Modern Care Journal
Volume:16 Issue: 3, Jul 2019

Subcutaneous fat reduction is performed using different noninvasive body contouring techniques including noninvasive radiofrequency (RF) and ultrasound cavitation (USC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of combined RF-USC on anthropometric indices among obese and overweight people. This four-group interventional study was conducted on 149 obese and overweight individuals. Participants were allocated to an abdomen and flank group (n = 82), an abdomen and hip group (n = 34), an abdomen and thigh group (n = 13), and a control group (n = 20). Participants in the three intervention groups received combined RF-USC twice a week for five consecutive weeks and followed a low-calorie diet. Except for hip circumference, other anthropometric indices (including abdomen, waist, and thigh circumferences) significantly decreased after ten-session combined RF-USC. However, no statistically significant differences were detected among the groups concerning pretest and posttest mean values of body fat mass and body weight. Ten-session combined RF-USC is effective in significantly reducing abdomen, waist, and thigh circumferences among obese and overweight individuals.

Regarding the high prevalence of the risk factors for human T-cell leukemia Virus (HTLV) in prison, including the high intravenous drug use and the higher chance of unprotected sexual behaviors, homosexuality, tattoos, and the probability of association between this disease and other sexually transmitted infections such as HTLV, this study compares the prevalence of HTLV-1 and its risk factors in intravenous and non-intravenous drug user prisoners in Birjand. This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in Birjand Prison during 2014-2015. The research community included all the prisoners of Birjand. Census method was used across intravenous drug users and simple random sampling for non-intravenous drug users’ group where sample size was considered to be 300 individuals (69 individuals in the case group and 231 individuals in the control group). Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests in SPSS software v.21 at siginificance level of 5%. According to the results of the study, there was no case of HTLV-1 in either of the two groups. However, prevalence of smoking and history of common injection, non-sterile injections, suspected sexual contact, alcohol consumption, and tattoo in intravenous drug users were significantly higher than in non-intravenous drug users (P < 0.05). The results of this study suggested that although the prevalence of this disease was zero in the studied community, the prevalence of its risk factors was significant. This requires planning to reduce the risk factors associated with this disease in the target community.

Transmission and persistence of Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) depends on presence of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) envelope proteins. The prevalence of HDV infection has not been reported previously among HBsAg-positive patients in Mashhad, Iran. To evaluate HDV seroprevalence among individuals with HBsAg seropositivity in Mashhad, Northeastern Iran. This cross-sectional was performed in Central Diagnostic Lab of Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research (ACECR), Mashhad, Iran. Based on database of the lab, 606 HBsAg positive patients were tested for anti-HDV antibodies using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) during 2016-2017. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests and T-test were used to analyze the data by SPSS software at a significance level of 5%. Among 606 HBsAg positive patients including 335 (55.3%) males and 271 (44.7%) females with a mean age of 43.6 ± 14.8 years old, 35 cases (5.8%) were found to be anti-HDV positive. HDV infection was more prevalent among males (6.9%), older patients (P = 0.008), and individuals with elevated ALT (P = 0.034) and AST serum levels (P = 0.021). Regarding HBV viral load, there was no significant difference between HBV/HDV co-infected and HBV mono-infected patients (P = 0.07). Prevalence of HDV infection was found to be relatively high among HBsAg-positive cases in this region. Therefore, it is suggested to assess HDV antibodies among HBsAg-positive patients, especially those with higher serum levels of transaminases.

