Journal of Ilam University of Medical Sciences
Year:2016 | Volume:23 | Issue:7|Papers Count:24

Introduction: Cryptococcosis is aopportunistic fungal infection. Current disease form occurs as a pulmonary form and as a chronic, subacute and rarely acute disease. Cryptococcal infections mainly occur in immunocompromised patients. This study was done to isolate Cryptococcusneoformans var. gatti from different regions of Iran.Materials & methods: Iran was divided to 3 regions including north, south and central areas. Areas with Eucalyptus trees are randomly selected covering total regions. In north area (Mazandaran and Golestan provinces), in central area, (Tehran, Esfahan and Fars provinces) and in south area, (Khuzestan and Hormozgan provinces) were selected. 495 samples were collected from leaf, soil, flower and air around the Eucalyptus trees during 6 months and were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar (S) and Sabouraud dextrose agar supplemented with chloramphenicol (SC) media. Niger seed agar and l-canavanine glycine bromothymol blue were used as differentiation of Cryptococc-usneoformans var. gatti.Findings: Total of 13 Cryptococcusneoformans var. gatti were identified which 3 isolates (2.5%) were from Khuzestan province, 10 samples (9.2 %) isolated from Mazandaran and Golestan provinces but no cases were isolated from central area .From total isolates, 1 case from 113 flowers samples, 3 cases from 171 leaves samples, 4 cases from 40 air samples and 5 cases  from 171 soil samples, identified as Cryptococcusneoformans var. gatti.Discussion & Conclusions: A significant difference was observed in isolation of Cryptococcusneoformans var. gatti from soil and air, also asignificant difference was observed between presence of yeast in air and soil samples (P<0.05) which further studies are recommended to evaluate the disease prevalence and predisposing factors in Iran.

Introduction: Self-medication is one of social-health problems and addressing to this matter in sensitive populations such as pregnant women because of their role as role model for other family members is very important. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and behavior of pregnant women towards self-medication, and measures should be done to increase knowledge, improve attitude and practice of pregnant women in subsequent step if necessary.Materials & methods: A descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 300 pregnant women referring health centers of Ilam in 2.10.2013 up to 10.6.2014  via sampling in two steps. Data was collected based on a researcher made questionnaire in four parts. Validity of the scale was confirmed by content validity and its reliability was also confirmed by Cronbach's coefficient α=0.85). The Data was analyzed by SPSS16 software.Findings: The results showed that 71 % of the pregnant women had a medium knowledge, 75.7 % have medium attitude and 70 % have weak practice. Chi-square test showed a significant relationship between pregnant women knowledge about self-medication and their education level (p<0.05).Discussion & Conclusions: in this study, women with lower educational level had lower knowledge towards self-medication. Considering the importance of drug use during pregnancy and its adverse effects on the fetus, it is necessary to educate women about side effects of self-medication in pregnancy. Obviously, promoting pregnant women's knowledge is necessary to change the attitude and practice towards self-medication.

Introduction: Anthrax is a zoonotic disease. Bacterium Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of the fatal disease. At present, the protective antigen (PA) is used as an effective vaccine against anthrax. Domain 4 of this antigen together with domain 1 of lethal factor (LF) are the potent immunogens of this bacteria and are as suitable candidates of vaccine against it. Our aim in this study is the cloning of protective antigen domain 4 (PAD4) genes and fusion of it with lethal factor domain 1 (LFD1) gene of the bacteria to evaluate their capability in protective immunity induction.Materials & methods: In this experimental study, we used a recombinant pGEM-T easy vector containing LFD1 gene. Then PAD4 gene was amplified and isolated by PCR and cloned into another pGEM-T easy vector, separately. After that, ligation of PAD4 gene and LFD1 gene was done in mentioned vector with determination of LFD1 orientation and by PstI/XbaI restriction sites. The recombinant construct, resulted from these genes was sub-cloned into pET28a expression vector using BamHI/ XhoI restriction enzymes and after determination of genes orientation, the expression host BL21 was transformed by this recombinant vector.Findings: First cloning and fusion of PAD4 and LFD1 gene fragments were successfully carried out in pGEM-T easy vector and after the confirmation of mentioned process by both of enzymatic digestion and PCR methods, the result recombinant construct was sub-cloned into pET28a.Discussion & Conclusions: Since PAD4 and LFD1 are immunogenic regions, expression of the recombinant construct resulted from these ligated genes can be proposed as proper candidate of anthrax vaccine for induction of protective immunity.

