مجله پزشکی قانونی
سال بیست و نهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 106، تابستان 1402)

Older individuals experience COVID-19 with more severe clinical manifestations than younger people do, both physically and mentally. Consequently, elderly individuals exhibit greater susceptibility to the COVID-19 virus. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between hope and death anxiety in elderly women, considering the mediating role of COVID-19 anxiety and psychological hardiness.

A sample of 265 women aged 60 and older from Qazvin was selected through convenience sampling. Various measurement instruments were employed in the research, including Snyder’s Adult Hope Scale (AHS), Ahvaz Psychological Hardiness Inventory, COVID-19 Anxiety Questionnaire, and Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale. Path analysis was employed to analyze the causal model.

Findings indicated a good fit between the model and collected data. Also, the results revealed significant direct effects of psychological hardiness (B=-0.32, P=0.01), hope (B=-0.28, P=0.01), and COVID-19 anxiety (B=0.55, P=0.01) on fear of death among the elderly women. Moreover, employing the bootstrapping method for analysis, it was found that psychological hardiness and COVID-19 anxiety mediate the relationship between hope and fear of death.

The findings highlight the mediating influence of COVID-19 anxiety and psychological hardiness in the association between hope and fear of death anxiety among elderly women. Consequently, in developing psychological interventions aimed at managing and addressing fear of death anxiety in this specific group, it is essential to consider the interplay of hope, psychological hardiness, and COVID-19 anxiety.

Abortion has long been a complex and challenging issue in many societies. Abortion refers to the spontaneous or induced termination of a pregnancy before the fetus reaches a stage of viability. Women’s decisions regarding legal abortion are influenced by a range of factors, including their husbands, families, societies, cultures, and religious beliefs, which encompass various dimensions. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the ethical aspects of legal abortion from the perspective of pregnant women attending Iran’s forensic medicine center.

This descriptive-analytical and cross sectional study was conducted in 2019. The research samples included pregnant women referring to the forensic medicine of Isfahan city to obtain a legal abortion license. A total of 229 participants were selected using convenience sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-developed questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods in the SPSS software.

In the present study, the highest and lowest mean scores of ethical aspects of legal abortion belonged to autonomy (36.20±3.01) and justice (17.24±2.45) respectively. The mean scores of ethical aspects of legal abortion did not show significant differences between women with wanted and unwanted pregnancies (P<0.05).

Women’s autonomy in doing a legal abortion had the highest score, while justice in legal abortion had the lowest score. Given the fact that a great percent of mothers agreed that their spouses should support their decisions, it is necessary to examine factors such as the role of spouses, family, doctors, and society in this regard. Determining the ethical aspects (positive or negative) of legal abortion and mothers’ viewpoint in this regard can hopefully lead to the design of an appropriate program to improve the conditions governing legal abortion.

Urinary tract infection is one of the most common infectious diseases in women. This research was conducted with the aim of determining the pattern of antibiotic resistance in micro-organisms that cause office infection and the effect of common antibiotics in treating the disease in elderly women.

The current study is a cross-sectional study. The sampling method was a census and the target population included all female patients over 65 years of age with urinary tract infections who were admitted to the infectious and urology departments of Shahid Mostafa Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran from April 2017 to March 2022 and received antibiotics during the treatment period. have done, a study was conducted on 150 elderly female patients aged 65 and over with urinary tract infection. After culture and final confirmation of infection, urine samples were analyzed for microbial sensitivity by standard disc diffusion method. The relationship between the infecting strain, the results of the antibiogram culture, and the demographic factors of age, underlying disease, and length of treatment were investigated.

Escherichia coli was diagnosed as the dominant strain in 120 patients. 11 types of antibiotics were identified in the antibogram culture, all patients (100%) were sensitive to Amikacin. The most resistant antibiotic was Cefalotin, which 83% of patients showed resistance to. The infecting strain and antibiogram culture results had no significant relationship with the demographic factors of age, underlying disease, and length of treatment (P>0.05).

The results of the study showed that the most resistant and sensitive antibiotics examined in the study were Cefalotin and Amikacin. Due to the high prevalence of urinary tract infection in the elderly, its correct diagnosis is important, and the use of effective antibiotics based on antibiogram culture is also a therapeutic strategy, and the short duration of treatment prevents drug side effects.

Any type of tumor is considered as an insidious risk to life, and its early diagnosis can be effective in the treatment and recovery process. Several factors challenge the early diagnosis of brain tumors. Since psychiatric symptoms do not reflect the pathogenomic characteristics of brain tumors, the underlying organic cause may be overlooked. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining mood and sleep disorders in patients with central nervous system hemangioblastoma after surgery.

This descriptive-cross-sectional study included 32 patients with hemangioblastoma who underwent surgical treatment between 2016 and 2016. Patient information was collected by checklists and standard questionnaires. Karnofsky's and ECOG functional status scales, Brunel's mood scale and short sleep questionnaire MSQ were used to evaluate the performance status.

