مجله دانشگاه علوم پزشکی قم
سال پانزدهم شماره 6 (پیاپی 113، شهریور 1400)

Depression is a disorder in which personality factors are one of the presumed causes. The purpose of this study was to test the fit of structural model of personality type D and depression mediated by cognitive distortions and family functioning in the citizens of Bandar Abbas.

This study was a correlation of structural equation modeling. Its population consisted of citizens of Bandar Abbas, from which 239 people were selected by stratified sampling. Measurement tools were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Type D Personality Scale (TDPS), Interpersonal Cognitive Distortion Scale (ICDS) and Family Performance Scale (FPS). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The model of this study has an acceptable fit with the data and family functioning has a mediating role between type D and depression, but the two variables of cognitive distortion and family function were not associated with depression. The results also showed that type D has a direct and significant effect on depression, cognitive distortions and family functioning

Personality factors, especially type D, play a role in depression. Personality type D can affect family performance and cognition.

Self-esteem is an important psychological factor affecting the health and quality of life of students. This study was an attempt to investigate the predictive role of self-esteem and field of study determinants of mental health status of undergraduate health-professional students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a represented sample of year 1-4 undergraduate students (N=184) were invited to participate in the study students (Nursing, Midwifery, Operating room and Emergency medical students). Psychological health was measured using a standard instrument GHQ-28. CSEI also was applied to measure the students’ self-esteem

A bout 44% of the students had GHQ scores of 23 and above, indicating an increased likelihood of psychological distress. Depression had the lowest Mean±SD score (3.92±4.2), while social dysfunction had the highest Mean±SD score (8.06±3.9) among the subscales. There was a significantly negative correlation between GHQ score and students’ self-esteem (P= 0.000, r= -0.556). The students with higher self-esteem experienced lower level of psychological distress. According to the regression analysis, 30.9% of the variance in students’ mental health is predicted by self-esteem.

A high prevalence of emotional disturbance among health care practitioners is likely to compound the existing problems of health care provision and that counseling and other support services should be made available to them.

The main topic of this study was to impact assessment of the outcome of Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI) attributed to PM2.5 exposure using the AirQ+ model in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, as one of the most polluted cities in the world during the period (2008-2017).

Mortality data (including population and incidence of health outcome) and PM2.5 were obtained from the Deputy Minister of Health, Environmental Protection, and Meteorological Organizations of Ahvaz. After validating the data according to WHO guidelines, they entered the AirQ+ software. Also, BI values ​​in 100 thousand people and RR with 95% confidence intervals were used.

The highest concentration of PM2.5 was in 2010 (70.72 µg/m3) and the lowest in 2014 (41.97 µg/m3) and in all years of measurement the amount of PM2.5 was higher than the WHO standard (10 µg/m3) was. The results showed that in the health outcome of ALRI, there was a significant relationship between PM2.5 concentration, ratio, and attributed cases. Thus, with the increase of air pollution in Ahvaz due to PM2.5 pollutants, mortality and risk of this disease increased. During the ten years under study, the highest proportions and attributed cases of AP, BE, and NE in all health outcomes were observed in 2010. In ALRI, 41.43% were 8 and 10 people.

It can be concluded that appropriate measures and policies should be adopted to reduce air pollution in the control of PM2.5 pollutant sources. Until it reduced the health effects of this pollutant in urban children under 5 years of age.

Aspartame is a non-nutritive and artificial sweetener which is widely used in diet and low calorie products and also in a variety of foods, drugs and hygiene products. The present study has been conducted in order to evaluation of the effects of aspartame on ovaries in female mice.

In this experimental study, 36 adult female mice were randomly divided into four groups of nine each. For three groups aspartame was administered orally with the doses of 40, 80 and 160 mg/kg.BW respectively, and one group as the control group received normal saline for 91 days by gavage. Also a control group was considered. 24 hours after the last treatment, ovarian tissue and blood samples were collected and used for biochemical, histomorphological, histomorphometric, histochemical and gene expression studies. The obtained data were analyzed using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s test at the significance level of P<0.05.

In ovarian histomorphometric studies, aspartame at a dose of 160 mg/kg significantly reduced growing follicles and significantly increased atresia follicles. Also in biochemical studies caused a significant decrease in TAC and a significant increase in MDA compared to control group. In connection with the studied genes, aspartame at a dose of 160 mg/kg caused a significant decrease in the expression of Bcl-2 gene and also a significant increase in the expression of P53 and Caspase-3 genes compared to the control group.

It seems that high dose aspartame can cause adverse effects on histomorphology, histomorphometry and expression of P53, Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 genes in rat ovaries

Today, PEI is used for high-efficiency gene transfection. This polycation can have toxic effects on cells due to charged amine groups. This study evaluated the toxic effects of PEI in both single and oligonucleotide-binding modes on VSMC cells.

First, VSMC cells were cultured and then transfected by nanoparticles in two PEI states alone and containing oligonucleotides. After 24 hours, cell viability and morphology were assessed using MTT and electron microscopy methods respectively. Data were analysed using the one-way ANOVA, followed by the Tukey Post-Hoc test.

The results showed that nanoparticles significantly reduced the cell viability by causing toxicity to cells (P<0.0001) and also its images showed cell death and apoptosis. But PEI containing oligonucleotides had no toxic effects on cell viability (P= 0.7414). Its electron microscope image also showed a normal cell morphology.

Overall, this study showed that the effect of PEI toxicity on VSMC cells is inhibited by oligonucleotide sequencing and thus neutralizing the positive charges of the amine group.

The study of interventions for improving decision making and ethical behavior are of interest to researcher. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of tDCS on adolescents’ decision-making and moral behavior.

The method of the present study is quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. 32 female high school students in Tehran were randomly selected and randomly divided into two groups of 16 people. The instruments used included the Ethical Sensitivity, Ethical Decision Making, and Ethical Behavior. Brain stimulation was performed with the TDCS device and at the DLPFC point of the brain anodally and unilaterally in six sessions of 20 minutes, 24 hours apart, with a voltage of 2 mA. Then, post-test was performed on both groups. Data were analyzed using t-test.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the tDCS group and the control group in the variables of ethical decision making and ethical behavior (P<0.0001). Due to the difference in means, the tDCS group performed better than the control group.

In a general conclusion, it can be stated that a 6-session course of tDCS brain stimulation has a positive effect on the decision-making and moral behavior of ninth grade junior high school female students, so it is necessary to examine the effectiveness of this intervention with different groups and in various conditions. And in the case of confirming this finding, it should be considered in counseling and planning centers.

Patients’ beliefs about medicines can affect their adherence to the medicines. The aim of this study was to determine beliefs about medicines and medication adherence and its associated factors in patients with chronic diseases.

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 268 patients with chronic diseases in 2019-2020 were included by convenience sampling method. The beliefs about medicines questionnaire and the Medication Adherence Scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 20 using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient at the significance level of α = 0.05.

The Mean±SD score of beliefs about medicines in terms of harms of medicines was 2.53±0.71, in benefits of medicines was 4.27±0.49 and overdose of the medicines was 3.23±0.79.There was a relationship between all three dimensions of beliefs about medicines with medication adherence (P<0.05). There was a direct relationship between the use of herbal medicine and belief in the harms of medicines (P<0.05). In addition, there was a relationship between gender and education level with belief in the benefits of the medicines (P<0.05).

Some chronic patients’ beliefs about the drug were not appropriate and they believed that the drugs were harmful and that the drugs were over-prescribed by doctors. Belief in the harms of the medicines, the benefits of the medicines, and the overdose of the medicines are associated with medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases. Patients should be encouraged to express their views on medications in order to improve patients’ beliefs about medication.