Investigation of social capital and its relationship with emotional adjustment in infertile couples: A cross-sectional study

Background: Infertility is an abnormal event in the life of families and can have various consequences on a personal and social level. Therefore, infertile couples need to manage their emotional responses. Social capital, as one of the social determinants of health, can affect mental health. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between social capital and emotional adjustment in infertile couples. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2018 to February 2019 with 170 infertile couples visiting infertility centers in Sari, Iran. The data collection instruments included the social capital integrated questionnaire, an emotional adjustment scale and a demographic-reproductive checklist. Results: All the social capital dimensions, except for the groups and networks dimension, had a score of higher than 50 (more than the mean score). Based on ANCOVA and the multiple linear regression results, the dimension of trust and solidarity had a significant negative relationship with emotional adjustment (p = 0.01), but no significant relationship was observed between the other social capital dimensions and emotional adjustment. Conclusion: The trust and solidarity dimension had a significant relationship with emotional adjustment in infertile couples. Accordingly, increasing mutual trust between neighborhood residents can strengthen social capital, and in turn, improve emotional adjustment in infertile couples. Key words: Social capital, Emotional adjustment, Infertility

Burn-induced Oxidative Stress and Serum Glutathione Depletion; a Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Several studies have shown the role of oxidative stress in pathophysiology of burn injuries. This study aimed to evaluate the changes of oxidant-antioxidant levels during the week following burn injuries and its correlation with grade of burn. Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, changes of total glutathione, reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized GSH (GSSG), GSH/GSSG ratio, as well as Pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) were investigated on the 1st, 2nd and 7th days of admission in patients with > 15 % burns.Results: 40 patients with the mean age of 21.1 ± 14.5 were studied (47.5% male). More than 50% of patients were in the 18 – 55 years age range and over 70% had 20% – 60% grade of burn. Total serum glutathione level and GSH had significant decreasing trends (P < 0.001) and GSSG and GSH/GSSG ratio had increasing trends (p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed between serum GSH level and the total body surface area (TBSA) of burn injury (r = 0.047; p = 0.779). The evaluation of PAB and its correlation with TBSA showed a significant and direct association between them on the 1st (coefficient = 0.516; p = 0.001), 2nd (coefficient = 0.62; p <0.001), and 3rd (coefficient = 0.471; p = 0.002) day of follow up.Conclusion: According to this study, the redox perturbation occurred in burn injury which was measured and proved by decreased GSH/GSSG ratio as well as the shift of PAB in favour of oxidants. Besides, since PAB positively correlated with the severity of dermal damage, it might suggest the application of antioxidants as a part of therapeutic protocol for which the dosage should be proportionate to the surface area of the damaged skin.

Counseling-supportive interventions to decrease infertile women’s perceived stress: A systematic review

Background: Infertility all around the world and in every culture is recognized as a stressful and critical experience that threatens individual, familial, marital, and social stability. Thus, in accordance with the importance of a woman’s mental health and the possible impact of mental health on treatment outcome, finding a way to deal with perceived stress in women can help improve pregnancy outcomes. Methods: This study is a systematic review on reducing perceived infertility stress in infertile women. The current study was undertaken using multiple databases such as SID, Irandoc, Magi ran, Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane library, and CINAHL selected from articles pertinent to the study. The selection of papers was undertaken from1990 through May 2016. The methodological quality was assessed. Results: The initial search yielded a list of 725 papers, and then reviewers studied titles and abstracts. Thereafter, 68 papers were incorporated, and researchers reviewed summaries of all of the searched articles. Finally, the researchers utilized the data gained from 29 full articles so as to compile this review paper. Reviewing the studies conducted on reducing infertility perceived stress, the researchers classified related findings into two main categories: supportive and counseling intervention. Conclusion: Considering the fact that there is an international agreement that fertility centers need to offer counseling programs for psychological problems of the infertile, it is especially important to recognize Electronic physician Page 4695 counseling-supportive interventions for decreasing infertile women’s perceived stress and to program plans for decreasing women’s perceived stress. By investigating counseling-supportive stress, we hope that this study has stepped forward toward health care agent’s familiarity with decreasing infertile women’s perceived stress and, therefore, improving treatment consequence

Isolation, Identification, and Profile of Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria in Patients with Cancer

AbstractBackground: Blood stream infection is one of the maincauses of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. Thepurpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of aerobicand anaerobic-bacteremia in hospital inpatients with cancerand to determine the antibiotic resistance profile in isolatedorganisms in Kerman, southeast Iran.Methods: Total of 240 blood cultures from 136 patients wereexamined. The blood cultures performed in BACTEC mediaand were assessed for four weeks in aerobic and anaerobicconditions. Identification of isolates and antibiotic susceptibilitytest were performed by standard methods.Results: 24.6% of blood cultures were positive. The prevalenceof polymicrobial bacteremia was 12%. Forty-three out of 65 isolatedbacteria (66%) were gram positive and others (34%) weregram negative. Coagulase negative Staphylococci (21.5%),Propionibacterium spp (15.4%), Diphtheroid spp (12.3%), andEscherichia coli (12.2%) were the dominant isolated bacteria. AllStaphylococci were methicillin resistant. The only isolatedPseudomonas putida and 37% of isolated Escherichia coli weremulti-drug resistant. A number of Streptococci, Klebsiella, andAlcaligenes spp were also resistant in part to the antibiotics.Conclusion: Patients with cancer may be readily infectedby many opportunistic pathogens including multi-drug resistantstrains.Iran J Med Sci 2010; 35(2): 109-115

