anxiety have negative effects on mother, fetus, and consequently the labor process. Qur'an is treated with great respect by Muslims and there are interests toward non-medical interventions based on religious beliefs during labor. This review article examined the effect of listening to Qur'an recitation on severity of pain and anxiety during labor. Materials and methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google scholar, and Persian databases until March 2020 using the following keywords: labor pain, anxiety, Qur'an, Holy book, and clinical trial. Jadad scale was used to evaluate the quality of the articles. Results: There were four studies on the effect of listening to Qur'an recitation on intensity of pain during labor and two studies on its effect on anxiety during labor. There were significant differences in standardized mean difference of labor pain intensity between the intervention and control groups (-0.616, 95 CI:-387--0.845, P< 0.001) indicating that listening to a recitation of Qur'an can significantly reduce the severity of labor pain. Two other studies showed that listening to Qur'an recitation reduces anxiety level in first stage of labor (P<0.001). Conclusion: The present study showed that listening to Qur'an recitation could decrease the intensity of pain and anxiety during labor. Therefore, health care providers should consider the beliefs of expectant mothers and use spiritual examples such as listening to Qur'an recitation to achieve successful childbirth. © 2020, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

The effects of Pilates exercise on sleep quality in postpartum women

Prolonged poor sleeping quality can decrease women's ability to perform their maternal and family duties after delivery. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a Pilates training program on sleep quality in primigravida postpartum women in a randomized clinical trial. Eighty postpartum women were randomly divided into intervention and control groups (n=40). Home-based 30-min Pilate's exercises were started 72h after the delivery and performed five times per week for consecutive 8 weeks. Sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) prior to the intervention and 4th and 8th weeks afterwards. The intervention group showed a significant improvement in subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction and global PSQI score (P<0.001); however, there was no difference in sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency and sleep disturbance between the groups. In conclusion, Pilates exercises appeared to improve sleep quality in primigravida postpartum women. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Aromatherapy Massage on Sleep in Children and Infants

Background: Sleep disturbances among child patients are a commonly reported problem. We aimed to review the effectiveness of aromatherapy on sleep disorders of children and infants. Materials and Methods: This review was conducted with a systematic search of electronic resources in English such as Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE, with no time limit from inception up to February 2019; using the following keywords alone or in combination: (Aromatherapy OR Smell OR Olfactory OR Essential oil) AND (Sleep Disorders OR Sleep OR Sleep Paralysis OR Sleep Arousal Disorders) AND (Children OR Infant OR Baby OR Neonate OR Pediatric). Results: Four studies were included in the review. In the first study, a comparison of the nights with and without aromatherapy showed no significant difference regarding length of time the children were asleep, sleep onset time and number of interruptions during the night. In the second study, aromatherapy with Rosa damascena essential oil significantly improved sleep quality parameters in children except with daytime sleeping (p=0.059). In the third study, a significant decrease was observed in the sleep quality score in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in aromatherapy with oil of orange than in the controls (p<0.05). In the fourth study, the infants in the Lavender bath oil group spend more time in deep sleep and less time crying prior to sleep onset than in the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Aromatherapy with Lavender and Rosa damascena essential oil and orange oil can improve group sleep quality, deep sleep and time crying prior to sleep onset. However, it was not effectiveregarding sleep disorder in children with autism

The Image Biomarker Standardization Initiative: Standardized Quantitative Radiomics for High-Throughput Image-based Phenotyping.

Background Radiomic features may quantify characteristics present in medical imaging. However, the lack of standardized definitions and validated reference values have hampered clinical use. Purpose To standardize a set of 174 radiomic features. Materials and Methods Radiomic features were assessed in three phases. In phase I, 487 features were derived from the basic set of 174 features. Twenty-five research teams with unique radiomics software implementations computed feature values directly from a digital phantom, without any additional image processing. In phase II, 15 teams computed values for 1347 derived features using a CT image of a patient with lung cancer and predefined image processing configurations. In both phases, consensus among the teams on the validity of tentative reference values was measured through the frequency of the modal value and classified as follows: less than three matches, weak; three to five matches, moderate; six to nine matches, strong; 10 or more matches, very strong. In the final phase (phase III), a public data set of multimodality images (CT, fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET, and T1-weighted MRI) from 51 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma was used to prospectively assess reproducibility of standardized features. Results Consensus on reference values was initially weak for 232 of 302 features (76.8%) at phase I and 703 of 1075 features (65.4%) at phase II. At the final iteration, weak consensus remained for only two of 487 features (0.4%) at phase I and 19 of 1347 features (1.4%) at phase II. Strong or better consensus was achieved for 463 of 487 features (95.1%) at phase I and 1220 of 1347 features (90.6%) at phase II. Overall, 169 of 174 features were standardized in the first two phases. In the final validation phase (phase III), most of the 169 standardized features could be excellently reproduced (166 with CT; 164 with PET; and 164 with MRI). Conclusion A set of 169 radiomics features was standardized, which enabled verification and calibration of different radiomics software. © RSNA, 2020 Online supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Kuhl and Truhn in this issue

The image biomarker standardization initiative: Standardized quantitative radiomics for high-throughput image-based phenotyping

Background: Radiomic features may quantify characteristics present in medical imaging. However, the lack of standardized definitions and validated reference values have hampered clinical use. Purpose: To standardize a set of 174 radiomic features. Materials and Methods: Radiomic features were assessed in three phases. In phase I, 487 features were derived from the basic set of 174 features. Twenty-five research teams with unique radiomics software implementations computed feature values directly from a digital phantom, without any additional image processing. In phase II, 15 teams computed values for 1347 derived features using a CT image of a patient with lung cancer and predefined image processing configurations. In both phases, consensus among the teams on the validity of tentative reference values was measured through the frequency of the modal value and classified as follows: less than three matches, weak; three to five matches, moderate; six to nine matches, strong; 10 or more matches, very strong. In the final phase (phase III), a public data set of multimodality images (CT, fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET, and T1-weighted MRI) from 51 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma was used to prospectively assess reproducibility of standardized features. Results: Consensus on reference values was initially weak for 232 of 302 features (76.8%) at phase I and 703 of 1075 features (65.4%) at phase II. At the final iteration, weak consensus remained for only two of 487 features (0.4%) at phase I and 19 of 1347 features (1.4%) at phase II. Strong or better consensus was achieved for 463 of 487 features (95.1%) at phase I and 1220 of 1347 features (90.6%) at phase II. Overall, 169 of 174 features were standardized in the first two phases. In the final validation phase (phase III), most of the 169 standardized features could be excellently reproduced (166 with CT; 164 with PET; and 164 with MRI). Conclusion: A set of 169 radiomics features was standardized, which enabled verification and calibration of different radiomics software