فرزانه امینی

 The communication and mutual understanding between healthcare service providers and patients are serious concerns in the health system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the impact of reading stories on increasing the level of general empathy and patient empathy in nursing students at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

The statistical population of this quasi-experimental study consisted of 82 nursing students, who were divided into two groups of 41 subjects each, an experimental group and a control group, using the simple random method. Story reading was carried out in six sessions, each lasting two hours, conducted online over six weeks in a semester. The students completed the Davis General Empathy Questionnaire and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy before and after the sessions.

In this study, general empathy and patient sympathy were evaluated in three time periods: before the intervention, immediately afterthe intervention, and seven days after the end of the intervention. Jefferson sympathy scores increased from 44.71 before the intervention to 61.37 immediately after the intervention and then decreased to 57.98 seven days later, indicating a positive effect of the intervention. Davis empathy scores also increased from 51.93 before the intervention to 76.53 immediately after the intervention and then decreased to 60.13 seven days later. To compare empathy levels, the analysis of variance test with repeated measures was used. However, before performing the sphericity hypothesis test, Mauchly's test was conducted. Since it was not significant (P < 0.001), the Greenhouse-Geisser test was used, and a significant difference was reported in the three measurement periods (P < 0.001).

Story reading is effective in improving nursing students' sense of general empathy and sympathy toward patients. It is recommended that this method be implemented in universities to enhance empathy training.

Statistical models are used to investigate the relationship between variables in statistical studies. Considering the variety of statistical models, finding the most suitable model is a complex work. This study aimed to compare different models in the treatment of infantschr('39') colic and the misspecification of specificity.

This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 100 infants with colic in the pediatric clinic of Amir Kabir Hospital in Arak, the intervention and control groups were randomly divided into two groups. The collection and analysis of the data was performed in 2016. After teaching massage to mothers of the intervention group, they were asked to perform massage on infants three times a day during the week. In the control group, mothers can relieve the symptoms of colic by shaking the infant. Parents recorded the number and severity of crying daily in the checklist. Finally, by using different models, R software, SAS, and goodness of fit, the best model was introduced.

In the massage group, the mean crying intensity of infants with colic decreased from 5.01 units on the first day to 2.47 units on the seventh day. On the other hand, the difference in mean sleep time changed from 1.81 hours in favor of the shaking group on the first day to 1.26 hours in favor of the massage group on the seventh day. Also, the severity of crying in the infants of the massage group was significantly higher than the impulse group. Regarding the grace of marginal models, the first-order self-return correlation structure was the best grace and for some variables, the model had random effects with a gamma distribution for the random component.

Massage can reduce infantschr('39') colic. Statistically, in the case of a nonlinear model, the variance of estimates is more than estimated to be influenced by the misspecification of the correlation structure.

Cancer is a complex disease with a lengthy and expensive course of treatment that causes many problems for the community. Knowledge of oral cancer plays an important role in early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge about the symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer and assess the related factors.

In this study, 671 parents of primary school children were randomly selected from primary schools in four districts of Tehran. The participants were asked to answer questions related to demographic characteristics and knowledge of the risk factors and symptoms of oral cancer. Data analysis was done using Poisson regression model and multi-level Poisson regression model using SPSS and STATA software. The AICI Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was applied to evaluate the models.

The mean score of knowledge was 3.7 with a standard deviation of 6.7. Among the studied variables, female gender, advanced age, a higher SES score, and a higher welfare index had positive effects on oral cancer knowledge (P <0.05).

The results of this study showed that demographic, social and economic factors of parents were effective on oral cancer. It can be statistically concluded that a multilevel Poisson regression model is more suitable for analyzing this data.

In this study, the emission of photoelectrons in hydrogen gas is investigated numerically using near scattered fields. The calculations of these fields performed using Mie theory have been for many years a powerful tool for better understanding the scattering of electromagnetic radiation. Whether in single-layered nanosphere or core-shell metallic nanospheres, the oscillating surface charges concentrate close to the poles of the metal surface, which results in both resonance wavelength shifts and intensity modulation. Also, the near fields around the nanoparticles can be spatiotemporally redistributed and may give a great pulses of typical femtosecond oscillators. Harmonic spectra are influenced by incidence beam wavelength, the particle radius, the shell thickness and the distance between the H atom and the nanosphere. Such laser sources opened the door to real-time observation and time-domain control of atomic-scale electron dynamics, ultrafast spectroscopy and photography, and address the expected implications of having the tools to monitor electrons with sub-atomic resolution in both space and time.

There are two categories of material and spiritual causes in human health, moral virtues are one of the spiritual causes that play a major role in ensuring health and it has been mentioned in verses and hadiths explicitly or implicitly. The present study seeks the answer of the question “what is the role of moral virtues in health from the perspective of religious teachings?” by studying verses and hadiths and finding propositions that have pointed to the role of moral virtues on the body and mind. According to the research findings, at least thirteen moral virtues have explicitly or implicitly mentioned the role of moral virtues in physical and mental health. These virtues were: 1. Piety, 2. Eating less, 3. Visiting relatives, 4. Patience, 5. Overcoming anger, 6. Controlling eyes, 7. Avoiding suspicion, 8. Good behavior, 9. Trusting in God, 10. Truthfulness, 11. Gratitude, 12. Silence, 13. Contentment. Some religious propositions have spoken about the role of these virtues in physical health, others mentioned them in mental health, and some, in both physical and mental health. In general, according to religious propositions, possessing moral virtues plays three roles in physical and mental health: 1. Prevention of diseases, 2. Treatment of diseases, 3. Continuity of health.

