Opioid use among women on a stable methadone dose

Copyright © 2017, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Background: Opioid use on a stable methadone dose is a health concern in Iran, the most populous Persian Gulf country. However, the underlying reasons associated with opioid use have not been studied. Objectives: The study aimed to explore the reasons associated with opioid use among a group of Persian methadone-maintained women. The other aim was to explore effective interventions to stop this problem. Methods: The current qualitative study was conducted between June 2008 and December 2009. The study sites included ten large methadone treatment clinics in Tehran. The study employed semi-structured interviews with 50 women. Six roundtable meetings were conducted with nine key informants. NVivo 10 was used to thematically analyze the data. Results: Women were on a stable methadone dose of 45 - 115 mg for at least six months. Opioid availability, an opioid-dependent lifestyle, peer pressure and self-treatment were the reasons of opioid use. The provision of cognitive-behavioral therapy, life skills, observational learning, and mental health services were the suggested interventions to stop opioid use. Conclusions: Opioid use on a stable methadone dose had been facilitated by some factors which should be considered in methadone treatment. The suggested interventions should be considered in increasing methadone treatment outcomes

Livelihood Vulnerability of Semi-Mobile Pastoral Communities to Climate Change in Arid and Semiarid of Iran

Climate change is impacting on natural resource based livelihood systems such as pastoralist communities in arid and semi-arid regions. Vulnerability to climate change refers to the potential of a system to be harmed by this external stress. The level of vulnerability of pastoral communities and the effective components determine the extent of climate change impacts on these communities and thereby help identify institutional options that have the potential to reduce their vulnerability. This study assessed climate change vulnerability of semi-mobile pastoralist communities in five main regions (Gozm, Kaht, Madan, Rochon and Jarob) of Khabr rangelands, Kerman, Iran using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI). The data comprised of primary data on seven main components including socio-demographic profile, livelihood strategies, social networks, health, food, water availability, natural disasters and climate variability which were collected through survey of 70 semi-mobile pastoral households, and secondary data on rainfall and temperature. Data were aggregated using composite LVI index and vulnerabilities of communities were compared. Results suggested that semi-mobile pastoralists in Rochon region had the highest (0.63) LVI showing relatively the greatest vulnerability to climate change impacts in terms of Socio-Demographic Profile, Livelihood Strategies and Health while Kaht region had the least (0.49) LVI showing relatively the smallest vulnerability to climate change impacts. The results of this study are useful to access pastoralist communities’ vulnerability and set risk management policies. Keywords: climate change; livelihood vulnerability index ; semi-mobile pastoralist

Research paper: Characteristics of an online HIV education program for iranian female methadone patients: The first study

Objectives: Female methadone patients need specific education on HIV. However, few studies have been conducted on the essential characteristics of designing an online HIV education program for this population. Therefore, the current qualitative study aimed at addressing this research gap. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 female patients and 19 methadone treatment providers in 11 methadone treatment centres in Tehran, Mashhad and Sari, Iran. Both focus group discussions and individual interviews were conducted and a narrative analysis approach was implemented. The NVivo 9 software was used for data analysis. Results: The qualitative analyses of the data revealed three major themes and six minor themes as follows: a. information for focused action (knowing the epidemic response) using the effective visual presentation and audio presentation; b. interventions for impact evaluation (covering the needed services) by short-term documentary movies and animations; and c. program delivery for understanding (covering the population in need of services) using problem-solving and taking quizzes. Discussion: Audio and visual components, as well as the role of documentary movies and animations, should be considered in HIV education. The active role of women in learning using problem-solving and taking quizzes was highlighted. The findings of this study can be used in designing women-specific HIV education programs in Iran. Randomized controlled trials are suggested to evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. © 2020 University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

