Adolescent brushing and its association with parent's socio-economic status

Sir, Tooth brushing is an effective method of cleaning smooth surfaces of the teeth and disturbing plaque colonies where accessible.[1] Studies showed that children's oral health is associated with parents’ socio-economic status (SET).[2,3] Oral hygiene is considered one of the primary health care (PHC) components in Iran. In terms of the brushing practice and its importance in dental caries prevention, the current study was conducted to investigate brushing rate and its relation with parents’ EST among female high school students in Gorgan city, northern part of Iran, 2011. In a cross-sectional study, 300 eligible 11th-grade female students were selected through cluster sampling. We randomly selected 5 high schools and recruited all students in every high school. Data were collected through individual interviews using a valid and reliable questionnaire, which included family income, maternal education, father's education, mother's and father's occupation, weight, height, family size and the question toward brushing. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test in SPSS 18 software. Results of the study showed that 62% brushed on a regular basis, 27.7% brushed irregularly and 10.3% never brushed. The rate of brushing was influenced by income (χ2 = 21.37, P < 0.001), parents’ education (χ2 = 29.44, P < 0.001) and father's occupation (χ2 = 31.42, P < 0.001). Students who had a better economic status, having had higher-educated parents and employed fathers brushed significantly more than others. Students who had a low income, low-educated parents, and unemployed or collar workers as their fathers brushed significantly less than other students. A large percentage of students don’t regularly brush, which is consistent with other studies in this area.[4,5] Today's female students are tomorrow's mothers who have a great influence on their children's home care habits like brushing. Therefore, we recommended appropriate intervention especially educational intervention for increasing the rate of brushing among high school female students. In this regard, we should pay more attention to students whose fathers have poor economic status and are illiterate, less educated, unemployed and collar workers

The effect of individual counseling, line follow-up, and free nicotine replacement therapy on smoking cessation in the samples of Iranian smokers: Examination of transtheoretical model

Background: According to transtheoretical model(TTM), Stage matched interventions are more effective in quitting. The objective of current study was to investigate the effect of individual counseling, line follow-up, and free nicotine replacement therapy(NRT) on smoking cessation in smokers who are in preparation stage of smoking. Materials and Methods: In a randomized clinical trial design, through sending the short message system, potential participants in preparation stage of smoking were recruited and divided into control(n=60)and treatment(n=50) groups. The treatment group received an in-person counseling, line follow-up, and free NRT. TTM variables trend; pros and cons of smoking, behavioral and experiential processes, temptation, were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6months follow-up along with point prevalence and continuous abstinence. Results: Continuous abstinence at 6-month follow-up were 3.3%(n=2) in control group and 46%(n=23) in the treatment group(x 2 = 34.041, P &lt; 0.001). Time � group analyses indicated that except cons of smoking (P &gt; 0.05), all TTM constructs had significantly changed; temptation(F=36.864, P&lt;0.001), pros (F=12.172, P&lt;0.001), experiential processes(F=3.377, P&lt;0.001), and behavioral processes(F=11.131, P&lt;0.001). Conclusion: Interventions based on TTM variables increased the quite rate in prepared and motivated people. Our findings suggest that interventions through individual counseling along with free NRT and line follow-up in people who prepare for quitting are beneficial for our country

Breastfeeding status during the first two years of infants’ life and its risk factors based on BASNEF model structures in Isfahan

Background: Breastfeeding depends on social and cultural conditions of societies. Behavior,Attitude, Subjective Norms, Enabling Factors (BASNEF) model is one of the comprehensive models of behavior study, especially in developing countries. This study was performed to investigate the status of breastfeeding during the first two years of infants’ life and its risk factors through BASNEF model structures. Materials and Methods: In this cross‑sectional descriptive‑analytical study, 406 mothers with 6-24‑month‑old babies were selected by multistage cluster sampling method. The data were collected using a questionnaire with five sections based on the BASNEF model structures. Demographic characteristics of the studied population were also recorded and analyzed using Chi‑square tests and analysis of variance in SPSS18 statistical software. Results: The prevalence of breastfeeding was 86.4% (351 mothers). Three hundred and thirty three mothers (82%) had good knowledge and there was a significant relationship between knowledge and breastfeeding behavior of mothers (P < 0.05). Two hundred and eighty five mothers (70.2%) had good and very good attitude in this regard. There was no significant relationship between attitude and breastfeeding behavior of mothers (P > 0.05). There was a significant relationship between breastfeeding behavior of mothers and subjective norms of husbands, mother and mother‑in‑law (P < 0.05); however, no significant relationship was found with regard to enabling factors (P > 0.05). Moreover, no significant relationship was observed between type of children nutrition and variables of delivery mode, maternal age and number of children (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In addition to knowledge of nursing mothers, supports and encouragement of husbands, mothers and mother‑in‑laws, as subjective norms of behavior, have a positive impact on the breastfeeding behavior of mothers. Thus, breastfeeding programs should pay more attention to the role of these mentioned factors. Key words: BASNEF model, breastfeeding, enabling factors, infant, subjective norm