Introduction: It has been known that both statins and exercise have beneficial effects in preventing cardiovascular diseases; however, there is no information about their combined effects on the amount of tissue damage after myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined effect of endurance training and atorvastatin on the extent of necrosis and fibrosis tissue in rat hearts following myocardial infarction.Materials & methods: 45 rats (8-10 weeks old, 230±10 g body weight) were randomly divided to five groups. Sham, control, endurance training, atorvastatin, and exercise +atovastatin. Myocardial infarction was induced by subcutaneous injection of isoprenaline (150 mg/kg) in two consecutive days. Drug and training intervention was initiated 2 days after infarction and continued for 4 weeks. In order to assess the necrosis lesion and fibrosis tissue, Hematoxylin – Eosin and massontrichrome staining were used respectively. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at P<0.05 level.Findings: The combination of endurance exercise and atorvastatin significantly reduced the amount of necrosis and fibrosis tissue compared with the control group (P<0.05). Endurance exercise training alone induced non-significant increase in the extent of necrosis damage and significantly increased fibrosis tissue. atorvastatin consumption reduced necrosis damage, but no effect on the extent of fibrosis tissue.Discussion & Conclusions: results of this study showed that the combination of training and atorvastatin are more effective in improving tissue damage caused by myocardial infarction  than exercise and atorvastatin alone.

Introduction: The personality is one of the reasons for creation and persistence of mood disorder. However, there is little researches that have studied Cloninger's personality profile in patients with major depression, bipolar I and normal people. The purpose of this study was to compare the temperament and character personality dimensions based on Cloninger's theory in patients with major depressive disorder, bipolar I and normal people.Materials & methods: In this causal-comparative study, 34 patients with Major Depressive disorder and 37 patients with Bipolar I disorder with psychiatric case from supportive and outpatient centers of social welfare office of Azerbaijan Gharbi Province were selected by available sampling method. Also, 79 people from healthy clients with case as financial case in social welfare office after screening by general health test were selected by available sampling method. Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used to collect data. ANOVA and Tukey tests (HSD) were used for data analyses.Findings: The results showed that there are significant differences among three groups in the Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm avoidance (HA), and Persistence (P). In the character dimensions, three groups have significant difference in Self-directedness (SD), Cooperativeness (C) and Self-transcendence (ST). HSD test results showed that there are significant differences between depressive and normal groups in Novelty Seeking (p<0.05), Persistence (p<0.01) and Self-transcendence (p<0.05), and in Self-directedness (p<0.01), and Harm avoidance (p<0.01) between depressive and normal group, as well as, between Bipolar I and normal group. In Cooperativeness variable (p<0.01) there is significant differences among all groups.Discussion & Conclusions: These results suggest that Novelty Seeking (NS), Persistence (P), Self-transcendence (ST) and Cooperativeness (C) are characteristics of depressive patients, in addition, Harm avoidance (HA) and Self-directedness (SD) are characteristics of patients with MDD and BD I.

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus successfully colonizes humans, contaminates the hospital environment and has the genetic versatility for acquiring resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and genetic basis of erythromycin and clindamycin resistance in staphylococcus aureus isolates from Sanandajian patients.Materials & methods: One hundred and fifty clinical isolates of S. aureus were collected from Sanandaj Hospitals. Susceptibility to antibiotics (erythromycin and clindamycin) were determined by disk agar diffusion on Muller-Hinton agar as described by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). The strains Staphylococcus aureus were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of five common erythromycin and clindamycin genes resistance determinants, respectively, ermA, ermB, ermC, mphC, msrA.Findings: Using the DAD (Disk Agar Diffusion) method, the researchers found that 56.4% of the Staphylococcus aureus isolates were resistant to erythromycin and 56/8% to clindamycin. Furthermore, the ermA gene was found in 79 isolates, ermB in 36 isolates, ermC in 62 isolates and mphC, msrA were detected in 16 and 29 isolates, respectively, by PCR technique.Discussion & Conclusions: This study indicates that resistance to erythromycin is mainly mediated by ermA and ermC genes in S. aureus in sanandaj city.

Introduction: Ascites is one of the significant signs of the Hepatobiliary diseases. It is the most common consequence of Cirrhosis and is associated with increase of infection risk and loss of the life quality. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the epidemiological findings and put them as basis for the prospective studies of etiologic diseases reduction in the field of Ascites.Materials & methods: The present study is an analytical-descriptive one, based on the hospital data of the patients with Ascites disease, treated in gastroenterology and internal section of Bu-Ali University Hospital and Velayat medical institution of Ghazvin city from 2011 to 2013, whose medical records were archived in the mentioned centers. The data were analyzed via the SPSS16 software. Using the tests "T-test Student" and K2 test with a significance level P<0.05, the data were analyzed.Findings: Among 101 patients, 58.4% were male and 41.6% were female. The average age of patients was 58.88. In general, 68% of patients suffered from High SAAG and 32% Low SAAG. The most common cause of Ascites in patients was the liver cirrhosis with 34.4% prevalence and next the malignancy with 24%.Discussion & Conclusions: Based on this study, the most common cause of Ascites is the liver cirrhosis and the second leading reason is malignancy. With regard to the epidemiological key findings across study (including a high incidence of carcinomatosis peritonitis as the second most common cause of Ascites), it severely requires further studies with more samples in order to take preventive and curative measures.

Introduction: In this cross-sectional study to assess the reliability and validity of the Social Support Scale  MOS,one of the social factors determining health which refers to the importance of the human social dimension and has gained increasing attention in recent years is social support.  Due to evidence regarding positive effects of social support on various psychological, physical, cognitive and social aspects of individuals and its influence on various occupational and educational areas and eventually the role of social support in recovery from ,some psychological and physical ailments, in this study, the psychometry of this scale has been evaluated in adult patients with chronic disease in the city of Ilam.Materials & methods: The tool used in this study was the social support scale which has 19 items each of which has 5 choices scored from 1 to 5. Sample size was estimated at 384 individuals and for increased precision; it has been increased to 400 people.  To evaluate reliability of the test, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated and concurrent validity determination and factor analysis were also performed.  Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used and data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 software.Findings: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the social support scale was 0.96 which shows precision and sensitivity of the scale for measuring these qualities. The scores of the social support scale and mental health regarding constituents overlapped and have the ability to evaluate constructs and concepts Meaningful relation exists between various items of the social support scale and total score.  These coefficients show the presence of strong correlation between the questions and overall score which shows internal consistency and convergent validity. Results of factor analysis shows confirmation of 2 from 5 factors of the social support scale. The first factor is named affectionate support, kindness with social interaction and the second factor is termed tangible with informational support.Discussion & Conclusions: social support scale (MOS) is a useful tool to use in medical implications survey.

Introduction: An imbalance between free radical production and antioxidant defense system components can lead to oxidative stress. Antioxidants can reduce inflammation. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an inflammatory factor, and the question is whether the Resvin, as an antioxidant, can reduce the level C-reactive protein in elite women volleyball players.Materials & methods: In this semi-experimental study, with pre-test and post-test design, 20 elite female athletes were randomly assigned to two equal groups of supplement and control. Subjects in the intervention group received 400 mg of Resvin supplements daily for 14 days. Blood samples were taken for determination of CRP level, before and after the intervention. Resvin supplementation is carried out at the special practice stage. CRP was measured using a LATEX kit.Findings: The results show that Resvin supplementation leads to significant reduction in inflammatory factor of C - reactive protein in elite women volleyball players (p<0.05). The variation of CRP (mg/l) shows 0.37 mg/l decrease and 0.09 increase in supplemented and placebo groups, respectively.Discussion & Conclusions: Based on the current finding, it can be suggested that Resvin consumption might be reduced the production of CRP inflammatory factor after high intensity exercise and may help improve recovery.

Introduction: Osteoporosis is defined as a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, resulting in increased risk of fracture. However, appropriate exercise for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis has not been determined. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of two progressive loading training program on the bone properties of Osteoporotic rat models.Materials & methods:  Among 30 male rats, 6 rats were separated as healthy group, Then Osteoporosis was induced in remaining rats by intraperitoneal injection of 20% ethanol solution (3g/kg/day) for four consecutive days for 3 weeks. 24 Osteoporotic rats were divided into 4 groups (n=6): baseline (As the baseline of the experimental groups), resistance training, endurance training and control. The two training groups completed 12 weeks of training program, 5 days a week according to protocol. The Endurance protocol includes running exercise on a treadmill for, 12 m/min, 10 to up 64 min/ day. The Resistance protocol consisted of 8 series of climbs on the 110-cm vertical ladder angled at 80º with weight tied to animal tail that was increased from the 50% of the body mass of the animal in the first series to 100% in the eighth series. At the end of the intervention, the animals were euthanized and the Bone mineral density (BMD) of the femur and the L4 +L5 were measured using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Microarchitectures of the proximal tibia metaphysis tissue were measured by using standard histomorphometric methods and with the motic software.Findings: The endurance (p=0.035) and resistance (p=0.001) groups had significantly increased femur BMD compared to controls. L4+L5 BMD in resistance training and control was significantly greater than endurance group (p=0.001,p= 0.001). only the resistance training had significantly increased the trabeculare percent (p=0.018) and cortical thickness (p=0.009) and had significantly decreased trabecular separation percent (p=0.02)compared to controls. A number of osteocyte in both endurance and resistance groups was significantly greater than that in control group (p=0.03, p=0.002).Discussion & Conclusions: Resistance training induces more effective favourable changes in bone mineral status and pathology as compared to endurance training in osteoporotic male rats.

Introduction: Hyperhemocysteinemia is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Some studies reported that plasma level of hemocysteine increases in patients with hepatitis B. The aim of this study was to peruse the effect of interferon-alpha on hemocysteine levels in patients with hepatitis B. Interferon alpha (IFN-&alpha;) is a therapeutic agent for treatment of hepatitis B.Materials & methods: 20 patients with hepatitis B participated in this study. Plasma levels of hemocysteine assayed before and after IFN-&alpha; therapy and data were compared by using t-test and correlation.Findings: Plasma levels of hemocysteine in patients group showed a significant increase compared to the control group (p<0.001). IFNα; therapy reduced plasma levels of hemocysteine compared to before treatment (p<0.0001) and hemocysteine levels after treatment did not show any significant difference compared to the control group (P>0.806).Discussion & Conclusions: Results showed that plasma levels of hemocysteine increased in patients with hepatitis B and treatment by Interferon-alpha reduced hemocysteine levels. Interferon-alpha was also able to inhibit atherogenesis development.

Introduction: The present study aims to compare the effectiveness of meta-cognitive intervention, along with Meichenbaum’s self-instructional approach, in the reduction of meta-cognitive beliefs of students suffering from test anxiety.Materials & methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test scheme and control group. The statistical population consists of all female students with test anxiety from public high-schools in the city of Ilam and in the academic year 2014-2015. First, one of the girls' high schools in the city of Ilam was randomly chosen and the anxiety test was performed for 500 students. Then, 45 students who were diagnosed with test anxiety, were randomly distributed in two test and one control group. 8 sessions of therapeutic interventions was performed on the test groups, while the control group didn’t receive any intervention. Spielberger’s anxiety test and Wels’s meta- cognitive belief test was performed in order to identify people with test anxiety and to assess meta-cognitive beliefs, respectively. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance.Findings: The obtained results indicate that meta-cognitive therapy has been more effective compared to self-instructional and the control group in terms of the following components: “positive beliefs about worry”, “need for control”, and “negative beliefs about uncontrollability and danger of worry”, and no significant difference was observed between the self-instructional and control groups.Also,meta-cognitive therapy and self-instructional groups were more effective than the control group in terms of “cognitive self-consciousness”.Discussion & Conclusions: Meta-cognitive therapy can be used to reduce meta-cognitive beliefs in people with test anxiety.

