IRANIAN SOUTH MEDICAL JOURNAL (ISMJ)
Year:2015 | Volume:18 | Issue:4|Papers Count:19

Background: The safest way to reduce mycotoxins in contaminated foods with it; it is using certain strains of various microbes. Aim of this study is biological reduction of aflatoxin B1 by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) in wheat flour samples that were collected in Chaloos city (Mazandaran province, North Iran).Material and Methods: Aflatoxin B1 contamination was measured by ELISA method in 22 samples of wheat flour. Then S. cerevisiae was added to primary wheat flour. After 48 h aflatoxin B1 contamination in samples were measured by ELISA, again. For statistical analysis, the statistical software SPSS18 and t-test was used.Results: all 22 samples of wheat flour were contaminated with aflatoxin B1. The minimum and maximum levels of aflatoxin B1 in primary wheat flour were 1.1 and 10.6 ppb, respectively. S. cerevisiae reduced the amount of aflatoxin B1 in wheat flour samples. Minimum and maximum amount of aflatoxin contamination after adding S. cerevisiae was 0.5 and 9.1 ppb, respectively.Conclusion: Inhibitory effect of S. cerevisiae and aflatoxin B1 reduction in wheat flour was proved in this study. Therefore we can be hoped that yeast S. cerevisiae as neutralizing agents can be used in flour for this toxin. Consumption of products that contaminated with aflatoxin B1 endangers consumers' health, thus reducing of this toxin in the food should be considered.

Background: Recent studies have shown that effective genes on survival time of cancer patients play an important role as a risk factor or preventive factor. Present study was designed to determine effective genes on survival time for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients and predict the survival time using these selected genes.Materials & Methods: Present study is a cohort study was conducted on 40 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. For these patients, 2042 gene expression was measured. In order to predict the survival time, the composition of the semi-parametric additive survival model with two gene selection methods elastic net and lasso were used. Two methods were evaluated by plotting area under the ROC curve over time and calculating the integral of this curve.Results: Based on our findings, the elastic net method identified 10 genes, and Lasso-Cox method identified 7 genes. GENE3325X increased the survival time (P=0.006), Whereas GENE3980X and GENE377X reduced the survival time (P=0.004). These three genes were selected as important genes in both methods.Conclusion: This study showed that the elastic net method outperformed the common Lasso method in terms of predictive power. Moreover, apply the additive model instead Cox regression and using microarray data is usable way for predict the survival time of patients.

Background: Chronic sinusitis (CS) is one of the most prevalent chronic illnesses that affecting persons of all age groups. It is an inflammatory process that involves the paranasal sinuses. There isn't definitive and consistent data concerning the distribution of bacterial species in patients with Chronic Sinusitis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has emerged as a potential pathogen in the immune compromised patients, so this microorganism is one of the most important cause of Chronic sinusitis. The purpose of this study is molecular detection of sinusitis caused by P. aeruginosa.Material and Methods: 50 specimens was provided from the secretion of maxillary and frontal sinuses of patients from Rasoule Akram hospital during operation. Genomic bacterial DNA was extracted by DNP kit and detection of this bacteria was proceeded by employing sequence-specific target namely the outer membrane protein (oprL) gene locus and designing primers. PCR optimized and sensitivity and specificity tests was performed. Amplicon was cloned by T/A Cloning method and was used for sequencing and positive control.Results: The product of optimized PCR with 504 bp length correctly amplified and observed on electrophoreses gel 1.5% and confirmed by sequencing. Evaluation of the selected primers with 8 various DNA demonstrated 100% specificity. Sensitivity of optimized test was Evaluated 10 CFU of bacteria. From the 50 samples, 22% of specimens were positive for P. aeruginosa.Conclusion: This study indicates that molecular detection of P. aeruginosa employing the oprL gene target is a rapid and useful technique for detection of P. aeruginosa.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common female cancer worldwide. Survival rate of breast cancer, especially as an indicator of the successful implementation of screening, diagnosis and treatment programs, has been at the center of attention of public health experts.Material and Methods: In a survival study, the records of breast cancer cases in cancer registry system of Bushehr Province were extracted during 2001, March to 2013, September. These records were linked and matched with records of death registry system. After determining patients, status regarding being alive or dead, survival analysis was done. Life table, Kaplan-Mayer analysis, log rank and Breslow tests were used for computing and comparing survival rates.Results: In 300 recorded breast cancer cases, mean and standard deviation of age was 51.26±13.87. Survival rates were 95, 88, 78, 73 and 68 percent since the first year through the fifth year, respectively. Mean survival was 87.20 months (95% CI= 81.28- 93.12). There was no significant difference in mean survival regarding age and different geographical areas.Conclusion: Although survival rates of registered breast cancer patients in Bushehr Province are similar to other provinces, they are far from those of developed countries. This situation demands more extensive efforts regarding public education and improving the process of diagnosis, treatment and care of patients especially during first two years after diagnosis.

Background: Fever is one of the most common reasons for which parents of infants and young children seek medical care. This study aimed to understand the problems of parents in the care and management of febrile children in depth and ultimately provide ways to resolve this issue.Materials & Methods: The present study is a descriptive exploratory research (a kind of mix method design) with the aim of examining the problems of managing fever in children by their parents. The study population was parents of children referred to health centers in Bushehr. The study sample was purposively selected. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, demographic information and empowering questionnaire. The qualitative data were analyzed based on directed content analysis. The quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS software (version 19) and descriptive and analytical statistics at a significance level of 0.05.Results: In the qualitative study, coding and condensing data from interviews determined in six categories, including: the need for awareness, preparedness for coping, acting independently performance of effective care, sense of control and management positions and satisfaction. The mean and standard deviation of the scores of knowledge, attitude and practice of parents were, 6.65±1.58, 11.87±3.41 and 55.44±5.97, respectively. In addition, scores of empowering in terms of some demographic characteristics showed significant correlation.Conclusion: The need for basic information about how to manage fever and also need to empowering mothers in such a way to be prepared enough to cope with fever were presents in most of participants’ interviews. It is recommended that health workers provide the parents more complete education by empowerment models to reach satisfactory abilities in managing their children’s fever.

Background: Life expectancy at birth is the number of years a neonate can survive, in a stable condition of mortality. Life expectancy is one of the key indicators of health that reflects the health, culture and socio-economic condition of society. The present study was to assess changes in life expectancy at birth in districts of Bushehr province in 2006 and 2011.Material and Methods: This cross- sectional study was based on mortality statistics data for the years 2006 and 2011 gathered by statistics unit of Health deputy of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. The present study examined changes in life expectancy at birth in Bushehr province at the district level in a period from 2006 to 2011.On the basis of geographical proximity, nine counties of Bushehr province was divided into five regions. The life expectancy at birth by sex and urban/rural distribution was calculated by the direct method. The Recommended method of WHO was used to calculate life table.Results: Life expectancy at birth was 73.2 years (71.10 for men and 75.11 for women) in 2006. The highest calculated life expectancy, 74.63 years, was belonged to Dashtestan region and the lowest was 72 years in Bushehr region. In 2011, life expectancy at birth of Bushehr province was 75.75 years (74.98 for men and 76.53 for women). Dashti- Tangestan region had the highest one, 77.05 years, and Bushehr region had the lowest life expectancy, 74.30 years.Conclusion: It seems that increase in life expectancy at birth is more prominent in men than women in the 5 year period of 2006- 2011. Considering the difference in life expectancy at birth between five regions, it seems that calculated life expectancy would be a good indicator to reflect the unequal distribution of health and socioeconomic facilities in different regions of Bushehr province.

