seyed amir hossein tavakoli

A primary aim of forensic medicine is gender determination. Although hip is the optimal bone for this purpose, different determining criteria of this bone do not have the same accuracy. This is important in conditions that only parts of hip remain to determine gender. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of different hip criteria in gender determination. This cross-sectional study evaluated a total of 160 paired hips (80 males and 80 females) removed from the bodies for bone transplantation. Morphometric criteria were vertical and horizontal acetabular diameters and superior and inferior pubic ramus widths. Morphological criteria were a greater sciatic notch, obturator foramen, pubic body, preauricular sulcus, acetabular fossa position, and ischial tuberosity. The obtained data were analyzed using Cross Tab, t-test, and logistic regression analysis by SPSS. The significance level was set at P<0.05. There was no significant difference in morphometric and morphological criteria between the studied left and right hip bones (P>0.05). In gender determination, acetabular diameter and greater sciatic notch had the highest accuracy (85%), and obturator foramen (67.5%) and superior and inferior pubic ramus widths (65%) had the lowest accuracy. Hip bone is not always completely available and preserved to determine gender. Moreover, sometimes not all anthropometric criteria of the bone are in favor of one gender. Therefore, investigating the accuracy of different criteria can be very important in interpreting the results. Thus, it has always been emphasized on the use of all available information in gender determination.

Gender determination is an important challenge in the identification of skeletal remnants and dismembered bodies. The femur bone is more likely to be preserved during accidents and over time; thus, it is one of the most useful bones in gender determination. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 54 fresh femur pairs of ˃19-year-old Iranians without anomalies or trauma. We studied the length of the femur, vertical head diameter, bicondylar width, shaft angle with the horizon, and collo-diaphyseal angle in male and female samples. Data were analyzed in SPSS using t-test and Receiver Operating Characteristic curves. P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The samples’ mean age was 37 years in males and 41 years in females. The mean values of measurements were not significantly different between the left and right femurs (P>0.05). The vertical head diameter, maximum length, bicondylar width, and the shaft angle were significantly larger in the males, compared to females. The mean degree of collo-diaphyseal angle was significantly wider in females, compared to males (P<0.05). The highest precision of gender differentiation belonged to the collo-diaphyseal angle (96.3%) and the lowest one belonged to the vertical head diameter (77.8%). Based on our findings, even with the existence of only one femur bone, gender determination can be achieved with high precision. Collo-diaphyseal angle would be helpful in gender determination, even with the sole availability of the proximal part of the femur.

The determinants of satisfaction of life (SWL) are poorly described among Iranian employed ýnurses. This study aimed to assess the effect of various factors including age, gender, marital ýstatus, depression, anxiety and stress on SWL among Iranian nurses.ý
Employed nurses in three teaching hospitals were invited to participate in this study. Ninety-four ýnurses (65 women and 29 men) participated in this study. Depression, anxiety, stress scale ýý (DASS-21) was used to measure the related variables. Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was ýused to assess SWL. Multivariate analysis was utilized to examine the relationship between ýmultiple variables. ý
A noticeable proportion of Iranian employed nurses were either dissatisfied or extremely ýdissatisfied with life (45%). Severe depression was related to lower scores of SWLS (P: 0.001, r ýý= -0.32). The similar outcomes were detected between anxiety and stress scales, and SWLS (P: ýý0.023, r = -0.23 and P: 0.008, r = -0.27 for anxiety and stress, respectively). Although females ýwere more vulnerable to depression (P: 0.010) and stress (P: 0.013), the overall effect of gender ýon SWL was insignificant (0.41). Satisfactions with financial power and work environment were ýassociated with higher scores of SWLS (P: 0.030 and 0.042, respectively). Marital status was not ýrelated to severity of depression, anxiety, stress and SWLS (P: 0.39, 0.38, 0.80, and 0.61, ýrespectively). ý
This study revealed that poor satisfaction with financial status and work environment, ýdepression, anxiety and stress are the major determinants of satisfaction with life among Iranian ýemployed nurses.ý

Brain death is defined as the permanent, irreversible and concurrent loss of all brain and brain stem functions. Brain death diagnosis is based on clinical criteria and it is not routine to use paraclinical studies. In some countries, electroencephalogram (EEG) is performed in all patients for the determination of brain death while there is some skepticism in relying on EEG as a confirmatory test for brain death diagnosis. In this study, we assessed the validity of EEG and its abnormalities in brain death diagnosis. In this retrospective study, we used 153 EEGs from medical records of 89 brain death patients in organ procurement unit of the Iranian Tissue Bank admitted during 2002-2008. We extracted and analyzed information including EEGs, which were examined by a neurologist for waves, artifacts and EEG abnormalities. The mean age of the patients was 27.2±12.7 years. The most common cause of brain death was multiple traumas due to accident (65%). The most prevalent artifact was electrical transformer. 125 EEGs (82%) were isoelectric (ECS) and seven EEGs (5%) were depictive of some cerebral activity which upon repeat EEGs, they showed ECS patterns too. There was no relationship between cause of brain death and cerebral activity in EEGs of the patients. In this study, we could confirm ECS patterns in all brain death patients whose status had earlier been diagnosed clinically. Considering the results of this study, it seems sensible to perform EEG as a final confirmatory test as an assurance to the patient's families.