Perceived Stressors of Hospitalized Patients’ Family in Cardiac Care Unites: A Qualitative Content Analysis

The present study attempts to justify the factors inducing stress in the families of patients hospitalized in cardiac intensive care units in the east of Guilan province in Iran. The study aims at gaining an accurate understanding on these stressors for appropriate planning directed at removing or decreasing these tension-inducing components. The present study is a qualitative study based upon a conventional content analysis approach. The study population was selected through purposive sampling (28 family members of cardiac patients), and the data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed as per the stages recommended by Graneheim and Lundman (2004). The strength and scientific accuracy of the study was also established. The study yielded three main themes and seven sub-themes: Heavy shadow of illness (fear of loneliness on the caring path, fear of disease, poor personal knowledge); Hesitation in the treatment (doubting the efficiency of technology, ungenial healthcare providers); and Economic storm (high cost of treatment, potential economic problems). The study results indicated that patients’ families underwent stress in various areas, pointing to the need for providing adequate training and information on the disease to family members and caregivers, as well as the sympathy of healthcare providers on the treatment path for reducing the disease-associated tensions suffered by hospitalized patients’ families

What Is the Role of Body Composition Assessment in HCC Management?

In the last decade, body composition (BC) assessment has emerged as an innovative tool that can offer valuable data concerning nutritional status in addition to the information provided by the classical parameters (i.e., body mass index, albumin). Furthermore, published data have revealed that different types of body composition are associated with different outcomes. For example, abnormalities of skeletal muscle, a common finding in cirrhotic and oncologic patients, are associated with poor outcome (i.e., high morbidity and high mortality). The disposition (visceral/subcutaneous adipose tissue) and radiodensity of adipose tissue proved to also be determinant factors for HCC outcome. Despite all the advantages, BC assessment is not part of the standard pre-therapeutic workup. The main reasons are the high heterogeneity of data, the paucity of prospective studies, the lack of a standard assessment method, and the interpopulation variation of BC. This paper aims to review the available evidence regarding the role of BC as a prognostic tool in the HCC population undergoing various therapies

Reliability of Cognitive Faculties: A Critic on Plantinga’s View on Atheist Naturalism

In the naturalism and evolutionism context, the ultimate objective and function of cognitive faculties is adaptation, survival and reproduction. Our cognitive faculties are not developed to generate true beliefs, therefore, but to have adapt behavior. Alvin Planatinga is not at ease with naturalism idea. To him, the problem with naturalism is the non-existence of proper understanding on the manner by which the belief and behavior are interrelated, thus, he concludes that the reliability of cognitive faculties are founded on low naturalistic evolutionism; because any alleged argument against these faculties, first, requires reliable perceptual faculties and next, if we realize lack of reliability in these faculties we developed self-defeating belief, consequently, in both the cases naturalism face criticism. Plantiga’s criticism on naturalism view as to reliability of cognitive faculties has made some philosophers encounter problems like: 1) high probability of interrelating casual belief and behavior, 2) argument based on personal incredulity, 3) lack of distinction between reflective and non-reflective knowledge, 4) finding independent evidence for reliability as to escape self-defeating, 5) the external status of mental states and 6) the problem of circle. To the authors here, except the problem of circle, Plantiga has been able to find proper answer for the rest of five problems. The objective here is to analyze, complete, expand and criticize Plantiga’s notion in rejecting the atheistic naturalism through the ability to secure cognitive faculties to unveil consistency of the new scientific findings with religious beliefs

Breast cancer screening beliefs questionnaire : psychometric properties of the Persian version

Background: Valid and reliable instruments are needed to assess such beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. This study aimed to translate Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire into Persian and evaluate its psychometric properties among Iranian women. Methods: In this methodological study, the twelve-item Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire was translated into Persian and filled out by 1256 Iranian women. Face, content, convergent, and discriminant validity were evaluated and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed for construct validity evaluation. Reliability was also evaluated through calculating Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega, Average inter-item correlation, and test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient and finally, composite reliability was estimated. Results: Three factors were extracted in factor analysis which included screening attitude, screening knowledge and perception, and screening practice. These factors explained 55.71% of the total variance of breast cancer screening beliefs. This three-factor model was confirmed in confirmatory factor analysis based on model fit indices (PCFI = 0.703, PNFI = 0.697, CMIN/DF = 2.127, RMSEA = 0.30, GFI = 0.980, AGFI = 0.998, and CFI = 0.991). Convergent and discriminant validity were also confirmed. Composite reliability and test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient were more than 0.7. Conclusion: With a three-factor structure, the Persian Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire has acceptable validity and reliability and hence, can be used to evaluate Iranian women’s breast cancer screening beliefs

Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of Clinical Performance Assessment Scale among Nursing Students

