Payavard Salamat

Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Using Artificial Intelligence (Naive Bayes Algorithm)

Farzad Firouzi Jahantigh

Background and Aim: Despite the implementation of effective preventive and therapeutic programs, no significant success has been achieved in the reduction of tuberculosis. One of the reasons is the delay in diagnosis. Therefore, the creation of a diagnostic aid system can help to diagnose early Tuberculosis. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the role of the Naive Bayes algorithm as a tool for the diagnosis of pulmonary Tuberculosis.
Materials and Methods: In this practical study, the study population included Patients with TB symptoms, the study sample is recorded data of 582 individuals with primary Tuberculosis symptoms in Tehran's Masih Daneshvari Hospital. The data of samples were investigated in two classes of pulmonary Tuberculosis and non-Tuberculosis. A Naive Bayes algorithm for screening pulmonary Tuberculosis using primary symptoms of patients has been used in Python software version 3.7.
Results: Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity after the implementation of the Naive Bayes algorithm for diagnosis of pulmonary Tuberculosis were %95.89, %93.59 and %98.53, respectively, and the Area under curve was calculated %98.91.
Conclusion: The performance of a Naive Bayes model for diagnosis of pulmonary Tuberculosis is accurate. This system can be used to help the patient and manage illness in remote areas with limited access to laboratory resources and healthcare professional and cause to diagnose early Tuberculosis. It can also lead to timely and appropriate proceedings to control the transmission of TB to other people and to accelerate the recovery of the disease.

The Synergistic Effect of Ketoconazole and Probiotic Bifidobacterium Bifidum on Isolated Composition of Expression of Candida Albicans Als Gene Biofilm from Oral Samples

Sedigheh Mehrabian

Background and Aim: Candida albicans has numerous virulence factors such as the agglutinin-like sequence(ALS) genes which code the large glycoprotein family that has a role in the adherence of Candida. The present study was to observe the synergistic effect of ketoconazole and probiotic composition of Bifidobacterium bifidum on expression of C. albicans als gene biofilm isolated from oral samples.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 12 clinical isolates of C. albicans were collected from oral periodontal infection in patients referred to dental clinic in Kerman. The MIC and FIC values for each treatment(keto and probiotic alone and keto-probiotic composition) were obtained using micro broth dilution method. Finally, a real-time PCR test was performed to evaluate the level of ASL gene expression in the strains and the results were analyzed using the 2-ΔΔct method.
Results: The results showed that the combination of ketoconazole and bifidobacterium bifidum had synergistic effects. The results of this study showed that the effect of Ketoconazole(keto), B.bifidum(probiotic) alone and the effects of ketoconazole+Bifidobacterium(keto+pro) were 1.47, 1.61 and 1.29 times, reduced the als gene, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that synergistic effects between ketoconazole and probiotic B. bifidum have been shown to reduce als gene expression(biofilm production). Therefore, it is recommended to administer probiotic supplementation with ketoconazole in the treatment of candidal infections.

Design and Review of Virtual Reality (VR) System for Treating Patients with Height and Darkness Phobia

Ali Asghar Safae

Background and Aim: Implementation of virtual reality systems in the field of health care has recently made significant progress. This article aims to examine a virtual reality-based system designed for patients with two types of phobia: darkness and height.
Materials and Methods: The present paper is the result of a study conducted by searching valid scientific sources including Springer, PubMed and Science Direct(Elsevier), and observing and examining similar virtual reality systems. According to the performed studies, patients enter the virtual reality environment based on their phobia and physician opinion. To assess the effect of phobia, a series of questionnaires are used before and after the test; and using these questionnaires, physicians can evaluate the extent of their patients' recovery.
Results: One of the ways to treat phobia is to put the patient in real environment; but in terms of cost and feasibility, it is not possible to provide the environment for physicians and patients in many cases. However, by using virtual reality technology and in the system designed in this paper, psychiatrists can implement real environments as virtual reality in front of the patient's eyes.
Conclusion: In the system presented in this study, the existence of several diverse and appropriate virtual reality environments for the care and treatment of patients with darkness and height phobia is one of its distinct points because in many studies only a fixed environment is used for patients.

Marketing Channel Problems of Herbal Medicines from the Perspective of Pharmaceutical Distribution Companies

Hamidreza Irani

Background and Aim: Due to the variety of herbal medicine products and brands, competition among herbal medicine manufacturing companies has become a scientific and tactical competition. Herbal medicine companies by identifying the problems of pharmaceutical distribution companies can evaluate them and find solutions to their problems and finally, they can maintain their competitive advantage in the market. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the marketing channel problems of herbal medicine from the perspective of pharmaceutical distribution companies.
Materials and Methods: In this research, with exploratory interviews, the marketing channel problems of herbal medicine were identified from the perspective of distributors and analyzed using content analysis method. The statistical population of this study was pharmaceutical distributor’s managers in Tehran provinces, among which 16 persons were selected through the judgmental and snowball sampling method.
Results: The results showed the marketing channel problems of herbal medicines were categorized in Product, Prices, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, Process and People.
Conclusion: The government and the laws, in addition to the marketing can affect the marketing channel problems of these drugs from the perspective of distributors.

Coding System Design for Medicines and Medical Devices in Iran

Zohreh Javanmard

Background and Aim: The importance of managing medicines and medical devices as vital resources in healthcare industry cannot be ignored. Therefore, the application of coding systems could be of great help in the control of the required processes. This study aims to develop a coding system for medicines and medical devices in Iran.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was planned to be carried out in four phases from September 2018 to August 2019. To identify the requirements of designing a coding system for the classification of medicines and medical devices, library resources were studied, and the existing coding systems in the area of medicines and medical devices came under scrutiny. Then, based on the expert opinion on the results, the initial model of the coding system was designed.
Results: Thirty-five coding systems were identified and investigated. To design the proposed system, two coding systems -- ATC/DDD and UMDNS -- were selected as a core for medicines and medical devices, respectively. Then, based on expert opinion, the axes for the place of consumption and the placement of products and also the application of Quick Response (QR) code for data encoding were added.
Conclusion: The design and development of a comprehensive coding system–which is in compliance with the international protocols and capable of including both medicines and medical devices simultaneously – could be very helpful. Besides, using the location axis in the structure of coding system can improve the management of these products.

Explaining Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Self-Care Education Interventions in Cardiac Patients

Lia Mirsafaei

Background and Aim: Given the increasing research, the purpose of this study was to explain the effectiveness of this training and its effective factors.
Materials and Methods: The present study is a mixed and explanatory project. In the first step to obtain the effectiveness of self-care education through quantitative meta-analysis and secondly to examine its effective factors the qualitative method of the case study was used. Statistical population of the first stage includes all relevant internal research and secondly, it included all cardiologists in Isfahan province. The data gathering tool is firstly a researcher-made checklist and for the second stage, the semi-structured interview method was used. To analyze the first stage data Comprehensive statistical meta-analysis software CMA Version II and for the second step, coding methods were used.
Results: The results showed that self-care education interventions were highly effective in cardiac patients(ES=1.616, P<0.05) In other words, the average effectiveness of self-care education in (experimental groups) 94% were more effective than control groups. On the other hand, the results of the second stage showed Factors affecting effectiveness include seven factors: education, personal control, physical activity, nutrition, emotion control, optimism, and continuous follow-up.
Conclusion: Heart disease self-care based on the above mentioned factors, as the most effective factor in controlling and improving heart disease this will lead to a longer life expectancy and a better quality of life for patients with heart disease.

The Status of Medical Tourism Marketing in Private and Public Hospitals Affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Mohammad Arab

Background and Aim: Nowadays, medical tourism market is considered as one of the most profitable and competitive industries in the world and is one of the new areas of advanced tourism. The aim of this study was to investigate the marketing status of medical tourism in private and public hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 2018.
Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study that investigated the marketing status of medical tourism in 6 private and 14 public hospitals affiliated to TUMS in 2018. A valid checklist was used for data collection; besides, SPSS software, descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test were applied for data analysis.
Results: Product factor has a satisfactory status in state-owned hospitals and an average status in private hospitals. Place factor, people factor, process factor, and physician factor are satisfactory in public and private hospitals. Promotion factor in public hospitals is unacceptable and in private hospitals is average. Besides, price and place factors in public and private hospitals are average. Moreover, there is no significant relationship between any of the above factors and the type of hospitals (public, private).
Conclusion: Due to marketing mix, hospitals and medical institutions can increase the confidence of tourists by adopting international standards in addition to enhancing international reputation. Also, paying more attention to media advertising and providing more facilities can improve the condition of hospitals, thereby attracting more medical tourists and expanding the industry in Tehran.

Scientometric Study of SMA International Research Outputs

Somayeh Ghavidel

Background & Aim: studying scientific outputs by using scientific indices is a useful tool for understanding scientific research. The purpose of this study is to visualize the international research outputs of the SMA subject Area.
Materials & Method: This study is an applied one with an analytical approach and using scientometric indices. The population present in this study includes 4217 WOS records all in the SMA area from 1946 until the end of 2018. The MeSH have been used to identify keywords and Ravar PreMap software for words’ homogenization, VOSviewer, HistCite, and Excel used also.
Conclusion: Ninety-one countries involved in scientific production outputs of this subject area, were among the most influential countries in scientific collaboration. The USA has most of its collaborations with other countries. Of the 946 essential journals identified, HUMAN MOLECULAR GENETICS SMA has got the highest number of citations. Articles in SMA Subject Area with the total number of 6097 keywords have got the 1^st rank, of which the “Spinal Muscular Atrophy” has got the highest frequency and the core subject among the nine influential countries. The total number of articles in this area is 8505. Worthy of mentioning, Iran with 58% of the total scientific output ranked nine on the list.
Results: The upward trend of SMA scientific research trend indicates the increasing importance of this area in the world. Due to the the international growth of research in this area and the importance of the participation of international research, researchers in our country should pay more attention to scientific cooperation.