THE EFFECTS OF A VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATOR ON FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR DENTAL CLINICAL SKILLS

Dental students’ psychomotor skills are being assessed implicitly by formative feedbacks during clinical laboratory sessions and through knowledge-based questions and practical performance measurements given in forms of summative assessments such as a Clinical Skills Examinations (CSE) and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE). Preliminary results from the three BDS Year 1 groups showed a moderate association between some of the psychomotor skills and CSE and OSCE results (1st Cohort BDS1 2007/2008, 2nd Cohort BDS1 2008/2009 and 3rd Cohort BDS1 2009/2010)

Comparative Study of Job Burnout Among Critical Care Nurses With Fixed and Rotating Shift Schedules

Background: Nurses, as health care providers, are insurmountably obliged to the practice of shift work. Literature has reported shift working as one of the inducing factors of burnout. Despite numerous studies in this area, there are inconsistencies on the relationship between shift working and burnout among nurses, especially in those who work in critical care settings. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the occupational burnout in critical care nurses with and without fixed shift schedules. Patients and Methods: In this comparative study, 130 nurses with rotating shift schedule and 130 nurses with fixed shift schedule from six university hospitals were selected using stratified random sampling. Maslach burnout inventory was used for data collection. Independent samples t-test, chi-square and one-way ANOVA tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Most of the participants were females (62.7%), aged between 22 - 29 years (38.5%), married (59.2%), and had a bachelor degree (86.9%). The mean score of emotional exhaustion was significantly higher in nurses with fixed shift schedules (P 0.05). Moreover, no significant difference was found in burnout mean scores between nurses with fixed morning and fixed night shifts (P > 0.05). The means of the emotional exhaustion subscale were significantly different in nurses with different characteristics (P < 0.05) except the gender and working unit. Conclusions: As a result of this study, it was found that critical care nurses with fixed shift schedules display more burnout in emotional exhaustion dimension, compared to those working with rotating shift schedules

Prevalence of oxaliplatin-induced chronic neuropathy and influencing factors in patients with colorectal cancer in Iran

Background: The chemotherapeutic agent oxaliplatin can cause acute and chronic forms of peripheral neuropathy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of chronic neuropathy and its risk factors in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients treated with FOLFOX or XELOX regimens in the Oncology Ward of Hazrat-e-Rasoul Hospital in Tehran. Materials and Methods: A total of 130 patients with CRC were entered into our study, aged over 18 years, without history of receiving other neurotoxic agents or other predisposing factors such as diabetes or neurologic diseases and kidney and liver dysfunction. For the FOLFOX regimen, patients received oxaliplatin, 85 mg/m2, every 2 weeks for 12 courses and with the XELOX regimen, oxaliplatin was 130mg/m2, every 3 weeks for 8 courses. Based on Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC or NCI-CTC v.3), the patients were divided into 5 groups (grades) based on the severity of their symptoms. Results: Fifty-seven patients (43.8) were male and 73(56.2) female. Some 19 patients (14.7) had BMI<20, 97(74.6) were between 20-25 and 14 (10.8) �25. In 105 patients (80.7) neuropathy was found. There was significant correlation between BMI, hypomagnesaemia and especially, severity of anemia in patients with neuropathy compared to those without. Conclusions: Oxaliplatin regimens can induce chronic neuropathy in CRC patients, with anemia, high BMI and hypomagnesaemia as risk factors that can predispose to this kind of neurotoxicity

Caregiver burden among Iranian heart failure family caregivers: A descriptive, exploratory, qualitative study

Background: Living with patients of chronic diseases such as heart failure (HF) is a diffi cult situation for the caregivers. This study explored the Iranian family caregivers’ burden of caregiving for patients with HF. Materials and Methods: Eighteen family caregivers of the HF patients from two governmental medical training centers in Isfahan, Iran were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Each interview was transcribed verbatim and was thematically analyzed concurrently. Results: Four major themes emerged from the analysis of the transcripts: Lack of care-related knowledge, physical exhaustion, psychosocial exhaustion, and lack of support. Family caregivers believed that they have little knowledge about the patients’ disease, drugs, and how to perform caregiving roles. They experienced negative physical and psychosocial consequences of full-time and highly extended caregiving roles, such as musculoskeletal disorder, fatigue, and sleep disturbance, and a high level of anxiety, stress, and social isolation. Caregivers believed that they receive little familial and organizational support on the emotional and fi nancial dimensions of caregiving. Conclusions: The fi ndings of this study can be used by healthcare providers, especially nurses, to provide more effective social, informational, and professional support for family caregivers

The effectiveness of a supportive educative group intervention on family caregiver burden of patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND Living with heart failure patients is a complex situation for family caregivers. Few studies have been conducted to examine the effects of interventional programs to ease this condition. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a supportive educative group intervention in reducing family caregivers' burden of caregiving. MATERIALS AND METHODS This randomized clinical trail was conducted at a selective teaching hospital in Isfahan, Iran in 2012. The intervention consisted of four weekly multimedia training sessions of 2 h that included education and family support for 50 family caregivers. Caregiver burden was measured using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Paired t-test, Student's t-tests, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test for significant differences of the mean scores of burden between the intervention and control groups over a 3-month period. RESULTS The intervention was successful in reducing caregiver burden over time both at the end of the intervention period (P = 0.000) and 3 months after the intervention (P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS Nurses and other healthcare providers can use the findings of this study in order to implement effective programs to reduce family caregivers' challenges and to provide them more support

