bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anti-inflammatory properties of mangosteen peel extract on the mice gingival inflammation healing process
Authors: Putri Khairani , Darsono Lusiana , Mandalas Henry
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Mangosteen (Garcinia Mangostana L.) peel extract has widely used in the pharmaceutical field due to its anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and immunity boost properties. It had been proofed to be able to prevent and reduce the amount of plaque and cure gingivitis. This study was aimed to compare mangosteen peel extract at the concentration of 12.5 and 25% on the mouse gingival inflam­mation healing process. Methods: This study was a true experimental laboratory study. The subjects consisted of 28 mice divided into four groups, which were negative control (Aquadest) group; positive control (0.2% of Chlorhexidine) group; 12.5% Group of mangosteen peel extract group; and 25% respec­tively. Examination of the inflammatory healing process was observed every 2 hours during 6 hours, and the inflammatory measurements of mouse gingival performed by using calipers. Data obtained was an­alyzed with the one-way ANOVA test (α=0.05) and the Tukey’s range test. Results: The results from the one-way ANOVA test and the Tukey’s range test found that there was a significant difference on the in­flammation size between the group with 12.5% of mangosteen peel extract and the group with aquadest and 0.2% of chlorhexidine. Meanwhile, the mice group with 12.5% of mangosteen peel extract and group with 25% of mangosteen peel extract did not show a significant difference in inflammatory size decrease. Conclusion: The mangosteen peel extract at the concentration of 12.5% was showing the highest anti-in­flammatory potentials since the first measurement on the second hour after treatment.
Effect of black tea on the transverse strength of heat-polymerized acrylic resin
Authors: Rahmi Eni , Agus Zulkarnain , Putri Riezka Hanafiah
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Heat-polymerized acrylic resin is the most basic denture material used. One of the mechanical properties of an acrylic resin is its transverse strength. The transverse strength test provides an overview of the material’s durability in accepting the load at mastication. Consumption of tea, especially black tea in the world placed the second most consumed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of black tea on the transverse strength of heat-polymerized acrylic resin. Methods: This research was an experimental laboratory with 24 samples of heat-polymerized acrylic resin plate with the size of 65x10x2.5 mm. The sample was divided into 6 groups, each consisted of 4 samples. The first, second, and the third groups were immersed in aquadest for consecutively 1, 4, and 20 days. The fourth, fifth, and sixth groups were immersed in the black tea for consecutively 1, 4, and 20 days. The transverse strength was tested using the three-point bending method with the Universal Testing Machine. The results of the transverse strength measurement were then analyzed statistically by the One-way ANOVA test and Holm’s sequential Bonferroni posthoc test as an advanced test. Results: The results of the statistical test showed that p<0.05 (p=0.000) which means that the six groups have a significant difference in the average value of the transverse strength. Conclusion: The conclusion of this research was the black tea immersion duration was affecting the transverse strength differences of the heat-polymerized acrylic resin.
Serum interleukin-17 (IL-17) in chronic periodontitis patients
Authors: Arief Erry Mochamad , Mubin Marina Binti , Zainuddin Siti Lailatul Akmar , Abdullah Nurul Asma , Ahmad Basaruddin
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Explorations into the periodontal medicine relationship have discovered interleukin-17 (IL-17) cytokine as one of the pro-inflammatory mediators that play a crucial role in the initiation and progression of the chronic periodontal disease. This case and control study aimed to compare the serum IL-17 concentration between chronic periodontitis and healthy subjects and to assess the relationship between the IL-17 serum and the clinical periodontal parameters in chronic periodontitis patients. Methods: This study was a case-control study. The subjects were selected using purposive sampling method. The periodontal screening assessment in the Family Treatment Center and Postgraduate Dental Clinic, Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital. A total of 55 samples who fit with the inclusion and exclusion study criteria of full-mouth clinical periodontal records together with blood serums were obtained from 28 chronic periodontitis patients and from 27 healthy subjects. The concentration of IL-17 cytokine in serum was measured using ELISA test. Results: Subjects with periodontal disease presented significantly worse clinical parameters (p<0.001) compared to control. The level of serum IL-17 concentration was significantly higher (p=0.026) in chronic periodontitis subjects 3.6 (1.03) pg/mL compared to the control 3.1 (0.70) pg/mL. Conclusions: There was no correlation between the level of IL-17 concentration in the serum and clinical periodontal parameters.
Determinantes de la competitividad de un destino turístico: caso Villa de Leyva
Authors: Ochoa Eduardo Antonio Casas
Published: December 2017

