Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Using alcohol is one of the most important death factors that can be prevented. Lifestyle-related diseases are at the top cause of mortality and burden of disease, whereas most of them can be prevented. Considering the growing importance of diseases related to lifestyle (including alcohol abuse), providing evidence-based clinical guidelines for diseases and life-style related conditions which are in accordance with the newest scientific findings and with cultural and economic conditions in each country are required. The aim of this study was to develop a clinical guideline for prevention and control of alcohol consumption.
Methods: The type of study is initiation of a method or a scientific/administrative system (health system management studies) that uses the National Pattern of Localization of Clinical Guidelines in 2017 in Taleghani Hospital of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, by using the reviewed clinical guidelines, which was conducted by the end of 2017 based on organizational criteria, the availability of the full version of the clinical guideline and its up-to-datedness, and the appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation (AGREE) scoring system. This clinical guideline was developed based on 5A Model (Assess, Advise, Agree, Assist and Arrange).
Results: In order to prevent and control alcohol abuse, a clinical guideline was developed based on five clinical guidelines including United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), Healthy lifestyle guideline (ICSI), the guidelines for preventive activities in general practice in Australia (RACGP), The Australian population health guide to risky behavioural risk factors in general practice (SNAP), and the guidelines related to lifestyle and wellbeing by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence of England (NICE) in the form of 5A model.
Conclusion: The best practice is according to the existing clinical guidelines for prevention and control of alcohol use screening, brief intervention (1-2 sessions) and behavioral counseling, treatment with cognitive behavioral interventions (2-6 sessions) and, if necessary, referrals to higher treatment centers. Referral is recommended for patients who have signs of substance dependence and need a level of care beyond brief service.

Background: Metronidazole resistant clostridium difficile is one of significant pathogens in Iran. It is one of the WHO-declared microbial resistance emergencies. Prevalence of metronidazole resistant clostridium difficile is rising. The aim of this study was to detect prevalence of metronidazole-resistant clostridium difficile using meta-analysis in Iran.
Methods: This study was conducted as a meta-analysis. Articles and derivatives were reviewed by two researchers. Initially, each of the researchers searched the databases separately and used all available Persian and English articles in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, from October 2017 to February 2018. Persian databases (including Magiran, Irandoc, Barakat and SID) and international databases (including PubMed, Sciencedirect, and Scopus) were searched during this period (2007-2016) with a combination of phrases and keywords. The list of references to these studies has also been evaluated and relevant articles have been included in the study. First, all the articles were extracted and then duplicated articles were deleted using the EndNote software, version X6 (Thomson Reuters™, New York, NY, USA) through the search for electronic banks. Such that the high heterogeneity (50% Results: From the search of medical databases at first, 68 articles were selected. In total, 19 remaining studies entered the meta-analysis phase. In this study, the overall prevalence of clostridium difficile is 32.57% (CI95%: 21.86-44.30); in 2016 it was 55.25% (CI95%: 50.22-60.19) and in 2009 was14.26% (CI95%: 12.32-16.37). The heterogeneity was estimated to be 98.7% (CI95%: 98.5-98.8).
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the prevalence of metronidazole resistant clostridium difficile in Iran is high and increasing.

