Age of Natural Menopause and Related Factors among the Tabari Cohort

Objectives@#The age of menopause is affected by several factors. In this study we aimed to identify the age of natural menopause and its related factors in a large-scale population-based cohort in Iran. @*Methods@#In this study, a subset of data collected during the enrollment phase of the Tabari cohort study was utilized. Reproductive history and other related data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Blood samples were obtained from all participants. Data were analyzed using chi-square test, independent t test, and ANOVA as well as a multivariate linear regression model. @*Results@#Among participants of the Tabari cohort, 2,753 were menopausal women. The mean age of natural and induced menopause was 49.2 ± 4.7 and 43.2 ± 6.4 years, respectively (P = 0.001). The number of pregnancies, duration of breastfeeding, level of education, residency, presence of thyroid disease, and body mass index affected the age of menopause. After adjustments for confounding variables, the number of pregnancies remained significantly associated with late menopause. @*Conclusions@#The age of natural menopause in this study was similar to that in other studies, and the number of pregnancies was positively associated with the age of menopause after adjustments for confounding variables.

[Estimation efficiency hospitals of Kerman province using stochastic frontier analysis [SFA] method, 2007-2011]

Introduction: One of the most fundamental goals of most countries is improving the quality and efficiency level of healthcare systems and efficient use of their resources. In this regard, the efficient use of facilities and equipments for the hospitals, that are considered as one of the most costly health care delivery organizations, is particularly important. The goal of this survey was the efficiency estimation of hospitals in Kerman Province [2007-2011]

Method: In this econometric study, performance of 10 hospitals in Kerman Province was analyzed in 5 years, using panel data for Stochastic Frontier Analysis [SFA] method. Production factors such as number of beds, doctors, nurses, and out patient admissions were used as inputs, and numbers of outpatient admissions have been selected as outputs. Frontier version 4.1 was used to analyze data

Results: Based on SFA method, the average performance of hospitals was 0.648, so we concluded that the capacity of improving performance in these hospitals can be increased to 0.352 percentages

Conclusion: Based on findings of this study, adjusting surplus manpower, congenital planning for increasing efficiency and resourcing management should be the priority of objectives of the managers and directors so that we can increase the level of efficiency of hospitals and reduces costs to the minimum as possible

Antifungal activity of essential oil and alcoholic extract of carum copticum against fluconazole-resistant and susceptible candida albicans isolated

Ajowan is an annual herbaceous essential oil of Carum copticom. The main components of the oil are Tymol, beta-pinene, gamma- terpinene and Sabinene. The fruit oil of Carum copticum has been reported to have several therapeutic effects including anti fungal, anti bacterial and anti viral, … Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungus and transforms into pathogenic form in favorable conditions, causing fungal diseases. In this study essential oil and alcoholic extract of Carum copticum were gained and Microdilution Broth method were used for detection of minimum inhibition concentration [MIC] and minimum fungicide concentration [MFC] of 11 clinical isolates of Candida albicans and Standard strain [PTCC50-27]. Results show that MIC for essential oil is 0.43 micro g/ml, 0.87 micro g/ml and for alcoholic extract is 3.51 micro g/ml, 7.03 micro g/ml, 1/75 micro g/ml. Thus, it seems that Carum copticum could inhibit Candida albicans growth by a similar mechanism which occurs by Fluconazole [FLZ]. In general, the results obtained in this study indicate that Carum copticum has potential values for growth inhibition of Candida albicans in vitro. In recent years, systemic fungal infections due to Candida species have been received major consideration about inducing mortality in nosocomial patients because of increasing in immunocompromised disorders such as AIDS and hematological disorders as well as long term use of broad spectrum antibiotics and corticosteroids. The present study was done with the aim of evaluating antifungal effects of essential oil and alcoholic extract from Carum copticum against Fluconazole [FLZ] susceptible and Fluconazole resistance Candida albicans strains isolated from different types of Candidiasis. Standard drug susceptibility tests with broth dilution technique were used to measure the in vitro antifungal activity of essential oil and alcoholic extract from Carum copticum. According to our results, it seems that Carum copticum could inhibit Candida albicans growth by a similar mechanism which occurs by FLZ and could be used as a potential antifungal agent especially with FLZ

