The Study of Jurisprudential and Legal Foundations of Sharia Supervision and Strategies of Implementing It in the Islamic Banking System

Considering its nature, Islamic banking requires a special type of monitoring methods in order to adapt the activities of the banking system to the principles and laws of Sharia. In this research, it has been tried to justify the necessity of sharia supervision in the banking system with jurisprudential bases such as the rule of of gharar, prohibition of usury, harm, preservation of public interests, and the lack of innocence of the rulers and numerous legal documents such as the two, four and seventy-first principles of the constitutional law. The basic as well as the existential philosophy of approving the law on banking operations without usury and other related regulations, the necessity of Sharia supervision in this field should be emphasized and examined. International Islamic financial institutions have presented solutions for the implementation of the mentioned institution in the banking system of Islamic countries, which have been implemented in most of the countries with Islamic banking structure. In Iran, during the last few years, we have witnessed the relative stabilization of a position with supervisory, executive and legislative dignity for the Sharia inspector; but the country's banking system is still at the beginning of the path until it is implemented and the results of Sharia supervision are realized. Removing obstacles and providing solutions for the implementation of Sharia supervision requires examining the jurisprudential foundations, explaining the solutions and training for its implementation, which is also the purpose of this research. In this research, the above issue has been discussed and investigated by relying on the descriptive-analytical method from the point of view of legal jurisprudence

Validity of Self-reported Hypertension and Factors Related to Discordance Between Self-reported and Objectively Measured Hypertension: Evidence From a Cohort Study in Iran

Objectives Self-reporting can be used to determine the incidence and prevalence of hypertension (HTN). The present study was conducted to determine the validity of self-reported HTN and to identify factors affecting discordance between self-reported and objectively measured HTN in participants in the Ravansar Non-Communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort. Methods The RaNCD cohort included permanent residents of Ravansar, Iran aged 35-65 years. Self-reported data were collected before clinical examinations were conducted by well-trained staff members. The gold standard for HTN was anti-hypertensive medication use and blood pressure measurements. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and overall accuracy of self-reporting were calculated. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the discordance between self-reported HTN and the gold standard. Results Of the 10 065 participants in the RaNCD, 4755 (47.4%) were male. The prevalence of HTN was 16.8% based on self-reporting and 15.7% based on medical history and HTN measurements. Of the participants with HTN, 297 (18.8%) had no knowledge of their disease, and 313 (19.9%) had not properly controlled their HTN despite receiving treatment. The sensitivity, specificity, and kappa for self-reported HTN were 75.5%, 96.4%, and 73.4%, respectively. False positives became more likely with age, body mass index (BMI), low socioeconomic status, and female sex, whereas false negatives became more likely with age, BMI, high socioeconomic status, smoking, and urban residency. Conclusions The sensitivity and specificity of self-reported HTN were acceptable, suggesting that this method can be used for public health initiatives in the absence of countrywide HTN control and detection programs

Integration of operating room monitors for development of a smart alarm system.

A computer based system was designed and used to collect physiologic and respiratory data (13 variables and 3 waveforms) from six routinely used operating room monitors. 23 hours of data were collected during 20 general surgery cases (ASA III patients). Part of the data were used to design and implement an integrated monitor with intelligent alarm capability. The system used a rule based approach to reduce false alarms and artificial neural networks (ANN) for classification of physiological waveforms. The integrated monitor was able to correctly identify 13 of 17 intubations which resulted in a 42% reduction in low end-tidal-CO₂ false alarms. False heart rate alarms were reduced to 2.6% of total alarms using multi-variable analysis and rate of change limits. A combination of ANN's and an edge detection filter was used to classify CO₂ waveforms into spontaneous, mechanical, and mechanical with spontaneous breathing attempts. The edge detection algorithm was able to detect 171 of 182 breaths. The ANN's properly classified 65 of 67 mechanical, 47 of 71 spontaneous, and 37 of 44 mechanical breaths with spontaneous breathing attempts. Another ANN was used for detection of elevated and depressed ST segments in the ECG signal. All ST segment elevations and depressions of 0.1 mV were correctly identified. An attempt was made to use ANN's to classify ECG waveforms according to anesthetic levels. However, the back-propagation algorithm used to train the network did not converge perhaps due to the variety of drugs used in the different cases. The system met our goals of providing an integrated operating room monitor with intelligent alarm capability. The system significantly reduced false heart rate alarms, detected intubation and classified ECG and CO₂ waveforms

