محمد هاشم زاده

Development and progress of human society is rely on research and the application of its principles in educational-scientific fields. Research is one of the most important tasks of universities in order to find and provide solutions to solve problems and obstacles in the society. Students play an important role in research and production of scientific documents, and this is the reason why universities have moved from education only, which is known as first-generation universities, to second-generation universities or education combined with research. Student research committees in the second generation universities play a vital role in the development of research, they identify interested students by establishing a relationship between faculty members and students, creating friendly research groups, research camps and show them the way. Which may be a kind of research talent search. Due to the importance of the mentioned cases, it is necessary to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and performance of students towards research in medical sciences universities. Because the first stage is the formation of research beliefs and ideas in the university and during the student period. The knowledge, attitude, and research performance of students in the field of health and treatment can play an effective role in the field of public health policies, providing health services, as well as the efficiency of the trained forces to fulfill their mission. This study was conducted to investigating the knowledge, attitude, and performance of students towards research in the Health Faculty of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in 2022.

The present study was a descriptive-analytical study that was conducted cross-sectionally on all undergraduate students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health. The sample size (N) was equal to 200 people, and due to a series of restrictions and lack of necessary access to students, 164 of them were participated in this study. To conduct research, the code of ethics (IR.HUMS.REC.1401.133) obtained in the Faculty of Health of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences. Then a standard questionnaire was applied to investigate students' knowledge, attitude, and performance towards research. The data collected via a questionnaire consisting of four sections of demographic characteristics, knowledge assessment, attitude, and research performance of students. Wrong answers were given a score of zero and correct answers were given a score of 1. The ranking of the students' knowledge based on the obtained score was as follows: 1. Poor level (0-7), 2. Average level (8-11), 3. Good level (12-15). In the attitude section, each question had a score between 1 and 5. In this study, scores of 15-34 were considered as poor attitude, scores of 35-59 as average attitude, and scores of 60-75 as good attitude. In the functional questions section, each question had a score between 0-3. Based on the results, scores of 0-10 were considered as poor performance, scores of 11-20 as average performance, scores of 21-30 as good performance, and scores greater than 30 as excellent performance. The obtained data were statistically analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics (T-Test, ANOVA, etc.) at a significance level of p<0.05 in SPSS V25.0 software. In order to describe and analyze the data, frequency distribution tables, graphs, index of central tendency (mean, median and mode), and dispersion index (variance, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and their range) are used.

Among 164 studied students, 29 (17.7%) were male, and 135 (82.3%) were female. The information of students participating in the study showed that 85.4% of students were single and the rest were married. The largest number of students participating in this study (36%) are related to the field of environmental health engineering, and other fields are 23.8%, 20.7%, and 19.5%, respectively, related to the fields of public health and occupational health engineering, and biology and vector control. About 72% students lived in dormitories. The relationship between each of the three parts of students' knowledge, attitude, and research performance using Pearson's correlation (at a significance level of 0.05) indicates a correlation of 0.325 between knowledge and attitude, a correlation of 0.334 between knowledge and performance, and the correlation was 0.285 between attitude and performance. The relationship between each part of students' knowledge, attitude, and research performance with their educational level (average) was also investigated. It was observed that there was a positive and significant correlation (0.193) between students' GPA and their research performance. The analysis of the relationship between the variables of gender, marital status, residence status, membership in the student research committee, and field of study using the T-Test showed that the knowledge of girls was significantly higher than that of boys (p<0.05) but in the field of attitude and No significant difference was observed between boys and girls. Regarding the marital status, no significant relationship was observed between the knowledge, attitude, and performance of single and married students. Statistical analysis and examination of the data obtained from the performance of the studied students according to their living conditions showed that the non-dormitory students had a higher average than the dormitory students (p<0.05), but there was a significant difference between their knowledge and attitude. There were no dormitory and non-dormitory people. Dormitory people had a weaker performance than non-dormitory people, which can be due to reasons such as the psychological effect caused by being away from the family environment, the lack of access to free time due to the creation of friendly meetings in the dormitory environment. It should have suitable facilities and space for studying and conducting research. In the study conducted by Izadi et al. at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, there was a significant statistical relationship between the level of attitude and the place of residence of people; So that the students living in the dormitory had a better attitude about research, which is contrary to the results of the present study.The knowledge, attitude, and research performance of students who were members of the student research committee were higher than other students. Regarding the field of study of the students, a significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in the average score of knowledge (0.032) and performance (0.014) of students studying in different fields of study at the undergraduate level. The results of the ANOVA statistical test on the relationship between students' knowledge, attitude, and performance with the students' academic year showed that, in general, the average scores related to knowledge, attitude, and research performance increased with the increase of the academic year, and therefore the difference There was a significance between students working and studying in different academic semesters (p<0.05). These results are consistent with the findings of Ghafornia et al.'s study (2004) in Isfahan. In a study related to chiropractic students in England, the attitude of 76% of these students towards research was investigated. In this study, the final year students' views on research were significantly different from the first year students and they had a more positive attitude, which is consistent with the results of the present study. In addition, in a study that was conducted in connection with the students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in order to investigate their knowledge and attitude about research, the attitude of students in lower educational levels towards research was positive compared to postgraduate students.