Background: In recent years, water pipe smoking has been spread among adults especially in Asian African communities in the Middle East and Arabic countries. The aim of this study is determination of the nicotine dependence status and some related factors among women consumer in Bushehr.Material and Methods: 430 water pipe smoker women were examined in this cross-sectional study. Convenience and snowball sampling methods were used to collect data. After data collection, data were analyzed by SPSS software with using appropriate statistical tests.Results: In this study, 43.4% (N= 186) of women had moderate nicotine dependency. The overall mean and standard deviation score for nicotine dependence were 40.71±12.63. In this study, consumer’s education (p=0.004) and job (p=0.015), husband’s education (p=0.003), and job (p=0.043), history of water pipe smoking (p=0.000), intention to quit (p=0.021), and type of tobacco (p=0.003), significantly associated with nicotine dependence. Logit regression results showed that husband 's education level, age at onset of water pipe consuming and intention to quit water pipe explain nicotine dependence.Conclusion: Nicotine dependence among almost half of the consumer women was in average level and it is essential to design educational interventions for low socio - economic individuals particularly in teens and young people that this behavior has not institutionalized yet. Also for people who have no intention of quit water pipe, at first, we provide the conditions for their quitting through empowerment process and then encourage them to quit water pipe.

Background: Mindfulness is a new construct which has held psychiatrists and psychologists' attention in the treatment of many psychological disorders. The use of mindfulness techniques needs more information about the mechanisms of the facets of mindfulness in each disorder. The goal of the present study was to compare the facets of mindfulness among patients with major depression, generalized anxiety disorder and normal individuals.Material and Methods: Statistical population of the present study consisted of all of patients who were diagnosed major depression disorder and Generalized anxiety disorder in the counseling center of Mashhad university of medical sciences. Thirty patients with MDD and 30 patients with GAD were recruited among them via available sampling method. Moreover, 30 normal individuals without the diagnosis of MDD and GAD from the staff of Mashhad university of medical sciences were recruited and matched to the depressed and anxious groups on the basis of age, gender and lack of medical and other mental diseases. Participants completed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI- II), Speilberger State – Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire. Mean and standard deviation were utilized to analyze the data in the descriptive statistics section. And in the inferential statistics section, MANOVA and Post Hoc Tukey Test were used.Results: The results indicated that there were significant differences between the three groups with regards to the facets of mindfulness. In other words, there were significant differences between anxious and normal groups and also depressed and normal individuals with regards to the scores in the facets of Observing, Describing and Acting with awareness (P<0.0001). There were also significant differences between anxious and depressed groups and anxious and normal individuals in the facet of Nonjudging (P<0.0001). Moreover, significant differences were found between anxious- depressed (P < 0.001), anxious- normal (P<0.0001) and depressed- normal (P<0.05) groups with regards to the scores in the facet of Nonreacting.Conclusion: It can be concluded that patients with MDD and GAD compared to normal individuals have lower scores in the facets of mindfulness. Therefore, mindfulness- based treatments can facilitate the process of the treatment and improve the symptoms of such disorders via focusing on the five facets of mindfulness.

Background: The expansion of studies that done in the demand of effective factors such as social factors on mental health provides the ground work for the combination of these studies. So, this meta-analysis was implemented to determine the summary effect size of the relationship between social indexes and mental health measures.Material and Methods: The method used in this study is a Meta-Analysis. To achieve above aim used of quantitative findings from 46 studies, that computed 77 effect sizes from these. The studies that were used in this study collected from databases such as magiran, noormags, Scientific Information Database and proceeding articles that published in the Seminars of college student’s Mental Health. After reviewing the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the correlation effect sizes in selected studies were analyzed with the CMA2 software. In this study, were calculated both random and fixed models, that selected random model, according to the results of the heterogeneity analysis of the Q and I2 factors.Results: The results showed that the combinational effect size of the studies obtained 0.139, after eliminated 10 effect sizes. The combined effect size of studies was calculated low based on Cohen's criteria. Also, the results of heterogeneity analysis indicated that there are moderating variables in the studies. The evidence of this meta-analysis associated with prior theoretical and empirical foundations, indicates the relationship between social support and mental health.Conclusion: According to the results of this meta-analysis for successful mental health programs due to cultural and social issues will be necessary.

Background: School, as a reliable place in student's education, has an important role in training. If health principles do not comply with in schools, students may be suffering from infectious diseases. Health trainer can be effective in improving school health. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of health trainer on environmental health level of schools in Bushehr province.Material and Methods This study was a descriptive - analytic study. A total of 20 samples were selected from each of the elementary schools have and not have health trainer using the method of stratified random sampling in the Bushehr province in the year 91-92. Data collected by researcher direct observation and using an assessment form of school environmental health contains 30 questions in 9 different sections. The statistical method used to analyze and test questions in this study were the chi square and Fisher exact test.Results: Based on findings of this research, between the environment health situation in schools with and without health trainer in 19 cases of health variables the significant difference was observed. The statistical analysis showed significant differences between health status of toilets (p<0.005), drinking water taps and buffet (p<0.001), yard and corridors (p<0.01), and solid waste disposal (p<0.025) in schools with and without health trainer in the year 91-92.Conclusion: Overall, the results indicate that the presence of health trainers in schools can lead to improved health status of the school. The schools without health trainer had very poor health status; this issue required further try of concerned authorities to employee health trainers in schools.

Background: Heat stress is one of the most important consequences of occupational heat exposure in worldwide. Current heat stress indices are not suitable for heat strain screening in developing countries due to their inherent and applied limitations. The Aim of this study was design, validity and reliability of a questionnaire method entitled "Heat Strain Score Index" or HSSI for preliminary assessment of heat stress at workplace.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2009-2010. This research included seven stages (i) Item generation (ii) Evaluation of content validity by 9 subjects of occupational health specialists and 30 occupational health providers (iii) Reliability analysis was performed on 98 workers (iv) Structure validity was conducted on 150 workers (v) Test of the measurement model (vi) Criteria validity on 122 worker and (vii) classification of level thermal risk with ROC curves. Data were analyzed with SPSS-18 and AMOS-16 software.Results: In stage of item generation; 40 items were identified. In Content Validity evaluation in the level of occupational health specialists, 27 items modified, 3 items were removed and 3 items added; in evaluation by occupational health providers, 19 items modified. Internal consistency (a) of items was 0.91. Exploratory factor analysis on items HSSI scale identified four subscales which explained 71.6% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis provides evidence of model fits (GFI=0.991, RMSEA=0.036). Correlation between the HSSI score with aural temperature was 0.73.Cut-off point, sensitivity and specificity for upper green zone (no thermal strain) were 13.5, 91% and 50%.whereas Cut-off point, sensitivity and specificity for lower red zone (thermal strain) were 18, 86% and 73%.Conclusion: This study revealed HSSI scale includes 18 of measurable variables that high overlapped with WBGT index and others questionnaires. This scale demonstrated high reliability and validity; sensitivity and specificity of cut-off point in scale were suitable. Therefore HSSI scale for primary evaluation heat stress is suitable.

Background: Ethno pharmacology has been seen as a multidisciplinary approach for novel drug discovery by providing valuable data about medicinal plants in different cultures. The aim of this ethno pharmacological study was to identify medicinal plants of the Zirrah (Touz)/Dashtestan/Bushehr province in the North of Persian Gulf.Material and Methods: The medical uses of medicinal plants were gathered from 23 local informants by face to face interviews. The relative frequency of citation (FRC) and cultural importance (CI) indices were calculated.Results: A total of 131 medicinal plants belonging to 62 families were identified. Malva sylvestris, Zataria multiflora, Terminalia chebula, Cuminum cyminum, Foenicum vulgare, Olivera decumbens, Echium amoenum, Teucriuma polium, Cannabis sativa and Papaver somniferum had the highest cultural importance indices. Ducrosia anethifolia Bioss, Nigella sativa, Capparis spinosa and Urtica dioica had the highest FRC indices. The highest medical uses were for gastrointestinal diseases, gynecological diseases and dermatological uses, infectious diseases, nature of cool and metabolic disorders, respectively.Conclusion: There is a vast variety of medicinal plants in Zirrah (Touz)/Dashtestan/Bushehr province. Although most of therapeutic applications of these plants in the Zirrah (Touz)/Dashtestan/Bushehr province are the same as Iran’s traditional medicine, but the people of this region use some of these plants for some diseases which are unique for this area. Thus, investigation about these plants should be initiated to discover novel drugs for clinical applications.

Tunicates are a large group of marine animals; and have been named “tunicate” because of cellosic outer covering called a tunic. They are divided into four major classes of the ascidians, thaliaceans, appendicularians and Sorberacea. Ascidians are the most diverse tunicate group. They are a rich source of secondary metabolites. Alkaloids are the major class of this compounds that mostly, display biological activity. Pyridoacridine alkaloids have a significant biological activities and their main mechanism is DNA cleavage inhibition by reactive oxygen species (ROS). The pyrroloacridine alkaloids are mostly cytotoxic; and also, indole alkaloids have numerous biological properties such as potent antiviral, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxicity activities. Pyrrole Alkaloids exhibited several biological properties, like strong calmodulin antagonistic, antileukemic, inhibiting Na+/K+ ATPase, activating the octomyosin ATPase, and inducing release of Ca2+ from sarcoplasmic reticulum. Tunicates are a rich source of peptides, cyclic oligopeptides and depsipeptides such as patellamides, Didemnin, Iodocionin, Apliamides, Halocidin, Dicynthaurin or Clavanin, with significant biological activities. Some compounds extracted from tunicates such as, Glabruquionones, prenylhydroquinone, geranylhydroquinone, Longithorone, scabellones, and conithiaquinones have different structures of linear or cyclic hydroquinone and quinones. They possess a wide range of biological activities as strong anti- tumor, anti-leukemia, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, and selective cytotoxicity properties. Other numerous compounds with unique structures and different biological activities such as Phallusiasterols with modulating the PXR receptor; Lepadins with antiplasmodial and antitrypanosomal properties; Coproverdine with cytotoxic and anti-tumor activity; and Ningalin with a strong inhibitory effects on CK1d, CDK5 and GSK3b kinase, have been extracted from these animals. A large diversity of biological active compoundes from marine tunicates explains this realty that they have a large capacity to search and devalopement new marine medicinal compounds. It is hoped that in the future, marine drugs, have a greater portion in the drugstore shelves.

Marine organisms are rich sources of bioactive compounds and their biotechnological potential attracted the attention to biologists and chemists all over the world. During the first decade of the 21st century alone, over 2000 molecules from cnidarians were described. The phylum cnidaria (corals, sea pens, sea anemones, jellyfish and hydroids) includes over 10,000 species living in aquatic habitats. Cnidarians are the oldest venomous animals. In this phylum, most toxicological studies have been done in Anthozoa. The Soft corals Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea orders of Anthozoa represent by far the highest number of species yielding promising compounds. Up to now, numerous chemical components have been isolated from cnidarians, including steroids, diterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids have been shown to exhibit biological properties such as antimicrobial, antitumor activities and cytotoxicity. In this review, we summarize some studies that focus on some of the most promising marine bioactive isolated from cindirians in last decade.

Pulmonary hydatid cyst caused by the larval stage of echinococus parasit manifests in a variety of features from asymptomatic to symptoms including chronic cough, pleuritis, chest pain and hemoptysis due to cyst rupture into bronchus. some radiologic paterns has been described for it. the case we present it here is an unusual case regarding its patern of pulmonary involvement radiologically.