Outer Independent Double Italian Domination of Some Graph Products

An outer independent double Italian dominating function on a graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\rightarrow\{0,1,2,3\}$ for which each vertex $x\in V(G)$ with $\color{red}{f(x)\in \{0,1\}}$ then $\sum_{y\in N[x]}f(y)\geqslant 3$ and vertices assigned $0$ under $f$ are independent. The outer independent double Italian domination number $\gamma_{oidI}(G)$ is the minimum weight of an outer independent double Italian dominating function of graph $G$. In this work, we present some contributions to the study of outer independent double Italian domination of three graph products. We characterize the Cartesian product, lexicographic product and direct product of custom graphs in terms of this parameter. We also provide the best possible upper and lower bounds for these three products for arbitrary graphs

The Reasons of the Prohibition of the Marriage of the Prophet's Wives after his Demise

Describing the status of the Prophet's (PBUH) wives as Nisā al-nabī (نساء النبی), the Holy Qur'ān considered their remarriage after the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as tormenting, and severely forbids it. The present study aims to examine the reasons of the Prohibition of the marriage of the Prophet's (PBUH) wives after his demise, and explain the philosophy behind this decree of God based on Qur'ānic, narratives, and historical, social and intellectual reasons. In this study, the data were collected through a library research method and were analyzed using a descriptive-analytical method. The detailed study of the data indicated that those willing to marry the Prophet's (PBUH) wives did not respect dignity and status of the Prophet's (PBUH). In addition, after marrying the Prophet's (PBUH) wives, they could politically, socially, morally, and theologically abuse their status out of selfishness and adventure. Therefore, in addition to preserving the Prohibition of the prophecy, Qur'ān limited the possibility of personal identification of some people through affinity with the Prophet (PBUH) and prevented the possible slips. Moreover, his wives' denial of getting divorced after the elevation of the Qur'ānic verse 33: 53, indicates their self-sacrifice, appreciating the honor of continuing their marriage to the Prophet (PBUH) as well as maintaining the spiritual achievements of their matrimonial lives

The Effect of Exchange Rate Uncertainty on Import of Medical and Pharmaceutical Products in Iran

Background: The field of medicine and medical equipment are partially dependent on the exchange rate. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of real exchange rate uncertainty on the import of medical and pharmaceutical products during 1971-2012. Methods: In this longitudinal study, the related data were collected from the World Bank, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran customs office during 1971-2012. Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic (GARCH) model was used for modelling the real exchange rate. In order to evaluate the impact of real exchange rate uncertainty on import of medical and pharmaceutical products, the exchange rate uncertainty index and other variables such as gross domestic product (GDP), oil revenues (OILR) and private sector health expenditure (PRI) were applied in the import model. Finally, VAR model was estimated using Eviews software version 6. Results: Estimation of medical and pharmaceutical products import model using Johansson test showed a significant negative coefficient for the exchange rate uncertainty variable. Error correction factor in this study was -0.039. Results show that in each period, 3.9 percent of the shocks in the short term can be adjusted to long-run equilibrium values. Conclusion: The exchange rate uncertainty had a significant negative impact on imports of medical and pharmaceutical products. This issue is very important for policy makers of the health field and health economists

Factors influencing verbal intelligence and spoken language in children with phenylketonuria

Objectives: To determine verbal intelligence and spoken language of children with phenylketonuria and to study the effect of age at diagnosis and phenylalanine plasma level on these abilities. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Children with phenylketonuria were recruited from pediatric hospitals in 2012. Normal control subjects were recruited from kindergartens in Tehran. Participants: 30 phenylketonuria and 42 control subjects aged 4- 6.5 years. Skills were compared between 3 phenylketonuria groups categorized by age at diagnosis/treatment, and between the phenylketonuria and control groups. Main outcome measures: Scores on Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence for verbal and total intelligence, and Test of Language Development-Primary, third edition for spoken language, listening, speaking, semantics, syntax, and organization. Results: The performance of control subjects was significantly better than that of early-treated subjects for all composite quotients from Test of Language Development and verbal intelligence (P >0.001). Early-treated subjects scored significantly higher than the two groups of late-treated subjects for spoken language (P =0.01), speaking (P =0.04), syntax (P =0.02), and verbal intelligence (P =0.019). There was a negative correlation between phenylalanine level and verbal intelligence (r= �0.79) in early-treated subjects and between phenylalanine level and spoken language (r= �0.71), organization (r= �0.82) and semantics (r= �0.82) for late-treated subjects diagnosed before the age one year. Conclusion: The study confirmed that diagnosis of newborns and control of blood phenylalanine concentration improves verbal intelligence and spoken language scores in phenylketonuria subjects. © 2015, Indian Academy of Pediatrics

The efficacy of a computer assisted auditory training on the plasticity of the central auditory nervous system in hearing impaired children

For improving auditory and speech skills, children with sensorineural hearing loss are required to use hearing amplifications devices and undergo a specific auditory rehabilitation program including auditory training. Computerized auditory training (CAT) has been shown to be effective in improving listening skills and enjoying for children. The Malay version of CAT, nevertheless, was not available for clinical applications. The main aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of a Newly-computerized Auditory Training (NAT) (when compared with regular auditory training, RAT) by recording speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (sABR) peaks in two groups of hearing impaired children before and after undergoing intervention. After completing the preliminary studies, the effectiveness of NAT in promoting neuroplasticity was tested. Eligible normal children (n=17, mean age = 5.6 ± 1.6 years), hearing impaired children who underwent NAT program (n=9, mean age = 7.00 ± 2.06 years) and hearing children who underwent regular auditory training (RAT) (n=11, mean age = 7.72 ± 1.48 years) were recruited. For pre-intervention session, parents of hearing impaired children (in both NAT and RAT groups) were instructed to fill in Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS) questionnaire. All three groups of children then underwent sABR testing. Four months after the intervention, MAIS, myPRAT and sABR were recorded from the hearing impaired groups and the normal children were only required to undergo sABR testing. For the gender analyses, while significant differences in sABR results were found between men and women, no such effect was seen in children. In the main study, based on MAIS and myPRAT analyses, both NAT and RAT methods were found to be effective in improving auditory skills (p<0.05). However, the NAT method was found to be superior to RAT as indicated by stronger effect sizes. In sABR testing, the effect of hearing loss was clearly noted when the three groups were compared, particularly for peaks V and A (p<0.05). Based on the inter-group analysis, the mean latency of peak C improved after the intervention in the NAT group. For intra-group comparison of sABR, higher mean amplitude of peak V was observed in the NAT group after the intervention (as shown by the moderate effect sizes). No such pattern was seen in the RAT group. After the intervention, while significant differences in V/A slopes were found between normal and RAT groups, no notable differences were found between normal and NAT groups for all sABR composite onset measures. The possible reasons for these findings are discussed accordingly. The superiority of NAT method in promoting neuroplasticity is perhaps due to its materials and emphasis on the temporal aspect in the program. The present study offers several benefits to community, university and knowledge enhancement. The newly developed Malay version of NAT is now available to be used by clinicians as an alternative rehabilitative method for improving the listening skills of hearing impaired children

Heart and spiritual well-being

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.An important type of well-being, which is more valuable and critical than other ones, is spiritual well-being. Other types of well-being are in fact the prerequisite of achieving spiritual well-being and utilizing spiritual virtues that are accepted by any human being. Indeed, spiritual well-being is directly associated with the bliss in the world and the hereafter. Thus, it is more precious than other types of well-being. In this regard, heart is considered the container of spiritual well-being.For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Please cite this article as: Jalaei Nobari H. Heart and spiritual well-being. J Res Relig Health. 2019; 4(5):1- 4

A computer-based selective visual attention test for first-grade school children: Design, development and psychometric properties

Background: Visual attention is known as a critical base for learning. The purpose of the present study was to design, develop and evaluate the test-retest and internal consistency reliability as well as face, content and convergent validity of the computer- based selective visual attention test (SeVAT) for healthy first-grade school children. Methods: In the first phase of this study, the computer-based SeVAT was developed in two versions of original and parallel. Ten experts in occupational therapy helped to measure the content validity using the CVR and CVI methods. Face validity was measured through opinions collected from 10 first-grade children. The convergent validity of the test was examined using the Spearman correlation between the SeVAT and Stroop test. In addition, test-retest reliability was determined by measuring the intra-class correlation (ICC) between the original and parallel versions of the SeVAT in a single session. The internal consistency was calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Sixty first grade children (30 girls/30boys) participated in this study. Results: The developed test was found to have good content and face validity. The SeVAT showed an excellent test-retest reliability (ICC= 0.778, p<0.001) and internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha of original and parallel tests were 0.857 and 0.831, respectively). SeVAT and Stroop test demonstrated a positive correlation upon the convergent validity testing. Conclusion: Our results suggested an acceptable reliability and validity for the computer-based SeVAT in the assessment of selective attention in children. Further research may warrant the differential validity of such a test in other age groups and neuro-cognitively disordered populations

Gender differences in binaural speech-evoked auditory brainstem response: are they clinically significant? Diferenças de gênero no potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefálico com estímulo de fala binaural: são clinicamente significantes?