Effect of educational intervention on perceived susceptibility self-efficacy and DMFT of pregnant women

Background: The World Health Organization identifies oral health as a necessity for public health through the entirety of life. This issue has been considerably addressed due to susceptibility to tooth decay during pregnancy and maternal and fetal health. Objectives: Investigate the effect of educational intervention on perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, and DMFT of pregnant women. Patients and Methods: A quasi-experimental survey (pretest, posttest, and control group) was implemented in 88 primiparous women in the first trimester of pregnancy who attended private clinics in Delfan city, Iran. It was conducted using random sampling and then assigned to intervention and control groups. Data were collected using a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, a DMFT checklist, and some health belief model (HBM) constructs. After collecting baseline information, an educational intervention consisting of 4 training sessions for the intervention group was scheduled. In the sessions, lecture, focus-group discussion, video, and role-playing were used as the main educational strategies. Four months after the intervention, a post-test questionnaire and DMFT checklist were conducted. Data were analyzed using SPSS (ver20) software and Chi-square, independent t-test, and repeated measure ANOVA at the significant level of α 0.05), during the intervention, or after intervention. Repeated measure ANOVA explained that the aforementioned score was different in the three cases (pretest, 2 months after intervention, and 4 months after intervention) after intervention (P< 0.05). Paired t-test also showed that the DMFT mean increased 4 months after intervention in the control group (P < 0.001). It was not, however, augmented in the intervention group (P = 0.92). Conclusions: Results showed that education on some of the HBM constructs resulted in increased knowledge of oral health, perceived susceptibility, and self-efficacy of pregnant women. It is also possible to prevent increased DMFT during pregnancy. © 2016, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

GA-PSO-Optimized Neural-Based Control Scheme for Adaptive Congestion Control to Improve Performance in Multimedia Applications

Active queue control aims to improve the overall communication network throughput while providing lower delay and small packet loss rate. The basic idea is to actively trigger packet dropping (or marking provided by explicit congestion notification (ECN)) before buffer overflow. In this paper, two artificial neural networks (ANN)-based control schemes are proposed for adaptive queue control in TCP communication networks. The structure of these controllers is optimized using genetic algorithm (GA) and the output weights of ANNs are optimized using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The controllers are radial bias function (RBF)-based, but to improve the robustness of RBF controller, an error-integral term is added to RBF equation in the second scheme. Experimental results show that GA- PSO-optimized improved RBF (I-RBF) model controls network congestion effectively in terms of link utilization with a low packet loss rate and outperform Drop Tail, proportional-integral (PI), random exponential marking (REM), and adaptive random early detection (ARED) controllers.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1711.0635

Protective effects of Melissa officinalis (Lemon Balm) on sperm parameters and spermatogenesis quality in rats exposed to lead