The age of the patients was 44.28±15.15 years and 18 (56.3%) were male. The follow-up time of the patients was 6.71±3.57 years. Also, the average tumor size was 35.4±12.98 mm. 9 patients (28.1%) underwent radiotherapy in addition to surgery and 5 patients (15.6%) underwent chemotherapy. Functional status of Karnofsky and ECOG was optimal. Sleep disorders indicate moderate sleep and wakefulness problems, and all dimensions of mood disorders (tension, depression, anger, fatigue, vitality, and confusion) were more than average.

In the present study, as in other studies, depression and tension were important mood factors in brain tumor patients. In addition, they had a significant impact on the patients' functional status. In this regard, it is suggested to conduct more detailed and comprehensive studies on the psychological disorders of patients with any type of brain tumor and to consider psychological treatments as part of the treatment process for these patients.

Considering the critical role of the country’s legal medicine organization in realizing justice on the one hand as well as the difficulty of working in this organization on the other hand, identifying the influencing factors on the decision of physicians and medical students to enter to legal medicine centers in less developed regions is essential for managers. Therefore, this study was carried out to identify these components, the interaction effects between them, and the demographic variables of the target population.

The present study was conducted on 222 physicians and medical students in 2023 with the discrete choice experiment method. The data was collected through a questionnaire that was designed using the D-Optimal method by SAS software. A conditional logit regression model with STATA 17 software was used to analyze the data.

The existence of institutional housing, close proximity to the workplace, gaining scores for holding managerial positions in the future, lower workload, and increasing the amount of net monthly income, respectively, increase the desire to enter to legal medicine centers in less developed regions. On the other hand, there is a mutual relationship between the three components of net monthly income, the distance between the workplace compared to the birthplace, workload, and demographic variables.

Despite the importance of financial incentives, other non-financial incentives can also be very effective in the decision of physicians and medical students; therefore, it is suggested that the managers of the organization take serious action based on evidence-based management to reduce the existing obstacles and problems while reviewing the effective incentive policies.

Anthropometry is a method that be used in medicine and industry by measuring the dimensions of the human body in different populations. The 2D:4D digit ratio can be a biomarker related to some diseases in people. In some of studies have reported a significant difference between 2D:4D in sick and healthy groups. Deafness is the most common sensory defect in human societies. The aim of the present study is to easily use the measurable characteristics of the hand for the early recognition of deafness.

In this observational analytical study, 120 genetically deaf girls and 200 healthy girls aged 7 to 11 in 4 age groups living in Mashhad city were investigated. The length of index and ring fingers on the inner surface of both hands was measured by digital calipers and the 2D and 4D growth pattern and 2D:4D ratio in healthy and deaf girls between left and right hands were processed with Excel and SPSS software.

The evaluation of the 2D and 4D finger growth pattern in healthy and deaf girls showed the presence of symmetry in these two groups (except for the age group of 8-9 years), also the 2D:4D ratio in the left hand of healthy people compared to the left hand of deaf people in the group The age of 9-10 years and in the right hand of healthy people compared to the right hand of deaf people in the age groups of 7-8 years and 8-9 years showed a significant difference in the error level of 0.05.

It seems that by extending similar studies, anthropometric body measurements can be used as appropriate pre-knowledge in identifying the identity of related disorders.

Fertility is highly valued in most cultures. Childlessness happens for various reasons one of which is abortion. Considering the extent of health care workers’ awareness of patients’ access to abortion, this study was conducted with the aim of determining and comparing the levels of awareness between first year and senior undergraduate students of midwifery in Mashhad Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery regarding the legal aspects of abortion.

In this descriptive-comparative research, there were 82 first year and senior undergraduate students of midwifery in the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences who were selected by census method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire created by the researchers to assess the level of awareness regarding the legal aspects of abortion, the validity and reliability of which was confirmed. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16.

The average awareness score of the first year and senior students of midwifery regarding the permitted cases of abortion is 5.88±2.75 versus 9.03±1.51 respectively (P=0.001). Regarding the punishment of unlawful abortion and the conditions for issuing a legal license for therapeutic abortion, their awareness scores were 3.47±1.48 versus 5.54±1.33 respectively, P=0.0001). Accordingly, there was a statistically significant difference between the level of awareness of the first year and senior students of midwifery about the legal aspects of abortion and the correct response rate was higher for the senior students.

The results of the present study show an insufficient level of awareness among midwifery students regarding abortion laws, such as the indications for legal abortion, the necessary conditions for issuing a license for legal abortion, and the penalties for illegal abortion. Therefore, the researchers suggest that the authorities consider training programs for midwifery students in order to raise their levels of awareness about the lawful and legal abortion.