Evaluation of perfectionism and its relationship with hardiness and mental health in students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: perfectionism has both positive and negative dimensions. Each dimension is associated with different aspects of human psychology. The present study aimed to investigate perfectionism and its relationship with hardiness and mental health in students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which aimed to evaluate perfectionism (positive and negative) and its relationship with hardiness and mental health in students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences in 2013. The statistical population consisted of 200 students. Data collection tools were three questionnaires or perfectionism, hardiness and mental health. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tests (frequency, mean and standard deviation), SPSS 11, Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and nonparametric tests at p<0.05 significance level.Findings: the results showed a significant correlation between positive perfectionism and hardiness (r = 0.3 and p = 0.02). There was no significant difference between scores of perfectionism (positive and negative), mental health and hardiness based on field of study of the students.Conclusion: it is recommended to implement useful programs in order to strengthen positive perfectionism among students.Keywords: perfectionism, hardiness, mental health, medical student

Chronic effects of hydro-alcoholic artemisia absinthium extract on the liver enzymes and tissue changes of adult mal rat

Artemisia absinthium has many pharmacological effects, but toxic effects of it, were seen on nervous system and liver. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the chronic effects of different doses of Artemisia absinthium extract on the enzymes and histopathological changes of the liver tissue of adult normal male rat. Method and materials: In this experimental study, forty eight male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups of 8 as follows: Control, sham (recipient of distilled water) and 4 experimental groups that received Artemisia absinthium hydro- alcoholic extract at doses of 125, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg intraperitoneally.The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Duncan post hoc tests. P≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: After 8 weeks, doses of 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg could significantly reduce amount of ALT, AST and ALP. Dose of 1000 mg/kg increased ALT, AST and ALP. From the standpoint of histopathological study, doses of 125, 250 and 500 Artemisia absinthium had no significant side effect on liver tissue, but 1000 mg/kg caused destruction of liver cell membranes, enlargement of sinusoidal space, sporadic leukocyte infiltration, Kupffer cells hypertrophy, and vascular congestion.Conclusion: Maximum dose of Artemisia absinthium extract (1000 mg/kg) increased liver enzymes and destroy liver tissues of normal male rats.Keywords: Artemisia Absinthium, Enzymes, Histopathology, Liver, Ra

Exploring Jahrom Medical University students' attitudes towards the Islamic self-evaluation in 2015

Introduction: Self- evaluation is the process of designing, building and maintaining human behaviors that can lead to maturity and perfection. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine Jahrom Medical University students' attitudes towards the Islamic self-assessment in 2015.Method: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out on the students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences in 2015. Using purposive sampling, 223 samples were selected.Collection tool was Islamic self-assessment questionnaire in the form of 20 items based on the Likert scale consisting stipulation, calculating, meditation and expostulation. Data analysis was performed using statistical software SPSS 11 and paired T-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation.Results: 223 students participated in this cross-sectional and descriptive study.68.2% were female and the rest were male. Their average age was 2.18 ± 20.4 in the range of 15 to 45 years.28.7 percent of students were medical field and 27.8 percent from the field of Anesthesiology.71.3% were undergraduates. The results of Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a significant correlation between the components of Islamic selfevaluation (stipulation, calculating, meditation, expostulation) and Islamic self-evaluation (P-value <0.05).Conclusion: The students of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences are in relatively good condition in terms of the four stages of Islamic self-evaluation.Keywords: Islamic self-evaluation, students, Jahrom University of Medical Science

Risk-Averse Matchings over Uncertain Graph Databases

A large number of applications such as querying sensor networks, and analyzing protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, rely on mining uncertain graph and hypergraph databases. In this work we study the following problem: given an uncertain, weighted (hyper)graph, how can we efficiently find a (hyper)matching with high expected reward, and low risk? This problem naturally arises in the context of several important applications, such as online dating, kidney exchanges, and team formation. We introduce a novel formulation for finding matchings with maximum expected reward and bounded risk under a general model of uncertain weighted (hyper)graphs that we introduce in this work. Our model generalizes probabilistic models used in prior work, and captures both continuous and discrete probability distributions, thus allowing to handle privacy related applications that inject appropriately distributed noise to (hyper)edge weights. Given that our optimization problem is NP-hard, we turn our attention to designing efficient approximation algorithms. For the case of uncertain weighted graphs, we provide a $\frac{1}{3}$-approximation algorithm, and a $\frac{1}{5}$-approximation algorithm with near optimal run time. For the case of uncertain weighted hypergraphs, we provide a $\Omega(\frac{1}{k})$-approximation algorithm, where $k$ is the rank of the hypergraph (i.e., any hyperedge includes at most $k$ nodes), that runs in almost (modulo log factors) linear time. We complement our theoretical results by testing our approximation algorithms on a wide variety of synthetic experiments, where we observe in a controlled setting interesting findings on the trade-off between reward, and risk. We also provide an application of our formulation for providing recommendations of teams that are likely to collaborate, and have high impact.Comment: 25 page

