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Sharareh Khosravi,1 Fatemeh Rafiei,2 Maryam Norozy,3 Ali Khanmohamadi Hezave,4 Maryam Ebrahimabadi5 1Department of Pediatric, School of Nursing, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran; 2Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Infectious Ward, Vali-Asr Hospital, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran; 4Student Research Committee, School of Nursing, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran; 5Department of Medical-Surgical, School of Nursing, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, IranCorrespondence: Maryam EbrahimabadiDepartment of Medical-Surgical, School of Nursing, Basij Square, Academic Complex Prophet (PBUH), Blue Wings, Arak 3848176941, IranTel +98 861 9187640617Fax +98 861 8634173524Email m.ebrahimabadi@arakmu.ac.irPurpose: Despite the importance of using inhalers concerning chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), patients generally have problems regarding adherence to medication regimen. The first step in understanding medication adherence is its assessment which requires a reliable tool. The aim of this study was to translate and perform the psychometric assessment of Test of Adherence to Inhalers (TAI).Patients and methods: In this cross-sectional study, the 10-item TAI was utilized. Patients with COPD referring to Amir-al-Momenin and Vali-Asr hospitals in Arak, Iran, were the study population. The tool was translated using forward–backward translation, and its validity was evaluated via face validity, content validity, and concurrent validity. The reliability of the tool was assessed using test–retest and Cronbach’s alpha.Results: A total of 100 patients with COPD participated in the study, where the results showed that the tool has a good face validity. The CVR was 0.83, the CVI was 0.95, and the concurrent validity with General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) was moderate which was not significant (r = 0.613, p = 0.06). The results of the reliability test further showed that in the test–retest, Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.986, ICC was 0.972, and Cronbach’s alpha was 0.986.Conclusion: The tool was translated to Farsi language, with the results indicating that Farsi TAI is a valid and reliable tool for measuring inhaler adherence in patients with chronic pulmonary disease.Keywords: chronic illness, drug, compliance, nursing care, validity, reliability

Transparent elements of building enclosure components play a critical role in buildings' performance and integrity. Numeric simulation provides a tool to model and predict the thermal behavior of window constructions. This paper presents a two-dimensional numerical analysis of the thermal behavior of a casement window before and after implementing a vacuum glazing in the external pane. Two modelling approaches were considered, a conventional one (focusing predominantly on conductive heat transfer) and a more detailed one (involving coupled conduction and convection). The results of the study demonstrate the benefits of the aforementioned retrofit option in terms of reduced heat transfer, increase of surface temperature within the cavity during the cold season, and the reduction of surface condensation risk.

Background: Common variable immune deficiency (CVID) is the commonest symptomatic primary immunodeficiency and represents a heterogenous collection of disorders resulting mostly in antibody deficiency and recurrent infections .The syndrome includes impaired B-cell maturation, impaired somatic hypermutation, reduced numbers of circulating memory and isotype-switched memory B cells, and absent or reduced plasma cells. B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) is a tumor necrosis family receptor superfamily member 17 (TNFRSF17), expressed only on B cell lines , and is essential for survival of long-lived plasma cells .The aim of this study was to evaluate mutations in BCMA in patients with CVID in compare with normal individuals in Isfahan, Iran. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 10 CVID patients with substitutive immunoglobulin therapy before immunoglobulins (Ig) infusion and 10 normal controls in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) tubes then DNA samples were extracted and after the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was done, samples were sequenced. Findings: After reviewing the results of the sequence and alignment of the sequences, no mutations in the gene were seen. Conclusion: In addition to the study of mutation in BCMA gene, BCMA gene and protein expression level should be considered to understand more aspects of this disease.

Regular path queries (RPQs) have quickly become a staple to explore graph databases. SPARQL 1.1 includes prop- erty paths, and so now encompasses RPQs as a fragment. Despite the extreme utility of RPQs, it can be exceedingly difficult for even experts to formulate such queries. It is next to impossible for non-experts to formulate such path queries. As such, several visual query systems (VQSs) have been proposed which simplify the task of constructing path queries by directly manipulating visual objects representing the domain elements. The queries generated by VQSs may, however, have many commonalities that can be exploited to optimize globally. We introduce Tasweet, a framework for optimizing “disjunctive” path queries, which detects the commonalities among the queries to find a globally opti- mized execution plan over the plan spaces of the constituent RPQs. Our results show savings in edge-walks / time-to- completion of 59%.

Background and Objective: Chrysin is a natural and active biological component which is extracted from plants, honey and propolis. Chrysin has anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antioxidant propertis. This study was done to evaluate the effect of chrysin on AGS human gastric cancer cell line. Methods: In this descriptive - analytic study, chrysin was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and the cytotoxic effects of concentrations of 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 ,50, 60, 70, 80, and 100 µM/ml of chrysin on AGS cells was evaluated. Viability of the cells was determined with MTT assay after 24, 48 and 72 hours and compared to controls. Results: Chrysin inhibited the growth and proliferation of human gastric cancer AGS cell line. The antiproliferative effect of chrysin was dose and time dependent. The IC50 values were determined for 60, 30 and 20 µM, in incubation time of 24, 48 and 72 hour, respectively (P

