The Role of Islamic Architecture in Promoting the Quality of Life

All religions and schools of thought represent their specific ideas about nature, natural elements and its relationship with man in such a way that studying them can help explain their influences on shaping the environmental surroundings. Recent debates prove that majority of discussions are focused in protection and conservation of nature and it is implying that man’s need is restricted to elimination of pollutions. In other words, solving his problems, related to nature seems to be the only concern while it is necessary to pay attention to the quality and quantity of life equally. In Islamic culture, deliberation on the nature and discovering the dominant rules, play a vital role as nature and its components are considered as divine symbols to guide man toward recognition of nature and also a mutual relationship between man and nature can be used to construct a suitable environment in harmony with existed regularity in nature. This research is based qualitative method and gathering date by library studies and collecting information. The conclusion of this research show that in Islamic civilization specially visual art, architecture and urbanism, naturalistic motivation are investigated to present manifestation of Islamic art and natural aesthetic, this cycle is eternal and can help a man to recognize the nature

The Role of Islamic Architecture in Promoting the Quality of Life

All religions and schools of thought represent their specific ideas about nature, natural elements and its relationship with man in such a way that studying them can help explain their influences on shaping the environmental surroundings. Recent debates prove that majority of discussions are focused in protection and conservation of nature and it is implying that man’s need is restricted to elimination of pollutions. In other words, solving his problems, related to nature seems to be the only concern while it is necessary to pay attention to the quality and quantity of life equally. In Islamic culture, deliberation on the nature and discovering the dominant rules, play a vital role as nature and its components are considered as divine symbols to guide man toward recognition of nature and also a mutual relationship between man and nature can be used to construct a suitable environment in harmony with existed regularity in nature. This research is based qualitative method and gathering date by library studies and collecting information. The conclusion of this research show that in Islamic civilization specially visual art, architecture and urbanism, naturalistic motivation are investigated to present manifestation of Islamic art and natural aesthetic, this cycle is eternal and can help a man to recognize the nature

The Role of Islamic Architecture in Promoting the Quality of Life

All religions and schools of thought represent their specific ideas about nature, natural elements and its relationship with man in such a way that studying them can help explain their influences on shaping the environmental surroundings. Recent debates prove that majority of discussions are focused in protection and conservation of nature and it is implying that man’s need is restricted to elimination of pollutions. In other words, solving his problems, related to nature seems to be the only concern while it is necessary to pay attention to the quality and quantity of life equally. In Islamic culture, deliberation on the nature and discovering the dominant rules, play a vital role as nature and its components are considered as divine symbols to guide man toward recognition of nature and also a mutual relationship between man and nature can be used to construct a suitable environment in harmony with existed regularity in nature. This research is based qualitative method and gathering date by library studies and collecting information. The conclusion of this research show that in Islamic civilization specially visual art, architecture and urbanism, naturalistic motivation are investigated to present manifestation of Islamic art and natural aesthetic, this cycle is eternal and can help a man to recognize the nature

A Guide to Selecting the Appropriate Statistical Tests for Proposals and Articles in Medical Sciences

Background & Objective: The main purpose of medical researches is to answer a research question or to solve a problem to promote the health of a society. The first objective is to answer the research question correctly with minimal errors. The second objective is the publication of the results in order to generalize them to a population and use in a wider dimension. To achieve these objectives, using biostatistics is necessary. Despite the importance of biostatistics in medical research, researchers have limited understanding of it or due to its complications they refrain from its use. Statistics help the researcher in different levels of research including writing a proposal and interpretation of other papers. Moreover, biostatisticians and epidemiologists also play a very important role in the preparation of manuscripts for publication. The present article has eloquently described the most important statistical tests in medical research with applied examples. Keywords Selecting statistical tests Parametric tests Non-parametric test

Testing Psychometrics of Healthcare Empowerment Questionnaires (HCEQ) among Iranian Reproductive Age Women: Persian Version

