ABSTRACT
Background: The Lamiaceae family has been tried to ameliorate symptoms of stomachache and dysmenorrheal in traditional medicine. The extracts and essential oils obtained from these plants have recently attracted much scientific attention. The essential oils of some plants belonging to this family have also been used in food preservation
Methods: This study employed pharmaco-diagnostic methods to examine and compare the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the essential oils obtained from two Iranian plants Zhumeria majdae and Salvia mirzayanii in E.coli infection
Results: Our findings suggested that the essential oil extracted from S. mirzayanii had more antioxidant potential than Z. majdae. By increasing the concentration of both agents, the growth and specific growth activity of E. coli was reduced. At 1:200 dilutions, the growth of E. coli was inhibited while LC50 occurred at 1:1000 dilutions. Finally, our results showed that both agents had strong antioxidant and antibacterial activities with more significant properties favoring S. mirzayanii
Conclusion: Plants such as Z. majdae and S. mirzayanii retain notable medicinal properties and may serve as useful tools when developing natural antibiotics and antioxidant agents against common pathogens including E. coli
ABSTRACT
The aim of this research was to investigate the quality of studies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Iran. All studies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Iraniangeneral population as well as school children over 15 were identified through searching several databases including PubMed, ISI WOS, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Irandoc, EMBASE, IranPsych, IranMedex, and Scientific Information Database as well as reference lists of the accessed documents, unpublished reports, conference proceedings and dissertations. The original studies, which contained an estimation of the prevalence of "any psychiatric disorder" [overall prevalence] among a sample of general population or high school students in the country were selected. A quality assessment checklist was developed based on the following criteria: accurate description of research questions, random sampling, representativeness of the study sample for a defined target population, using the same method of data collection for the entire sample, using valid and reliable tools, and proper analysis of the results. The assessment was performed on those studies on the prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in the country that had used random sampling [43 studies]. It showed that in only about 40% of the studies the sample was representative of the target population. In more than 25% of the studies, validity and reliability of the Persian translation of the instruments were not assessed or were not reported. In total, nearly a third of studies had acceptable quality [random sampling, application of valid and reliable tools, and sample representing the target population]. Although this research - as part of a systematic review-was based only on a group of prevalence studies in psychiatric disorders, its findings indicated that a significant proportion of these studies are non-compliant with key quality measures. Instead of mere emphasis on increasing the number and quantity of studies, policy makers should employ strategies to improve research quality
Subject(s)
Humans , Prevalence , Quality ControlABSTRACT
Objective: The prevalence of smoking in the adolescence is a valuable indicator for prediction of national burden of smoking in the future. The aim of this systematic review is to determine the prevalence of lifetime smoking among high school students in Iran
Methods: Various search methods have been used including searching Pubmed, ISI, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Embase, IranMedex, IranPsych and database on drug abuse, as well as hand-searching. All original researches, which had described lifetime use of cigarette, hookah, and pipe among high school students were included in the study with no restriction on date of publication, and were qualitatively assessed. Subsequent to data extraction, heterogeneity test was carried out on indicators for which more than two studies were found and meta-analyses were performed
Results: In total, 18 studies were included in this review. The combined prevalence of lifetime cigarette smoking for boys, girls and total high school students were calculated as 30.9% [95% confidence interval [CI]: 25-36.8], 14% [95% CI: 7-20.9] and 21% [95% CI: 15.1-26.9], respectively. The combined prevalence of lifetime cigarette smoking for boys was significantly different [P<0.001] in the year 2001 and before [38.6%], with the years after 2002 [21.5%]
Conclusion: In Iran, the prevalence of smoking in this age range is lower than many other countries and in recent years, a decreasing trend was found in boys. These findings can be attributed to the national control and prevention strategies. However, some studies have several qualitative limitations, which points to the necessity of high quality repeated surveys in the future
ABSTRACT
Molecular chaperones are characterized by a general behavior, arresting the exposed hydrophobic surfaces of denaturing substrate proteins. In the present study, the capacity of beta -caseins [beta -CN] from camel and bovine milk in suppression of thermal aggregation process of apo-yeast alcohol dehydrogenase [YADH] was assessed. Apo-I enzyme was prepared by removal of the structural zinc; while apo-II-protein was obtained by depleting conformational and catalytic zinc atoms. Fluorescence spectroscopy using ANS probe revealed greater hydrophobic surface in apo-II ADH. Considerable decrease in aggregation of the heat treated protein molecules was observed upon exposing to beta -CNs [camel, bovine]. Bovine beta -CN afforded more adverse effects on thermal aggregation. A direct correlation between casein's chaperone activity and structural stability of the substrate proteins was displayed. Moreover, an association between casein source and chaperone-like activity is suggested
