Golestan University of Medical Sciences
Golestan University of Medical Sciences RepositoryNot a member yet
3346 research outputs found
Sort by
Oral health and risk of upper gastrointestinal cancers in a large prospective study from a high-risk region: Golestan cohort study
No full textTooth loss and periodontal disease have been associated with several cancers, and poor oral health may be an important risk factor for upper gastrointestinal (UGI, i.e., esophageal and gastric) cancers. We assessed the relationship between oral health and UGI cancers using a large prospective study of over 50,000 adults living in Golestan Province, Iran, a high-incidence area for these cancers. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for the association between three different measures of oral health frequency of tooth brushing; number of missing teeth; and the sum of decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) and UGI cancers. During a median follow-up duration of 13 years, there were 794 incident UGI cancers (396 esophageal and 398 gastric cancers). Daily tooth brushing was associated with a decreased risk of developing both esophageal (HR ¼ 0.670; 95% CI: 0.486�0.924) and gastric (HR ¼ 0.741; 95% CI: 0.544�1.01) cancers (combined UGI cancer HR ¼ 0.697; 95% CI: 0.558�0.871) compared with never brushing. Tooth loss in excess of the loess smoothed, age- and sex-specific median number of teeth lost was significantly associated with esophageal (HR ¼ 1.64; 95% CI: 1.08�2.47) and gastric cancers (HR ¼ 1.58; 95% CI: 1.05�2.38). There were some adverse associations between DMFT and UGI cancers but most were not statistically significant. These results suggest increased risk of developing UGI cancers among individuals with poor oral health, and those who do not perform regular oral hygiene. Prevention Relevance: Poor oral health is associated with the risk of upper gastrointestinal cancers, and oral hygiene practices may help prevent these cancers. © 2021 American Association for Cancer Research
Determination of diazinon concentration by Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry in underground drinking water resources located near the rice fields, before and after the pesticide spraying
No full textWidespread and unsupervised use of pesticides in the rice fields of northern Iran has greatly increased the concern about their presence in drinking water resources. This study aimed to determine the effect of spraying of rice fields on the concentration of diazinon in rural underground drinking water resources with depth and water table of about 120 and 30 m respectively. Sampling was performed at regular intervals, before the first and after the last spraying. Diazinon extraction was carried out by USEPA liquid�liquid extraction method and the concentration of diazinon was measured by GC / Mass Spectrometry. No diazinon was observed in any of water resources before spraying, while the average concentration of diazinon after spraying was 0.005 ± 0.007 µg/l. Also there was a significant difference in diazinon concentration between water resources after spraying rice fields. There was a reverse significant correlation between the diazinon concentration and longitudinal distance from water resources to rice farms. Moreover, there was a significant direct correlation between the diazinon concentration in post-spraying samples and water turbidity. In general, spraying rice fields can cause diazinon to enter underground water resources near farms and it can be present in water resources for at least one month after the last spraying. © 2021 Elsevier B.V
Integrating mental health services into the primary health care system: The need for reform in Iran
No full textObjective: The main objective of this study was to review aspects of the current situation and structure of the integrated mental health care services for planning a reform. Aspects of the newly designed infrastructure, along with specification of duties of the various human resources, and its relation with Iran's Comprehensive Mental and Social Health Services (the SERAJ Program), will also be presented Method: This is a study on service design and three methods of literature review, deep interview with stakeholders, and focused group discussions. In the literature review, national and international official documents, including official reports of the World Health Organization (WHO) and consultant field visits, were reviewed. Deep semi-structured interviews with 9 stakeholders were performed and results were gathered and categorized into 3 main questions were analyzed using the responsibility and effectiveness matrix method. The Final results were discussed with experts, during which the main five-domain questions were asked and the experts' opinions were observed. Results: In this study, the main gaps of the public mental health care (PHC) services in Iran were identified, which included reduction of risk factors for mental disorders, training the general population, early recognition and treatment of patients with mental disorders, educating patients and their families, and rehabilitation services. The new model was then proposed to fill these gaps focusing on increasing access, continuity of care, coordination in service delivery, and comprehensiveness of care. A mental health worker was placed besides general healthcare workers and general practitioners (GPs). Services were prioritized and the master flowchart for mental health service delivery was designed. Conclusion: A reform was indeed necessary in the integrated mental health services in Iran, but regarding the infrastructure needed for this reform, including human and financial resources, support of the senior authorities of the Ministry of Health (MOH) is necessary for the continuity and enhancement of services. In this model, attention has been given to the principles of integrating mental health services into primary health care. Current experience shows that the primary health care system has been facing many executive challenges, and mental health services are not exclusion to this issue. Monitoring and evaluation of this model of service and efforts for maintaining sustainable financial resources is recommended to make a reform in this system and to stabilize it. Copyright © 2021 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the COVID-19 epidemic and associated factors for mortality in Golestan province, Iran: A retrospective cohort study
No full textBackground. We aimed to further clarify the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 2019-nCoV pneumonia and risk factors associated for mortality. Methods. In this study, we included inpatient with acute respiratory distress syndrome at Golestan Hospitals who had been discharged or had died in 2020. Epidemiological, and clinical data were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between recovered and died cases. We used multiple logistic regression methods to explore the risk factors associated with in-hospital death. Results. Overall 2,835 acute respiratory distress syndrome patients were included in this study, and 874 (30.83) were positive for 2019-nCoV. Five hundred and sixty-three patients (19.86) died, 1,687 patients (59.51) were recovered. Of the total deaths, only 288 (10.15) were attributed to COVID-19. The most common symptoms at onset of illness were respiratory distress 1,795 (63.32%), fever 1,601 (56.47%), dry cough 1,595 (56.26%), sore throat 445 (15.70%), and myalgia 342 (12.06%). One thousand and twelve (35.7%) had 1 or more coexisting medical conditions. In multiple logistic regression analysis, risk factors associated with the death included older age OR (Odds Ratio) = 1.03; 95% CI; 1.02-1.04, blood oxygen level (SPO2 < 93%) (OR = 2.44; 95% CI; 1.79-3.31), comorbidities (OR = 2.15; 95% CI; 1.62-2.84), respiratory distress (OR = 1.74; 95% CI; 1.28-2.37), and headache (OR = 0.44 95% CI; 0.21-0.92). Conclusions. The 2019-nCoV infection caused collections of severe respiratory illness and was associated to a high ratio of hospitalization in ICU and high mortality. Older age and comorbidities were associated with more risk of death among patients with 2019-nCoV. © Copyright by Pacini Editore Srl, Pisa, Italy
Biallelic loss-of-function variants in the splicing regulator NSRP1 cause a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with spastic cerebral palsy and epilepsy
No full textPurpose: Alternative splicing plays a critical role in mouse neurodevelopment, regulating neurogenesis, cortical lamination, and synaptogenesis, yet few human neurodevelopmental disorders are known to result from pathogenic variation in splicing regulator genes. Nuclear Speckle Splicing Regulator Protein 1 (NSRP1) is a ubiquitously expressed splicing regulator not known to underlie a Mendelian disorder. Methods: Exome sequencing and rare variant family-based genomics was performed as a part of the Baylor-Hopkins Center for Mendelian Genomics Initiative. Additional families were identified via GeneMatcher. Results: We identified six patients from three unrelated families with homozygous loss-of-function variants in NSRP1. Clinical features include developmental delay, epilepsy, variable microcephaly (Z-scores �0.95 to �5.60), hypotonia, and spastic cerebral palsy. Brain abnormalities included simplified gyral pattern, underopercularization, and/or vermian hypoplasia. Molecular analysis identified three pathogenic NSRP1 predicted loss-of-function variant alleles: c.13591362delAAAG (p.Glu455AlafsTer20), c.1272dupG (p.Lys425GlufsTer5), and c.52C>T (p.Gln18Ter). The two frameshift variants result in a premature termination codon in the last exon, and the mutant transcripts are predicted to escape nonsense mediated decay and cause loss of a C-terminal nuclear localization signal required for NSRP1 function. Conclusion: We establish NSRP1 as a gene for a severe autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disease trait characterized by developmental delay, epilepsy, microcephaly, and spastic cerebral palsy. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
Developing basic health services packages: Defining a prioritization of effectiveness criteria
No full textBackground: Basic health services package (BHSP) is one of the key strategies for improving the effectiveness of health systems and equitable distribution of resources. Required factors to services included in the BHSP are based on some criteria that must be agreed on them. It is generally agreed that there is a little consent about the issue that what services can be provided with the aforementioned package. Aim: This study investigated the prioritization of effective criteria in developing BHSP for Iranian society. Methods: In this mixed-method study, senior managers and experts in the related fields were purposively selected. The sample sizes were considered 25 and 27 in the qualitative and quantitative study, respectively. Data was collected using structured and semi-structured questionnaire; moreover, personal deep interview and self- administered questionnaire were also used. To analyze, content analysis and SPSS software were finally implemented. Findings: In total, 54 criteria were categorized into 8 main groups of health priority including service delivery system, people demands, cost-effectiveness, utilization, financial resources, service social acceptability, commitments, and sovereignty. �Burden of disease�, �Vulnerable target groups�, and �community needs� had the greatest impact in determining BHSP in Iran, accordingly. Conclusion: To design evidence-based BHSP in Iran; it is recommended that some of the criteria such as Burden of disease, vulnerable target groups, and community needs should be replaced. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Colbert at haha 2021: Parallel neural networks for rating humor in spanish tweets