Ante la importancia del turismo como actividad estratégica, este se ha incluido en las diversas agendas de competitividad regional como una de las apuestas productivas, en las que se vislumbra a Boyacá como destino turístico de clase mundial. Por eso en esta investigación se analizan las condiciones de competitividad de Villa de Leyva como destino turístico nacional e internacional, mediante la aplicación del modelo de Porter (1991), conocido como “diamante dinámico”, que integra cuatro grandes factores, treinta variables, mediante la técnica Delphi.
Benchmarking de modelos de negocio en empresas agrofrutícolas exportadoras: caso de empresas en Colombia y Chile
Authors: Peña Alarcón Carlos Fernando , Fernández Rosas María del Pilar , Pinzón Mojica Hernán , Medina Hernández Diana
Published: December 2017

El objetivo del presente artículo es realizar la revisión teórica acerca de la aplicación del benchmarking en empresas del sector agrofrutícola y dar soporte, con base en la teoría, a los beneficios que se pueden lograr al efectuar dicho proceso. La metodología utilizada para este fin es la del estudio de caso y responde a las etapas del estudio de caso de Yin (2002). Este artículo de revisión es el producto de la investigación que está en curso.
Addressing Cultural Challenges in a Global Service Learning Project to Reduce Plastic Waste in Rural India
Authors: Seay Jeffrey R. , Jeyaraj Elango , Higgins John C. , Joshi Chandni A. , Willett Sarah F.
Published: December 2017

In the summer of 2015, a group of chemical and mechanical engineering undergraduate students from the University of Kentucky Paducah Extended Campus Program participated in a Global Service Learning and Sustainability course focused on implementing a project to convert waste plastic into a sustainable liquid fuel in rural southern India.  The successful construction, operation and testing of the liquid fuel in local diesel powered irrigation pumps will be described. Service learning projects conducted in other countries often face cultural hurdles that are quite different than in traditional study abroad programs.  Working side-by-side with local people requires adapting to cultural practices that may be quite different from the students’ expectations.  To address this, cultural aspects and social sustainability were included in a lecture component of the service learning course as well as in the implementation of the service project. The learning outcomes for this course included providing students with clear understanding of the key issues of sustainability and sustainable community development in rural and underdeveloped regions and educating them as to how engineers must consider cultural factors when working in underdeveloped regions. This service learning project was conducted in collaboration with the Organization of Development Action and Maintenance (ODAM) in Tiruchuli, India.
Contributions of Learning through Service to the Ethics Education of Engineering Students
Authors: Bielefeldt Angela R , Canney Nathan , Swan Christopher , Knight Daniel W
Published: December 2017

Previous studies have found that engineering students can learn about ethics, both microethical and macroethical, through service-learning courses and co-curricular community engagements. This research has sought to generate a national picture through survey responses of how ethical issues are taught in these settings. Based on survey results, individuals who taught courses that included service-learning (n=160) incorporated a median of 8 ethical topics. Among co-curricular engineering service groups like Engineers Without Borders, a median of 7 ethical topics were incorporated. Microethical topics were more common in service-learning courses compared to co-curricular activities. A smaller percentage of co-curricular activities such as professional societies (39%), honor societies (39%), and design competitions (21%) indicated that students learned about ethics through working with communities. A range of teaching methods complemented the community engagement activities, with discussions and lectures used in over half of all learning through service settings. Assessment of students’ learning on ethical topics was nearly universal in service-learning courses (94%), but uncommon in co-curricular engineering service settings (less than 14%). These results provide ideas on ethics topics that can be infused into community engagement activities, complemented by various teaching and assessment methods.
Increasing Student Development Through Multi-Level Immersive Learning: Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries Case Study
Authors: Bargar Dylan , Gordon Aaron , Plumblee Jeff , Ogle Jennifer , Dancz Claire , Vaughn David
Published: December 2017

Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries (CEDC) is a multi-level, immersive service-learning program that provides sustainable solutions aimed at improving the quality of life of the Central Plateau of Haiti in which students lead design, planning, and project implementation.  CEDC operates under a corporate organizational structure, including vertical integration from first-year to graduate students and horizontal integration from over 30 majors, and works on between 15 and 20 projects per semester.  The program also features multidisciplinary teams of 2-4 interns who live in Haiti year-round, fall and spring break trips to Haiti for groups of 10-14 students to collect data for their projects, and a course at Clemson University for students to work on their multi-semester projects.  The program has designed and managed over $2 million in construction projects in Haiti, all with direct oversight and management from the CEDC interns.  This paper discusses CEDC’s evolution to its current state, including program formation and unique operating structure, describes a few selected infrastructure and community development projects and presents student perceptions of the program.
How to Set Up a Community Health Venture: Lessons from 10 Years in Kenya
Authors: Gorski Irena , Bram Joshua T , Canagarajah Phoebe , Suffian Stephen , Mehta Khanjan
Published: December 2017