Background: Identifying determinants of maternal mortality is essential in developing appropriate health policies for reduction of maternal death. This study aimed to determine the determinants of maternal mortality in Iran during 1990- 2015 and also to identify the trends of these determinants during the same period.
Methods: This is a quantitative longitudinal study that has been conducted at the Tehran University of Medical Science, Iran, from March to December 2018. Initially, a long list of determinants (n=32) were identified through a comprehensive systematic reviews. Variables with more than 25% missing data were omitted and the missing values for remaining variables were estimated through statistical methods. The data for the identified variables were gathered through internal sources including Iran’s Ministry of Health and international sources including the websites of World Bank, World Health Organization and United Nations. Finally, 12 indicators as determinants of death were constructed after data processing and data management and their associations with maternal mortality rate in Iran were examined through regression analysis.
Results: Maternal mortality rate has been reduced by 80% during 1990- 2015 in Iran. Improvement of indicators including employment status, total health expenditure share (as a percent of GDP), vaccination coverage, urbanization, access to health and welfare facilities, GDP per capita and political performance played a significant role in reduction of maternal deaths according to the multivariate analyses. A reduction in out of pocket payment and total fertility rate also showed a significant association with lower maternal mortality. However neither education level in the country nor life expectancy at birth showed an important role in the maternal mortality rate.
Conclusion: Maternal mortality rate was reduced significantly in Iran during the last quarter of the century. Maternal death is not only affected by health and biological factors of mothers, but also, by macro-economic, social and welfare factors. A high political performance of the countries also is a grantor of better health of mothers and the community in general.

Background: Today, with the increasing use of ionizing radiation like X-rays in diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the risk of fetal exposure in pregnant women also increases. Therefore, protecting pregnant women from ionizing radiation is essential and is considered as the standard criterion for Medical Radiation Center. So the aim of this study was to investigate the observance of protective principles and 10-day rule in imaging of susceptible women.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Radiography Centers of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, from July 2017 to September 2017. First, patients who were under radiography, were asked about the knowledge of the radiographers about the 10-day rule and radiation protection. Then a questionnaire with 12 questions was given to the radiographers in radiology and CT scan center. Finally, the existence of protection guidelines for pregnant women was determined by asking manager and checking at the moment.
Results: The patient's question about pregnancy failed about 19%, which did not have a significant relationship with patients' singleness (P=0.0004). Also the mean scores for the knowledge of radiographers about radiation protection were 14.21±0.96, which did not have a significant relationship with their work record and place of employment and their educational level (P=0.09). On the other hand, in half of the radiography centers, the written radiation protection guidelines were not available.
Conclusion: Principles of radiation protection and 10-day rule for radiography of women who were prone to pregnancy were desirable but due to importance of radiation protection, the rules should be more carefully implemented.

Background: A professional vision at education is necessary, because of the increasing development of technical education in the field of medical education. In the conventional methods, although mastering in the field and being up-to-date is necessary, today, the faculty member must be able to design and implement a group of learning experiences for the students in order to learn and to conduct valid exams.
Methods: Our study was an interventional study, conducted on obstetrics and gynecology residents of the 3rd and 4th year at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in March, 2016. The number of participants was 66. The data collection was performed by a questionnaire. The included 19 questions about the anatomy of pelvic floor. At first, the questionnaires were administered to pre-test students to assess the amount of information before and then the theoretical and practical class about the anatomy of pelvic floor were held. At the end of classes, pre-test questionnaires were returned to residents. The responses to questions before and after the training were analyzed.
Results: Our study was conducted on 66 obstetrics and gynecology residents. Of the 66 subjects, 30 were in the pre-test and 66 were in the post-test. The mean score of residences in the anatomy of the pelvic floor before intervention was 5.388±7.14 and after intervention was 12.57±2.181 (P=0.001). The difference in mean before and after education was significant at all levels of study. The general knowledge scores in the post-test, was significantly (P<0.05) higher than pre-test.
Conclusion: According to our findings, it can be stated that the implementation of scholarship project regarding the knowledge of obstetrics and gynecology residences by the method of theoretical and anatomical teaching of anatomy of pelvic floor increases their knowledge, consequently, increase ability of surgical procedures of the residents and reduce complications. It is recommended that other education centers use a similar method to educate obstetrics and gynecology residents.