Background: Some medicinal plants with their antioxidant properties have protective effects on sperm parameters and neutralize the harmful effects of lead exposure. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the effects of Melissa on sperm parameters and spermatogenesis quality in adult rats exposed to lead. Methods: This animal experimental study was conducted on 45 male Wistar rats weighing 180 ± 20 g, which were allocated randomly into five groups (n=9): distilled water gavages (control) (0.5 ml); intraperitoneal distilled water (i.p. control) (0.5 ml); Melissa (100 mg/kg/bw); lead acetate (10 mg/kg/bw); and lead acetate (10 mg/kg/bw) plus Melissa (100 mg/kg/bw). After a 30-day treatment, the animals were sacrificed. Sperm parameters (count, motility, morphology, and chromatins assay) and weighing of the epididymis and testis were performed. Results: The results showed that in the lead acetate plus Melissa group, epididymis weight (0.37gr vs. 0.32gr), testis weight (1.40 vs. 1.28g), sperm motility (4.44% vs. 33.2 %(and viable sperm (90 vs. 50) were higher than the lead group. However, testicular weight, normal morphology, and DNA percentage showed insignificant differences among the study groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The results of the present study indicate the protective effects of Melissa officinalis on some sperm parameters and spermatogenesis quality in rats exposed to lead

Genetic diversity of Fusarium solani isolates from black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) in Malaysia by ISSR marker

For effective management and control of yellowing disease, inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were employed to investigate genetic diversity among 34 isolates of Fusarium solani, which had been isolated from major growing areas of black pepper in Malaysia. Over 15 primers, with fragment sizes ranging from 200 bp to 3600 bp, and a total of 253 amplified loci were amplified in all 34 isolates, with an average of 17 bands per primer; among which 248 (98.02 %) were polymorphic. High genetic diversity at species level was revealed (Nei’s gene diversity h = 0.2671 and Shannon information index I = 0.4134, respectively). Sarikei population was found to have a higher degree of polymorphism compared to other populations. The dendrogram generated from UPGMA cluster analysis categorized the 34 F. solani isolates into two major clusters based on Jaccard’s similarity coefficients. Cluster I contained a unique isolate. Cluster II contained 33 isolates which were split into two different subclusters. Results showed that the clusters were not related to geographic origins. Meanwhile, ISSR fingerprinting generated highly polymorphic markers that could be used to study genetic characterization of F. solani and to clarify phylogenic relationships, as well as useful for efficient management of yellowing disease and finding breeding programmes to find cultivars of black pepper that are resistant to F. solani

Inhibition of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines by Ethyl Acetate Extract of Scrophularia striata

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ethyl acetate extract of S. striata on pro-inflammatory production by macrophages.Methods: Mouse peritoneal macrophages were cultured in solvent either alone or with 2 ìg/ml lipopolysaccaride (LPS) with/without different doses of ethyl acetate extract of S. striata. Production of pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin 1â (IL-1â), tumor necrosis factor - á (TNF-á) andprostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were examined using ELISA.Results: Ethyl acetate fraction of S. striata in doses of 10, 50, 100 and 200 ìg/ml significantly (p &lt; 0.05) inhibited pro-inflammatory mediators (IL-1â, TNF-á, and PGE2) production by LPS stimulated peritoneal macrophages.Conclusion: The anti-inflammatory effect of the extract on pro-inflammatory cytokines may ameliorate inflammatory diseases, possibly via an immunomodulatory mechanism.Keywords: Pro-inflammatory, Cytokines, Ethyl acetate extract, Scrophularia striat

The effect of intravenous hydration on latency period

Background and aims: Preterm delivery is associated with significant perinatal morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to determine the effects of intravenous (IV) hydration on time interval from rupture of membranes to delivery (latency period) in pregnant women with Preterm premature rupture of fetal membranes. Methods: 24 pregnant women during their 28 to 34 weeks of gestational age with singleton live pregnancy whose baseline amniotic fluid index (AFI) was ≥ 5 cm were randomized into 2 case and control groups. The study group (Amniotic Fluid Index) received one liter intravenous fluid bolus of isotonic Ringer serum during 30-minute period. The control group received expectant management. The time interval from rupture of membranes to delivery was studied. Independent t-test and paired t-test were used to compare 2 groups and mean latency period before and after hydration, respectively. Results: The results of this study demonstrated that AFI decreased significantly at 90 minutes in both control and study groups. The mean between time intervals and delivery was 196.41 h and 140.58 h in the study and control groups, respectively, But this differences were not statistically significant (95%: 75.9-316/9 CI 95% :10.2-270.9) (P=490). Conclusion: This study did not show any significant impact of hydration on AFI and consequently latency period as a prophylactic method. So, further studies with a larger sample size and at different time intervals seem to be needed to clarify the effect of hydration on latency period in PPROM