The effect of zinc sulphate syrup on children's respiratory tract infections

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: After Iron, zinc is the second most abundant trace element in the body that is present in all organs, tissues and body fluids. It is a necessary component for maintaining immunological integrity antioxidant activity, and has critical role in the control and prevention of infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc sulphate syrup in treatment of children with respiratory tract infection. METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial study, one hundred and twenty four children with respiratory infection (62 in case and 62 in control group) from pediatric ward of Hajar hospital of Sharekord university enrolled. Both groups received standard treatment. In addition to, zinc sulphate syrup was given to case group and placebo to control group. Respiratory rate, bed and cough and fever duration were compared between the case and control groups (IRCT: 201103025951N1). FINDINGS: The mean duration of fever in the case group was 2.6±0.82 days and in the control group 4±1.5 days (p<0.001). The mean of bed duration in the case group was 4.7±1.5 days and in the control group 5±1.8 days (p=0.42). The mean of cough duration in the case and control groups was 3.4±1.3 and 4.7±1.6 days respectively (p=0.09). Respiratory rate in the case group was 28.3±4.3 and in the control 28.1±4.9 (p=0.77). CONCLUSION: The study showed that zinc supplementation has a beneficial effect in decreasing the fever duration in children with respiratory infection. But there was no significant effect on respiratory rate, duration of bed and cough

Cotoneaster: A safe and easy way to reduce neonatal jaundice

Introduction: Consumption of cotoneaster may reduce neonatal jaundice. Aim: Hence this study was undertaken to determine the effect of mothers’ cotoneaster consumption on treatment of their neonates’ jaundice. Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, 120 neonates with jaundice referred to a hospital in southwest Iran were enrolled by nonprobability sampling and divided randomly into four groups. In the first group both mothers and neonates received cotoneaster; in the second group only mothers; in the third group only neonates; and in the fourth group the neonates received distilled water as placebo. Phototherapy was done under the same condition for all neonates. Results: The reduction of bilirubin was significantly higher in treatment groups compared to control group (p<0.05). Bilirubin in the group of neonates whose mothers consumed cotoneaster was less compared to control group at 24 and 36 hours (p<0.05) and the highest reduction in bilirubin was observed in the first group. The mean duration of hospitalization was longer for the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Consumption of cotoneaster by both mothers and neonates caused a decrease in neonatal jaundice more rapidly compared to other groups and decreased the duration of hospitalization. Cotoneaster consumption by mothers, neonates, or both may be useful in treatment of neonatal jaundice. © 2016, Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. All rights reserved

Alteration in CD8+ T cell subsets in enterovirus-infected patients: An alarming factor for type 1 diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes is a multi-factorial disease that can develop due to the combination of genetic and environmental factors. Viruses, particularly enteroviruses, are major environmental candidates in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes, even though the mechanisms of pathogenicity of these viruses and their effects on the immune system have not been understood very well yet. Previous studies show that any imbalance in the population of different lymphocyte subsets could develop autoimmune diseases. Our theory is that enteroviral infection causes an impairment in the distribution of lymphocyte subtypes and consequently results in the diabetes onset in some individuals. Therefore, in this project, we evaluated the distribution of T CD8+ lymphocytes and their subsets in type 1 diabetes patients. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between enteroviral infection and type 1 diabetes mellitus in an Iranian population, and suggestion a predicting approach for susceptible subjects

Retrospective epidemiological study of burn injuries in 1717 pediatric patients: 10 years analysis of hospital data in Iran

Background: Burn injuries are considered an important preventable cause of injuries in children, and it still produces significant death in Iran. This study investigated the causes and severity of burns in patients. Methods: This study was retrospective descriptive study of children-burn injury in a referral Burn Care Center in Tehran, Iran during a ten-year period since 2005 to 2014. Data collection have been facilitated by using a specially designed checklist. The subjects included 1717 consecutive patients with various causes of burn injury. Data were analyzed applying descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Chi-square. P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The patients� mean age was 4.11 ± 3.42 yr. The mean hospitalization period was 11.15 ± 8.37 d. The grade of burn was 2 in 1292 (75.2) patients. Among the children-burn patients, 59.9 suffered from <20 of total body surface area burn. Most affected part of the body was trunk 762 (44.4). Overall, 1256 patients (73.2) suffered from hot liquid burns. Burns mortality rate for this study was identified 8.1 (N=3). Conclusion: The majority of the patients were male with a male to female ratio of 1.7:1. Most patients were in the 2-4 yr age group, with most of the injuries occurring in boys under the age of 5 yr old. It is the child's natural curiosity and inability to understand that special things are dangerous to them, which leads to burning injury. Most affected part of the body was trunk and 1256 patients (73.2) suffered from hot liquid burns. © 2018, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All rights reserved