STUDY ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SUNFLOWER SEEDS

ABSTRACT Some physical and mechanical properties of sunflower seeds were studied. The measured parameters were linear dimensions, thousand grain mass, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, surface and projected area, volume, shape parameters (such as flakiness ratio and elongation ratio), true and bulk densities, porosity, angle of repose and static coefficient of friction of the Shamshiri variety in the moisture range from 6.3 to 20% (w.b.) using standard methods. Average rupture force, deformation and absorbed energy at rupture point of the sunflower seeds under compression as well as the extent of physical damage to seeds due to impact were also determined over a range of moisture contents between 1.8% and 20.3% (w.b). The results showed a variation of 14.32 to 31.00 mm for length, 4.73 to 9.82 mm for width and 2.36 to 6.67 mm for thickness of sunflower seeds. The values of the thousand grain mass, seed volume, true density, bulk density and porosity of sunflower seeds were between149. 81-167.77g, 99.05-628.9 mm3, 444.39-521.78 kg/m3, 269.06-275.57 kg/m3 and 39.09-47.18% respectively. The rupture force, deformation, and absorbed energy increased with increase in moisture content from 1.8 to 14.5%, while decreased with further increasing of moisture content from 14.5 to 20.3%. The mean value of percentage of physically damaged seeds increased from 2.75 to 10.81% with increasing the impact velocity from 40.8 to 62.3 m/s. In both impact orientations, the total damaged seeds increased with increase in impact velocity for all moisture contents of seeds

Computational Simulation of Shock-Bubble Interaction, using a Front-Tracking/Ghost Fluid Method

A front tracking/ghost fluid method was used to simulate fluid interfaces in a shock–bubble interaction problem. The method captures fluid interfaces, using explicit front-tracking and defines interface conditions, using the ghost-fluid method. In order to demonstrate the accuracy and the capability tracking of the approach used, an air-helium and anair-R22 shock-bubble interaction cases were simulated. The computational results were compared with reliable experimental and computational studies, showing close agreements

Gender differences among patients with Hepatitis C virus undergoing rehabilitation through methadone maintenance treatment

Objectives: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a health problem among patients undergoing rehabilitation through methadone maintenance treatment in Iran, the most populous Persian Gulf country. The study aimed to examine gender differences among a group of methadone maintenance treatment patients with HCV problem. Methods: Overall 150 patients (n=75 men, n=75 women) were enrolled from nine methadone clinics in Tehran. The study was conducted between July 2013 and June 2014. Participants of the two genders were compared in baseline characteristics, perceived stress, social support, coping strategies and mental health. Results: Men were more likely to report being currently on parole than women (χ(1)=9.23). Age of first illicit drug use was significantly higher among men than women (t(121)=2.43). Men were more likely to report drug injection in the last 12 months compared with women (χ(1)=4.62). Men were more likely to report criminal charges (t(121)=2.21) and being in correctional facilities (χ(1)=5.32) compared with women. Women reported higher levels of emotion-focused coping than men. Despite women reporting more social support [4.20(0.79)], they also reported higher levels of emotion-focused coping [2.66(0.55)] than men. Women were more likely to have a current mental health disorder (χ(1)=8.15) than men. Discussion: The study results demonstrated some gender differences in baseline characteristics and psychological problems. Such differences may have important impacts on methadone treatment outcomes. Further studies are suggested

‘Bois noir’: new phytoplasma disease of grapevine in Iran

Recently, grapevines showing symptoms suggesting the ‘bois noir’ phytoplasma disease were observed in vineyards located in several central provinces of Iran. Polymerase chain reaction assays using phytoplasma universal primer pair P1A/P7A followed by primer pair R16F2n/R16R2 in nested PCR, confirmed the association of phytoplasmas with symptomatic grapevines. The results of RFLP analyses using HpaII, HinfI, MseI, RsaI, and TaqI restriction enzymes, indicated that grapevine phytoplasma isolates in these regions could be related to the 16SrXII group. Sequence analyses of the partial 16S rRNA gene confirmed that Iranian grapevine phytoplasmas are associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’. This is the first report of the ‘bois noir’ disease outbreak in Iran

Application of weight functions in nonlinear analysis of structural dynamics problems

This paper presents a weighted residual method with several weight functions for solving differential equation of motion in nonlinear structural dynamics problems. Order of variation of acceleration is assumed to be quadratic in each time step in which polynomial of displacement would contain five unknown coefficients. Five equations are required for determination of these coefficients in each time step. These equations are obtained from initial conditions, satisfying equation of motions at both ends, and weighted residual integration. In this study, four procedures are considered for weight function to be used in the weighted residual integration as; unit weight function, Petrov–Galerkin's weight function, least square weight function, and collocation weight function. Due to higher order of acceleration in the proposed method, the results indicate better and more accurate responses. Among the tested functions, the unit weighted function method demonstrated to be non-dissipative and its numerical dispersion showed to be clearly less than the common Newmark's linear acceleration method. Also critical time step duration in stability investigation for weighted function procedure showed to be larger than the critical time step duration obtained by other methods used in the nonlinear structural dynamics problems.M. Ghassemieh, A. A. Gholampour, and S. R. Massa