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Background and Aims: According to the research background and need to print CBCT images in case of emergency, this study has been done to compare the quality and accuracy of the two methods of film and paper printing for CBCT images. Materials and Methods: The study of CBCT images taken from 5 patients was done and the cross-sectional slices on Fotolusio DNP papers and film AGFA were printed. Afterward, the images was exmined by a maxillofacial radiologist. The images’ quality were identified and recorded with anatomical, from 1 to 4 on forms. The accuracy was determined by the diagnosis of alveolar canal area and the comparison with the gold standard. Data were analyzed using independent chi-square and Fisher exact tests’. Results: The images quality in anatomical landmarks consisting PDL (P=0.02), lamina dura (P=0.006), the inferior alveolar canal (P=0.01) and the filling (P=0.006) had a significant difference. There was no significant difference. For the lower border of the mandible landmark, there was no difference between the two methods of printing. In comparing the diagnostic accuracy between the two methods (P=1). Conclusion: The results showed that the diagnostic quality in film printing is better than paper printing and the diagnostic accuracy is the same in both methods.

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most preventable causes of mental retardation throughout the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of filter paper in screening for congenital hypothyroidism and to determine an appropriate cut-off point for filter TSH for recalling screened neonates. Methods: In this cross-sectional study (descriptive analytic), the records of 2739 neonates who had been recalled during the CH screening program in the east of Tehran, Iran (health care centers of the Iran University of Medical Sciences), from March 2011 to March 2015, were studied. According to the CH screening program in Iran, the TSH on filter paper>5 is the current cut-off point for recalling the neonates. The data was analyzed with SPSS software, version 21. The ROC curve was used to determine the TSH cut-off point and the sensitivity and specificity of the filter test. The relationship between the filter and serum TSH was also determined. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Iran University of Medical Sciences. Results: The recall rate was 5.4%. The prevalence of hypothyroidism was 3/1000 neonates (164). The prevalence in males and females was 51.1% and 48.9%, respectively, with no significant difference. The number of recalled neonates diagnosed as patients with congenital hypothyroidism based on the filter TSH level was 5

Background and Aim: In the field of scientometrics, little attention has been paid to stem cells. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to draw a Scientific Map of stem cells area (co-word analysis) based on the papers indexed in Web of Science database in selected countries during the years 2011-2013. Materials and Methods: This study is based on descriptive method, and it was conducted by scientometrics and co-word analysis technique. In this study, 34,142 articles were analyzed from Web of Science database. The search system of Web of Science is a tool for collecting data. Data analysis was done using Web of Science analysis system and CiteSpace software. Results: Most productions in stem cells are in English and belong to America. Stem cell, cell differentiation, in vitro, gene expression, mesenchymal stem cells, embryonic stem cells and transplantation are the most frequently used words and hot topics in this field. Conclusion: The growing trend in this area has caused different subject fields to enter stem cells areas. Considering the high frequency of embryonic stem cells in the field, it can be said that different diseases such as spinal cord problems and heart diseases can be treated using these cells.

Background & Objectives : Children who work or live on the street are one of key populations at risk for HIV and hard to reach for study or providing services. Here, as a methodological paper, we present the methods and steps of a rapid assessment and response (RARE) project conducted among street children in Tehran. Methods : We applied a mixture of qualitative (literature review, focus group discussion, in-depth interview) and quantitative (structure interview) methods to collect data from key informants in non-governmental and governmental agencies as well as street children. We applied targeted sampling to recruit key informants and time location sampling to recruit street children. Results: The study was conducted in eight steps to recognize the involved stakeholders, define target population (street children) and to guide on how to approach them (steps 1 to 2: Initial Consultation, Study Area Profile), to map the venues and gathering spots and ethnographic findings crucial for further recruitment into surveys (steps 3 to 5: Contextual Assessment, Population and Setting Assessment, Health Issues Assessment), assess the risk behaviors (step 6: Assessment Behavior Risk and Health), evaluate the response (step 7: Intervention Assessment), and develop an operational plan for improving the services (step 8: Developing an Action Plan). Conclusion: RARE is a participatory mix research method with sufficient flexibility to study complex health problems such as stigmatized HIV risk behaviors among high risk and hard to reach populations and also to assess the health sector response.

Background and Aim: In the field of scientometrics, little attention has been paid to stem cells. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to draw a Scientific Map of stem cells area (co-word analysis) based on the papers indexed in Web of Science database in selected countries during the years 2011-2013. Materials and Methods: This study is based on descriptive method, and it was conducted by scientometrics and co-word analysis technique. In this study, 34,142 articles were analyzed from Web of Science database. The search system of Web of Science is a tool for collecting data. Data analysis was done using Web of Science analysis system and Citespace software. Results: Most productions in stem cells are in English and belong to America. Stem cell, cell differentiation, in vitro, gene expression, mesenchymal stem cells, embryonic stem cells and transplantation are the most frequently used words and hot topics in this field. Conclusion: The growing trend in this area has caused different subject fields to enter stem cells areas. Considering the high frequency of embryonic stem cells in the field, it can be said that different diseases such as spinal cord problems and heart diseases can be treated using these cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: According to the research background and need to print CBCT images in case of emergency, this study has been done to compare the quality and accuracy of the two methods of film and paper printing for CBCT images. Materials and Methods: The study of CBCT images taken from 5 patients was done and the cross-sectional slices on Fotolusio DNP papers and film AGFA were printed. Afterward, the images was exmined by a maxillofacial radiologist. The images' quality were identified and recorded with anatomical, from 1 to 4 on forms. The accuracy was determined by the diagnosis of alveolar canal area and the comparison with the gold standard. Data were analyzed using independent chi-square and Fisher exact tests'. Results: The images quality in anatomical landmarks consisting PDL (P=0.02), lamina dura (P=0.006), the inferior alveolar canal (P=0.01) and the filling (P=0.006) had a significant difference. There was no significant difference. For the lower border of the mandible landmark, there was no difference between the two methods of printing. In comparing the diagnostic accuracy between the two methods (P=1). Conclusion: The results showed that the diagnostic quality in film printing is better than paper printing and the diagnostic accuracy is the same in both methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Iranian scientific outputs on common cancers published in PubMed database during 2011-2015. Methods: In this applied, descriptive-analytical study, a scientometrics analysis was used. The study was conducted on all research papers which were written by Iranian scholars on stomach, colon, breast, prostate, and lung cancers and were indexed in PubMed database during 2011-2015. Data were extracted using Altmetrics Bookmarklet tool and analyzed by excel software. Results: According to the findings, the number of articles published by Iranian scholars on stomach, colon, breast, prostate, and lung cancers in 2011 was 25, 40, 88, 20 and 15, respectively. The number of articles on the same subjects in 2015 was 52, 93,256,44, and 32, in that order; however, a small percentage of the research papers were assigned a digital object identifier or had altmetrics scores. Mendeley had the highest proportion among other social networks to represent Iranian scholars’ outputs. Conclusion: Although the rate of scientific publications of Iranian scholars on common cancers has totally increased, they were heterogeneous in terms of quality and Altmetrics score. Therefore, it is recommended that the researchers select journals that assign a digital object identifier to their articles and publish their scientific papers in social media as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Scientific output of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Medical Sciences has increased during recent years as reflected in Scopus database. Moreover, highly cited papers of researchers, institutions and countries can be used in order to study the citation impact and quality of scientific output. The current study investigates the quality of Medical Sciences' scholarly output of Iran through analysis of its progress in publishing highly cited papers compared to the top 25 most productive countries in the world. Methods: To conduct this study, scientometric indicators were utilized. A total of 45065 papers published by Iranian Medical Science researchers during 2010-2014 and indexed in the Scopus were selected as the sample of the study. The contribution of Iranian researchers and institutions in top 1%, 10% and 25% highly cited papers in the world was studied. Results: Results of the study revealed that 0.35% of the country's total output in Medical Sciences was among the top 1% most highly cited papers in the world during the time period of this study. This share is 4.9% and 17.39% based on top 10% and 25% citation threshold, respectively. Iran ranked 25th in top 1% as well as 24th in top 10% and 25% by share of highly cited papers, among most 25 productive countries in the world. Although the proportion of highly cited papers in the country's total output was found to be relatively small compare to other leading countries, but Iran showed the highest growth rate in publication of highly cited papers over 5-year time span Conclusion: Beside the quantity Iran's scholarly publication in Medical Sciences fields, the quality of these output show the increasing trend based on the share of highly cited papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A considerable amount of research is conducted in the area of depression therapy from all over the world. Exploration of the relationships between title keywords of the papers provides helpful information for researchers. The aim of this paper is to draw up scientific maps for this research area in PubMed. Methods: This research is conducted based on scientometrics approaches. It uses the techniques of co-word analysis and social network analysis to identify conceptual relationship between papers related to the field of depression therapy. Using Ravar Matrix, Ucinet and Netdraw software packages, 6,172 papers related to the treatment of depression in PubMed were analyzed during the period from 2005 to 2014. Results: The subject areas of Medication adherence and Suicidal ideation were identified as the most prevalent new and emerging topics in this field. Results of Closeness and Between Centrality indicators, revealed that the greatest value is related to the topics of «Psychology, Drug Therapy, and Anti-depressive Agents». Conclusion: According to the findings, Drug Therapy, Psychology, Anti-depressive agents, and Treatment outcome are the most active research areas. Scientific maps help users and policy makers get a better understanding of the structure of a research area, explore the research status of a field and make plans to improve the quality and quantity of scientific products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Successful reduction in the gap between applied knowledge and pure knowledge, depends on the identification of factors affecting it .The objective of the study was to identify the barriers and facilitators to the development of evidence-based papers from the perspective of their producers at the Ministry of Health Care and Medical Education headquarter office. Methods: Qualitative approach and framework analysis were used in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of producers of evidence-based policy papers. MAXQDA10 Software was used to applying the codes and managing the data. Results: Three themes of behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs and 18 subthemes were identified. Behavioral beliefs included: knowledge and innovation, quality of policy papers, use of resources, contextualization and time-consuming; normative beliefs consisted of policymakers, policy authorities, policy administrators, and co-workers; and control beliefs involved: access to evidence, recruitment policy, management and policy stability, performance management, empowerment, policy making process, physical environment, and competing factors. Conclusion: Most of the barriers were related to control beliefs. This finding corresponds to 85/15 rule in TQM (Total Quality Management). This theory-based study identified the factors influencing the development of evidence-based policy papers in terms of all the components of theory of planned behavior, but the factors identified in the exploratory studies were related to one component of the theory. This finding advocates the theoretical approach to identify affecting factors on a behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Scholarly journals are quite necessary for each society’s scientific life, especially the medical society, because they represent the academic community’s achievements to a large extent at regional, national and international levels. The present research, therefore, aims at a comparative study on the qualitative and quantitative growth of journals and articles in medical sciences and related fields in Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) member countries in Scopus. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive survey with a scientometric approach. The population of the study includes scientific journals and articles in medical sciences indexed in Scopus database. In this study, EMRO academic products and 140 scientific journals have been investigated. Results: The results show that a large number of member countries’ scientific works have been produced and published in medical fields (The main topic of 144,628 out of 573,067 documents published by these countries has been medical fields). Meanwhile, the number of journals which were indexed during the studied period increased from 17 to 127. Conclusion: The production of scientific documents and academic journals in the field of medicine in EMRO member countries has increased during the studied period and has had a considerable leap in the final years. Academic articles have increased along with the increase in scientific journals in these countries.

