The Effect of Educational Intervention based on the Self Efficacy and Health Literacy Theory on Health Promoting Lifestyles among Female Health Volunteers of Neyshabur, Iran

Background: The importance of health promoting behaviors are due to their potential role in preventing chronic diseases, reducing morbidity, improving quality of life and reducing health care burdens in the community. Health literacy and lifestyle are social determinants of health. This study was designed to determine the effect of educational intervention based on the Self Efficacy and health literacy Theory on the health promoting behavior of female health volunteers in Neyshabur, Iran. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 80 female health volunteers in Neyshabur. Participants were randomly divided into the two control and experimental groups. Data gathering tools were the Healthy Lifestyle questionnaire (HPLPII), Sherer General Self-Efficacy Scale and Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA). Educational intervention was conducted based on the self-efficacy theory and health literacy. The subjects in the intervention group received 4 sessions of 1 hour education on a weekly basis. Data analysis was done through SPSS16 and using Chi- square, Repeated Measures and Friedman Test. Results: Before the intervention, there was no significant difference in mean score of lifestyle (P=0.89) and self-efficacy (P=0.146) between the two groups. But, after the intervention, the two groups showed significant difference in all variables (P. 0.001). Conclusion: Educational intervention based on the self- efficacy and health literacy theory can promote healthy lifestyle among health volunteers

Post-saccadic Eye Movement Indices Under Cognitive Load: A Path Analysis to Determine Visual Performance

Purpose: The evidence on the linear relationship between cognitive load, saccade, fixation, and task performance was uncertain. We tested pathway models for degraded task performance resulting from changes in saccadic and post-saccadic fixation under cognitive load. Methods: Participants’ (n = 38) eye movements were recorded using a post-saccadic discrimination task with and without arithmetic operations to impose cognitive load, validated through recording heart rate variability and subjective measurement. Results: Results showed that cognitive load led to longer latencies of saccade and fixation; more inaccurate responses and fewer secondary saccades (P < 0.001). Longer saccade latencies influenced task performance indirectly via increases in fixation latency, therefore, longer reaction times and higher response errors were observed due to limited fixation duration on desired target. Conclusion: We suggest that latency and duration of fixation indicate efficiency of information processing and can predict the speed and accuracy of task performance under cognitive load

Applying decision tree for detection of a low risk population for type 2 diabetes: A population based study

Introduction: The aim of current study was to create a prediction model using data mining approach, decision tree technique, to identify low risk individuals for incidence of Type 2 diabetes (T2DM), using the Mashhad Stroke and Heart Atherosclerotic Disorders (MASHAD) Study program. Methods: a prediction model was developed using classification by the decision tree method on 9528 subjects recruited from MASHAD database. Moreover, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied. Results: The prevalence rate of T2DM was ~14% in our population. For decision tree model, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity value for identifying the related factors with T2DM were 78.7%, 47.8% and 83%, respectively. In addition, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) value for recognizing the risk factors associated with T2DM was 0.64. Moreover, we found that subjects with family history of T2DM, age>=48, SBP>=130, DBP>=81, HDL>=29, LDL>=148 and occupation=other have more than 59% chance of this disorder, while the chance of T2DM in subjects without history with TG>=184, age>=48 and hs-CRP>=2.2, have approximately 51% chance. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that decision tree analysis, using routine demographic, clinical, anthropometric and biochemical measurements, which combined with other risk score models, could create a simple strategy to predict individuals at low risk for type 2 diabetes in order to decrease substantially the number of subjects needing for screening and recognition of subject at high risk

Cytotoxic Effect of Saffron Stigma Aqueous Extract on Human Transitional Cell Carcinoma and Mouse Fibroblast

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong>Introduction:</strong> Saffron has been suggested to have inhibitory effects on tumoral cells. We evaluated the cytotoxic effect of aqueous extract of saffron on human transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) and mouse non-neoplastic fibroblast cell lines.<strong></strong></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong>Materials and Methods: </strong>Human TCC 5637 cell line and mouse fibroblast cell line (L929) were cultivated and incubated with different concentrations of aqueous extract of saffron stigma (50 </span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">m</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">g/mL to 4000 </span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">m</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">g/mL). Cytotoxic effect of saffron was evaluated by morphologic observation and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay after 24, 48, 72, and 120 hours in each cell line. <strong></strong></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong>Results: </strong>After 24 hours, morphological observations showed growth inhibitory effects at saffron extract concentrations higher than 200 µg/mL for L929 cells and at concentrations of 50 µg/mL to 200 µg/mL for the TCC cells. These changes became more prominent after 48 hours. However, significant growth inhibitory effects of the extract were shown at concentrations of 400 µg/mL and 800 µg/mL. Higher concentrations of saffron correlated inversely with cell population of both cell lines. Significant reduction of the survived cells was seen at concentrations of 400 µg/mL and 2000 µg/mL for TCC and L929 cell lines, respectively. After 120 hours, decrease in the percentage of survived cells at higher concentrations of saffron extract was seen in both cell lines. At a concentration of 800 </span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">m</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">g/mL, the survived L929 cells plummeted to less than 60% after 120 hours, while no TCC cells survived at this time. No L929 cells survived at 2000 </span><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">m</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">g/mL.</span></span></p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: ";Times New Roman";; mso-bidi-language: FA; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Conclusion: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: ";Times New Roman";; mso-bidi-language: FA; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Saffron aqueous extract has inhibitory effects on the growth of both TCC 5637 and normal L929 cell lines. This effect is dose dependent.</span&gt