Based on the results, it is necessary to find ways to overcome the obstacles faced by students and motivate them to participate in research. Faculties of medical sciences can by updating their curricula and focusing on research-oriented activities, teaching research methods and research empowerment of students, allocating time, developing spaces, facilities, budgets, and research opportunities, forming and Expanding student research cores, assigning supervisors for student research, encouraging and persuading faculty members to participate in student research, provide research experience for all students in faculties of medical sciences. What is certain is that efforts to comprehensively evaluate this issue and to find ways to overcome the existing obstacles can lead to an increase in the participation of students in various fields of medicine in research.

Pyrazinamide is one of the effective drugs for treating tuberculosis. Inclusion of this drug in the treatment regimen shortens the duration of tuberculosis treatment. The mutation in pncA gene causes loss of pyrazinamidase activity, the most important resistance mechanism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic resistance to pyrazinamide antibiotic in multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Khuzestan province between 2017 and 2022.

This study was conducted on 40 isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ahvaz TB Regional Laboratory. Drug sensitivity of the isolates was determined by the relative method in the antibiotic pyrazinamide in the isolates. Then, the frequency of pncA gene mutations related to pyrazinamide resistance in MDR isolates was determined using sequencing.

According to the results of the drug sensitivity to rifampin and isoniazid antibiotics, there were 25 isolates, of which 16 strains were resistant to two drugs, namely isoniazid and rifampin (MDR-TB), and 9 were single-drug resistant isolates (8 isolates resistant to rifampin and 1 isolate resistant to Isoniazid). Of the 17 samples that had the pncA gene and were resistant to pyrazinamide, 13 had mutations in the pncA gene while 4 did not have any mutations. The most common mutation was a non-synonymous mutation in which the amino acid Val had changed to Phe.

According to the results of this study, there is a high frequency of resistance to pyrazinamide in MDR strains. Also, there is a high percentage of single-resistance mutations in the pncA gene, while there is lower prevalence of mutations in the panD and rpsA genes, which provide quick and accurate information about the sensitivity to pyrazinamide for MDR-TB and mono-resistant isolates. Therefore, the best method for detecting resistance to pyrazinamide is sequencing and whole pncA DNA sequence to confirm pyrazinamide resistance instead of the usual methods covering mutated hotspots.

Serotonin and dopamine are two main neurotransmitters in human body that play an important role in regulating many activities in the body. Studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 may affect the levels and metabolism of these neurotransmitters in various ways. Therefore, the present study reviews the different mechanisms of the effect of COVID-19 on serotonin and dopamine levels and the complications caused by these changes.

In this review study, a search was condcucted in Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases to find related articles using the following keywords: “COVID-19”, “SARSCoV- 2”, “serotonin” and “dopamine”.

COVID-19 can alter the serotonin and dopamine levels through various mechanisms, such as reducing the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, reducing the level of amino acids, increasing the level of inflammatory cytokines, reducing the level of vitamins, and binding to monoamine oxidase enzymes. The changes in the level of these neurotransmitters can play an important role in causingsome COVID-19 related complications, such as gastrointestinal problems (diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting), mental disorders (anxiety, depression, and delirium), and increased inflammation. The use of some drugs that modulate serotonin and dopamine levels can be effective in improving some of the COVID-19 complications.