No full textPreviously, we proposed ColBERT, a humor detection model based on the general linguistic structure of humor for formal English texts. ColBERT uses BERT model to produce embeddings for the text sentences, which will be put as inputs into a parallel neural network. In this paper, we utilized the proposed model on informal Spanish texts to detect humor and rate its level. The current task has three differences compared to the original humor detection task on the ColBERT dataset: (1) rating humor is a regression task rather than binary classification, (2) texts are informal, and (3) texts are in a different language. Using our general model and without any knowledge of the Spanish language, we participated in HAHA shared task at IberLEF 2021 Forum and achieved 2nd place for humor rating and 3rd place for binary humor detection. The results confirm robustness of our proposed model. © 2021 CEUR-WS. All rights reserved
Effect of mindfulness based interventon on sleep quality in nulliparous pregnant women
No full textIntroduction: Poor sleep quality is common during pregnancy, mindfulness based intervention may effect on mothers sleep quality. This study was done to determin the effect of group counseling based on mindfulness on sleep quality in nulliparous pregnant women. Materials and Methods: In This clinical trial study, between 135 nulliparous pregnant women at 14-24 weeks, 29 women with poor sleep quality randomly assigned to intervention and control group. Intervention group attended weekly counseling sessions, for eight week, and the control group received only the usual prenatal care. The data collection tool were Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaire and demographic information form. Intervention group, completed Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaire at the beginning of intervention, after the end of the eighth session and one month after the end session and control group, at the beginning of study, 8 and 12 week after that, the questionnaire was completed. Results: The results of study showed that although the average score of sleep quality in two groups before the intervention was not statistically significant difference, but after intervention, sleep quality improved in the intervention group (P<0.001), and in follow-up, this result remained relatively stable until one month after intervention (P<0.004). Conclusion: It seems that group counseling mindfulness based on stress reduction can be used to improve the sleep quality of pregnant women to have better mental health during pregnancy. © 2021, Semnan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved
Clinical and molecular spectrum of P/Q type calcium channel Cav2.1 in epileptic patients
No full textBackground: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by the potential to induce seizure and accompanied by cognitive, psychological, and social consequences. CACNA1A gene is a voltage-gated P/Q-type Cav2.1 channel that is broadly expressed in the central nervous system, and the pathogenic variants within this gene may be associated with the epileptic phenotype. In the present study, we collected clinical and molecular data related to epileptic patients with CACNA1A pathogenic variants and investigated possible meaningful relationship between age at onset, neurodevelopmental disorders, type of seizures, brain imaging abnormalities, genotype, and protein domains. Results: In our retrospective literature studies, from among 890 articles reviewed, a total of 90 individuals were related to epilepsy phenotype. Our findings showed that about 90 percent of patients have shown the first symptoms in childhood and teenage years and different types of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as intellectual disability, developmental arrest, and behavioral disorders, have been common findings for these patients. Further, a wide range of abnormalities have been observed in their brain imaging, and generalized seizures have been the most type of seizures in these patients. However, our data showed no specific genotype�phenotype correlation in epileptic patients with CACNA1A pathogenic alterations. Conclusions: Our study focused on epileptic phenotype in patients with CACNA1A pathogenic variants and showed a wide range of clinical and molecular heterogeneity with no specific genotype�phenotype correlation. It seems that incomplete penetrance, de-novo variants, and modifier genes are obstacles in predicting the clinical outcome. © 2021, The Author(s)
15-Lipoxygenase and its metabolites in the pathogenesis of breast cancer: A double-edged sword
No full text15-lipoxygenase is one of the key enzymes for the metabolism of unsaturated fatty acids that its manipulation has been proposed recently as a new molecular target for regulating cancer cell growth. Aberrant expression of 15-lipoxygenase enzyme seems to play an indicative role in the pathology of different cancer types, tumor progression, metastasis, or apoptosis. Based on the fact that breast cancer is one of the most common cancers that imposes a burden of mortality in women also, on the other hand, evidence in experimental models and human studies indicate the emerging role of the 15-lipoxygenase pathway in breast cancer pathogenesis, we present a review of recent findings related to the role of 15- lipoxygenase enzyme and metabolites in breast cancer growth, apoptosis, metastasis, and invasion as well as their local and circulating expression pattern in patients with breast cancer. Our review supports the emerging role of 15- lipoxygenase in molecular and cellular processes regulating breast tumor cell fate with both positive and negative effects. © 2021, The Author(s)