Molekularna ispitivanja prevalencije brucella abortus i brucella melitensis u uzorcima krvi i limfnih čvorova žrtvovanih kamila metodom lančane reakcije polimeraze (pcr) u Iranu

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease which is characterized by reduced fertility and abortion in several species of animals, as well as humans. Camel brucellosis is caused by Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis. To overcome the limitations posed by other techniques such as culture and serology, a sensitive technique (PCR) was employed for the detection of brucellosis in 123 camels. Findings from this PCR study indicated a total of 11.38% of blood samples as positive for Brucella spp. and 13.01% of the lymph node samples were positive for Brucella spp. In this study, 5 out of 123 (4.065%) and 3 out of 123 (2.439%) camel blood samples were positive for B. abortus and B. melitensis, respectively. Also, 4 out of 123 (3.252%) and 2 out of 123 (1.626%) camel lymph node samples were positive for B. abortus and B. melitensis, respectively. Young camels were the most commonly infected age group, while adult camels were the less often infected age group. Also, higher prevalence of brucellosis was observed in female camels. These results have indicated that PCR is a sensitive technique which could be used as a confirmatory test for the detection of brucellosis in live camels, at the same timeBruceloza je zoonoza koja se karakteriše smanjenom sposobnošću reprodukcije i abortusima kod nekoliko vrsta životinja i ljudi. Brucelozu kod kamila izazivaju Brucella abortus i Brucella melitensis. Standardne dijagnostičke tehnike kao što su izolacija na hranljivim podlogama i serološke reakcije nisu pouzdane i imaju značajna ograničenja. Da bi se to izbeglo, radi dokazivanja bruceloze kod 123 kamile, uptorebljena je osetljiva dijagnostička molekularna metoda: PCR. Rezultati su pokazali da je 11,38% ispitanih uzoraka krvi i 13,01% uzoraka limfnih čvorova bilo pozitivno na Brucella spp. U studiji, od ukupno 123 uzoraka krvi, 5 uzoraka (4,065%) je bilo pozitivno na B. abortus, a 3 (2,439%) na B. melitensis. Od ukupno 123 uzorka krvi, 4 uzorka (2,252%) su bila pozitivna na B. abortus, a 3 (1,626%) na B. melitensis. Najveća prevalencija je bila u grupi mladih životinja, a starije kamile su retko oboljevale. Veća je prevalencija ustanovljena kod ženki. Rezultati ukazuju da je PCR osetljiva metoda koja može da se koristi kao potvrdni test za dokazivanje bruceloze kod živih životinja uz minimalan rizik od infekcije laboratorijskog osoblja koje obavlja dijagnostiku. Dobijeni rezultati ukazuju da postoji neophodnost defi nisanja programa kontrole i iskorenjivanja bruceloze kamila. Istovremeno, rezultati ukazuju na pouzdanost PCR metode u dokazivanju Brucella spp bakterija, u uzorcima krvi i limfnih čvorova, što čini ovaj metod pogodnim za rutinsku dijagnostiku bruceloze

Wavelet Based Estimation for the Derivative of a Density by Block Thresholding under Random Censorship

We consider wavelet based method for estimating derivatives of a density via block thresholding when the data obtained are randomly right censored. The proposed method is analogous to that of Hall and Patil (1995) for density estimation in the complete data case that has been extended recently by Li (2003, 2008). We find bounds for the $L_2$-loss over a large range of Besov function classes for the resulting estimators. The results of Hall and Patil (1995), Prakasa Rao (1996) and Li (2003, 2008) are obtained as special cases and the performance of proposed estimator is investigated by numerical study

A note on the adaptive estimation of a conditonal continuous-discrete multivariate density by wavelet methods

In this note we investigate the estimation of a multivariate continuous-discrete conditional density. We develop an adaptive estimator based on wavelet methods. We prove its good theoretical performance by determining sharp rates of convergence under the Lp risk with p ≥ 1 for a wide class of unknown conditional density. A simulation study illustrates the good practical performances of our estimator

Nonparametric estimation of a quantile density function by wavelet methods

In this paper nonparametric wavelet estimators of the quantile density function are proposed. Consisitency of the wavelet estimators is established under the Lp risk. A simulation study is done to compare our estimators to those proposed by our estimators

Standardized Percentile Curves of Body Mass Index of Northeast Iranian Children Aged 25 to 60 Months

Objective: Growth charts are widely used to assess children's growth status and can provide a trajectory of growth during early important months of life. Racial differences necessitate using local growth charts. This study aimed to provide standardized growth curves of body mass index (BMI) for children living in northeast Iran. Methods: A total of 23730 apparently healthy boys and girls aged 25 to 60 months recruited for 20 days from those attending community clinics for routine health checks. Anthropometric measurements were done by trained health staff using WHO methodology. The LMSP method with maximum penalized likelihood, the Generalized Additive Models, the Box-Cox power exponential distribution distribution, Akaike Information Criteria and Generalized Akaike Criteria with penalty equal to 3 [GAIC(3)], and Worm plot and Q-tests as goodness of fit tests were used to construct the centile reference charts. Findings: The BMI centile curves for boys and girls aged 25 to 60 months were drawn utilizing a population of children living in northeast Iran. Conclusion: The results of the current study demonstrate the possibility of preparation of local growth charts and their importance in evaluating children's growth. Also their differences, relative to those prepared by global references, reflect the necessity of preparing local charts in future studies using longitudinal data