Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Volume:24 Issue: 11, Nov 2019

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a common cause of morbidity in premature neonates. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of oral ibuprofen and oral acetaminophen to closure of symptomatic PDA, in premature neonates with gestational age (GA) ≤32 weeks.

This study was a randomized clinical trial with forty preterm neonates who were admitted in neonatal intensive care unit with symptomatic PDA and GA ≤32 weeks or birth body weight ≤1500 g. Twenty neonates received oral acetaminophen [Group A] and twenty neonates received oral ibuprofen [Group B] and compared with echocardiography finding each groups for closed PDA before and after treatment regiment.

Our results showed that the primary closure rate of PDA was 70% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 49.9%–90%) and 65% (95% CI: 54.3%–75.7%) in the acetaminophen and ibuprofen groups, respectively, and statistically no significant difference was observed between the two groups (P = 0.74).

These findings suggest that there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of oral acetaminophen and oral ibuprofen on closing of PDA, but less adverse effects and contraindication for acetaminophen make it reasonable choice for the treatment of symptomatic PDA.

Constipation is a common and prevalent digestive problem. Forcing and straining due to constipation may have a negative effect on some parts of the body, including the heart. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of Ma’aljobon (a kind of whey) on functional constipation in hypertensive patients.

The present double‑blind, placebo‑controlled randomized clinical trial was a part of the study about the effect of Ma’aljobon on stage 1 hypertension, performed in 2017–2018. Hypertensive patients accompanying constipation were included in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: Group A (n = 19) received 25 g of Ma’aljobon powder and Group B (n = 22) received 25 g of maltodextrin powder, twice a day for 6 weeks. The number and quality of defecation during a day were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the study within and between groups. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version: 17) using Chi‑square or Fisher’s exact test. P <0.05 was considered as significant level.

Forty‑one patients had inclusion criteria, of whom 34 patients completed the study (19 in Group A and 15 in Group B). The mean ± standard deviation age of patients was 53.86 ± 8.92 years (range: 34–80 years). Before intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to constipation; however, after 6 weeks’ treatment, the frequency of constipation was significantly different between groups (P < 0.001). At the end of 6th week, constipation in the Group A was improved completely in terms of the number of defecation and stool consistency; but, in the Group B, eight (53.33%) patients still suffered from constipation (P < 0.001). No specific complications were reported in both groups.

Ma’aljobon can improve constipation in hypertensive patients without any adverse effect.

The objectives of this study were to compare the interferon‑induced protein 44‑like (IFI44L) promoter methylation level between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and healthy controls and to evaluate its diagnostic value in SLE.

The IFI44L promoter methylation level was measured in 49 patients with SLE and 50 healthy controls. Quantitative analysis of promoter methylation IFI44L gene in genomic DNA samples extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells was examined in SLE patients and healthy controls. The level of DNA methylation was compared between SLE patients and healthy controls as well as within SLE patient groups based on the presence of renal involvement. Moreover, diagnostic values of IFI44L were calculated.

The IFI44L promoter methylation level in SLE patients was significantly lower than healthy controls (median, 43.8 vs. 57, respectively; P = 0.008). The level of IFI44L promoter methylation was not significantly different between SLE patients with renal involvement and SLE patients without renal involvement (84.6% vs. 92.7%, respectively; P = 0.774). The IFI44L promoter methylation level ≤94.3% was the best cutoff point with a sensitivity of 91.8% and a specificity of 38% to distinguish patients with SLE from healthy individuals.

The level of IFI44L promoter methylation from whole peripheral blood in Iranian SLE patients was significantly lower than healthy controls. Furthermore, the DNA methylation level of IFI44L promoter was not associated with renal damage in patients with SLE

Acne vulgaris (AV) is one of the most common skin diseases with major psychological impacts. Hence, selecting the best treatment modality is so important; there are different ways to treat AV such as topical and systemic agents, laser, and also photodynamic therapy. In this study, we tried to assess the difference between the efficacy of combination therapy with intense pulsed light (IPL) and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) in comparison with IPL and adapalene (AD) in the treatment of the mild to moderate AV.

Thirty Iranian females in reproductive age with mild to moderate acne were enrolled in this study. The left and right side of the patients were randomized to receive either AD 0.1% or BPO 5% every other day plus three sessions of monthly apart IPL in the treatment of AV. Different parameters of AV such as acne severity index (ASI), total acne lesions counting (TLC), and Acne Global Severity Scale (AGSS) were measured before, during, and after the treatments.

There was a significant difference regarding AGSS, TLC, and ASI before and after treatment with AD plus IPL (P < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a significant difference regarding AGSS, TLC, and ASI before and after treatment with BP plus IPL (P < 0.001). However, no significant difference regarding AGSS, TLC, and ASI were observed between the 2 groups after treatment (P > 0.05). No significant side effects were observed in both groups.

Our study shows that there was not any significant difference between combining IPL with either AD or BPO so we can use either one of these combinations to achieve similar efficacy.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most important disease in the cardiovascular diseases and is the most important cause of death in developed and developing countries. Today, the participation of communities in government programs is considered as an important indicator of the success rate and development process of societies. This study was conducted with the aim of designing a community participation management model for control of CAD.

This study was carried out practically, quantitatively, and qualitatively in seven steps. The sample consisted of 400 people. The instrument for measuring this research is a questionnaire of 35 questions that is gathered through referring to the centers and observing and interviewing and reviewing the findings of previous research. The data were analyzed using “exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis” and “Amos 24” and “SPSS 20” software.

A total of five factors have been identified as effective in managing people’s participation in controlling the epidemic of CAD, including policy, planning, organizing, coordinating, and financing. Of these factors, policy‑making and coordination have the most (0.96) and least (0.43) impact, respectively, on managing people’s participation in controlling the epidemic of CADs.

Results suggest that community‑based CAD programs should be implemented and evaluated in accordance with clear rules and principles. All of the community should participate and establish close relationships with the national authorities.

Large amounts of information have called for increased computational complexity. Data dimension reduction is therefore critical to preliminary analysis. In this research, four variable selection (VS) methods are compared to obtain the important variables in predicting the prognosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.

In a retrospective follow‑up study, 741 TBI patients who were hospitalized for at least 2 days and had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of at least one were followed. Their clinical data recorded during intensive care unit (ICU) admission and eight‑category extended GOS conditions 6 months after discharge were utilized here. Two filter‑ and two wrapper‑based VS methods were applied for comparison. A support vector machine (SVM) classifier was then used, and the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and the area under the receiver characteristic curve (AUC) values were calculated.

Theoretically, the variables selected by sequential forward selection (SFS) method would better predict the prognosis (AUC = 0.737, 95% confidence interval [0.701, 0.772], specificity = 89.2%, sensitivity = 58.9% and accuracy = 79.1%) than the others. Genetic algorithm (GA), minimum redundancy maximum relevance (MRMR), and mutual information method were in the next orders, respectively.

The use of an SVM classifier on optimal subsets given by GA and SFS reveals that wrapper‑based methods perform better than filter‑based methods in our data set, although all selected subsets, except for the MRMR, were clinically accepted. In addition, for prognosis prediction of TBI patients, a small subset of clinical records during ICU admission is enough to achieve an accepted accuracy.