Thrita
Volume:8 Issue: 24, Dec 2019

Having a proper sexual function is one of the most important factors in improving marital life quality and family relationships in married people. There are a few appropriate interventions for developing the quality of sexuality in the life of married women in Iran.

Thus, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of sexual skills training with an eclectic approach in sexual function in Iranian women.

This study was a randomized single-blinded clinical trial conducted from April to September 2015 on 30 women referring to counseling centers of Yazd selected with the purposeful sampling method. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups of 15. The experimental group received sexual skills training in nine sessions of 90 min (two sessions per week) but the control group remained on the waiting list. The data were collected before the intervention and five weeks afterward using a demographic form and Female Sexual Function index (FSFI-19). We used SPSS-21 to analyze data by Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test, chi-square test, t-test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at the P = 0.05 level.

The results showed that sexual skills training with an eclectic approach significantly increased sexual function and its subscales such as sexual desire and stimulation compared to the control group (P < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in lubrication and orgasm subscales.

It can be deduced that sexual skills training has an effective role in promoting sexual function in married women. Thus, this cost-effective therapy can be used to increase the sexual quality of women.

After cardiovascular diseases, cancer is the main cause of death in the United States, and its prevalence is continually increasing. Ovarian cancer is a fetal and common cancer among women and is the eighth common cancer in Iran. Colorectal cancer is known as the second and fourth common cancer in Iranian women and men, respectively. Arazyme is a metalloprotease with strong antitumor effects on tumor cells.

This study aimed at studying the effect of metalloprotease arazyme in vitro on the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 genes, causing metastasis in ovarian and colon cancer.

Bacterial strains and cell lines, the construction of an expression vector, and preparation of recombinant protein were done. Then, they were evaluated by Western blot, cell culture, cell viability assay, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

The effects of arazyme on ovarian and colon cell lines were assessed by the MTT assay showing that the viability of cancer cells treated with arazyme decreased significantly in comparison with control cells. Also, RT-PCR showed that the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 genes decreased after treatment with arazyme, which was significant when compared to the results of pre-treatment.

In this study, the results showed that the use of arazyme protein as a bacterial anti-protease can play a significant role in reducing the expression of metastatic genes. According to numerous studies on the role of bacterial proteases in the process of metastasis in recent years, this method can be considered as a therapeutic approach in reducing the metastatic process.

Irisin is a myosin that increases the secretion during exercise and stimulates the white to brown adipose tissue transformation.

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of eight weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIT) on irisin levels of young obese men.

The subjects of the study were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group performed HIT training for eight weeks (three sessions per week, each session 45 to 60 minutes with an intensity of 90% of heart rate reserve). Fasting blood sampling was done 24h before and 48h after trainings. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon and U-Mann-Whitney tests.

In the experimental group, BMI was decreased (P = 0.023), and irisin was increased significantly (P = 0.005). Also, the mean differences of BMI (P = 0.049) and irisin (P = 0.031) were significant between control and experimental groups (P ≤ 0.05).

The findings showed that eight-week of HIT could increase irisin and reduce BMI in obese young males.

Serous Otitis Media (SOM) is one of the most common diseases of children that can lead to hearing loss and imbalance. Recently, the role of vitamin D has been identified in strengthening and regulating the immune system. Moreover, vitamin D supplementation has been recognized to improve the immune response against upper respiratory infection and pathogen overgrowth.

A cross-sectional study was performed on 89 children aged 1 - 15 years with adenoid hypertrophy who met the inclusion criteria. The serum vitamin D level was compared between the two groups of children with and without SOM.

The mean age of the target children was 69.57 ± 25.65 months. The mean serum vitamin D level was 23.86 ± 12.7 in all patients. The mean serum vitamin D level was 24.7 ± 13.1 and 22.9 ± 12.2 in patients with and without SOM (based on tympanometry), respectively, yet the difference was not statistically significant. However, the difference was significant between the two groups of children with the age of < 84 months and > 84 months (P = 0.05).

The role of vitamin D was identified in increasing the incidence of SOM in children older than 84 months with adenoid hypertrophy. In older children, the timely diagnosis and treatment of vitamin D deficiency can prevent severe SOM complications, which can save a lot of costs for families and the health system.

The Human bocavirus (HBoV) was first identified from the nasopharyngeal aspirate specimen in 2005, which includes four subtypes (HBoV1-4). The HBoV-1 is a major subtype in acute respiratory infections of children, and others (HBoV2-4) present in the stool specimens. The pathogenic role of HBoV2-4 in acute gastroenteritis has not confirmed yet, therefore, it has been considered widely.

In this report, we presented a 2-month-old boy with acute gastroenteritis admitted to the Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan, Iran. The stool sample of the patient was tested for HBoV by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the NP-1 gene. The other major gastrointestinal pathogens of Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Giardia lamblia, and Entamoeba histolytica were confirmed by specialized microbiological procedures and viral pathogen of Rotavirus by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This case was confirmed by NP-1 plasmid cloned as a positive control. All clinical manifestations were analyzed by a pediatric nurse through hospital admission.

This case was found HBoV-positive for the NP-1 gene of 354 bp by PCR. The major signs were diarrhea, fever, dehydration, and abdominal pain. This case was charged after supportive therapies for dehydration. We showed that HBoV could be a gastrointestinal pathogen in pediatric patients and causing diarrhea in young children. However, more studies are needed to confirm.

This study tested structural relationships between depression, perceived stress, sleep quality, and quality of life through path analysis.

In this cross-sectional study, 360 elderly Iranian people were selected using multistage cluster sampling from April 2 to December 6, 2018. The instruments included a demographic form, the geriatric depression scale (GDS), the quality of life scale (QOLS), the perceived stress scale (PSC), and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). To analyze the data, the researchers used SPSS21, LISREL-8.80, and the Sobel test.

The results showed that depression had a significant direct effect on sleep quality, but not on stress. The effect of depression and stress on the quality of life was found to be 45%. Further, depression, stress, and sleep quality had a significant direct effect on the quality of life. This could explain 85% of changes in the quality of life of the elderly. Moreover, depression with the mediating variable of sleep quality had an indirect effect on the quality of life.

It can be concluded that providing conditions for a high quality of life level and a good sleep status can help to improve mental health in elderly people. However, further experimental and longitudinal research is needed in this respect, and it is necessary to study other mediating factors on quality of life in elderly