[Impact of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, smoking and other risk factors on survival time of the elderly participants in the Tehran lipid and glucose study. a 10-year follow-up]

Introduction: In the rapidly increasing elderly population of Iran, no prospective health studies have yet been undertaken. This study was conducted to identify the risk factors of survival time of elderly Tehranians, aged above 60 years

Materials and Methods: Individuals aged above 60 years old [n=929], recruited in the primary phase [1998-2001] of the ongoing Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study [TLGS], were followed up for 10 years and their vital statistics were documented [1998-2008]. Age and sex mortality rates for age groups [60-69, 70-79, 80+] were calculated and the hazard rates were estimated using Cox proportional hazard model

Results: Of 929 males, 154 [17%] and out of 869 women 85[10%] died during the follow-up years. Cox model showed that diabetes, on an average, reduced 2.5 years and 4.4 years, while smoking reduced 6.6 and 5 years of females' and males' survival time, respectively. BMI>33Kg/m2 and dyslipoproteinemia reduced 4.5 years and 4 years of women's life spans, respectively. Native Tehranian males on an average, live 3 years less than other male residents; in addition, hypertension and history of MI, stroke or sudden death of father, brother or son reduced 3.3 years and 4.1 years of men's life time respectivly

Conclusion: Elderly women with BMI>33 Kg/m2 and/or smokers and/or with dyslipoproteinemia are more in need of health care, while among their male countery parts elderly diabetic men and/or smokers and/or those who have history of MI, stroke or sudden death of a father, brother or son also need more attention

[ validation and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis of the satisfaction with life scale in nurse and midwife undergraduate students]

The Satisfaction with Life Scale [SWLS] is one of the most widely used scales for the measurement of subjective well-being. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of an Iranian version of the SWLS among nurse and midwife undergraduate students. This investigation is a descriptive- analytic study. Subjects were 370 nurse undergraduate students selected randomly from Tabriz University of medical sciences. All participants were asked to complete the SWLS and Farsi version of WHOQOL-BREF. Confirmatory factor analysis showed support for a one-dimensional factor structure. A one-dimensional measurement model of the SWLS was tested and received empirical support. However, the modification indices of the model suggested an alternation of the factor structure. Therefore, two-factor measurement model was tested. The two-factor model had a superior fit compared to the one-dimensional model. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis was performed to test the measurement invariance of the SWLS across sex. The results indicate that the SWLS is invariant across sex. Also, SWLS had good internal consistency [Cronbach's a=0.85]. Significant positive correlations between the scores of Satisfaction with Life Scale and the four domains of the WHOQOLBREF provided empirical support for the convergent validity of the SWLS. Sex differences were significant in SWLS; mean scores for female student were significantly more than male student. The results of this study indicate that the Iranian SWLS is a valid and reliable measure of life satisfaction for nurse students

[Study on effective factors on patients' family members anxiety in intensive care units]

Hospitalization of a family member especially in the intensive care units [ICUs] is a crisis that can cause anxiety in the whole family. The present study was conducted to determine some effective factors that can lead to anxiety in families of patients hospitalized in Rasht ICUs in 2006. In this cross-sectional study 218 family members of 130 inpatients of Rasht Poorsina and Razi hospital ICUs were selected. Data were collected using researcher-made and hospital anxiety depression [HADS] questionnaire. The results showed that the majority [77.1%] of patients family members were anxious. The anxiety odd ratio [OR] by logistic regression showed that anxiety rate increased with the decrease of patients' consciousness level [OR=9.726 per additional point], family members' sex [OR=6.171], making decision by family members [OR=6.433] and older age [OR=0.939 per additional year]. The results confirmed the role of several important factors in inducing anxiety to the ICU patients' families which require further consideration. These factors are recommended to be investigated upon admission and provide nursing care for preventing and overcoming anxiety in both patients and families

[Factors influencing the cure rate in the corneal graft rejection with survival analysis]

Immunologic rejection of the transplanted cornea is the major cause of human allograft failure with several risk factors contributing to it. Since in the corneal graft, most individuals do not reject the graft, we used the survival analysis with cure rate for the assessment of the factors influencing the cure rate at the time of data analysis. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the cure rate and assess the risk factors for corneal graft rejection in the keratoconus disease in Labafinejad Hospital, Tehran, Iran. This was a routine data base study in which the data were gathered from keratoconus patients' files that had undergone penetrating keratoplasty operation. In the survival analysis, individuals who didn't reject corneal were considered cured. To study the factors influencing the cure rate, we used the Weibull distribution for survival function and the logistic link function for the cure rate because of their tractability and accuracy. Out of 119 patients 31 patients [26%] rejected grafts. Among the factors influencing cure rate, only in vascularization and in persons older than 25 years of age was ameaningful effect on decreasing cure rate. With this cure model, the expected cure rate in the non-vascularization and less than 25 year- old patients was 81, in non-vascularization and more than 25 year- olds it is 64, in the vascularization and less than 25 year- olds, the cure rate is 19 and in the vascularization and more than 25 years of age, the cure rate is 9 percent and the observed cure rate for Kaplan-Meier product limit estimator was 79, 61, 27 and 0 percent, respectively. The results showed that the estimate of cure rate in the survival analysis was near the Kaplan-Meier product-limits estimator One of the benefits of modeling is its ability to generalize the results; using them in the prediction. According to the results obtained from the fitting cure model the vascularization is a major risk factor for decreasing cure rate in the keratoconus disease. We could use the cure rate model in the analysis of survival data with cure fraction

[ evaluation on the knowledge and attitudes toward root canal therapy among patients referred to the department of endodontics]

Aim and Background: Having knowledge about dental pulp tissue and its treatment along with the patient's attitudes toward the mentioned treatments are of high importance, not only for the practitioner but also for the patient

Methods and Materials: the present research is a cross - sectional and descriptive study, conducted in Gilan dental faculty, from March of June 2003. A questionnaire was completed by the patients about the demographic information and their knowledge and attitude son root canal therapies. All the questions were confirmed by endodontics professors consisting of 15 questions on the level of knowledge and 6 remaining ones on the patients' attitudes. After the experimental stage, the sample size, at 95% confidence coefficient, was determined as 111. The data were analyzed by SPSS software and regression test

Results: the results showed that 8.1% of the patients had a very weak knowledge, 27.9% had a weak knowledge where as the knowledge of the 45%, 16.2% and 2.7% of the patients were average, good and excellent, respectively. Considering attitude, 69.496, 28.8% and 1.8% of the patients showed positive, negative and indifferent attitudes, respectively

Conclusion: it is suggested that, prior to the initiation of the treatment, a pamphlet on the basic information about root canal therapy should be provided for each patient