Background: Given the limited resources of health system, economic evaluations studies can provide appropriate evidences for resource allocation by clarifying the possible consequences of a decision. Present study aimed to evaluate the implemented approaches for economic evaluation studies of pharmacoeconomic in Iran. Methods: This study was carried out using the critical review method. All studies related to economic evaluation studies of pharmacoeconomic in Iran, indexed in PubMed and SID databases and Google Scholar search engine, were searched by using appropriate keywords and search strategies until 2021. Further, published papers from Iranian researchers in the field of health economics and pharmacoeconomics and pharmaceutical administration were extracted with the scientometric system of the Health Ministry. Then, retrieved papers were screened by title, abstract, and the whole text. Finally, papers were evaluated by applying the Drummond quality assessment checklist, and finally appropriate ones were selected. Finally, 29 papers were selected and analyzed. Results: Out of total available papers (n=1324), 29 papers had inclusion criteria to evaluate. The selected papers were analyzed based on 10 parameters, including type of analysis, type of comparator, source of clinical effectiveness, time horizon, used model, perspective of the analysis, measured expected outcomes, discounting of costs and outcomes, sensitivity analysis, and subgroup analysis. Most studies have used cost utility analysis. Shortcomings were found in some aspects as follows: some studies did not mention the applied model, or the time horizon. Moreover, some studies had time horizon more than one year, while the cost and consequences were not discounted. Conclusion: In recent years, economic evaluation studies in the field of pharmacoeconomic in Iran have been center attention in line with global trend. In order to make a decision regarding the allocation of resources based on the findings of economic evaluation studies, these studies should be conducted with the systematic and transparent approach. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a standard framework for implementing and reporting the results of economic evaluation studies in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Spiders are one of the largest orders of arachnids, found worldwide on all continents except Antarctica. Many species of spiders live in close proximity to humans and generally inject poison into other animals, including humans, to protect themselves or to hunt. Case Report: In this paper, a seven-year-old boy is presented who came to the hospital complaining of skin reactions in the eye, knee, and lower leg area. Skin lesions appeared on the boy's body after a few hours. After 24 hours, the skin lesions intensified, and inflammation and redness along with itching occurred on the boy's body. Finally, after 5 days, the skin lesions disappeared completely by washing with soap and water along with the use of Calamine lotion and the bite site improved. Conclusion: Increasing awareness among physicians, about the symptoms of this nuisance insects can help to accelerate treatment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cosmetic dermatology has seen significant advancements in developing new materials and techniques to enhance skin beauty and combat signs of aging. One notable development is creating and analyzing fillers made by combining hyaluronic acid and polycaprolactone. This innovative filler type has gained popularity due to its unique properties, exceptional skin rejuvenation capabilities, and effectiveness in facial contouring. This study gathered information on dermal fillers and the effects of using hyaluronic acid and polycaprolactone by referencing papers from various databases such as Civilica, PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and SID. The authors conducted a study to explore the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing hyaluronic acid and polycaprolactone and their impact on filler durability and injectability. Research conducted by experts and studies on cosmetic fillers has highlighted the positive effects of hyaluronic acid and polycaprolactone, two powerful substances widely discussed in the beauty industry. Further research could improve the understanding and utilization of hyaluronic acid/polycaprolactone fillers, enhancing skin cosmetic treatments and increasing patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: The role of information in improving the health of society and reducing healthcare costs is undeniable. However, in practice, there exists insufficient and incomplete information among healthcare providers. This lack of comprehensive information among market players leads to inefficiencies and failure in market performance. The main goal of the current research was to investigate health information asymmetry and inadequacy within the health information market. Materials and Methods: This article is a narrative and unsystematic review. Studies were retrieved from the Scopus, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Magiran, Sid and Google Scholar databases by using the keywords of information inadequacy, Asymmetry of health information done in the fields of article title, abstract and keywords. Subsequently, according to the purpose of the study, the researchers selected relevant resources and summarized their findings. Results: 18 paper were selected for this research. In this research, we specifically address health information inadequacies across three key sections: patients, doctors, and insurance. At the end of each section, ways to solve these deficiencies were mentioned. Results Showed patients faced with the phenomenon of injustice in accessing health information, and the continuation of this injustice leads to the poverty of health information, and due to the lack of proper access to health information, the asymmetry of information between the doctor and the patient was created. Doctors, on the other hand, faced challenges in accessing up-to-date and evidence-based information for patient care. Asymmetric information could be exploited, resulting in induced demand. Insurances face the problems of inappropriate selection, moral hazard and demand induction by the supplier or consumer. Conclusion: Information asymmetry has seriously penetrated the health field and there is a high level of unconfident and uncertainty in it. One of the ways to overcome the health information asymmetry and insufficiency of the health information market is the access of all stakeholders to the information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a letter to editor criticizing the paper entitled “Efficacy of licorice extract in the treatment of melasma: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial”. We discuss some methodological points on external and internal validity of results. The paper suffers from lack of detailed information on sample size and power calculation to make sure generalisability of results to study population. The paper also did not report blinding procedure and placebo details. The results of the paper also suffer from multiplicity (multiple comparisons) and suitability of data analysis approach. It is recommended to apply either repeated measure ANOVA or a mixed model to consider correlation between repeated measure of outcomes and multiplicity problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth paper of reviews on COVID-19 addresses COVID- 19 vaccines, as vaccination has started in the world and Iran. In this paper, we review different types of available vaccines and also various platforms for production of COVID-19 vaccines as well as the vaccines produced in each platform in the world and Iran. Then the considerations about vaccination in patients with skin diseases, specially those using immunomodulator drugs will be presented. Finally, the cutaneous adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines will be reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Bibliometric analysis by describing the state of publications and identifying key entities and emerging topics plays an important role in evaluating research. The aim of the paper is to study the global trends of scientific collaboration networks of researchers, organizations and countries and the co-occurrence of words in the field of social medicine in the database of Web of Science. Materials and Methods: The method of investigation is bibliometric. The sample comprises 8494 publications in the area of social medicine between 2002 and 2021 in the Web of science database. The drawing of the scientific collaboration network of researchers, organisations and countries, and the analysis of the words network of co-occurrence, was made using the bibliometric software Vosviewer. Results: The publication process of social medicine documents in the target period is increasing. Research articles had the highest number of documents frequency and review articles received the most citations. The United States had the most published literature in this area, and most authors and organizations were from that country. The degrees of two countries, Canada and Australia, had the most citations per documents, and the five countries of South Africa, Portugal, Pakistan, India, and Iran were emerging players in this field. The network of words co-occurrence of social medicine in three groups was devoted to “preventive research in social medicine”, “social determinants of health” and “healthy lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity”. In terms of temporal occurrence, the five keywords public health, mental health, social medicine, meta analysis and epidemiology were emerging subjects in the area of social medicine. Conclusion: Understanding impact of non-clinical studies of social medicine on people’s lives has led to an increase in research in this field. In addition to the traditional role of developed countries, some developing countries are also new players in this field and seeking to develop their infrastructure in social medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers that its incidence and prevalence and so deaths due to this cancer have increased worldwide recently. This study examines the economic burden of colorectal cancer from different perspectives by conducting a scoping