Social support and relationship with hope among mothers of a child with leukemia

زمینه و هدف: امروزه، بیماری لوسمی(leukemia) شایعترین نئوپلاسم دوران کودکی از یک بیماری کشنده به یک بیماری مزمن تبدیل شده است. لذا تمرکز بر مشکلات ناشی از درمان طولانی‌مدت در خانواده بخصوص مادران که مراقب اصلی کودک هستند، افزایش یافته است. حمایت اجتماعی و امید در توانایی مادران جهت اداره و مواجهه با تجربه بیماری و سازگاری با تنش موجود نقش مهمی را بازی می‌کنند. هدف از پژوهش حاضر بررسی ارتباط حمایت اجتماعی و امید در مادران کودکان مبتلا به لوسمی می‌باشد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی، تحلیلی 150 نفر بطور مستمر از میان مادران مراجعه‌کننده به مرکز خون مرکز آموزشی درمانی حضرت علی اصغر (ع) تهران، در مدت 3 ماه انتخاب شدند. ابزار گردآوری داده‌ها پرسشنامه‌های حمایت اجتماعی نورتوس (Northouse) و امید میلر (Miller hope scale) بود. برای تجزیه و تحلیل داده‌‌ها از آزمون کای اسکوئر، تی مستقل و آنالیز واریانس یک طرفه استفاده شد. یافته‌ها:میانگیر سنی مادران شرکت کننده 36/33 سال و 3/97آنان متأهل بودند. حدود 7/50 مادران مورد مطالعه از حمایت اجتماعی بالا و 3/45 آنها از امید بالا برخوردار بودند و بین میزان حمایت اجتماعی دریافت شده و میزان امید، همبستگی مثبت معنی‌دار (05/0P< و 443=r) وجود داشت. نتیجه‌گیری: بر مبنای یافته‌های پژوهش و ارتباط حمایت اجتماعی با امید و با توجه به اهمیت این متغیرها در مادران، بعنوان مهمترین گروه مراقبت‌دهنده به کودک مبتلا به لوسمی، برنامه‌ریزی در جهت آموزش و افزایش میزان حمایت اجتماعی و امید در این زنان ضروری بوده که نهایتاً می تواند بر کیفیت مراقبت از کودکان مبتلا به لوسمی موثر واقع شود

Artificial Neural Network to Modeling Zero-inflated Count Data: Application to Predicting Number of Return to Blood Donation.

BACKGROUND Traditional statistical models often are based on certain presuppositions and limitations that may not presence in actual data and lead to turbulence in estimation or prediction. In these situations, artificial neural networks (ANNs) could be suitable alternative rather than classical statistical methods. STUDY DESIGN  A prospective cohort study. METHODS The study was conducted in Shahrekord Blood Transfusion Center, Shahrekord, central Iran, on blood donors from 2008-2009. The accuracy of the proposed model to prediction of number of return to blood donations was compared with classical statistical models. A number of 864 donors who had a first-time successful donation were followed for five years. Number of return for blood donation was considered as response variable. Poisson regression (PR), negative binomial regression (NBR), zero-inflated Poisson regression (ZIPR) and zero-inflated negative binomial regression (ZINBR) as well as ANN model were fitted to data. MSE criterion was used to compare models. To fitting the models, STATISTICA 10 and, R 3.2.2 was used RESULTS: The MSE of PR, NBR, ZIPR, ZINBR and ANN models was obtained 2.71, 1.01, 1.54, 0.094 and 0.056 for the training and 4.05, 9.89, 3.99, 2.53 and 0.27 for the test data, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The ANN model had the least MSE in both training, and test data set and has a better performance than classic models. ANN could be a suitable alternative for modeling such data because of fewer restrictions

Association Between PGC-1Alpha Gene Polymorphisms and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Case-Control Study of an Iranian Population

Objective: The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1 alpha) gene could play a role in the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to explore the possible associations among polymorphisms Gly482Ser, Thr394Thr and Thr528Thr of the PGC-1 alpha gene and the risk of type 2 diabetes in Kurdish-Iranians. Methods: DNA specimens from all 173 type 2 diabetes subjects and 173 normoglycemic subjects were genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Genotypic and allelic frequencies were analyzed in each group. Serum lipids, fasting glucose, fasting serum insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and glycated hemoglobin levels were determined using the conventional methods. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The GA genotype of Gly482Ser was associated with a significant susceptibility for type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 5.23, p<0.000). Furthermore, the GA genotype of Thr528Thr had a higher risk for type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 2.37, p<0.002). Normoglycemic persons carrying the GA+AA genotypes of Gly482Ser variation had significantly lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in comparison with persons having GG genotype. In comparison with GG genotype carriers, normoglycemic subjects carrying the GA+AA genotypes of Thr394Thr variation had significantly higher fasting blood sugar, fasting serum insulin and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. Normoglycemic subjects with the GA+AA genotypes of Thr528Thr variation had significantly higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol compared with subjects having the GG genotype. Type 2 diabetes subjects carrying the GA+AA genotypes of this polymorphism had significantly higher waist-hip ratio in comparison with the GG genotype carriers. We also found that haplotype 394-GG/482-GA/528-GG of PGC-1 alpha was significantly associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: Our findings revealed significant associations between PGC-1alpha Gly482Ser and Thr528Thr polymorphisms and type 2 diabetes in Kurdish-Iranians. (C) 2015 Canadian Diabetes Associatio