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common diseases in women and causes more deaths rather than other cancers. The increasing trend of breast cancer in Iran makes clear the need of extensive breast cancer research in this area. Some studies showed that in the variety countries and even in the different areas in one country has different risk of breast cancer incidence and this is a reason that there is a correlation between region of life and risk of breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the spatial structure associated with the incidence of breast cancer based on statistical models and identification of areas with high incidence of breast cancer in Iran.
Methods: This ecological study was conducted in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Iran, from February to July 2018. Data on breast cancer patients in all provinces of Iran (30 provinces) were investigated since 2004 to 2009. Risk factors in this study included fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, overweight or obesity, and human development index. In this study, we have used routine and spatial Poisson's generalized linear mixed models for data analysis.
Results: In both routine and spatial models, direct and significant correlation was found between the incidence of breast cancer and the human development index (P<0.05). In addition to human development index, overweight or obesity factors were also had direct and significant relationship to the incidence of breast cancer in the spatial Poisson's generalized linear mixed model (P<0.05). In the spatial Poisson's generalized linear mixed model with correlation structure of Besag Yorg Molie (BYM), two provinces of Gilan and East Azerbaijan had the highest risk of breast cancer incidence and province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad had the lowest risk of breast cancer incidence.
Conclusion: The results showed that the distribution of breast cancer incidence in Iran has a spatial structure. That is, the adjacent provinces have similar incidences of this disease.

Background: Anemia is one of the most important nutritional disorders among children and adolescent in Iran and developing countries. Despite the possibility of anemia prevention, there is a high proportion of this problem in school children and especially infants. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rate of anemia in 6 to 12 months old children.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that conducted between May 2016 and October 2016 in Tabas health centers, South Khorasan, Iran. In this study 911 infants aged 6 to 12 months were enrolled by census method. Demographic variables and all blood factors were collected through interviews and laboratory tests in Tabas health centers, respectively. In this study, cut-off point of <11 g/dl for hemoglobin was considered as anemia index. All Statistical analyses were done using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and Pearson correlation in SPSS software, version 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). P-value of 0.05 was considered as level of statistical significance.
Results: The mean age of individuals was 9±1.5 months, the mean current weight and the mean weight at birth time were 8678±1112.1 g and 3090±467.9 g, respectively. According to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, the prevalence rate of anemia in Tabas City was estimated 37.1%. The prevalence rate of anemia in age groups based on hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) indices had a significant decreasing trend (P=0.001). Prevalence rate of anemia in males and females was not significantly different (P=0.27). Moreover prevalence rate of anemia was higher in rural areas rather than urban areas (P=0.009).
Conclusion: This is the first assessment of anemia prevalence among children in east of Iran. As a result of estimated prevalence of anemia, based on WHO definition, revealed moderate public health importance among infants aged 6 to 12 months old. The deceasing trend of anemia based on age groups indicates the importance of iron supplementation in Iran, especially in developing countries.

Currently, there are about 37 million people worldwide living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) /AIDS, with an estimated two million new cases per year globally. According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), only 75% of the population with HIV know their status. Initially, HIV infection was associated with significantly increased rates of mortality and morbidity. However, the rapid advances in treatment and the advent of different classes of antiretroviral drugs over time have led to change the face of HIV/AIDS from a deadly infection to chronic and manageable disease. There is strong evidence that HIV-infected patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy have longer lives and are less likely to transmit infection to their sexual partners. Since the introduction of zidovudine in 1987 as the first antiretroviral drug, significant strides have been made in antiretroviral therapy. The introduction of potent antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV infection has been one of the significant events in the evolution of modern medicine. Antiretroviral therapy refers to the use of drugs in the treatment of HIV. Generally, these drugs are categorized based on the steps of the HIV life cycle suppressed by them. There are six main classes of antiretroviral agents including nucleoside/ nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, fusion inhibitors, co-receptor inhibitors, and integrase inhibitors. Combination antiretroviral therapy should be considered for HIV patients to achieve the highest viral suppression rate, and to reduce the risk of resistance development and morbidity and mortality associated with AIDS. Achieving and maintaining HIV viral load suppression among treated patients has remarkably increased over the last years due to the development of potent and well-tolerated agents which can be co-formulated as a once-daily single-tablet or fixed-dose combination for simplification. However, there are some limitations preventing patients to benefit from this treatment. The main goals of HIV therapy in the future are to overcome the limitations of current treatment, including side effects. This review will provide an overview of advances in the current antiretroviral drugs by focusing on their pharmacokinetics, mechanism of action, dosing recommendations, and adverse events for each drug class.

Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed and the leading cause of cancer death among females worldwide. The rate of breast cancer incidence among Iranian women is 17% of all cancers, it has been ranked first in Iran. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting axillary lymph node involvement in female patients with breast cancer.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 167 patients with breast cancer diagnosed between March 2012 and March 2015 at Shahid Beheshti of Babol, Shahid Rajaei of Tonekabon and Imam Sajad of Ramsar hospitals. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect information on the patients and pathology report of tumor and lymph nodes was completed.
Results: The rate of axillary lymph node involvement was observed in 117 patients (70.1%). Mean age was 49.64±11.62 years in the patients with breast cancer. The highest frequency of lymph node involvement was observed in the 40-49 age group (24%). The average size of tumor was 3.39 cm and the majority of patients had a tumor 2-5 cm (T2) but the most involvement was related to T3 (>5cm). The most common type of cancer and grading were invasive ductal carcinoma (93.4%) and tumor grade 2 (52.1%), respectively. Most lymph node involvement was observed in invasive ductal carcinoma and 85.1% of patients had tumor degree 3. 22.2% of patients with vessels involvement had axillary lymph node involvement. 63% of patients’ tumors had receptors of estrogen and progesterone. A statistically significant association was observed between axillary lymph node involvement and tumor size (P=0.031), tumor type (P=0.007), tumor grade (P=0.011), estrogen receptor (P=0.008) and progesterone receptor (P=0.038).
Conclusion: There was a statistically significant association between axillary lymph node involvement and tumor size, type and grade, estrogen and progesterone receptor status, but there was no statistically significant association between axillary lymph node involvement and age and estrogen as well as progesterone receptor status.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in reproductive age women. The prevalence of PCOS among Iranian women is 14.6% based on the Rotterdam definition. PCOS can increase the risk of chronic metabolic complications. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is one of the most important of them. Insulin resistance is fundamental in PCOS and MetS pathophysiology. MetS is a collection of chronic metabolic derangements, which promotes the risk of serious diseases such as cardiovascular disturbances and diabetes. The quality of diet is inversely correlated with obesity, which is one of the consequences of PCOS and it is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome. As the first study, the present study aimed to compare the dietary intake of macronutrients in PCOS women with and without MetS.
Methods: In this nested case-control study, the convenience sampling method was used to select participants. The case group included 14 PCOS patients with MetS and the control group included 28 PCOS patients without MetS. The investigated macronutrients included fats (total fat, saturated fatty acids, mono and polyunsaturated fats, trans fatty acids), carbohydrate, protein, and fibers (total and soluble). The dietary intake assessment was carried out by a 168-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). This study was performed on Arash Women's Hospital under support of Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, from August 2014 to September 2015.
Results: Dietary intake of total fat was significantly higher in PCOS women with MetS than the control group (P<0.001, 146.62±45.17 vs. 59.91±32.79 g/d). Dietary intake of saturated fatty acids (P=0.004, 11.44±11.08 vs. 19.73±6.76 g/d), monounsaturated fats (P<0.001, 14.15±12.66 vs. 26.16±7.76 g/d), polyunsaturated fats (P=0.002, 9.02±9.18 vs. 17.22±6.45 g/d), carbohydrate (P<0.001, 182.34±121.08 vs. 365.64±77.11 g/d), protein (P=0.001, 42.74±42.85 vs. 78.06±24.04 g/d), total fiber (P<0.001, 17.77±15.09 vs. 35.97±22.64 g/d) was significantly lower in PCOS women with MetS than the control group. All results are expressed in terms of grams consumed per day.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that dietary intake of macronutrients was significantly different in polycystic ovary syndrome patients with and without metabolic syndrome.

