An Investigation of Iranian Virtual Universities Teachers’ Skills in Teaching These Courses

The main purpose of this research is, an investigation to Iranian virtual university  teachers having rate teaching skills in these courses. Virtual learning teachers need for a variety of teaching skills which are different from the attendance learning environment. Salmons e-moderator (2004) model is the basic model of this research that for researcher made questioner these were applied. For selecting research sampling, multi stage sampling method was used and 378 students from three virtual universities such as; Mehr e Alborz, Esfahan and Sahand were selected. Data analyzes with using descriptive statistical indexes and one sample T test showed, Iranian virtual university teachers have not most of virtual teaching skills such as; designing and mentoring instructional process, mastering in technological tools and student technical supporting, promoting students to deep thinking, evaluating learning process, presenting instructional objectives, designing learning activities and presenting feedback to students and respecting to individual differences. Also korscal valise test showed, these three universities were different in these skills

The correlation of RNase A enzymatic activity with the changes in the distance between Nepsilon2-His12 and N delta1-His119 upon addition of stabilizing and destabilizing salts.

The effect of stabilizing and destabilizing salts on the catalytic behavior of ribonuclease A (RNase A) was investigated at pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C, using spectrophotometric, viscometric and molecular dynamic methods. The changes in the distance between N(epsilon2) of His(12) and N(delta1) of His(119) at the catalytic center of RNase A upon the addition of sodium sulfate, sodium hydrogen sulfate and sodium thiocyanate were evaluated by molecular dynamic methods. The compactness and expansion in terms of Stokes radius of RNase A upon the addition of sulfate ions as kosmotropic salts, and thiocyanate ion as a chaotropic salt, were estimated by viscometric measurements. Enzyme activity was measured using cytidine 2', 3'-cyclic monophosphate as a substrate. The results from the measurements of distances between N(epsilon2) of His(12) and N(delta1) of His(119) and Stokes radius suggest (i) that the presence of sulfate ions decreases the distance between the catalytic His residues and increases the globular compactness, and (ii) that there is an expansion of the enzyme surface as well as elongation of the catalytic center in the presence of thiocyanate ion. These findings are in agreement with activity measurements

Staphylococcus aureus infections in children in an Iranian referral pediatric Hospital

Introduction. Staphylococcus aureus is associated with various infections ranging from skin and soft tissues such as surgical site infections and abscesses to lower respiratory tracts and blood- stream. The aim of this study was to evaluate underlying condi- tion of patients with S. aureus infections in an Iranian referral pediatric Hospital. Material and methods. Information was extracted retrospec- tively from the medical records of patients who were diagnosed with S. aureus infections. Data obtained about the study subjects included basic demographics, reason for admission, culture site, length of hospital stay, and methicillin susceptibility. Results. The underlyning condition of of patients with S.aureus infection during November 2011 and March 2013 were included in the study. The most frequent diagnosis in patients with S. aureus infection was jaundice (12%), abscess (10%), cellulitis (10%), wound infection (8%), septic arthritis (7%) and sezeire (5%). Wound was the most common infection sites among all subjects 34/98 (35%) following by blood (20/98, 20%) as well as skin and soft tissue (19/98, 19%). The proportion of MRSA infections among all S. aureus isolates was 79% (77/98) during the study period. In addition, 58/74 (78%) met the definition of Hospital-Associated Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus (HA- MRSA) infections and the rest; 20/24 patients (83%), were classified as Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus (CA- MRSA). Conclusion. In our study, the high frequency of MRSA was found not only in HA S. aureus but also in CA S. aureus isolates; there- fore, the strategic goals to optimize antimicrobial use includin

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection among cystic fibrosis and ICU patients in the referral Children Medical Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Introduction. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the important causes of hospital-acquired infections in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and considered as a major determinant of morbidity and mortality in patients affected by cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of this study was to investigate clonal diversity among randomly picked P. aeruginosa isolates of CF and the other hospitalized patients in ICU. Methods. Cultivation, identification, and antimicrobial suscep- tibility testing of P. aeruginosa isolates were performed using standard techniques. The genetic similarity of the strains was investigated by amplification of the Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) sequence. Results and discussion. Among 49 isolates, sixteen were isolated from 11 patients affected by CF and 33 came from an epidemiologi- cal investigation of 25 P. aeruginosa infected patients of ICU. Five clusters were generated for all isolates analyzed through ERIC-PCR genotyping. Two major clusters (B and C) were discovered in P. aer- uginosa isolates of ICU and CF patients during the whole period of this study. Fifteen unique antibiogram patterns obtained from all iso- lates and multi-resistant P. aeruginosa (MRPA) were identified in 23 isolates (47%). MRPA isolates were detected in all clusters (except A) while pan-resistant isolates were recovered only in cluster C. The high prevalence of related or identical isolates in CF and non-CF patients can be due to transmission of particular domi- nant clones in ICU ward. Therefore, enhanced infection-control may become necessary to prevent further spread of clonal strains

Correlation of sacral ratio and urinary tract infection in children

Introduction: The sacral bone anomalies have an important effect on urinary and gastrointestinal tract and sacral ratio was defined as an indicator for estimating the anorectal abnormalities in children. This study was carried out for determining the association between sacral ratio and Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) among children. Material and Methods: In a cross sectional study, 100 children under 15 years with proven febrile UTI were referred to a referral children center considering the presence and grading of VUR according to VCUG enrolled in this study. Sacral ratio was measured for all cases and the data were compared by student T test, Chi 2 and Mann Whitney tests. SPSS 16.0 software was used for data analysis. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: 41 boys and 59 girls with mean age 4.8 years were enrolled in this study. The average range of sacral ratio was 0.82. There was no staistical difference between two different genders and ages (p > 0.05). The values of SR in patients with VUR were lower than patients without VUR(P�0.05) but there was no statistically significant difference between both bilateral and unilateral VUR and SR (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The risk of sacral bone abnormality in patients with VUR is more than patients without VUR. Therefore, in patients with UTI and low SR simultaneously, tighter evaluation for VUR and treatment should be considered. © 2018 Kandarini et al

Assessment and Management of Adult Preoperative Anxiety: A Survey of the Anesthesiologist Perspective

Introduction: Preoperative anxiety often goes unaccounted for in the surgical setting. Given that anesthesiologists are routinely involved in perioperative care, this study was performed to assess anesthesiologists’ views of adult preoperative anxiety assessment and management. Methods: Active members of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) were sent an online questionnaire. Survey items included demographic information in addition to questions about measurement of preoperative anxiety, management of anxiety, and which entities were allocated responsibility to reduce patient anxiety. Data were collected from February to March 2019. Results: Of 3,661 respondents, most asked their patients about preoperative anxiety (n=2332, 64.3%). The following techniques were supported to reduce preoperative anxiety: pharmacotherapy (n=3205, 91.6%), patient education (n=2493, 71.3%), preoperative anesthesiologist visit (n=2095, 59.9%), family members’ presence (n=1828, 52.3%), preoperative tours (n=660, 18.9%), nurse-patient empathetic interactions (n=622, 17.8%), traditional, complementary, or alternative medicine (n=243, 7.0%), other techniques (n=219, 6.3%), cognitive behavioral therapy (n=107, 3.1%), or referral to a psychologist/psychiatrist (n=44, 1.3%). Discussion: Most anesthesiologists formally assessed preoperative anxiety and indicated a willingness to discuss anxiety if raised by the patient. Most anesthesiologists preferred to administer anxiety medication to reduce preoperative anxiety, but several other techniques were supported

A practice-specificity-based model of arousal for achieving peak performance

The authors propose a practice-specificity-based model of arousal for achieving peak performance. The study included 37 healthy male physical education students whom they randomly assigned to a high-arousal (n = 19) or low-arousal group (n = 18). To manipulate participants' level of arousal, the authors used motivational techniques. They used heart rate and the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (R. Martens, 1977) to measure the level of arousal that participants achieved. At the determined and given arousal state, the 2 groups performed the task (basketball free throws) for 18 sessions. Both groups performed a retention test at the 2 arousal levels immediately after the last exercise session, in the posttest, and after 10 days. Results showed that both groups learned the task similarly and achieved their peak performance at their experienced arousal level. When tested at an arousal level that differed from the one that they experienced throughout practice sessions, participants' performance had deteriorated significantly. Performance of the task seemed to have integrated with the arousal level of the participants during the task learning. The findings of this study suggest a practice-specificity-based explanation for achieving peak performance. Copyright © 2007 Heldref Publications