Journal of Disease and Diagnosis
Volume:8 Issue: 2, Dec 2019

Considering the importance of treatment of sour nipples in breastfeeding mothers, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dexpanthenol creams on the treatment of traumatic nipples.

This study was a double-blinded, randomized, control trial, in which 82 postpartum mothers with nipple injuries who had attended health centers and Children’s Hospital of Sanandaj, Iran, participated. The participants were randomly divided into two groups of dexpanthenol and control. Nipple pain and trauma was measured using Storr and Champion scale. Analysis was done through chi-square and ANOVA tests using SPSS software version 13.0. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

The results of this study demonstrated that the mean score of pain and trauma in third, seventh, and fourteenth days of study in intervention group was decreased. In addition, there was significant differences in pain and trauma scores between dexpanthenol and control groups.

Dexpanthenol is advised as an effective, simple, and non-invasive technique with no side effects for the treatment of nipple fissures and pain.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of death due to cancer in the world. It has the highest mortality rate compared to breast, prostate, and other cancers. Different factors can be effective in the survival of lung cancer patients. The present study has evaluated survival and its related factors.

The present study was performed on 157 lung cancer patients referred to Imam Khomeini Specialized Clinic in Hamadan during 2003-2017. Patient follow-up was performed through periodic referrals and telephone calls with patients’ relatives. The survival rate was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test was used to compare the survival of different levels of variables. Data analysis was then carried out using SPSS version 23.0 and STATA version14.0. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant in all tests.

Of 157 patients with lung cancer, 86% were male. The mean and median survival times of patients were 15 and 11 months, respectively. The results of log-rank test indicated that metastasis and site of metastasis were effective in patient survival (P < 0.05).

The results of the present study showed that the presence of metastasis is a strong factor for the survival of patients; therefore, it seems necessary to diagnose the disease as early as possible using a screening program.

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.

Burning is one of the worst accidents that people may now experience in modern society. One of the most critical problems of burn patients is the anxiety caused by medical treatments such as burn dressing. The present study aimed to determine the effect of rhythmic breathing on the anxiety of dressing change in burn patients.

This experimental clinical trial was done on 60 burn hospitalized patients in Ayatollah Mousavi educational-therapeutic hospital of Zanjan province in 2007. The sampling was performed continuously and the samples were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups (30 subjects in each group). The data collection tool included a demographic questionnaire and numerical anxiety scale. First, the demographic characteristics questionnaire was completed by the samples. Then, the rhythmic breathing was taught to the experimental group for 20 minutes until complete learning, and they were asked to perform the rhythmic breathing during dressing. Before and after dressing, anxiety was evaluated in the experimental and control groups for 3 consecutive days. After collecting data and entering them into SPSS 20, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, independent and dependent t test, and Friedman test.

Based on the findings of the study, both groups were homogeneous in terms of age, gender, education, percentage and the degree of burn, and there was no statistically significant difference. The results of the Friedman test showed that the anxiety severity had a statistically significant difference in both control and experimental groups before and after the intervention (P < 0.001). However, the severity of anxiety after the intervention further reduced in the experimental group compared to the control group, and this reduction was statistically significant in the experimental group (P < 0.001).

In general, rhythmic breathing is effective in reducing anxiety caused by a dressing change in burn patients. Thus, this method can be used to decrease the anxiety of dressing.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Therefore, there is an urget need to identify and develop therapeutic strategies against this deadly disease. This study is the first to investigate the effects of Hemolymph Serum of Potamon persicum Crab (HSPPC) on MCF-7 and MDA-231 breast cancer cell lines.

LDH and MTT assays were performed on MCF-7 and MDA-231 breast cancer cell lines as well as human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to determine the cytotoxic and antiproliferative activity of the HSPPC at different concentrations. Further, the apoptosis inducing action of the hemolymph serum was determined by TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling) and cell death assay.