Introduction: Textiledyes are one of the most common organic compounds that by entering  the industrial wastewaters cause  numerous environmental problems. So, the removal of these pollutants from  wastewaters is important. In this study, the efficiency of reed powder in the removal of Reactive Blue19dye from textile synthetic waste water was investigated.Materials & methods: This research is an experimental study. Target adsorbent was prepared in laboratory scale and pulverized by standard ASTM sieves (60-100 mesh). In this study, the synthetic waste water was prepared with different concentrations of reactive blue19 dye (25, 50 mg/l). The effect of factors such as pH (3-11), amount of adsorbent (0.2-0.8 gr/l) and different time (15-120 min and 24h) were tested during the absorption process. According to studied factors, in total 300 samples were analyzed. For experiments a flask of 250 m L was used as a batch reactor. The residual dye concentration in the samples was measured using a UV/Visible spectrophotometer at 592nm wavelength. The adsorption potential of adsorbent was investigated by Langmuir and Freundlich models. In addition, the pseudo- first order and pseudo-second order kinetics for assessment of adsorption pattern were studied.Findings: The results showed that the highest removal efficiency is at pH3. According to obtained results, maximum removal efficiency was in the first 60 minutes. With increasing initial dye concentration, the  removal efficiency decreased. The results showed that with increasing amount ofadsorbentfrom0.4to0.8 gr/100ml, removal efficiency does not change. So that, for concentrations of 25 and 50mg/l, the removal efficiency from 93.12%to95.41%andfrom90.83%to93.96%increased. Dye Adsorption isotherm using reed powder followed the Langmuir isotherm model. Adsorption kinetics data indicating a better fit with the pseudo-second order kinetic.Discussion & Conclusions: The obtained results of this study showed that reed powder (in optimal conditions of pH, amount of adsorbent and contact time)is a natural adsorbent of appropriate and effective for the removal of dye.

Introduction: Emotional disorders had immense impact on rehabilitation in the traumatic brain injury patients. This study is to investigate correlation of difficulties in emotional regulation in the mild traumatic brain injury patients compared with that in the normal people.Materials & methods: This prospective cohort study was carried out on 72 mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) victims and 72 other normal individuals in Shahid Beheshti hospital in Kashan city. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation (DERS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scales, demographic data, and related neurological questionnaires were used. The data were analyzed using T test, Chi square and multivariate linear regression.Findings: The results of this study showed that mean standard deviations for emotional regulation were 112.6±21.8 and 93±14 in the TBI and control groups, respectively (P<0.001). In terms of PANAS, no significant difference was observed in both groups (P<0.001). Linear regression analysis in the TBI group demonstrated that β=20.4, P<0.001), age β –0.339, P -0.01), familial history of mental disorder among first-grade relatives β- -9.419, P-0.01), economical status β-6.108, P-0.04), and history of underlying disease β-15.014, P-0.00) were predictor.Discussion & Conclusions: Linear regression analysis of a few variables showed that being included in the patients group is the main effective variable on the difficulties in emotional regulation. Psychological cognitive rehabilitation therapy is one of the crucial meditation interventions in patients with traumatic brain.

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases especially atherosclerosis, are the main causative of disability and death in all over the world and they have increasing spread in Iran. Homocysteine and fibrinogen are two new risk factors for prediction of atherosclerosis. Considering this, our aim in this study was to evaluate the effect of 8 weeks aerobic training on serum predictive inflammatory markers of atherosclerosis and lipid profile in obese elderly women.Materials & methods: In a quasi-experimental study, 44 obese women (BMI≥30) 55 to 65 years old as volunteer, were selected and randomly divided into two groups of experiment (22 individuals) and control (22 individuals). Training program included aerobic exercise with 45 to 65 percent of maximum heart rate for 1 hour per session and 3session per week and continued for 8 weeks. Blood samples were collected after 12 hours fasting in the pre-test and 48 hours in the post-test to measure homocysteine, fibrinogen, high-sensitivity protein (CRP) and lipid profile.Findings: Present study data shows that a significant decrease was observed in homocysteine (p=0.004), hs-CRP (p=0.009), cholesterol (p=0.037), triglyceride (p=0.017) and LDL-C (p=0.047) levels in experimental group; while there wasn't significant relation between study variability in control group. Also, a significant difference was observed in comparison between control and experimental groups about homocysteine (p=0.000), hs-CRP (p=0.037), cholesterol (p=0.049), triglyceride (p=0.000) and LDL-C (p=0.012). There was a significant relation between body fat percentage(r=0.87) and body mass index(r=0.68) with homocysteine.Discussion & Conclusions: To sum up, by losing weight  and body fat, homocysteine, CRP and also the increase of HDL study results showed that 8 week aerobic training can lead to reduction of cardiovascular risk factors and improving the health status in the elderly women.

