International Journal of Medical Reviews
Volume:5 Issue: 4, Autumn 2018

Diabetes mellitus (DM), a non-communicable disease (NCD), is a major public health challenge worldwide. It is expected that the burden of DM will increase because of population growth, aging, and lifestyle behaviors. Thus, screening guidelines should be developed to prevent mortality and adverse consequences of late detection. In this rapid review, the screening guidelines of DM are reviewed and discussed.

The end of any form of rigorous, specific, and high-stakes process of systematic and structured instruction is characterized by a summative assessment to evaluate the learner’s ability to apply the body of knowledge or clinical skills encountered and interacted with over a specific duration and to progress to the next phase of training. The aim of this project is to analyze the design, validity, delivery, supervision, and feedback of a summative objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessment. The results of this analysis showed a satisfactory and widely accepted method of assessment in medical education despite a few shortcomings. All forms of assessment have their inherent strengths and weaknesses, but it is essential that these assessments encourage future learning. Summative assessment has been proven to be a valid, comprehensive, and reliable method, and most importantly, it allows direct observation and evaluation of procedural and clinical skills.

Critically ill patients are diagnosed with signs such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial function impairment, dysfunction of the immune system, and acute inflammation. Inflammation and oxidative stress play a major role in the pathogenicity of most diseases in patients, especially those in intensive care units. Because of the side effects of chemical anti-inflammatory drugs, which include large intestinal ulcers, bleeding, and perforation, it seems that the use of natural anti-inflammatory compounds like melatonin could be very helpful. Melatonin productively interacts with different receptive nitrogen and oxygen species (receptor autonomous activities), up-regulates antioxidant chemicals, and down-regulates pro-oxidant chemicals (receptor-dependent activities). Melatonin attenuates molecular and cellular damage resulting from inflammation and oxidative stress. Previous studies have shown that melatonin reduces inflammation and oxidative stress levels. Thus, the use of safe doses of melatonin can reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. However, further studies are needed to verify these results.

Medicinal plants are natural sources of bioactive phytochemical constituents which, for the physiological actions produced on the human organism, can be used against many diseases. For this reason, it is necessary for medicinal plants to be assessed for their phytochemistry in order to ascertain the potential of these indigenous sources of medicinal products. Today, people around the world are interested in using herbal medicines rather than synthetic drugs because of their minor side effects and low cost; however, there is little scientific evidence for the healing properties of these natural drugs. Scientific validation of their properties is required for their safe use. Cardiospermumhalicacabum L., from the family Sapindaceae, is a widespread perennial plant, different parts of which have been used by indigenous populations in various parts of the world both as food and in the treatment of many pathologies. Knowledge of the plant’s chemical components and their standardization and in vitro and in vivo experimentation to evaluate its pharmacological activity are means by which the quality of the drug and its possible toxicity can be controlled and adulterations with other similar species can be revealed in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of the consumer. The complex chemical composition and multiplicity of applications of C. halicacabum L. have attracted the attention of researchers who, applying modern methodologies, have ascertained the safety and validity of its use in the treatment of many pathologies.

  Carbohydrate (CHO) is essential for physical exercise. Some strategies for improving performance are based on the manipulation of the glycemic index (GI) of this nutrient during pre-exercise. Although several studies have been conducted on this subject, the use of low or high GI in a pre-exercise meal to improve performance remains undefined. In the present systematic review, the Pubmed (Medline) and Virtual Health Library databases were searched for randomized clinical trials conducted with healthy, physically active adults between 2006 and 2019, in which performance in addition to blood biochemical parameters, substrate utilization, body composition, perception of effort, and gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated. The identified articles were independently and blindly evaluated by two authors, and any disagreements were resolved by a third investigator. Five of the sixteen studies reviewed found differences in performance; of these, four were with low GI intervention. Few studies showed modifications in blood lactate and glucose levels beyond fatty free acid oxidation. No differences could be seen in the other parameters. The results as well as the methodologies used were heterogeneous; therefore, there are no clear advantages in determining the specific GI of the pre-exercise meal. There is no evidence that the pre-exercise meal GI influences performance. The heterogeneity of the studies precludes further conclusions.

  The current study evaluated Iran’s ranking in health policy research compared with the world and with countries of West Asia and North Africa based on the Scopus database. The present review considered 2 criteria for ranking: (1) the number of indexed papers, and (2) citations to the papers in Scopus. Changes in Iran’s scientific ranking based on both indicators from 2002 to 2016 were compared with those of other countries. In general, Iran’s ranking in the world had a relatively mild growth based on both indicators. Iran achieved its most desirable rankings in the based on number of papers in the year 2014 with the ranking of 19 and in the year 2011 with the ranking of 25 based on the number of citations. Iran ranked much higher based on the number of papers in West Asia and North Africa, going from 5th place in 2002 and 10th place in 2003 to first place in the region in 2014. Based on number of citations, Iran ranked second in the region in the year 2016. In recent years, the status of research in the field of health policy in Iran has advanced. Efforts to index all Iranian health policy journals in the Scopus database and to increase scientific collaborations and financing can improve the position of Iran’s scientific ranking in terms of number of articles and citations in the field of health policy.

  Nurses are at risk of depression at a rate twice as high as other professionals. Depression in addition to individual effects also influence quality of work and organizational performance. Surveying the prevalence of depression in nurses will help policymakers make systematic plans in this regard. Because of the importance of this issue, the current systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the prevalence of depression among nurses in Iran. All published studies concerning the prevalence of depression among nurses in Iran during the 20-year period of 1997 to 2017 were extracted and studied using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Searches were conducted for articles using the keywords “Nurses”, “Depression”, and “Iran” in the local databases of SID, Iran Medex, and Mag Iran and in the international databases of PubMed, Science Direct, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. The extracted data was analyzed using STATA software, version 11, using the random effects model. A total of 14 studies with 4062 participating nurses from different wards and hospitals were analyzed. The overall pooled estimate of depression prevalence among Iranian nurses was 26.88% (95% CI: 21.45%, 31.91%). Subgroup analysis showed that the estimated prevalence rates of depression among military nurses and public nurses were 22.38% (95% CI: 19.45%, 25.30%) and 28.12% (95% CI: 21.46%, 34.78%), respectively. The results of this meta-analysis revealed that the prevalence of depression among Iranian nurses was relatively high. Therefore, policymakers must pay more attention to planning and the prevention of depression in nurses.