Validity and reliability of the Iranian version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 (PedsQL™) Generic Core Scales in children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the Iranian version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 (PedsQL™ 4.0) Generic Core Scales in children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A standard forward and backward translation procedure was used to translate the US English version of the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales for children into the Iranian language (Persian). The Iranian version of the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales was completed by 503 healthy and 22 chronically ill children aged 8-12 years and their parents. The reliability was evaluated using internal consistency. Known-groups discriminant comparisons were made, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficients, exceeded the minimum reliability standard of 0.70. All monotrait-multimethod correlations were higher than multitrait-multimethod correlations. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) between the children self-report and parent proxy-reports showed moderate to high agreement. Exploratory factor analysis extracted six factors from the PedsQL™ 4.0 for both self and proxy reports, accounting for 47.9% and 54.8% of total variance, respectively. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis for 6-factor models for both self-report and proxy-report indicated acceptable fit for the proposed models. Regarding health status, as hypothesized from previous studies, healthy children reported significantly higher health-related quality of life than those with chronic illnesses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings support the initial reliability and validity of the Iranian version of the PedsQL™ 4.0 as a generic instrument to measure health-related quality of life of children in Iran.</p

Identifying Common Elements of Evidence – Based Psychological Treatments for Females with Extramarital Experience

Introduction: The therapeutic consequences of extramarital relationships is a difficult issue amongtherapists, so majority of clinicians are faced with several challenges. Although, they are not able toconceptualize and modify these issues with a suitable and recognized approach, the purpose of thisstudy was to identify common elements of psychological evidence-based therapies in order todevelop multi-dimensional intervention for females involved in extramarital relationships.Method: This study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was a qualitative content analysisto identify factors influencing the extramarital relations in three steps. The second phase aimed todesign and develop multi-dimensional treatments using common elements identified in the firststudy. This procedure conducted according to Garland et al., method.Result: Sixty-four effective factors identified in four categories: individual’s personality, familyeducational, cultural-social and religious-beliefs. In the second phase , 13 effective therapeuticapproaches in the treatment of extramarital relationships were selected. Finally, 10 commontherapeutic elements were developed to design a protocol for extramarital relationships involvedfemales.Conclusion: This treatment emphasized on helping women with the experience of extramaritalrelationship who want to save their marital commitment and family.Declaration of Interest: Non

Factors Influencing Extramarital Relationship among Married Females: A Qualitative Study

Marital commitment has always been recognized as one of the fundamental principles of marriage, and extramarital relations have led to irritable consequences, although the reasons are not well known. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the factors is related to the extra marital relationships of Iranian females through a qualitative analysis. The statistical population consisted 17 women who referred to health centers in Mashhad city. Sampling conducted via purposive method. The main method of collecting data in the present study was a deep semi-structured qualitative interview, documents and interview with experienced professional psychologist. Data were analyzed using qualities method. After extracting data’s, the content was adjusted in to four categories of individual, family, social and religious-beliefs. Each of these categories has been considered as a factor for extra marital relationship of participants. The results of the survey showed that the factors associated with extra marital relationship is explainable in the four categories framework. According the findings, suggestions are presented in the article

hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes as a model to study the role of small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) ion channel variants associated with atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common arrhythmia, has been associated with different electrophysiological, molecular, and structural alterations in atrial cardiomyocytes. Therefore, more studies are required to elucidate the genetic and molecular basis of AF. Various genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have strongly associated different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with AF. One of these GWAS identified the rs13376333 risk SNP as the most significant one from the 1q21 chromosomal region. The rs13376333 risk SNP is intronic to the KCNN3 gene that encodes for small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels type 3 (SK3). However, the functional electrophysiological effects of this variant are not known. SK channels represent a unique family of K+ channels, primarily regulated by cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, and different studies support their critical role in the regulation of atrial excitability and consequently in the development of arrhythmias like AF. Since different studies have shown that both upregulation and downregulation of SK3 channels can lead to arrhythmias by different mechanisms, an important goal is to elucidate whether the rs13376333 risk SNP is a gain-of-function (GoF) or a loss-of-function (LoF) variant. A better understanding of the functional consequences associated with these SNPs could influence clinical practice guidelines by improving genotype-based risk stratification and personalized treatment. Although research using native human atrial cardiomyocytes and animal models has provided useful insights, each model has its limitations. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop a human-derived model that represents human physiology more accurately than existing animal models. In this context, research with human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) and subsequent generation of cardiomyocytes derived from hiPSC (hiPSC-CMs) has revealed the underlying causes of various cardiovascular diseases and identified treatment opportunities that were not possible using in vitro or in vivo studies with animal models. Thus, the ability to generate atrial cardiomyocytes and atrial tissue derived from hiPSCs from human/patients with specific genetic diseases, incorporating novel genetic editing tools to generate isogenic controls and organelle-specific reporters, and 3D bioprinting of atrial tissue could be essential to study AF pathophysiological mechanisms. In this review, we will first give an overview of SK-channel function, its role in atrial fibrillation and outline pathophysiological mechanisms of KCNN3 risk SNPs. We will then highlight the advantages of using the hiPSC-CM model to investigate SNPs associated with AF, while addressing limitations and best practices for rigorous hiPSC studies

Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2019 : a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Accurate and up-to-date assessment of demographic metrics is crucial for understanding a wide range of social, economic, and public health issues that affect populations worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 produced updated and comprehensive demographic assessments of the key indicators of fertility, mortality, migration, and population for 204 countries and territories and selected subnational locations from 1950 to 2019. Methods: 8078 country-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 938 surveys, 349 censuses, and 238 other sources were identified and used to estimate age-specific fertility. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate age-specific fertility rates for 5-year age groups between ages 15 and 49 years. With extensions to age groups 10–14 and 50–54 years, the total fertility rate (TFR) was then aggregated using the estimated age-specific fertility between ages 10 and 54 years. 7417 sources were used for under-5 mortality estimation and 7355 for adult mortality. ST-GPR was used to synthesise data sources after correction for known biases. Adult mortality was measured as the probability of death between ages 15 and 60 years based on vital registration, sample registration, and sibling histories, and was also estimated using ST-GPR. HIV-free life tables were then estimated using estimates of under-5 and adult mortality rates using a relational model life table system created for GBD, which closely tracks observed age-specific mortality rates from complete vital registration when available. Independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated by an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance and other sources were incorporated into the estimates in countries with large epidemics. Annual and single-year age estimates of net migration and population for each country and territory were generated using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model that analysed estimated age-specific fertility and mortality rates along with 1250 censuses and 747 population registry years. We classified location-years into seven categories on the basis of the natural rate of increase in population (calculated by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate) and the net migration rate. We computed healthy life expectancy (HALE) using years lived with disability (YLDs) per capita, life tables, and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty was propagated throughout the demographic estimation process, including fertility, mortality, and population, with 1000 draw-level estimates produced for each metric. Findings: The global TFR decreased from 2·72 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·66–2·79) in 2000 to 2·31 (2·17–2·46) in 2019. Global annual livebirths increased from 134·5 million (131·5–137·8) in 2000 to a peak of 139·6 million (133·0–146·9) in 2016. Global livebirths then declined to 135·3 million (127·2–144·1) in 2019. Of the 204 countries and territories included in this study, in 2019, 102 had a TFR lower than 2·1, which is considered a good approximation of replacement-level fertility. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27·1% (95% UI 26·4–27·8) of global livebirths. Global life expectancy at birth increased from 67·2 years (95% UI 66·8–67·6) in 2000 to 73·5 years (72·8–74·3) in 2019. The total number of deaths increased from 50·7 million (49·5–51·9) in 2000 to 56·5 million (53·7–59·2) in 2019. Under-5 deaths declined from 9·6 million (9·1–10·3) in 2000 to 5·0 million (4·3–6·0) in 2019. Global population increased by 25·7%, from 6·2 billion (6·0–6·3) in 2000 to 7·7 billion (7·5–8·0) in 2019. In 2019, 34 countries had negative natural rates of increase; in 17 of these, the population declined because immigration was not sufficient to counteract the negative rate of decline. Globally, HALE increased from 58·6 years (56·1–60·8) in 2000 to 63·5 years (60·8–66·1) in 2019. HALE increased in 202 of 204 countries and territories between 2000 and 2019

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Dynamic distribution of ryanodine receptors in cardiac muscles

The focus of this thesis is to address the location and distribution of the type 2 Ryanodine Receptor (RyR2) in mammalian cardiac myocytes with respect to their function. These integral membrane proteins function as Ca²⁺-activated Ca²⁺ ion channels as well as a scaffold for a large number of signaling molecules that modulate the release of Ca²⁺ through the channel. The relative position of the RyR2 tetramers is therefore a critical determinant of their function. To study this question, I have used a combination of immunofluorescence microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and tomography to map the position of the tetramers in whole cells and in cell sections and have used tissue obtained from both rat and human hearts. Biochemical and physiological techniques were used to correlate structure with function. I have found that RyR2s are located only in three regions: in couplons on the surface, transverse tubules and on most of the axial tubules. In all regions, most but not all of the RyR2s colocalize with the voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channel (Cav1.2), suggesting that they play a role in excitation-contraction coupling. Some RyR2 are colocalized with cavelin-3 and not with Cav1.2 and hypothesized that these ‘extra-couplonic’ RyR2 might be regulated by the multitude of signaling molecules associated with caveolin-3 to modulate Ca²⁺ release. Dual-tilt electron tomography produced en face views of both rat and human dyads, enabling a direct examination of RyR2 arrangement. Both species showed that tetramer packing was non-uniform containing a mix of checkerboard and side-by-side arrangements as well as isolated tetramers. Finally, I showed that the tetramers’ arrangement depended on the Mg²⁺ concentration and on their phosphorylation status; in low Mg²⁺ and after phosphorylation RyR2s were positioned in largely checkerboard arrangements while in response to high Mg²⁺ the tetramers were positioned largely side by side. These tetramer arrangements: side by side, mixed and checkerboard were associated with progressively increasing spark frequencies. The correlation between tetramer arrangement and spark frequency suggests that tetramer rearrangement may be another mechanism whereby physiological processes operate and provides potential new mechanisms by which the activity of RYR2, the dyad and cardiac contractility may be regulated.Medicine, Faculty ofGraduat

مروری بر دیدگاه‌ها و آثار حکیم عبدالحمید

Hakim Abdul Hamid was born in Dehli in 1908. At the age of 14, he was in charge of a drugstore which was inherited from his father. He devoted all his life to serving people and maintaining ethical values and religious beliefs with upright piety and austerity. He always pursued two main objectives: (a) scientific introduction and promotion of Islamic-Iranian traditional medicine as well as introduction of traditional medical treatments to the international audiences, and (b) establishment of educational research institutes to properly instruct the new generation. In 1964, he undertook to establish the Hamdard National Foundation aimed at treating impecunious patients, developing traditional medication, and offering educational and welfare services to cultural institutes in India. Hakim Abdul Hamid paid a particular attention to edification and education of proficient sages and philosophers. In 1997, he was conferred the honorary membership of the Iran Academy of Medical Sciences. Please cite this article as: Asghari, M. Naseri, M. Jafari, F. Mozayyani, P. (2015). Hakim Abdul Hamid: A Review of his Views and Works.&nbsp;Med History J. 7(24): 109-132.حکیم عبدالحمید در سال 1908 میلادی در دهلی به دنیا آمد و در سن چهارده سالگی، عهده دار دواخانه‌ای گشت که از پدرش به یادگار مانده بود. حکیم عبدالحمید با زهد و تقوای کامل خود، تمام هستی و زندگی خود را وقف خدمت به مردم و حفظ ارزش‌های اخلاقی و اندیشه‌های دینی کرد. وی از همان ابتدا دو هدف عمده را دنبال می‌کرد، ابتدا معرفی و اشاعه علمی طب سنتی ایرانی ـ اسلامی و معرفی داروهای طب سنتی در سطح بین‌المللی و دوم ایجاد مؤسسات آموزشی تحقیقی برای تعلیم و تربیت صحیح نسل جدید. در 1964 به تأسیس بنیاد ملی همدرد با هدف مداوای بیماران بی‌بضاعت، توسعه طب سنتی و ارائه خدمات آموزشی و رفاهی به مؤسسات فرهنگی در هندوستان، همت گماشت. ایشان به ویژه نسبت به تعلیم و تربیت حكیمان حاذق عنایت خاص داشت. همچنین در سال 1376 شمسی، عضویت افتخاری فرهنگستان علوم پزشكی ایران به ایشان اعطا گردید

Efficient In Vitro Somatic Embryogenesis and Plant Regeneration from Mature and Immature Embryos of Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.)

ABSTRACT An efficient regeneration system is a pre-requisite for the application of genetic transformation and functional genomics study of important plants. In this study, the effect of different factors (plant growth regulators, casein hydrolysate, aspartic acid and ascorbic acid) on in vitro embryogenesis and regeneration of Arta, Bahar and Zagros cultivars from mature and immature explants were investigated. Immature and mature embryos were dissected from disinfected seeds 20-25 days after pollination and imbedded mature seeds, respectively, and cultured on MS (Murashige and Skoog) medium supplemented with different compounds. The results showed that immature embryos expose high capacity of embryogenesis and regeneration in comparison with mature embryos. There were significant differences between cultivars in terms of the percentage of callus induction and regeneration. Plant growth regulators had significant effect on percentage of callus induction in mature explants and percentage of regeneration from both explants. In immature explants, the highest percentage of regeneration (65%) was achieved with the Arta cultivar calli derived from MS medium supplemented with 1mg/L 2,4-D, 2 mg/L Picloram and 200 mg/L casein hydrolysate, and subcultured on MS medium. Also, the highest percentage of regeneration (52.38%) from mature embryo explants was achieved in the Arta cultivar with callus induction on MS medium supplemented with 1 mg/L 2,4-D, 2 mg/L Picloram and 200 mg/L casein hydrolysate and regeneration on MS medium containing 0.05 mg/L NAA

Comparative study of marital satisfaction between mothers with one visually impaired child, mothers with more than one visually impaired children and mothers with normal children

The aim of the present study was to comparing marital satisfaction between mothers with one visually impaired child, mothers with more than one visually impaired children and mothers with normal children. The present research was a causal-comparative research and the target population of this study was mothers of normal children and mothers with visually impaired children in Tehran and Karaj in the academic year of 1395-96 in 537 individuals. The sampling method was simple random sampling. The sample size was obtained using the Cochran formula, 224 people (120 mothers with one visually impaired child, 104 mothers with more than one visually impaired children and 120 mothers with normal children). The instruments of this study were Afrooz Marital Satisfaction Scale (AMSS). Analyzing of data is performed using Multivariable Analyze of Variance (MANOVA). The results showed that there were significant differences in marital satisfaction between the three groups (p< .01). Also, the results showed that there were significant differences in Marital Satisfaction Subscales between the three groups (p< .01). On this basis, we can conclude that there were significant differences in Marital Satisfaction between the three groups and Researchers can provide a field of psychological interventions