Religious attitudes and spiritual health among elderly inpatient adults in Shahrekord hospitals

Background and Objectives: Human is a multidimensional creature and spiritual domain is the central dimension which has an undeniable effect on gaining health. The most important part of nursing care with family based approach is to help people in achieving optimal level of health. On the other hand, religious attitudes and spiritual health is an important domain of life in ageing period. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the religious attitudes and spiritual health among elderly inpatients in Shahrekord hospitals. Methods: This descriptive correlational study was conducted in 1392 in Shahrekord hospitals. A total of 308 geriatric patients who were admitted to a surgical ward, were recruited through random sampling. Two sets of questionnaires regarding religious and spiritual health were used as the instruments. After collecting the data, descriptive (frequency, mean, variance, standard deviation) and analytical (independent t test, Pearson correlation) statistics were used by SPSS statistical software. Results: The results showed that 68.8% of patients possessed large religious attitude with an average of 140.68 ±30.14. Spiritual health in 51.3 percent of samples was described to be low while the obtained average score was 86.18 ± 16.61. However, Pearson test showed that there is a positive significant correlation between religious attitudes and spiritual health (r =0.83, P =0.05). Conclusions: The present study revealed that there is a significant relationship between religious attitudes and spiritual health and people with high religious attitudes have high spiritual health

The effect of an exercise program on the health-quality of life in older adults

INTRODUCTION: An essential public health goal is to reduce age-related disabilities in the elderly. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of exercise program on health-quality of life (HQL) in older adults. METHODS: Subjects were sixty healthy adult volunteers over the age of �� years. None of the subjects had any experience in exercise programs but were physically active and able to perform activities of daily living independently. The subjects were randomly assigned into one of two groups each with �� people: test (exercise) group and control (no exercise) group. The test group was taken into a � - week aerobic exercise program. The exercises included a �- �� minute circulatory warm-up, a �� minute walking and a �-�� minute stretching/cool-down period. The exercises were performed three times per week under supervision of an experienced instructor. No exercise program was prescribed for the control group. Both groups were assessed before and after the exercise program. The LEIPAD questionnaire was used to measure HQL. RESULTS: The results showed significant improvements in all domains of the LEIPAD questionnaire whilst the level of HQL did not change and none of the scores obtained by the LEIPAD was significant. Measures of HQL improved with exercise so that there were no HQL changes in the control but significant changes were observed in the exercise group. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that an exercise program has resulted in a signific

Morphometric Changes of the Socket after Site Preservation Using Nanobone and Collagen Membrane or Stypro Versus Extraction Alone

Statement of Problem: The long-term success of a dental implant relies on implant osseointegration into native and viable bone, implant placement in an ideal position, and optimal hard and soft tissue contour. This requires the presence of sufficient alveolar bone volume, good alveolar ridge (Practically with no sign of atrophy) and good surgical technique. Objectives: The aim of this randomized controlled clinical study was to evaluate morphometric changes after different alveolar ridge preservation procedures. Materials and Methods: In this study, 33 patients who had single-rooted premolar, which needed to be extracted, were recruited. Patients were randomly divided into 3 groups and after tooth extraction the following treatments were administered: in group A: NanoBone and a collagen membrane; in group B: NanoBone and Stypro; and in group C: natural healing. The following clinical parameters were evaluated at baseline and 6 months after the extraction: buccolingual width, midbuccal height (with the use of a custom made stent) and width of keratinized gingiva. For data analysis, Paired t-test,one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s tests were used. Results: The average reduction in the buccolingual width, midbuccal height and keratinized gingiva was as follows: group A: 1.18±0.6, 0.64±0.92 and 3.45±1.75 mm; group B: 2.18±0.75, 0.73±0.78 and 4.73±0.9 mm; and group C: 1±0.89, 2.36±1.21 and 5±0.63 mm, respectively. Moreover, a significantly reduced resorption was found in both the buccolingual width and the width of keratinized gingiva in group A as compared to groups B and C (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study showed that the use of collagen membrane+Nano bone (group A) can significantly reduce the horizontal resorption of the alveolar ridge and keratinized tissue more effectively than stypro+Nano bone (group B ) and blood clot alone and natural healing (group C)

Effects of family-centered empowerment intervention on stress, anxiety, and depression among family caregivers of patients with epilepsy

Objectives: Family caregivers face numerous challenges in taking care of their family members with epilepsy. The empowerment of this group of people, who can be described as forgotten patients, should always be considered through supportive interventions; therefore, this study investigated the effect of a family-centered intervention program on stress, anxiety, and depression among family caregivers of patients with epilepsy. Methods: In 2017, a trial was conducted in Iran among subjects selected by the convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups: intervention and control. After five sessions per week over a four-week period, the intervention- and control-group data were collected using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) in three stages: before, immediately after, and two months after the intervention. Data were analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software using descriptive and analytical statistics, an independent t-test, and repeated measures Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: In this study, the family caregivers included 61.3% women and 38.7% men, with a mean age of 37.5 years. The findings showed no significant differences in the mean scores of stress (p = 0.93), anxiety (p = 0.91), and depression (p = 0.56) before the interventional program between the intervention and control groups, but these differences were statistically significant in the mean score of stress (p = 0.003) in the immediately after the interventional program, whereas the mean scores of depression were not decreased significantly (p = 0.3). Two months after the interventional program the mean scores of stress (p = 0.001) and anxiety (p = 0.001) were significantly decreased in the intervention group, but the mean score of depression was not decreased significantly (p = 0.09). Conclusion: The results suggested that a family-centered intervention program reduced the stress, anxiety, and depression of caregivers because of feasibility, simplicity, and utility of intervention. This program was focused on psychological issues of caregivers, and an emphasis on their empowerment helped them in managing their problems in the caregiving situation and achieved greater psychological potency in the caring process. © 2018 Elsevier Inc

Mussel inspired bacterial denitrification of water using fractal patterns of polydopamine

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Nitrate is currently one of the most significant causes of water pollution in many parts of the world due to its detrimental effects on humans and the environment. The purpose of this study was to find a novel immobilization method based on bacterial adsorption to adhesive coating material, for use in water denitrification. The fractal formation capability of polydopamine (PDA) allowed coating of the surface of in-house asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) beads (1.65–2.35 mm in diameter), and immobilizing the denitrifying bacteria Pseudomonas stutzeri with noticeable denitrification potential, on the surface of hyper-branched PDA coated beads. For surface characterization, SEM, wettability measurement, and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy were performed. Nitrate and nitrite concentrations were measured by APHA standard method 4500-NO3−-B and a colourimetric method using two reagents respectively. The effects of temperature, pH and different carbon sources (Acetic acid, methanol, and ethanol) on the denitrification process were also investigated. The results revealed that the bacterial immobilization on PES surface with fractal patterns of PDA (with fractal dimension (Df) value of 1.57) was successful, and the optimum parameters for nitrate removal were established as 25 °C, pH = 8, and 420 mg/L ethanol as the carbon source. Finally, this research showed that under the optimum conditions the immobilized bacteria exhibited 100 % removal efficiency for 28 mg of NO3–N in 22 h (removal rate: 8.06 mg NO3-N/h/mg biomass of bacteria). We found that the immobilization of bacteria on the PDA coated beads is practicable and that the denitrification rate is adequate