Background: Self-mutilation is one of the most extreme types of self-harm, which is done deliberately to hurt the body, regardless of suicidal intent. In self-mutilation, the most important targets are the eyes, genital tract, and hands. So far, genital self-mutilation (GSM) has been less frequently reported around the world. According to our study, this is the first case of GSM reported in Iran. The most common cause of GSM is psychological disorder, especially psychosis.
Case Presentation: The patient was an unmarried 32-year-old man, who was hospitalized in Rasul-Akram Hospital in December 2018 for severe bleeding caused by GSM. He was diagnosed with type I bipolar disorder, which was treated from the late adolescence. Also, a history of drug abuse (amphetamine, opium, cannabis, alcohol) and multiple sexual relationships with different partners was reported. He abused tramadol tablets daily nowadays. His IQ was normal. He had lots of abrasions, scars and lacerations due to suicidal attempts in the past years. Two months before GSM, his auditory hallucinations about genital self-mutilation had started. He committed GSM after having sexual intercourse and was transferred to our hospital by an ambulance with severe hemorrhage, scrotum damage, and presentation of both testes, for which he received appropriate treatments.
Conclusion: It seems that a set of factors, such as patient's history of psychosis following bipolar disorder, substance abuse, mental retardation, multiple sexual relationships, and strong emotional relationship with the mother can contribute to self-injury that may lead to genital self-mutilation. It should be noted that genital self-mutilation cases are less likely to be reported in Iran, considering the cultural and religious background. Therefore, the pathology of this devastating phenomenon should be more thoroughly examined.

Background: dehydration fever is a common problem during the first week of life. This study aimed to compare the characteristics of neonates with fever due to dehydration and healthy infants.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 324 neonates including 120 neonates with normal body temperature and 204 neonates with fever due to dehydration (hyperthermia) referred to Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, Iran from 2017 to 2019, using a convenience sampling method and a researcher-made questionnaire. Infants presenting with elevated body temperature and having an axillary temperature above or equal to the rectal temperature and with no clinical or laboratory evidence of infection were considered as fever due to dehydration (case group). Infants who were referred for a routine examination or had jaundice but did not require treatment were considered as controls. Infant characteristic (neonatal age, sex, Apgar score, defecation frequency, the first defecation, breastfeeding frequency, urinary frequency, duration of feeding, birth weight, daily weight loss, daily weight loss percentage, lethargy, irritability, mucosal dryness, status fontanelles, hyperthermia, convulsion, apnea, decreased consciousness and  infant hospitalization) and maternal information (age, weight, parity, hospital stay, breast problems, mode of delivery, breastfeeding position, delayed breastfeeding, and pregnancy problems. The data were analyzed using Student’s t-test, Chi-square and SPSS software, version 20 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA).
Results: In dehydration fever of newborn, admission weight, frequency and duration of feeding, defecation frequency, maternal age were low, but time to first feeding were high (P<0.05). In fever of dehydration: restlessness, mucosal dryness, fontanel status, seizure, apnea, decreased consciousness, breastfeeding with traditional remedies, inappropriate breastfeeding position, lack of let-down reflex, delayed onset of lactation, breast problems and jaundice were more frequent.
Conclusion: Infants with fever of dehydration were more likely to weight loss, delayed in first feeding, shorter feeding times and lower duration of feeding, higher sodium, urea, creatinine, and blood glucose levels. According to the results of this study, breast problems, inappropriate breastfeeding position, absence of reflux, delayed lactation, less frequent breastfeeding, consumption of breast milk with dextrose, manna, and clay tap were risk factors for dehydration fever.
 

Background: Sexual issues are one of the most important aspects of human life and sexual disorders are issues that can cause some problems in any society. Paying attention to sexual problems can help to deepen the couple's relationship by reducing potential problems. It is also important to note that communication problems between couples and their interplay patterns are effective in shaping sexual behavior between couples and can be a source of sexual behavior disorders for couples. The goal of this research was to determine prevalence of sexual satisfaction of participants and some related factors.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 564 married women between the ages of 18 and 55 under the cover of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMJ), Zanjan City, Iran, among whom referring to ZUMJ educational centers from March to August 2012. A simple random sampling method was used. The data collection tool was a 14-item changes in sexual functioning questionnaire (CSFQ-14) completed by the self-efficacy method.

