fereshteh yazdani

 Obesity and anemia are among the main challenges and health care issues related to pregnancy around the world, which can affect the outcomes of this period. This study aimed to determine the association between obesity and anemia with pregnancy and childbirth outcomes in women referred to the health care centers of Tonkabon City, Iran, in 2023. 

In this cross-sectional study, the records of 240 pregnant women were examined using a simple random sampling method. Data, including demographic information, pregnancy, body mass index (BMI) and hemoglobin concentration, were collected using a checklist from the Parsa (electronic health event file and referral) system. Hemoglobin concentration <11 g/dL in the first trimester and <10.5 mg/dL in the second trimester was considered anemic and BMI >30 kg/m2 was considered obese. Data analysis was performed using statistical SPSS software, version 24 with descriptive and inferential statistical methods (the chi-square test and t-test). P<0.05 were considered significant.

About 55.6% of women were overweight and obese. Also, 14.4% in the first trimester and 40.4% in the second trimester had anemia. The relationship between the number of pregnancies with BMI and birth weight with hemoglobin concentration in the first trimester was significant (P<0.001). The average difference of variables with BMI in two groups of normal weight and obese women in the history of stillbirth (P=0.001), abortion (P=0.046), birth weight (P=0.046) and gestational diabetes (P=0.005).

Obesity and anemia affect health status during pregnancy. Since obesity and iron deficiency anemia are preventable, the provision of simple preventive solutions by the health system, such as taking supplements, nutrition, and a proper lifestyle before and during pregnancy, should be considered.

The increase in childlessness or having one child is one of the significant changes in the demographic structure, especially in developed countries. Literature review shows that having no child or only one child affects the individual’s health from various perspectives.  

This study aimed to investigate the biopsychosocial outcomes of childlessness or having one child on couples’ health.

In this systematic review, the research question was about the biopsychosocial outcomes of childlessness or having a single child on couples’ health. A systematic literature search was done in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and the Iranian database, including SID. We employed the following keywords: “Single child,” “childlessness,” “health outcome,” and “panel study.” The quality assessment of the included studies was carried out using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) for cohort studies. 

Nine studies were included in this study. The results were analyzed based on the biopsychosocial perspective. From a biological perspective, women with no child or one child and those who had cesarean section showed poorer physical health scores than women with two children and vaginal delivery. Also, other studies showed the impact of childlessness on the higher probability of cardiovascular disease and mortality, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes in men. From a psychological perspective, the studies included in this field had controversial results. Most of the included studies showed that childless women or women with one child had lower scores in mental health compared to women with two children. In addition, women with a cesarean section also had poorer mental health compared to those with vaginal delivery. Also, childlessness in old adults can cause psychological effects such as less life satisfaction, feelings of more anxiety, and loneliness. From a social perspective, one study showed that childless men are different from fathers with children in terms of participation in society, income level, and life satisfaction.

The results of this study indicate that childless couples may have various health problems in biological, psychological, and social aspects, which, in general, negatively affect their quality of life. The results of this study can be a good resource for policymakers and health specialists to design and implement cost-effective interventions to improve fertility indicators among the Iranian population.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the ecological and economic effects of the land equipping and renovation plan in the irrigated wheat production. Therefore, the environmental sustainability of wheat production by the ecological footprint and its production efficiency by data envelopment analysis were measured. The statistical population consisted of wheat farmers from Kheradmand village in the Hamadan province, who have participated in the land equipping and renovation plan and who hadn't participated. The sample size for the participating farmers is 73 and for the non-participating farmers is 74. Data were collected through a questionnaire in a cross-sectional study, using of census method, and were analyzed with SPSS26 and DEAP2.1 software. The average GHG for participant and non-participant farmers in the land reform plan was measured at 778/15 and 1003 kg co2 eq ha-1, respectively. The EF index for these two groups was estimated at 2.39 and 2.44 gha, respectively which there was a significant difference at the 0/01 level. Based on the results of data envelopment analysis, average technical, allocation and economic efficiency were estimated at 0.866, 0.893, and 0.797 respectively, for the equipped and renovated lands, and at 0.863, 0.889, and 0.791 for the not equipped and renovated lands which there was no significant difference between these two types of lands at 0.01 level. According to the results of calculating the carbon emissions indices, the environmental sustainability of the equipped and renovated lands is in better condition.

An educational system that responds to the needs of society, besides needs assessment and community-based education, should allocate part of its research to society’s needs and priorities.

This study aims to evaluate the scientific and research products of reproductive health graduates in the field of social accountability in Iran.

The present study was conducted as an auditory study on all submitted dissertations in the field of reproductive health from 6 schools of midwifery nursing in Iran from 2010 to 2021. The first outcome of this study was the evaluation of scientific and research products of reproductive health graduates in the field of social accountability and the second one was the evaluation of these dissertations in three levels of responsibility, responsiveness, and accountability. The standardized and localized social accountability scale was used to evaluate the social responsiveness of the dissertations. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data.

In this study, 235 PhD reproductive health dissertations were assessed. The obtained score for social accountability was 34.5 (range: 30-40). Regarding social responsiveness, the obtained score was 63.8 (range: 50-70), and regarding the social responsibility dimension, the obtained score was 90 (range: 70-100).

It is necessary to qualitatively evaluate the titles and objectives of the dissertations in this field before their approval and implementation. It is increasingly emphasized to achieve the research priorities of the field and, more importantly, the logic of this research to meet the health needs of the target community.

Designing valid and reliable tool to measure the sexual self-care status of reproductive age women in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses and design appropriate interventions to improve the sexual health status of reproductive age women is considered a necessity for the society. Therefore, this study was conducted with aim of designing and psychometrically evaluating sexual self-care questionnaire in women of reproductive age.

This was a methodological study with a cross-sectional design conducted in 2021. A questionnaire was designed using a comparative approach based on the Waltz model. Then, to check the psychometric characteristics of the tool, quantitative and qualitative face validity and quantitative and qualitative content validity were investigated. Finally, the reliability of the tool was assessed by the internal consistency assessment and determining the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and the stability assessment by the test-retest method and determining the intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC).

The final version of this questionnaire was designed with 40 items in four areas including prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and genital infections, prevention of gynecology cancers, prevention of unwanted pregnancy and promotion of sexual health. The psychometric characteristics of this questionnaire showed that the validity index of the total tool was 0.93 and the validity ratio of the total tool was 0.96. The relative reliability of the total tool was also shown with Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. The stability of the tool was also shown by the ICC in the total tool of 0.97 with a confidence interval of 0.94-0.98.

The Female Sexual Health Self-care (FSHS) questionnaire has acceptable validity and reliability in the Iranian population, which can measure the broad concept of sexual self-care. The results of this study can be available to experts and planners to review the current situation and design suitable interventions.

Gender inequality can cause waste of human resources, reduce women's social participation, influence women's physical and mental health, cause domestic violence and delay the development of a country. Hence, strategies are required to identify and reduce gender inequality in a society. The purpose of this study was to explain strategies to reduce gender inequality.

This qualitative research was conducted as a group discussion in three groups (n=22), two with seven people and one with eight individuals, including lecturers in reproductive health (n=6), psychologists (n=2), sociologists (n=2), midwifes (n=3), postgraduate students with at least 5 years of experience in midwifery (n= 6) and master’s graduates in midwifery counseling (n=3) in 2021. The discussions were held in Tehran and Sari and the subjects discussed their views about strategies for empowerment of women in reducing gender inequality in Iranian society. The participants were selected using purposive sampling at different ages, education level, and economic and marital status until data saturation. Data analysis was carried out using conventional content analysis approach.

Strategies for reducing gender inequality were categorized into four main themes: reducing inequality in social, political, economic, and cultural domains.

In order to empower women and reduce gender inequality, it is possible to look at gender inequality from social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions and take action to reduce this problem through investigating these factors.

One of the most common complaints in menopause is sleep disorders. Today people are more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine for their treatment. The present study was performed aimed to evaluate the clinical trials on the use of medicinal herbs in the treatment of menopausal sleep disorders in Iran.

In this narrative review study, databases of SID, Irandoc, Magiran, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature were searched using the keywords of Clinical trials, Medicinal plants, Menopause, Menopause symptom and Sleep disorder. The full text of 32 articles from 2000 to 2020 has been used to write this article. 

In this study, 9 clinical trials were evaluated to improve sleep disorders in postmenopausal women by herbal remedies. The evaluated plants included Valerian (three studies), Lemon balm (two studies), Chamomile (one study), herbaceous (one study), Melis (one study), and Lavender (one study). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep disorders. The data suggest improved sleep disturbances in postmenopausal women caused by medicinal plants.

Medicinal herbs can be effective in menopausal sleep disorders, and due to the side effects of hormone therapies, these herbs can be used as a hormone therapy replacement in menopausal women, especially those who are contraindicated in hormone therapy.