Background & Objective: Effective bedside care is the main objective of nursing education. Correct clinical evaluation of students has been one of the toughest tasks for clinical nursing lecturers. The objective of this study was the translation and psychometric evaluation of the clinical performance assessment scale among nursing students in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with the objective of validating the Iranian version of the nursing students’ performance scale within the clinical setting. The scale was translated from English into Persian by the backward and forward method. Its face and content validities were determined. 2 items was added in the content and face validity process. In order to determine the construct validity, exploratory factor analysis by convenience sampling method was carried out on 275 senior nursing students within clinical educational settings for 5 months. Evaluation was conducted according to this scale. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to measure internal consistency. Results: The mean and standard deviation of students’ scores was 63.98 ± 13.35. Factor analysis indicated the extraction of three factors: the nursing process (10 items, eigenvalue 8.99), professional behaviors (16 items, eigenvalue 7.97), and technical skills (2 items, eigenvalue 2.03). The reliability of the scale obtained by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.92. Conclusion: The results of psychometric evaluation of the clinical performance assessment scale vindicated the reliability and validity of this scale and the potential for using this instrument in the nursing education field in Iran. However, the inclusion of the technical skills factor would need further balancing and expansion. Keywords Clinical practice Nursing student Education Evaluatio

Psychological Distress Model Among Iranian Pre-Hospital Personnel in Disasters: A Grounded Theory Study

Objective: Pre-hospital personnels (PHPs) who work in disasters under extreme pressure, uncertainty, and complex situations are victims of disasters themselves, and there is a link between experiencing such incidents andmental health problems. Because most studies focus on the injured and less on the psychological issues of PHPs, the present study aimed to develop a model to provide relief for PHPs in disasters from a psychological perspective. Methods: A grounded theorymethodology recommended by Corbin and Strauss (2015) was employed. PHPs (n = 24) participated in a semi-structured interview between July 2018 to May 2020. Results: In the analysis of the pre-hospital staff interviews, three main themes were extracted, namely, providing relief with struggle (complexity of incident scenes, command-organizational and occupational challenges), psychological distress (psychological regression and psychological empowerment), and consequences (resilience and job burnout). Seven categories and 22 subcategories were explored from our data via the grounded theory approach Conclusions: The PHPs managed psychological distress with two approaches: psychological self-empowerment and regression, which resulted in resilience and burnout, respectively. Due to the lack of enough support, the resilience of the PHPs was short-term, turned into burnout over time, and affected the structural factors again as a cycle

Investigation into Breast Cancer and Partial Breast Reconstruction: A Review

Growing increasingly in South America, Africa and Asia, breast cancer is known as the dominant type of cancer in women. Different treatments are available for breast cancer, among which surgery is the most widely used, but researchers are trying to develop new strategies. One of the most prominent surgical methods is referred to as oncoplastic surgery, that helps to remove segments of malignant breast tissue. This type of surgery aims to obtain vast surgical margins, while the remaining tissue is rearranged so that the better cosmetic outcome is obtained. This review will investigate the breast cancer and then discuss partial breast reconstruction. Before outlining the procedures, the different types of partial breast reconstruction will be discussed. Finally, advantages and disadvantages will be outlined. MEDLINE database was used to conduct the search. The main terms used were ‘Conservation Breast Surgery Reconstruction’ AND ‘Oncoplastic Surgery’, ‘Partial Mastectomy Reconstruction’ AND ‘Conservative Breast Surgery Reconstruction’, ‘oncoplastic’ [All Fields], ‘breast’ AND ‘surgery’ OR ‘surgery’ operative’, ‘oncoplastic’ (‘breast’)’. The bibliographies of relevant papers were manually searched up to October 2018, but more recent voices are also included

Larval rearing and ontogeny of digestive enzyme activities in yellowfin seabream (Acanthopagrus latus, Houttuyn 1782)

The present research was conducted to provide insight into digestive larval capacity in Acanthopagrus latus larvae from hatching up to 30 days after hatching (DAH). Newly hatched larvae were stocked into six 300-L cylindrical polyethylene tanks at a density of larvae 50 larvae/L and reared by means of the green water system using Nannochloropsis oculata (0.5 × 106/mL). After mouth opening, larvae were fed with rotifers (5–16 individual/mL) from 2 to 20 DAH; then, Artemia nauplii (0.5–3.0 individuals/mL) were offered to larvae from 18 to 30 DAH, meanwhile a commercial microdiet was offered to larvae from 25 to 30 DAH. Larval performance in terms of growth and survival, and the assessment of the activity of selected digestive enzymes ontogeny of digestive enzymes activities was evaluated in larvae sampled at 0 (hatching), 7, 15, 22 and 30 DAH. Larvae showed an exponential growth characterized by two different growth stanzas, a first one characterized by slow growth rates comprised between hatching to 15 DAH (4.7 ± 0.2 mm), followed by a period of faster growth rates between 16 and 30 DAH (7.5 ± 0.6 mm). The activities of the brush border (alkaline phosphatase, ALP) and cytosolic (leucine-alanine peptidase, LAP) enzymes, as well as those of the pancreatic ones like total alkaline proteases, bile salt-activated lipase and α-amylase were detected from the mouth opening stage. Total activities of pancreatic and gastric enzymes increased with larval growth showing an enhancement of digestive capacities with larval age and size. The intestinal maturation in A. latus as assessed by the ratio of AP to LAP did not occur as expected by end of the first month of life suggesting the complete establishment of digestive luminal processes may take place at older ages. This study related to the growth patterns and ontogenic changes in activity of pancreatic, gastric and intestinal enzymes in A. latus and their nutritional regulation may be considered as the first step for improving the larviculture, as well as assessing and refining the nutritional requirements during the larval and early juvenile stages of this sparid species.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio