Annals of Military and Health Sciences Research
Volume:18 Issue: 2, Jun 2020

Family planning is one of the important needs of reproductive health care. For years, stable, reliable, reversible, accessible, and cost-effective methods have been desirable for this purpose. Vasectomy is often considered as the most common contraceptive method, due to the highly effective reversal success rate.

With the excellent patency and pregnancy rates, the microsurgical end-to-end vasovasostomy procedure has been recognized as a more common method for vasectomy reversal.

Here we reviewed and analyzed the records of our experience of Modified Double-Layer microsurgical technique (MDLT) for the vasovasostomy procedure (n = 30) compared with the Three-Layer technique (TLT) (n = 24) during 3 years. The statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS (V. 15.0), and a value of P < 0.05 was considered significant.

In this report, 54 participants underwent TLT-VV (group 1) and MDLT-VV (group 2). There was no significant difference in the causes of vasectomy reversal between the two groups (P value = 0.392). There was no significant difference between study groups in the fertility history (P value = 0.561), the presence of a sperm granuloma (P value = 0.21), underlying diseases (P value = 0.345) and demographic characteristics. We observed a 94% (51/54) patency rate and a 40.7% (22/54) pregnancy rate without any need for Assisted Reproductive technique (ART).

The microscopic vasectomy reversal operation brings advantages to family planning and sexual health. High throughput return fertility, without any need for ART, places this technique in the first step of family planning. It seems Modified Double-Layer technique may be considered as the first step of microscopic vasovasostomy.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is closely related to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly in stressful occupations. Firefighting is a hazardous profession and is associated with high metabolic risk. However, limited studies on firefighters are available.

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of MetS among firefighters in Zahedan city, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 140 firefighters (age range, 16 - 55 years) employed at the fire department in Zahedan city, southeast Iran. Anthropometric characteristics and metabolic risk parameters, including blood pressure (BP), fasting blood sugar (FBS), and lipid profile were measured, and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was assessed based on National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criteria.

MetS was presented in 47 (33.6%) of the firefighters. Among the metabolic risk factors, abdominal obesity (87.1%), low-high density lipoprotein (HDL-C) (62.1%), and hypertriglyceridemia (61.4%) were more prevalent. Moreover, a significant increasing trend was found with increasing age and work experience (both, P = 0.05). However, no significant differences were found for the remaining metabolic risk factors.

The findings showed that about one-third of the firefighters had MetS. Age, abdominal obesity, and dyslipidemia were independent risk factors for MS in the firefighters. Thus, efforts should be undertaken to implement healthy lifestyle promotion programs for firefighters.

The development of virtual human models has recently gained considerable attention in biomechanical studies intending to design for ergonomics. The computer-based simulations of virtual human models can reduce the time and cost of the design cycle. There is an increasing interest in finding the realistic posture of the human body with applications in prototype design and reduction of injuries in the workplace.

This paper presents a generic method based on a multi-objective optimization (MOO) for posture prediction of a sagittal-plane lifting task.

Improved biomechanical models are used to formulate the predicted posture as a MOO problem. The lifting task has been defined by seven performance measures that are mathematically represented by the weighted sum of cost functions. Specific weights are assigned for each cost function to predict both stoop and squat type postures. Some inequality constraints have been used to ensure that the virtual human does not assume a completely unrealistic configuration.

The method can predict the hand configuration effectively. Simulations reveal that predicting a squat posture requires the minimization of certain objective functions, while these measures are less significant for the prediction of a stooped posture.

In this study, a MOO-based posture prediction model with a validation process is presented. We employed a three-dimensional model to evaluate the applicability of using a combination of seven performance measures to the posture prediction of symmetric lifting tasks. Results have been compared with the available empirical data to validate the simulated postures. Furthermore, the assigned weights are obtained for a range of percentiles from 50% male to 90% female according to the postures obtained by 3D SSPPTM software.

Decision-making is a complex process, and many factors are involved in it. Identifying consumer decision-making styles provides insights that can serve a basis for managers to make decisions about how to deliver goods and services.

This study aimed to investigate the decision-making styles of patients referring to specialty and subspecialty clinics in Iran.

In this study, a qualitative-quantitative approach was used. In the qualitative phase, through the Delphi method, important factors in patients’ decision-making in selecting different clinics were identified in three rounds. In the quantitative part of the study, a questionnaire consisting of 48 questions was prepared using factors identified in the qualitative section. Finally, 460 questionnaires were collected. Exploratory factor analysis using varimax rotation was used to summarize factors and extract decision-making styles.

The results identified 10 decision-making styles among patients referring to specialty and subspecialty clinics in Iran.

Compared to previous research and the list of decision-making styles (CSI), the results showed that the two styles of being/inclining and paying attention to entertainment/recreation were not found among patients referring to clinics in this study. Each of the three styles of perfectionism/high-quality sensitivity, brand sensitivity, and habitual loyalty shopping was identified in two separate dimensions, and the style of coercion/lack of choice was identified in this study for the first time.

Type 2 diabetes and thyroid disorders cause extensive changes in insulin resistance. An increase in serum resistin level is associated with insulin resistance.

The current study aimed to investigate the cumulative effect of diabetes and hypothyroidism on the serum resistin levels of type 2 diabetic patients.

Participants were divided into four groups using the convenience sampling method. Each group contained 30 diabetic patients, 32 hypothyroid patients, 30 diabetics + hypothyroid patients, and 29 healthy individuals. Serum samples were taken from participants and their serum resistin levels were measured. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 23. Pearson correlation test, ANOVA statistical analysis, and Tukey post hoc test were used to analyze the data. A P-value of < 0.05 was used as statistically significant.

Among patients with hypothyroidism, resistin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone were moderately correlated (P = 0.001, r = 0.580). ANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference between the resistin levels in the studied groups (P = 0.000, F = 6.813).

Serum resistin levels are significantly lower in people with diabetes + hypothyroidism than in people with only one of these two conditions. Therefore, the cumulative effect of diabetes and hypothyroidism on resistin levels cannot be deduced from the findings of the present study.