Acute LC50 and bioconcentration of mercury chloride in Rutilus frisii kutum

To determine the acute toxicity and bioaccumulation of mercuric chloride in Rutilus fidisii kutum, specimens of the fish were exposed to various concentrations of the chemical in water. We carried out ten treatments with three replicates and one control for each of the chemicals using the static 0.E.C.D. method in 55 liter tanks each containing 14 fingerlings. During the experiments, the average pH was recorded as 7.8, total hardness was measured to be 255 mel, average water temperature was 27±1 degrees centigrade and dissolved oxygen was 7.2 mg/l. Mean LC50 values of Hgcli for juvenile R. fish kutum with mean weight 1± 0.2 grams were 0.102 and 0.086 mg HO at 24h and 96h, respectively. The bioaccumulation values during 24h in muscle tissue, kidney and gill were 1.55, 16.1 and 22.7 mg He respectively. The values during 96h exposure were 2.8, 16.8 and 26.65 mg He in tissue, kidney and gill respectively. The bioconcentration values for muscle tissue, kidney and gill during the first 24h were 14.75, 153.39 and 216.11 after 96h were 33.8, 198.1 and 313.5 times that of the environment. These results show the bioaccumulation to be the highest in gill followed by kidney and muscle tissue. The study suggested direct relationship between mercury concentration in and its bioaccumulation in the fish organs tissue

Developing Vaccines Against Foot-and-Mouth Disease: A Biotechnological Approach

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a contagious viral disease of livestock with significant economic effect. It is prevalent in various regions of Asia, Africa, and South America. The causative agent of this disease is called foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), which is a member of Aphthovirus genus. Vaccination is an effective technique to prevent the complications of FMD and to eradicate the disease in contaminated regions. Attempts are being made since the 1930s to develop potent vaccines against FMD. The history of vaccination against FMD has documented various types of vaccines including inactivated viruses and empty capsids, as well as attenuated and recently developed recombinant vaccines. Although the available inactivated virus vaccines effectively prevent FMD, they have several limitations such as expensiveness, short shelf life, and short-lived protection. Therefore, it is essential to provide other types of vaccine. To reach this goal, researchers used various platforms including bacterial hosts, yeast expression system, and mammalian cell culture, as well as microalgae and higher plants to produce recombinant vaccines against FMDV. Green plants offer numerous benefits including low cost, correctly folded recombinant, and improved glycosylation patterns. This study aimed to provide a review of the current status and recent progress in the field of producing effective vaccines against FMDV entailing empty capsid, attenuated vaccines, and recombinant subunit vaccines. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each type are described, and the biotechnological improvements of the production of anti-FMD vaccines in plant systems are discussed with prominent examples, thereby confirming the feasibility of plant species as effective bioreactors for the production of recombinant vaccines. To the best of our knowledge, traditional approaches are still the preferred methods to protect livestock against FMD. Modern approaches such as recombinant vaccine production are quite promising. However, they have to pass research and development phase and further trials before they can be registered and launched onto the relevant market

Asymptomatic bacteriuria and pyuria in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis at dialysis centers in Kermanshah, Iran

Pyuria is the presence of increased numbers of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the urine and is evidence of an inflammatory response in the Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). The aim of this study is determination asymptomatic bacteriuria and pyuria in patients undergoing hemodialysis with chronic renal failure. Out of 103 patients with renal failure undergoing hemodialysis who were able to produce urine with clean catch way, we received urine sample. All samples were examined by the Microbiologist in Central Laboratory of Kermanshah, Iran. The mean age for the patients at diagnosis was 42.4 years (range, 20-67 years). Sixty-four patients (62.5) were male and thirty-nine (37.5) were female. Results have been showed 39 cases were aged between 44-49 years and the highest number cases were middle-aged. Out of 31 patients with leukocytosis, 14 patients had age between 44-49 years and majority of them were male. Pyuria(>10 WBC/HPF or 10 WBC/HPF) developed colony count more than 105 colony-forming units per milliliter that indicating positive culture. Microorganisms didn�t grow in patients (10/19) with pyuria (10 WBC/HPF is a good marker for significant bacteriuria in these patients. © 2015 Academic Journals Inc

Characterizing the degradation of alginate hydrogel for use in multilumen scaffolds for spinal cord repair

Alginate was studied as a degradable nerve guidance scaffold material in vitro and in vivo. In vitro degradation rates were determined using rheology to measure the change in shear modulus vs time. The shear modulus decreased from 155 kPa to 5 kPa within 2 days; however, alginate samples maintained their superficial geometry for over 28 days. The degradation behavior was supported by materials characterization data showing alginate consisted of high internal surface area (400 m2/g), which likely facilitated the release of cross‐linking cations resulting in the rapid decrease in shear modulus. To assess the degradation rate in vivo, multilumen scaffolds were fabricated using a fiber templating technique. The scaffolds were implanted in a 2‐mm‐long T3 full transection rodent spinal cord lesion model for 14 days. Although there was some evidence of axon guidance, in general, alginate scaffolds degraded before axons could grow over the 2‐mm‐long lesion. Enabling alginate‐based scaffolds for nerve repair will likely require approaches to slow its degradation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 611–619, 2016.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137597/1/jbma35600.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137597/2/jbma35600_am.pd