Effects of Smoking Cessation Counseling Based on the Stages of Change Model in a Dental School Setting: A Semi-Experimental Study

Objectives The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of smoking cessation counseling by a dentist on the smokers’ preparation for change to quit smoking. Methods This study was performed on 150 smokers, admitted to the Dental School of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The patients were randomly divided into two groups of 75 participants. The intervention group received smoking cessation counseling by a single senior dental student for 30 min session. The patient’s status in the stages of change was determined at baseline and after the intervention. For statistical analysis, paired t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and multivariate linear regression analysis were performed at a significance level of P<0.05. Results At baseline, there were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups in terms of the stage of change for smoking cessation. Also, there was no significant difference in the stages of change in the control group between the baseline and one-month follow-up. However, this difference was significant in the intervention group (P=0.006). In other words, the number of patients in the pre-contemplation stage decreased by 43%, the number of patients in the contemplation stage increased by 20%, and the number of patients in the action stage increased by 16%. Conclusion It can be concluded that smoking cessation counseling enhances a person’s forward movement and transition through the stages of change for smoking cessatio

The essential role of hippocampo-cortical connections in temporal coordination of spindles and ripples

The predominant activity of slow wave sleep is cortical slow oscillations (SOs), thalamic spindles and hippocampal sharp wave ripples. While the precise temporal nesting of these rhythms was shown to be essential for memory consolidation, the coordination mechanism is poorly understood. Here we develop a minimal hippocampo-cortico-thalamic network that can explain the mechanism underlying the SO-spindle-ripple coupling indicating of the succession of regional neuronal interactions. Further we verify the model predictions experimentally in naturally sleeping rodents showing our simple model provides a quantitative match to several experimental observations including the nesting of ripples in the spindle troughs and larger duration but lower amplitude of the ripples co-occurring with spindles or SOs compared to the isolated ripples. The model also predicts that the coupling of ripples to SOs and spindles monotonically enhances by increasing the strength of hippocampo-cortical connections while it is stronger at intermediate values of the cortico-hippocampal projections

Examining the Main Components of Traditional and Modern Womens’ Personality in the Works of Zoya Pirzad and Farkhondeh Aghaei

A look at the culture of Iranian fiction illustrates a significant number of women writers who have used the storyline and novels to express their homosexual social, cultural, and family issues. Zoya Pirzad and Farkhondeh Aghaei are among the writers who, by knowing the status of women in their contemporary society, have been working on women-centered stories. The purpose of the present research is to study the main components drawn from the traditional and modern women's characters in the works of Zoya Pirzad and Farkhondeh Aghaei. These two writers depict the traditional women's character with features such as homelessness, gender roles, passivity to the patriarchal system, following dominant traditions, and on the other hand, modern women have been described with issues such as employment, women's identity, the struggle against patriarchy, and the customary traditions and customs

Using Data Mining Algorithm for Assigning Family-Centered Empowerment Model as to Improve the Quality of Life in Cardiac Infarction Patients

Introduction: Today, cardiovascular disease is a major threat to advanced human societies, and is acting as a major cause of disability in many aspects of a patient and family members' lives, including their quality of life. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to provide models for classifying and determining the factors influencing the allocation of family-centered empowerment model to further improve the psychological quality of life of these patients.  Materials and Methods: In this study, data from a clinical trial study were used in which 70 patients with myocardial infarction who randomly received a family-centered empowerment pattern and control group. A model of linear mixed effects and then learning algorithms were used to predict the success or failure of the empowerment model. Results: In this study, the decision tree model was able to accurately predict more than 96% of patients (Kappa=0.828, ROC=0.96).  Physical functions, walking status, creatinine level, EF level, employment status, gender, stress level and body mass index were identified as the effective factors in assigning a family-centered empowerment pattern (P value <0.05). This process was done through software of SPSS24, SAS9.1 and WEKA 3.6.9 Conclusion: The decision tree model was able to correctly classify more than 96% of patients; if a family-centered empowerment model was assigned, this model would improve the psychological dimension of their quality of life. &nbsp

Pemphigus Disease: A geoepidemiologic preliminary study in Iran

Objectives Pemphigus is an autoimmune, life-threatening, blistering disease. Knowledge about the epidemiology of this disease however, is still limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and geographic distribution of pemphigus patients in Iran.Methods Medical records of patients with definitive diagnosis of pemphigus disease during a seven-year period from March 2006 to March 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. All individuals were classified based on geographical aspects.Results A total of 110 patients (59 females and 51 males) with an average age of 46.5 ± 13.6 for the females and 45.8± 12.5 for the males were evaluated. Male patients were slightly younger than female patients, but the difference was not statistically significant. Also, there was no significant association between age and the year of frequency. The most frequent type of pemphigus was the vulgaris type (93.6%). On the base of climate, the highest frequency was seen in the Moderate to severe internal (very hot) desert area and the humid and temperate climates (Caspian). There was no significant difference between the mean ages of pemphigus patients in the four geographic regions, (P value=0.421). Based on altitude in each climatic region, less than 10% of patients were from high altitude areas.Conclusion Environmental factors are important in frequency of autoimmune disease including pemphigus.  We concluded that the frequency of pemphigus disease might be different in different climates and altitude. Further research towards the improvement of data on the geographical study could open up a field to identify the patterns of pemphigus diseas

Kontinuirani postupak bistrenja soka od obične žutike pomoću pektinaze imobilizirane oksidiranim polisaharidima

