Being as an iceberg: hypertensive treatment adherence experiences in southeast of Iran.

BACKGROUND: Treatment adherence is often an important issue in the management of hypertension. Deep understanding of adherence behavior as well as its influential factors can expand knowledge about treatment adherence among hypertensives. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore patients, their families, and healthcare providers' experiences about hypertension treatment adherence in southeast of Iran. DESIGN: A qualitative study was conducted to explore the experience of patients, family members, and healthcare providers (n=18) by using a conventional content analysis. The purposive sampling method was used. Data were collected through semi-structured and deep interviews. RESULTS: Data analysis showed that hypertensive treatment adherence in an Iranian context is like an iceberg with two subthemes. The first subtheme relates to the upper and clear part of this iceberg and it consists of two categories, including (1) healthy and (2) unhealthy regimens. The second subtheme associates with under-water and unanticipated part and it consists of four categories, including (1) the nature of disease and treatment, (2) the individual resources, (3) the healthcare organization, and (4) the socio-cultural environment. CONCLUSIONS: The treatment adherence features emerged in this study can be useful in designing and developing context-based hypertension interventions. Further qualitative and quantitative studies with a closer collaboration between the social, natural, and medical sciences in other Iranian populations are needed to confirm the findings. KEYWORDS: Iran; hypertension; lived experience; qualitative content analysis; treatment adherenc

On the new string theory inspired mechanism of generation of cosmological perturbations

Recently a non-inflationary mechanism of generation of scale-free cosmological perturbations of metric was proposed by Brandenberger, Nayeri, and Vafa in the context of the string gas cosmology. We discuss various problems of their model and argue that the cosmological perturbations of metric produced in this model have blue spectrum with a spectral index n = 5, which strongly disagrees with observations. We conclude that this model in its present form is not a viable alternative to inflationary cosmology.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Translation and validation of the Persian version of the treatment adherence questionnaire for patients with hypertension

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a global public health crisis. Poorly controlled high blood pressure is one of the major factors contributed to this crisis. As lack of treatment adherence is often considered the main reason for this failure, the Treatment Adherence Questionnaire for Patient with Hypertension (TAQPH) was developed. Since this questionnaire should be reliable and strongly valid to be used in clinics and research, this study was performed to test the reliability and validity of the TAQPH. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to validate the Persian version of TAQPH after using a modified forward/backward translation procedure. A total of 330 hypertensive patients were participated in this study. Construct and criterion validity, Cronbach¢s alpha, and test-retest reliability were used to validate the Persian scale. RESULTS: Data analysis showed that the scale had excellent stability (intraclass correlation = 0.95) and good acceptability of internal consistency (α = 0.80). The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was meaningful but was not confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The scale score was correlated with Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) score (Ρ = 0.27). CONCLUSION: In total, most of the psychometric properties of the 25-item P-TAQHP achieved the standard level and were sufficient to recommend for general use

Observational Constraints on Theories with a Blue Spectrum of Tensor Modes

Motivated by the string gas cosmological model, which predicts a blue tilt of the primordial gravitational wave spectrum, we examine the constraints imposed by current and planned observations on a blue tilted tensor spectrum. Starting from an expression for the primordial gravitational wave spectrum normalized using cosmic microwave background observations, pulsar timing, direct detection and nucleosynthesis bounds are examined. If we assume a tensor to scalar ratio on scales of the CMB which equals the current observational upper bound, we obtain from these current observations constraints on the tensor spectral index of $n_{T} \lesssim 0.79$, $n_{T} \lesssim 0.53$, and $n_{T} \lesssim 0.15$ respectively.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 2 references added, relationship of this work with Ref. 20 adde

An evaluation of the effectiveness of a reproductive health education program for nonmedical students in Iran: A quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test research

Background: Young people age 10 - 25 are an important population to evaluate the female youth educational program essential to the prevention of issues related to reproductive health. Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of the education program for improving university student�s reproductive health. Patients and Methods: This quantitative study was conducted in Iran from July 2014 to March 2015. The questionnaire addressed socio-demographic features, knowledge of reproductive problems, and attitudes. Program effectiveness was examined using a quasi-experimental research design with pre-intervention and post-intervention. Data from questionnaires was collected preintervention and post-intervention from 150 female students. Results: In this study, results showed that an intervention and education program had a significant effect on several issues related to reproductive health. Most participants stressed the need to provide reproductive health services for young girls. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the reproductive health education program improved the students� knowledge and attitudes about sexuality and decision-making after the program and that these educational programs are important for youths. © 2016, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Inaccessible Singularities in Toral Cosmology

The familiar Bang/Crunch singularities of classical cosmology have recently been augmented by new varieties: rips, sudden singularities, and so on. These tend to be associated with final states. Here we consider an alternative possibility for the initial state: a singularity which has the novel property of being inaccessible to physically well-defined probes. These singularities arise naturally in cosmologies with toral spatial sections.Comment: 10 pages, version to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit