فرشید علاء الدینی

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with its prevalence and mortality rates increasing in recent years. The quality of life and psychological status of patients with breast cancer could be affected after diagnosis, especially during treatment. The main objective of this study is to investigate the long-term influence of breast cancer on the quality of life dimensions in survivors.

This is an ongoing longitudinal prospective study that was administered at the National Institute for Medical Research Development in Iran in March 2020. A total of 1,200 patients with breast cancer, who have completed their treatments, will be recruited from 5 referral medical centers located in Tehran to be followed for 5 years. Questionnaires for evaluating the primary and secondary outcomes will be completed by trained investigators during face-to-face interviews with each participant in three phases: immediately after treatment, 1 year later, and 5 years later. Data will be collected on socio-demographic status, quality of life, body image, hope, psychological problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, and mood), sexual function, and physical activity. Finally, data will be analyzed in each phase using SPSS 22.0 software.

It is the first nationwide, prospective, longitudinal study with large sample size, long-term follow-up, and broad research aims that will evaluate the quality of life-related factors in the Iranian breast cancer population to justify the existing gap in the literature.

Given that the variable of the image of God is related to many psychological components and is a complex variable, the present study set to investigate the effect of meaning therapy on the quality of development of the image of God with respect to individualistic variables among patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

A sample of 60 patients was randomly selected; the study was performed using a three-part demographic questionnaire, Lawrence’s God Image Scale (Lawrence Scale Reconstruction) and the Granqvist family religious status questionnaire (30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group). The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, Spearman, t-test, Mann Whitney, analysis of variance and Kruskal Wallis. In the present study, all ethical considerations were observed and the authors reported no conflict of interests.

The results showed no significant relationship between the variables of age, gender, marital status, and level of education with the total score related to the image of God (P<0.05) in the intervention and control groups. The findings also showed that the perception of God had a significant relationship with the religiosity level of the family (P= 0.0001).

Although the image of God is a complex variable related to many psychological components and has a significant relationship with the religiosity status of the family, but it has no significant relationship with age, gender, marital status and level of education. The results showed that other components are effective in the quality of development of the image of God, which requires more extensive and in-depth studies.

Calculation of Cronbach's Alpha which measures the internal reliability of a tool is easy, but misuse and misconception are widely observed. Common misunderstandings of the Cronbach's Alpha include inability to differentiate between being one-dimensional and consistency, and between raw and standardized alpha. Violations of the assumptions of alpha could also cause an increase or decrease in the calculated alpha. In this paper, we showed that a very large but confusing alpha coefficient could be obtained, particularly when the one-dimensional theory is violated. Also, the use of standard error measurement as an index of the reliability has been presented. Finally, the generalizability of alpha coefficient is also discussed.

The number of road traffic accidents (RTAs) and their mortality are increasing in the world. In Iran, RTAs have caused life losses and economical damages. Death is the most important consequence of the accidents in terms of social, economic, and even political expenditures. This paper reports the statistics of the mortality status in the last decade.

A 10-year study was conducted on national and provincial data of the last decade collected by Legal Medicine Research Center. The population information provided by the National Center of Statistics was used. SPSS 15.5 and Microsoft Office Excel 2007 were used for data analysis.

Between 2001 and 2010, the annual average of 34.6 per hundred thousand people were killed in traffic accidents, more than 80% of the casualties are men. The highest number of deaths and injuries was observed in 2005 and the lowest occurred in 2001. RTAs had a descending trend trough the last decade but the rate of injuries increased. The death rates in Semnan, Qazvin, and Kerman were the highest and in Tehran, Ardabil, and West Azarbaijan were the lowest.

Although mortality rates due to RTAs declined during the last four years of the study period, direct and indirect costs of deaths resulting from RTAs in Iran are a sign of crisis.

The goal of the present study was preparing and determining the validity and reliability of “Newsha Developmental Scale” as an integrated test of cognitive, social communication and motor skills of Persian speaking children.

The first version of Newsha scale was prepared in three developmental milestones of “cognition”,�“social communication”, and “motor” in 13 age groups from birth to 72 months. After a pilot study, the test was conducted on 593 normal children of both sexes in nurseries of Tehran province. The psychometric values were determined using test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, content validity and construct validity.

A correlation of more than 92% was found in both kinds of reliabilities (p<0.001). Construct validity exhibited the effect of age on test results in 91 percent of the instances. Difference between boys and girls was shown in only 4 items among all the 275 items of the scale (p<0.02).

The “Newsha Scale” is an integrated and a comprehensive scale for evaluating development process and identifying any delay in developmental abilities in Persian speaking children from birth to 6 years of age, and has an appropriate reliability and validity.

Nowadays, there is a growing demand for prioritizing research activities based on the subjects associated with health care. In fact, health resources have not increased in developing countries, and despite the increased burden of diseases in these countries, the research budget allocated to dealing with health related issues has not increased in developing countries. Priority setting in health system is a response to the current challenges. For the priority setting process to be collective and participative, involvement of all stakeholders concerned could prove helpful. In the present article, the priorities in health system were set through needs assessment.

This project was formulated by needs assessment and involvement of the interested stakeholders as well as users of the health services with the aim of priority setting in health care system in 7 provinces of the country. A unique guideline was proposed to the executing universities as a preliminary guide. The project was implemented using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Results of the prioritization of the problems in health system indicate that accidents have the highest frequency, with the environment, water and food health ranking second in frequency.

It is the duty of health care system of a country to resolve its health problems. To this end, primarily, problems should be identified. Accordingly, the limitations of the priorities set by the health system must be recognized, and research titles have to be determined for each. The basis of this process is the consensus of the stakeholders concerned on the priority lists.

Health related quality of life has been reported to be deteriorating in subj ects with post-lung transplantation Bronchiolitis Obliterans (BO). However, there are few data about health related quality of life in BO due to exposure to chemical warfare agents (CWA). Current study aimed to assess the health related quality of life in BO after exposure to chemical warfare agents.

In this observational study, 383 subjects with BO due to exposure to CWA were selected in years 2004 and 2005 from patients of respiratory clinic in Baqyiatallah hospital. Demographic data and comorbidities were also registered. All subjects filled

Mean (SD) scores of symptoms, activity, impact and total score were 68.07 (16.28), 67.38 (19.53), 47.02 (21.57), and 56.68 (17.42), respectively. There was a significant correlation between SGRQ subscales and job (p(p>O.O5). Higher scores of SGRQ subscales and total SGRQ scores were correlated with suffering from dermatologic disease, ophthalmologic disease, mental health disorder, history of psychiatric medication use and history of admission in psychiatric ward (pSt George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ).

Current study showed a low health related quality of life in subjects with BO due to CWA exposure. Symptoms and activity are the most profound affected items of SGRQ in these subjects. Obstructive pattern of spirometry is not obligatory for low quality of life. This highlights attention while most of these subjects have normal spirometric findings. An appropriate treatment, and health care availability may improve health related quality of life of these patients. The collaboration of pulmonologists, dermatologists, ophtalmologists and psychiatrists is needed for this goal.