Complex factors related to marital and sexual satisfaction among couples undergoing infertility treatment: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: This study assesses complex factors related to marital and sexual satisfaction among couples undergoing infertility treatment. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 140 couples who visited fertility centers in Iran, between September 2015 and July 2016. Data collection was done by Marital and Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaires and were analyzed by the IBM SPSS 26 software. Results: There was a significant difference between wives and husbands in the MSQ total scores (p = 0.027). However, there was no significant difference between wives and husbands in the SSQ total scores (p = 0.398). Sexual satisfaction and decision-maker in life among wives and husbands were significant predictors of MSQ. The kind of treatment, cause of infertility and BMI among wives and kinds of treatment, cause of infertility, and decision-maker among husbands were also significant predictors of SSQ. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that there is a difference between the understanding of marital and sexual satisfaction in wives and their husbands. Healthcare providers need to pay more attention to these differences

Investigation of Social Capital and Its Relationship with Emotional Adjustment in Infertile Couples: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Infertility is an abnormal event in the life of families and can have various consequences on a personal and social level. Therefore, infertile couples need to manage their emotional responses. Social capital, as one of the social determinants of health, can affect mental health. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between social capital and emotional adjustment in infertile couples. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2018 to February 2019 with 170 infertile couples visiting infertility centers in Sari, Iran. The data collection instruments included the social capital integrated questionnaire, an emotional adjustment scale and a demographic-reproductive checklist. Results: All the social capital dimensions, except for the groups and networks dimension, had a score of higher than 50 (more than the mean score). Based on ANCOVA and the multiple linear regression results, the dimension of trust and solidarity had a significant negative relationship with emotional adjustment (p = 0.01), but no significant relationship was observed between the other social capital dimensions and emotional adjustment. Conclusion: The trust and solidarity dimension had a significant relationship with emotional adjustment in infertile couples. Accordingly, increasing mutual trust between neighborhood residents can strengthen social capital, and in turn, improve emotional adjustment in infertile couples. Key words: Social capital, Emotional adjustment, Infertility

Quantitative and statistical analysis of differences in sensitivity between Long-Evans and Han/Wistar rats following long-term exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

Historically, quantitative health risk assessment of chemical substances is based on deterministic approaches. For a more realistic and informative health risk assessment, however, the variability and uncertainty inherent in measurements should be taken into consideration. The variability and uncertainty may be assessed by applying probabilistic methods when performing dose-response assessment, exposure assessment and risk characterization. The benchmark dose (BMD) method has been suggested as an alternative to the no observed (adverse) effect level (NO(A)EL) approach in dose-response assessment of non-cancer health effects. In contrast to the NO(A)EL that is limited to being one of the experimental dose levels, the BMD is estimated as the dose corresponding to a predetermined change in response, according to a model fitted to the dose-response data. In the present thesis, quantitative differences in sensitivity between dioxin sensitive Long- Evans (L-E) and dioxin resistant Han/Wistar (H/W) rats following long-term exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was investigated. Sensitivity differences were analyzed by comparing BMDs for the two strains, considering a number of conventional toxicological endpoints, endpoints relevant for the endocrine system, and a group of bone parameters. Differences between the strains were most pronounced for hepatic foci; L-E rats were approximately 20-40 times more sensitive than H/W rats. For body and organ weight parameters, L-E rats were 10-20 times more sensitive than H/W rats. For retinoid parameters and hepatic CYP1A1 induction, estimated differences between the strains were generally about 5-fold. For bone effects, significant strain differences were observed with the L-E rat being the most sensitive strain. This difference was most pronounced (about 49-fold) for cross-sectional area of proximal tibia. It was also concluded that the BMD approach is a more suitable method for evaluation of bone parameters compare to the NOAEL approach. In another application, relative potency values (REPs) were established for a group of dioxinlike (DL) and non-dioxin-like (NDL) polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners as the ratio between BMDs, median effective doses (ED50s), or NOELs. This analysis was based on increased liver weight, decreased hepatic vitamin A levels, and increased hepatic EROD activity. The findings indicated that the BMD approach results in more reliable REP values compared to the ED50 and NOEL approaches. The BMD approach also provides more information about the precision of the estimated REP values by the calculation of a two-sided 90% confidence interval; a confidence interval may also be established for a ED50 ratio but not for a NO(A)EL ratio. Overall findings in this analysis supported further development and use of endpoint specific systems for assessment of human exposure to mixtures of chemicals with similar as well as different mode-of-actions. Finally, the potential health impact of a group of PCBs was characterized by estimating the cumulative margins of exposure (MOEs) for the adult Swedish population. A cumulative MOE distribution was quantified by simultaneous integration of a reference dose (RfD) distribution and a distribution for the human dietary exposure. Both a relative potency factor (RPF) based approach and an RPF-free approach were used for estimating the cumulative MOE. Results indicated that the cumulative MOE could be up to four times lower for women compared to men. The cumulative MOE reflected the MOE for PCB 126; other PCB congeners had little contribution. Compared to conventional MOE approaches, the newer approaches considered herein provide an improved tool under which potential health concerns can be assessed by accounting for both variability and various uncertainties, quantitatively, contributing to improving cumulative health risk assessments for the human population