Results: The results of this study showed that 79.5% of women studied had some degree of sexual dissatisfaction. The study showed that with increasing age, the degree of dissatisfaction with marital relationships increased from 3.1% in the age group of 14-19 years to 38.2% in the age group of 30-39 years. Also, the rate of sexual dissatisfaction increased with the increase in education, and the highest degree of dissatisfaction was in the group with diploma education and the next stage, those with university education. The results of the study reported the highest proportion of dissatisfaction with sexual relations in the housewife group, and dissatisfaction with sexual relations increased significantly with an increasing number of years of marital life. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the prevalence of dissatisfaction especially with respect to sexual orientation among women is higher than expected, which is a threat to the individual and social health of individuals.

Background: Cervix insufficiency is diagnosed based on a previous history of pregnancy loss in the second trimester, followed by painless cervical dilatation or premature rupture of the fetal membranes. Abnormal cervical tissue structural appears to be the cause of this complication. There are no diagnostic methods for cervical insufficiency before pregnancy, but magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), hysterosalpingography, and ultrasound can detect uterine anomalies that are risk factors for cervical insufficiency. Cerclage is known as a common procedure for prevention of the preterm labor, caused by cervix insufficiency. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of cerclage and it’s complications and prognosis based on the patient’s age, history of cervical insufficiency, history of preterm labor, history of miscarriage, curettage, and cervical and vaginal abnormalities.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted, including 65 patients, from March 2012 to March 2018, in Valiasr Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Data including the age, history of cervical insufficiency, history of abortion, history of cervix surgery and curettage, gestational age, presence of vaginal and cervical anomaly as well as complications such as bleeding and severe cervical pain and prognosis of cerclage were extracted.
Results: In our study, 65 women who undergone cerclage were evaluated, the mean age of the participants was 28.4 years. Abortion was present in 27.7% of cases, 16.9% once, 7.7% twice and 3.1% three times. In 21.5% of cases, there was a history of curettage and 66.2% had a history of preterm labor. For 4.6% of the subjects, the length of cervix was under 10 mm. Gestational age at the end of cerclage was under 26 weeks in 5.8% of patients. The termination of pregnancy was higher in patients with lower gravida, and the termination of pregnancy was significantly higher in those who were not curetted (P= 0.001). There were no complications, and the prognosis is considered good, in case the termination is above 32 weeks. The birth weight mean was 3041.5 grams. According to our study, the failure of the cerclage is associated with previous history of dilation and curettage (D&C) and higher gravidity.
Conclusion: Putting all the results together, 80% of the cerclage, performed in our institution were successful, without any complications.

Background: Renal calculus with increasing prevalence and incidence in recent decades have the highest burden of urologic diseases. While preventive measures could significantly reduce the rate of recurrence, the amount of compliance with the preventive guidelines is unclear among urologists. This study was designated to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice in kidney stones prevention among urologists for the first time in Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the participants of the 20th Iranian Urological Association Congress. The questionnaires included questions regarding demographics, educational and occupational information, knowledge, attitude, and practice of urologists in the field of kidney stones prevention. The questionnaires were designed according to the latest guideline of the European Association of Urology and previous studies. Scores related to the knowledge and practice were calculated based on the number of questions with correct answers. The response rate was also calculated. The correlation of knowledge and practice with background variables, including age, work experience, and time since graduation were assessed.
Results: The total response rate was 18.08% (64 out of 354 distributed questionnaires). The mean age of the respondents was 47.25±10.20 and the mean work experience was 15.61±11.70 years. The mean knowledge and practice scores were 8.36±1.48 out of 11 and 4.44±1.45 out of 7 scores, respectively. A total of 96.2% and 73.4% of the urologists earned at least half of the knowledge and practice scores, respectively. There was no significant correlation between knowledge and practice scores (P=0.706). Work experience and time since graduation had a negative relationship with the knowledge scores (respectively, P=0.02 and P=0.026), and faculty membership had a positive correlation with the practice scores (P=0.022). Most respondents had an acceptable attitude regarding the effectiveness of stone prevention.
Conclusion: Although the study participants had good knowledge, attitude, and practice pattern regarding urinary stone prevention, their performance score was less than their level of awareness. However, we could not generalize the results to other urologists due to the low response rate of the study.