Impact of preconception health education on health locus of control and self-efficacy in women Impact de l'éducation sanitaire avant la conception sur le lieu de contrôle de la santé et l'auto-efficacité chez les femmes

The preconception period is an ideal opportunity to optimize women's health. This study of women attending premarital clinics in the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed to evaluate the impact of a health education workshop on their health locus of control and self-efficacy in physical activity. The design was a randomized controlled trial with a questionnaire before and after the intervention. At post-intervention, there were significant increases in scores of internal health locus of control and self-efficacy in the experimental group (n = 109) compared to the control group (n = 101). It was concluded that a short-term health education may empower women to adopt healthy lifestyles

Distributed Computing Architecture for Image-Based Wavefront Sensing and 2 D FFTs

Image-based wavefront sensing (WFS) provides significant advantages over interferometric-based wavefi-ont sensors such as optical design simplicity and stability. However, the image-based approach is computational intensive, and therefore, specialized high-performance computing architectures are required in applications utilizing the image-based approach. The development and testing of these high-performance computing architectures are essential to such missions as James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Terrestial Planet Finder-Coronagraph (TPF-C and CorSpec), and Spherical Primary Optical Telescope (SPOT). The development of these specialized computing architectures require numerous two-dimensional Fourier Transforms, which necessitate an all-to-all communication when applied on a distributed computational architecture. Several solutions for distributed computing are presented with an emphasis on a 64 Node cluster of DSPs, multiple DSP FPGAs, and an application of low-diameter graph theory. Timing results and performance analysis will be presented. The solutions offered could be applied to other all-to-all communication and scientifically computationally complex problems

Relationship between intelligence quotient and musical ability in children with cochlear implantation

Introduction: Children with cochlear implants (CIs) may experience few opportunities for positive musical experiences, and musical perception is therefore often not sufficiently developed. This paper investigates and discusses the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) and musical ability in children with CIs compared with children with normal hearing. Materials and Methods: This was a comparative analytical study conducted in 48 children with unilateral CI and 48 normalhearing children, 6-8 years of age, with 'normal' IQ and no formal music training. The average IQ score in the experimental and control groups were 105.41 and 106.31, respectively. No statistically significant differences were detected between Raven's IQ scores in both groups. Data were collected by administering Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices IQ Tests and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) Test, consisting of scale, contour, interval, rhythm, and memory sections. Results: Mean total MBEMA score in the experimental and control groups was 58.93 and 72.16 (out of 100), respectively. Significant differences were evident between scores of children with CIs in comparison with their normal-hearing peers (P�0.001). A remarkable direct correlation between IQ and musical scores in both the control (r�0.38) and experimental (r�0.37) groups was observed. Conclusion: IQ has a noticeable effect on music processing and facilitates the perception of various musical elements. With regard to the mutual relationship between IQ and musical skills, this study illustrates the advantage of determining music perception scores and highlights the importance of appropriate musical intervention in order to enhance auditory neural plasticity, especially in children with cochlear implantation

Lingulodinium machaerophorum expansion over the last centuries in the Caspian Sea reflects global warming

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ Author(s) 2012. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.We analysed dinoflagellate cyst assemblages in four short sediment cores, two of them dated by radionuclides, taken in the south basin of the Caspian Sea. The interpretation of the four sequences is supported by a collection of 27 lagoonal or marine surface sediment samples. A sharp increase in the biomass of the dinocyst occurs after 1967, especially owing to Lingulodinium machaerophorum. Considering nine other cores covering parts or the whole of Holocene, this species started to develop in the Caspian Sea only during the last three millennia. By analysing instrumental data and collating existing reconstructions of sea level changes over the last few millennia, we show that the main forcing of the increase of L. machaerophorum percentages and of the recent dinocyst abundance is global climate change, especially sea surface temperature increase. Sea level fluctuations likely have a minor impact. We argue that the Caspian Sea has entered the Anthropocene