Introduction: Since copper  nanoparticles are one of the first nanoparticles programs in the industry, its adverse effects has increased on humans. The current research  studies the effect of copper nanoparticles on some biomarkers of renal and its tissue.Materials & methods: A total of 32 Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control (treated with .5 cc normal saline) and three experimental groups. Group 1, 2 and 3 received .5 cc of solution containing 10,100,300 ppm Cu nanoparticle via IP injection for 7 successive days, respectively. The effects of nanoparticles Cu on serum biochemical levels serum BUN (blood urea nitrogen), uric acid and ceratinin were evaluated at various time points (1, 7 and 14 days). After 14 days, the tissue kidney was collected and investigated.Findings: According to the results, the creatinine levels between groups 3, 4 with control group differed significantly in the first week and group 2 with control group , in the second week was observed, respectively. All histological results indicate: complete destruction of the tubules in the renal cortex and destruction renal of renal of corpuscular in the group 2(impact effect of nanoparticle)- slight pathological changes in group 3 and the absence of pathological changes in group 4..Discussion & Conclusions: According to the results, it can be concluded that the use of copper nanoparticles of spherical shape and 10-15 nm size, slightly was affected on renal factors and sever pathologic changes in the kidney tissue (low dose, 10nm). 

Introduction: Phagetherapy is the therapeutic use of bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections as alternative to antibiotics for treatment of resistant bacteria. The aims of this study were to isolate, identify and evaluate effective bacteriophages active against antibiotic resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Materials & methods: Different Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from clinical specimens during 9 months (July 2013 to March 2014) in three Isfahan hospitals (AlZahra, Omid and Shahid Beheshti hospitals) and Kirby Bauer's disc diffusion method was used for determination of resistance profiles of these isolates using different antibiotics including Amikacin, Imipenem, Meropenem, Ciprofloxacin, Ceftazidime, Cefepime, Cefotaxime, Piperacillin-tazobactam. The resistant strains to all tested antibiotics were selected for finding their specific bacteriophages from waste water and hospital sewage. Presence of phage investigated by plaque formation and after enrichment and stained of samples, TEM microscope was used for determination of phage morphology and size.Findings: Among 81 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates, 38 isolates (47%) were resistant to all tested antibiotics and plaque due to phages was detected against 32 (84%) among these 38 isolates. Two phages belong to Cystoviridae and Leviviridae identified using TEM microscopeDiscussion & Conclusions: It seems that the mixture of two phages (cocktails phages) that has high bactericidal effect against resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be good candidates for use in phagetherapy.

Introduction: Midwives as one of the main groups providing health care and because of their stressful job they are in the exposure of burnout and the consequences of work-family conflict. This would impact on their quality of life. This study was performed to evaluate the relation of quality of life and work-family conflict among midwives in Ahvaz, Iran. This cross-sectional study was performed in 2014-2015 at health centers in Ahvaz.Materials & methods: The data was collected through a demographic, work-family conflict and quality of life questionnaires. 261 midwives that was the total numbers of midwifes in Ahvaz, filled out three questionnaires. Results showed that 229 midwives completed questionnaires.Findings: There was a negative significant correlation between quality of life and work-family conflict (p<0.01).Discussion & Conclusions: According to the findings of this research, it seems that educational courses for health workers, particularly midwives are necessary.

Introduction: Oxidative stress is defined as an imbalance between the production of free radicals and antioxidants. Oxidative stress is associated with causing chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer; therefore, production of synthetic and natural antioxidants to prevent oxidative stress and its damaging effects is essential. In this regard nanoparticles synthesized by green method can be used to show antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant effect of Silver nanoparticles synthesized by green method from aqueous extract of sumac fruit.Materials & methods: antioxidant activity of Silver nanoparticles synthesized by green method from aqueous extract of sumac fruit was measured by DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl), ABTS (2, 2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)), and OH (hydroxyl) radical scavenging activity.Findings: Silver nanoparticles synthesized by green method from aqueous extract of sumac fruit had scavenging activity against DPPH (IC50=170 μM), ABTS (IC50=30 μM) and hydroxyl (IC50=350 μM) free radicals.Discussion & Conclusions: The results of this study showed that Silver nanoparticles synthesized by green method from aqueous extract of sumac fruit had a strong antioxidant activity. The antioxidant properties of Sumac silver nanoparticles make them valuable in therapy of many diseases caused by oxidative stress and other biomedical applications.