Despite high potential, many community health ventures in developing countries fail to evolve beyond the pilot stage. A fundamental problem is that many ventures utilize community health workers (CHWs) as volunteers, but they leave to generate a living income for their families. After ten years of experience running a community health venture in East Africa, while observing other ventures come and go, several factors have emerged as essential for any venture to achieve success. This article presents a methodology to set up a community health venture where CHWs generate income from their work while improving health outcomes for members of their communities. The authors seek to provide individuals working to solve last-mile healthcare challenges with a practical guide for establishing community health systems and navigating the validation, networking, planning, launch, and execution phases. The goal for the ventures developed using this methodology is to operate in an economically sustainable way.
Engineering to Help Communities or Students’ Development? An ethnographic case study of an engineering-to-help student organization
Authors: LaPorte David , Kim Erin , Smith Jessica
Published: December 2017

This article offers a critical ethnographic analysis of the organization Mines Without Borders (MWB), a student group at Colorado School of Mines. It evaluates the impact the group’s institutional culture has on its effectiveness as a student-led engineering-to-help organization. Through ethnographic and participatory research methods, we sought to understand members’ motivations for joining the organization, their prior knowledge of engineering-to-help, their critiques of the organization, and how well MWB balances service learning for their members and impact on the communities they seek to serve. A participatory photo essay was used to illustrate the perspective of the community members in Nicaragua, and vice versa. The researchers found that members are primarily motivated by a desire to help disadvantaged populations, have little background knowledge on principles of engineering-to-help, see the organization as socially exclusive, and that MWB places a greater emphasis on student experience than community impact. The participative photo essay suggests that MWB members and community members have different perceptions of what constitutes collaboration. This research advances current research on engineering-to-help organizations with the growth of humanitarian engineering programs throughout the world. The results of this ethnography have been used within the organization to enhance its potential effectiveness to benefit students and community members alike.
Engineering Sustainable Aquaculture in Rural Haiti: A Case Study
Authors: Gordon Aaron S. , Plumblee Jeff , Higdon Guy , Vaughn David
Published: December 2017

Large commercial and small scale aquaculture programs have been attempted in Haiti with mixed results. This paper examines a case study where a grassroots Haitian organization worked with American engineers and university students to design and construct simple infrastructure to augment their hatchery. This small investment has also encouraged other Haitians to open up aquaculture programs, independent of international intervention, that utilize this new infrastructure. The practices and partnership exhibited in this case study can be replicated with similar outcomes for local enterprises and businesses. Aquaculture still has many obstacles but many infrastructure challenges can be overcome through such synergies.
YES International Summer Service Program Design for High School Students
Authors: Udoewa Victor
Published: December 2017

YES Prep Public Schools is a group of public charter schools focused on serving students from low-income communities across Houston, Texas. One requirement of all YES students is summer school between grades 5 through 10 and two mandatory summer internships between grades 10 and 12. Due to financial concerns many students who desire to do an international internship cannot afford any available programs offering such internships. In 2005, we introduced a new, internal, international summer service program for YES high school students to satisfy our summer internship requirement. This paper focuses on the process and results of designing, implementing, and modifying the program using the Lean Startup methodology through its first few years before it won a national award for its character-building work.
Applying Theory to Real-World Problems: Integrating Service-Learning into the Industrial Engineering Capstone Design Course
Authors: Onal Sinan , Nadler Joel , O'Loughlin Megan
Published: December 2017

The Senior Capstone Design course is one of the most important in the four-year industrial engineering curriculum. The course concludes the Industrial Engineering (IE) student’s undergraduate studies, satisfying the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology’s (ABET) requirements and allowing students to work in collaborative teams. Service-learning is an educational approach that integrates academics with community service; students apply classroom content to community problems, thereby enhancing learning while providing needed services to underserved populations. The proposed service-learning aims to address all the ABET requirements as well as involve a collaborative research partnership in which students conduct research to meet a community organization’s needs. The deliverables for this project include (1) a detailed report describing the design, analysis, performance, and alternative approaches, (2) the physical prototype developed by the team, and (3) a network of experienced young professionals who can be recruited as employees for local community organizations. A pre-test and post-test were administered at the beginning and end of the semester to assess learning over time. These tests were specifically assessing student confidence in ability to transition smoothly from academia to professional environments. In addition, a mid-semester survey was used to gather detailed information about stakeholder reactions, learning, and behaviors.
Soap-Making Process Improvement: Including Social, Cultural and Resource Constraints in the Engineering Design Process
Authors: Burleson Grace , Butcher Brian , Goodwin Brianna , Sharp Kendra , Ruder Bonnie
Published: December 2017

The engineering profession is increasingly recognizing that engineers’ abilities to utilize a systems perspective and collaborate on multidisciplinary teams are critical professional competencies required to solve contemporary engineering challenges. Understanding context, including but not limited to social and cultural context, is one aspect of systems thinking that is important to effective problem-solving, yet such training is not yet standard in our engineering curricula. Humanitarian engineering-related capstone design projects offer both hands-on and field opportunities to integrate social and cultural appropriateness into a formal engineering design curriculum. Over the 2015-2016 academic year, Oregon State University offered a capstone project aimed at optimizing and implementing an improved soap-making process for TERREWODE, a non-governmental organization in Uganda. The ultimate goal of this soap-making project was to expand income-generating opportunities for victims and survivors of obstetric fistula. The project consisted of a six-month, on-campus design phase and a three-week field implementation and research trip in Soroti, Uganda. Six Social Justice (SJ) criteria were used in assessing project context and developing design requirements. Throughout the design phase, experimental testing drove the majority of design decisions. During field implementation and research, the three-student capstone design team worked closely with TERREWODE and their members to optimize the process, understand cultural conditions, and recommend options for potential local solar power systems.
Automatic Measurement of Human Body Temperature on Thermal Image Using Knowledge-Based Criteria
Authors: Fitriyah Hurriyatul , Rachmadi Aditya , Setyawan Gembong Edhi
Published: December 2017

Instead of thermometer, an infrared camera could be uti-lized to scan body temperature instantly and non-contact. This paperproposed a non-contact measurement of human body temperature by au-tomatically locating inner-chantus on thermal images. The inner-canthuswere detected in both eyes individually. It located inner-canthi based ontemperature where inner-canthi has the highest temperature in face area.A Thresholding based on 9-highest temperature were applied to detectcandidates of inner-canthus' blob as it must have minimum 9 pixel areaaccording to the Standard. Three knowledge based on characteristic ofeye were also applied in the algorithm as several spot in face usuallyfalls within the temperature threshold. The result show accuracy of al-gorithm to detect eye is 82% whether the eyelids were open or closed.There is no signicant dierent of temperature between closed and openeyes based on paired t-test. The algorithm also showed similar result tothermometer measurement based on paired t-test.
Polymorphism rs3087243 is associated with the occurrence of ankylosing spondylitis in the West Algerian population
Authors: DAHMANI Chahinez Amira , BENZAOUI Ahmed , SEDIKI Fatima Zohra , ADDA NEGGAZ Leila , ZEMANI FODIL Faouzia , PETIT-TEIXEIRA Elisabeth , BOUDJEMA Abdallah
Published: December 2017

Background: Numerous studies have shown that polymorphism rs231775 of the CTLA4 gene is strongly implicated in the development of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Other polymorphisms of this gene are candidates that may have an additional effect in susceptibility to AS. For the first time, we searched for the association of rs3087243 polymorphism located in the 3'UTR region of the CTLA4 gene with the development of SA in the Algerian population.

Methods: The study involved 200 subjects (80 AS patients recruited at the rheumatology service and 120 healthy individuals unrelated). Genotyping was performed by real-time PCR (TaqmanÂ®). Analysis of the results was carried out by IBM.SPSS.StatictisÂ® software.

Results: The distribution of allele frequencies showed a significant association between the GG genotype of the polymorphism rs3087243 and AS risk (OR= 1.77 [0.98-3.21], p=0.004).

Conclusion: Our data would suggest that the 3'UTR region of the CTLA4 gene could have an impact on the development of SA in the West Algerian population. These results need to be confirmed on a larger sample.
Study of hormone levels and semen parameters in infertile patients and fertile controls from Batna
Authors: Bousnane Nour El Houda , Chennaf Ali , Yahia Mouloud
Published: December 2017

Background: Male infertility or the inability of a man to procreate is a major public health problem and is a leading cause of marital discord in countries such as Algeria. Endocrine disorders that can be associated with significant medical pathology remain an important factor to be considered in the etiology of male infertility, and those disorders are usually associated with alteration of sperm count or in severe cases with azoospermia. In this study, we are evaluating semen parameters and hormonal levels of patients with idiopathic male infertility and comparing their results with healthy fertile controls.

