The Concept of Educational Achievement and its Effective Factors according to the Overseas Graduates’ Point of View: a Qualitative Study

Background & Objective : The importance of dispatching students to foreign countries to continue education is so obvious that even developed countries are not needless of that. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the opinion of overseas graduates, who were on a scholarship, about the meaning and concepts of educational achievement and its effective factors. Methods : In this qualitative study, 11 faculty members of Kerman University of Medical Sciences who have been graduated from foreign universities participated. They were inquired into their opinions about assessment criteria of educational achievement and its effective factors using an open interview. Results : Among the most important concepts of educational achievement regarding education quantity, attending seminars and conferences can be pointed out. The efficiency of learned materials and learning professional scientific topics are important considering education quality and learning extra topics, respectively. The interviewees also believed that personal factors including personality, family, economic affairs, having professional knowledge in the field of study, necessary skills in the language of the target university and its status especially tutors, topic and field of research were also substantial. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that concepts of academic achievement are vast and one cannot be considered successful assessing only one or some criteria. Hence, duration of study, the amount of scientific products and their quality, the amount of scientific connections and the application of learned topics by the learner are to be noted. Keywords: Educational achievement, Overseas student, Medical sciences, Overseas graduate

The inhibitory effect of 6-gingerol and cisplatin on ovarian cancer and antitumor activity: In silico, in vitro, and in vivo

© 2023 Salari, Khosravi, Pourkhandani, Molaakbari, Salarkia, Keyhani, Sharifi, Tavakkoli, Sohbati, Dabiri, Ren and Shafie’ei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer is very common in women and causes hundreds of deaths per year worldwide. Chemotherapy drugs including cisplatin have adverse effects on patients’ health. Complementary treatments and the use of herbal medicines can help improve the performance of medicine. 6-Gingerol is the major pharmacologically active component of ginger. In this study, we compared the effects of 6-gingerol, cisplatin, and their combination in apoptotic and angiogenetic activities in silico, in test tubes, and in in vivo assays against two ovarian cancer cell lines: OVCAR-3 and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods: The drug-treated cell lines were evaluated for their cytotoxicity, cell cycle, and apoptotic and angiogenetic gene expression changes. Results: The proportion of apoptosis treated by 6-gingerol coupled with cisplatin was significantly high. In the evaluation of the cell cycle, the combination therapy also showed a significant promotion of a higher extent of the S sequence. The expression of p53 level, Caspase-8, Bax, and Apaf1 genes was amplified again with combination therapy. Conversely, in both cell lines, the cumulative drug concentrations reduced the expression of VEGF, FLT1, KDR, and Bcl-2 genes. Similarly, in the control group, combination treatment significantly decreased the expression of VEGF, FLT1, KDR, and Bcl-2 genes in comparison to cisplatin alone. Conclusions: The findings of the present study demonstrated that the cisplatin and 6-gingerol combination is more effective in inducing apoptosis and suppressing the angiogenesis of ovarian cancer cells than using each drug alone.Peer reviewe

Unexpected presentation of accessory breast: vulvar accessory breast tissue: a case report

Abstract Background The accessory breast is composed of residual glandular mammary tissue that persists after normal embryonic development. The entity is so rare that it is easily neglected in the diagnosis of disease. Case presentation We report a 24-year-old virgin Persian woman with a left-sided vulvar mass and no pain or discomfort until shortly before her presentation at our department. Ectopic breast tissue in the vulva was diagnosed. We performed wide local resection of the lesion. Pathological investigation of the lesion confirmed the presence of ectopic breast tissue with secretory changes. She had no specific developmental abnormalities and had no relevant family history. She was followed up for 10 months and had recovered fully by this time. Conclusion Accessory breast tissue should be considered as a diagnosis when a mass is seen along the embryonic milk line, especially if the clinical findings reveal changes in the mass accompanied by changes in sex hormones

Epidemiology of Major Depressive Disorder in Iran: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: There are a large number of primary researches on the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) in Iran; however, their findings are varied considerably. A systematic review was performed in order to summarize the findings.Methods: Electronic and manual searches in international and Iranian journals were conducted to find relevant studies reporting MDD pre-valence. To maximize the sensitivity of the search, the references of relevant papers were also explored. We explored the potential sources of heterogeneity such as diagnostic tools, gender and other characteristics using meta-regression model. The com-bined mean prevalence rates were calculated for genders, studies using each type of instruments and for each province using meta-analysis method.Results: From 44 articles included in the systematic review, 24 reported current prevalence and 20 reported lifetime prevalence of MDD. The overall estimation of current prevalence of MDD was 4.1% (95% CI: 3.1-5.1). Women were 1.95 (95% CI: 1.55-2.45) times more likely to have MDD. The current prevalence of MDD in urban inhabitants was not significantly different from rural inhabitants. The analysis identified the variations in diagnostic tools as an important source of heterogeneity.Conclusions: Although there is not adequate information on MDD prevalence in some areas of Iran, the overall current prevalence of MDD in the country is high and females are at the greater risk of disease