The diagnosis of early fetal cardiac changes of the gestational diabetic mothers: Presenting the preload index

Objectives: To evaluate fetal cardiac changes in gestational diabetic mothers, compared to healthy ones by means of different indices and to determine which index can first represent the alterations. Methods: The study was conducted as an observational cross-sectional study, including 25 pregnant women with gestational diabetes as the cases and 50 healthy pregnant women as the controls. The preload index, left and right side myocardial performance index (MPI), Interventricular septal hypertrophy, the left and right side cardiac output were assessed in all the patients. Results: The gestational ages were 31.65 ± 8.02 and 31.64 ± 5.37 weeks in case and control group respectively, without any significant difference. Both of the left and right ventricular MPI did not differ statistically between the case and controls. The cases had a greater Interventricular septal hypertrophy but the cardiac output was similar. The preload index was higher in the fetuses of the gestational diabetic mothers. Conclusions: In our study, the MPI did not show any difference between the fetuses of the gestational diabetic mothers and non-diabetic ones; but, fetuses of gestational diabetic mothers had a greater value of PLI, representing early diastolic function changes in right heart even before the overt heart failure occurred. This could be a sign of vasculopathy in gestational diabetic mothers. Copyright © 2019, Author(s)

Congenital Heart Disease in Children's hospital medical center A Cross-Sectional study 2000 - 2001

The most common congenital diseases in children is congenital heart disease. Factors such as environment, genetic, old maternal age during pregnancy, maternal disease and using medicine in pregnancy, prematuritiy, and specific seasons are significant in the prevalence of disease."nMaterials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted to investigate the status of children with congenital heart diseases, among 665 child that refereed to Children's hospital medical center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, during 1 year (2000 tO 2001). The researchers due to the lack of existing appropriate tools developed the instrument for the study. The questionnaire was 15 items, nominal, ordinal and interval scale. All items were verified using major authoritative pediatric cardiologists references and were subjected to face and content validation by three experts. Convenient sampling was utilized for collecting data. All subjects were examined in cardiology department and echocardiography was done for them."nResults: From a total of 665 children with congenital heart defects, 56.2 percent were male and 43.8 percent were female. 32.6 percent were born in autumn. Septal defects were predominant lesions, which account for 36.1 percent of lesions. 89.8 percent of children have never extracardiac defects. Children of mothers age 20-35 years had a percentage of 86.2 percent of developing congenital heart disease, Percentage of children who their birth weight less than 2500 gram was quite small, at 24.1 per cent overall. There was no significant relationship between selected variables and congenital heart diseases."nConclusion: With regard to the prevalence of disease and preventing therapeutic costs, parents and teachers education have an important role in preventing congenital heart disease. Therefore, the formation of a learning curriculum model for a life free of congenital heart disease and congenital heart diseases registration is essential

Internal evaluation in Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Background: Evaluation is a systematic process for collecting, analyzing and interpretation of the obtained information for the purpose of investigating how many the objectives in mind can be achieved. Education in an academic educational system means bringing about proper and increasing changes that affect the outcome of this system, that is affecting the students, and the aim of such evaluation was promotion of the quality of an education process. Methods: In this study, Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran University of Medical Sciences, benefiting from opinion poll of university lectures, student and graduates have evaluated their system of educational in the years of 2003- 2004 and their aim was to remodel and adjust educational system with the society’s needs and promotion of the quality of such educations. The employed method was cross sectional and descriptive and analytical on the basis of 10 procedural steps and with in 8 sections dealing with evaluated factors. Such as faculty board members, management and organizational capability, students, manpower and logistic affairs, educational environments research work centers, health and therapeutic sections, educational equipment, research equipment, laboratory and diagnosis centers, educational courses and programs, teaching and learning process as well as satisfaction expressed by students.Findings: the results of the research showed that general average of 8 investigating sections in 2003 and 11 investigating sections in 2004, based on SWOTs model were respectively %53.3, %75.3 that may well be interpreted as a desirable research work. So 80% graduates of this group were satisfaction from their educational programs. Conclusion: Internal evaluation is the best indicator showing how much we should go to achieve certain aims, analyzes quality of the activity if such a system and by which we achieve logical and routine results

Efficacy of traditional medicine product henna and hydrocortisone on diaper dermatitis in infants

Background: Diaper dermatitis (DD) is a common inflammatory disorder in infants, including newborns. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effects of a traditional medicine product (containing natural henna oil 25) and hydrocortisone 1 cream on DD in infants. PatientsandMethods: In a triple-blind, randomizedtrial, 82 children agedtwoyears or lesswererandomlydivided intotwogroups of 41 children each to receive either hydrocortisone ointment or henna medicinal product. Infants were treated 3 times a day for 5 days. The severity of dermatitis was assessed on the first, third, and fifth days using a six-point scale. The study was conducted in 2013 in a children teaching hospital in Qazvin, Iran. Results: Both groups showed an improvement in the severity of DD (mean DD severity on the first, third and fifth days, respectively, was 3.20, 1.39, and 1.20 in the henna group versus 3.20, 2.05, and 1.90 in the hydrocortisone group; P < 0.001). The henna group showed a better response when compared with the hydrocortisone group: the rate of improvement on the fifth day of treatment was 90.2 (37 of 41 children without erythema) in the former versus 61 (25 of 41 patients) in the latter (P = 0.042). No significant side effects were observed in both the groups. Conclusions: Henna, a traditional medicine product, can be considered an effective and appropriate treatment for DD in infants and children. © 2016, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

A quantitative survey of intern’s knowledge of communications skills: an Iranian exploration

Background It is a high priority that health care providers have effective communication skills. It has been well documented that the doctor-patient relationship is central to the delivery of high quality medical care, and it has been shown to affect patient satisfaction, to decrease the use of pain killers, to shorten hospital stays, to improve recovery from surgery and a variety of other biological, psychological and social outcomes. This study sought to quantify the current knowledge of interns in Iran about communication skills. Methods A cross-sectional study using a self-report questionnaire was conducted among interns. Data analysis was based on 223 questionnaires. The internal consistency of the items was 0.8979. Results Overall, knowledge levels were unsatisfactory. Results indicated that interns had a limited knowledge of communication skills, including identification of communication skills. In addition, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of interns on breaking bad news and sex education. The confidence of males about their communication skills was significantly higher than for females. Analysis of the total scores by age and sex showed that there was a statistically significant main effect for sex and the interaction with age was statistically significant. Free response comments of the interns are also discussed. Conclusions It is argued that there is a real need for integrating a communication skills course, which is linked to the various different ethnic and religious backgrounds of interns, into Iranian medical curricula. Some recommendations are made and the limitations of the study are discussed

Stem Cell Therapy for Pediatric Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a serious and life-threatening disorder in children. It is the most common form of pediatric cardiomyopathy. Therapy for this condition has varied little over the last several decades and mortality continues to be high. Currently, children with dilated cardiomyopathy are treated with pharmacological agents and mechanical support, but most require heart transplantation and survival rates are not optimal. The lack of common treatment guidelines and inadequate survival rates after transplantation necessitates more therapeutic clinical trials. Stem cell and cell-based therapies offer an innovative approach to restore cardiac structure and function towards normal, possibly reducing the need for aggressive therapies and cardiac transplantation. Mesenchymal stem cells and cardiac stem cells may be the most promising cell types for treating children with dilated cardiomyopathy. The medical community must begin a systematic investigation of the benefits of current and novel treatments such as stem cell therapies for treating pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy