Epidemiological aspects and disease association of childhood vitiligo

To determine, for the first time in Iran, different epidemiological aspects and association of vitiligo with diseases between children and adults. This was a cross-sectional study with 324 participants, divided into 3 groups, each consisting of 108 of cases. The first group consisted of sex matched adults with vitiligo, second group were children between 2 and 18 years old with vitiligo [case group] and the third group were children with other skin disorders being matched for age and sex. Laboratory tests such as FBS, thyroid function test, CBC/Differentials and anti TPO antibody obtained from the participants and the type of the vitiligo was recorded. Our findings showed that thyroid abnormalities were seen in 4.5% of children of the case group. FBS was higher in only one child with vitiligo. Family history of vitiligo was significantly different between children with vitiligo and those with other skin disorders [p=0.001]. In our research, most of the children with vitiligo had positive anti-TPO antibody, confirming the importance of anti - TPO screening test in vitiligo patients

[ efficacy of carbon dioxide laser in the treatment of chronic and lupoid cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Kerman city: a randomized clinical trial]

Lupoid [LL] and chronic leishmaniais [CCL] are variants of cutaneous leishmaniasis [CL] which are resistant to various treatments. The diseases are endemic in some developing countries such as Iran. A Variety of drugs with different effects have been suggested in recent decades. Carbon deoxide laser has been recently applied in the treatment of different dermatological diseases. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of CO[2] laser compared to systemic Glucantime plus Allopurionl in the treatment of LL and CCL. A total of 50 patients with 86 LL or CCL lesions were participated in this study. They were divided into the two groups; the first group was treated with CO[2] laser for one session and the second group was treated with Glucantime [50 mg/kg IM for 21 days] plus Allopurionl [20mg/kg for 30 days]. All patients were followed at weeks 4[th], 8[th], 48[th] and 72[nd] and the results were compared. At week 4, the cure rate of complete improvement of two treatment groups was not statistically different [P=0.609]. By week 8, the cure rate slightly decreased [P=0.417]. The decreasing trend continued until weeks 48[th] and 72[nd] [P=0.289 and P=0.095, respectively]. Finally, 16 patients of laser group and 22 patients of the other group were cured, but statistically no significant difference was observed between the two groups [P=0.095]. Carbon deoxide laser therapy could be used in patients with hypersensitivity to pentavalent antimoniate or those with serious systemic diseases

[Frequency of contact dermatitis in patients with chronic dermatitis referring to dermatology clinics in Kerman]

Allergic and irritant compounds are frequent in nature, and the environmental allergic factors which can induce or exacerbate eczema are different and often unknown in different areas. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of contact dermatitis in patients with chronic dermatitis referring to dermatology clinics in Kerman. In this descriptive study, standard patch test containing 24 allergens was done for 156 cases [56 males and 69 females] with confirmed chronic dermatitis who had been referred to Afzalipoor Hospital Dermatology Clinics. Evaluation of the results was done for every case 24, 48 and 72 hours after application of the patch test. In whole, 153 positive patch tests were seen in 66 [52.8%] cases of 125 patients who had been examined. The most common allergic agent was nickel sulfate detected in 20 [13.1%] patients [17 females and 3 males]. The hypersensitivity reaction to this agent was significantly more common in females than males [P<0.05]. Potassium dichromate with frequency of 11.1% [12 males and 5 females] was the second common allergic agent and males showed significantly more positive reaction to this agent than females [p<0.05]. There was no statistically significant difference according to the age and sex between groups with positive and negative patch test results [P>0.05]. As the causative agents of contact dermatitis are different in various areas, by doing patch test in each area the allergic agents can be detected for more appropriate preventive measures and treatment strategies. In this study, the first and second common allergens were respectively Nickel and Chrome compounds. Thiorum, Cobalt, benzocaine and theazolin compounds were in the third rank

Study of the status of physicians-patient communication among medical interns

Proper communication between a physician and a patient is the key to diagnosis and management of diseases. Communication skills are essential for gathering information from patients, enhancing patients trust on physicians, relaxing them and managing them. The main purpose of this study was to determine the states of communication skills of medical interns to communicate with patients. In this cross sectional study, communication skills of 72 medical interns of Kerman Medical University was assessed based on a checklist completed with direct observation and a questionnaire completed through interview with patients. The checklist included two parts: the first part for individual characteristics and the second part for 24 specifications related to initiation of an interview, conducting an interview and completion of an interview. Another questionnaire with a similar structure was developed to gather patients' comments about communication of medical interns with them. Communication skills of medical interns were weak in 29.3%, moderate in 85.4% and good in 15.9% of interns. An agreement between observed communication skills and patients' survey results about greeting, asking patients' names and calling them by their names, acceptable physicians' appearance, listening to patients' words, friendly doctor- patient encounter, empathizing with patients [0.37, 0.26, 0.22.0.41 and 0.44 respectively] was seen. Results of individual variables show that relationship between age of patient and his or her opinion about communication was significant. Based on patient's survey, the communication score given to the student increases with age of the patient. The study shows deficits in doctor-patient communication of medical interns in history taking. Given the importance of communication skills, the necessity to teach them in clinical skill centers before real contact with patients is obvious

Behcet disease: clinical spectrum and association with hepatitis B and C viruses

We studied 48 patients with Behcet disease to determine the clinical spectrum of the disease. We also compared the seropositivity of patients for hepatitis B [HBV] and C [HCV] infection with a healthy control group to.determine whether there is an association. The major physical findings were oral aphthosis 93.8%, genital aphthosis 77.1% and ocular manifestations 64.6%. No patients were HCV antibody seropositive, but 3 of the control group [3.1%] tested seropositive. One patient [2.1%] and 2 in the control group [2.1%] tested positive for both HBV surface antigen and HBV core antibody. The differences were not statistically significant. There is, therefore, no case for recommending viral screening for HBV and HCV in Behcet disease patients at present

impact of teaching methodology workshops on knowledge, attitude and practice of the medical teachers

Teacher's familiarity with teaching methods along with medical revolutions is necessary to achieve the quality improvement in education. Two effective factors for success in application of educational content in practice domain, are knowledge and attitudes of participants in educational programs. To detect the effectiveness of elementary teaching methodology workshops on knowledge, attitude and practice of the faculty members of Kerman university of medical sciences. This semiexperimental study was implemented on 71 participants, selected by convenience method. The data related to the knowledge and attitudes was gathered using pre and post workshop questionnaires. A checklist was used to evaluate their practice before the workshop. The result indicated that mean and standard deviation knowledge of pre workshop was 6.2 +/- 3.7, attitude was 14.19 +/- 1.2 and practice 13.6 +/- 2.2 and post workshop ones were 13.4 +/- 3.9, 18.2 +/- 2.1, and 14.12 +/- 1.68, respectively. There was a significant relationship between pre and post workshop knowledge and attitude [P <0.001]. There was no such a relationship in practice domain. No significant relationship was observed between attitude, knowledge variations and practice. It cannot be judged that practice variations were affected by knowledge variation during the workshops. There was a correlation coefficient between age and post workshop knowledge [r= 0.33 and P< 0.03]. By increase in the age, the acquired knowledge after the end of workshop was decreased. It seems that the workshop can improve the participants' knowledge and attitude, but besides educational workshop some other factors are necessary for behavioral improvement in the practice domain