Critical discourse analysis is one of the most prominent contemporary linguistic theories. This linguistic phenomenon rediscovers the connection between the function of language and the social and political contexts used in its context. The critical discourse approach examines the ways in which language in a two-way communication, on the one hand, creates social relations and, on the other hand, is formed in the context of these relations. Critical analysts analyze the structure of the text and then explain and interpret its results, examining the construction of texts and deciphering the ideologies underlying the context of text. Surah Al-Burooj is one of the special surahs of the Quran which has a discourse structure by constructing words and situational context and having educational goals. Today, critical discourse analysis has opened new horizons in religious-Quranic studies. This research intends to analyze and examine all the significant signs that exist in Surah Al-Buruj from the perspective of Norman Fairclough (1989) critical discourse analysis in three levels of description, explanation and interpretation by descriptive-analytical method.

 

 

Adolescence is considered as a momentous period for initiating risky behaviors. Adolescents do not have an accurate understanding of the perilous consequences of their behavior due to being self-centered. They are likely to discover risky situations, which increases their capacity for danger. The purpose of this systematic review study is to evaluate the school-based educational interventions to increase self-efficacy in preventing smoking in Iranian adolescents.

In this systematic review, all experimental and quasi-experimental studies from January 2000 to April 2019 in Iran, were searched from Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Cochrane Library, and Medline (via PubMed) as English databases and SID, IRCT, Magiran and Irondoc as Iranian databases. Keywords were selected based on the Mesh and include: "adolescent, teenager, student, smoking, cigarette, education and Iran" combined with the Boolean OR and AND operators. Two reviewers studied the full text of the articles and their main findings were extracted and categorized. Quality assessment of studies was checked and verified by two authors independently based on Cochrane tool.

In this systematic review, 6 studies with 964 adolescents that met the inclusion criteria were included in the study; 5 of them were published in English and 1 in Persian. Different methods of school education, including lectures, film presentations, group discussions, question and answer sessions and role playing were used in these studies.

According to the results of this study, education of adolescents in the school environment is effective in increasing self-efficacy skills as a preventive measure of smoking in adolescents.

Tropical Theileriosis caused by Theileria annulata is a tick-borne disease which transmitted by the ix odid tick members of the genus Hyalomma. Studies on different aspects of disease require to access infective sporozoite of parasite which produced by tick vector. This study was carried out to establish of T. annulata life cycle to achieve T. annulata infected ticks.

Laboratory rabbit and calf were used for rearing of Hyalomma anatolicum different instars. Unfed nymphs were fed on T. annulata infected calf. Clinical signs, Giemsa stained smears and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methods were used for detection of infection in blood and tick specimens. Susceptible calf was used for confirmation of sporozoites maturation and infectivity in bioassay test.

Hyalomma anatolicum two and three-host strategies of life cycle was lasted 90 and 116 days respectively. The PCR confirmed T. annulata infection in blood and tick samples. Maturation of T. annulata sporozoites was confirmed in bioassy test. First clinical symptom of disease was seen earlier in the case of transmission of disease through feeding of live ticks in comparison with blood injection method.

Complete life cycle of T. annulata was done and confirmed by clinical signs, microscopic examination, molecular methods and bioassay test. According to published reports to date, this is the first report of establishment of H. anatolicum tick infection with T. annulata using susceptible calf under controlled conditions in Iran.

The stressful experience of infertility is associated with a wide range of psychological damage (1), so infertility affects people’s mental health and all aspects of an individual’s life (2). Since women in the family are considered to be the main pillars of the community and they are also more vulnerable to illnesses, therefore consideration of their health is also very important (3). The objective of the current letter is investigating the mental health status of infertile women and its related factors as predictors of mental health in infertile women.
This is a descriptive study conducted on 100 infertile women referred to the infertility treatment centers in Mazandaran province, North of Iran. The General Health Questionnaire was provided to the infertile women. The questionnaire is a self-reporting questionnaire that is used clinically to track those who are prepared for mental illness (4).
Based on the findings, Total Scale of General Health Questionnaire was 33.18 ± 10.27 that was according to the cut-off point of 22, 85% of the infertile women in this study are in the disorder condition. Also, in terms of subscales: physical complaints was 8.65 ± 3.97, anxiety and insomnia was 8.69 ± 5.58, disruption of social function was 12.73 ± 3.34, and depression was 3.10 ± 3.79. The most common disorder was related to social disorder subscale and the least common subscale was related to the depression disorder. The subscales of physical symptoms and sleep disturbance and anxiety are ranked almost at one level, and they are classified between the two subscales that were already mentioned.
Therefore, based on our findings and the level of women’s mental health, there is a need for a psychologist or midwifery counselor in the infertility treatment centers to improve the mental health of women. In addition, since the mental disease may also affect the outcome of the treatment, attention to the mental health of infertile women is really importance.

 Lack of satisfaction of sexual instinct is one of the main factors of couples' divorce in many countries. One of the formal methods of sexual education in Iran is premarital counseling education. Therefore, premarital counseling should meet the needs and wishes of couples. This study aimed to investigate sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs and its associated factors in couples participating in premarital counseling. This descriptive study was conducted with 240 women and 233 men referred to a premarital counseling center in Sari, North of Iran. After consideration of the ethical aspects of data collection, the questionnaire developed by Pourmarzi et al. was used for data collection. This questionnaire measures sexuality and reproductive health needs. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis through the SPSS software (version 21). The mean of SRH education needs in both genders was 24 ± 10, which was not statistically significant (P = 0.19). In men, the major need was related to “genetic counseling and importance of performing it before pregnancy.” On the other hand, in women, the main training need was related to: “Pregnancy prevention methods.” The results of this study showed that the couples before marriage felt more need to education about SRH. Since that the most common method of education on sexual health in Iran is premarital counseling, it should be devised based on the provision of the main reproductive and sexual needs of couples such as genetic counseling and family planning.

One of the stressful and critical experiences that threat the individual, family, marital, and social stability is infertility. To identify the effects of midwifery-led counselling programs on the perceived stress of the women undergoing assisted reproductive  treatment. In this randomized clinical trial, 50 infertile women who underwent in vitro fertilization treatment for the first time were enrolled in two groups. The intervention group received six sessions of group counselling by M.Sc. midwifery of counseling student and the control group received only the routine care. All participants filled Newton’s standard questionnaire before and at the time of puncture, embryo transfer and the pregnancy test. The mean ± SD scores for the perceived infertility stress before the intervention in the control and the intervention groups were 167.92 ± 12.14 and 166.75 ± 13.27, respectively. The mean of perceived stress after intervention at the time of oocyte puncture in the control and case group were 177.12 ± 19.37 and 115.75 ± 13.88, at the time of embryo transfer were 179.40 ± 18.34 and 118.08 ± 15.37, and at the time of pregnancy test was 183.76 ± 14.97 and 120.50 ± 16.24, respectively. The perceived stress of infertility after intervention were statistically significant in the two group (p ≤ 0.001). Group counselling is one of the effective methods for reducing the perceived stress in the women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment.

 The spread of HIV is growing, so that its way of transmission has created worries in the field of sexual and reproductive health, because the wave of transmission has changed from injection to sexual activities. To evaluate the perspectives of sexual and reproductive health experts and providers on strategies for improving the integrated program of HIV/AIDS with sexual and reproductive health using the nominal group technique (NGT). Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. NGT. It was a semiquantitative/qualitative methodology research through NGT, based on the opinions of 30 experts and sexual and reproductive health providers in the field of health in Mazandaran (2016). Statistical Analysis Used: Semiquantitative/qualitative analysis. In total, 15 cases got the scores of 2–62 as strategies to improve the integrated program of HIV/AIDS with sexual and reproductive health. The highest scores were found in society-centered level and stigma management, and the lowest scores were found in individual-centered level and negotiation skill training. One of the strategies to improve the integrated program of HIV/AIDS was the empowerment of women and men in sexual and reproductive health and stigma management. Based on the results, the NGT is a useful tool for doing researches and prioritizing the programs. Based on the expert opinion, it can be concluded that designing strategies based on individual-, community-, and society-centered approach would be an appropriate approach for improving the integrated program of HIV/AIDS with sexual and reproductive health issues in Iranian society.

Long-term care for people with chronic illness and disability is a very important issue worldwide. Today, HIV/AIDS is one of the challenges in long-term care. Therefore, the present study aimed to review the barriers and facilitators of self-care in caregiving of HIV/AIDS patients. This study is a narrative review. In order to complete this article, researchers conducted computer search with keywords in databases such as Google scholar, SID, Iranmedex, Medline, PubMed, Springer, Science Direct, ProQuest. Finally, a complete overview of 36 articles has been used to write this article. The findings of this review study led to the classification of materials in two general categories and three sub-classes. 1. Self-care impediments to caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients including individual barriers, interpersonal relationships and barriers Organizational; and 2. Self-care facilitators in caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients, including individual facilitators, interpersonal and organizational facilitator. Be the current review findings suggest that taking care of people living with HIV / AIDS patients often causes great stress and disappointment. As a result, it is necessary to take into account the needs of this group of caregivers and the impact of care on their physical and mental health, and, with a greater understanding of these individuals, a strong foundation for the development of effective interventions such as education, social support, home-based visit planning can be provided

