amirreza nasirzadeh

The monitoring and management of blood glucose levels are of significant importance in individuals diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to examine the potential of a non-invasive approach for the diagnosis and management of diabetes, through the measurement of glucose concentration and salivary IgA, and a comparison with fasting glucose and serum IgA levels in individuals with type 1 and 2 diabetes, in relation to a control group of healthy individuals.

This case-control study was conducted on 76 individuals with diabetes (31 with type 1 diabetes and 45 with type 2 diabetes) and 24 healthy individuals. After obtaining the code of ethics and informed consent, serum and salivary IgA levels as well as fasting glucose, were measured for each participant. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 statistical software and the Spearman, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests.

The results showed a significant difference among the three groups (type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and healthy group) based on Fasting Blood Glucose, Hemoglobin A1c, Immunoglobulin A, salivary sugar, and salivary IgA (p<0.001). Additionally, in the case group, parameters such as FBS, HbA1c, and salivary IgA showed a significant correlation with salivary sugar. Conversely, in the control group, only the salivary sugar level demonstrated a significant relationship with serum glucose level. The study's findings indicated that serum and salivary IgA levels were lower and higher, respectively, in the control subjects compared to the diabetic group (p<0.001).

In healthy individuals, salivary sugar can serve as an indicator to determine fasting blood sugar levels. In diabetic patients, salivary sugar can predict of FBS, HbA1c, and salivary IgA levels.

To determine the pooled prevalence of cancer in subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS) who received Natalizumab.

Two researchers systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, google scholar, and gray literature including references of the included studies. The search strategy which was used in PubMed was (“Disseminated Sclerosis” OR “multiple sclerosis” OR “MS” OR “Acute Fulminating”) AND (“Cancer” OR “Neoplasia*” OR “Neoplasm*” OR “Tumor*” OR “Malignancy” OR “Benign Neoplasm” OR “Malignant neoplasm”) AND (“Tysabri” OR “Antegren” OR “natalizumab” OR “Modifying Therapy”).

We found 1,993 articles by literature search, and 1,573 studies remained after removing duplicate studies. For metaanalysis, we used the extracted data of eight studies. The pooled prevalence of cancer in patients who received Natalizumab was 2% (95%CI: 1–3%; I 2: 99.4%, P < 0.001). The pooled prevalence of basal cell carcinoma in patients with cancer was 12% (95%CI: 5–20%; I2 :50.3%, P = 0.13).

The main finding of this systematic review and metaanalysis is that the pooled prevalence of cancer in subjects who suffer from MS and received natalizumab was 2%.

This systematic review and meta‑analysis aim to update the pooled prevalence of Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Two researchers independently and systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and google scholar. They also searched for references of the included studies, and conference abstracts that were published up to September 2021.

The literature search revealed 5719 articles, after deleting duplicates 3616 remained. Finally, 17 studies were included. The pooled prevalence of IBD in MS was 1% (I2 = 96.3%, P < 0.001). The pooled odds ratio of developing IBD in MS cases was 1.36 (95% CI: 1.1–1.6) (I2 = 58.3, P = 0.01).

The results of this systematic review and meta‑analysis show that the pooled prevalence of IBD in MS patients was 1% and the pooled odds ratio of developing IBD in MS cases was 1.36.

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a global public health challenge. Assessing the effect of COVID-19 on liver injury is of great importance. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to establish the characteristics of liver function tests in COVID-19 patients.

A systematic search of publications from December 2019 up to April 2020 in Web of Science, Scopus, and Medline (via PubMed) databases was performed. Both cross-sectional and case series studies reporting an association between liver injury and COVID-19 infection were included. The data were analyzed using the STATA software (version 11.0) and the random-effects model for I2>50% was used to pool the results.

In this meta-analysis, 42 articles comprising a total of 6,557 COVID-19 patients were studied. The prevalence of increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels was 30% and 21% in non-severe patients and 38% and 48% in severe patients, respectively. Patients with severe COVID-19 infection were 4.22, 4.96, and 4.13 times more likely to have elevated AST, ALT, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, respectively.

Elevation in liver function tests was higher in patients with severe than non-severe COVID-19 infection. Given the widespread use of drugs that increases the risk of hepatotoxicity, healthcare providers should be aware of changes in liver enzymes in COVID-19 patients. The inclusion of other studies from outside China could confirm the pattern of elevation in liver function tests in COVID-19 patients across the globe.Preprint of this article is available on medRxiv, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.20.20108357v1

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a member of the coronavirus family that caused the COVID-19 respiratory disease epidemic in China before the global pandemic of the disease in late 2019. The virus's genome is of 79% similarity to that of the SARS-CoV virus, using the ACE2 receptor to enter its target cells. The most common symptoms of this disease include fever, cough, pulmonary involvement, and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms. A decline in both the number and function of lymphocytes and a severe increase in leukocyte inflammatory activity are among the most obvious immunological complications of this disease. If the immune system response to the virus is inadequate, the disease can become acute. Immune cells activity leads to a sharp increase in the number of blood cytokines, causing "cytokine storm," which in turn can cause systematic damages to the heart, lungs, and kidneys, and ultimately may lead to death. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy offers a promising approach to reducing the destructive impacts of infection in patients with COVID-19. Mesenchymal stem cells can secrete immune-modulating factors that suppress cytokine storms. Furthermore, the role of mesenchymal stem cells in preventing cell death and inhibiting tissue fibrosis has been well demonstrated. This review shows available clinical trials that have tapped into the therapeutic potential of the umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in patients with COVID-19.

 Preoperative anxiety could increase postoperative pain, the need for analgesics, and the patient's hospital stay. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy with rose on preoperative anxiety before abdominal operation.

 This clinical trial was performed on 90 patients undergoing abdominal operation at 15Khordad Hospital, in 2017. The study patients were assigned to the intervention and control groups by permuted block randomization method (n=45/group). The study instrument was the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The STAI was completed before and after conducting the intervention in both study groups. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS using descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test, Paired Samples t-test, and Chi-squared test at a significance level of P<0.05.

 The mean±SD age of the investigated patients in the intervention and control groups were 37.13±31.35 and 44.15±51.65 years, respectively. Most frequent operation type was inguinal hernia in both study groups. Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of anxiety (P>0.05); however, after the intervention, there was a significant difference between the study groups in terms of apparent and total anxiety (P<0.05). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the study groups, in terms of latent anxiety (P>0.05). 

 Aromatherapy with rose is effective in decreasing the apparent anxiety of patients before surgery. Thus, it is recommended to be used as a complementary, inexpensive, and non-invasive treatment at healthcare centers.

Parasitology is a course filled with many complicated terminologies. In this study, a guide was designed to facilitate the learning of parasitology. More precisely, an annual educational calendar of medical parasitology was designed based on the weeks of education and its effectiveness was assessed in university students of medical sciences.

This cross-sectional study included 174 students who were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. At the baseline, the students were tested with a questionnaire at the beginning of each teaching session and the end of the intervention. In addition, another questionnaire was used to compare the attitude and satisfaction of students in two groups. Finally, the scores of the students were entered in SPSS 16 for analysis.

The results of parametric tests showed that the mean scores of laboratory and medical students during several tests in different sessions were significantly different in the two groups.

The educational calendar is a new method in medical education, especially in the field of medical parasitology. This calendar as an educational supplement, emphasizes on students’ active learning and contributes to improving the quality of teaching the parasitology course in addition to meeting their educational needs.

Self-concept is among the most important factors influencing health, particularly during adolescent years. Mental health in adolescents, social adaptation, and healthy behaviors require coordination and adaptation with physical and mental changes resulting from this period.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of the Roy adaptation model-based intervention on the self-concept of teenage girls.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2016 on 64 teenage girls with the available random sampling method; subjects were randomly assigned into control and intervention groups. For the intervention group, 12 weeks of intervention were performed as instruction and follow-up. Data were collected before and after intervention using personal information form and a researcher-made questionnaire, including 50 questions of self-concept in teenage girls based on the Roy adaptation model. The validity was examined by content validity, and the reliability was examined by internal consistency with the Cronbach’s alpha of 0.74. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS 16, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency), and analytical tests (independent t-test, chi-square). The significance level was below 0.05.

The average age of participants was 14.2 ± 1.21. Average self-concept before intervention in the control group was 171.31 ± 11.95 and in the intervention group was 165.03 ± 17.82 where no significant difference existed (P = 0.10). Average self-concept after intervention on control group was 176.62 ± 12.18 and in the intervention group was 197.06 ± 10.09, where a significant difference existed (P < 0.001). The results of the independent t-test in research groups after intervention showed that the employment of the Roy adaptation model promoted the average self-concept in teenage girls (P < 0.001).

Employment of the designed program, based on the Roy adaptation model, can promote the self-concept of girls regarding transformations during their adolescent years

Improper use of antibiotics increases the cost of treatment, incompetent therapy, longer hospitalization time, more visits to the doctors, and improper treatment of the patients, lack of infection control, and the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. The objective of this study was the evaluation of antibiotic misuse and overuse in hospitalized patients with nosocomial infections in BuAli Sina hospital, in the north of Iran. This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed by census methods on all nosocomial infections patients hospitalized in BuAli Sina's educational and therapeutic hospital. Data were collected from March 2016 to March 2018. All data were obtained from computerized archives and manual archives of the hospital. SPSS 16.0 was used for statistical analysis using Chi-square, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, and Mann-Whitney tests. Out of 517 patients studied, 221 (42.7%) of them were male. The average age of the patients was 45.64±34.01. The Most Common isolated bacteria from all patients were Escherichia coli (48.8%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (22.9%). According to the antibiotic prescription in the present study, most patients (35.8%) took at least two antibiotics. The most antibiotics falsely prescribed by physicians in the present study were used for the treatment of the infections caused by E. coli (50.34%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (20.97%). There seems to be a need to set up a team to prevent antibiotic misuse and microbial resistance and to pay attention to the antibiotics prescribed for infectious patients. These include training programs for physicians, consulting with infectious disease specialists, reducing empirical prescriptions by physicians, and spontaneous antibiotic use by patients.

Depression is considered as a factor causing significant disability, mortality and healthcare costs and The third leading cause of disability which affects about 840 million people around the world. There are some biological, psychological and environmental theories explaining the pathophysiology of depression, though the main reason is still unknown. Vitamin D as a unique neurosteroid hormone may have an important role in the improvement of depression. Although the relationship between vitamin D levels and depressive symptoms has been explored, the results are inconsistent. Evidences about the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and depression are in conflict. Many studies indicted that, taking vitamin D supplements can be considered as a useful interventions for depressed patients with vitamins deficiency . The current review study suggests that, higher vitamin D intake may be associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. Neurons and glia in many parts of the brain such as the cingulate cortex and hippocampus have vitamin D receptors. There are different brain process which vitamin D involved including; Neuroimmunomodulation, regulation of neurotrophic factors, neuroprotection, neuroplasticity and brain development are kinds of brain processes. This fact demonstrates that vitamin D might be associated with depression and its supplementation might play an significant role in depression and its treatment .

Aims Chronic musculoskeletal pain is among the major problems of old age. An effective nursing intervention in relieving pain is the use of local herbal ointments. The present study evaluated the effect of purslane ointment on chronic musculoskeletal pain in the elderly. Methods & Materials This was a randomized, blinded clinical trial study and conducted in 2018, on 60 elderly residents of Gonabad City, Iran. The patients were recruited by convenience sampling method. The samples were randomly assigned to the purslane and placebo groups. The instrument used in this study was McGill pain questionnaire; its validity and reliability were confirmed in previous studies. The intervention was conducted for two weeks. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS and at a significance level of P<0.05. Findings The collected results suggested that the purslane ointment could effectively reduce the sensory and emotional dimensions of pain, compared with placebo. The severity of pain in the elderly was significantly lower in the purslane group after two weeks of intervention, compared to the Pre-test phase. The mean score of pain in two sensory and emotional dimensions was not significantly different between the two genders. Conclusion The use of purslane ointment is effective in reducing musculoskeletal pain in the elderly; therefore, the use of this plant can be considered as a safe and cost-effective intervention by nurses.