Trichostrongylus spp. are common parasites of herbivorous animals and trichostrongyliasis is an important zoonotic disease in Iran, especially in northern Iran. Routine laboratory methods for diagnosis of these infections are direct smear and formalin-ethyl acetate techniques. There is no enough evidence about the sensitivity of nutrient agar plate culture for detection of Trichostrongylus spp infections. The objective of this study was to compare the nutrient agar plate culture and the formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation techniques for laboratory diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis in an endemic area of northern Iran. A total of 1553 fresh stool samples were collected from residents of 31 villages within the Fouman district in Guilan province during 2015–2016. All samples were examined using nutrient agar plate culture and formalin- ethyl acetate concentration techniques for detection of Trichostrongylus spp. infections. Overall, 71 cases were diagnosed with Trichostrongylus spp. by at least one of the methods. Considering parasitological results as the diagnostic gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of nutrient agar plate culture were 90.1% and 100%, respectively. Also, the sensitivity and specificity of the formalin ethyl acetate concentration method were 95.8% and 100%, respectively. According to the results of this study, the formalin ethyl acetate method is more sensitive than nutrient agar plate culture in the diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis, especially in humid climate regions such as North of Iran.

Baking powder is the most important chemical leavening agent that is used for aeration in bakery products; and lead to better preparation of dough and makes it tender and porous. This study was conducted to evaluate gas production ability of several samples baking powders that is determined by fast laboratory volumetric method (using the Chittick apparatus). Moreover, dough properties (including specific gravity) and physical properties of produced cake (volume, apparent density) were assessed. Correlation of volumetric methods and cake voluminal properties was studied concerning significantly strong relation among Chittick test results and the baked cake physical properties; it can be used to predict the volumetric properties of different samples of baking powders without the need for the baking trial.

The use of medicinal smokes in treatment of many diseases, including infectious microbial diseases, has long been popular in Iran. This study aimed to compare the antimicrobial effects of smoke of Anbar Nasara (donkey dung) extract on Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis with common antibiotics.
In this experimental study, donkey dung smoke as medicine and antibiotics as a control group were considered. Standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis were cultured in suitable mediums. Anbar Nasara extract was prepared without use of solvent, in order to prevent the antibacterial effect of solvent on microbes. Dilution and disk diffusion test was performed 3 times for each of the bacteria.
Findings: The mean of inhibition zone of Staphylococcus aureus by Anbar Nasara smoke was significantly greater than the inhibition zone induced by vancomycin; but there was no significant difference between the inhibition zone of Bacillus subtilis induced by Anbar Nasara smoke and ciprofloxacin. Least significant difference (LSD) post hoc test showed that the inhibition diameter of Staphylococcus aureus was significantly higher than the Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis induced higher minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values than Staphylococcus aureus; but, Bacillus subtilis induced higher minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values than Staphylococcus aureus.
The smoke of Anbar Nasara extract has a significant inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus growth; so it can be offered as a medicine.

Aspergillus fumigatus is the cause of more than 90% of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. The aim of this study is identification and detection of A. fumigatus in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples patients suspected to have tuberculosis by using of Nested-PCR. In this assay، a set of 100 BAL samples which were collected in 9 month، between the years 2012-2013، from patients with suspected tuberculosis in Tehran hospital، were examined by direct، culture and molecular tests. Manual phenol-chloroform method was used in order to extract DNA. Specific primers of Aspergillus genus and beta-actin primers were used for duplex-PCR. A pairs of internal primers were utilized in order to identification of A. fumigatus (Nested-PCR method). Finally، some of the PCR-products were sequenced for confirming results. Overall، 12 samples (12%) were aspergillus-positive by molecular test while 11% and 10% samples were positive by direct and culture test، respectively. The sensitivities and specificities of PCR method compare with direct examination was 100% and 98. 8%، respectively. The study also showed that sensitivities and specificities of PCR method compare with culture was 100% and 97. 7%، respectively. After sequencing PCR product sample، isolated species were recognized as A. fumigatus. This study showed that PCR method in compare with the direct method and the culture has a higher sensitivity in the detection of Aspergillus species، also Present study displayed that can be consider Aspergillus species and A. fumigatus in suspicious to tuberculosis BAL samples

Biosurfactants are a heterogenous group of surface active molecules produced on microbial cell surfaces or excreted extracellulary. They are powerful natural emulsifiers, solubilizing and wetting agents. Rhamnolipids belong to the glycolipid class of biosurfactants and were first isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Rhamnolipids are an attractive alternative to synthetic surfactants because of low toxicity, better environmental compatibility, and high selectivity. The aim of this work was to optimize biosurfactants production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027 and two hyper producing mutant strains (M6 and M34) using different culture conditions. The rhamnolipid-producing medium (Lindhardt) containing different carbon sources were inoculated with 5% (v/v) of a 24-h preculture. The cultures were then incubated on a rotary shaker at different temperatures and rates, with different durations. The rhamnolipids were precipitated by acidification of the culture below pH 2.0 and the precipitate was extracted by organic solvents. The results showed that the carbon source used in a culture medium, bacterial strain, and temperature are the most important factors in the production of biosurfactants. The maximum rhamnolipid concentration, 2.21g/l, was reached when the M34 strain was incubated at 30oC and 150 rpm for 7 days using Canola oil as the carbon source The mutant strain M34 can be used to produce large amounts of rhamnolipid for food, chemical, pharmaceutical and hygienic applications.