Examining the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on Increasing Resilience of War Injured Veterans

The present study aimed to investigate the impression of Mindfulness based on cognitive therapy (MBCT) on raise resilience of war injured veterans. The study is quasi-experimental study, with pre-test and post-test and control group. The sample included 30 war injured veterans in Mashhad city and they were divided into two groups as 15 in Mindfulness based cognitive therapy and 15 people in control group. The members of MBCT received 8 sessions of MBCT but there was no intervention for control group. Before and after intervention, Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was completed by sample group. The results of covariance analysis showed that in post-test resilience scores in MBCT group had significant increase compared to control group. The study findings released that MBCT increased resilience of war injured veterans

Develop talents to increase productivity: report of the ninth national medical science olympiad in Islamic Republic of Iran in year 2017

Dear Editor, Extracurricular activities for the gifted and talented students in Iran derive from the belief that students with high potentials are expected to make great help for the health care of the community. One of these activities is holding medical science Olympiads. In the previous meeting report about medical science Olympiad in year 2011, a unique experience of Islamic Republic of Iran was reported. The Olympiad was held in three areas of basic sciences, clinical reasoning and management by participation of high rank medical students from all over the country in two stages: individual and group (1-4). After performing 8 Olympiads in the country, the ninth Olympiad was held in September 2017 in Tehran, Iran differently with more emphasis on creativity and productivity. While creativity in health care is mostly supposed to be innovations in surgical devices, medications, and procedures, we believed that it also relates to other health care disciplines like basic sciences, medical education, philosophy of medicine and management. Creativity in these fields is a newer concept that may result in finding novel solutions to health care and educational problems and challenges such as improving patient care and coordinating care across multiple disciplines and difficult conditions. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences was the host of the Ninth National Medical Science Olympiad in September 2017 under direct supervision of Ministry of Health and Medical Education. This Olympiad was held in five areas including basic sciences, clinical medicine, medical education, philosophy of medicine and health care management. All top ranked students in medical sciences (such as medicine, pharmacy, nursing, health management, dentistry, etc.) from all over the country had the chance of participating in this Olympiad. In Iran integration of medical education and health care delivery system has started in 50 universities of medical sciences all over the country (5). 2151 students from these universities participated in the individual Olympiad exam. Then 30 teams in each of the five areas (total 450 teams) were selected 55 experts in five scientific committees constructed the Olympiad questions in individual and team stages. A unique experience in the Ninth Olympiad was using a novel and creative project based assignment for each team in each of the five areas. These projects were Evidence-based decision making, public private partnership, early clinical exposure, medical futility and autonomic modulation on the brain functional connectivity related to depression. 75 percent of the students stated that they were satisfied with these innovative and creative projects in different areas. 84 percent of the faculties reported that this kind of Olympiad increased students’ motivation and led them to compare issues friendly with each other in a scientific environment. 69.25 percent of the students reported that increasing the number of teams in this Olympiad for problem solving activities was a very good experience for them and ascertained that such activities should be included in the formal curriculum of medical schools. The main shortcoming in this Olympiad reported by the students was the competitive nature of the exam and subjectivity in scoring the projects in some areas. Performing such Olympiads is essential in discovering talented students and developing their capabilities to promote health systems. Although academic merit is not the only indicator of success in health science disciplines, designing additional programs for gifted and talented students is warranted to help academically talented students to further their knowledge

Phenomenology of Effective Psychological Components on Marital Adjustment among Married People Suffering from Multiple Sclerosis

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) disease has side effects on the quality of life of married people. Moreover, the quality of life and marital adjustment of the patients would impact on their disease process. The purpose of the study was to determine psychological components on marital adjustment among married patients with MS. Method: This was a qualitative and phenomenological research using targeted sampling. Semi-structured interviews were done with 15 married patients with MS (at least one of them suffered from the disease) who came to Sina hospital, Tehran, Iran, until reaching to data saturation. Results: Assessment of effective psychological components on marital adjustment among married people with MS revealed 8 main themes and 18 subthemes. The main themes were as “spirituality”, “resiliency”, “coping with stress skills”, “conflict-resolving strategies”, “schemas”, “intimate spouse relationships”, “life stresses”, “openness to change”, and “responding to forgiveness”. Conclusion: Participants in the study ranked the psychological components as first to ninth as spirituality, resiliency, coping with stress styles, conflict-resolving strategies, schemas, intimate spouses relationships, life stresses, openness to change, and responding to forgiveness. Keywords: Adjustment, Multiple sclerosis, Marriage ‚Qualitative researc

Health, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Quality of Life: What is the Difference?