Fasting Consequences during Ramadan on Lipid Profile and Dietary Patterns

Introduction: The aim was to assess the effects on lifestyle and lipid profile while fasting during holy month of Ramadan. Material and Methods: An interventional cohort study designed with 160 subjects who were fasting during Ramadan recruited from different mosques in Kermanshah. Data were collected in three stages at the beginning and at the end of Ramadan as well as one month following Ramadan using demographic and FFQ questionnaires. Blood pressure was measured and a 5 ml blood sample was collected in order to measure BUN, Creatinine, and lipid profile analysis. Results: Significant increases was observed in total cholesterol (P=0.02), LDL-C (P=0.001), HDL-C (P=0.001), and BUN (P=0.002) following Ramadan compared with earlier measurements. Triglyceride (TG) level decreased following Ramadan (P=0.04) but returned to the same level one month later. Systolic blood pressure increased and diastolic blood pressure decreased during fasting period. There was a significant decrease in cereals, dairy products, and meat consumption while consumption of fruits and vegetables have been increased during Ramadan (P=0.003). Conclusion: Our results revealed increased levels of T-Chol and LDL-C in fasting as well as HDL-C. Increased HDL-C may prevent the side effects of T-Chol and LDL-C in healthy subjects. Given the metabolic changes that occurred during Ramadan, healthy eating and intake of low fat and low sugar diet during Ramadan are highly recommended

Fasting consequences during Ramadan on lipid profile and dietary patterns

Introduction: The aim was to assess the effects on lifestyle and lipid profile while fasting during holy month of Ramadan. Material and Methods: An interventional cohort study designed with 160 subjects who were fasting during Ramadan recruited from different mosques in Kermanshah. Data were collected in three stages at the beginning and at the end of Ramadan as well as one month following Ramadan using demographic and FFQ questionnaires. Blood pressure was measured and a 5 ml blood sample was collected in order to measure BUN, Creatinine, and lipid profile analysis. Results: Significant increases was observed in total cholesterol (P=0.02), LDL-C (P=0.001), HDL-C (P=0.001), and BUN (P=0.002) following Ramadan compared with earlier measurements. Triglyceride (TG) level decreased following Ramadan (P=0.04) but returned to the same level one month later. Systolic blood pressure increased and diastolic blood pressure decreased during fasting period. There was a significant decrease in cereals, dairy products, and meat consumption while consumption of fruits and vegetables have been increased during Ramadan (P=0.003). Conclusion: Our results revealed increased levels of T-Chol and LDL-C in fasting as well as HDL-C. Increased HDL-C may prevent the side effects of T-Chol and LDL-C in healthy subjects. Given the metabolic changes that occurred during Ramadan, healthy eating and intake of low fat and low sugar diet during Ramadan are highly recommended

A prospective cohort study on the association between dietary fatty acids intake and risk of hypertension incident

Abstract There are inconclusive results available on the association between dietary fatty acid intake and the risk of hypertension (HTN) incident. In this study, we investigate the relationship between baseline dietary fatty acids intake including polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), trans fatty acids (TFA), monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), and saturated fatty acid (SFA), and the risk of first incidence hypertension. The current prospective cohort study was carried out from the Ravansar Non-Communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort. A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with 118 items was used for the assessment of dietary data. Cox proportional hazards analyses were done to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the highest versus lowest quartile intake of SFA, PUFA, MUFA, and SFA and risk of HTN. Out of 7359 eligible participants, 597 new cases of HTN were identified over an average of 6.4 ± 1.33 years of follow-up. No significant relationship was observed between the fourth compared to the first categories of dietary SFA (HR: 0.82, 95% CI 0.55, 1.21; P trend: 0.476), MUFA (HR: 0.71, 95% CI 0.48, 1.06; P trend: 0.252), PUFA (HR: 0.86, 95% CI 0.62, 1.19; P trend: 0.315) and TFA (HR: 0.99, 95% CI 0.76, 1.27; P trend: 0.675), and risk of HTN. However, a significant inverse association between each 1 g per day increase in dietary MUFA intake during 6.4 years of follow up and HTN incident (HR: 0.97; 95% CI 0.94, 0.99; P 0.044) was observed. In brief, our study revealed that higher dietary MUFA intake was protectively associated with HTN incident. Dietary MUFA-rich foods should be encouraged to improve blood pressure

