The relationship between fear of falling and frailty in older adults undergoing hemodialysis

Background: Frailty and fear of falling (FOF) are highly prevalent in older adults undergoing hemodialysis (HD). However, there is no reliable evidence of the association between FOF and frailty in older adults undergoing HD.Objectives: This study aimed to determine the association between FOF and frailty in older adults undergoing HD.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 194 older adults undergoing HD in the east of Mazandaran province, Iran. Data were collected using of demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), and Falls Efficacy Scale–International (FES-I). Independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression were used to analyze the data.Results: The mean score of the FOF was 34.41±12.20, and most of the participants (38.4%) had moderate FOF. The mean score of the frailty was 6.91±3.12 and most of older adults (34.3%) were vulnerable to frailty. There was a positive and significant association between FOF and frailty in older adults undergoing HD (r=0.802, P<0.001).Conclusion: The majority of older adults receiving chronic HD have moderate to high FOF and are prone to frailty. Therefore, it is necessary to perform appropriate educational, behavioral, and cognitive interventions to reduce the FOF in these patients

Older adults&rsquo; attitudes and barriers toward the use of mobile phones

Nasrin Navabi, Fatemeh Ghaffari, Zahra Jannat-Alipoor Nursing and Midwifery Department, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran Background and objectives: The limitations caused by the process of aging and the prevalence of chronic diseases contribute to reduced performance in physical, psychological, and social areas of life in older people. The use of mobile phones as easily accessible portable tools with a high performance is associated with an increased health literacy, self-care, and independence in older people. The present study was conducted to determine older people&rsquo;s attitudes toward the use of mobile phones and the barriers to their use. Materials and methods: The present descriptive study was conducted on a sample population of 328 individuals older than 60 years presenting to health centers across cities in west Mazandaran, Iran. The data collection tools used included a mobile phone use checklist, a questionnaire on older people&rsquo;s attitude toward the use of mobile phones, and a questionnaire on the barriers to the use of mobile phones. The reliability and validity of these questionnaires were confirmed by the researchers. The data obtained were recorded and then analyzed using SPSS. The level of statistical significance was set at P&le;0.05. Results: According to the results, 80% of the older people had regular mobile phones and 20% had smartphones. In 95% of the male and 80% of the female participants, the greatest use of mobile phones pertained to making phone calls. A total of 5% of the male and 2% of the female participants used the Internet in their mobile phones. A total of 44% of the female and 42.80% of the male participants had poor attitudes (score from 0 to 40) toward mobile phone use. As for the different dimensions of the attitude toward mobile phone use, the highest score obtained by the female participants (71.66%) pertained to the psychoemotional dimension and the highest score in the male participants (72.85%) to the instrumental dimension. The results also revealed the lack of knowledge of English as the greatest barrier to mobile phone use in both sexes. There was a significant relationship between sex and the attitude toward mobile phone use in all the three dimensions examined, the sociocultural, psychoemotional, and instrumental. Discussion and conclusion: The results of the study revealed that the majority of older people have negative attitudes toward the use of mobile phones as a teaching aid, although they used them for performing daily tasks. Promoting this age group&rsquo;s knowledge about the different mobile phone applications available to help them and increasing their ability to learn the use of these applications through the mass media, family members, and peer groups can help improve older people&rsquo;s attitudes toward the use of mobile phones and thus increase their use of these devices. Keywords: attitude, mobile phone, barriers to use, older peopl

LncRNA PNKY Is Upregulated in Breast Cancer and Promotes Cell Proliferation and EMT in Breast Cancer Cells

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to be important regulators in different cellular processes and are implicated in various human diseases. Recently, lncRNA PNKY has been found to be involved in pluripotency and differentiation of embryonic and postnatal neural stem cells (NSCs); however, its expression and function in cancer cells is still unclear. In the present study, we observed the expression of PNKY in various cancer tissues, including brain, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers. In particular, we demonstrated that lncRNA PNKY was significantly upregulated in breast tumors, especially high-grade tumors. Knock down experiments indicated that the suppression of PNKY in breast cancer cells could restrict their proliferation by promoting apoptosis, senescence, and cell cycle disruption. Moreover, the results demonstrated that PNKY may play a crucial role in the cell migration of breast cancer cells. We further found that PNKY may trigger EMT in breast cancer cells by upregulating miR-150 and restricting the expression of Zeb1 and Snail. This study is the first to provide new evidence on the expression and biological function of PNKY in cancer cells and its potential contribution to tumor growth and metastasis

The effects of telephone-based telenursing on perceived stressors among older adults receiving hemodialysis

Background: Older adults who receive hemodialysis face different physiological and psychosocial stressors. Management of physiological and psychosocial stressors is among their basic needs for a desirable life.Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of telephone-based telenursing on perceived stressors among older adults receiving hemodialysis. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2018 on sixty older adults who were receiving hemodialysis. Participants were conveniently recruited from the hemodialysis centers of Shahid Beheshti and Imam Khomeini hospitals, Babol and Behshahr, Iran, and were randomly allocated to a control and an intervention group. A 3-month telephone-based telenursing program was implemented for participants in the intervention group. Physiological and psychosocial stressors were assessed before and after the study intervention. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square, paired-samples t, and independent-samples t-tests. Results: The mean score of physiological stressors in the intervention group statistically significantly reduced from 17.33 ± 1.74 at pretest to 11.96 ± 3.16 at posttest (P 0.05), there were significant between-group differences respecting the posttest mean scores and the pretest-posttest mean differences of both physiological and psychosocial stressors (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Telenursing is effective in significantly reducing perceived stressors among older adults receiving hemodialysis. Nurses can use telenursing to reduce stressors among this patient population

The effects of telephone-based telenursing on perceived stressors among older adults receiving hemodialysis

Background: Older adults who receive hemodialysis face different physiological and psychosocial stressors. Management of physiological and psychosocial stressors is among their basic needs for a desirable life. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of telephone-based telenursing on perceived stressors among older adults receiving hemodialysis. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2018 on sixty older adults who were receiving hemodialysis. Participants were conveniently recruited from the hemodialysis centers of Shahid Beheshti and Imam Khomeini hospitals, Babol and Behshahr, Iran, and were randomly allocated to a control and an intervention group. A 3-month telephone-based telenursing program was implemented for participants in the intervention group. Physiological and psychosocial stressors were assessed before and after the study intervention. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square, paired-samples t, and independent-samples t-tests. Results: The mean score of physiological stressors in the intervention group statistically significantly reduced from 17.33 ± 1.74 at pretest to 11.96 ± 3.16 at posttest (P 0.05), there were significant between-group differences respecting the posttest mean scores and the pretest-posttest mean differences of both physiological and psychosocial stressors (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Telenursing is effective in significantly reducing perceived stressors among older adults receiving hemodialysis. Nurses can use telenursing to reduce stressors among this patient population

Effect of 830-nm diode laser irradiation on human sperm motility

Abstract Sperm motility is known as an effective parameter in male fertility, and it depends on energy consumption. Low-level laser irradiation could increase energy supply to the cell by producing adenosine triphosphate. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the low-level laser irradiation affects the human sperm motility. Fresh human semen specimens of asthenospermic patients were divided into four equal portions and irradiated by 830-nm GaAlAs laser irradiation with varying doses as: 0 (control), 4, 6 and 10 J/cm 2 . At the times of 0, 30, 45 and 60 min following irradiation, sperm motilities are assessed by means of computer-aided sperm analysis in all samples. Two additional tests [HOS and sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) tests] were also performed on the control and high irradiated groups as well. Sperm motility of the control groups significantly decreased after 30, 45 and 60 min of irradiation, while those of irradiated groups remained constant or slightly increased by passing of time. Significant increases have been observed in doses of 4 and 6 J/cm 2 at the times of 60 and 45 min, respectively. SCD test also revealed a non-significant difference. Our results showed that irradiating human sperms with low-level 830-nm diode laser can improve their progressive motility depending on both laser density and post-exposure time