BACKGROUND: Producing high quality data needs an accurate measurement in any fields of study. This study aimed to test psychometrics of the Persian version Healthcare Empowerment Questionnaire (HCEQ) in relation to personal care among Iranian reproductive age women and to validate the instrument for future use.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 549 reproductive age women in a health centers affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences producing a response rate of 100%. Content validity was established using translation and backtranslation procedures, pilot testing, and getting views of expert panel. Construct validity was measured using explanatory factor analysis. Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure internal consistency, and intra-class correlation coefficients were used to confirm stability.RESULTS: The results indicated that explanatory factor analysis of 10 items in three dimensions explained 63.2% of the total variance. Validity and reliability of the 10-items of HCEQ with two response scales (perception of control and motivation of being empowered) assessed for internal quality showed the reliability of internal consistency (α=0.70; range=0.62-0.76). The correlation between convert (10 items) and apparent (3 factors) variables was 0.5 times higher than the revealed convergent validity.CONCLUSION: The findings of this study supported the reliability and validity of the Persian version of HCEQ to assess the degree of individual empowerment in relation to personal healthcare and services among reproductive age women. Therefore, the HCEQPersian version could be a useful, comprehensive, and culturally sensitive scale for assessing healthcare empowerment among reproductive age women.KEYWORDS: Healthcare Empowerment Questionnaire (HCEQ), Reproductive Age, Women, Reliability, Validit

Clonidine Versus Chloral Hydrate for Recording Sleep EEG in Children

ObjectiveOne of the difficulties for conduct electroencephalography (EEG) in pediatric patient population is that they are not always cooperative during the procedure. Different medications have been used to induce sedation during EEG recording. In order to find a medication with least adverse effects and high efficacy, we aimed to compare clonidine and chloral hydrate as a premedication prior EEG performing in pediatric population. Materials & MethodsA prospective, randomized, single-blinded, controlled trial was carried out over 198 children (9 to 156 months) to investigate the sedative and adverse effects of clonidine and chloral hydrate. Patients, partially sleep-deprived the night before, were randomly divided in two groups of clonidine (100 patients) and chloral hydrate (98 patients), on an alternative day basis.Results The average sleep onset latency was significantly longer in the clonidine group than chloral hydrate group (Mann-Whitney test, p < 0.0001). Sleep duration ranged between 15-150 minutes and it was not significantly different between two groups (Mann-Whitney test p = 0.2). Drowsiness with chloral hydrate terminated faster than with clonidine. Drowsiness after arousal was seen in 58% and 26.1% of patients in the clonidine and chloral hydrate groups respectively that was  significant  (Mann-Whitney test, p = 0.058). EEG results were reported normal in 77 subjects in the chloral hydrate group (77%) and in 69 subjects (69%) in the clonidine group (p = 0.161). Generalized epileptiform discharges  reported significantly  in the clonidine group  (Mann-Whitney test , p = 0.006).ConclusionThe results of this study showed that both chloral hydrate 5% (one ml/kg)and clonidine (4 μg/kg)could be administered as a pre medication agent for EEG recording in children , although drowsiness after arousal of clonidine is greater than chloral hydrate . However, the yield of generalized epileptiform discharges in the clonidine group was more than the chloral hydrate group.

Improvement in Cognitive Status and Depressive Symptoms Three Months after Cataract Surgery

Background: Cataract induced vision impairment can lead to loss of older people’s independence and self-esteem and limit their daily activities. Moreover it has comorbid cognitive impairment and depression. Cataract surgery may be one way to attenuate these comorbidities. The aim of this study was to compare pre-operative and postoperative depressive symptoms and cognitive impairments of patients who underwent cataract surgery. Methods: This study was a before - after clinical trial. Participants completed the following validated surveys one day before and again three months after surgery. Dependent variables were preoperative to postoperative within-patient difference in Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. Independent variable was improvement of visual acuity. Results: Mean age was 71.77±8.08, 54% were females. Mean postoperative visual acuity improvement was 0.7720±0.1758, mean GDS score difference was -1.49±1.72 and mean MMSE score difference was 0.28±0.88. Postoperative improvement of visual acuity, GDS and MMSE scores were statistically significant (p=0.001). The mean visual acuity improvement in the participants with age over 80 years was lower than the younger subjects; while improvement in MMSE scores in this age group was significantly higher than them. There were no significant relationship between visual acuity, GDS and MMSE scores before and after surgery based on BMI and educational level. Conclusions: It was concluded that cataract surgery is effective for relieving depressive symptoms in the elderly. Improved visual acuity at older ages has far more effects on reducing cognitive impairment

