The effects of phytoestrogens Matricaria recutita on growth, maturation of oocytes in the three spot gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus)

Chamomile is a rich source of phytoestrogens; these compounds have antioxidant, anticancer. In this study, the effects of chamomile on growing oocytes in immature female gourami fish were examined. Thus 60 immature female gourami fish with an average weight of 2-3 g of 6-treated group were analyzed. Treatments in a completely randomized experimental design with a dose of chamomile (10-20-30-50 mg/kg fish) along with control (no injection) and ethanol control (solvent injection) and with three replicates were tested. The fish adaptation to the environment lasted 3 days. The extract injections were done for 20 days, in 10 periods, every other day. In order to histological study, three days after end of the experiment, the ovarian tissue was removed and weighed, tissue processing and staining steps done with hematoxylin- eosin. At last the histological structure of the ovaries and the average percentage of treated fish gonadal indices were compared with the control group. According to our results of gonadal index, there was no significant difference between the control groups with receiving Ethanol (p>0.05). Histological results showed that increasing the dose of chamomile extract accelerate oocyte maturation in three spot gourami. This is the fourth treatment (dose, mg / kg 50) to show its obvious. The difference between oocyte diameter was observed with increasing doses of Chamomile and in comparison with the control group, the difference was significant (p <0.05). Histological results showed that increasing the dose of Chamomile accelerate oocyte maturation in three spot gourami

The role of religious coping and social support on medication adherence and quality of life among the elderly with type 2 diabetes

© 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Purpose: Type 2 diabetes is a major public health issue particularly in the elderly. Religion may affect the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in such patients, mediated by factors such as religious coping and social support. This study aimed to investigate the impact of religiosity on medication adherence and HRQoL. Methods: 793 adults (> 65 years old, 45% females) were recruited from 4 diabetes care centers and followed for 1 year. Duke University Religion Index, Spiritual Coping Strategies, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support, Medication Adherence Report Scale, WHOQOL-BREF and Diabetes-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire Module were used for assessment, as well as HbA1c and fasting blood glucose level. Using structural equation modeling, the potential paths were tested between religiosity, medication adherence and HRQoL; social support, religious coping and medication adherence served as the mediators. Results: Religious coping and social support were recognized as the significant mediators between religiosity and medication adherence (CFI = 0.983, TLI = 0.985, and RMSEA = 0.021). The relationships between religiosity and HRQoL were considerably mediated by social support, religious coping and medication adherence and these variables explained 12% and 33% of variances of generic and specific HRQoL, respectively. There was no significant direct effect of religiosity on HRQoL. HbA1c and fasting blood glucose level were successfully loaded on the latent construct of medication adherence (factor loading = 0.51 and 0.44, respectively). Conclusions: The impact of religiosity on medication adherence and HRQoL occurs through the mediators such as religious coping and social support. Therefore, to improve the adherence to treatment and quality of life, interventions may be designed based on these mediators

Bubble dynamics in boiling histotripsy

Boiling histotripsy is a non-invasive, cavitation-based ultrasonic technique which uses a number of millisecond pulses to mechanically fractionate tissue. Though a number of studies have demonstrated the efficacy of boiling histotripsy for fractionation of solid tumours, treatment monitoring by cavitation measurement is not well studied because of the limited understanding of the dynamics of bubbles induced by boiling histotripsy. The main objectives of this work are to (a) extract qualitative and quantitative features of bubbles excited by shockwaves and (b) distinguish between the different types of cavitation activity for either a thermally or a mechanically induced lesion in the liver. A numerical bubble model based on the Gilmore equation accounting for heat and mass transfer (gas and water vapour) was developed to investigate the dynamics of a single bubble in tissue exposed to different High Intensity Focused Ultrasound fields as a function of temperature variation in the fluid. Furthermore, ex vivo liver experiments were performed with a passive cavitation detection system to obtain acoustic emissions. The numerical simulations showed that the asymmetry in a shockwave and water vapour transport are the key parameters which lead the bubble to undergo rectified growth at a boiling temperature of 100°C. The onset of rectified radial bubble motion manifested itself as (a) an increase in the radiated pressure and (b) the sudden appearance of higher order multiple harmonics in the corresponding spectrogram. Examining the frequency spectra produced by the thermal ablation and the boiling histotripsy exposures, it was observed that higher order multiple harmonics as well as higher levels of broadband emissions occurred during the boiling histotripsy insonation. These unique features in the emitted acoustic signals were consistent with the experimental measurements. These features can, therefore, be used to monitor (a) the different types of acoustic cavitation activity for either a thermal ablation or a mechanical fractionation process and (b) the onset of the formation of a boiling bubble at the focus in the course of HIFU exposure

A Persian Adaptation of Medication Adherence Self-Efficacy Scale (MASES) in Hypertensive Patients: Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure

© 2015, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Introduction: Poor adherence to anti-hypertensive treatment significantly contributes to the failure to achieve well-controlled blood pressure in patients with hypertension. Aim: To convert the original English version of Medication Adherence Self-efficacy Scale (MASES) into a Persian version for clinical application in hypertensive patients. Methods: The backward–forward translation method was used to produce the Persian version of the questionnaire. Then the internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Exploratory Factor Analysis was applied to extract the components of the questionnaire. Correlation between blood pressures and drug adherence was then determined using the Persian MASES in hypertensive patients. Results: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the Persian version of MASES was >0.92, suggesting that it can yield consistent results. Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested an uni-dimensionality of the scale. Patients with uncontrolled hypertension showed poor adherence to hypertensive medications, therefore had significant lower self-efficacy scores than those with well-controlled blood pressure by medications. Conclusion: The Persian version of MASES is valid and reliable to assess self-efficacy of antihypertensive medication adherence in hypertensive patient, which is helpful to improve medication compliance in such patients in order to achieve better blood pressure controls

Mouse Lung Conditioned Medium Induces Short Term Erythropoiesis in Mouse Long Term Bone Marrow Culture System

Dexter-type long-term bone marrow culture is a myelopoietic culture system that allows maintenance of  mouse and human hematopoiesis in vitro over a period of several months. In mouse unperturbed long-term  bone marrow culture, erythropoiesis activity is limited to the production of immature erythroid progenitors  (BFU-E) from primitive hematopoietic stem cells. In this study the effects of mouse lung conditioned  medium (MLCM) as a source of myeloid growth factors, on long-term mouse bone marrow cultures was  studied. Numbers of cells in adherent and non-adherent layers of cultures were counted weekly and the  morphological appearances of mature cells that were produced in non-adherent layers were analyzed. In the  presence of MLCM, mature nonnucleated and hemoglobinized red blood cells were produced in the nonadherent  layers of the cultures.

Long-Term Effect of Motivational Interviewing on Dietary Intake and Weight Loss in Iranian Obese/Overweight Women

Background: This study aimed to determine whether motivational interviewing (MI) could change dietary habit and body mass index (BMI) in obese/overweight women. Methods: A cluster-randomized controlled study was performed in four health centers in Qazvin, central Iran. In total, 327 obese/overweight women were selected by a multi-stage sampling method and randomly assigned into control and experimental groups. Food frequency (using questionnaire; FFQ), BMI, and metabolic markers including blood pressure, total serum cholesterol and fasting blood glucose levels were measured in all participants. Data were collected twice (before and one year after the MI interventions). Data were analyzed using student t-test, and Stepwise Linear Regression. Results: There was a significant increase in daily consumption of dietary fiber, whole grain products, fruits and vegetables in the MI group (P<0.05). The consumption of meat product, total fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate and total energy intake were also significantly reduced after MI intervention (P<0.05). As a result, body weight and BMI were significantly reduced in the intervention group compared to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: MI is suggested to be an effective strategy to change life style and reduce BMI in overweight/obese women in the long term. This effect needs to be further investigated in different gender and age populations

Psychometric characteristics of the Muslim Religiosity Scale in Iranian patients with cancer

Objective: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Religiosity is a factor that may help cancer patients to cope with their disease. The aim of the current study was to validate a Persian translation of the Muslim Religiosity Scale (MRS) in a population of Iranian patientswith cancer. Method: Two thousand patients were invited to participate in this multisite study, of whom 1,879 participated. Patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the MRS, and several scales, including the Patient Health Questionnaire–9, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale, and the SF–12 quality of life measure. Backward– forward translation was employed to develop a Persian-language version of theMRS. Cronbach’s alpha and two-week test–retest reliability were also assessed. Convergent and discriminative validity as well as the factor structure of the scale were also examined. Results: The internal reliability (a) of the religious practices and beliefs subscales was 0.88 and 0.92, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.92 (range ¼ 0.75–1.0). The scale demonstrated solid convergent and discriminative validity. Factor analysis indicated two main factors, as predicted, with an appropriate goodness of fit (x2 ¼ 76.23,RMSEA ¼ 0.065). Such factors asmarital status, quality of life, social support, and self-efficacy were positively associated with MRS total score, while anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation had negative associations. Significance of results: TheMRS is a useful tool for assessing religiosity in Iranian patientswith cancer and is associated with a number of important health outcomes

Ability of biofilm production and molecular analysis of spa and ica genes among clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of biofilm formation and spa and ica genes among clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Result: This cross-sectional study was performed on 146 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from hospitalized patients in Isfahan Province Hospitals. MRSA isolates were confirmed using disk diffusion test with oxacillin disk and amplification of mecA gene by PCR assays. Ability of biofilm production was evaluated targeting the icaA and icaD genes. Of 146 Staphylococcus aureus isolates, 24 (16.4) carried mecA genes and identified as MRSA strains. Strong ability of biofilm production was seen among 76.02 (111/146) S. aureus isolates and 87.5 (21/24) MRSA strains, respectively. Also, 75.0 (18/24) MRSA isolates carried icaA and icaD was not detected in these strains. Analysis of spa gene showed 70.83 (17/24) MRSA strains were spa positive. From which 14 and 3 strains identified with one band (150, 270, 300, 360, 400 bp) and two bands (150-300 bp), respectively. According to data obtained, the prevalence of MRSA isolates from Isfahan Province Hospitals is relatively high and a remarkable percentage of them show strong power in biofilm production. Also analysis of spa gene showed a fairly large diversity among MRSA strains. © 2020 The Author(s)