Awareness and Practice of Female Beauty Salon Staff about Human Papilloma Virus and Its Transmission in Pubic Hair Removal Using Wax in Shiraz, Southwest of Iran.

BACKGROUND: The most common sexually transmitted infection is infection by human papilloma virus (HPV). Although the main transmission route of HPV is through sexual intercourse, the contact of the skin with the genital area skin is another known method for transmission. This study aims to examine the awareness and practice of female beauty salon staff about HPV and its transmission in pubic hair removal using wax. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 female beauty salon staff who do bikini waxing in Shiraz, Iran. Demographic information, awareness, and practice of them were gathered using the researcher-constructed questionnaire. The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software version 18. RESULTS: Mean awareness and practice scores of beauty salon staff about HPV and its transmission in bikini waxing were 26.6 ± 12.8 and 5.5 ± 0.8, respectively, and in average range. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between practice and education (P = 0.04), but the relationship between the awareness and education was not seen (P = 0.72). There was no statistically significant relationship between age and work experience with awareness and practice of staff (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The awareness and practice of beauty salon staff about HPV and its transmission in bikini waxing are moderate. Therefore, it seems that the implementation of continuous educational program by the Union of women's beauty salons is necessary to increase and improve the awareness and practice of female beauty salon staff.

The relationship between spiritual well-being, mental health, and quality of life in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Cancer is the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases in the world. Each year, more than 70,000 new cases of cancer and 30,000 deaths from cancer have been recorded in Iran. Cancer also reduces quality of life (QoL) by creating negative physical and mental symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health, spiritual well-being and QoL among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. METHOD: About 208 adults suffering from cancer and receiving chemotherapy in Shiraz hospitals were entered in the study and they were asked to complete the Paloutzian and Ellison Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire, and Goranowski Mental Health, Quality of Life and Excitement Questionnaire. For data analysis, descriptive statistics including mean (standard deviation) and frequency (percentages) were used in table and chart format, moreover Spearman correlation tests were also used. RESULTS: The results of the study revealed that there was a positive and significant correlation between mental health and QoL (P = 0.001) in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. The results of the study revealed that there was a positive and significant correlation between spiritual well-being and mental health (P = 0.001) and QoL (P = 0.01) in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, but there was a negative and significant Correlation between spiritual well-being and negative emotions (P = 0.47). On the other hand, there was a negative and significant correlation between mental health (P = 0.026) and QoL (P = 0.019) and negative emotions respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between spiritual well-being, mental health, and QoL in cancer patients.

The effect of willpower workshop on anxiety, depression, and the excitement components in the students of Shiraz university of medical sciences.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: The current study aimed at evaluating the effect of willpower workshop on anxiety, depression, and the Granovsky excitement components among the students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2016--2017. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Students (140) were selected by the simple random sampling method and allocated into two equal groups of intervention (willing) and control, each of 52 individuals. Data collection instruments were the Garnefski cognitive emotion regulation scale and the Beck depression and anxiety inventories. The data were collected twice, before intervention and after the intervention (9 months after the study completion and holding the workshops). The control subjects received no intervention but were interviewed every 3 months. RESULTS: The results of the current study indicated no significant differences in demographic variables and pretest scores between the groups, which indicate the homogeneity of the groups. In other words, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding demographic characteristics before the intervention (P > 0.05). In addition, to compare the intervention and control groups, the Mann--Whitney U test was used and the results showed a significant difference in posttest results between the study groups (P < 0.05). Also, there was a significant difference between the pretest and posttest results of each group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Results of the current study indicated that training the stress, coping and willpower strengthening skills, based on the Granovsky excitement components, could promote psychophysical health and reduce anxiety and stress among the studied students.

The immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase on the modified polyethersulfone with MOF nanoparticles as an excellent performance bioreactor membrane.

In this study, the modified nanocomposite membrane of polyethersulfone (PES) with NH2-MIL-101(Cr) as a metal-organic framework (MOF) is exploited for Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) immobilization. To that end, the various amounts of NH2-MIL-101(Cr) nanoparticles are blended into PES casting solution to fabricate ultrafiltration membrane via phase inversion technique. The incorporation efficiency of NH2-MIL-101(Cr) nanoparticles on the membrane morphology is investigated using various techniques, namely atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and contact angle goniometry. In terms of water pure flux and CRL immobilization efficiency, the best performance is observed for PES-NH2-MIL1% membrane. This bioactive membrane (CRL@GA@PES-NH2-MIL1%) displays an improvement in pH and thermal stability and separation performance that makes it a fruitful candidate for using in bioreactors. The examination of the wet- and dry-storage stability of CRL@GA@PES-NH2-MIL1% demonstrates the high stability for the wet bioactive membrane. The reusability inspection of CRL@GA@PES-NH2-MIL1% represents about 50% conservation of the residual activity after 12 sequential usage cycles.

Quercus Brantii Lindl. Vaginal Douche Versus Clotrimazole on Vaginal Candidiasis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVES: Vaginal Candidiasis with an approximate prevalence of 30% is the second cause of vaginal infections. Antifungal azole is the first treatment for Vaginal Candidiasis; however, some side effects have been reported for this chemical medicine. Based on the antifungal activity of Inner Stratum of Quercus Brantii (Q. Brantii), the aim of our study was to compare the effects of vaginal douche of Q. Brantii extract and clotrimazole on vaginal candidiasis symptoms before and after the treatments, in women. METHODS: 89 non-pregnant women with positive KOH test which is capable of identifying the presence of hyphae and mycelium by adding KOH (10%), and a positive vaginal candidiasis culture were randomly divided into two experimental groups, using permuted block randomization method. One group received clotrimazole vaginal cream (1%) and the other group received vaginal douche of Q. Brantii extract. Groups were treated for 7 days and KOH tests and cultures were evaluated again. Data were analyzed via chi-square and independent t-test, using SPSS software. RESULTS: According to the results, there were no significant differences between experimental groups for demographic characteristics like age (p=0.403), BMI (p=0.911), educational levels (p=0.862) and contraceptive methods (p=0.702). Moreover, significant differences were seen in vaginal discharge between the groups after the treatments (P=0.043). CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the therapeutic effect of vaginal douche of Q. Brantii extract was approximately similar to that of clotrimazole vaginal cream.

Monitoring Health Status in Long Term Care Through the Use of Ambient Technologies and Serious Games.

New technologies, such as serious games and ambient activities, are being developed to address problems of under-stimulation, anxiety, and agitation in millions of people living with dementia in long term care homes. Frequent interactions with instrumented versions of these technologies may not only be beneficial for long term care residents, but may also provide a valuable new set of multifaceted data related to the health status of residents over time. In this paper, we develop a model for health monitoring in healthcare environments and we report on two studies that show how medically relevant data can be collected from elderly residents and emergency department patients in an unobtrusive way. The first study shows how data related to cognitive abilities can be collected from elderly emergency department patients and the second study shows how detailed data on a range of factors can be collected from ambient activity units designed to provide engaging interactions for long term care residents. In summary, this paper proposes the use of new technologies to transform long term care from a data poor to a data rich environment, where the health status of long term care residents and elderly patients is more closely monitored.

The performance of immobilized Candida rugosa lipase on various surface modified graphene oxide nanosheets.

In this study, we have reported the synthesis of graphene oxide nanosheets (GON) and its functionalization with 2, 4, 6-trichloro-1, 3, 5-triazine (TCT) through two routes, (a) directly reaction of GON with TCT (GON-1), and (b) reaction of GON with pre-functionalized TCT with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) (GON-2). Subsequently, GON, GON-1 and GON-2 have been used as supports for immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase (CRL). Several techniques such as XRD, SEM, EDS, UV-Vis, CHNS, FTIR and AFM were applied to characterize the nano-structures and success of synthesis, functionalization and CRL immobilization processes. The results corresponding to optimization of immobilization process revealed the following order for values of loading capacity, immobilization yield and leaching of CRL: GON > GON-1 > GON-2, while this order is reversed for, specific activity and recovery activity. The assessment of operational parameters represents the high storage stability and reasonable reusability for all the immobilized CRL while the pH and thermal stability of CRL@GON-2 are higher than two others. It seems the longer linker of GON-2 could more effectively prevent the unfavorable interaction between enzyme-enzyme and enzyme-product that consequently resulted the best catalytic performance, pH and thermal stability. The advantages of these supports make them suitable candidates for practical applications.

The evaluation of the relationship between some related hormone levels and diet in obese or overweight patients with hirsutism: A randomized clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Hirsutism is a common disorder that has remarkable physical and mental effects on individuals. No appropriate diet has yet specified for individuals with hirsutism. The present study was carried out to examine the effect of high-fibre, low-caloric balanced diet on some related hormone levels in obese or overweight women with hirsutism who had referred to clinics affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a clinical trial that was carried out on 47 obese or overweight women with hirsutism in 2014. The women were randomly assigned to an intervention group and a control group that, respectively, consumed a high-fiber, low-caloric balanced diet and a normal diet for 3 months. A demographic characteristics questionnaire and a researcher-designed diet questionnaire were filled out by the two groups before the intervention. Before and 12 weeks after the intervention, body mass index (BMI) was measured and blood samples (on the 3-5 days of menstruation) were collected. Factors of luteinizing hormone, follice stimulating hormone, sex hormone binding globulin, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, low-density lipoproteins, high-density lipoproteins (HDL), fasting blood sugar (FBS), CHOL, prolactin, triglycerides, insulin, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, and free androstenedione testosterone were measured. The collected data were analyzed through t-test, Chi-square, and intergroup analysis using SPSS 22.0. RESULTS: The mean age of the participating women was 27.23 ± 5.42 years. After the study, the level of FBS and insulin in the intervention group dropped while they increased in the control group. Moreover, the postintervention level of BMI in the intervention group on average decreased 1.89 units while it rose by 0.3 units in the control group, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study showed that consuming high-fiber diet by obese or overweight women with hirsutism and polycystic ovary can reduce some factors including the level of FBS, insulin, and cholesterol and enhance blood HDL. Therefore, consuming this type of diet is recommended to treat this disorder.