The terms health, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and quality of life (QoL) are used interchangeably. Given that these are three key terms in the literature, their appropriate and clear use is important. This paper reviews the history and definitions of the terms and considers how they have been used. It is argued that the definitions of HRQoL in the literature are problematic because some definitions fail to distinguish between HRQoL and health or between HRQoL and QoL. Many so-called HRQoL questionnaires actually measure self-perceived health status and the use of the phrase QoL is unjustified. It is concluded that the concept of HRQoL as used now is confusing. A potential solution is to define HRQoL as the way health is empirically estimated to affect QoL or use the term to only signify the utility associated with a health state

The survey of the process of new academic guidance in ninth grade from the perspective of school counselors

Purpose: The purpose of study was to investigate the process of new academic guidance in ninth grade from the perspective of counselors in secondary schools. Methodology: The present study was conducted using a qualitative method based on thematic analysis. The study population were all counselors of the schools in the academic year of 97-96 and a targeted sampling method. As a result, among counselors, 10 counselors were selected. Sample selection and interview continued until data saturation. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. All interviews were recorded with the permission of the participants, then, for further analysis, the text of the interviews was carefully placed on the paper and after modifying the themes, they are were thoroughly analyzed and the categories are classified. Findings: Analysis of the findings from the semi-structured interview resulted in identifying four main categories: 1) Failure of the educational guidance process; 2) Testing problems; 3)Awareness; 4) The necessity of facilities for optimal implementation. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the research, it can be concluded that there is a long gap between the ministry's notification guidelines and the correct implementation of it, and the student's academic guidance failed to implement what was enacted in the regulation. Therefore, for the pathology of the process, the corrective opinions of the counselors and experts in this field should be received and the current process of academic guidance should reviewed and revised expertly in order to reach for the desired balancing in the document of fundamental transformation

Seroepidemiological Study of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Psychiatric Patients in Mashhad, Northeast of Iran

Background: Psychiatric patients have an increased risk of some infections like toxoplasmosis. Investigations on Toxoplasma gondii infection among psychiatric patients have been limited in Mashhad, Northeast of Iran. In this case-control study, prevalence of T. gondii was investigated by serological method. Methods: This case-control study was performed among psychiatric patients admitted to Avicenna Hospital in Mashhad, Northeast of Iran. Three hundred and fifty inpatients and 350 controls were examined in 2012-2013 for detection of IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii in their blood sera by ELISA. Socio-demographic and clinical manifestations of the patients were obtained. Results: Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies was found in 164 (46.85%) of 350 psychiatric inpatients and 120 (34.28%) of 350 controls. Seventeen (4.85%) of psychiatric individuals and 3 (0.85%) of control group were IgM+/IgG- indicating acute form of toxoplasmosis. There were no statistically significant differences between the case and control groups. In patient group, schizophrenic patients had the highest positive rate (46.28%) and bipolar mood disorder had the second most prevalent rate (20%). Of 162 schizophrenia patients, 65 (40.1%) had latent infection which was higher than that observed in controls. Conclusion: The prevalence of T. gondii infection among psychiatric patients suffering from schizophrenia was more in Mashhad, compared with control group

Mutation hot spots in hepatitis B surface antigen in chronic carriers from Khoozestan Province, Southern of Iran

