Medical Students’ View about the Effects of Practical Courses on Learning the General Theoretical Concepts of Basic Medical Sciences

Introduction: The basic medical sciences section requires 2.5 years in the medical education curriculum. Practical courses complement theoretical knowledge in this period to improve their appreciation. Despite spending lots of disbursement and time, this period’s efficacy is not clearly known. Methods: One hundred thirty-three General Practitioner (GP) students have been included in this descriptive cross-sectional study and were asked by questionnaire about the positive impact of practical courses on learning theoretical knowledge. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Result: The agreement in “Practical Head and Neck Anatomy” was 40.91% ± 29.45, in “Practical Trunk Anatomy” was 63.62% ± 2.32 and in “Practical Anatomy of Extremities” was 56.16% ± 2.57. In “Practical Histology”, agreement was 69.50%±2.19; “Practical Biophysics” was 45.97%±2.25, “Practical Physiology” 61.75%±2.17; “Practical Biochemistry” 36.28%±2.42; “Practical Pathology” 59.80%±2.53; “Practical Immunology” 56.25%±26.40; “Practical Microbiology and Virology” 60.39%±2.27 and “Practical Mycology and Parasitology” 68.2%± 2.16.Conclusion: GP students in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences are not optimistic about the applicability of practical courses of basic medical sciences lessons

The first febrile seizure; predisposing factors and recurrence rate

  Objective Febrile seizure is the most common worrisome neurologic disorder in children in terms of parental point of view. The purpose of this study was to answer distressing parents’ questions about the prevalence and possibility of febrile seizure recurrence. Materials & Methods 140 patients who were admitted due to the first febrile seizure in the six months (March up to September) of the year 2015 were enrolled to this study. Exclusion criteria include central nervous system infection, non-confirmed febrile seizure and lack of parental acceptance for long-term inclusion in this study. All children were followed in terms of second febrile seizure during one year follow-up from the time of first febrile seizure. (3 sentences were deleted). Results Recurrence of febrile seizure was 25.7 % during one-year follow-up. Significant risk factors for recurrence include: age less than one year old, male gender, seizure with low level of fever, family history of epilepsy, family history of febrile seizure, complex febrile seizure (focal and repeated in 24 hours), seizure duration more than 15 minutes and parental indifference to the onset of fever in their children before seizure occurrence. Although duration of fever before seizure, failure to thrive, positive history of admission in neonatal period, dystocia atbirth delivery and children with day care staying were associated with greater febrile seizure recurrence; but, they did not have significant relationship with recurrence rate. Prophylaxis with benzodiazepine reduced the recurrence rate. Conclusion Chance of febrile seizure recurrence in one-year follow-up increased in presence of risk factors expressed in finding part. parental indifference to the onset of fever in their children that is starting before seizure was a considerable risk factor in terms of recurrence prevalence. We recommended to emphasis on parental education about this new finding as a risk factor for febrile seizure in order to prevent its future recurrence

Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Validity, and Reliability of the Persian Version of the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire

Study DesignObservational study.PurposeTo cross-culturally translate the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire (OMPQ) into Persian and then evaluate its psychometric properties (reliability, validity, ceiling, and flooring effects).Overview of LiteratureTo the authors' knowledge, prior to this study there has been no validated instrument to screen the risk of chronicity in Persian-speaking patients with low back pain (LBP) in Iran. The OMPQ was specifically developed as a self-administered screening tool for assessing the risk of LBP chronicity.MethodsThe forward–backward translation method was used for the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original questionnaire. In total, 202 patients with subacute LBP completed the OMPQ and the pain disability questionnaire (PDQ), which was used to assess convergent validity. 62 patients completed the OMPQ a week later as a retest.ResultsSlight changes were made to the OMPQ during the translation/cultural adaptation process; face validity of the Persian version was obtained. The Persian OMPQ showed excellent test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.89). Its internal consistency was 0.71, and its convergent validity was confirmed by good correlation coefficient between the OMPQ and PDQ total scores (r=0.72, p<0.05). No ceiling or floor effects were observed.ConclusionsThe Persian version of the OMPQ is acceptable for the target society in terms of face validity, construct validity, reliability, and consistency. It is therefore considered a useful instrument for screening Iranian patients with LBP

The Effect of Ergonomic Principles Education on Musculoskeletal Disorders among Computer Users

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the education ergonomic principles on musculoskeletal disorders among computer users at Rasht welfare organization in 2011. Materials & Methods: This semi-experimental study, 283 female computer users whom had musculoskeletal disorders randomly assigned into two groups. The case group were educated practically and theoretically about ergonomic issues for three months and ergonomic interventions were carried out for this group. Body map questionnaire was used for estimation of musculoskeletal disorders level and statistical analysis was performed using kolmogorov-smirnov and covariate test. Results: The results of the present study showed that the highest prevalence rate of musculoskeletal disorders were reported in right knee (27.91%), neck region (27.20%) , lumbar and right shoulder (24.14%), left knee (25.79%), back (23.67%). The results of this research showed that there was homogeneity of variance and the meaning of the F covariance at the level of P&le0.05 revealed that the education of ergonomic principles leads to a reduction of Musculoskeletal Disorders among computer users. Conclusion: Education of ergonomic principles for the computer users and ergonomic interventions like correction of postures, reducing of work duration , armrest, foot rest, and cushion strengthening exercise and regulating of work station application have a significant effect on the decreasing musculoskeletal disorders prevalence among computer users

Snake bite in Northwest Iran: A retrospective study

Introduction: bite affects about 2 million people every year, with more than 100000 mortalities annually. A person bitten by a snake represents a variety of symptoms. Snake bite might be asymptomatic or with mild local symptoms or even could lead to tissue damage and rapid death. This study aimed to investigate characteristics of snake bite in Northwest Iran. Methods: In this retrospective study, medical records of all patients with final diagnosis of snake bite who were admitted to Sina Clinical-Educational Center, the referral center for envenomation in Northwest Iran were investigated from 2002 to 2012. Demographic information and laboratory findings were collected using a checklist. Results: During a 10 year period, 160 individuals with snake bite were admitted, of which 128 (77.6%) were male. With regard to occupation, farmers accounted for the largest portion (n = 57, 34.6%). The most prevalent sites bitten by snakes were right hand (25.5%) and left leg (24.8%). Fifty-seven patients (34.5%) had leukocytosis and four (2.4%) had coagulopathy. Pain and swelling were two main complaints, with vomiting, dizziness, and tingling in extremities coming afterwards. Conclusion: Because snake bite is one of the most important emergencies presenting to emergency department and Iran’s geographic status bears wide spectrum of poisonous snakes, this study was performed to further explore the clinical and epidemiologic details of snake bite

The relationship between histologic grades of invasive carcinoma of breast ducts and mast cell infiltration

Introduction: Breast carcinoma is the most prevalent tumors among women. Transformation of inflated cells in immune response leads to increase in inflammatory cells such as macrophages, mast cells (MC) and fibroblasts. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between grades of invasive carcinoma of the breast ducts and MC infiltration around tumoral cells. Methods: During the present study, 75 female patients suffering from invasive ductal carcinoma who underwent surgery or diagnostic biopsy during 2010 and 2013 in Educational-Medical centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, were included in the study. Based on Bloom-Richardson grading system, 25 cases were selected from each grade. To better observe of MCs, samples were stained by Toluidine blue and MCs were counted in 10 40 × 10 fields. Results: The mean age was 47.56 ± 10.84 and the number of MCs was between 6 and 96 and their overall average was 43.01. Average count of MCs in grade 1, 2 and 3 were 15.92 ± 10.07, 45.32 ± 10.47, and 67.8 ± 20.70, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the number of MCs and increase in disease grade (P < 0.001). With increasing grade of malignancy, the number of MCs had grown. No significant relationship was observed between age and grade of disease or age and number of MC. Conclusion: According to obtained results, number of MC around tumoral cells increased significantly with an increase in the grade of disease. In order to treat in thefirst stages of the disease, recognizing primary changes in the stroma of cells could be helpful

Design and cognitive evaluation of 6 dynamic lane departure warning symbols

<p><b>Objective</b>: Lane departure, caused by inattention, distraction, drowsiness, or any unusual driver behavior, is a typical risk threatening the driver as well as other road users. Accurate perception of such situations through effective warnings would help drivers to avoid serious consequences. With regard to critical functions of warning symbols for risk communication, the present study focused on providing effective and easily perceivable symbols, compatible with human cognitive capabilities. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to design and cognitively appraise 6 newly designed dynamic symbols, candidates for a new type of lane departure warning system.</p> <p><b>Methods</b>: Simplicity, familiarity, concreteness, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness were the major assessment criteria, defining cognitive features by the earlier researchers in the field. A total number of 187 driving license applicants, with a mean age of 20.58 years (SD = 3.20), participated in the present survey. The participants rated cognitive features of the 6 dynamic symbols along a 0–100 scale.</p> <p><b>Results</b>: Significant main effect of the element factor type of the designed symbols on rating cognitive features revealed that the existence of car element was the best predictor for illustrating lane departure. The interaction of both element factor and location of element factor significantly affected the ratings. However, the location of element factor did not solely have any strong effect on the ratings. The results also demonstrated that semantic closeness received the highest overall mean score across symbols (M = 61.80), especially within the symbols that include the car element (M = 75.67). Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the average ratings of the cognitive features, despite the fact that a significant correlation was found between cognitive features.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b>: The most considerable result of the current study was the match between the symbol with the highest ratings and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-related icon in appearance. Because previous studies demonstrated a strong correlation between comprehension scores of the symbol and both semantic closeness and meaningfulness, high-level comprehensibility of the best ranked symbol is expected.</p

Quality of in-hospital care in traumatic spinal column and cord injuries (TSC/SCI) in I.R Iran

PURPOSE: This study aimed to implement the Quality of Care (QoC) Assessment Tool from the National Spinal Cord/Column Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR) to map the current state of in-hospital QoC of individuals with Traumatic Spinal Column and Cord Injuries (TSCCI).METHODS: The QoC Assessment Tool, developed from a scoping review of the literature, was implemented in NSCIR-IR. We collected the required data from two primary sources. Questions regarding health system structures and care processes were completed by the registrar nurse reviewing the hospital records. Questions regarding patient outcomes were gathered through patient interviews.RESULTS: We registered 2812 patients with TSCCI over six years from eight referral hospitals in NSCIR-IR. The median length of stay in the general hospital and intensive care unit was four and five days, respectively. During hospitalization 4.2% of patients developed pressure ulcers, 83.5% of patients reported satisfactory pain control and none had symptomatic urinary tract infections. 100%, 80%, and 90% of SCI registration centers had 24/7 access to CT scans, MRI scans, and operating rooms, respectively. Only 18.8% of patients who needed surgery underwent a surgical operation in the first 24 h after admission. In-hospital mortality rate for patients with SCI was 19.3%.CONCLUSION: Our study showed that the current in-hospital care of our patients with TSCCI is acceptable in terms of pain control, structure and length of stay and poor regarding in-hospital mortality rate and timeliness. We must continue to work on lowering rates of pressure sores, as well as delays in decompression surgery and fatalities.</p