Background: Hypereosinophilic syndrome is commonly found in various diseases such as allergic diseases, parasitic diseases, malignancies, etc. Fasciolosis may present with different clinical features, and it can make a difficult diagnosis of the disease. Laboratory manifestations of fascioliasis are eosinophilia. The purpose of this report was to introduce a child with hypereosinophilia that her diagnosis was fascioliasis.
Case Presentation: The patient was a 3-year-old girl who was referred for prolonged fever (more than two weeks) and abdominal pain from another medical center, and she was hospitalized. In abdominal and pelvic ultrasound, splenomegaly was seen and in laboratory tests, she had hypereosinophilia. In the flow cytometry of bone marrow aspiration, the only finding was increased eosinophil level. Abdominal and thoracic a computerized tomography (CT) scans showed an increased size of para-aortic lymph nodes. On her examination, lymphadenopathy was present in the inguinal region. Therefore, a biopsy of an inguinal lymph node was performed to rule out lymphoma. Lymph node biopsy was negative for lymphoma. Fasciola serology was performed for the patient, and the stool exam was collected three times (for one day in between) to rule out parasitic disease, including Fasciola, etc. Due to weakly positive serology Fasciola hepatica, triclabendazole was started for the patient (it was given in two doses, 12 hours apart), despite the absence of Fasciola parasitic eggs in her stool. During hospitalization, the patient’s fever was stopped and by starting the use of mentioned drug, eosinophilia was reduced. The patient received a complete improvement in the follow-up.
Conclusion: In patients with hypereosinophilia, parasitic diseases such as fascioliasis should be considered even if the fecal specimen is negative for Fasciola eggs.

Background: Changing the mental structure of students and identifying creativity inhibitors are essential for academic survival and the pursuit of innovation. This study aimed to identify the inhibitory cognitive factors in medical students.
Methods: This study was a directional qualitative content analysis that conducted based on scientific literature review and opinions of experts in a semiformal expert panel by using semi-structured interviews ranging from 20 to 70 minutes from February 2015 to October 2016. Seventeen talented students were interviewed and conversations were recorded with a digital voice recorder at the Exceptional Talent Development Center (ETDC). The extraction and content analysis was continuously done by listening and writing through several times. The students were in various medical disciplines, and most of them were first rank students in scientific performance and they were collaborating with ETDC.
Results: The inhibition variables of creativity were classified in the four main subcategories according to the semantic relationship and after compression, these classes of inhibitory factors included: teacher-related inhibitors, teaching and assessment methods related inhibitors, student barriers and inhibitors of the university's educational system. Finally, 10 codes were extracted from the 4th categories, which were mentioned as inhibitory variables of creativity. The teachers' lack of enthusiasm with the new ideas, the lack of creativity in the academic context and the lack of motivation among the students were the main inhibitors of creativity that were extracted from interviewing with talented students.
Conclusion: In this study, the most important cognitional inhibitory factors in creativity promotion were the inhibitors related to the teacher’s character and his attitude to creativity, methods of teaching and the university environment. Planning for the removal of these barriers in medical students recommended.

