qualitative approach to women's perspectives on exercise in Iran

Background: It is believed that women of all ages do less physical activities compared to men. The development of interventional projects for increasing the women's participation in physical activity needs the recognition of resources and exploration of women's perspectives on exercise in their lives in the Iranian culture and context

Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in an urban area of Iran on 46 women attending healthcare centers, volunteer health care providers, university students, sportswomen and one of the officials of the provincial women's sports. This study was done from April 2015 to June 2016. Four focus group discussions and one in depth semi-structured interview was conducted. A qualitative conventional content analysis approach was used for data analysis

Results: Four categories were developed as follows: 'preferences', 'planning', 'motivators' and 'inhibitors'. Preferences had three distinct subcategories: preferences to do exercise in specific settings, specific exercise and group exercise. The family role, exercise as one part of daily routines, and exercise as a habit were subcategories of planning. Motivators were physical, emotional and social benefits; physician advice and encouragement; being alarmed; and championship. The inhibitors of doing exercise were various: gender issues, economical and costs issues, geographical access, making excuses, cultural infrastructures, shortage of sports experts, fears, concerns and misconceptions, inappropriate facilities and inadequate administrative cooperation and official barriers

Conclusion: The findings showed that the women were sensitive to and interested in doing exercise. However, barriers to exercise were multiple and complex. Nursing interventions are required to increase the individuals' awareness of misconceptions and also develop strategic programs for improving exercise among women

overview on ethical considerations in stem cell research in Iran and ethical recommendations: a review

Conducting research on the stem cell lines might bring some worthy good to public. Human Stem Cells [hSCs] research has provided opportunities for scientific progresses and new therapies, but some complex ethical matters should be noticed to ensure that stem cell research is carried out in an ethically appropriate manner. The aim of this review article is to discuss the importance of stem cell research, code of ethics for stem cell research in Iran and ethical recommendation. Generation of stem cells for research from human embryo or adult stem cells, saving, maintenance and using of them are the main ethical, legal and jurisprudence concerns in Iran. Concerns regarding human reproduction or human cloning, breach of human dignity, genetic manipulation and probability of tumorogenisity are observed in adult/somatic stem cells. Destruction of embryo to generate stem cell is an important matter in Iran. In this regards, obtaining stem cell from donated frozen embryos through infertility treatment that would be discarded is an acceptable solution in Iran for generation of embryo for research. Ethical, legal, and jurisprudence strategies for using adult/somatic stem cells are determination of ownership of stem cells, trade prohibition of human body, supervision on bio banks and information of Oversight Committee on Stem Cell Research. Recommendations to handle ethical issues for conducting stem cell research are well-designed studies, compliance codes of ethics in biomedical research [specifically codes of ethics on stem cell research, codes of ethics on clinical trials studies and codes of ethics on animals studies], appropriate collaboration with ethics committees and respecting of rights of participants [including both of human and animal rights] in research. In addition, there is a necessity for extending global networks of bioethics for strengthening communications within organizations at both the regional and international level, strengthening legislation systems, designing and establishing convenient collaborative educational courses at different levels

Lack of association between Cu T-380A intrauterine device and secondary infertility in Iran

Background: The appropriate choice of a contraceptive method has been a major issue in reproductive health research. Cu T intrauterine device [Cu T IUD] has been introduced as one of the most effective contraceptive methods in the world, however, the relationship between prior use of Cu T IUD and secondary infertility has not been evaluated in Iran. To examine the association of Cu T-380A IUD and secondary infertility in Iran

Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted from December 2010 to September 2011 in the Research and Clinical Center for Infertility, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. A total of 750 married women [15-49 years old] with at least one parity, whom were referred to four educational healthcare centers of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, were selected as participants. They were divided into two groups [case and control] based on previous history of using Cu T-380A IUD. Data were gathered using a standard reliable questionnaire along with a face-to-face interview and were analyzed with descriptive and analytical [chi[2]] tests

Results: Mean period of Cu T-380A IUD usage in the case group was 57.46 +/- 47.74 months and mean time length from Cu T-380A IUD removal to pregnancy was 14.87 +/- 5.18 months in this group. We observed no relationship between the use of Cu T-380A IUD and frequency of secondary infertility [3.5% in the case group versus 2.7% in the control group, P=0.52]

Conclusion: Given the relatively large sample size studied here, it is unlikely that Cu T-380A IUD results in secondary infertility and may be used by Iranian women as a safe contraceptive method

exploratory study to develop a practical ethical framework for reproductive health research

Background: research in reproductive health [RH] has been located in the core of women's health research. Providing accurate information through conducting scientific and controlled research is essential, but increased number of research in the world especially in developing countries in RH area in order to introduce advanced technologies has been resulted in much unethical, illegal and abusive research on women, which needs particular attention to ethical issues by the practitioners who are involved in RH research

Objective: this study was conducted to develop a practical ethical framework for RH research

Materials and Methods: 45 expert academics and clinicians in various disciplines included in a three rounds Delphi study through purposeful sampling method. In round 1 Delphi data were gathered using open-ended questions by e-mail and answers were analyzed by conventional content analysis and the findings merged and validated with the results of a thorough literature review. Face and content validity index were determined in round 2 Delphi and consensuses were attained in round 3

Results: emerged categories were 1] management of the research process 2] protection of participants' rights 3] third party consent 4] gender sensitive research and 5] conflict of interest

Conclusion: this study has provided a practical ethical framework according to the socio-cultural context of Iran for all practitioners who are involved in research on women. Adherence to this framework may protect practitioners against unethical and illegal lawsuits and help them to respect their clients' reproductive rights

Screening of preterm labor in Yazd city: transvaginal ultrasound assessment of the length of cervix in the second trimester

Spontaneous preterm labor is one of the common obstetrics problems causing several physical, psychological and economical outcomes. Although due to these outcomes and the efficacy of cares for decreasing them, preterm labor screening is cost-effective and it is still one of the challenging issues in obstetrics. In this study preterm labor screening by using cervical transvaginal sonography was evaluated. This observational cohort study was performed in Yazd, Iran. Samples were selected from pregnant women at gestational age of 21-24 weeks who had single live fetus and referred to the obstetrics clinics of two selected hospitals in Yazd. Gestational age was estimated based on the sonography of the first trimester and cervical length measured by transvaginal sonography. Data analysis was done by using t and x2 test as well as ANOVA. Statistical significant level was considered as p<0.05. From 450 participants, 47 cases had preterm labor and 6 cases had positive funneling. Mean age of women with term labor was 26.09 +/- 4.13 years and that of women with preterm labor was 26.7 +/- 3.51 years [p=0.334]. Duration of pregnancy and cervical length significantly differed between women with and without funneling [p=0.001]. The sensitivity and specificity of screening based on cervical length of 25mm were 55.5% [50.9-60.1%] and 93.6% [91.2-96%] respectively. Based on the results of the present study, transvaginal ultrasound assessment of cervical length in low risk women has an acceptable reliability for screening of preterm labor