Pregnant women are considered one of the high-risk groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, so paying attention to preventive behaviors among them is highly important. This study aimed to examine the ...effect of multimedia education based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) in preventing COVID-19 among pregnant women.
This quasi-experimental intervention study was conducted on 120 pregnant women referring to Comprehensive Health Services Centers affiliated with East and West health centres of Ahvaz city, Iran, in 2021. Participants were divided into two control (n = 60) and intervention (n = 60) groups. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection. The intervention group was given the required educational content using social networks virtually and multimedia in 12 sessions. Both groups were reinvestigated after two months. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24, independent t-test and paired t-test tests.
The mean age and mean gestational age of participants were estimated at 28 years old and 18 weeks, respectively. Before the educational intervention, there was no significant difference in mean constructs of HBM. In contrast, the mean of all constructs increased significantly in the intervention group after intervention. The greatest change was related to the constructs of self-efficacy and perceived susceptibility, and the lowest change was related to the perceived barriers construct.
Our findings suggest multimedia education using the HBM to COVID-19 preventive behaviors among pregnant women can benefit behavior change.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The
Oliveria decumbens
Vent. is a wild, rare, annual medicinal plant and endemic plant of Iran that has metabolites (mostly terpenes) which make it a precious plant in Persian Traditional Medicine ...and also a potential chemotherapeutic agent. The lack of genetic resources has slowed the discovery of genes involved in the terpenes biosynthesis pathway. It is a wild relative of
Daucus carota
. In this research, we performed the transcriptomic differences between two samples, flower and root of
Oliveria decumbens,
and also analyze the expression value of the genes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis by RNA-seq and its essential oil’s phytochemicals analyzed by GC/MS. In total, 136,031,188 reads from two samples of flower and root have been produced. The result shows that the MEP pathway is mostly active in the flower and the MVA in the root. Three genes of
GPP
,
FPPS
, and
GGPP
that are the precursors in the synthesis of mono, di, and triterpenes are upregulated in root and 23 key genes were identified that are involved in the biosynthesis of terpenes. Three genes had the highest upregulation in the root including, and on the other hand, another three genes had the expression only in the flower. Meanwhile, 191 and 185 upregulated genes in the flower and root of the plant, respectively, were selected for the gene ontology analysis and reconstruction of co-expression networks. The current research is the first of its kind on
Oliveria decumbens
transcriptome and discussed 67 genes that have been deposited into the NCBI database. Collectively, the information obtained in this study unveils the new insights into characterizing the genetic blueprint of
Oliveria decumbens
Vent. which paved the way for medical/plant biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry in the future.
This study examined the efficiency of the health belief model in understanding preventive behaviors of pregnant women in Iran. A cross-sectional descriptive-analytical methodology study was conducted ...of pregnant women who were referred to a healthcare center in 2021. The data were the responses to a questionnaire designed for this study. The data were analyzed with SPSS 24 software, Amos 22 software, correlation tests, regression analysis, and independent t tests. In terms of the health belief model, pregnant women with high perceived susceptibility showed the highest vaccination rate, while those with high perceived barriers had the lowest. The model predicted 20% variance in the preventive behavior from COVID-19, with perceived susceptibility and cues to action being the strongest and weakest predictors of behavior, respectively. The conclusion of the study was that the health belief model was an appropriate model to guide the care of pregnant women.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a common complication after organ transplantation. Despite the immunosuppressed state, natural killer (NK) cells remain the major immune defense cells against viral ...infections in transplanted patients. The present study aimed at elucidating the correlation between the number of inhibitory and activating genes and the incidence of CMV infection in kidney transplanted recipients. Kidney transplanted recipients including 51 CMV
+
and 50 CMV
−
were genotyped for the presence or absence of 4 activating (
KIR2DS1
,
KIR2DS4
,
KIR2DS5
,
KIR3DS1
) and 2 inhibitory (
KIR3DL1
,
KIR2DL5a
) genes using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) assay. Our results showed that CMV infection occurred in 50.49% of kidney allograft recipients. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the presence of the
KIR2DS1
activating gene in the CMV
−
group compared to the CMV
+
group (
p
= 0.033). The other three activating KIR receptors did not show a correlation with CMV infection. Our results suggest that the prevalence of the
KIR
activating
KIR2DS1
gene may reduce the rate of CMV infection after kidney transplantation in our population.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This paper reports on a study on improving the health and fitness of office workers in Iran using a comprehensive model. The research design was a randomized controlled trial involving 294 employees. ...The intervention was a 6-month program to promote physical activity. The primary outcome measure was their scores on the physical activity (PA) index recorded at 3 and 6 months. A statistically significantly increase in PA was found in the intervention group over the control group. In addition, the mean values of related health and physiological indices of the intervention group demonstrated a statistically significant increase compared to the control group. The conclusions of this study support research findings in multiple countries, that the physical activity and health of office workers can be improved in a short period.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Financial protection of populations against healthcare costs is one of the fundamental responsibilities of governments. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of catastrophic health ...expenditures (CHE) and it's affecting factors in hospitalized patients with delta variant of COVID-19.
