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Background: When the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak occurred, the infrastructure for definitive detection of the disease through real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was not yet available in many regions, and a large proportion of suspected patients were inevitably referred to radiology centers to provide a chest CT scan. This research was conducted to describe chest CT characteristics in patients who underwent chest CT during the first weeks of COVID-19 outbreak in Babol, Iran. Methods: All non-hospitalized suspected COVID-19 patients referred to the state radiologic clinic to perform chest CT from March 8, 2020 to March 28, 2020 have been enrolled in this observational study. All CT scans were reviewed by a faculty member radiologist with approximately 20 years of experience. Results: Totally, 2,207 (52.3%) men and 2016 (47.7%) women have been examined. Imaging characteristics in 2292 (54.3%) individuals illustrated a highly suggestive sign of COVID-19 infection while 1869 (44.3%) had a normal chest CT scan. 1813 cases (77.00%) had bilateral involvement and 541 cases (23.00%) were infected unilaterally; Also, 1727 (73.36%) patients had left-sided involvement. Lung field involvement in 2036 (86.49%) patients was less than 20%. Ground glass opacity had a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, LR+ and LR- of 99%, 96%, 96%, 98%, 22 and 0.01, respectively, for categorization of a patient as a COVID-19 case. These values were 99%, 73%, 70%, 99%, 3.72% and 0.01%, respectively for consolidations. Conclusion: Although, RT-PCR is still introduced as the gold standard method for definite diagnosis, diagnostic accuracy of chest CT in COVID-19 detection is considerable.

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a highly prevalent condition with high impact on healthcare costs. Considering the complimentary therapies options like phytotherapy, this study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of Nardostachys jatamansi (D.Don) DC. extract in sixteen FD patients. The subjects received capsules of 500 mg N. Jatamansi, 3 times daily before meals for 30 days. The severity of early satiation and postprandial fullness were assessed by self-report of improvement at least 50% of symptoms and other FD symptoms assessed by Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) before intervention and at end of treatment. The mean GSRS score level decreased significantly after intervention among study population. Five patients had chief complaint of early satiety and post prandial fullness who all of them reported 50% improvement. According to the results N. jatamansi seems to be effective in patients with refractory FD. Randomized clinical studies seem to be required.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patient education is one of the quality standards of nursing care and affects on the costs, recovery and cure rate of the patients. Identification of the current status in patient education can result to better planning in this way. In the present study, the importance of patient education was assessed according to the viewpoints of the nurses in the hospitals of Babol. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 183 nurses working in the hospitals of Babol who selected by convenience sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics and 22 questions for assessment their attitude in a five point Likert scale. Data were finally analyzed by using the software SPSS V18. ANOVA and T-test were used for data analysis. FINDINGS: The mean age was 33.38±7.5 years, and 155 (84.7%) were female. The majority of the nurses had a positive attitude toward patient education also 89.3% considered patient education as a necessary subject. The most negative point in nurses attitude (92.4%) was toward the negative impact of patient education on routine ward tasks. There were no significant relationship between the hospitals, educational status, work experience, and organizational post with their attitude, but between the work department and their attitude, there was significant relationship (p=0.019). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that the importance of patient education had a good position in the attitude of nurses. However, to provide a better situation, inhibiting and facilitating factors should be identified to improve patient education in the hospitals.