Retrospective epidemiological study of burn injuries in 1717 pediatric patients: 10 years analysis of hospital data in Iran

Background: Burn injuries are considered an important preventable cause of injuries in children, and it still produces significant death in Iran. This study investigated the causes and severity of burns in patients. Methods: This study was retrospective descriptive study of children-burn injury in a referral Burn Care Center in Tehran, Iran during a ten-year period since 2005 to 2014. Data collection have been facilitated by using a specially designed checklist. The subjects included 1717 consecutive patients with various causes of burn injury. Data were analyzed applying descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Chi-square. P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The patients� mean age was 4.11 ± 3.42 yr. The mean hospitalization period was 11.15 ± 8.37 d. The grade of burn was 2 in 1292 (75.2) patients. Among the children-burn patients, 59.9 suffered from <20 of total body surface area burn. Most affected part of the body was trunk 762 (44.4). Overall, 1256 patients (73.2) suffered from hot liquid burns. Burns mortality rate for this study was identified 8.1 (N=3). Conclusion: The majority of the patients were male with a male to female ratio of 1.7:1. Most patients were in the 2-4 yr age group, with most of the injuries occurring in boys under the age of 5 yr old. It is the child's natural curiosity and inability to understand that special things are dangerous to them, which leads to burning injury. Most affected part of the body was trunk and 1256 patients (73.2) suffered from hot liquid burns. © 2018, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All rights reserved

An analysis of the Taguchi method for tuning a memetic algorithm with reduced computational time budget

Determining the best initial parameter values for an algorithm, called parameter tuning, is crucial to obtaining better algorithm performance; however, it is often a time-consuming task and needs to be performed under a restricted computational budget. In this study, the results from our previous work on using the Taguchi method to tune the parameters of a memetic algorithm for cross-domain search are further analysed and extended. Although the Taguchi method reduces the time spent finding a good parameter value combination by running a smaller size of experiments on the training instances from different domains as opposed to evaluating all combinations, the time budget is still larger than desired. This work investigates the degree to which it is possible to predict the same good parameter setting faster by using a reduced time budget. The results in this paper show that it was possible to predict good combinations of parameter settings with a much reduced time budget. The good final parameter values are predicted for three of the parameters, while for the fourth parameter there is no clear best value, so one of three similarly performing values is identified at each time instant

The data set development for the National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR): progress toward improving the quality of care

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this manuscript is to describe the development process of the data set for the National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR). SETTING: SCI community in Iran. METHODS: The NSCIR-IR data set was developed in 8 months, from March 2015 to October 2015. An expert panel of 14 members was formed. After a review of data sets of similar registries in developed countries, the selection and modification of the basic framework were performed over 16 meetings, based on the objectives and feasibility of the registry. RESULTS: The final version of the data set was composed of 376 data elements including sociodemographic, hospital admission, injury incidence, prehospital procedures, emergency department visit, medical history, vertebral injury, spinal cord injury details, interventions, complications, and discharge data. It also includes 163 components of the International Standards for the Neurologic Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) and 65 data elements related to quality of life, pressure ulcers, pain, and spasticity. CONCLUSION: The NSCIR-IR data set was developed in order to meet the quality improvement objectives of the registry. The process was centered around choosing the data elements assessing care provided to individuals in the acute and chronic phases of SCI in hospital settings. The International Spinal Cord Injury Data Set was selected as a basic framework, helped by comparison with data from other countries. Expert panel modifications facilitated the implementation of the registry process with the current clinical workflow in hospitals