Preparation and Evaluation of Tretinoin Microemulsion Based on Pseudo-Ternary Phase Diagram

Purpose: The aim of the present research was to formulate a transparent microemolsion as a topical delivery system for tretinoin for the treatment of acne. Methods: Microemulsion formulations prepared by mixing appropriate amount of surfactant including Tween 80 and Labrasol, co-surfactant such as propylene glycol (PG) and oil phase including isopropyl myristate – transcutol P (10:1 ratio). The prepared microemolsions were evaluated regarding their particle size, zeta potential, conductivity, stability, viscosity, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), refractory index (RI) and pH. Results: The results showed that maximum oil was incorporated in microemolsion system that was contained surfactant to co-surfactant ratio (Km) of 4:1. The mean droplets size range of microemulsion formulation were in the range of 14.1 to 36.5 nm and its refractory index (RI) and pH were 1.46 and 6.1, respectively. Viscosity range was 200-350 cps. Drug release profile showed 49% of the drug released in the first 8 hours of experiment belong to ME-7. Also, Hexagonal and cubic structures were seen in the SEM photograph of the microemulsions. Conclusion: physicochemical properties and in vitro release were dependent upon the contents of S/C, water and, oil percentage in formulations.Also, ME-7 may be preferable for topical tretinoin formulation

Standardization of aqueous extract from Malva sylvestris and preparation an oral colon specific formulation for treatment of Ulcerative Colitis

Introduction: Malva sylvestris is one of medicinal plants from Malvaceae family. According to some important Iranian traditional medicine’s references (ITMR) all parts of this plant can be used for treatment of “Zahir” that this disease has similar signs and symptoms to Ulcerative Colitis (UC). UC is one of the common types of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) which mostly affects distal colon and rectum in many new cases each year. Because of low efficacy and high adverse effect of today’s drugs, many refers of ITMRs, high frequency in Iran and our team’s previous study of several extraction from this plant on UC induction in mice, we decided to use aqueous extraction to prepare an oral colon specific formulation. Methods and Results: The fresh plant was collected from North of Fars province. Hydro extraction was done with maceration route in the refrigerator and out of light and then the concentrated extraction was lyophilized. Polysaccharides extraction was done with absolute acetone and poly phenolic compounds were extracted with n-hexane and ethyl acetate. For all of total sugar evaluated with Phenol-Sulfuric acid method. Also Gallic acid and Folin-Ciocalteu reagents were used for determination of total phenolic compounds. Twelve formulations prepared and in vitro evaluations were done based on US Pharmacopoeia. Disintegration time test, dissolution time test, hardness, weight variation, content uniformity and release test were performed on tablets. Yield of total extraction and polysaccharides extraction were 10.83% and 9.6% W/W. Be calculated 0.18 mg poly phenolic compounds in each 1 g of lyophilized extraction. Other Pharmacognosy’s tests (Linearity, intra and inter day accuracy and precision) and pharmaceutical tests (Hardness, weight variation and content uniformity of tablets) were in the acceptable range. Tablets coated with Eudragit S100 (E) 2% solution exhibited 7.3% release after 2 hours, 42.33% after 6 hours and 96.21% after 10 hours. Conclusions:Tablets that used Malva sylvestris as active pharmaceutical ingredient and prepared by direct compression method and coated with E 2% solution, showed the most suitable results for clinical trials in UC cases

Medical Students’ Experiences of Part-Time Hospital Work: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study explored the experiences of medical science students of part-time hospital work. Twenty-four participants from Guilan University of Medical Sciences in Rasht, Iran were recruited purposively from the fields of nursing (10 students), surgery (4 students), laboratory sciences (4 students), radiology (3 students), and anesthesiology (3 students). Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews and were analyzed through conventional content analysis. Data analysis identified three main themes and eight sub-themes: perceived personal benefits (effective learning, improved self-confidence, financial gain), organizational outcomes (operational benefits, unprofessional care delivery), unpleasant clinical environment (job burnout, financial strains, academic discouragement). The data indicate that part-time hospital work, although fostering learning and providing income, also poses challenges such as burnout for the student. Healthcare authorities, managers, and policy makers can use these findings to improve the effectiveness of students’ part-time work in hospital

Hope and Despair in Amal Donqol and Siavash Kasraei’s Poems (A Semiotic Analysis of Time-Place and Myths Components)