The prevalence of stress and anxiety in pre-hospital emergency personnel is high. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of inhaling the Aroma of Rosemary essential oil on stress and anxiety of emergency medical personnel. In this quasi-experimental study, 8 pre-hospital emergency stations affiliated to Birjand University of Medical Sciences in Birjand city were randomly selected. Then, 4 stations were randomly allocated to the intervention group and 4 stations were assigned to the control group. In the next step, among personnel of each station about 8-10 participants were selected according to the inclusion criteria (39 participants in each group). Afterwards, these participants completed demographic and DASS-42 questionnaires (stress and anxiety subscales). Badges with 25% rosemary essential oil in the intervention group and badges impregnated with refined sweet almond oil were used in the control group for two hours in 3 shifts per week for one month. The anxiety and stress subscales of the DASS-42 questionnaire were completed by the participants one hour as well as 30 days after the last intervention in each group. In this study, chi-square, Mann-Whitney and Friedman tests were used. The statistical analysis showed that the mean stress and anxiety scores in the two groups did not have significant differences before intervention (P > 0.05). One hour after the last intervention, statistical analysis showed that the mean of stress scores in the intervention group was significantly reduced compared to the control group (P < 0.05). One month after the intervention, no significant changes occurred in the mean scores of stress in intervention group (P > 0.05). In the case of anxiety, one hour after the intervention the mean scores in the intervention group were significantly decreased compared to the control group (P < 0.05). One months after the intervention, no significant changes occurred in the mean scores of anxiety in intervention group (P > 0.05). Aromatherapy with rosemary essential oil can have positive effects in reducing stress and anxiety in pre-hospital emergency personnel.

Recent studies indicate that aerobic training may affect non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Besides, vitamin D and NAFLD are known to have more than just an association. This study aimed to examine the effects of vitamin D supplementation, combined with aerobic training, on anthropometric indices in elderly women with NAFLD and vitamin D deficiency. We randomly divided 40 elderly women with NAFLD and vitamin D deficiency into four groups: aerobic training + vitamin D supplementation (AT + Vit. D), aerobic training (AT), vitamin D supplementation (Vit. D), and control (C). The AT protocol consisted of 40 - 60 minutes of aerobic training at 60% - 75% of HRmax three times a week for eight weeks. The anthropometric indices included body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BFP), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) measured at the start and after eight weeks of the study. Data were analyzed by paired t-test and ANOVA using SPSS version 21.0 software at a significance level of P < 0.05. Anthropometric indices (BW, BMI, BFP, and WHR) significantly changed in all groups, with a significant increment in the control group and decrement in the AT + Vit. D, AT, and Vit. D groups. No significant differences were observed between the AT + Vit. D, AT, and Vit. D groups in the measured variables. Vitamin D supplementation combined with aerobic training improves the anthropometric indices in elderly women with NAFLD.

Elderly healthcare is one of the important issues in an aging society. Smart homes in healthcare domain help the elderly to be continuously monitored, instead of being under supervision at expensive health centers, and hence enable them to live independently. This service requires detecting and monitoring of residents’ normal activities of daily living in smart homes. By profiling residents’ behavior and identifying changes in normal activities of the elderly over time, one can detect anomalous behavior and determine whether their health status declines. Hence, the possibility of preventive care for some elderly people or providing assistance to the elderly will be partly provided in case of occurrence of the anomalies. In this paper, first a method was proposed for detection and prediction of elderly activities by extracting several features from available information. In the second step, statistical measures were applied on the features to profile the elderly’s behavior. The AdaBoost learning algorithm was used for detecting the anomalies and modeling normal/abnormal behavior. For detection and prediction of the activity, the proposed method was tested using a dataset collected in the “eHealth Monitoring Open Data Project”. The accuracy of 98.48% was obtained by considering features of start time, end time, duration, location, previous action, water, and electric device use. Anomalous behavior was detected in the same dataset with the average f-score of 90%. Results of the present study revealed that, the proposed methods are effective for detecting abnormal actions of the residents in smart homes to a fairly good level. This enables the elderly to live independently while being under continuous monitoring and significantly reduces the elderly health care costs.

The present study reported the case of a 23-year-old female patient with right-sided enophthalmos. After several episodes of spontaneous periorbital ecchymosis, she developed positional proptosis. The ophthalmologic examination was normal, except a 3-mm enophthalmos measured using the Naugle exophthalmometer, which improved significantly by the Valsalva maneuvers. The diagnostic imaging tests in orbital disease consisting of orbital computed tomography and orbital magnetic resonance imaging showed a retro-orbital vascular lesion. The most likely diagnosis was orbital varix, which is a rare orbital vascular lesion. It was decided to manage the patient conservatively, in the absence of complications such as proptosis with corneal exposure, optic nerve compression, or unacceptable appearance.