[Analysis of Iran's mental health research over 3 decades: a scientometric study]

Objective: To describe the characteristics of Iran’s mental health research articles that are published over a 30-year period

Method: The articles include those concerned with psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience that were published in the national as well as international scientific journals. These articles were drawn from a national database of published research in psychiatry, psychology as well as neuroscience [IranPsych]. For this study, articles were limited to those published in a 30-year period of 1973-2002 [1352-1381 in Persian calendar]

Results: Of a total of 3031 articles published in the 30-year period, 19.8% were published in the international journals. The publication trends showed a marked increase in number over item, especially in the last 5 years. Among research areas, psychology, clinical sciences, and the neurosciences constituted the largest proportions [52.8%, 31.6%, and 13.5%, respectively]. The trend of research areas revealed an upward trajectory for the proportion of neuroscience research and a decline in the proportion of mental health service research. The topic of 38.6% of all articles was in the category of mental disorders, with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy researches constituting 14.5% and 5.7% of the articles, respectively. Among mental disorders, the largest proportions of the published research were about mood disorders, substance use related disorders, and anxiety disorders. The most commonly used research method was cross-sectional, with experimental designs comprising 15.9% and prospective research accounting for 1%. The preferred places for data collection included hospitals, schools and universities. In more than 90% of the articles there were no references to the funding sources and only 2.1% of the articles were carried out with international collaboration of the authors

Conclusion: The rising trend of mental health research publications shows the significant contribution of nation’s mental health researchers. The results of this study could provide an empirical basis for policy making and strategic planning in mental health research

[Attitudes of opioid dependents and their families in bam toward the effects of addiction on losses and injuries caused by the earthquake]

Objective: In the final days of the year 2003, the earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam, led to the death of more than 30000 of the 200000 inhabitants. The rate of opium abuse, which had been already high among the population in this city caused problems after the earthquake. The objectives of this rapid qualitative study were to assess drug abuse situation and the attitude of drug dependents and their families toward the effects of drug dependency on the injuries and losses imposed by the earthquake

Method: The study was carried out in the city of Bam, one of its nearby villages and 8 hospitals in Tehran and Kerman admitting earthquake victims. A group of 159 people were interviewed, including opioid dependents, their family members, people living in Bam, and service providers

Results: According to more than half of the opioid dependent interviewees, opioid dependency had decreased and according to one third it had increased the effects of injuries and losses due to the earthquake. Half of their relatives believed that opioid dependency had increased injuries and another half believed that it had no effect on their losses and injuries

Conclusion: Considering a great risk of worsening of drug abuse situation in Bam after the earthquake, and the existence of positive and even neutral attitudes toward drugs, it can be anticipated that drug abuse would begin or continue among the survivors. Therefore, there is a great need for interventions that affect peoples’ attitudes toward drugs to achieve prevention and control of substance abuse

[Neurotransmitters and cognition: part I [cholinergic, dopaminersic, adrenergic, serotoninergic and gabaergic systems]]

Objective: Cogntive deficits have received much attention over the past two decades. In this article, the role of cholinergic, dopaminergic, adrenergic, serotoninergic and gabaergic neurotransmitters in cognitive behavior is reviewed

Method: This is a review article

Results and Conclusion: The involvement of cholinegric system in memory and pathological states such as dementia, is a replicated finding. However, the function of this system cannot completely explain the cognitive processes of learning and memory. Several animal studies have explored the role of different neurotransmitter systems on learning and memory. Any decrease or increase in levels of the neurotransmitters or activation or blockade of relevant receptors may alter learning and memory. It seems that a network consisting of different neurotransmitter systems may be important for learning and memory processing