Background: Men, much like women, are faced with age-related menopause-like symptoms as they age. In recent years, increasing attention has been drawn to clinical research into elderly men and their health-related quality of life. The Aging Male Scales (AMS) questionnaire is an international tool for assessing the health-related quality of life in elderly men. Hence far this questionnaire has not been subjected to psychometric assessment in Iran. This study aims to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the AMS questionnaire specific to the health of elderly men in Iran. Methods: To validate this instrument, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 521 healthy Iranian men aged 40-65 years old, who attended the blood transfusion center clinic between February 2011 and June 2012. The English version of the AMS questionnaire was translated to Persian and then back-translated. To determine the reliability of the AMS questionnaire, internal consistency was evaluated and test-retest was done. The questionnaire was validated using convergent and structural validity methods. To assess the factor structure of the questionnaire, a correlation matrix of questions and domains was used. Results: Cronbach′s alpha was higher than 0.7 (0.73-0.88) in all domains. A Pearson′s correlation coefficient of 0.87 between pretest and posttest indicated a high correlation and an acceptable reliability. The convergent validity of the questionnaire was found acceptable by calculating the correlation between the domains and items-total correlation ranging 0.40-0.85, except for question 14 that had a 0.28 correlation with the whole test. The criterion-related validity of the questionnaire in the psychological domain was confirmed with the "two-item Patient Health Questionnaire" (r = 0.63, P < 0.001). Conclusions: According to the results, the Persian version of the AMS questionnaire has high validity and reliability and may be used to assess the health-related quality of life of men between 40 and 65 years old.

In this paper, structural, electrical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline (Fe70CO30)(100 - x)Cr-x(x = 0, 5) powders produced by mechanical alloying (MA) have been investigated. Some parameter such as milling times (up to 100 h) and compositional ration (0% and 5% Cr) was investigated in this study. Characterizations of the prepared powders were carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), elemental map analysis, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and vibratory sample magnetometer (VSM) methods. The results show the formation of the Fe(Co) and Fe(Co, Cr) solid solutions completed in 32 and 100 h of milling time, respectively. X-ray diffraction experiment results indicate that Fe65Co35 and (Fe65Co35)(95)Cr-5 average grain size reduces from 180 nm before milling process (0 h) to about 18 and 10 nm with increasing of milling time, respectively. Magnetic properties of prepared nanoalloys were investigated using vibratory sample magnetometer method and the results show interesting changes in milling process. The effect of chromium additive also was performed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method. This study shows the presence of chromium increasing charge transfer resistant in electrochemical process. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Obesity is the common clinical signs in hirsutism, which can cause metabolic disturbances like dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and hypertension. To investigate relationship of overweight and obesity with hormonal and metabolic parameters in suspected hirsute women, in a cross-sectional study, 184 suspected hirsute women were selected in a reproductive endocrinology outpatient clinic in north of Tehran from February 1997 to May 1999. Weight, height, waist and hip circumferences were measured and serum levels of lipids, hormones and glucose were determined. Overweight and overall obesity (OO-body mass index: BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²) and android obesity (AO-waist to hip ratio: WHR>0.85) were calculated. Hirsutism score of OO and AO women was higher than that of non-obese women (NO, P

BACKGROUND: The etiology of preeclampsia remains obscure. To study the role of insulin resistance in preeclampsia, we compared fasting insulin and glucose changes during the second and third trimesters in preeclamptic women with a normal control group. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a nested case-control study, subjects were selected from a population-based cohort of 674 pregnant women from whom serum was collected for this study between the 20th and 24th week of gestation. For 16 women who developed preeclampsia (cases), 16 women who remained normotensive were selected as controls. Controls were matched with each case for pregestational body mass index, age, gestational age, and parity. Fasting glucose and insulin levels of the second trimester (20th to 24th weeks) of pregnancy were compared based on serological data. The comparisons were also carried out in the third trimester when preeclampsia occurred. RESULTS: Fasting insulin levels increased from 15.3+/-1.3 microlU/mL to 25.3+/-1.4 microlU/mL between the second and third trimesters in the preeclamptic group (P

Objective: To find the effect of home base aerobic-strengthening exercises on anthropometric and hormonal variables of patients with PCOS. Material/Methods: In this randomized controlled trial twenty women in exercise group performed aerobic-strengthening exercises; the other 20 participants[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL], 7th EFSMA – European Congress of Sports Medicine, 3rd Central European Congress of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Isolated hematuria and its association with proteinuria, and urinary cast and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease activity, and decision for renal biopsy is a dilemma for physician in SLE patients. The aim of this study was to investigate 1. whether isolated hematuria is associated with active SLE, 2. to determine duration between hematuria and proteinuria and urinary cast, and 3. to determine renal histological type in SLE patients with isolated hematuria. All episodes of isolated hematuria between 1981 and 1997 were identified from Lupus Unit, Rheumatology Research Center database. Isolated hematuria was defined as >5 RBC/hpf in the absence of urinary infection and other renal manifestations. Relation of hematuria was assessed with proteinuria and urinary cast and SLE disease activity. Needle renal biopsy was done in 19 SLE patents with isolated hematuria. 4.42% (31/700) of our cohort had at least one episode of isolated hematuria. Out of 31 patients in whom the isolated hematuria was the first documented renal manifestation, 11 patients (35.48%) developed another renal manifestation (25.8% proteinuria and 9.67% casts). 54.54% (6/11) of patients developed proteinuria and urinary cast within 3 months. The mean time for development of a second renal manifestation for the patients with isolated hematuria was 19.9 months. Renal needle biopsy was performed for 19 patients (5.78% type IV, 63.15% type III and 21.50% type II). The results of the present study indicate that isolated hematuria is not rare in SLE patients. Also, there was no significant relationship between isolated hematuria and anti ds-DNA, C3, C4 and major organ involvement in patients with SLE. Our study suggests that SLE patients who have isolated hematuria should undergo renal biopsy and that isolated hematuria should be considered a manifestation of active renal SLE.