The IC50 values of HSPPC for MCF-7 and MDA-231 cell lines were 960 ± 0.369 and 850 ± 1.422 μg/mL, respectively. The growth of both MCF-7 and MDA-231 cell lines were significantly (P < 0.001) inhibited by HSPPC as compared with untreated controls at 48 hours. The results showed that HSPPC had no cytotoxic effects but significantly inhibited cell growth in a dose and time dependent manner. In addition, DNA fragmentation analysis (TUNEL) and cell death assay indicated induction of apoptosis by HSPPC in MCF-7 and MDA-231 cell lines.

The results suggest that HSPPC contains bioactive compound(s) with potentials for the treatment of breast cancer.

Clinical education calls for the interaction between the patient and the medical learner and considering the significance of the patients’ satisfaction and its role in clinical education to learners. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate patients’ attitudes and feelings toward the presence of medical students in educational clinics.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 274 patients visiting the clinics in 2018, who were selected by the convenience sampling method. The data were collected using the questionnaire of Izadi et al in two parts and then analyzed by SPSS 16.

The results showed that the total score of patients’ attitudes toward the presence of the students was 66.3, which was above the expected average score (i.e., 3). In addition, the total score of patients’ feelings toward the presence of the students was 67.3, which was above the expected average score (i.e., 3). Moreover, the average score of female patients’ feelings toward the presence of the students was significantly lower than that of male patients (P < 0.05). Eventually, individuals with education levels below diploma and above bachelors were the most and least comfortable about the presence of the students (P < 0.05).

Therefore, patients had a positive feeling and attitude toward the presence of the students in the clinics. These factors need to receive more attention to increase the satisfaction and quality of clinical education.

Renal ischemia-reperfusion (RIR) is a common clinical injury that affects the function of other remote organs such as the brain by initiating a cascade of complex and wide-ranging inflammatory responses. RIR also follows a different course in men and women. Since there is little information on the effect of RIR on the brain as a sensitive organ in both males and females, the present research was performed to investigate the effect of gender on RIR-induced brain tissue alterations in adult rats.

In this study, 28 Wistar rats (14 female and 14 male rats) weighing 200 ± 20 g were divided into the following groups: 1- male sham (MS), 2- female sham (FS), 3- male ischemia (MI) with 3-hour reperfusion (ISC3hr), and 4- Female ischemia (FI) with 3-hour reperfusion (ISC3hr). Bilateral renal ischemia was induced for 45 minutes and blood samples were taken after reperfusion for the measurements of serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitrite levels. The left kidney was removed for evaluation of MDA and tissue nitrite levels. Right kidney and brain tissue underwent histological examination.

Serum BUN level increased in both genders. Serum nitrite level was significantly different between both genders, meaning that it was increased in the female rats as compared to male ones. Overall brain tissue damage was significantly increased in males compared to females.

RIR has an effect on the function and tissue of kidney and brain in both genders. Female rats are more susceptible to the nitric oxide system than the male ones. This study showed that male brain tissue was more susceptible to RIR. Therefore, gender is one of the important factors that should be considered in clinical treatments.

Human choices and decisions are highly affected by some psychological and personality traits. These psychological characteristics may also be related to the choice of delivery type. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality dimensions and choice of delivery type (cesarean section or normal) in pregnant women referred to Abolfazl hospital in Minab county, Iran, in 2018.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. The statistical population consisted of all pregnant women referred to Abolfazl medical center in 2008 in Minab, 118 of whom were selected by convenience sampling. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was used to collect the data.

There was a significant difference in the choice of delivery type (normal and cesarean section) in pregnant women with extraversion and conscientiousness personality traits (P value <0.05). The mean extraversion and conscientiousness scores were higher in patients who tended to have a vaginal delivery than in those who had chosen cesarean section.

The results of the present study show that personality traits can determine the type of delivery by creating specific moods; therefore, considering the high level of complications of cesarean section (CS) and high CS rate in Iran, we can change people’s attitudes and play a role in reducing the number of CSs through long-term training.

In recent years, sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS have become an epidemic and are growing rapidly. Given the importance of controlling the disease in recent years, the awareness of the most important risk factors associated with patient survival is important. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the most important factors affecting the survival of HIV patients using the random survival forest (RSF) method.