review. Materials and Methods: In this scoping review, by searching Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Web of Science, the articles reporting the costs of CRC were reviewed. The search was limited to those published in the past years leading up to 2020. In addition to categorizing different aspects of the reviewed paper, per capita costs were adjusted with the purchasing power parity in order to make some comparisons possible. In this study, the calculated costs of retrieved studies were categorized based on the perspective of each study. Results: Out of 29 studies, only two have reported indirect costs of CRC, and 4 studies have reported both direct and indirect costs. In other studies, only direct costs of CRC have been reported. Nearly 40% of studies calculated CRC costs from the provider’s perspective. The highest reported annual per-patient cost was $175020)PPP-adjusted( which is related to the average annual costs of patients with CRC at the fourth stage in the United States from a provider perspective. The lowest reported amount was $ 954)PPP-adjusted( which was related to average annual inpatient costs in Brazil from a provider perspective. Conclusion: Due to variations in study characteristics in terms of perspective, type of costs, type of patient included, etc. any comparison between the economic burden of CRC should be made with caution. However, reviewing various aspects of the economic burden of CRC reported in included studies, will provide researchers and policymakers with a better insight into the CRC burden while designing intervention programs will reduce the budget impact of the those programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of chronic conditions like diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is challenging due to increased susceptibility for infection and delayed wound healing. Complexity of existing therapy, adverse effects and microbial resistance emphasizes the need of an alternative approach for the management of DFU. The increasing body of evidence associated with probiotic application in diverse disease states merits its use in wound healing and infection too. Different probiotic strains have shown their efficacy in various infections like gut infections, oral infections and urogenital infections. Experimental studies have demonstrated probiotics’ ability for gastric ulcer healing. Underlying mechanism of the above therapeutic effects of probiotics involves modulation of local and systemic immunity. The hypothesis is based on the concept that mechanism of anti-infective and ulcer healing action of probiotics will be similar in peripheral wounds and ulcers as on any other part of the body. This paper focuses on the hypothesis that topical formulation of probiotics may be effective for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tarantulas (Camel spiders) are order that belong to classes of arachnida and phylum of arthropoda. They can make a painful bite in human. Case Report: This paper presents 34 and 40-year-old men with skin reactions in their left legs. After initial examinations, the symptoms were recognized as skin reaction caused by the bite of some nuisance insects. After one day, a lesion including 2 red dots appeared on the patient's leg. After a few hours, skin lesions were observed in both patient, and by washing with soap and water after 7 days, the symptoms completely disappeared and the bite improved. Conclusion: Increasing awareness among physicians, about the symptoms of this nuisance insects can help to accelerate treatment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urticaria is a common and challenging skin disorder. Diagnosis and treatment of urticaria is not limited to the field of dermatology. General physicians, internal medicine specialists, allergologists and clinical immunologists are also commonly involved in the management of patients with urticaria. Iranian Society of Dermatology developed a clinical practice guideline concerning diagnosis and treatment of urticaria that was published in 2018. The current guideline is the result of scientific papers that got published from April 2018 to August 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aim: Female genital cancers are the third most common type of malignancy among women. Considering the importance of these cancers, the present study was conducted to determine the age-standardized rate (ASR) of female genital cancers in Iran. Methods & Materials: In this systematic review, six international databases (Medline/PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Embase, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar), and four national databases (Scientific Information Database, MagIran, IranMedex, and IranDoc) were searched in 2017. Thereafter, Persian and English papers referring to the ASR of female genital cancers in Iran were included. The Joanna Briggs checklist was used to evaluate the quality of studies. Data were independently extracted by two reviewers. Results: A total of 264 papers were found in the initial search of the databases, and 27 papers were included for final analysis. Based on the random-effect model, the ASR was 2.07 (95% CI, 1.83-2.31) for cervical cancer, 3.15 (95% CI, 2.75-3.54) for ovarian cancer, and 1.52 (95% CI, 1.32-1.73) per 100,000 for uterine cancer. Conclusion: The ASR of female genital cancers in Iran was lower than other countries of the world. It should be noted that the results of this review must be judged with caution because of the high heterogeneity of the studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth paper of review article series about COVID-19 includes a selection of interesting and useful information about this disease and dermatology. This paper contains materials published in literature in various basic fields such as epidemiology, pathogenesis, as well as clinical topics such as symptoms and treatments. The skin manifestations of COVID-19, the challenges of treating skin diseases and dermatoses caused by the virus have also been reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coronary artery disease today is a major contributor to mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular disease. The drug, interventional and surgical methods are used to treat coronary artery stenosis. Statins are the most commonly used drugs for stenosis and coronary artery disease. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on LDL and C-reactive protein (CRP) reduction in patients. Methods: This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis. Articles were selected using the keywords of atorvastatin, LDL, C-reactive protein (CRP) and reduction, and searches in Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed databases from March 2003 to February 2018. For this purpose, all analytical, clinical trials, cross-sectional, and casecontrol studies were searched and collected in association with the efficacy of atorvastatin on low density lipoprotein and CRP. Results: In the initial search, 90 papers were found and evaluated. Finally, 20 papers were analyzed. The studies were published. The total sample size was 21609 persons with an average sample size of 1080 in each study. Twenty studies were entered into the final analysis. The LDL-lowering rate was 51 mg/dl with atorvastatin (I2=98.48, P<0.001). Also, CRP reduction before and after administration of atorvastatin was 1.99 (0.96-3.03) and 0.76 (0.08-1.43), respectively. The results of meta-regression of age-related studies showed that LDL levels were low in studies with lower age, and LDL levels were low in studies with higher age. The results of a meta-regression study of atorvastatin in terms of body mass and the association of low-density lipoprotein with atorvastatin showed that in those with a higher body mass, low-density lipoprotein decreased. Conclusion: According to the results, the use of atorvastatin reduces the amount of Creactive protein (CRP). The rate of low density lipoprotein (LDL) reduction was better and faster in young and obese people. It is recommended that people have a proper diet and regular exercise in their daily schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:One of the communication models that improves communication between the care team, reduces errors, and increases the quality of care is the SBAR method. The aim of this paper was to determine the effect of using the SBAR model in shift handover on patient and nurse satisfaction. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in the emergency department of Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz, 2020. According to the statistical formula, 70 shift handover positions (in control and experimental groups) were selected based on inclusion criteria. First, the control group was randomly selected and, after training the SBAR model, the experimental group was randomly selected. Shift handover was performed routinely in the control group, but it was based on the SBAR model in the test group. Data were collected using demographic, nurse, and patient satisfaction questionnaires and a researcher-made shift handover checklist. Data were analyzed by an independent t-test, a paired t-test, and a chi-2. Results: The findings showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups of patients in terms of age, length of hospital stays, gender, marriage, employment, education, and type of disease (p<0.05). The results of the paired t-test showed that nurses' satisfaction increased significantly after the intervention. Furthermore, the satisfaction of patients in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Conclusion: The present study showed the importance of standardizing the shift handover process. It is possible to increase the quality of care and increase the satisfaction of nurses and patients by training and using the SBAR method in shift handover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: International collaboration is beneficial for both researchers and institutions and enhances the quality of research output. The present study therefore sought to: 1- investigate the quality of scientific outputs of Tehran University of Medical Sciences produced through international collaboration, and 2- ascertain the most collaborative countries and institutions of the same university. Methods: This applied study was conducted using scientometric indicators. A total of 17763 papers published by researchers affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences and indexed in the Scopus database from 2011 to 2015 were selected. In addition to Scopus, SciVal was also utilized for the analysis and geographic visualization of data. Results: According to the findings only 16.9% of the total scientific output of Tehran University of Medical Sciences was co-authored with researchers from 1281 foreign institutions. However, multi-country publications on average, have received more citations per paper, have been viewed more, and published in top journals, in fact they have higher chance to get citations and become highly cited papers. These papers had higher field-weighted citation impact compared with other publications with the same subjects. Conclusion: Considering the scientific position and research capabilities of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, the expansion of research collaboration with leading universities in the world would be effective in increasing the quality and impact of scientific output and promoting the status of the university in international university ranking systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the most important ways to promote the quality and attractiveness of the journal for readers is the accurate evaluation of the published articles research methodology in the journals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the research methods of the articles published in the Journal of Hospital. Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study, the research methods of all articles published in the Journal of Hospital from Fall 2016 to Fall 2018 including qualitative or quantitative, field or library research , data collection methods, data analysis software, location of research, nature of the research (descriptive or analytical, etc.), topics, as well as the number of authors were investigated. Results: Data of 55.29% of papers was qualitative that was turned to quantitative, 47.06% of articles had descriptive-analytical method, and 68.24% of papers had employed a field research method. In addition, 51.76% of articles had used questionnaire and the SPSS software was used in 52.08% of the articles. The location of 45.45% of researches was in Tehran province. Finally, the subject of 23.53% of papers was policy making, planning, leadership, and management in hospitals. Conclusion: Most authors of the articles have followed a very similar research method during the mentioned period. So, creating diversity in the nature of the researches, using other methods of collecting information rather than questionnaires, doing more library research, and not limiting the researches to Tehran province are the most important suggestions for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: To provide effective care, health care providers need timely and appropriate information. Electronic records provide quick access and easy management of data. The aim of this study was to develop electronic health records for patients with hydatidiform mole and evaluation of completeness of medical records Materials and Methods: This applied study was conducted in 2017. After verifying the minimum data set required for the system, data were extracted from patient records using a checklist and entered into SQL server. SQL server 2012 and Visual Studio 2013 to design electronic records and SPSS 20 for data analysis was used. Extent of data completion in patient records was also assesed. Results: Data on the completion of paper records indicated that in 100% of cases, “address” item was filled in. The less completed data was related to carotene deficiency (%1.1). Our findings also showed that the eight most important items like age of first menstruation, first gestational age, interval between pregnancies, number of sexual partners, menstruation between pregnancies, contraceptive methods, social habits and radiotherapy, were not completed in all records. Conclusion: Many of the important minimum data set for hydatidiform mole disease were either not completed or completed in limited numbers in paper records. By developing such health records, we can ensure better prevention and treatment, and regular follow-up for the patients and help them to save their time and costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probiotics are living microorganisms that, when used adequately, have beneficial effects on the host, and their superiority is that they are safe and secure for the host. The use of probiotics in addition to the digestive tract, has been studied in immune function, skin diseases, diabetes, cancer, liver disease, hypertension, urogenital system and oral cavity. In general, probiotics seem to be a promising and safe treatment. Nevertheless, more extensive studies are needed to use probiotics as alternative treatments along with old treatments. In dermatology, there is also a widespread use of probiotics and prebiotics. The use of probiotics has been studied in the treatment of atopic dermatitis, acne, eczema, allergic diseases, skin aging, bacterial and fungal infections, chronic wound healing, including diabetic foot ulcers, with promising results. In this review, papers related to the use of probiotics in the treatment of skin diseases were searched in data bases of Pubmed, Google scholar and Medline. Relevant papers were selected and presented. It is expected that probiotics will be used as complimentary treatment in several skin disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: To provide effective care, health care providers need timely and appropriate information. Electronic records provide quick access and easy management of data. The aim of this study was to develop electronic health records for patients with hydatidiform mole and evaluation of completeness of medical records Materials and Methods: This applied study was conducted in 2017. After verifying the minimum data set required for the system, data were extracted from patient records using a checklist and entered into SQL server. SQL server 2012 and Visual Studio 2013 to design electronic records and SPSS 20 for data analysis was used. Extent of data completion in patient records was also assesed. Results: Data on the completion of paper records indicated that in 100% of cases, “address” item was filled in. The less completed data was related to carotene deficiency (%1.1). Our findings also showed that the eight most important items like age of first menstruation, first gestational age, interval between pregnancies, number of sexual partners, menstruation between pregnancies, contraceptive methods, social habits and radiotherapy, were not completed in all records. Conclusion: Many of the important minimum data set for hydatidiform mole disease were either not completed or completed in limited numbers in paper records. By developing such health records, we can ensure better prevention and treatment, and regular follow-up for the patients and help them to save their time and costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Public-private partnership can help governments deal with resource constraints in their health sectors. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different models of publicprivate partnership on hospital mid-indicators and identify factors affecting its successful implementation. Methods: This critical review was conducted from 2000 to 2017. Databases, such as Google Scholar, Ovid, Proquest, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer, Magiran, SID, IranMedex and Irandoc were searched using Persian and English key terms. Critical Appraisal Skills Program was used to assess the quality of papers which were ranked based on evidence pyramid. The factors influencing the successful implementation of public-private partnership in hospitals were identified through content analysis method. Results: A total of 20 articles were included in the study. Six models of public-private partnership, that is, the Alzira Model, Design, Build, Finance, Operate Contract/ Private Finance Initiative, Management contract, Co-location and Outsourcing, and Privatization were used in hospitals. Each model has different effects on equity, quality, efficiency and accessibility. The factors influencing the successful implementation of public-private partnership projects included: legal support, political support, financial incentives and capacity building. Conclusion: Public-private partnership models showed different effects on hospital mid-indicators. It seems that the Design, Build, Finance, Operate Contract/ Private Finance Initiative model is more suitable for construction projects, management contract, and outsourcing and Alzira model is appropriate for delivering hospital services. Therefore, health policymakers can apply different models of public-private partnership on the basis of their effects on hospital mid-indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recording of electrophysiological activities of brain neurons in the last half century has been considered as one of the effective tools for the development of neuroscience. One of the techniques for recording the activity of nerve cells is the multi-electrode arrays (MEAs). Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are usually employed to record electrical signals from electrogenic cells like neurons or cardiomyocytes. MEAs consist of an array of planar or three-dimensional electrodes that act as electrical interfaces and record cellular signals or stimulate cells. These platforms can be used in different applications including neuroscience studies, prostheses and rehabilitation, deep brain stimulation (DBS), cardiac pacemakers, retinal and cochlear implants, or for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) in general. Multi-electrode arrays are known as longterm recording and non-invasive devices. The MEA structure includes arrays of electrodes with micrometer and nanometer dimensions which are designed to stimulate and record the electrical activity of cells, and are fabricated using micromachining technologies. MEAs should be biocompatible to serve as a substrate for cell growth. On the other hand, they must have low impedance to be able to provide a high signal-tonoise ratio, and small size to offer a suitable spatial resolution for recording. MEAs are usually fabricated on glass substrates patterned with high-conductivity metals such as gold, iridium or platinum, which are insulated with a biocompatible layer. Despite fast progress, current multi-electrode arrays for neural applications still face limitations such as low signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution. To achieve better spatial resolution and lower noise levels and therefore more accurate signal, it is necessary to develop arrays with smaller sizes and lower impedance. Meanwhile, many nanostructures such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles, and also conductive polymers have become attractive candidates for this application due to their interesting properties. In this paper, the technology of multi-electrode arrays, how it works and its various parts are introduced, and finally, the challenges and developments in this field are investigated. Multi-electrode array technology is used for neuroscience research, neural network analysis, drug effects screening, and neural prosthesis studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: In recent years, the family physician plan has been implemented as a main strategy of health system in Iran. Therefore, the necessity to reform organizational structure based on experiences of other countries is felt more than before. The aim of this study was to explore required structures of Family Physician Program to achieve service quality dimensions in Primary Health care through analyzing country experiences. Materials and Methods: This study was a systematic review. All relevant databases were searched using appropriate search strategies and keywords (Family Physicians, Primary Health Hare, Quality of Care). To evaluate the quality of selected papers, CASP tool was applied by 4 experts, and their choices were discussed to reach a final decision. Results: In order to achieve the quality of services in the field of family medicine, based on the findings of this study, eight important executive structures must be considered. These structures are: Organizational and managerial structures, including health system governance, Support mechanisms and referral system, Systematic communication platform, Electronic health services, Service delivery processes,Insurance structure, Supervisory and control structure including financial control mechanisms, competitive control and quantitative control, Payment structure, quantitative and qualitative development structure of service providers, Quality structure that includes the definition and evaluation of quality and accountability mechanisms as well as incentive mechanisms for service quality, Support structure including insurance support, classified support for specific groups, and finally, the cultural structure in the two areas of culture building of the referral system and strengthening the position of family physicians. Conclusion: Quality improvement in primary health care requires attention to executive structures. Use of executive experiences of other countries will be useful in achievement of quality health care in family physician system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although skin manifestations of COVID-19 were reported later than major organs affected, but it seems that they have gained relatively defined and definite described patterns. Regardless of strength and quantity of published papers and reports of rare cases, generally reported cutaneous manifestations are similar. However affection of vairous nail lesions have been mentioned recently. Even though no skin finding is recognized as specific, this does not mean not to look for and describe skin and nail changes. Common skin findings could be observed in many cutaneous diseases. In this issue, we decided to review literature about nail apparatus affected by COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Risk assessment is a scale for predicting reliability and can manage interactions between components and process variables. Moreover, the reliability of one component or barrier affects the overall risk of the system. Being one of the most critical safety barriers of the storage tank, the failures of Fixed Foam Systems (FFS) on demand can result in severe consequences. FFS, is of grave importance in decreasing the risks associated with fires and damages. Material and Methods: This study aims to determine the probability of root causes related to FFS failure through Fuzzy Fault Tree Analysis (FFTA) to estimate system reliability. In conventional fault tree analysis, accurate data is usually used to assess the failure probability of basic events. Therefore, the introduced approaches were employed to quantify failure probabilities and uncertainty handling. Finally, system reliability was estimated according to the failure probability of the top event. Results: The findings showed that 13 baseline events involved FFS performance. According to the results, failures of cable path and detection system (or resistance temperature detectors), set the activation switch (multi-position) incorrectly, and foam makers not continuously running are the three most critical basic events influencing the reliability of fixed foam systems. In addition, this paper estimated the system reliability at 0.8470. Conclusion: The results showed that the FFTA could be used in matters such as reliability evaluation failure and risk assessment using experts’ judgment. This paper can also show the adaptation of the fuzzy approach to assess the failure probability of the basic event in the fault tree analysis (FTA).

Background and Aim: Scholarly journals are quite necessary for each society's scientific life, especially the medical society, because they represent the academic community's achievements to a large extent at regional, national and international levels. The present research, therefore, aims at a comparative study on the qualitative and quantitative growth of journals and articles in medical sciences and related fields in Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) member countries in Scopus. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive survey with a scientometric approach. The population of the study includes scientific journals and articles in medical sciences indexed in Scopus database. In this study, EMRO academic products and 140 scientific journals have been investigated. Results: The results show that a large number of member countries' scientific works have been produced and published in medical fields (The main topic of 144,628 out of 573,067 documents published by these countries has been medical fields). Meanwhile, the number of journals which were indexed during the studied period increased from 17 to 127. Conclusion: The production of scientific documents and academic journals in the field of medicine in EMRO member countries has increased during the studied period and has had a considerable leap in the final years. Academic articles have increased along with the increase in scientific journals in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given the limited resources of health system, economic evaluations studies can provide appropriate evidences for resource allocation by clarifying the possible consequences of a decision. Present study aimed to evaluate the implemented approaches for economic evaluation studies of pharmacoeconomic in Iran. Methods: This study was carried out using the critical review method. All studies related to economic evaluation studies of pharmacoeconomic in Iran, indexed in PubMed and SID databases and Google Scholar search engine, were searched by using appropriate keywords and search strategies until 2021. Further, published papers from Iranian researchers in the field of health economics and pharmacoeconomics and pharmaceutical administration were extracted with the scientometric system of the Health Ministry. Then, retrieved papers were screened by title, abstract, and the whole text. Finally, papers were evaluated by applying the Drummond quality assessment checklist, and finally appropriate ones were selected. Finally, 29 papers were selected and analyzed. Results: Out of total available papers (n=1324), 29 papers had inclusion criteria to evaluate. The selected papers were analyzed based on 10 parameters, including type of analysis, type of comparator, source of clinical effectiveness, time horizon, used model, perspective of the analysis, measured expected outcomes, discounting of costs and outcomes, sensitivity analysis, and subgroup analysis. Most studies have used cost utility analysis. Shortcomings were found in some aspects as follows: some studies did not mention the applied model, or the time horizon. Moreover, some studies had time horizon more than one year, while the cost and consequences were not discounted. Conclusion: In recent years, economic evaluation studies in the field of pharmacoeconomic in Iran have been center attention in line with global trend. In order to make a decision regarding the allocation of resources based on the findings of economic evaluation studies, these studies should be conducted with the systematic and transparent approach. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a standard framework for implementing and reporting the results of economic evaluation studies in Iran. Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis,

Background an Aim: Community-based health promotion program encompasses actions aiming at enabling individuals, organizations and communities for enhancing behaviors and creating a healthier environment. Considerable experiences regarding community health promotion and community-based health promotion exists in Iran, but they have not been documented adequately. Materials and Methods: This paper reports some of the findings of a situation assessment project of community-based health promotion programs in Iran, including typology of community-based health promotion programs and critical analysis of challenges and threats, discussing potential opportunities to improve community-based health interventions. All the available reports, official documents, information and published papers related to community-based health promotion programs implemented in Iran were examined. Results: The majority of health-related interventions excluding three national programs, namely, the volunteers, community health workers (Behvarzes) and polio eradication programs, were categorized in three large groups – community-based initiatives, community-based participatory research, and community-based addiction prevention. Many of these programs were not community-based in the true sense of the word. Conclusion: The findings indicate that in Iran, unlike many other countries, the majority of the interventions are initiated and implemented at the national level with good organizational support. Although implementation of such programs is generally considered feasible in Iran, it seems that the available opportunities have not been adequately exploited for their implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Nowadays, e-procurement systems have provided many opportunities to improve supply and procurement activities in healthcare industry through Internet-based electronic communications for supplier-buyer interactions. Considering the fact that the implementation of these systems is not successful in many cases, extensive preparation in relevant areas is necessary before implementation. This paper aims to present a framework of key readiness factors of hospitals for the adoption of e-procurement system. Materials and Methods: This study was an applied descriptive survey. The framework of readiness factors was developed based on an extensive review of literature and e-readiness models as well as opinions of experts in the field of information technology, procurement, and healthcare systems. The proposed framework was applied in a case study of a specialty hospital located in Tehran in 2016. The data were collected using a questionnaire, and Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) method was used for modeling and analysis of the identified factors. Results: In this research, a comprehensive framework of critical readiness factors of hospitals for e-procurement adoption was developed comprising five main components: management, technology, process, human resource, and environment. Environmental and managerial factors were identified as the most important readiness determinants of the case hospital, and among various factors, managers' expertise in IT, IT infrastructures of hospital, and continuous monitoring of system's performance are of higher priority. Conclusion: This paper provides guidance for more accurate planning to improve readiness and successful adoption of e-procurement systems in hospitals by identifying the most important influential readiness factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Priority setting and resource allocation are assumed to be the most important issues of health-sector and fairness thereof requires considering various criteria. This study was performed to identify the criteria used for priority setting and resource allocation in the world health systems through comprehensive review. Materials and Methods: Cochrane, PubMed and SCOPUS database were searched systematically from Jan.1,2005 to Oct.10,2016. The English articles with codified and specified qualitative and quantitative criteria in the resource allocation context in health sector were included in the study. The obtained data were synthetized thematically. Results: Overall, 9162 papers were extracted. At the beginning of review of the included articles, 9089 papers were removed due to duplication and also based on the title. The abstracts of the remained papers were reviewed and 17 papers were removed. Full text of 59 remained papers were reviewed and based on matching with the inclusion criteria, 34 other papers were removed, too, and ultimately 25 papers were included in the final phase of the study. Extracted criteria were categorized into four dimentions based on economic, management, structural and contextual, out of which the most frequent ones were related to cost, health system goals, local capacity and disease status, respectively. Conclusion: In this study, the most important criteria used by policy makers and decision makers of health system in the world were extracted for priority setting and resource allocation. The results indicated that in the world, priority setting and resource allocation in the health system is made mainly based on criteria such as cost-effectiveness, disease status, equity/equality and the need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Dentistry is an important profession ensuring the health of body and soul, and has a special place in the scientific productions of medical disciplines. The purpose of this study was to analyze the co-citation and word co-occurrence of Iranian research papers in the field of dentistry based on indexed documents in Web of Science from 2014 to 2018. Materials and Methods: The present study follows the procedures related to quantitative research with a descriptive approach and a scientometric technique. Co-citation and cooccurrence analysis techniques were used. In this study, 1079 articles were reviewed from the Web of Science. Data analysis was performed Ucinet Software, and VOS viewer. Results: Iran has the highest level of international cooperation with the United States. The highest number of published articles in the Web of Science Database belongs to Vahid Derakhshani based on the highest degree of centrality, the Eigen centrality, and the Betweenness centrality. Naser Amin Abadi ranked first for the Closeness Centrality metric, and Massoud Peirokh with a citation weight of 20 had the highest citation. The field of surgery has received the most attention among dental and endodontics journal had the highest citation in the Iranian Dental Science Citation Network. Conclusion: The trend of publishing scientific articles in Iran in the field of dentistry has been increasing during the selected period. The keywords oral, dental, and pediatric surgery have the most effective and decisive role in the scientific network of dentistry. These keywords provided strong scientific communication amongst the dental scholars in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Nowadays, the best choice for replacing missing teeth are dental implants, however, failure is not unexpected. One of the factors that plays an important role in the implant failure is bacterial microleakage which could cause biological complication. The aim of this study was to compare the bacterial microleakage between the two types of implants. Materials and Methods: In the present interventional study, SPI and Dentis implants were placed bilaterally in the premolar-molar area of the patients' mandible. One day and 14 days after the delivery of the crown, by removing the crown and removing the abutment, sampling was performed using a sterile paper cone from four areas. One day after sample culturing, the number of colonies was counted. All data were entered into SPSS 23 and were analyzed using independent samples t-test and paired t-test with a significance level of 0.05. Results: The amount of bacteria in implant sulcus was significantly different between the two types of implants (P=0.003). After 14 days, the amount of bacteria in SPI implant sulcus significantly decreased more than Dentis implant sulcus (P=0.001). After 14 days, the amount of bacteria also decreased in all other areas which there were no significant difference between the two types of implants (P>0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The advent of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (socalled SARS-CoV-2) causing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (so-called COVID-19) occurred in Dec. 2019 in Wuhan, China. Having an inconceivable worldwide contagion, the outbreak was labeled a pandemic by the WHO. Dental services and related professions (including dentists, dental assistants, dental hygienists and the personnel of cleansing, remedial, triage, dental laboratories, radiographic laboratories and other related paraclinicals), facing galore aerosol and droplets, are in the topmost risk groups exposed to the queer virus. This study was fulfilled to round up evidencebased data to break a link at any part of the virus transmission chain in dental services and related professions. Methods: Relevant online databases, as PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar and TripDatabase were searched meticulously and evaluated for relevant published original research papers. Subsequently, to fulfill the investigation, ADA, CDC and WHO websites were reviewed to gain relevant guidelines and protocols. Consequently, 476 resources were included considering the canonical inclusion criteria. For the sake of quality assessment of the resources, an authentic checklist was exploited to score the resources from 1 to 15, wherein the admissible score was 10. After deliberation of resources, 366 of them were excluded and finally, 110 resources were selected and overhauled to attain a comprehensive perception on the subject of the investigation. Results: Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 includes direct transmission (via droplet and aerosol inhalation) and indirect transmission (via surface and instrument contamination), which can amply occur in dental services and related professions. Therefore, an all-inclusive evidence-based miscellany was rallied on several exigent topics, containing genuine esteem in reputable scientific authorities, to present a consummate report for the dental clinicians and related practitioners, working in the course of the running pandemic. Conclusion: Contemplating the ongoing crisis, undertaking a set of miscellany elected guidelines and protocols, is indispensable in this vital interval of history to bridle the current pandemic, which has been abridged via this systematic perusal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate and early detection of non-alcoholic fatty liver, which is a major cause of chronic diseases is very important and is vital to prevent the complications associated with this disease. Ultrasound of the liver is the most common and widely performed method of diagnosing fatty liver. However, due to the low quality of ultrasound images, the need for an automatic and intelligent classification method based on artificial intelligence methods to accurately detect the amount of liver fat is essential. This paper aims to develop an advanced machine learning model based on texture features to assess liver fat levels based on liver ultrasound images. Methods: In this analytic study, which is done from April to November 2020 in Tehran, ultrasound images of 55 obese people who have undergone laparoscopic surgery have been used and the histological result of a liver biopsy has been employed as a reference for liver fat. First, 88 texture-based features were extracted from the images using the Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) method. In the next step, using the method of minimum redundancy and maximum correlation, the top features were selected from among 88 features and applied to the classifier input. Finally, using the three classifiers of linear discriminant analysis, support vector machine and AdaBoost, the images were classified into 4 groups based on the amount of liver fat. Results: The accuracy of the automatic liver fat prediction model from ultrasound images for AdaBoost classification was 92.72%. However, the accuracies obtained for support vector machine and linear discriminant analysis classification were 87.88% and 75.76%, respectively. Conclusion: The proposed approach based on texture features using the GLCM and the AdaBoost classification from ultrasound images automatically detects the amount of liver fat with high accuracy and can help physicians and radiologists in the final diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent age-related neurodegenerative disorder worldwide, and no cure or prevention has been found for it. Extracellular senile plaque and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles are two important histopathological hallmarks of AD, which are both harmful for the cell. Senile plaques are composed of amyloid beta and neurofibrillary tangles are formed by hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins. In AD, several cellular changes also occur, including oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, accumulation of misfolded proteins, and mitochondrial dysfunction. These events promote neuronal death and finally decline memory and cognition. Lack of success of the available chemical anti-AD therapeutic agents has attracted attention to the concept of the administration of naturally occurring compounds in the treatment of AD. These compounds can be employed as a substitute for the chemical agents or complementary regimens. Several natural products are deemed capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and are known for their central nervous system-related activity. Among the most important of them are flavonoids. Recent evidence has demonstrated their neuroprotective effects. These plant-derived compounds have strong effects on dementia-induced brain disorders because of their ability to produce antioxidants. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed for flavonoids through which they act for the prevention or recession of the disease process. According to evidence, flavonoids inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE), β-secretase (BACE1) and free radicals. They reduce the amyloid-beta toxicity and prevent the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. Also, they help to inhibit apoptosis induced by oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. These products have a role in synaptic plasticity and the generation of new neurons. They can affect various signaling pathways like Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk), Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Overall, these processes can prevent the progression of AD and improve cognitive symptoms. In the present paper, the effect of the most important plant-derived flavonoids is briefly reviewed in different models of AD. The mechanism of action and the important signaling pathways in reducing neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and oxidative damage are discussed. It is concluded that despite the beneficial effect of these compounds, future studies are needed before flavonoids can be used as a drug in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Medical tourism facilitator firms are the firms which act as intermediaries between suppliers of medical tourism and the patients. In order to have efficient and sufficient outcome, these firms need a well-organized infrastructure. In this research, we investigated the infrastructure management indicators of medical tourism facilitator firms in Iran. Methods: This research was conducted by using a two-step quantitative method: the Delphi technique and distribution of a structured questionnaire. Statistical population for the first data collection step consisted of the experts in medical tourism and e-business. The second statistical population was medical tourism facilitator firms. The data were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: The infrastructure management for a Medical tourism facilitator firm included the following five factors: activity configuration, network partner, capabilities, internal (mission, strategy and structure) and external (government, competitors and technology) factors. Activity configurations of a firm, included Collaboration platforms, Virtual communities and Valuechain integrators as main activities of an Medical tourism facilitator firm firm. By examining the network partner factor, it became prominent that insurance companies must be considered more although they face limitations due to sanctions. Capability include facilities in medical and tourism segment, access to database of hospitals and physicians. Considering the internal factors mission, structures and strategy of the firm in the context of planning, their target segment, the firm’s human resources and IT structure of the firm should be developed. The government affects Medical tourism facilitator firm firms by making rules and regulations in the context of visa issuance, having relationship with medical tourism target countries, investing and supporting medical tourism system. The internal and external competitors should be monitored wisely for activities, partners, services, prices and the type of provided services. Technology is towards e-health and health applications and platform to provide required data and information for patients of MTF firms as well. Conclusion: To manage infrastructure of an MTF firm, it is necessary to consider activity configuration, network partner, capabilities, internal and external factors comprehensively, as mentioned in this paper. Designing a platform between facilitators and partners as well as facilitators and patients is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infectious diseases in the pandemic stage have significant lifethreatening, psychological and social effects. Identifying the characteristics associated with people's cooperation in self-care leads to greater immunity for themselves and others. Therefore, this study was conducted to predict the self-care of the Iranian people according to their individual and social characteristics in face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: A survey study was conducted on 1056 adults aged 18 and over in different provinces of Iran through a form of answering online researcher-made questions (n=40, α=0.9) in social networks in four days. This paper studies the level of self-care of people against Covid 19 pandemic which was conducted with the support of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in April 2016. Data were analyzed using Student t-test and variance. Moreover, "decision tree technique" was used to identify communication patterns. Results: The findings showed that the average self-care score in women, the most educated, married women, women aged 41 to 55, housewives and some other occupations was very high. However, the average self-care score of single men with a diploma was average. In general, the mean score of women's self-care was higher than men (P<0.0001) and the educated were more than the less educated literate (P=0.007). There was no significant difference between the self-care scores of the respondents in terms of their marital status and employment. Conclusion: The results showed that the average scores of self-care in women, more educated people, married women, women in the age group of 41 to 55 years, housewives and some other occupations were reported to be very high; While the average self-care score reported in single men with a diploma was average. Overall, the mean score of self-care reported in women was higher than men (P<0.0001) and people with doctoral education reported more self-care than illiterate people (P=0.007). Besides, there was no significant difference between the self-care scores of the respondents in terms of their marital status (single and married) and their employment status (employed and non-employed). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: The growing healthcare expenses, technological advancements and increasing competition in healthcare services, brings up new challenges for healthcare industry in providing appropriate services to customers. The Lean methodology, which is a managerial approach, provides tools necessary to eliminate waste and increase customer satisfaction through increasing quality of the services and decreasing the wait times and costs. The Scope of this paper was to determine and rank the lean criteria for hospitals. Materials and Methods: Twenty Two base criteria for a lean organization was selected and reconciled to hospitals from literature review. Then they were evaluated by experts in the field using Likert scale, leading to 18 criteria. The correlation of these criteria was found using ISM methodology, followed by ranking of these criteria. Lastly, the criteria were categorized utilizing MICMAC analysis. Results: Utilizing MICMAC analysis, the "defining the flow of processes & continuous improvement", "utilizing visual surveillance to understand the situation & exploit the problems" were identified as the most important variables. Conclusion: In order to increase the quality of services and customer satisfaction and to reduce operating costs, hospitals are advised to utilize lean methodology. In which case the management should pay more attention to the two more important criteria derived by MICMAC analysis, "Defining the processes in order to find problems" and "Continuous improvement and utilizing visual surveillance in order to find problems". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]