Preoperative assessment of meningioma aggressiveness by Thallium-201 brain SPECT

Introduction: Meningioma is usually a benign brain tumor, but sometimes with aggressive course. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of 201Tl Brain SPECT to differentiate the pathologic grade of meningioma preoperatively. Methods: Thirty lesions in 28 patients were evaluated in this study. Early (20 minutes) and late (3 hours) brain SPECT images were performed and early uptake ratio (EUR), late uptake ratio (LUR) and retention index (RI) were calculated. All patients were operated and pathologic grade of tumors were defined according to World Health Organization grading system. Results: SPECT results were compared in different pathologic groups. Data analysis clarified no significant difference of EUR in benign and aggressive meningioma (P=0.2). However LUR and RI were significantly higher in aggressive tumors (P=0.001 and P=0.02, respectively). Conclusion: According to our data Tl-201 Brain SPECT with early and late imaging has 80 sensitivity and specificity to differentiate malignant from benign meningioma

Optimizing SOI Slot Waveguide Fabrication Tolerances and Strip-Slot Coupling for Very Efficient Optical Sensing

Slot waveguides are becoming more and more attractive optical components, especially for chemical and bio-chemical sensing. In this paper an accurate analysis of slot waveguide fabrication tolerances is carried out, in order to find optimum design criteria for either homogeneous or absorption sensing mechanisms, in cases of low and high aspect ratio slot waveguides. In particular, we have focused on Silicon On Insulator (SOI) technology, representing the most popular technology for this kind of devices, simultaneously achieving high integration capabilities, small dimensions and low cost. An accurate analysis of single mode behavior for high aspect ratio slot waveguide has been also performed, in order to provide geometric limits for waveguide design purposes. Finally, the problem of coupling into a slot waveguide is addressed and a very compact and efficient slot coupler is proposed, whose geometry has been optimized to give a strip-slot-strip coupling efficiency close to 100%

Successful new product development by optimizing development process effectiveness in highly regulated sectors: the case of the Spanish medical devices sector

Rapid development and commercialization of new products is of vital importance for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in regulated sectors. Due to strict regulations, competitive advantage can hardly be achieved through the effectiveness of product concepts only. If an SME in a highly regulated sector wants to excell in new product development (NPD) performance, the company should focus on the flexibility, speed, and productivity of its NPD function: i.e. the development process effectiveness. Our main research goals are first to explore if SMEs should focus on their their development process effectiveness rather than on their product concept effectiveness to achieve high NPD performance; and second, to explore whether a shared pattern in the organization of the NPD function can be recognized to affect NPD performance positively. The medical devices sector in Spain is used as an example of a\ud highly regulated sector. A structured survey among 11 SMEs, of which 2 were studied also as in in-depth case studies, led to the following results. First of all, indeed the companies in the dataset which focused on the effectiveness of their development process, stood out in NPD performance. Further, the higher performing companies did have a number of commonalities in the organisation of their NPD function: 1) The majority of the higher performing firms had an NPD strategy characterized by a predominantly incremental project portfolio.\ud 2) a) Successful firms with an incremental project portfolio combined this with a functional team structure b) Successful firms with a radical project portfolio combined this with a heavyweight or autonomous team structure.\ud 3) A negative reciprocal relationship exists between formalization of the NPD processes and the climate of the NPD function, in that a formalized NPD process and an innovative climate do not seem to reinforce each other. Innovative climate combined with an informal NPD process does however contribute positively to NPD performance. This effect was stronger in combination with a radical project portfolio. The highest NPD performance was measured for companies focusing mainly on incremental innovation. It is argued that in highly regulated sectors, companies with an incremental product portfolio would benefit from employing a functional structure. Those companies who choose for a more radical project portfolio in highly regulated sectors should be aware\ud that they are likely to excell only in the longer term by focusing on strategic flexibility. In their NPD organization, they might be well advised to combine informal innovation processes with an innovative climate

Effective K-Vertex connected component detection in large-scale networks

National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under International Research Centres in Singapore Funding Initiativ