mahboubeh masoumbeigi

Non-specific chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common painful condition and is responsible for different physical disorders. Despite alternative therapies, patients still suffer from persistent pain. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has provided much evidence of pain reduction, but results have not been examined deeply in CLBP symptoms.

The analgesic effect of rTMS in non-specific CLBP patients was evaluated by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis in resting-state fMRI.

In this experimental study, fifteen non-specific CLBP participants (46.87±10.89 years) received 20 Hz rTMS over the motor cortex. The pain intensity and brain functional scan were obtained during pre and post-stimulation for all participants. The ALFF maps of the brain in two scan sessions were identified and the percentage of pain reduction (PPR%) was determined using paired t-test. Also, correlation analysis was used to find a relationship between ALFFs and pain intensity.

Pain intensity was significantly reduced after induced-rTMS in non-specific CLBP (36.22%±13.28, P<0.05). Positive correlation was found between ALFF in the insula (INS) and pain intensity (rpre-rTMS=0.59, rpost-rTMS=0.58) while ALFF in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and pain intensity had negatively correlated (rpre-rTMS=-0.54, rpost-rTMS=-0.56) (P<0.05). ALFF increased in mPFC while INS, thalamus (THA), and supplementary motor area (SMA) showed decremental ALFF followed by rTMS. 

This study demonstrated that ALFF in INS, THA, mPFC, and SMA is associated with CLBP symptoms and analgesic effects of rTMS. ALFF potentially seems to be a proper objective neuroimaging parameter to link spontaneous brain activity with pain intensity in non-specific CLBP patients.

Procrastination is a common issue among students and is often linked to a lack of motivation. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between procrastination, motivation, and academic achievement of midwifery and nursing students.

In this cross-sectional study in 2023, 258 participants were enrolled, and data were collected by online distribution of three primary questionnaires, including the Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students and Hermans’ Questionnaire Measure of Achievement Motivation, along with a customized questionnaire. The chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis.

The mean score of achievement motivation among participants with academic achievement was considerably higher (P=0.006). When adjusted for confounding factors, female participants were found to have a higher likelihood of academic achievement (4-fold) than male counterparts. A significant inverse correlation was found between academic motivation and procrastination (r=−0.492, P<0.001). We also noted a significant association between interest in the field of study and achievement motivation (P=0.039).

The study showed that academic achievement and motivation significantly influence one another, and strategies aimed at improving motivation can lead to a higher incidence of academic achievement and, thus, academic performance.

Measuring background radiation (BR) is highly important from different perspectives, especially from that of human health. This study was conducted to measure BR in the southeast of Iran.

BR was measured in Hormozgan and Sistan-Bluchestan provinces using portable Environmental Radiation Meter Type 6-80 detector. The average value was used to calculate the absorbed dose rate and indoor annual effective dose (AED) from BR. In addition, excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) was evaluated.

The results showed that the maximum and minimum absorbed dose rates were 71.9 and 34.2 nGy.h-1 in Abomoosa and Minab in Hormozgan province and 90.0 and 47.8 nGy.h-1 in Zahedan and Chabahar in Sistan-Bluchestan province, respectively. Data indicated that these areas had a lower BR level compared with the worldwide level.  The ELCR from indoor AED was larger compared with the worldwide average of 0.29 × 10-3.

This study provided a reference for designing and developing specific regional surveys associated with the measurement of natural BR in the southeast of Iran.

Background and Knowledge on the risks of radiation during diagnostic imaging is necessary to protect patients against the hazards of ionizing radiation. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge of interns, radiology residents, radiology students, and staff about radiation doses received by patients in radiological examinations.
During a cross-sectional study, 163 individuals (interns, radiology residents, students, and staff in Kashan University of Medical Sciences) were asked to identify the average dose of radiation received by patients. A researcher-made questionnaire was administered. Average of correct answers in the groups was analyzed using the SPSS 16 software. The scores above 75%, 75-50%, 50-25%, and below 25% were considered as very good, good, moderate, and poor levels of knowledge, respectively.
The mean scores for the level of knowledge about the dose received by patients were 57.9±2.45% and 52.4±2.65% in the staff and radiology students, while it was 35.35±-1.65% and 41.35±6% in interns and residents, respectively.
In this study most of the radiology staff and students had good levels of knowledge about the radiation dose received by patients during diagnostic radiological methods. Therefore, revising curricula with more emphasis on radiation protection is recommended for medical interns and residents.

As functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is too expensive and time consuming, its frequent implementation is difficult. The aim of this study is to evaluate repeatability of detecting visual cortex activity in fMRI.In this study, 15 normal volunteers (10 female, 5 male; Mean age±SD: 24.7±3.8 years) attended. Functional magnetic resonance images were obtained during a visual task of sine-wave with spatial frequency of 1.84 cpd and temporal frequency of 8 Hz in three scan runs. Two runs of functional images were provided consecutively in a session, and the third run was provided 1-6 weeks later. The activation map was created using the data obtained from the block-designed fMRI study. Voxels whose Z value was above a threshold of 2.3, at a significance level p=0.05, were considered activated. After image processing, the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal changes and the number of activated voxels in response to visual stimuli were compared in different runs.The results of this study demonstrate no significant difference between the number of activated voxels and BOLD signal in first and second runs in one session (Paired t-test, p>0.05). Moreover, there is a considerable correlation between first and second scan runs (rsignal=0.74, p=0.006 and rvoxel=0.62, p=0.03), while the correlation between the runs in separate sessions is weak (rsignal=0.28, p=0.38 and rvoxel=0.32, p=0.31).Since the repeatability of BOLD signal and number of activated voxels in one session is considerably better than that in the separate sessions, it is suggested that in fMRI visual studies that need repeated scanning, scans should be acquired during a single session.Keywords: