The effect of sexual health counseling on women’s sexual satisfaction in postpartum period: A randomized clinical trial

Background: Many couples experience decreasing sexual satisfaction in postpartum period. Various sexual health counseling approaches have been designed for postpartum women to address their common sexual concerns and problems. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Women’s Postpartum Sexual Health Program (WPSHP) on women’s sexual satisfaction in postpartum period. Materials and Methods: The study was a single blind randomized clinical trial on 75 postpartum women aged 18–35 yr with low sexual satisfaction who attended urban health-care centres in Mashhad, Iran in 2016. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21, and the Larson Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire. The intervention group received counselling based on the WPSHP, a four-session, group- and couples-based program. The control group  just received postpartum routine care. Results: Both the intervention and control groups were homogeneous for demographic variables. According to the Mann-Whitney test, sexual satisfaction score in the  intervention group was significantly higher than the control group 8 weeks after the intervention (p < 0.001). According to the Wilcoxon test, there was a significant difference in the mean score of sexual satisfaction before and after intervention in the intervention group (p < 0.001). Conclusion: WPSHP caused higher levels of sexual satisfaction. It is therefore recommended to use this program in women during the postpartum period to promote their sexual satisfaction. Key words: Sexual satisfaction, Sexual counseling, Sexual health, Postpartum

Short-term Outcomes of Collagen Crosslinking for Early Keratoconus

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of collagen crosslinking with riboflavin and ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation for treatment of early keratoconus. Methods: Thirty-one eyes of 22 patients with early keratoconus were included in this study. All patients underwent slit lamp examination and assessment of uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), intraocular pressure, corneal topography and pachymetry. Collagen crosslinking was performed without epithelial removal. Riboflavin was applied to the cornea every 3 minutes 30 minutes before UVA irradiation and every 5 minutes thereafter. Patients were re-assessed 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment. Results: Postoperatively, UCVA increased by 2 Snellen lines and BSCVA was improved by 1.7 Snellen lines (P < 0.001). Spherical equivalent refractive error was reduced by 0.55 D, and maximum and mean K values were decreased by 0.65 D and 0.51 D respectively (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). Evidence of regression was present in 71% of treated eyes. Conclusion: Collagen crosslinking demonstrated significant improvement in vision with reduction in corneal power and spherical equivalent refractive error in eyes with early keratoconus

The relationship of the psychological coping and adjustment strategies of infertile women with the success of assisted reproductive technology

Background:&nbsp;The success of assisted reproductive techniques plays a very important&nbsp;role in the quality of life of infertile couples and decreases the negative behavior states&nbsp;of infertility. Objective: This study aimed at determining the relationship between psychological coping and adjustment strategies with the success of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Materials and Methods:&nbsp;This correlational study was conducted on 204 women&nbsp;visiting Milad Infertility Center in Mashhad during 2015-2016. The research instruments&nbsp;included Fertility Adjustment Scale and Infertility Coping Strategies Scale. The positive&nbsp;result of two pregnancy tests within 48 hours was considered as the success of ART. Results:&nbsp;The mean and standard division score of adjustment in the group achieved&nbsp;treatment success (34.3±8.2) exceeded the group failed (33.6±8.8), the difference was&nbsp;not statistically significant (p= 0.381). Also, there was no significant difference between&nbsp;groups in the median and interquartile range of total coping strategies 81 (13) vs. 79.5&nbsp;(12.25), (p= 0.369). Based on the logistic regression model for one increased transferred&nbsp;embryo, the chance of getting pregnant is 1.3 times, and for each unit increase in FSH&nbsp;level, the chance of ART success decreases 18%. Conclusion:&nbsp;The results of this study showed that there is no relationship between&nbsp;psychological coping and adjustment strategies with ART success. However, the&nbsp;number of transferred fetus and tirthday FSH are introduced as factors that are related&nbsp;to the success of ART. Key words: Infertility, Psychological adjustment, Coping skills, (ART)