Research background. Barberry juice is a rich source of bioactive compounds and shows different health properties such as antioxidant and anticancer activities. Clarification, as the removal process of suspended material, is an important step in the production of fruit juice due to its significant effect on the appearance, flavour and commercialisation of juice. Pectinase is the most important enzyme applied in juice clarification that breaks down the pectin polymer structure and reduces the undesirable turbidity. Pectinase immobilisation is a way to overcome free enzyme drawbacks such as instability, high cost, the difficulty of recovery and recyclability. Also, continuous clarification process which is highly preferred in fruit juice industry is not possible without enzyme immobilisation. Experimental approach. Pectinase enzymes were immobilised on the functionalised glass beads (glass bead with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane) by glutaraldehyde, polyaldehyde derivatives of pullulan and kefiran and the barberry juice was clarified in the batch and continuous processes in a packed bed reactor (PBR). Also, the effect of clarification on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the barberry juice samples was evaluated. Results and conclusions. The optimum conditions for clarification in the PBR were: flow rate 0.5 mL/min, temperature 50 °C and treatment time 63 min. Clarification led to a decrease in turbidity, pH, total soluble solid content, viscosity, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the juice samples. Also, this process increased the clarity, acidity, reducing sugar concentration and the lightness parameter of the barberry juice. The greatest effect of clarification on the studied properties of barberry juice was related to the pectinase immobilised by the polyaldehyde of kefiran in the continuous process and both new cross-linkers (polyaldehyde derivatives of pullulan and kefiran) immobilised the enzyme better than the common cross-linker (glutaraldehyde). Novelty and scientific contribution. For the first time, barberry juice was clarified with pectinase immobilised by polyaldehyde derivatives of pullulan and kefiran and the obtained results showed that the pectinase immobilisation by these new cross-linkers was much more efficient than by the glutaraldehyde as a common cross-linker. These findings can be of use for an industrialised production of fruit juices.Pozadina istraživanja. Sok od obične žutike bogat je bioaktivnim spojevima te ima razna ljekovita svojstva, poput antioksidacijskih i antikancerogenih. Bistrenje je postupak uklanjanja materijala iz suspenzije i važan je korak u proizvodnji sokova jer bitno utječe na izgled, okus i ekonomsku isplativost soka. Pektinaza je najvažniji enzim koji se koristi za bistrenje sokova, a razgrađuje polimernu strukturu pektina i time smanjuje zamućenost soka. Imobilizacijom pektinaze uklanjaju se nedostaci slobodnog enzima, kao što su nestabilnost, visoka cijena, malo iskorištenje i slaba ponovna iskoristivost. Osim toga, kontinuirani postupak bistrenja, koji se najviše koristi u proizvodnji sokova, nije moguće provesti bez imobilizacije enzima. Eksperimentalni pristup. Pektinaza je imobilizirana pomoću glutaraldehida te polialdehidnih derivata pululana i kefirana na staklenim kuglicama prevučenim (3-aminopropil)trietoksisilanom, a sok od obične žutike bistren je šaržnim ili kontinuiranim postupkom u reaktoru s nasutim slojem nosača. Osim toga, ispitana su fizikalno-kemijska i antioksidacijska svojstva soka. Rezultati i zaključci. Optimalni uvjeti za bistrenje soka u reaktoru s nasutim slojem nosača bili su: protok 0,5 mL/min, temperatura 50 °C i trajanje postupka 63 min. Postupkom bistrenja smanjila se zamućenost soka, snizila njegova pH-vrijednost i smanjili ukupan udjel topljive tvari, viskoznost, ukupan udjel fenola te antioksidacijska aktivnost. Osim toga, povećali su se bistroća, kiselost, koncentracija reducirajućih šećera te parametri boje soka. Svojstva soka najviše su se poboljšala bistrenjem pomoću pektinaze imobilizirane polialdehidom kefirana u kontinuiranom postupku. Oba derivata polialdehida, pululan i kefiran, imobilizirali su enzim bolje od uobičajeno korištenog glutaraldehida. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. U ovom je radu po prvi put proveden postupak bistrenja soka od obične žutike pomoću pektinaze imobilizirane derivatima polialdehida pululana i kefirana. Dobiveni rezultati pokazuju da je ovako imobilizirana pektinaza bitno učinkovitija od one imobilizirane pomoću glutaraldehida, te se može upotrijebiti u industrijskoj proizvodnji voćnih sokova

Different effect of green tea consumption on salivary antioxidant status in light versus heavy smokers

Objectives Oxidative stress consequent to cigarette smoking may alter the salivary antioxidant defense system and lead to oral cancer. Green tea, with antioxidant properties, interacts with saliva upon entering the mouth. This experimental study explored the preventive effect of green tea on cigarette smoke-induced oxidative damage over 3 weeks.Methods In this clinical trial study sixty volunteer healthy male smokers (light and heavy) and non-smokers were selected according to the inclusion criteria. Participants of each three groups were instructed to drink 4g of green tea (prepared with 300 ml hot water) daily, for three weeks. Total antioxidant capacity of saliva was measured at baseline, after 7 days, and after 21 days in each group. Repeated measure ANOVA with Bonferroni adjustment was performed for statistical analysis.Results Non-smokers had a higher amount of salivary total antioxidant capacity at baseline (p<0.001). After 7days of green tea consumption total antioxidant capacity of non-smokers and light smokers showed no statistical difference (p=0.075), this trend continued until 21 days. In the heavy smokers total antioxidant capacity was still different from the other two groups (p<0.001). However, the maximum positive alteration of salivary total antioxidant capacity from day zero to day 21 occurred in the heavy smoker group (p< 0.001).Conclusion Although findings support the role of green tea drinking in reducing oxidative damage in saliva of both groups of smokers, heavy smokers showed the most significant change in total antioxidant capacity levels over three weeks