نسیم احمدی

The nasal bone length for the diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities is different for each ethnic group. The present study was conducted with aim to investigate the possibility of Down syndrome in cases of absence of fetal nasal bone (NB) in first trimester ultrasound and fetal nasal bone hypoplasia in the second trimester of pregnancy.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 and 2020 on 265 pregnant women referred to the Perinatology Clinic of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences. Absence of fetal nasal bone ablation in first trimester ultrasound or fetal nasal bone hypoplasia (shorter than 5 mm or below the 5th percentile) in second trimester ultrasound were the inclusion criteria. The information of these individuals was extracted from the files and entered in the checklist. Data analysis was performed using Stata software (version 16) and Chi-square, Pearson and Fisher's exact tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

In the first trimester ultrasound, 83 patients (31.3%) reported no nasal bone visibility, of which 59 patients (71.1%) had normal genetics, 16 (19.3%) had Down syndrome and the rest had abnormalities. Also, 182 patients (68.7%) had nasal bone hypoplasia in the second trimester. Of these, 178 (97.8%) had normal karyotypes and 4 (2%) had genetic abnormalities including Down syndrome, Edward syndrome, Klein filter, and other chromosomal abnormalities. There was a significant relationship between the fetal bone status in the first trimester ultrasound and genetic abnormalities (p<0.001). The correlation between fetal nasal bone hypoplasia in the second trimester ultrasound and genetic results was not statistically significant (p=0.10).

The absence of nasal bone visibility in the first trimester ultrasound is an important indicator in the diagnosis of genetic abnormalities, but in the second trimester examination, NB less than 5 alone cannot be relied upon.

This study aimed to develop an extension-education model of farmers adaption to climate change using an exploratory mixed method approach. In the qualitative part, the grounded theory method based on 18 semi-structured interviews was used. In the quantitative part of this study, the structural equation modeling was applied. By using stratified random sampling, the perceptions of 350 experts and middle level managers of organizations related to climate change were studied. The findings of the qualitative part of the research revealed 223 primary codes, 72 secondary codes, 46 concept codes, 30 sub-categories and six main categories. The identified model was evaluated by structural equation modeling and Smart pls2 software package. Findings showed that man-made activities in agriculture and industry have the highest effect and power in predicting farmers' adaptive capacity to climate change.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of hope and life satisfaction with students bullying and bullying victimization with the mediating role of school connectedness.                                     This was a cross-sectional study, the statistical population being high school students of Tehran city in the school year 2015-16. A sample of 300 students was selected using the stratified random sampling method. The data collection tools were the Snyder’s hope scale, Diener et al. life satisfaction scale, Waters and Cross School Connectedness scale and the Espelage and Holt Bullying scale. The hypothetical model was analyzed using path analysis with the LISREL8.57 software.   Analysis of the data showed the following: 1. Hope and life satisfaction had a structural positive direct effect on school connectedness; 2. Life satisfaction had a direct negative effect on bullying; 3. Bullying had a direct effect on bullying victimization; 4. School connectedness had no direct effect on students bullying and bullying victimization. 5. Life satisfaction had an indirect effect on bullying victimization through bullying; 6. Finally, the indirect effects of hope and life satisfaction on bullying and bullying victimization through school connectedness were not confirmed. In can be concluded that life satisfaction is a facilitating factor for the school connectedness, serving as a protective factor against bullying. Hope and school connectedness may act as protecting factors in the prevention of bullying.

In this article the natural convection of nano-fluid water - copper in a square cavity has been studied numerically. The left wall is maintained at high temperature ,right wall is maintained at low temperature and the other walls are adiabatic. The numerical model is based on the SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve the equations of continuity, momentum and energy . The effects of pertinent parameters such as the position and length of the baffle, Rayleigh number and solid volume fraction, on the thermal performance of the cavity are examined. The results showed that, the increase of the Rayleigh number and volume fraction of nanoparticle increased the average Nusselt on both hot and cold walls. The results also showed that the average Nusselt numbers on cold wall increased and on hot wall decreased with increase of the baffle length.

Unintelligible speech is one of the main problems Deaf people have. In this project we taught speech production to a deaf adult in order to prove the possibility of learning intelligible speech without hearing and by applying other senses like tactile, kinesthetic and visual senses. We used two methods for speech intelligibility assessment before & after therapy: (1) Item Identification and (2) Rating Scale. The intelligibility of the /g/ sound and /ga/ syllable was evaluated on the basis of judgments of three native Persian-speakers who were not familiar with deaf speech. This single-subject intervention lasted for 12 sessions, through one-hour sessions held thrice a week. Based on item-identification, intelligibility of the contexts under study improved from unintelligible to intelligible level. Based on the rating scale, the improvement rate was judged at 100% by the three normal-hearing listeners. Our findings showed significant improvements in the intelligibility of deaf speech following treatment. So we could claim that acquiring intelligible speech can be possible – at least in the studied contexts – without any auditory feedback and through the application of other senses.