Mutations in the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome contribute to its escape from host immune surveillance and result in persistent infections. The aim of this study was to characterize the molecular variations of the surface gene and protein in chronically-infected patients from the southern part of Iran. The surface genes from 12 HBV chronic carriers were amplified, sequenced and subsequently aligned using international and national Iranian database. All strains belonged to genotype D, subgenotype D1 and subtype ayw2. Of all 30 mutations occurred at 22 nucleotide positions, 18 (60%) were missense (amino acid altering) and 12 (40%) were silent (no amino acid changing). The mean mutation frequency (missense to silent nucleotide ratio), was 1.5, indicating application of a high positive selection pressure on the surface proteins. At the amino acid level, of 17 substitutions, 15 (88%) occurred in different immune epitopes within surface protein, of which 7 (46.6%) in B cell epitopes in 5 residues; 7 (46.6%) in T helper epitopes in 6 positions; 1 (7%) in inside CTL epitopes in 1 residue. We therefore conclude that the distribution of 93.2% of amino acid mutations inside B and T helper immune epitopes as well as the ratio between silent and missense nucleotide mutations showed a positive, focused immune selection pressure on the surface protein, which led to the evolution and emergence of escape mutants in these patients. Copyright© Autumn 2013, Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. All rights reserved.Peer Reviewe

An in vitro evaluation of novel NHA/zircon plasma coating on 316L stainless steel dental implant

The surface characteristics of an implant that influence the speed and strength of osseointegration include crystal structure and bioactivity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bioactivity of a novel natural hydroxyapatite/zircon (NHA/zircon) nanobiocomposite coating on 316L stainless steel (SS) dental implants soaking in simulated body fluid. A novel NHA/zircon nanobiocomposite was fabricated with 0 (control), 5, 10, and 15 wt% of zircon in NHA using ball mill for 1 h. The composite mixture was coated on SS implants using a plasma spray method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate surface morphology, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to analyze phase composition and crystallinity (Xc). Further, calcium ion release was measured to evaluate the coated nanobiocomposite samples. The prepared NHA/zircon coating had a nanoscale morphological structure with a mean crystallite size of 30–40 nm in diameter and a bone-like composition, which is similar to that of the biological apatite of a bone. For the prepared NHA powder, high bioactivity was observed owing to the formation of apatite crystals on its surface. Both minimum crystallinity (Xc=41.1%) and maximum bioactivity occurred in the sample containing 10 wt% of zircon because of minimum Xc and maximum biodegradation of the coating sample

A blueprint for success: lessons learned from developing the official guide to Iranian undergraduate medical education accreditation

Abstract We are excited to contribute our thoughts and insights to the discussion initiated by Gandomkar et al. in their article on the accreditation system in Iran (Gandomkar et al., BMC Med Educ 23:379, 2023). As individuals who have been directly involved in the process of meta-accreditation and possess a comprehensive understanding of the various stages of Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) accreditation in Iran, we would like to highlight additional points that were identified through a rigorous hermeneutic phenomenology process proposed by Gadamer (Gadamer, Truth and Method, 2013) and offer a complementary point of view to the previous work. By sharing our insights, we hope to contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding UME accreditation

The frequency of TP53 R72P and MDM2 309T>G polymorphisms in Iranian infertile men with spermatogenetic failure: A case-control study

Background: Tumor protein p53 (TP53) is a tumor suppressor transcriptional regulator protein which plays a critical role in the spermatogenesis. One of the most important regulators of p53 is Murine double minute 2 (MDM2), which acts as a negative regulator of the p53 pathway. Based on the key role of p53 and MDM2 in germ cell apoptosis, polymorphisms that cause a change in their function might affect germ cell apoptosis and the risk of male infertility. Objective: This study was designed to examine associations of TP53 72 Arg>Pro (rs1042522), and MDM2 309 T>G (rs937283) polymorphisms with spermatogenetic failure in an Iranian population. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted with 150 nonobstructive azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia and 150 fertile controls. The two polymorphisms, 72 Arg>Pro in TP53 and 309 T>G in MDM2, were genotyped using PCR-RFLP and ARMS-PCR respectively. Results: Our analyses revealed that the allele and genotype frequencies of the TP53 R72P polymorphism were not significantly different between the cases and controls (p=0.41, p=0.40 respectively). Also, no significant differences were found in the allelic (p=0.46) and genotypic (p=0.78) distribution of MDM2 309 T>G polymorphism between patients and controls. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that polymorphisms of TP53 and MDM2 genes are unlikely to contribute to the pathogenesis of male infertility with spermatogenetic failure