Introduction: Binaurally evoked auditory evoked potentials have good diagnostic values when testing subjects with central auditory deficits. The literature on speech-evoked auditory brainstem response evoked by binaural stimulation is in fact limited. Gender disparities in speech-evoked auditory brainstem response results have been consistently noted but the magnitude of gender difference has not been reported. Objective: The present study aimed to compare the magnitude of gender difference in speech-evoked auditory brainstem response results between monaural and binaural stimulations. Methods: A total of 34 healthy Asian adults aged 19�30 years participated in this comparative study. Eighteen of them were females (mean age = 23.6 ± 2.3 years) and the remaining sixteen were males (mean age = 22.0 ± 2.3 years). For each subject, speech-evoked auditory brainstem response was recorded with the synthesized syllable /da/ presented monaurally and binaurally. Results: While latencies were not affected (p > 0.05), the binaural stimulation produced statistically higher speech-evoked auditory brainstem response amplitudes than the monaural stimulation (p 0.80), substantive gender differences were noted in most of speech-evoked auditory brainstem response peaks for both stimulation modes. Conclusion: The magnitude of gender difference between the two stimulation modes revealed some distinct patterns. Based on these clinically significant results, gender-specific normative data are highly recommended when using speech-evoked auditory brainstem response for clinical and future applications. The preliminary normative data provided in the present study can serve as the reference for future studies on this test among Asian adults. © 2018 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facia

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Flipped Classroom for Postgraduate Physiotherapy Students

Introduction: Teamwork is an essential component of delivering successful physiotherapy services to patients; therefore, the education of physiotherapy students should be directed toward strategies that promote interaction between classmates. A flipped classroom (FC) is a pedagogical strategy that promotes active learning. The present study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate the FC for postgraduate physiotherapy students. Materials and Methods: A total of 44 postgraduate general and sport physiotherapy students participated in this study from 2016 to 2019. Two theoretical courses were designed and delivered based on the FC approach. The data were collected using a questionnaire that contained 12 items based on the 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney, and Fisher exact tests. Results: The students’ familiarity with FC was 2.52±1.51 (median=3). The total agreement with FC was 3.42±0.92 (median=3). Only 22.7% of the students reported no increase in motivation. Meanwhile, 71% of the students agreed with a blended classroom, while only 52% preferred to teach only with FC. Conclusion: Most students preferred a blended classroom combining in-class and home activities. Also, the FC could augment the interaction and motivation of the students. Accordingly, FC is a valuable teaching strategy for postgraduate physiotherapy students

Comparing Sound-Field Speech-Auditory Brainstem Response Components between Cochlear Implant Users with Different Speech Recognition in Noise Scores

ObjectivesMany studies have suggested that Cochlear Implant (CI) users vary in terms of speech recognition in noise. Studies in this field attribute this variety partly to subcortical auditory processing. Since study on speech-Auditory Brainstem Response (speech-ABR) provides good information about speech processing, so this work was designed to compare speech-ABR components between two groups of CI users with good and poor speech recognition in noise scores.Materials &amp; MethodsThe present study was conducted on two groups of CI users aged 8-10 years old. The first group (CI-good) consisted of 15 children prelingual CI users who had good speech recognition in noise performance. The second group (CI-poor) matched with the first group, but they had poor speech recognition in noise performance. The speech-ABR test in a sound-field presentation was performed for all the participants.  Results The speech-ABR response showed more delay in C, D, E, F, O latencies in CI-poor than CI-good users (P &lt;0.05), meanwhile no significant difference was observed in initial wave (V(t= -0.293, p= 0.771 and A(t= -1.051, p= 0.307). Analysis in spectral-domain showed a weaker representation of fundamental frequency as well as the first formant and high-frequency component of speech stimuli in the CI-poor users.ConclusionsResults revealed that CI users who showed poor auditory performance in noise performance had deficits in encoding of periodic portion of speech signals at brainstem level. Also, this study could be as physiological evidence for poorer pitch processing in CI users with poor speech recognition in noise performance