In this retrospective study, medical records of 769 HIV patients in Hamadan Health Center from 1997 to 2017 were used to determine the most important factors in patient survival using Cox proportional hazards model and RSF method. The Brier score and C-index were applied to compare the Cox model and RSF method.

Based on the results, 662 (86.1%) patients were male. The mean ± SD diagnosis age was 33.83 ± 9.63 years. Using Cox model, variables such as injection history, co-injection history, tuberculosis (TB) status, the first CD4 cell count, and the time of disease diagnosis until TB were determined to be variables affecting the survival of patients. According to the hazard ratio (HR), the risk of death for those with a history of injections was 12.328 times greater than that of noninjectors, and for those with TB, it was 13.565 times greater than that of non-TB patients. An increase in CD4 cell counts was associated with a decline in the risk of mortality. Based on the log-rank model, the variables such as the time until diagnosis of TB, the first CD4 cell count, ART, and history of co-injection had the highest impact on predicting the survival of HIV+ patients, respectively.

In case of the presence of many risk factors and the relationship between risk factors, the use of RSF offers a better performance in determining the influential survival factors as compared to Cox model which has limiting presumptions. 

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is of the most common congenital anomalies. Most of the major cardiac defects can be diagnosed by fetal echocardiography at 20 weeks of gestation. Evaluation of nuchal thickness can be the first stage of screening in the diagnosis of CHD. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between nuchal translucency (NT) and CHD in pregnant women.

The current study is an analytical-descriptive study conducted on fetuses of 44 pregnant women. Abdominal sonography of the participants at 10-14 weeks of gestation was performed, and they referred to a pediatric hospital in Bandar Abbas in order to undergo fetal echocardiography at 17-18 weeks of gestation.

The mean age of the participants was 28±6 years. Out of 44 pregnant women, fetal heart disease was diagnosed in 4 pregnancies (9%), one of whom was reported as 2.5≤NT<3.5 and three cases were reported as 3.5≤NT. Out of 40 women with no fetal heart disease, two cases had NT≥3.5, 12 cases had 2.5≤NT<3.5 and 26 cases had NT>2.5.

The results of this study showed that 6.8% of the cases of CHD had an increase in the thickness of NT (NT≥3.5) at 10-14 weeks of gestation. The sensitivity of this screening method was 75% at 18-20 weeks of gestation which is low for general population. Therefore, NT cannot be regarded as the only or main screening tool for CHD.

Oxidative stress is associated with various pathophysiological events such as cancer, kidney diseases, and diabetes. Studies have shown that reactive oxygen species (ROS) also play a key role in the development of vasculopathies and can cause disorders such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and coronary stenosis. Atherosclerosis, due to endothelial cell damage, results in at least impaired endothelial function and consequently macrophage infiltration and impaired smooth muscle function. Since then, many researchers have focused on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation and its interaction with the endothelium as the primary injury that leads to the formation of fatty streaks and eventually to atherogenesis. It has now become clear that different types of ROS are not only produced in the vessel wall but also contribute to the pathogenesis of a range of cardiovascular disorders individually and collectively. 

Struma ovarii (SO) is a rare phenomenon. In addition, it can be identified from the histological assessment and may show the characteristics of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in rare cases. In several cases, malignant stroma ovarii is found to produce hyperthyroidism while very few cases are reported with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The present study reported SO co-incident with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. It should be mentioned that accurate monitoring of any signs of hypothyroidism is highly important after the surgery.

Case Report:

 A 21-year-old patient with oligomenorrhea, hypogastric pain for the last year, dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea with a right adnexal cystic focus, and a bright echogenic focus referred to Al-Zahra hospital, Rasht. Histopathologic examination was compatible with the diagnosis of mature cystic teratoma containing SO co-incident with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis while the patient was in a good general appearance 2 days after the surgery. Regarding the subclinical hypothyroidism and due to her willingness to conceive, the clinician administered levothyroxine and thus the patient was in a stable state within 6 months.

In general, it is recommended to consider SO in women with ovarian mass and impaired thyroid function.