Background: Melatonin is one of the drugs which are used in the treatment of sleep problems, including insomnia and sleep deprivation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the melatonin effect on sleep quality in patients with cancer.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on cancer patients with trouble sleeping who were treated with melatonin (3 mg per day) for a month. Sleep quality according to the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) questionnaire was evaluated before and after taking melatonin. This study was conducted in the Oncology Clinic of Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah City in Iran from August 2016 to February 2018.
Results: There was a significant difference between the sleep quality of patients with cancer before and after taking melatonin (P<0.05). In other words, before taking melatonin, sleep quality of none of the patients was not optimal but after taking melatonin, the sleep quality of 52% of patients was satisfactory. Also, there was a significant difference between the components of subjective sleep quality (P<0.001), sleep latency (P<0.001), sleep duration (P<0.001), sleep efficiency rate (P<0.001), sleep disturbances (P=0.001), and daytime dysfunction (P<0.001) of patients with cancer before and after taking melatonin. There was no significant difference between the components of subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency rate, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction of cancer patients with age, sex, kind of cancer, and kind of metastasis before and after taking melatonin (P˃0.05).
Conclusion: According to the mentioned findings, it seems that the administration of melatonin to enhance sleep quality in patients with cancer is effective.

Background: Premature infants undergo a lot of stressors during treatment procedures in the neonatal intensive care units which causes significant physiological changes in these neonates. Multi-sensory stimulation is a broad category of interventions designed to improve the evolutionary and physiological outcomes of premature infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit to minimize stress in this environment. So, the study aimed to evaluate the effect of multi-sensory stimulation on physiological parameters in preterm infants.
Methods: This double-blind clinical trial conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit of Shahid Motahari Hospital in Jahrom from April to December 2016. In this study, 80 preterm infants with a gestational age of 34 to 36 weeks were selected by non-probability sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups of multi-sensory stimulation and control. Neonates in the intervention group received a multi-sensory stimulation program for 60 minute. The multi-sensory stimulation program was included a combination of auditory, tactile, motor and visual stimulation. The preterm infants in the control group received only usual care. The data collecting tool was a questionnaire and checklist for physiological parameters of preterm infants.
Results: The results showed that the two groups were homogeneous in terms of fetal age, birth weight, the height of birth, first and fifth minute Apgar score of birth. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean of physiological indexes in the two groups before the intervention. Statistical tests showed that there was a decreasing trend in the average of all physiological indices during the intervention (first and second half during the intervention) (P<0.001), However, these changes were not significant in the control group (P<0.05). Also, analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures showed that there was a significant difference between changes in physiological variables between the two groups at different stages of evaluation (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Multi-sensory stimulation leads to a decrease in heart rate and respiratory rate and the stability of blood pressure in preterm infants.

Background: Most studies show that 9 to 24% of people who are in in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles are women who respond poorly to ovarian stimulation. Women with poor ovarian response (POR) are a group of infertile patients whose ovarian reserve, ovarian response to medication, and the quality of ovum are declining. Therefore, the number of female cycles, the number of fetuses from the oocyte and the rate of pregnancy in these women is reduced. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of three adrenoceptor receptor genes in the cumulus cells of women with poor ovarian response in culture medium.
Methods: This case-control study was conducted in two groups: study (POR) and control (oocyte donor's women) groups. POR diagnosis was performed by ESHRE Bologna criteria. After puncture of the follicles, cumulus-oocyte complex was collected and the cumulus cells (CCs) were isolated by enzyme and are counted with Neobar lamella and then were added in the culture medium. After completing the culture, RNA was extracted from cumulus cells and the RNA concentration was read by the Spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies, Wilmington, DE, USA). Then cDNA synthesized and primers designed for ADR-α1, 2 and ADR-B2 or gene expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The research was done in Reproductive Health Research Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, from April to December 2017.
Results: Comparison of the results of ADR-α1, 2 gene expressions in cumulus cells showed a significant decrease, but ADR-B2 was not significant in two groups. Correlation coefficients also showed that there are relationship between three adrenoceptors and their effects on each other.
Conclusion: Our results showed that the decreased expressions of ADR-α1, 2 probably related to activation of the sympathetic system and release of the more neurotransmitter that lead to down-regulation of ADR-α1, 2 in the cell membrane of cumulus in culture medium.