Determinants of perivascular adipose tissue stranding as a novel imaging marker and its relation to inflammatory biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the relationship of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) stranding in coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and the determinants of PVAT stranding in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Material and methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was done by collecting data from CAD patients who were referred to Rajaie Cardiovascular Centre between January 2018 and September 2020, with CCTA and hsCRP test 72 hours apart from the CCTA. PVAT stranding was defined as irregular obscuration of PVAT adjacent to the coronary arteries. An attempt was made to find a correlation between included variables and PVAT stranding by comparing them between 2 groups: patients with and without PVAT stranding. Results: From 92 patients, 31 participants had PVAT stranding, and statistically significant higher levels of hsCRP were detected in them (p = 0.007). We demonstrated significantly higher prevalence of history of hyperlipidaemia (OR = 3.83, p = 0.029), high-risk plaque features (OR = 11.80, p = 0.015), and obstructive coronary luminal stenosis (OR = 3.25, p = 0.025) in patients with PVAT stranding. Also, significantly higher PVAT attenuation was detected in patients with PVAT stranding (p < 0.001) independently from mean attenuation of epicardial fat. Conclusion: PVAT stranding could be used as a novel non-invasive marker in CCTA of CAD patients. More studies focusing on patient outcomes are required to better evaluate the reliability and prognostic value of this marker

Comparison between intralesional injection of zinc sulfate 2 % solution and intralesional meglumine antimoniate in the treatment of acute old world dry type cutaneous leishmaniasis: a randomized double-blind clinical trial

Zinc sulfate (ZS) has been used for the treatment of acute cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in both forms of in vivo and in vitro recently. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of intralesional injection of ZS 2 % solution with intralesional glucantime in the treatment of acute CL. In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, 80 cases with acute old world dry type CL were enrolled in the study. The treatment protocol in the first group consisted of intralesional injection of ZS 2 % vials once a week for 10 weeks or sooner in case of complete resolution of the lesions. In the second group, intralesional glucantime once a week for 10 weeks or sooner in case of complete resolution of the lesions were used. In both groups cryotherapy was performed once every other week for 10 weeks. In ZS versus second group, partial and complete clinical response was observed with fewer injections although this difference was not statistically significant. In addition, we found that the trend of treatment in second group was faster but again it was not significant [partial treatment: hazard ratio (HR) 1.4, 95 % CI 0.7–2.9; complete treatment: HR 1.3, 95 % CI 0.6–2.8]. The results of this study showed that the intralesional injection of ZS 2 % solution was as effective as glucantime on the healing of the acute old world dry type CL

Dietary Inflammatory Index and Head and Neck Cancer : A Multicenter Case-Control Study in Iran

Background: The inflammatory potential of diet may affect carcinogenesis. This study aimed to determine the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC), as well as the interaction between DII and cigarette smoking in HNC development within the Iranian population. Study Design: This is a case-control study. Methods: In this multicenter case-control study, participants’ dietary intake was assessed using a validated 130-item food frequency questionnaire, from which DII was computed. The study recruited 876 new cases from referral hospitals across 10 provinces and 3409 healthy controls who were frequency-matched based on age, gender, and residential place. Logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) for HNC across tertiles of DII, which were adjusted for confounding variables. Results: A higher pro-inflammatory diet was associated with an increased risk of all HNC (OR T3 vs. T1 [95% CI]: 1.31 [1.06, 1.62]; P-trend = 0.013). There was a significant association between lip and oral cavity cancers and DII (OR T3 vs. T1 [95% CI]: 1.56 [1.16, 1.66]; P-trend = 0.004). Furthermore, an inflammatory diet was associated with an increased risk of pharynx cancer (OR T3 vs. T1 [95% CI]: 2.08 [1.14, 3.79]; P-trend = 0.02). Additionally, no significant association was observed between DII and larynx cancer, while an interaction was found between DII and tobacco use on the risk of HNC (OR T3 vs. T1 [95% CI]: 2.52 [1.78, 3.57]; P-interaction = 0.03). Conclusion: DII was positively associated with HNC risk. There was a significant association between DII and the risk of lip, oral cavity, and pharynx cancers. Additionally, there was an interaction between tobacco use and DII in determining the risk of HNC.Peer reviewe