Bovine ephemeral fever is an acute and arthropod-borne viral disease of cattle and water buffalo which occurs seasonally in most of the world tropical and subtropical regions. The epizootic feature of the disease has been reported in Iran with serious economic consequences. The surface glycoprotein G of bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) is composed of 4 antigenic sites (G1-G4) and plays the main role for eliciting neutralizing antibodies and protective immunity. The G1 – epitope is a linear antigenic site and conserved among BEFV strains. In order to develop an ELISA test based on G1-epitope as coating antigen, this study was carried out to express the recombinant G1-epitope of BEFV in prokaryotic system. Using PCR and specific primers, a length of 88 amino acid of the G glycoprotein of BEFV including G1- epitope was amplified and cloned into the expression vector pGEX-4T-1, with the GST moiety. The recombinant plasmid (pGEX-4T-1-G1) was then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 and expression of fusion protein was induced by 0.10 mM IPTG. The maximum expression of the fusion protein was obtained at 16 hr post induction as verified by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, and it was also confirmed that this protein bearing G1- epitope is sufficiently biologically active to bind to anti-BEFV serum in western blot experiment.

Artemisia is a diverse genus of Asteraceae family that has pharmacological effects such as antiinflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic and is used for treatment of diseases, including antioxidant effects against oxidative stress.
This study investigated the antioxidant effects of Artemisia deserti Krasch extract and diazinon.
In this experimental study, Artemisia deserti was collected from Isfahan, Iran then 20 g of flower powder was extracted with 150 mL 80% ethanol and the 100, 200 mg/kg concentrations of ethanolic extract were prepared. The 48 male rats were divided in to 6 groups include the 1. Control, 2. diazinon treated group, 3. Diazinon extract (100 mg/kg), 4. Diazinon extract (200 mg/kg), 5 and 6. extract treated groups (100 and 200 mg/kg) respectively. The blood samples were collected and the rate of urea, uric acid, creatinine, serum total antioxidant and MDA (malondialdehyde) were assayed in serum. Also, the kidney tissue was isolated for histopathological examination. Finally, the statistical comparisons were done with one-way ANOVA test.
The rate of creatinine and MDA were changed significantly in the group that had received the extract (200 mg/kg) alone. Moreover, results indicate tissue disorders in all groups compared to controls, including the degeneration of proximal and distal tubules, atrophied glomeruli and accumulation of inflammatory cells. These abnormalities were associated with oxidative stress in some groups.
Diazinon cause oxidative stress and kidney disorders, similar to the effect of artemisinin on kidney; therefore, simultaneous use of these compounds could enhance the toxic effects.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder among reproductive-age women with insulin resistance and obesity of its properties. So, the aim of present research was studying the effect of 8 weeks of resistance training on ovary morphology, Glycemic control and body composition in the women with PCOS. 18 women with polycystic ovary syndrome aged 18 to 30 years (BMI[1]≥25) were randomly divided in to Atotal of experimental groups (n = 9) and control (n = 9) groups. To evaluate the morphology of the ovaries as well as blood, samples after 12 hours of overnight fasting before exercise and 48 hours after the last training session are taken. Afterwards exercise group participated in an 8-weeks resistance training program. The results showed that resistance exercise good effect in reducing fasting plasma glucose (P=0/014), insulin (P=0/001) and insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) (P=0/001) and this practice is improvedthe right ovary volume (P=0/001) and left ovary volume (P=0/001). Also showed that 8 weeks of resistance training resulted in improved body composition indices including weight (P=0/001), WHR[2] (P=0/001), BMI (P=0/347) and body fat (P=0/010) in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Resistance training had beneficial effect on the morphology of the ovaries and the glycemic index in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, and can be used as a safe treatment and is recommended in these patients.

Medicinal plants played an important role in human health. The kidney is a major organ for elimination the additional materials of body. Some of metabolic waste products are excreted through the kidneys, give us useful information about kidney health. Therefore, the aim of this research was to study the effects of A. deserti flowering tips extract on kidney. Three groups of animal were studied. Wistar rats were divided into three groups. Group 1 was injected with saline, group 2 and 3 were injected with extract, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg, respectively. The animals were anesthetized, blood samples were collected 2 days after the last injection, then urea, uric acid and creatinine levels were assayed. Also, the kidney histology was studied. No significant changes in urea and uric acid were observed. But, creatinine concentration was changed significantly in group 3 compared to other groups. The extract caused histologic changes in the kidney, including, glomerular atrophy, congestion of inflammatory cells and degeneration of the renal tubules. The results showed that A. deserti extract was able to damage the kidney tissue. However, the reason for these histopathological changes remains to be clarified.