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To systematically review studies on attitude, knowledge, and satisfaction of health personnel and general population about the program of integration of mental health in PHC in the recent 20 years. International and local databases were electronically searched. Hand searching, reviewing reference lists and personal communications were also done. 11 studies on attitude and knowledge and one study on satisfaction were selected after reviewing full texts of the documents. Most studies were on Behvarzes and general population and few studies assessed other groups. Knowledge of the studied groups were higher than average in most studies. The only satisfaction study suggested a medium, high, and low satisfaction of general population from interpersonal and care delivery, time and cost benefit, and treatment outcomes, respectively. Knowledge and attitude of the personnel and general population seems to be average or higher in most studies. This could be partly due to implementation of the integration program. However, more empirical data is needed to evaluate the issues more specifically
ABSTRACT
The Gamma Knife Radiosurgery [GKR] is an established management option for Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations [AVMS]. Therapeutic benefits of radiosurgery for arteriovenous malformations are complete obliteration of nidus with minimal neurological deficit. Radiosurgery was performed between February 2003 and April 2010 at Kamraniye day clinic, Tehran, Iran, using the Leksell gamma knife model B [Elektra Instruments AB, Stockholm, Sweden] on 82 consecutive patients with AVMs. The male-to-female ratio was 1.4:1 [48M, 34F]. The age of the patients ranged from 9 to 70 years [mean, 28.5 +/- 12 years]. The marginal dose to the AVM nidus was 45 to 85% [median, 60%] isodose and ranged from 14 to 30 Gy [mean, 20.57 +/- 13Gy].The maximum dose ranged between 20 to 60 Gy [mean, 37.5 Gy +/- 10.17Gy]. Follow up of patients for complete AVM obliteration and in the case of complications MRI were performed. Complete obliteration of AVM was achieved in 56 cases [68.29%]. It was marked in average 3.62 [SD=3.19] years [from 1 to 5 years] after GKR. Partial obliteration [>50% reduction of the nidus volume] was marked in 24 cases [31%], and less than 50% reduction of the nidus volume was marked in 2 cases [2.4%] with a follow-up of 5 years. Complete obliteration of AVM had statistically significant associations with smaller score of Spetzler-Martin arteriovenous malformation grading system for AVMs. [p< 0.05]. The Gamma Knife Radiosurgery can offer total and partial obliteration to acceptable percent of treated AVM with a low risk of morbidity. Higher success observed in patients with Spetzler-Martin Grade I and II AVMs, which was attributed to smaller volume of AVMs in this group
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Radiosurgery , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Cerebral Hemorrhage/etiology , Cerebrovascular Disorders/surgery , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood. Children with ADHD may experience significant functional problems. Our objective was to examine the prevalence of ADHD and its subtypes in Iran. Pubmed, ISI web of science, psychinfo, Iranpsych, Iranmedex, Irandoc were searched. Irandoc, Iranmedex and Iranpsych are Iranian databases of which the last one is especially for psychiatry and psychology literature. Inclusion criteria were: conducting studies by random sampling, using valid instruments to assess ADHD diagnosis or symptoms, and presenting a prevalence of ADHD or attention deficit and / or hyperactivity symptoms. After quality assessment, 16 studies were accepted. Their estimation of prevalence was different as different scales were used. Hyperactive type was more prevalent in boys, and inattentive type was more prevalent in girls. Being aware of the epidemiology of ADHD in Iran helps us to make improvements in planning the allocation of funds for mental health services. Using one instrument in studying the prevalence of ADHD in a population may lead to more precise estimations
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Prevalence , Review Literature as TopicABSTRACT
There are few reports in the scientific literature on the factors taken into account by editors in deciding to accept or reject a scientific paper. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of different factors on the journal editors' decisions on whether to accept or reject the manuscripts submitted to their journals. We randomly selected the participants from the authors of original articles and case reports published in six medical journals, and sent them a questionnaire by e-mail. We analyzed the scores they gave to each of the 17 items of the questionnaire. One hundred and nineteen of the authors responded to our survey. The scores given by the respondents were analyzed comparing authors of developing and developed countries. Also, the results from authors of high- impact journals were compared with those with a low-impact factor. Multidimensional scaling was used to categorize the items based on their average scores. Highest scores were given to items addressing the quality of study performance, those addressing manuscript writing, and to the role of statistical significance of the results in the probability of studies getting published. Authors still believe in the existence of publication bias. They estimate its role to be comparable with the role of the quality of study performance and reporting. Our study also proves the presence of developing country bias, from the authors' perspective