An Item Analysis of Written Multiple-Choice Questions: Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Background: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are one of the most common types of exams used in evaluation of students in any educational setting. The question items making up these exams need to be examined if they are to meaningfully contribute to the student scores. Such characteristics are amenable to examination by item analysis. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to examine the quality of MCQs used in Nursing and Midwifery Faculty and to compare the results with the other faculties in Kashan University of Medical Science in the academic year 2008-2009. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 101 multiple-choice exams were randomly chosen for the study, and 37 exams were selected from the faculty of nursing and midwifery. The difficulty, discrimination indices and Cronbach’s Alpha were calculated for every exam and then mean values for each index were calculated by LERTAL 5.0 software purchased from Assessment Systems Corporation of the United States. Results: A total of 7062 MCQs in the university and 1793 items in the faculty of nursing and midwifery presented to the students by different instructors were analyzed. The average of difficulty index of the faculty of nursing was 0.5. The discrimination index was 0.36, and the average of Alpha-Cronbach was 0.82 in the faculty of nursing. All the values were significantly better in the faculty of nursing and midwifery compared to the rest of the university. Conclusions: The difficulty index, the discrimination index and the Alpha-Cronbach values in the faculty of nursing were within the acceptable range recommended by experts in the field of educational measurement. However, some of the tests had values less than the recommended

Effects of Zataria Multi-Flora, Shirazi thyme, on the Severity of Premenstrual Syndrome

Background: Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a common problem in women. Zataria multiflora Boiss is a valuable plant. This herbal plant has been used in different conditions. Objectives: The study was performed to investigate the effects of Zataria multiflora Boiss to control PMS symptoms. Materials and Methods: This study was a double-blinded, prospective randomized trial. The study population was the college students living in the dormitories of Isfahan University. Eighty-eight eligible students were randomly divided to intervention and control groups. Students completed the prospective record of the impact and severity of menstrual symptoms (PRISM) calendar including 30 PMS symptoms for four menstrual cycles (two cycles before, and two after the intervention). The intervention group received pearls containing 20 mg of Zataria multi-flora essence (four pearls each day) for two menstrual cycles, seven days before menstruation. The mean difference of PMS severity score between groups was analyzed with Mann-Whitney U test. The difference in frequency score of symptoms was analyzed using repeated-measure analysis of variance. Results: Thirty-eight students in intervention and 37 students in placebo group completed the study. The groups had no significant difference regarding the severity of PMS. Both groups showed a significant improvement in PMS severity score after the intervention. The repeated-measure analysis of variance showed that the frequency of symptoms decreased significantly in the cycles, but it was not different in intervention and placebo groups. Conclusions: Our findings did not support the use of Zataria multiflora Boiss in premenstrual syndrome

Baking soda and salt in bakeries of Mehrdasht (Najafabad), Isfahan, Iran: A survey on a typical rural population in a developing country

Background. Bread is a valuable source of proteins, minerals and calories. Baking soda prevents the absorption and digestion of bread and more salt used in production of bread also causes different diseases. This study was conducted to determine the amount of soda and salt in bakeries. Method. Cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 50 bakeries district during 2009. 400 samples were collected in four steps randomly. The standard PH < 6.2 indicative of no consumption of baking soda in bread and salt less than 2g/100 g was considered as the reference. Results. The PH less than 6.2 was seen in 91.5 of samples and analyzed by random effect analysis. In 64.5 of samples, the amount of salt was more than the standard. Conclusion. The amount of baking soda used in the bakeries was not high; bakers either had no enough knowledge about the amount of salt or had more other reasons. Drastic measures are recommended

Capparis spinosa L. Propagation and medicinal uses

The caper bush (Capparis spinosa L., Cappari daceae) has been introduced as a specialized culture in some European countries during the last four decades. The economic importance of caper plant (young flower buds, known as capers, are greatly favored for seasoning and different parts of the plant are used in the manufacture of medicines and cosmetics) led to a significant increase in both the area under cultivation and production levels during the late 1980s. The main production areas are in harsh environments found in Morocco, the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Turkey, and the Italian islands of Pantelleria and Salina. This species has developed special mechanisms in order to survive in the Mediterranean conditions, and introduction in semiarid lands may help to prevent the disruption of the equilibrium of those fragile ecosystems

Effect of daily consumption of probiotic yoghurt on lipid profiles in pregnant women: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Background: Due to enhanced fat storage primarily during the mid-pregnancy period, pregnancy is associated with elevated levels of lipid profiles. To our knowledge, no reports are available indicating the effects of probiotic yoghurt consumption on serum lipid profiles in pregnant women. Objective: This study was designed to determine the effects of daily consumption of probiotic yoghurt on lipid profiles of Iranian pregnant women. Methods: This randomized single-blinded controlled clinical trial was performed among 70 pregnant women, primigravida, aged 1830 years old who were carrying singleton pregnancy at their third trimester. Subjects were randomly assigned to consume 200g/d of conventional (n33) or the probiotic group (n37) for 9 weeks. The probiotic yoghurt was a commercially available product prepared with the starter cultures of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, enriched with probiotic culture of two strains of lactobacilli (Lactobacillus acidophilus LA5) and bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium animalis BB12) with a total of min 1�107 colony-forming units. The conventional yoghurt contained the starter cultures of S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus. Fasting blood samples were taken at baseline and after 9-weeks intervention to measure serum lipid profiles. Results: Although consumption of probiotic yogurt for 9 weeks had been resulted in a significant reduction in serum total-(-53.7mg/dL, p0.001), LDL-(-35.2mg/dL, p0.006) and HDL-cholesterol levels (-9.8mg/dL, p0.002) as well as serum triglyceride concentrations (-42.8mg/dL, p0.029), no significant differences were found comparing probiotic and conventional yogurts in terms of their effect on serum lipid profiles. Within-Group differences in conventional yogurt group revealed a significant reduction in HDL-cholesterol levels (-8.4mg/dL, p0.005) and borderline significant reduction in serum total cholesterol concentrations (-21.6mg/dL, p0.08). Conclusion: In conclusion, consumption of probiotic yogurt among pregnant women could not affect serum lipid profiles as compared to the conventional yogurt. © 2012 Informa UK, Ltd

Surveying the type and amount of pesticide use in agricultural sector of Kashan, Iran

Pesticides in addition to eliminating pests pollute the environment and cause disease. According to the statistics the total cultivated lands of Kashan province totaled 15894.1 hectares. Due to the importance of pesticide use in agricultural and dry and desert areas of Kashan which is very fragile due to low rainfall, this study was conducted to determine the type and amount of pesticide use in different parts of agriculture in Kashan during 2015 crop year. The results showed that a total of 16 types of poisons were used in the agricultural sector of Kashan, of these 5 types (31.25%)are of the phosphorus group, 3 types (18.75%) pyroclastic group, 2 types (12.5%) copper compounds and 6 types (37.5%) other types of pesticides. The data from this study show that most of the pesticides used are organophosphates, among them the most commonly used was diazinon. Keywords Agriculture, Kashan, organophosphate, pesticide

Microbial community composition and functions are resilient to metal pollution along two forest soil gradients

Despite the global importance of forests, it is virtually unknown how their soil microbial communities adapt at the phylogenetic and functional level to long-term metal pollution. Studying 12 sites located along two distinct gradients of metal pollution in Southern Poland revealed that functional potential and diversity (assessed using GeoChip 4.2) were highly similar across the gradients despite drastically diverging metal contamination levels. Metal pollution level did, however, significantly impact bacterial community structure (as shown by MiSeq Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes), but not bacterial taxon richness and community composition. Metal pollution caused changes in the relative abundance of specific bacterial taxa, including Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes and Proteobacteria. Also, a group of metal-resistance genes showed significant correlations with metal concentrations in soil. Our study showed that microbial communities are resilient to metal pollution; despite differences in community structure, no clear impact of metal pollution levels on overall functional diversity was observed. While screens of phylogenetic marker genes, such as 16S rRNA genes, provide only limited insight into resilience mechanisms, analysis of specific functional genes, e.g. involved in metal resistance, appears to be a more promising strategy

The interval of educational services' quality in 17 universities of medical sciences in Iran

Background and purpose: The process of improving the quality of services in healthcare and treatment has a special place in terms of organizational complexity and importance of efficiency. Models of organizational growth have provided an appropriate context for evaluating the performance and quality of organizations by using Total Quality Management (TQM) method. It should be noted that all parts of society benefit from services of educational environments. Therefore the aim of this research was to measure quality of services in order to constantly improve the quality of services in 17 universities of medical sciences in Iran. Methods: This research was a cross sectional descriptive survey. SERVQUAL standard questionnaire was used as research tool. After questionnaires were collected, the data was fed into APSS21 software. Descriptive statistics and advanced statistical tests were used to measure the interval of educational services. Result: 2767 samples were collected in this study. In general the average level of students’ expectations was 3.85±.93 and the average level of their perception was 3.16±.55. By subtracting this average level of average level of expectation, the interval was-.69±1.02. In all samples total interval in assurance dimension was-.735±1.12, responsiveness-.650±1.16, reliability-.605±1.04, empathy-.739±1.22, and in physical dimension was-.590±1.23. Conclusion: Yasuj university of medical sciences had the highest interval of educational services quality and north Khorasan had the lowest interval. It is generally recommended that each university form a unit called “quality improvement” in order to evaluate regularly and improve the quality of services. © 2018, Editorial office of Journal of International Pharmaceutical Research. All rights reserved