Young Women and Men's Attitude towards Childbearing

Background & aim: Attitude is taken into account as the most important determinant of behavior. However, the present knowledge considering opinions of the youths on the verge of marriage is not sufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the attitudes towards childbearing in women and men on the verge of marriage attending health centers in Mashhad, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 on 170 women and 100 men referring to the premarital counseling centers. The participants were selected through convenience sampling method. The data were collected using the Childbearing Attitudes Scale and analyzed by descriptive statistics and independent t-test by the SPSS. Results: The mean scores of attitudes to childbearing in women and men were 164.03±21.62 and 158.86±24.91, respectively, with no significant difference (P=0.11).  The mean desired number of children was 2.23±1.01 in women and 2.14±0.9 in men. There were significant differences between the attitudes of women and men in terms of the impacts of childbirth on women’s body shape (P=0.01), childbearing as one of the purposes of human creation (P=0.04), and the relationship between the number of children and their upbringing quality (P=0.002). A significant relationship was found between the attitudes and ideal number of children (P=0.001). Conclusion: Attitudes towards childbearing among young adults on the verge of marriage were not so favorable. Consequently, it is essential to implement comprehensive training programs in order to enhance the positive views both in women and men towards childbearing

The relationship between breast self-examination and stages of change model in health volunteers

The Relationship between breast self-examination and the stage of change (SOC ) Model among those volunteering in Mashhad, 2013 Mohammad Vahedian Shahroodi1, Fatemeh Pourhaje2, Habibollah Esmaily3, Fahime pourhaje4 1. Health sciences research center, Department of health and Management, school of health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 2. MSc students of Health education and health promotion, Student Research Committee, Health Department of health and management, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences , Mashhad , Iran 3. Associated Professor, Health sciences research center, Department of Biostatistics & Epidemology, school of health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 4 MSc Educational Planning and Member of EDC medical university, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Introduction Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women. In developed countries , one in every nine women will be diagnosed with this type of cancer. The prevalence of breast cancer is increasing and compared with similar patients in Western countries are about 10 years younger. The aim of this research is Investigation breast self-examination based on stage of change (SOC) in those volunteers in Mashhad, Iran, 2013. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 410 health volunteers above age 20 years. They are people that in order to promote healthy behaviors in society , learned hygiene skills and training necessary courses and they transfer their know ledges to at least 50 families . They were selected by stratified sampling method from population covered by urban health centers of Mashhad. Each of 1 to 5 health centers of Mashhad was considered as a class. Cases were selected and studied from each class, proportional to the number of covered volunteers of that health center. Data were collected by self-report questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software version 18 and statistical t-test, Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regression. P value less than 0.05 was considered significance. Results : The means’s of age participant was 34 . 7±9 . 2 In review the prediction Breast Self- examination behavior based on stage of change, it was shown that structure of stage of change 54 percent can be variable predictive in Breast Self- examination. Conclusion: This study had shown the effectiveness of structure of stage of change to emphasize the behavior related to BSE. Thus, it seems to be a theory as a framework for designing educational programs to improve women's health and reduce deaths from breast cancer. Keywords: stage of change, Breast self-examination, those volunteerin

Determination of the association between body image with sexual function and marital adjustment in fertile and infertile Women by path analysis modeling

Abstract Background & Objective: Infertility has several adverse effects on body, psychological and social aspects of women. Otherwise, body image could be a predictor of different behaviors including sexual behavior. Thus, in the present study we aimed to assess the association between body image with sexual function and marital adjustment in fertile and infertile women. Materials & Methods: One-hundred and thirty fertile and 130 infertile women were enrolled in this study. Statistical analysis was performed by using AMOS 18 with structural equation modeling. Results: In fertile women, the strongest path coefficient was related with the effect of body image on general health, while in infertile women, the strongest path coefficient was associated with the effect of body image on sexual function. In both occupying and non-occupying women the strongest path coefficient was related with the effect of body image on general health. In those infertile women who had the supports of their partners, the strongest path coefficient was associated with the effect of body image on sexual function, and in those infertile women who had not the supports of their partners the strongest path coefficient belonged to the effect of sexual function on marital adjustment. Conclusion: Based on our results, it seems that using structural equation modeling in evaluating and recognition of direct, indirect and total effects of the similar model is absolutely necessary and can be a good alternative method instead of regression

