Sensory processing patterns and sleep quality in primary school children

ABSTRACTObjectives: Sensory processing and sleep quality affect children's academic performance and their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between sensory processing patterns and sleep quality in primary schoolchildren.Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 231 primary school students aged 7 to 12 years old (133 girls and 98 boys, mean age of 8.68±1.51) who were studying in schools in Tehran were randomly selected through cluster sampling. Researchers distributed a questionnaire for children's sleep habits to assess the quality of sleep and a Sensory Profile Questionnaire to assess the sensory processing patterns.Results: In this study, we found a meaningful moderate relationship between sensory processing patterns and the general scores of sleep habits (p <0.001) and each of the patterns of sensory processing (avoidance, sensitivity, seeking, and registration) had a negative relationship with areas of sleep habits (p =.005). Also, there was a significant difference between children who had more challenges with sleep and children with normal sleep patterns in sensory processing; mean differences in all four sensory quadrants were significant (p <001).Conclusion: Sensory processing patterns and sleep habits in primary school children have moderate correlation. Occupational therapists should consider the relationship between sensory challenges and sleep habits during their practice decisions with sensory challenges and sleep problems. Better sleep may occur with attention to sensory needs within the sleep routines. When sleep is better, this may lead to improved quality of life for the family and student performance at school

Rehabilitative Ultrasound Imaging to Study the Gastrocnemius Muscles Morphology in Patients with Genu Varum and Valgum Deformities

Introduction: Genu varum and genu valgum deformities are highly prevalent in Iran. These deformities bring about changes in the structure and function of muscles around the knees. The aim of the present investigation was to study the structure of medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles in patients with primary genu varum and genu valgum deformities and individuals with normal knee alignment, using rehabilitative ultrasound imaging. Method and Materials: : A Honda 2100 (Honda Co., Japan) real time ultrasound scanner was used in the current the study. The dominant legs of 18 women, 6 with genu varum (mean age: 22.00±1.78 years), 6 with genu valgum (mean age: 21.67±1.03 years), and 6 with normal alignment (mean age: 21.83±1.72 years) were examined. The morphological parameters like muscle thickness, pennation angle and fascicle length of medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscle were compared among groups. Results: In participants with genu varum, the medial gastrocnemius was thinner, closer and shorter in terms of muscle thickness, pennation angle, and fascicle lengths when compared to the lateral gastrocnemius (P<0.05). However, in participants with genu valgum, it was the other way around (P<0.05). In participants with normal alignment, there was no statistically significant difference between the medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscle structures. Conclusions: The rehabilitative ultrasound imaging is highly recommended for studying the structure of gastrocnemius muscle. The structural differences between medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles may be due to the long term neuromuscular adaptation to knee joint alignment in both genu varum and genu valgum deformities.Key words: Genu, Valgum, Varum, Rehabilitative, Ultrasound, Imagin

Comparison of Visual Evoked Potential and Electro-oculogram Tests in Early Detection of Hydroxychloroquine Retinal Toxicity

Purpose: To compare the sensitivity of visual evoked potential (VEP) and electro-oculogram (EOG) tests in early detection of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) retinal toxicity.Patients and Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 100 consecutive patients (age range: 18 to 30) with juvenile rheumatoid arteritis (JRA) and a cumulative hydroxychloroquine dosage of at least 200gr were included.  In addition 100 healthy individuals with matched age and sex were included as controls. Ocular examinations including visual acuity testing, refractive errors measurement, applanation tonometry, slit lamp biomicroscopy fundus ophthalmoscopy and electrophysiological examinations (EOG and VEP) were performed in both groups. Scores of less than 1.8 for the Arden Index in EOG (AI), as well as less than 4mv of P100 amplitude and more than 110ms of P100 latency in VEP were considered abnormal.Results: The mean cumulative dosage of HCQ among participants was 262.4±31.9g (95% CI: 256.1 to 268.8g). The mean measurement of AI (EOG), P100 latency and amplitude of VEP were 1.8±0.4, 112.7±10.1ms and 3.7±2.1mv, respectively. There was a significant difference between case and control groups in all parameters (p<0.001 for all). There was not any significant difference between AI (EOG), P100 latency and amplitude of VEP in detecting the ocular toxicity due to HCQ.Conclusion: We conclude that AI (EOG), P100 amplitude and latency of VEP can all be useful parameters to detect HCQ retinal toxicity, and we did not detect any difference between these two methods.

Motor Learning in children with ADHD and Normal Children: Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Motor Sequence

Introduction: Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) face many academic and training problems and also impose some problems on their teachers and classmates. Motor learning can be categorized into two main types: implicit and explicit. The main goal of the present study was to investigate the possible differences between implicit and explicit motor sequence learning in children with ADHD and normal children by using serial reaction time task. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of 24 children with ADHD, who were equally assigned to explicit and implicit learning groups, and 24 normal children, also equally assigned to implicit and explicit learning groups. Each group, therefore, consisted of 12 participants. Repetitive Measure ANOVA was run to compare reaction time and error in different blocks, and squared t-test was used to compare regular and irregular blocks. Results: Comparison of implicit and explicit learning for accuracy (the number of reaction errors) and speed (response time) revealed the accuracy to be P=0.012 and speed P=0.012 in ADHD explicit group, and accuracy P=0.094 and speed P=0.954, in ADHD implicit group. Normal explicit group indicated accuracy of (P=0.008) and speed of (P=0.05) and normal implicit group indicated accuracy of (P=0.011) and speed of (P=0.442). Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that explanation and description of the task was more effective in motor sequence learning in ADHD children. It is, therefore, recommended that pre-exercise training be included in the programs provided to these children.Keywords: Motor Sequence, Explicit Learning, Implicit Learning, ADH

Breast Carcinoma; Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-2 (HER-2) and Grading Correlation

Introduction: Overexpression of Human Epidermal Growth factor Receptor-2 (HER-2) is one of the most important prognostic and predictive factors of breast cancer, observed in 25% - 30% of breast carcinoma patients leading to poor prognosis and feasible anti HER-2 antibody drugs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the HER-2 frequency in target population and its correlation with histologic grade as well as tumor pathology, estrogen receptor (ER) and P53 in our patients. Methods: A total of 300 cases (all female) aged 24- 80 year, were randomly selected from patients who were admitted in two of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences affiliated centers (Emam Khomeini Cancer Institute and Shariati hospital) over a 2-year period (2013-2014). Assessment of tumors for HER-2, P53, ER, pathological type and histologic grade was performed. HER-2 over expression defined as three plus (+++) in immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: The mean age was 49.6±11 years. HER-2 over expression was seen in 34% of the patients. Significant correlations were found between HER-2+, P53+ and high histologic grade and ER (PConclusion: Co-expression of several poor prognostic biomarkers in breast cancer (HER-2 +, P53 +, ER- , high grade) may predict more aggressive phenotype, worse disease and lower overall survival in these patients

The Persian version of Penn Parkinson's Daily Activities Questionnaire-15: Face and Content Validity

Introduction: Cognitive deficits impact the ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD). Improved IADL measurement plays an important role in the assessment of functional independence and new cognition-enhancing treatments in PD. The purpose of this study was to translate and investigate the face and content validity of Penn Parkinson's Daily Activities Questionnaire-15 in Persian. Materials and Methods: This was a methodological study where the forward-backward method was used for the translation process. Face validity by 15 knowledgeable informants (KI) of PD participants and content validity by 15 occupational therapists were evaluated. Face validity was measured using quantitative and qualitative approaches, and quantitative content validity was determined by calculating Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI). Results: Face validity was high (2/92-5), and all items were reported to be acceptable and understandable by KI, except for one question that needed to be explained to them with an example. Final corrections were done. Also, CVR (0.73-1) and CVI (0.86-1) were found to be within the acceptable range. Discussion: The Persian version of PDAQ-15 shows strong psychometric properties and also appears suitable for use as a clinical and research tool to evaluate daily cognitive functioning in PD patients.Key words: Parkinson's disease, instrumental activities of daily living, cognition, face validity, content validit

Effect of Mirror Therapy on Dexterity and Hand Grasp in the Children Aged 9-14 Years Old with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

AbstractObjectiveMirror therapy using visual feedback is one of the non-invasive methods along with other commonly used rehabilitation treatments for neurological patients whose therapeutic effects on the affected upper limb of children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) have also been studied. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of mirror therapy on improving the dexterity and grasp of children with hemiplegic CP.Materials and MethodsIn this single blind clinical trial, 30 children with hemiplegic CP in rehabilitation centers and special exceptional schools in Tabriz, Iran were randomly divided into two equal intervention (n=15) and control groups (n=15) in 2017. The children of the intervention group were under the mirror therapy for 6 weeks. Occupational therapy exercises were done routinely for both groups. The grasp with dynamometer and dexterity with box and block was measured. Data were analyzed by t-test and paired t-test.ResultsThe results showed that the mean scores of the two groups in dexterity were significantly different after the intervention (P=0.008). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in grasp (P>0.05).Discussion and ConclusionMirror therapy in hemiplegic children is useful in improving the dexterity but not in improving of the gras

Organizational information assets classification model and security architecture methodology

Today's, Organizations are exposed with huge and diversity of information and information assets that are produced in different systems shuch as KMS, financial and accounting systems, official and industrial automation sysytems and so on and protection of these information is necessary. Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released.several benefits of this model cuses that organization has a great trend to implementing Cloud computing. Maintaining and management of information security is the main challenges in developing and accepting of this model. In this paper, at first, according to "design science research methodology" and compatible with "design process at information systems research", a complete categorization of organizational assets, including 355 different types of information assets in 7 groups and 3 level, is presented to managers be able to plan corresponding security controls according to importance of each groups. Then, for directing of organization to architect it’s information security in cloud computing environment, appropriate methodology is presented. Presented cloud computing security architecture , resulted proposed methodology, and presented classification model according to Delphi method and expers comments discussed and verified

The effect of hearing aid use on dichotic listening performance of the hearing-impaired elderly

Background and Aim: One of the chronic health problems of the elderly is presbycusis, and one of the most important age-related changes in central auditory processing is dichotic listening deficit. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using hearing aids on dichotic listening performance of the elderly with hearing loss by dichotic tests. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, randomized dichotic digit test (RDDT) and dichotic auditory verbal memory test (DAVMT) were performed on 20 seniors with hearing loss (8 male, 12 female) aged 65−80 years. They were divided into two groups of test (with hearing aid, n = 10) and control (without hearing aid, n = 10). They were tested before and two months after the use of hearing aid and the results were analyzed using t-test for two independent variables. Results: There was a significant difference in the total DAVMT score in control group before and after the intervention (p < 0.001) and not in test group, but in terms of right and left ear DAVMT and RDDT scores, showed no significant difference in any groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the mean DAVMT score of the right ear and the mean RDDT score between groups, but in terms of the total DAVMT score, a significant difference between two groups was reported (p = 0.003). Conclusion: It can be said that the DAVMT has the ability to show adverse effects of hearing loss on recognition function and memory of the elderly

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Penn Parkinson Daily Activities Questionnaire-15

Introduction: Appropriate information about the ability of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) to perform cognitive instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) is necessary. The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Penn Parkinson daily activities questionnaire-15 (PDAQ-15). Methods: A total of 165 knowledgeable informants of PD patients completed the PDAQ-15. The clinical dementia rating scale, Hoehn and Yahr staging, hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), and Lawton IADL scale were used in the study. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated by the Cronbach α coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), respectively. To examine the dimensionality of the questionnaire, exploratory factor analysis was used. The construct validity was assessed using the Spearman rank correlation test. To assess the discriminative validity, PDAQ-15 scores were compared across cognitive stages. Results: The PDAQ-15 showed strong internal consistency (the Cronbach α=0.99) and test-retest reliability (ICC= 0.99). Only one dimension was identified for the PDAQ-15 in the factor analysis. There was a strong correlation between PDAQ-15 with the depression domain of the HADS scale and the Lawton IADL scale (rs=|0.71–0.95|). The correlation of PDAQ-15 with the anxiety domain of the HADS scale was moderate (rs=0.66). Discriminative validity analysis showed that the PDAQ-15 has significant power to discriminate between PD patients across cognitive stages. Conclusion: These results suggest that the PDAQ-15 is a valid and reliable PD-specific instrument and can be useful in clinical and research settings