In this cross-sectional study, we included 400 hospitalized COVID-19 patients at Kosar Hospital of Semnan in 2022, using a researcher-made checklist. Based on qualitative nature of the variables, chi-square test was used to investigate the statistical associations between the demographic/background characteristics and the incidence of CHE.
On average, COVID-19 imposed 1833.43 USD direct medical costs per one hospitalized patient. The ratio of direct-medical costs to household's non-food expenses was 2.35, and 61% (CI:±4.78%) of the patients were subject to CHE. Besides, residence place, basic insurance type, benefitting from supplementary insurance, suffering from underlying diseases, hospitalization in ICU, falling into a coma, facing pulmonary failure, and performing hemoperfusion had significant associations with CHE (
<0.05).
The incidence of CHE in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was undesirable, which may be due to geographical, economical, and occupational inequalities apart from the factors related to the severity of the disease. So, health policymakers should pay attention to the provision of proper financial risk protection policies to make the health insurance system more efficient and appropriate.
Colon carcinoma poses a significant health challenge globally, particularly in developed nations where sedentary lifestyles, poor dietary choices, and genetic factors play a crucial role in its ...prevalence. Chemotherapy, the primary treatment method, carries severe side effects that can jeopardize patients' lives. Herbal extracts such as Ocimum Basillicum extract have shown effectiveness against cancer cells. Additionally, nanoparticles can significantly enhance drug delivery efficacy in these scenarios.
This article aims to investigate the impact of copper nanoparticles coated with Ocimum Bassilicum at chemoradiotherapy of Colon Carcinoma to hopefully create new treatment options with fewer side effects for patients.
CuO bio-NPs were produced by the addition of 15 mL of extract dropwise to 80 mL of a 5 mM Cu (OAc)2 aqueous solution, which was then refluxed for 2 h at 100 °C. The mixture gradually became darker brown in color as a result of the heating procedure. The production of CuO NPs and the hydrogen-donating activity of antioxidant phenols within the plant are signaled by surface plasmon resonance excitation, which is the cause of this. In the cell culture, LS174t colon cancer cells were treated with OB extract, CuNPs, and OB-coated CuNPs with and without different radiation levels in order to assess cell viability, through the MTT assay, and the pro-apoptotic BAX and anti-apoptotic BCL2 expressions, through qPCR assay.
The results demonstrate a decrease in cell viability and the expression of BCL2 and an increase in the expression of BAX especially when treated with OB-coated CuNPs and even furthermore when paired with radiation therapy.
After doing the clinical trial studies, the recent nanoparticles can be used for the treatment of Colorectal carcinoma.
•Effect of Ocimum bassilicum extract, Cu NPs, and Ocimum bassilicum -coated CuNPs on LS174t colon cancer cells.•Cytotoxic effects of Ocimum bassilicum -coated CuNPs against LS174t cells.•Intensifier effects of radiotherapy at these survival cells.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Introduction: Evidence on the impacts of accreditation on primary health care (PHC) services is inconsistent. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impacts of accreditation on the performance of PHC ...centres.
Methods: This study systematically reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2019 in the Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Springer, PubMed and ProQuest. The following keywords were used: ((primary care OR primary health care) AND (accreditation) AND (impact OR effect OR output OR outcome OR influence OR result OR consequences)). The database search yielded a total of 41256 articles, among which 30 articles were finally included in the review.
Results: Accreditation showed the most positive impacts on the quality, effectiveness, human resource management and strategic management of PHC services. Accreditation also positively affected safety, responsiveness, accessibility, customer satisfaction, documentation, leadership, efficiency and continuity of care. Few negative impacts were noted, including the possibility of accreditation being used as a bureaucratic tool, high cost of acquiring accreditation, difficulties in understanding the accreditation process, high staff turnover rate in accredited PHC centres and weak sustainability of some accreditation programmes.
Conclusion: Given its numerous positive impacts, accreditation could be used to effectively improve the performance of PHC centres.
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FFLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Current methods of colon cancer treatment, especially chemotherapy, require new treatment methods due to adverse side effects. One important area of interest in recent years is the use of ...nanoparticles as drug delivery vehicles since several studies have revealed that they can improve the target specificity of the treatment thus lowering the dosage of the drugs while preserving the effectiveness of the treatment thus reducing the side effects. The use of traditional medicine has also been a favorite topic of interest in recent years in medical research, especially cancer research. In this research work, the green synthesis of Fe nanoparticles was carried out using Mentha spicata extract and the synthesized nanoparticles were identified using FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM and EDS techniques. Then the effect of Mentha spicata, Fe nanoparticles, and Mentha spicata -loaded Fe nanoparticles on LS174t colon cancer cells, and our result concluded that all three, especially Mentha spicata -loaded Fe nanoparticles, have great cytotoxic effects against LS174t cells, and exposure to radiotherapy just further intensified these results. The in vitro condition revealed alterations in the expression of pro-apoptotic BAX and anti-apoptotic Bcl2, suggesting a pro-apoptotic effect from all three components, particularly the Mentha spicata-loaded Fe nanoparticles. After further clinical trials, these nanoparticles can be used to treat colon cancer.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
