CLINICAL REGISTERED NURSES ATTITUDE TOWARD EUTHANASIA: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY FROM IRAN

Abstract: Background and aims: Attitude towards euthanasia may influence the behavior of health care professionals about this issue. In present study we examined Iranian clinical registered nurses attitude toward euthanasia. Data were collected with using the Euthanasia Attitude Scale (EAS). Material and methods: This descriptive study was conducted in two teaching hospitals, Boali Sian and Velayat, in Qazvin, Iran in 2016. Using convenience sampling, all qualified registered nurses (n=302) working in different wards at the two teaching hospitals were invited to participate in the study. EAS examined participant in four domains: ethical consideration, practical consideration, treasuring life and naturalistic beliefs. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software (v17.0; PASW Statistics) and a variable was considered to be statistically significant if P< 0.05. Results: Of the 302 nurses, 86.8% (n=262) were female and the rest were male. The mean age of nurses in present study was 31.1±5.9 years. The mean total score of nurses attitude were 66.6± 11.2. With regards to EAS domains, mean score of ethical consideration, practical consideration, treasuring life and naturalistic beliefs domains were 35.1±7.5, 8.7± 2.1, 15.3± 2.5 and 6.3±1.9 respectively. Conclusion: Nurses have an important role in caring for terminally ill patients in different hospital wards. According to finding of present study most nurses have neutral attitude toward euthanasia. Further study in this regards recommended. Keywords: ethical issue, nurses, euthanasia, developing country

Occult Hepatitis C Infection Among Hemodialysis Patients: A Prevalence Study

Introduction and aim: Occult hepatitis C infection (OHCI) is the presence of HCV-RNA in the liver or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) accompanying with negative serologic results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of OHCI among Iranian chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Material and methods: In this cross sectional study 200 chronic HD patients with negative HCV antibody enrolled the study. Blood sample of patients were obtained, followed by Polymerase Chain reaction (PCR) testing for detection of HCV RNA. Patients with positive serum HCV RNA were considered as manifest hepatitis C infection (MHCI). However, patients with negative serum HCV RNA underwent further tests on PBMCs for detection of OHCI. Results: Serum HCV RNA was positive in 2 (1%) patients whom considered as MHCI, and 6 (3.03%) patients had positive PBMC HCV RNA. Conclusion: In conclusion, chronic HD patients have been considered as a high risk group for hepatitis C infection. The results of this study suggest that these patients are also at risk for OHCI. Furthermore, evaluating PBMCs to detect HCV RNA would be a sensitive diagnostic method to find OHCI patients

Evaluation of MicroRNAs expression pattern (miR-28, miR-181a, miR-34a, and miR-31) in Patients with COVID-19 Admitted to ICU, and Diabetic COVID-19 patients

Introduction: MicroRNAs, or miRNAs, with regulatory performance in inflammatory responses and infection are the prevalent manifestations of severe Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This study aimed to evaluate whether PBMC miRNAs are diagnostic biomarkers to screen the ICU COVID-19 and diabetic-COVID-19 subjects. Methods: Candidate miRNAs were selected through previous studies, and then the PBMC levels of selected miRNAs (miR-28, miR-31, miR-34a, and miR-181a) were measured via quantitative reverse transcription PCR. The diagnostic value of miRNAs was determined by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The bioinformatics analysis was utilized to predict the DEMs genes and relevant bio-functions. Results: The COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU had significantly greater levels of selected miRNAs compared to non-hospitalized COVID-19 and healthy people. Besides, the mean miR-28 and miR-34a expression levels in the diabetic-COVID-19 group were upregulated considerably when compared with the non-diabetic COVID-19 group. ROC analyses demonstrated the role of miR-28, -miR-34a, and -181a as new biomarkers to discriminate the non-hospitalized COVID-19 group from the COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU samples, and also miR-34a can probably act as a useful biomarker for screening diabetic COVID-19 patients. Using bioinformatics analyses, we found the performance of target transcripts in many bio-processes and diverse metabolic routes such as regulating multiple inflammatory parameters. Discussion: The difference in miRNA expression patterns between the studied groups suggested that miR-28, miR-34a, and miR181a could be helpful as potent biomarkers for diagnosing and controlling COVID-19