Extraction of chitin from crustaceans (shrimp, crab, lobster)

Sea is one of the great resources of food stuffs, chemicals and industrial material. Shrimp, Crab and Lobster having a good taste and Iots of protein are among the most sought after organism. Iran enjoys a vast expand of water bodies including Caspian Sea, Oman Sea and Persian Gulf coasts as well as inland waters. Every year a large quantity of aquatic organisms are being captured in Iran. Chitin is the second most important polysaccharide found in by - products after cellulose, This compound is easily extracted within two stages of demineralization anti deproteinization with 10 - 30% efficiency. Chitin is being used in textiles, paper mills and medical industries to manufacture better quality good. In photography, food industries, pharmacology, chromatography and agriculture, chitin has a very important usage. Chitin is the primary material for synthesis of chitosan and glucosamine, both of which have industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical usage. Up to now, more than 300 use have been reported for chitin in the literature

An Iranian Narrative of COVID-19

Journal #57 from Media Rise's Quarantined Across Borders Collection by Mehri Yavari. From Iran. Quarantined in Texas.Media Rise Publications. Quarantined Across Borders Collection. Edited by Dr. Srividya "Srivi" Ramasubramanian.Pandemics situation is very similar to life in Iran under a past war and the current sanctions

Developing Basic Educational Standards for Evaluation and Accreditation of Master of Sciences Course in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing: A Report of a Delphi Study

Background & Objective: Despite the importance of local educational standards for the correct implementation and evaluation of higher education programs, studies show such standards do not exist for the master’s degree in neonatal intensive care nursing. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop basic educational standards for program evaluation and accreditation of the master of sciences course in neonatal intensive care nursing. Methods: This study was a descriptive survey conducted using the Delphi survey method in 2014. A total of 20 experts, including infants and medical education specialists, administrators of the department of education, faculty members of the department of pediatrics, nursing administrators of neonatal intensive care units, and students and graduates of the neonatal intensive care nursing course were selected through purposive sampling. First, items related to basic educational standards were extracted through an extensive review of databases. Subsequently, 3 sessions in 2 rounds were held with the experts and basic educational standards for the evaluation of the master of sciences course in neonatal intensive care nursing were developed on the basis of consensus. Results: This study led to the proposal of 20 items as basic educational standards for the evaluation of the master of sciences course in neonatal intensive care nursing. In the first round, 25 items, of the total 41 items, were agreed upon by experts. Statistical results showed the content validity index in clear expression, importance, and availability in the second round was 0.94, 0.92, 0.87, respectively. Conclusion: Considering that the checklist of basic educational standards was developed by experts, it is hoped it will gain high acceptability and be an efficient model for the evaluation of the master’s program in neonatal intensive care nursing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Concurrent Validity of Using Simulated Patient and Real Patient in Communication Skills Assessment of Medical Students

Background & Objective: Communication skills assessment requires the use of valid instruments. The present study has done to investigate concurrent validity of the simulated patient meaning relationship between test results by the simulated or real patient and possibility to generalize the results by simulated patient and in simulated environment for real patient and in bedside. Methods: In this correlation study, 32 medical externships were enrolled by purposive sampling method. The students were divided randomly into two equal and homogeneous groups. Using crossover design, first group were assessed by real patient initially and then, simulated patient and second group, were measured conversely. Communication skills assessment was done using a checklist retrieved from Calgary-Cambridge interview skills checklist. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: In first assessment, comparing scores by simulated and real patient in first group, second group and total students showed significant differences. In second assessment between two groups, the statistics results was not significant with very minor differences (P = 0.064). There were positive correlation between scores of total students by simulated and real patient (r = 0.63). Conclusion: According to the results, communication skills of each student in simulated position cannot be generalized to real situation and cannot be claimed that simulated patient can be used instead of real patient. Keywords Communication skills Assessment Concurrent validity Simulated patient Real patien

An Iranian Narrative of COVID-19

Journal #57 from Media Rise's Quarantined Across Borders Collection by Mehri Yavari. From Iran. Quarantined in Texas.Media Rise Publications. Quarantined Across Borders Collection. Edited by Dr. Srividya "Srivi" Ramasubramanian.Pandemics situation is very similar to life in Iran under a past war and the current sanctions

[Oral History Article: Dotty Griffith]

This article is a short biography of journalist and author Dotty Griffith, based on an oral history discussing her education and career

The Effect of Training on Communication Skills of Child’s Nurse through Role-playing

Introduction Nurse-patient communication is highly important especially when the patient is a child. One thing that has been overlooked in the nursing profession or less discussed is how to communicate with children. Design and training courses for the development of communication skills is considered as an important step in this direction. This study investigated the effect of training communication skills on children’s nurses through role- playing. Materials and Methods This study is a clinical trial with pre-test and post-test which was done on 60 nurses in Dr. Sheikh Hospital in Mashhad-Iran. Nurses were randomly assigned into either intervention or control groups. Nurses' communication skills were measured using the tools of Calgary Cambridge communication skills assessment before and three weeks after the intervention. During one-day workshops, 6 hours of teaching communication skills with children were given to nurses as role playing and based on pre-prepared scenarios. Results The results showed there was no significant difference between the two groups in the mean score of nurses' verbal and non verbal communication skills before the intervention (verbal :P=0.302, non verbal :P=0.795). But after the intervention, the mean score of nurses' verbal and nonverbal communication skills in the experimental group were statistically significant and higher than those in the control group (

Oral History Interview with Dotty Griffith, November 21, 2014

Interview with Dotty Griffith, journalist and author from Dallas, Texas. The interview includes discussion of her youth, education, and career in journalism and as an author