IntroductionSemiotics has provided researchers in the immediate past years with a tool for analyzing, understanding, and criticism of literary texts and discovery of hidden meanings. Semiotics has tried to unveil, decipher, and discover the deep meanings behind the structure. Amal Donqol (a contemporary Egyptian poet) and Siavash Kasraei (an Iranian poet) lived in their turbulent times. Political and social disorders intensively influenced the content and structure of their poems. The comparative semiotic study investigates meticulously and in detail the works of the Egyptian and Iranian poets considering hope and despair. It hopes to have a better and deeper understanding of the poets’ thoughts and spirits and their influence on their poems. Moreover, the study makes the ground for better presenting of the similarities and differences of their attitudes, as they live in rather similar conditions.Using the semiotics of the application of time, place, and myths, the study investigated the duality of despair and hope  in some poems of the two poets regarding the structure and poetic language. It tried to answer the question that how despair and hope have been presented in the poems and in mentioned components and how their poetic and artistic manifestations are.  Method This descriptive-analytic study was done within the American framework of comparative literature.  DiscussionSemiology (or semiotics) is a new type of criticism that has had a great impact on literary studies and related research. This field of study interprets literary texts according to such criteria and layers as time, place, intertextuality, narration, character, etc. This study explored the place, time, and mythical characters to show the appearance of hope and despair in the selected poems. The components work as codes for the poet through which he shows his inner feelings and imposes positive or negative meaning upon them. The analysis of the signs unveils the hidden layers of meanings in a literary text and familiars readers with the world, thoughts, and feelings of its writer.Time and place as signs and their signified are various and wide in literary texts and important for reading texts. The poets have used many words showing place and time. In many cases, adverbs showing the place in Donqol and Kasraei's poems lose the characteristic of being adverb of place and become a signifier having specific signifiers. The time adverbs have also been used in this way as their poems shows the change many times. The words become positively or negatively marked as they convey the poets’ feelings.  These words convey meanings different from their place and time meanings, which engages the readership with one of the dualities of despair or hope. Myth is also an important component that imposes meaning on the meaning in works of both poets. Using and recreating the myths, the poets communicate their ideals and spirits to the audience.   Conclusion- The study investigated the duality of despair or hope in the poems of two poets based on the application of some components of the semiotics of time, place, and myths. The socio-political conditions that the two poets live in seem to be the same and their poems protest against their contemporary situation, but based on the mentioned examples one can say that when the poems have been composed, when death and despair were dominant in the mental space of poets, he optimistically expected a bright future, whereas death and despair are always dominant in Amal Danqol's poems.- As a result of the different views of the poets, time, place, and myth have a hopeful and liberating application in the poems. In Amal's poems, however, the place, time, and myth components become nightmares of fear and failure, as a result of his sad and desperate creations.- Finally, looking from semiotic analysis, it can be concluded that the fully optimistic and hopeful poems of Siavash Kasraei sometimes lack poetic fantasy and becomes similar to prose, making it a weakness of the poems. On the contrary, Amal Danqol's poems, though exaggerates in expressing darkness, they are totally strong and surprising sometimes regarding poetic beauties, creating new meanings, and linguistic deviations. 

Effect of the Affective and Cognitive Benefits of Exercise in Instagram on Users' Physical Activity

The present research examined the effects of the affective and cognitive benefits of exercise in Instagram on users' physical activity through two consecutive studies. The results of the first study showed that the designed content provided sufficient cognitive and affective benefits. Similarly, the second study found that after adjusting the basic PA level, the affective and cognitive groups had more PA than the control group, and the cognitive group had more than the control group. Consecutively, 45.75% of subjects who were inactive were turned into active after one week of being taught of the benefits of exercise, with 71.43% in the affective group and 28.57% in the cognitive group. In terms of gender, 84.12% were women and 15.78% were men. As a result, visual exposure to sports participation might have led to an increase in positive feelings among users, especially women, which may have led to increased PA levels. The results of this study are useful for health professionals who are trying to communicate information about the benefits of exercise to their target audience based on a combination of evidence, gender, and PA level

Allium hirtifolium Boiss: Radical scavenging property and the lowering effects on blood fibrinogen and factor VII

