نشریه دانشگاه علوم پزشکی خراسان شمالی
سال چهاردهم شماره 4 (زمستان 1401)

Advances in new communication technologies have created a good environment for the provision of various services. Due to the importance of using new communication technologies in health care, this study was conducted to identify opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses of these technologies in the field of health with a focus on rare patients.

This qualitative study was conducted with the participation of 40 experts and specialists in the field of communication and health, and a number of rare patients. The sampling method was snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews continued to the point of data saturation. To collect data, notes were taken and the interviews were recorded and transcribed. For accurate data analysis, MAXQDA (version 12) was used.

The results of this study on opportunities, challenges, threatening factors, and strategies of using new communication technologies in the field of health led to the formation and identification of 379 initial codes, including 45 categories, which finally 4 themes of opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses were extracted.

New communication technologies, regarding their potentials, could facilitate the advancement of health communication and provide better digital solutions for rare patients, who face various challenges in their treatment period and social life, as well as mental and psychological concerns and the need for information. It is recommended to determine the potentials, difficulties, and barriers associated with employing new communication technologies and then, plan, establish standards and rules, and employ these technologies accordingly

According to the report of the World Health Organization represent-ative in Iran and expressing regret over the increasing and cautionary trend of injuries and deaths due to traffic accidents, road casualties in this country have been increasing since 2017, and they are among the five most important causes of death in Iran. Therefore, the present study aimed to locate the emergency stations on the roads leading to Bojnurd, North Khorasan Province, Iran, in order to reduce injuries and deaths and provide timely services to the injured and accident victims.

This applied research used a positivism philosophy, library documents, specialized references, previous studies, field research, observations, and interviews. Based on experts' opinions, 10 locating factors were selected for weighting using multi-criteria decision-making methods (FAHP). Afterward, a fine-grained zoning map was provided in GIS utilizing FUZZY logic.

Physical, demographic, social, and geographic data were used in this study to locate the emergency stations on the roads of this province. The results revealed four desirable locations for the construction of emergency statins on the roads leading to Bojnurd.

The selection of the correct place to construct emergency stations plays a significant role in reducing the time for the emergency vehicle to reach the patient's bedside. Therefore, the location and placement of emergency centers and the arrangement of these services on the road, as well as the optimal distribution of these centers have a significant impact on the type of performance and quality of service

Considering the effectiveness of polymorphisms in the occurrence of respiratory diseases, it seems that these genetic variations in viral and microbial receptors can be effective in the occurrence and progression of the disease. The present study aimed to  assess the relationship between the C-159T polymorphism in the CD14 gene promoter and the severity of the disease in  Covid-19 patients during 2020-2021.

The subjects were randomly selected from subjects referred for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and studied in five groups: healthy, outpatient, non-critically ill hospitalized, critically ill hospitalized, and deceased patients. The peripheral blood (3ml) was obtained from all patients and DNA was extracted. Thereafter,  C-159T polymorphism in the CD14 gene promoter was determined by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. The genotype frequency was determined in terms of heterozygosity, homozygosity, and mutant regarding polymorphism. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 21) (P<0.05).

The results pointed out that the most common C-159T polymorphism was the CT polymorphism, which was observed in 107 (51.0%) subjects and was significantly higher than other polymorphisms in all PCR- and PCR+ participants. This difference was not significant for deceased people.

According to the results pointing out that the C-159T polymorphism is effective in causing the disease, as well as the significant relationship between the TT and CT genotypes with the coronavirus, the probability of developing the disease is higher in T allele carriers. Therefore, it is suggested that CT polymorphism in CD14 gene promoter is considered an important prognosis in coronavirus disease.

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite with relatively high prevalence in human societies. Due to the lack of information on toxoplasmosis infection in school-aged children in Bojnord, the present study aimed to assess the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in school-age students and the level of vitamin D3 deficiency in them in Bojnurd, Northeast of Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, the seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies and their correlation with vitamin D3 deficiency were analyzed with ELISA among 361 school-aged children living in the urban areas of Bojnord.

Of the 361 recruited subjects, 175 (48.5%) cases were male, and 186 (51.5%) subjects were female. They were within the age range of 7-18 years. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii among school children was 6% (22/361), that were positive for T. gondii IgG, and none of the children were positive for T. gondii IgM. No significant difference was found between males and females. Seropositivity to toxoplasmosis was not significantly associated with age, gender, residential area, and having contact with cats (P>0.05). Vitamin D3 deficiency was observed only in eight students with anti-toxoplasma antibodies.

As evidenced by the results of this study, the prevalence of toxoplasmosis among school-aged children in Bojnord is relatively low; nonetheless, vitamin D3 deficiency was observed in people with toxoplasmosis; therefore, control programs and health education are necessary to prevent toxoplasmosis in children

This research aimed to design and validate the education model of philosophy of life for students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from the point of view of professors.

This qualitative research was performed on eight university professors selected through the purposeful sampling method. In the qualitative section, a semi-structured interview tool was used to collect data until theoretical saturation was reached. The qualitative data analysis method was open and central with selective coding. Its validity and reliability were measured through factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha and were confirmed at 0.87 and 0.83, respectively.

Regarding the pattern of the components of social life philosophy, individual life philosophy, religious life philosophy, and moral life philosophy, 10, 9, 6, and 8 key concepts were obtained, respectively. In total, 33 concepts were obtained from the results.

Based on the review of results, the components of the causal conditions include four main components and 13 secondary components were confirmed. Finally, the findings and the teaching model presented in this research were confirmed.

Cataract surgery is a common surgery, especially among the elderly, and the choice of anesthesia medications is critical in such patients. In this study, the effects of midazolam, propofol, and dexmedetomidine were investigated for sedation in patients undergoing cataract surgery under local anesthesia.

Ninety patients were included in this study and underwent cataract surgery using class II and III anesthesia (according to the ASA criteria). They were also randomly assigned to three groups. The first group received midazolam, the second group received propofol, and the third group received dexmedetomidine. During the surgery and recovery phase, blood pressure, arterial blood oxygen saturation, heart rate, and the occurrence of complications were recorded. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 23) at a significance level of 0.05.

Alterations in arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels were not significantly different among the three groups (P>0.05); however, there were fewer changes in SpO2 levels at recovery in the propofol group (P<0.05). Moreover, alterations in blood pressure did not differ significantly across the three groups during the surgery (P>0.05), whereas during the recovery, they were lower in the group receiving dexmedetomidine (P>0.05). Finally, Heart rates were not significantly different among the three groups during surgery and recovery (P>0.05).

The results demonstrated that in patients with hypertension and tachycardia, dexmedetomidine may be a better choice for sedation.

The use of modern teaching methods to train practice nurses empowers them to play their roles. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Team Member Teaching Design (TMTD) and the routine teaching methods on the diabetes-related knowledge of the community covered by practice nurses.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 24 practice nurses and 192 persons from the community covered by them. The samples were assigned into two groups of experiment and control via a simple randomization method. Diabetes care education was presented to the intervention and control groups using the TMTD and routine methods, respectively. The required data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire related to diabetes and the TMTD model. The gathered data were analyzed in the SPSS-20 statistical package using the independent t-test, paired t-test, and repeated measures analysis of variance.

There was a significant difference between the mean scores of knowledge on TMTD between the practice nurses in the control and intervention groups after the intervention (P<0.001). The mean knowledge scores improved in the intervention group (12.08±1.44) compared to the controls (0.577±0.166) over time. Similarly, there were significant differences regarding the mean scores of diabetes-related knowledge in the community covered by the practice nurses in the experimental and control groups after the intervention (13.23±1.30 vs. 10.37±1.89) and at follow-up (12.42±1.49 vs. 9.96±1.72, respectively) (P<0.001).

The TMTD increased the learning of practice nurses and the community covered by them more than the routine teaching method.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a toxic chemical that is used as a monomer in the production of plastic products. The BPA has an endocrine-disrupting effect and ‎induces damage to the nervous system. Crocin, an active ingredient of Crocus sativus L. has ‎neuroprotective effects. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate crocin’s effects on BPA-induced ‎memory impairment in rats and the levels of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases (ERK), Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase-II (CaMKII), and Cyclic AMP-Response Element-Binding Protein (CREB) proteins in the hippocampus.

Bisphenol A (100 mg/kg, gavage) and crocin (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, IP) were administered to adult male rats for 28 days. Memory and learning functions were evaluated by the Morris water maze, and the level of proteins was determined using the Western blot method.

Administration of the BPA (100 mg/kg) significantly induced memory impairment and reduced the levels of ERK, p.ERK, CaMKII, and p.CREB proteins in the BPA group, compared to the control group. On the other hand, crocin (20 mg/kg) markedly improved learning and memory impairment and increased the levels of ERK, p.ERK, and CaMKII proteins in the hippocampus, compared to the BPA (100 mg/kg) group.

Administration of crocin (20 mg/kg) improves memory and learning defects induced by BPA (100 mg/kg). The enhancement of the ‎p.ERK, ERK, and p. CaMKII protein levels in the hippocampus has an important role in crocin protective effects

MicroRNAs have been reported as potentially valuable biomarkers for various ‎diseases, including diabetes, heart diseases, neurological diseases, and age-related diseases. The ‎present study aimed to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of intense intermittent exercise on the ‎expression of mir146a, blood sugar, insulin, and insulin resistance in the hippocampus of aged diabetic male rats.

This study was performed on 40 male Wistar rats aged 18-21 months with an average weight of ‎‎280±20 g. After becoming diabetic through streptozotocin solution, they were ‎randomly divided into 4 groups, including 1) healthy high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercise, 2) healthy control, 3) diabetic HIIT exercise, and 4) diabetic control. It should be mentioned that each group included 10 rats. The exercise groups exercised 5 days a week ‎according to the HIIT programs for 8 weeks. The collected data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism software (version 8) at a significance level of P<0.05.

The results showed that 8 weeks of HIIT exercise increased the ‎expression of mir146a in both of the exercise groups, compared to the diabetic control ‎group (P<0.001). Moreover, the blood sugar, insulin, and insulin resistance levels significantly decreased in the diabetic exercise, healthy HIIT exercise, ‎‎and healthy control ‎groups, compared to the diabetic control group (P<0.001).‎

It can be concluded that 8 weeks of HIIT training, which increased the expression of mir146a, can reduce neuronal destruction in the hippocampus region. Moreover, it can be used as a suitable non-therapeutic mechanism for diabetics to prevent or reduce damage in this brain region that is related to cognitive abilities.

This study aimed to analyze the factors affecting the development of the quality of life of the elderly in North Khorasan Province emphasizing the role of participation in physical activities.

This study used a qualitative-quantitative research method. The statistical population in the qualitative section included a number of experts, such as sports officials of the province; professors of sports management, psychology, sociology, and geriatrics; as well as officials of welfare and health departments (n=25). In the quantitative section, the statistical population included a number of elderly referring to sports centers (n=247). A purposeful and convenience method was used for sampling. The required data were collected using interviews (in the qualitative section) and a researcher-made questionnaire (in the quantitative section). The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by 8 experts. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS (version 21) and LISREL (version 8.7) software.

Based on the results, the most important factors affecting the elderly participation in physical activities and development of their quality of life were management strategies, advertising and noticing, financial and economic, personal, socio-cultural, places, and facilities.

According to the findings of the study, managers should pay special attention to the factors affecting the participation of the elderly in sports activities and help improve their quality of life by providing suitable conditions for their participation in these activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a major health problem that has had negative impacts on various aspects of people's lives. This study aimed to present a narrative review of reviews that have addressed the social effects of the COVID-19 epidemic. To achieve this goal, the Pubmed database was searched using keywords related to the fields of social implication, COVID-19, and review studies. Finally, 20 out of 61 articles were approved and their results were reviewed. In the field of education, numerous challenges were mentioned, such as inequality and lack of access to the necessary facilities to use virtual education, increasing workload, insufficient virtual education, negative impact on mental health, reduction in the quality of educator-learner communication, lack of technology knowledge of educators, reduced participation, activity and motivation of students, and ergonomic problems caused by the use of digital educational tools.  In the field of violence, three dimensions of violence against women, children, and healthcare personnel were studied. The factors affecting this field included women's increased economic dependence, limited access to shelter, and increased economic pressure on men due to unemployment and losing jobs. Other problems caused by the epidemic involved the loss of breadwinners, unemployment, reduction in imports and exports, decrease in the gross domestic product, reduced access to food, and food insecurity

Hospital design is generally accepted as a complex task in functional dimensions. The present study examines the effect of daylight on the design of therapeutic spaces to create an effective treatment environment. This research aimed to acquaint the policy-makers of therapeutic spaces with the determining role of daylight and its related challenges.

To comprehend the intellectual, structural, and dynamic patterns of bibliographic backgrounds in this field of research, 121 related research were reviewed from valid research databases.

Studies are divided into four main categories: The first group of studies focuses on the role of natural light in improving the performance of the building (providing quality for the indoor environment and reducing energy consumption). The second group of studies focuses on the role of natural light in improving patients' health (mental and physical health). The third group considers the role of natural light in improving the efficiency of medical staff and the fourth group considers the role of natural light in alleviating environmental pollution.

Review of the related literature shows that enhanced access to daylight in medical spaces is associated with reduced energy consumption, improved efficiency of health care delivery, and shortening the length of hospital stay. Optimizing medical spaces on this basis, in addition to satisfying users, will significantly reduce the cost of health care and positively impact the economic sustainability of these spaces.

Fasting is one of the most important Islamic acts of worship ordered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), the great Imams, and Muslim philosophers. It has a tremendous effect on various aspects of human beings, including physical and mental health, cholesterol level control, and triglyceride level control. Moreover, it alleviates the dimensions of depression, psychosis, anxiety, obsession, interpersonal sensitivity, phobia, hostility, and paranoid thoughts. One of the most important effects of fasting on the human body is its influence on the immune system function. Significantly, it has been found that inflammatory biomarkers, such as IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP), are suppressed considerably by short- and long-term intermittent fasting. In overweight adults, calorie restriction (CR) improves clinical findings for patients with moderate asthma, reduces oxidative and inflammatory stress markers, and minimizes metabolic disease risk markers.