Qom University of Medical Sciences Journal
Year:2020 | Volume:14 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

Background and Objectives: One of the most common disorders in most societies is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of neuropsychological rehabilitation on visual memory performance and social adjustment in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design with control group. Forty students with higher scores in the dimension of ADHD disorder were selected from Ahvaz schools and participated in this study as sample. In the pre-test phase, a visual memory test was performed for all the participants. All parents were also asked to complete a social adjustment questionnaire. The participants were then randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control. of 20 each. The experimental group underwent neuropsychological rehabilitation intervention for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week for 45 minutes. After the intervention process, post-test was performed in the experimental group. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance at the significance level of p<0. 05. Results: The results showed that the effect of neuropsychological rehabilitation intervention on the visual memory variable (p = 0. 02, f = 5. 74) and social adjustment (p = 0. 0001, f = 57. 62), were significant. Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be said that a period of neuropsychological rehabilitation intervention using Sound Smart program is effective in the visual memory and social adjustment in ADHD children.

Background and Objectives: Medical conditions required intensive care usually occur suddenly. Hospitalization of a family member in these wards is a stressful event for all members of family and causes new immediate needs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of family members with a child hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit from the perspective of mothers and nurses working in these wards. Methods: This descriptive analytical study was conducted in 2017. A total of 24 NICU nurses of Hazrate Masoume hospital, were studied using census method and 38 mothers that had a hospitalized child were studied by random method. In this study, 42-item version of Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI) was used to assess the family needs. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tests and independent t-test. Results: From the mothers’ point of view (97. 6 percent) most of the needs on the CCFNI were rated as very important (mean > 3) and from the nurses' viewpoint, 59. 5% of the family's needs were very important. The mean score of the importance degrees of importance of total needs among NICU nurses, were lower than mothers, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0. 05). Conclusion: The findings of this research revealed that family members, specially mothers have specific identifiable needs. The gap between mothers’ and nurses’ viewpoints on family needs is significant and this finding could provide proper insight in nurses working in NICUs to meet the family need.

Background and Objectives: Deficiency in the complement system can lead to some autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of C3 and C4 complements in unstimulated saliva of individuals with oral lichen planus (OLP) and healthy subjects. Methods: In this case-control study, 31 healthy individuals and 31 patients with OLP entered the study. The values of C3 and C4, were measured using immunoturbidimetric method, and statistical analysis of data was carried out by t-and ROC tests. Results: The mean concentrations of C3 and C4 in unstimulated saliva in patients with OLP, were significantly lower than the control group. The C4 cut-off point was obtained to distinguish patients from healthy individuals, 0. 78 mg/dL with a sensitivity of 76 and a specificity of 55. Conclusion: The levels of C3 and C4 complement proteins were low in OLP. Therefore, it seems that these complements are involved in the pathogenesis of OLP and may be considered as potential biological markers for the diagnosis of OLP.

Background and Objectives: Stevioside, a natural sweetener derived from Stevia plant, has anti-cancer properties. Accordingly, the present study investigated the in vitro effects of stevioside cytotoxicity on cancerous liver (Hep G2), colon (HT29), and breast (MCF7) cells and normal human embryonic kidney cell (Hek293) compared to cisplatin as anticancer drug. Methods: In the present study, cytotoxic activity of stevioside was investigated and compared with cisplatin as a well-known anti-cancer drug. The cytotoxic effects of stevioside and cisplatin on Hep G2, HT29, MCF7, and Hek293 cells, were investigated by MTT assay. IC50 values were calculated by fitting the data in a sigmoidal dose-response curve using non-linear regression analysis for each cell line. Results: Among the studied cancerous cell lines, stevioside showed higher cell growth inhibition on Hep G2 cell line. Stevioside did not have high toxicity on Hek293 normal cell line, but cisplatin had more toxicity in comparison with steviosid on the normal human embryonic kidney cell. Conclusion: The sweetener stevioside, showed less cytotoxic effects compared to cisplatin. Due to its non-toxicity to normal human kidney embryonic cell (Hek293), stevioside can be used as auxiliary treatment regimen in patients with liver, breast, and colon cancers.

Background and Objectives: One of the major problems during aging is sarcopenia, which one of its important involved mechanisms is loss of motor neurons. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of age with the expression of denervation marker in the neuromuscular junction of male Wistar rats. Methods: In this study, 7 young adult male rats of 4 to 6 months of age and 7 old male rats of 24 to 26 months of age, were tested. after a two-week familiarization period, the soleus and plantaris muscles of the rats were removed, embedded, and subjected to immunohistochemically staining to determine the neuromuscular junction site and neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) expression rate. The results were analyzed by analysis of variance at the significant level of p ≤ 0. 01. Results: The results showed that the expression of NCAM was significantly higher in the aged group compared to the young adult group, and in both groups, the expression rate of this protein in the fast plantaris muscle was more than slow soleus muscle. Conclusion: With age, the peripheral nerve degradation process occurs in both slow contraction muscles and fast contraction muscles, but the severity of this denervation is higher in the fast contraction muscles compared to the slow contraction muscles.

Background and Objectives: Studies have shown that fatty acids affect maturation of oocytes, however, studies carried out on the effect of omega-3 on in vitro maturation of oocytes, are limited. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of omega-3 on in vitro maturation of oocytes of mouse at the stage of germinal vesicle. Methods: In this in vitro experimental study, NMRI mice aged 6 to 8 weeks, were super ovulated and killed 44 hours later, then their ovaries were removed, and immature oocytes were used for in vitro maturation. Immature oocytes were treated with omega-3 at doses of 10 and 100 μ M, after 24 hours, the maturation of the oocytes was examined by invert microscope. The data were analyzed using chi square test. Results: Exposure of immature oocytes to 10 and 100 μ M of omega-3 resulted in increased rate of mature oocytes compared to the control group (p<0. 05 and p<0. 01, respectively). Maturation rate was also higher in the group exposed to lower dose of omega-3 (10 μ M) compared to the group exposed to higher dose (100 μ M) of omega-3 (p<0. 01). Conclusion: Addition of low doses of omega-3 to oocyte maturation medium, significantly increase the maturation rate of immature oocytes.

Background and Objectives: Identification of effective mechanisms in heat-resistance in bacteria is of great importance in some industries, such as food industry, textile manufacturing, and especially in detergent production industries. For this purpose, deep learning tools were used to identify the characteristics of heat-resistant bacteria based on protein properties. Methods: Some characteristics of heat-resistant and non-heat-resistant proteins, such as the structural properties of amino acids, the number and the frequency of each amino acid, and their physicochemical properties, were calculated. Bacterial classification was performed in three steps: first, attribute weighting methods were used to select the important variables, then those variables, were selected and finally deep learning networks were employed to extract the hierarchy of the features. Results: The results of 10 weighting methods showed that out of 73 characteristics of the number and frequency of amino acids, only 40 had weights higher than zero. Of these variables, 13 variable gained weight higher than 0. 5 and only 10 variables had weight above 0. 09. These 10 features were selected as important variables. The frequencies of glutamine and glutamic acid obtained the highest possible weights and were considered as two important features in the classification of heat-resistant and non-heat-resistant bacteria. The highest prediction accuracy of the deep learning networks was 92. 42% for the classification of heat resistant bacteria. Conclusion: The deep neural networks can be effectively used to identify heat-resistant bacteria based on their protein properties.

Background and Objectives: Cryopreservation of sperm is a widely used technique to maintain and protect fertility men in certain conditions, such as infertility and malignancy treatments. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of cryopreservation on sperm functional and molecular parameters in infertile men with asthenoteratozoospermia. Methods: According to previous studies in this field, semen samples were collected from 20 people with asthenoteratozoospermia. A part of sample was first examined as a fresh sample before rapid freezing. In the following, the samples were freezed using rapid freezing protocol for 14 days in liquid nitrogen and then were thawed, and finally, the functional parameters were analyzed by sperm analysis method and DNA fragmentation was assessed using TUNEL test. Viability percentage was evaluated by eosin-nigrosin staining. Data were analyzed using paired t-test. Results: Cryopreservation led to significant decrease in sperm motility, viability, concentration, and normal morphology (p < 0. 001). DNA damage significantly increased during cryopreservation (p < 0. 01). Conclusion: Common cryopreservation process has detrimental effects on human sperm functional and molecular parameters and can reduce fertility potential.