Enhancement of blood fibrinogen or factor VII increases cardiovascular diseases. Allium hirtifolium Boiss (Mosir) has been shown to have cardioprotective effect. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the effects of Allium hirtifolium Boiss on factor VII and fibrinogen blood levels. Its radical scavenging property was also measured. Twenty four NewZealand male rabbits were randomly designated into 3 groups of 8 and were fed for 60 days with normal diet, hypercholestrol (1%) diet or hypercholestrol (1%) diet+Mosir. At the beginning and 60 days after the start of the study, the blood fibrinogen and factor 7 were measured and compared in different groups. The Mosir radical scavenging property was measured using the beta-carotene linoleate method. The blood fibrinogen and factor 7 were higher in hypercholesterolemic group (26.7 +/- 329.22 and 17.1 +/- 277.7mg/dl) compared to normal diet group (13.7 +/- 287.25 and 18.2 +/- 230.0 mg/dl, respectively) (P<0.05), at the end of the experiment. The amount of blood fibrinogen and factor 7 were decreased in hypercholesterol+Mosir group (23.9 +/- 180.00 and 53.3 +/- 237.0 mg/dl) compared to hypercholesterol diet group (P<0.05). radical scavenging activity of Mosir extract was 52.1 +/- 3.3%. Mosir may have beneficial effect on heart by decreasing blood fibrinogen and factor 7 as cardiovascular risk factors. These effects of Mosir should be considered carefully in patients with hemostatic disorders. Asgari. S, Rafieian-kopaei. M, Pourgheysari. B, Ansari-Samani. R, Deris F, Shahinfard. N, Hojjati. MR and Salimi. M. Allium hirtifolium Boiss: Radical scavenging property and the lowering effects on blood fibrinogen and factor VII. Life Sci J 2012;9(3):1793-1798] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 25

Antioxidant activity and the lowering effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Allium hirtifolium boisson some haemostatic factors in hypercholesterolemic rabbits

Background and purpose: Hypercholesterolemia and the activity of haemostatic factors may trigger cardiovascular diseases. Allium hirtifolium Boiss (Persian shallot) has been shown to have cardioprotective effects. This study evaluated the effects of A. hirtifoliumon on factor VII and serum fibrinogen levels in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Also, the antioxidant capacity of A. hirtifolium was measured. Materials and methods: In an experimental study, 24 NewZealand male rabbits were randomly assigned into three groups of eight. The groups' diet which was followed for 60 days included normal diet, hypercholestrol diet (1%) or hypercholestrol diet (1%) + A. hirtifolium. The blood fibrinogen and factor VII were measured pre and post study in all groups. The A. hirtifolium antioxidant capacity was measured using beta-carotene linoleate. Results: The study showed that serum fibrinogen level and factor VII increased significantly in hypercholesterolemic group (329.22 ± 26.7 and 277.7 ± 17.1 mg/dl) compared to normal diet group (287.25 ± 13.7 and 230.0 ± 18.2 mg/dl), respectively (P<0.05). The amount of serum fibrinogen and factor VII decreased in hypercholesterol+A. hirtifolium group (180.0 ± 23.9 and 237.0 ± 53.3 mg/dl) compared to hypercholesterol diet group (P<0.05). The antioxidant capacity of A. hirtifolium extract was 52.1 ± 3.3% in 0.2 g/L. The plasma antioxidant capacity in the group fed with hypercholesterol + A. hirtifolium was 943.907 ± 249.51 µM which was higher compared to that of the normal diet group (629.675 ± 130.73 µM). Conclusion: A. hirtifolium decreases serum fibrinogen level and factor VII, therefore, it might be helpful in reducing risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. These influences are of great importance in patients with haemostatic disorder

Antibiotic Self-Medication and Risk Factors among Medical Students in an Iranian University: a Cross Sectional Study

Background: Self-medication with antibiotic is a widely prevalent practice all over the world especially among medical students. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence and the pattern of self-medication among medical students in Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among the undergraduate medical students from a referral university in Tehran, Iran. All data obtained were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences program (SPSS) version 20. Results: A total of 201 students were enrolled in the current study. According to the analysis, 129 (64.1%) of the study population reported that they have self-medicated with antibiotics at least once in their student life. The principal morbidities for seeking self-medication include cough and common cold (23.4%) followed by fever (14.9%). The most frequent antibiotics used to self-medicate the mentioned morbidities were: amoxicillin (62%), co-amoxiclav (19.4%), penicillin (17%), cefixime (16%), azithromycin (14%) and tetracycline (9%). The majority of the participants stated cost saving, convenience and lack of confidence as their reasons for self-medication. The drug selection was mostly based on opinion of family members (31.8%), their own experience (27.4%) and the least commonly reported was selection based on recommendation by net citizens (0.5%). Conclusion: Our study indicates that self-medication is widely practiced among students of the college. In this situation, the health care system should create as effective awareness and educate their students regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication