IRANIAN SOUTH MEDICAL JOURNAL (ISMJ)
Year:2019 | Volume:22 | Issue:4|Papers Count:6

Background: Given the importance of Stachys genus in Iran and their significant biological activity, we collected three species of this plant: St. aucheri Benth., Stachys benthamiana Boiss and St. inflata Benth. from different regions of Iran. We examined the free radical scavenging potential, total phenol content and tyrosinase inhibitory activity of their methanol, methanol 80% and dichloromethane extracts. Materials and Methods: Antioxidant activity and total phenol content of the mentioned extracts were assessed using DPPH and FolinCiocalteu reagent, respectively. The inhibitory activity of the extracts on tyrosinase was also investigated. Results: Total phenol content of different extracts was high in the extracts as 98. 5-139. 7 mg eq. gallic acid/g in methanol 80% extract, 36. 8-54. 7 mg eq. gallic acid/g in methanol extract and 17. 9-44. 9 mg eq. gallic acid/g in dichloromethane extract. Furthermore, their antioxidant activity was correlated with total phenol content of the extracts. Methanol 80% extract had the highest total phenol content and antioxidant activity. Evaluation of the tyrosinase inhibitory potential of the extracts revealed that St. inflata exhibited a considerable inhibitory potential (IC50= 5. 4 ± 0. 6 μ M). Conclusion: It can be concluded that tyrosinase inhibitory activity of Stachys genus might be due to the less polar compounds and these compounds are mostly present in the dichloromethane extract of St. inflatai over St. aucheri and St. benthamiana.

Background: Academic achievement is the result of a number of socio-occupational variables. Procrastination and stress are important predictors of such variables. The purpose of this study is to distinguish students with high and low academic achievement based on procrastination factors and psychosocial stressors. Materials and Methods: The research method is correlational. Given that the differences among the groups were examined in terms of the number of variables, the study is causal-comparative. Discriminant analysis, which is an individual-based analytical process, was used for analysis. The study population was all students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences during the academic year of 2018-2019. Clutser sampling based on sex and major was used to select the statistical sample. The estimated sample size was 367 students. Data was collected through Perception of Stressful Life Events and Procrastination scales. Results: The results of the analysis led to one discriminant function that significantly differentiated students from lower and higher academic achievement. Stress components did not play a significant role in this differentiation, but the students with low academic achievement had higher mean scores than students with high academic achievement in the procrastination components. The greatest difference in the two groups' mean scores was due to fatigue and then in intentional procrastination and procrastination due to lack of planning. Conclusion: Students are advised to learn the meaning of procrastination, its symptoms and its consequences while they learn to to practice self-control and time management through regular training in order to reduce educational harm.

Background: The prevalence of sleep disorders in the general population is between 26. 4% and 39. 4% in Asia, which has increased in Iran in recent decades. Low sleep quality and reduced sleep hours result in work impairment and physical and mental illnesses. This study aimed to improve sleep quality and determine the factors affecting the quality of sleep. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2018 among 243 employees presenting to the Center for Occupational Medicine at Gonabad University of Medical Sciences. Demographic data such as age, shift work and education level were asked of the staff. Weight, blood pressure, height and waist circumference were measured. The sleep quality score was extracted by completing the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol were also measured. Logistic regression analysis was performed. Significance level was set at 0. 05. Results: Among 243 men studied, 99 men (40. 7%) had low sleep quality and 126 men (51. 9%) reported sleeping less than seven hours a day. age (p=0. 021) and waist circumference (p=0. 036) and shift work had a direct effect while education had a reverse effect on the quality of sleep. Fasting blood suger, cholesterol, triglesride, body mass index did not have a significant effect on sleep quality. Conclusion: Low sleep quality and inadequate sleep hours causes physical and psychological complications, which mandates planning and training to reduce factors affecting low sleep quality.

Background: As social networks are increasingly used, the research published through social networks should be evaluated. Hence, new measures were employed to examine the scientific effectiveness of social networks. The measurements taken from social networks, called Altmetrics, provide an opportunity to evaluate research. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the presence of indexed articles of researchers affiliated with Bushehr University of Medical Sciences at the Scopus site in social networks. Materials and Methods: The present applied study used altmetrics to determine articles with the highest altmetrics score. Data was collected form June 22nd to August 23rd, 2018 from Scopus database, and analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics (Pearson’ s correlation coefficient) in Excel and SPSS version 20. Results: The findings of this study showed that out of 679 articles incexed for Bushehr University of Medical Sciences in Scopus database, 128 articles in social networks had altmetrics score in different social networks. The study of various networks showed that Mendely (79. 79%), Twitter (8. 58%) and Dimensions (6. 86%) were the most important social networks that users visited or shared through the research articles. Finally, we found a positive and significant relationship between altmetrics and citation indicators of articles, Conclusion: It can be said that altmetrics can be used as a complement to citation indicators to evaluate the performance of researchers.

Background: Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. As synthetic biology develops into a promising science and engineering field, we need to clarify the purpose and nature of this science in terms of security, ethics and the recognition of the benefits of potential risks. The aim of this study was to evaluate the researchers’ attitudes toward synthetic biology in Bushehr University of Medical Science. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 80 faculty members of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences who have the research experience. To collect information a researcher-made questionnaire consisted of 19 questions in fields of benefits and risks of synthetic biology, compliance with religious beliefs, uncertainty about the boundaries between man and God, the necessity of policy making in this science and the speed of progress of this science were used. Demographics characteristics of subjects were also assessed through the questionnaire. Results: In this study, 22 women and 58 men with the average age of 43. 87± 7. 35 years of 20. 79± 14. 56 (range 31 to 60 years) with mean history of research of 12. 43± 6. 2 years were enrolled. The results showed that 85. 65% of study subjects had a positive approach to the benefits of this science, 72. 46% expressed concern about the serious risks of synthetic biology and 72. 33% had positive attitude towards policy making in this field. There was an intersectional and boundary relationship between conflicts with religious beliefs and trust the policymakers and scientists (P=0. 052). Also, there was no significant relationship between age, sex, and research history with any of the questionnaire items (P-value>0. 05). Conclusion: The academic society was aware from the benefits and risks of synthetic biology. They did not express a conflict between this branch of science and their religious beliefs and trusts. They also considered an interdisciplinary approach and training of a skillful human resource among the fundamental strategic policies in the field of synthetic biology.

Background: Nowadays, with the rapid development of industries and technology, the risk of work-related accidents, occupational diseases and environmental pollution is increasing. Considering the importance of preventing these hazards, some universities in Iran have recently trained students in new interdisciplinary specialties such as health, safety and the environment (HSE). Some organizations are issuing specialized certificates for individuals by holding short-term workshops. Meanwhile, the acquisition of specialized HSE knowledge is almost impossible within a few hours or days. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explain the importance of HSE academic education at postgraduate level, the need to integrate the three categories of health, safety and environment and to explain the skills required by HSE specialists. Materials and Methods: The present library review study was conducted in 2018 using tools included reviewing library texts and searching reliable online sources. For this purpose, the keywords of HSE, Health, Safety, Environment, etc. were searched in reputable databases such as Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar, and also related sites such as OSHA, ACGIH, and ILO. Results: The results show that today, the HSE curriculum is taught in many developed and developing countries as an interdisciplinary and post-graduate course. HSE graduates must have specific skills such as human relationships, safety management knowledge and accident prevention, verbal communication skills, and writing HSE guidelines in the workplace. Conclusion: The integration of health, safety and environmental management systems by HSE specialists has a vital role in the prevention of occupational diseases, industrial accidents and environmental degradation, especially in complex industries such as oil, gas, petrochemicals, nuclear, ports and shipping industries.