Effects of Citrus aurantifolia peel essential oil on serum cholesterol levels in Wistar rats

     The present study seeks to evaluate the effects of Citrus aurantifolia peel essential oil on serum triglyceride and cholesterols in Wistar rats. Thirty Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: control, sham, and 3 experimental groups. The animals were treated in 2 phases: first, except for control group, which received normal saline, the rest of the groups were fed with a high cholesterol regimen to induce hyperlipidemia; then, the 3 experimental groups were treated with Citrus aurantifolia peel essential oil in 3 different doses: 25, 50, and 100 m lit/kg. Results: The sham group demonstrated a significant rise in mean serum triglyceride, cholesterol, and LDL level in comparison with the control group (

The effect of individual psychological characteristics in the use of Computerised Information Systems

Investments in computerised information systems in the health industry in evident in most parts of the world. In hospitals and other Healthcare settings, increasingly, hands-on computer use is becoming an important behaviour for effective job perfonnance for health professionals. As the pre-employment (professional) training is provided at a number of different settings the exposure health workers have to computing will vary. Providing training and support to such end-users becomes a complex problem. In addition, based on their prior exposure to computer technology in their work place individuals will have different experiences that make implementation of such systems more complex. Individual psychological characteristics of computer end users have been widely researched and debated in studies in management infonnation systems (MIS), organizational behaviour and educatiol1. From as early as the 1970\u27s researchers sought a better understanding ofindividual psychological characteristics towards computers and its use. Factors that have been implicated most commonly in studies based on health professionals include computer attitude, compiIter anxiety, experience in using computers and user involvement ( Krampf and Robinson, 1984; Moralee et aI., 1993; Henderson et aI., 1995). Computerised information systems in health care settings in most cases are mandatory. Therefore prediction of its use is inconsequential. Based on prior studies, it has been shown that behavioural intention predicts behaviour in voluntary situations (Davis et aI., 1989). Behavioural intention refers to the strength of one\u27s intention to perfonn a specific behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Studies in business and student settings conducted to ascertain factors that predict behaviour intention to use computer system have identified individual psychological factors to he important. However very few empirical studies have examined these factors in health care settings. In addition there is continued debate and contention ofthe influence ofthese factors in the literature. Given the emerging situation in health care settings of wider implementation of computerised systems the present study was undertaken to test the relationships of these factors to behavioural intention to use computers in a health care setting

The determination of LC50 of diazinon and it's sub-lettal effect on haematological indices of beluga (Huso huso)

The acute toxicity and effects of diazinon on some hematological indices of Beluga (Huso huso) juveniles weighting 4.1±0.12 grams was assessed following the 0.E.C.D. direction in a static temperature in the range 20.27±2.05°C. The 96h LC50 value of diazinon for beluga juveniles was 5.821. Also, the maximum allowable concentration of diazinon in natural waters for beluga was determined to be 0.5821mg/L. Based on the toxicity table of insecticides, diazinon was listed as toxic for beluga .The clinical symptoms that were observed in this study consisted of lordosis and neural paralytic syndrome in fish exposed to the pesticide. Some abnormal reactions such as losing the balance when swimming and swimming in a half circle; expressive pigmentation mainly on the dorsal part were seen in the juveniles. Examination of hematological indices was performed on control and experimental specimens of beluga weighting 16.08 grams on average that were treated with 96h exposure to diazinon in a concentration lower than LC50 96h. The experimental group of beluga showed significantly lower value (P<0.05) of ,erythrocyte (RBC) and leukocyte count, hemoglobin content (Hb), and haematocrite (PCV), MCV, MCH and relative lymphocyte and eosinophil counts compared to the control group In comparison, the relative heterophil count in the juveniles of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group. By observing a decrease in the amount of leukocyte profile specially lymphocytes which are important in non-specific immunity of the fish, it can be said that diazinon may cause a decrease in the non-specific immunity of beluga

The roles of ‘subjective computer training’ and management support in the use of computers in community health centres

There have been many changes made to information systems in the last decade. Changes in information systems require users constantly to update their computer knowledge and skills. Computer training is a critical issue for any user because it offers them considerable new skills. The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of ‘subjective computer training’ and management support on attitudes to computers, computer anxiety and subjective norms to use computers. The data were collected from community health centre staff. The results of the study showed that health staff trained in computer use had more favourable attitudes to computers, less computer anxiety and more awareness of others’ expectations about computer use than untrained users. However, there was no relationship between management support and computer attitude, computer anxiety or subjective norms. Lack of computer training for the majority of healthcare staff confirmed the need for more attention to this issue, particularly in health centres

Survey of Factors that Affect the Arteriovenous Fistulas Survival in Semnan and Mahdishahr, Iran

Background: First step in chronic dialysis is establishing a suitable dialysis access. Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) has been known as the gold standard for hemodialysis; and due to complex interaction of factors that affect thesurvival time of fistula, we decided to evaluate survival time and affective factors among the dialysis patients.Methods: In a historical cohort study, we analyzed 52 patients of the Semnan and Mahdishahr Dialysis Centers. The data recorded by history taking and physical examination.Results: The survival of fistula was 83%, 80%, 67%, and 40% after 1, 3, 5, and 10 years respectively. Our results showed that the survival time of fistula was higher among patients with left-side AVFs. Factors such asage, gender, underlying disease, dialysis session per week, the time that patients started dialysis after installing fistula and fistula infection did not statistical significant affect the survival time.Conclusions: The survival time of AVF among dialysis patients of Semnan and Mahdishahr is satisfying, and installing the fistula in left hand lead to higher survival

Epigenetic changes in FOXO3 and CHEK2 genes and their correlation with clinicopathological findings in myelodysplastic syndromes

Objectives/background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) are a heterogeneous disease in terms of clinical course and response to therapy. Epigenetic changes are the primary mechanism of MDS pathogenesis. FOXO3 and CHEK2 genes play significant roles in normal cellular mechanisms and are also known as tumor suppressor genes. We aimed to clarify the correlation of epigenetic changes in these genes with clinicopathologic findings in MDS. Methods: A total of 54 newly diagnosed MDS patients referred to Shariati and Firouzgar Hospitals (Tehran, Iran) were included in the study from 2013 to 2015, comprising the following cases: 26 with refractory cytopenia with unilineage dysplasia, 10 with refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia, four refractory anemia with excess blasts-1 (RAEB-1), 11 refractory anemia with excess blasts-2 (RAEB-2), and three MDS associated with isolated deletion (5q-). Risk groups were determined according to the Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R). The methylation status of CHEK2 and FOXO3 promoters were determined by methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting analysis of sodium bisulfite-converted DNA. Expressions of CHEK2, FOXO3, and GAPDH were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and fold changes were calculated using the ��CT method. Results: Statistical analysis revealed no promoter methylation of CHEK2 and FOXO3 in healthy control specimens. FOXO3 promoter methylation was associated with high-risk World Health Organization subgroups (p = .017), high-risk IPSS-R (p = .007), high-risk cytogenetics (p = .045), and more than 5 blasts in bone marrow (p = .001). CHEK2 promoter methylation was correlated with more than 5 blasts in bone marrow (p = .009). Conclusions: Promoter methylation of CHEK2 and especially FOXO3 is associated with adverse clinicopathological findings and disease progression in MDS. © 2020 King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centr

Prevalence of Dissociative Experiences in Those Referred to Emergency Psychiatric Centers After Attempting Suicide

Background: Dissociation is a symptom that can be related to traumatic childhood events. Dissociation in some cases is categorized in a distinct subgroup from other psychiatric disorders. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dissociative experiences in patients who have attempted suicide and who have referred to an emergency psychiatric center. Methods: This was a cross-sectional epidemiological study in which dissociative experiences were evaluated in 98 patients who referred to Ibn Sina and Hafez hospitals after attempting suicide. In addition to determining the prevalence of these experiences, the relation between the symptoms and variables such as sex, age, marital status, education and suicide risk was determined. Results: There was a significant difference in the level of disappointment between married and single patients (P = 0.047). The mean disappointment score for the overall population was 11.92, which is in the normal range. There was no significant relationship between the dissociation score and level of disappointment (P = 0.933). The prevalence of dissociative experiences was found to decrease as the age of the patients increased (P = 0.006). There was no significant difference between the rate of suicide as reflected in the measurement of disappointment and dissociative symptoms. There was no significant relationship between DES score and other variables. Conclusion: One cause of psychological pressure in deciding to attempt suicide is family conflict. Many individuals who attempt suicide did not have a thought-out desire to take their lives, but attempted it impulsively in response to a periodic stressor

Image authentication using LBP-based perceptual image hashing

Feature extraction is a main step in all perceptual image hashing schemes in which robust features will led to better results in perceptual robustness. Simplicity, discriminative power, computational efficiency and robustness to illumination changes are counted as distinguished properties of Local Binary Pattern features. In this paper, we investigate the use of local binary patterns for perceptual image hashing. In feature extraction, we propose to use both sign and magnitude information of local differences. So, the algorithm utilizes a combination of gradient-based and LBP-based descriptors for feature extraction. To provide security needs, two secret keys are incorporated in feature extraction and hash generation steps. Performance of the proposed hashing method is evaluated with an important application in perceptual image hashing scheme: image authentication. Experiments are conducted to show that the present method has acceptable robustness against perceptual content-preserving manipulations. Moreover, the proposed method has this capability to localize the tampering area, which is not possible in all hashing schemes