Some of the complications of COVID-19 may be caused or exacerbated by changes in the levels of serotonin and dopamine. More studies are needed to determine the relationship between COVID-19 and these neurotransmitters.

In the medical fields, internship and field training play a very important role in the education of students. The purpose of the present study was to determine the status of education in the field for students and enhancing the level of health system accountability in Jundishapor University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz.

The current research was a descriptive-cross-sectional study that was conducted in 2019 in Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz. The study people includes 209 of senior students in all majors, 97 of faculty members, and 18 of non-faculty resident trainee instructors. The study tool was three researcher-made questionnaires, made available to the study subjects through the educational vice-chancellor of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz. Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Indices (CVI) as well as Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used for content validity and internal consistency, respectively. The evaluation of training in the field was done in six domains. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS24 software.

The number of participants in the study was 322 people. Examining the views of the participants showed that the state of education in the field was average for the six domains. In the comparison between different domains, 'content and compliance with the training curriculum in the field' had the highest average of the score (2.38 out of 4) and 'motivational and behavioral issues for training in the field' had the lowest average (1.98 out of 4).

The findings of the present study showed that from the point of view of the three target groups, the state of education in the field is still far from the ideal state. Therefore, it is recommended to plan in order to develop the necessary infrastructure for training in the field, provide motivational opportunities for faculty members, resident instructors and other staff involved in student training and improve the evaluation method.

Nocardia is a member of the Nocardiaceae family. Due to the fact that few studies have been conducted on the prevalence of nocariasis in Khuzestan province, the aim of this study was to isolate and identify nocardia species from bronchial lavage and sputum specimens of patients suspected of nocardiasis using molecular PCR in Khuzestan province.

In this study, 178 bronchial lavage samples and 100 sputum samples were collected from patients suspected of nocardiasis during 1 year and sent to Ahvaz Microbiology Laboratory for more accurate identification, then identified by PCR for gene tracking. 16 S rRNA, NG and Bet were performed and PCR products were sequenced.

In this study, 278 samples including 178 samples of bronchial lavage and 100 samples of sputum taken from patients suspected of neocardiosis were examined. Sequencing results showed that 27 of the samples were positive for Nocardia species. Out of 7 bronchial lavage samples, 6 belonged to N type. Nova and 1 case belong to .N .farcinica. 20 samples belonged to sputum and 8 belonged to N. cyriacigeorgica, 4 samples belonged N .farcinica 3 samples belonged to N. asteroides and 5 samples belonged to N. nova.

The present study shows the high ability of molecular methods in accurate diagnosis of species and species of Nocardia and the need for further study of this disease in future studies is felt more than ever.

The wind is the horizontal displacement of air that is less than one meter per second. The wind is a dynamic phenomenon and has three main characteristics: intensity, direction, and frequency. Therefore, knowledge of wind characteristics in every area of importance is remarkable. The effects of global warming on temperature and precipitation at the global level over the past decades, many studies were considered; However, relatively little attention to climate change is wind speed. Wind speed changes can affect the energy of storms, shipping industries, as well as soil moisture, evaporation, and water resources; and it may even affect the evolution of dry and semi-arid environments. Also, a lot of research on wind and meteorology has shown that the performance of wind turbines is sensitive to climate change. Possible changes to the future wind regime have been widely considered under changing weather conditions; under global warming, the intensity and frequency of wind events are expected to change at the end of this century.

The study area in this study of the eastern strip of Iran includes four provinces of Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, Kerman, and Sistan and Baluchestan. The study used wind speed data at a height of 10 meters, 10 synoptic stations with a daily statistical period of 2015-1985, which has 30 years of data; In choosing this station, in addition to proper distribution in the region, an attempt was made to select more stations in the station to be affected by the 120-day winds of Sistan. In this study, 10-meter daily wind speed data of the ERA-Interim version with a resolution of 0.125 × 0.125 degrees period of 1980-2015 were used; for the study area, 3772 pixels with an inter-pixel distance of about 12.5 km have been obtained. To evaluate the performance of simulated data against observational data; There are several indicators used in this study from the Root mean squared error (RMSE), Mean bias error (MBE), mean absolute error (MAE), and the coefficient of determination (R2). The non-parametric Man-Kendall method was used to investigate the trend of wind speed changes in research.

The ECMWF ERA-Interim version has a high and good performance for wind speed. The results showed that the output of the mentioned base in all the studied stations is on average between 0.722 and 0.984. RMSE, MBE and MAE characteristics in Zahedan, Khash and Saravan stations are less than m / s1; In other words, the wind speed of ECMWF base in these three stations has the highest performance of the 11 stations studied. The monthly statistical assessment of wind speed in selected stations in eastern Iran during the statistical period studied (1985-1985) showed that the average wind speed is 3.56 m / s. The relationship between wind speed with negative altitude and positive longitude is significant at the level of 0.05. Also, the relationship between latitude and wind speed showed that this relationship is negative in the cold months of the year and positive in the warm months of the year. The average wind speed fluctuates greatly during the 30-year statistical period. The average wind speed varies between 2.82 and 4.57 m / s. The minimum and maximum wind speeds were calculated in December and July, respectively. The average 30-year wind speed at selected stations in eastern Iran was calculated to be 2 m / s. The maximum wind speed in eastern Iran has many fluctuations; autumn showed the lowest statistical value in terms of maximum wind speed; In December, the maximum wind speed was calculated to be 3.98 m / s. The maximum wind speed is increasing in all the studied months; From a statistical significance level, all the studied months except January, which, despite being increasing, are; But statistically, it is not significant at the level of 0.05 and 0.01; Other studied wind speed studies have a significant incremental trend at α = 0.01. The average wind speed in the study area is negative in 7 months (January, April, May, July, August, October and December) from the negative years and in 5 months (February, March, June, September and November). The maximum wind speed is January 4.42, February 4.86 and March 5.02 m / s. The next area to be obtained in the form of a fertile area in winter; Zabol is also the center of Iran's border with Afghanistan in the border areas of South Khorasan Province. The wind speed trend is positive at the time of onset (June, 0.79), the 120-day wind is positive and negative at the time of termination (October, -0.15).

The average wind speed in the study area (Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan, Kerman and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces) during the long-term statistical period of 30 years (2015-1985) is 3.56 m / s; The minimum and maximum wind speeds are obtained in July and December, respectively; The reason for the increase in wind speed in July is due to the 120-day wind activity in Sistan, which started in June. The average wind speed in the study area is negative in 7 months (January, April, May, July, August, October, and December) from the negative year and in 5 months (February, March, June, September, and November). Investigation of wind speed process using non-parametric Man-Kendall (M-K) test; It showed that the wind speed trend in eastern Iran in the first month of June (June) 120-day winds showed an increasing trend (Z score of the Man-Kendall test 0.795) and in the last month (October) it decreased (-0.1152). ). Also, in July, when the wind speed is maximum, the average trend in the study area with a score of Z, 0.242 - is decreasing. Pearson correlation test showed that the relationship between wind speed and topography in the study area was statistically significant at 0.05; In contrast, the relationship between longitude and wind speed is significant in all studied moles at the alpha level of 0.05. In contrast, longitude and altitude in the study area did not show a uniform relationship between latitude and wind speed; this relationship is reversed for the cold months of the year and directly for the warm months. In October alone, the relationship between wind speed and latitude is not significant.

Aim and Non-tuberculous mycobacteria have long been identified as capable of causing human disease. Several reports have suggested increasing trend to available treatment regimes. The aim of this study was to evaluate antibiotic susceptibility of clinically significant NTM using standard micro broth dilution test.
Material and The antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed following National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) method for 88 clinical isolates of slowly growing mycobacteria (SGM) and 154 clinical isolates of rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM).
Among the 40 isolates of M. kansasii, all were susceptible to Ethambutol, Isoniazid, Clarithromycin, Moxifloxacin and Linezolid. The isolates also were resistant to Doxycycline and 50% isolates were resistant to Rifampicin and Ciprofloxacin.
The presence of high variations in susceptibility among clinically important NTM to the currently available antimicrobial agents confirms the need for accurate identification as well as performing standard susceptibility testing of any clinically important isolate.