Efficacy and safety of a standardized extract from Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch in patients with ulcerative colitis: A randomized double blind placebo-controlled clinical trial

Background: Using Achillea wilhelmsii as a dietary supplement for gastrointestinal disorders is common in Persian traditional medicine. Its anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic and antibacterial properties have been proven by different in vitro and in vivo studies, yet it has not been evaluated in a controlled clinical trial. Aim: This study intended to evaluate the efficacy and safety of A. wilhelmsii in patients with mild to moderate active ulcerative colitis in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The hydroalcoholic extract of A. wilhelmsii was standardized based on caffeic acid. Methods: Forty-nine patients were randomly received A. wilhelmsii capsules or placebo, twice daily for 4 weeks in a 1:1 ratio. The disease activity index (DAI) (Partial Mayo Score), haemoglobin, platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and serum level of C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured at the entry and the end of the treatment. To standardize the extract, caffeic acid was detected and measured in the plant extract using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: Of 49 patients who entered the trial, 40 patients completed the study. In both treatment and placebo groups, significant reductions were observed in stool frequency, rectal bleeding, physician global assessment and partial mayo score. There was no significant difference in stool frequency (P = 0.176), rectal bleeding (P = 0.523), physician global assessment (P = 0.341) and partial mayo score (P = 1) in the treatment versus the placebo groups. Laboratory variables including hemoglobin, platelet count, ESR and CRP showed no significant difference between the treatment and the placebo group. Of all participants, only one patient in the treatment group complained about skin rash (grade 1 based on the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0). Conclusion: Oral administration of A. wilhelmsii powder for 4 weeks did not create a clinical response more than placebo. It seemed to be safe in UC patients. Further studies are obligatory to evaluate the therapeutic potential of A. wilhelmsii in the form of extract in UC patients. keywords:Achillea wilhelmsii Caffeic acid Clinical trial HPLC Partial Mayo ScoreStandardization Ulcerative coliti

The Role of Arsenic Treatment after Induction in Alternative and Long-Term Cases for the Prevention of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Recurrence

"nIntroduction: Arsenic has been used as an effective medicine in the treatment of severe promyelocytic leukemia in recurrence and resistance cases toward ATRA. In this study, it has been used as induction and maintenance therapy after remission. "nMethod & Material: We studied 31 patients diagnosed by APL. Arsenic was started at a dose of 0.15 mg/kg (daily) until patient’s bone marrow remission.(1) We started Arsenic as a consolidation therapy after 28 days rest and then we continued the treatment with Arsenic each 3-4 months during 2 years for 14 days. "nResults: 4 patients died (12.9%) during the first 15 days of treatment. 27 patients (87%) went into remission. 2 patients refused the continuation of treatment regardless the remission. 25 patients received a long term treatment. The disease of 3 out of 25 patients recurred during follow -up period. "n1 patient died during the treatment after recurrence and 3 others given ATRA & Arsenic went into remission. Now, It has been past 2 months since the end of their remission. "nThe recurrence appeared in the form of full involvement of thoraco-lumbar which was observed as an extensive tumor on MRI and was found to cover the mentioned area. "n1 patient faced CNS fungal infection during neutropenia period and then recovered after operation and proper treatment; however his vision was severely damaged. "nAs 4 patients faced leukocytosis over 1000/000ml, we were obliged to discontinue arsenic for 3-4 days and chemotherapy by Danurobicine was prescribed for 2 days. "nThe patient’s follow-up and the median survival time were 54 and 48 months, respectively. The overall survival was 80.6%. "nDiscussion: Arsenic as the first line therapy for APL is an effective treatment .Consistent long- term therapy with intervals will reduce the risk of disease recurrence. "n  "nKey word: APL, Arsenic Trioxide