Effect of Cataract Type and Severity on Visual Acuity and Contrast Sensitivity

Purpose: To determine the effect of cataract type and severity in eyes with pure types of age-related lens opacities on visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity in the presence and absence of glare conditions. Methods: Sixty patients with senile cataracts aged 40 years or older with no other ocular pathologies were evaluated for VA and contrast sensitivity with and without glare. Lens opacities were classified according to the Lens Opacities Classification System (LOCS) III. VA was measured using the Snellen chart. Contrast sensitivity was measured with the Vector Vision CSV-1000E chart in the presence and absence of glare by calculating the area under log contrast sensitivity (log CS) function (AULCSF). Results: Cataracts were posterior subcapsular in 26 eyes, cortical in 19 eyes and nuclear in 15 eyes. VA significantly decreased with increasing cataract severity and there was significant loss of contrast sensitivity at all spatial frequencies with increasing cataract severity. AULCSF significantly decreased with increasing cataract severity in the presence and absence of glare conditions. Contrast sensitivity was significantly reduced at high spatial frequency (18 cpd) in cortical cataracts in the presence of glare in day light and at low spatial frequency (3 cpd) in night light. Conclusion: Increased cataract severity is strongly associated with a decrease in both VA and AULCSF. Contrast sensitivity scores may offer additional information over standard VA tests in patients with early age-related cataracts

Association of Pulmonary Function Tests and Serum Vitamin D Levels in Asthmatics With Vitamin D Deficiency

Objective: The effects of serum vitamin D levels on the evolution or severity of asthma have been widely researched; however, conflicting results have been achieved. This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and pulmonary function tests in asthmatic and non-asthmatic people with vitamin D deficiency.Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study on healthy adults and asthmatic patients. Standard spirometry and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D test were performed for all participants.Results: Forty asthmatic patients and 40 healthy controls were tested. The mean age of participants was 42.86 ± 1.6. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was found in both the asthmatic and control groups. No significant correlation was found between serum vitamin D levels and spirometry parameters in either of the groups (P = 0.83). Conclusion: Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were not correlated with the severity of asthma as evaluated by pulmonary function tests in asthmatics

Association of heat shock protein70-2 (HSP70-2) gene polymorphism with obesity

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Serum HDL cholesterol uptake capacity in subjects from the MASHAD cohort study: its value in determining the risk of cardiovascular endpoints

Background: The efficiency of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) to efflux cholesterol contributes to the reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) pathway as one of HDL’s proposed functions and depends on the ability of HDL to uptake cholesterol. We aimed to investigate cholesterol uptake capacity (CUC) by a newly developed assay in samples from the MASHAD (Mashhad Stroke and Heart Atherosclerotic Disorders) cohort study. Method: The study population comprised 153 individuals developed CVD diagnosed by a specialist cardiologist, over 6 years of follow-up, and 350 subjects without CVD. We used a modified CUC method to evaluate the functionality of HDL in serum samples. Result: The CUC assay was highly reproducible with values for inter- and intra-assay variation of 13.07 and 6.65, respectively. The mean serum CUC was significantly lower in the CVD group compared to control (p = 0.01). Although, there were no significant differences in serum HDL-C between the groups and there was no significantly association with risk of progressive CVD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that there was a significantly negative association between CUC and risk of CVD after adjustment for confounding parameters (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.38–0.87, p = 0.009). The CUC was also inversely and independently associated with the risk of CVD event using Cox proportional hazards models analysis (HR = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.41–0.94, p = 0.02). We determined the optimum cutoff value of 1.7 a.u for CUC in the population. Furthermore, the CUC value was important in determining the CVD risk stratification derived from data mining analysis. Conclusions: Reduced HDL functionality, as measured by CUC, appears to predict CVD in population sample from north-eastern Iran