Methods: We aim to study the impact of hormones; follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T) and prolactin (PRL) on idiopathic male fertility and their impact on semen parameters, we conducted a study on 71 male subjects with 39 infertile men and 32 fertile controls from the city of Batna (Algeria). Our study lasted six months and was conducted at the University Hospital of Batna and a private analysis laboratory.

Results: The results of semen analysis allowed us to determine that the most common pathology in our population is OANTS with a percentage of 21.05% followed by NS and NT with 13.16%; results of the permocytogramme show a predominance of atypical forms of the head with a frequency of 39.21%. Regarding the hormone dosage, prolactin was the most disturbed hormone with an average value of (18 Â± 6.221 ng/ml), which is almost pathologic; the other hormones showed some disturbances but to a lesser degree. The results of spermiologique parameters of infertile men compared with fertile controls showed highly significant differences (Pâ‰¤O.OOO1) regarding motility, concentration vitality, and spermatozoa morphology. The comparison of results of hormones between the two groups revealed differences in LH and prolactin levels; no differences were found regarding FSH and testosterones. Concerning the relationship between hormones and spermiologiques parameters, positive correlations were found between (LH and sperm concentration) (testosterone and sperm concentration), and, finally, a strong correlation was found between the levels of prolactin and the anomalies of intermediate piece of spermatozoa.

Conclusion: This study showed that hormonal disorders are not a common cause of male infertility in our study population. It further showed the relative frequencies of the various semen abnormalities during the study period. Also, we found associations between altered semen parameters and pathological levels of some hormones; however, a complementary study with a more subjects is needed.
Design of CAD System of Solitary Pulmonary Nodule with Harmony Classification and Fuzzy System
Authors: Mahmoodi Maryam Sadat , Mahmoodi Seyed Abbas
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Lung cancer is the most wide spread from of cancer, with the highest mortality rate worldwide. In this study, a computer-aided detection (CAD) system was developed for lung nodule detection, segmentation and recognition using CT images. So, we use a highly accurate supervised that uses lung images with the aim of assisting physicians in early detection of lung cancer.

Methods: First, we segmented the lung area by masking techniques to isolated nodules and determined region of interest. Then, 24 features were extracted from images that included morphological, statistical and histogram. Important features  were derived from the images for their posterior analysis with the aid of a harmony search algorithm and fuzzy systems.

Results: In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, we used the LIDC database. the number of images included a database of  97 images whom 47 were diagnosed with lung cancer. Results of the base method show a sensitivity of 93%.

Conclusion: The harmony search algorithm is optimized using fuzzy system for classification. The CAD system provides 93.1%  accuracy.
Determining attitude and readiness of Medical students in Kerman University of Medical Sciences concerning acceptance of Decision Support Systems for Electronic Prescription in 2017
Authors: Khajouei Reza Khajouei , Eslami Jahromi Maryam , Tabatabaei Fatemeh
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are any computer program designed to assist health care professionals in making clinical decisions, especially at the moment of action. These information systems are flexible and interactive, helping people by making use of models and rules of a comprehensive database, or on the basis of clinical guidelines, to make applicable decisions, especially solving difficult problems with common scientific methods. Therefore, these systems support complex medical decisions, increase their effectiveness, and can lead to a reduction in the types of medical errors, such as medication errors. However, knowledge and attitude of the future physicians in the country about these systems is unclear. The purpose of this study was Determining attitude and readiness of Medical students concerning acceptance of Decision Support Systems for Electronic Prescription.

Methods: This research is descriptive-analytic. The research population included general medical students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Out of these students, a sample of 226 people was selected by proportional sampling. Data collection was done using a standard questionnaire. The questionnaire was first translated into Persian and then its validity was confirmed by three medical informatics specialists. Data analysis was done descriptively-analytically using SPSS 19.

Results: The findings of this study showed that 17% of students (n=36) knew about this system and how to use it, and 83% of them (n=177) were willing to learn and use this system to practice their profession in the future. More than half of them (n=121) believed that using this system would Reduce errors in prescribing. 80% of them (n=170) lacked a strategic plan to implement a decision support system for electronic prescription and a lack of standard and acceptable software, and about 60% (n=128) lack of financial incentives and lack of sufficient evidence Concerned about the usefulness of using it as a potential obstacle to the implementation of this system. There was no significant difference between the age, sex and term of the students with their familiarity with this system (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that while many students lack sufficient knowledge about the clinical decision support system, they are interested in learning and using it, especially in the field of prescribing drugs. This result indicates that the system is likely to be admitted if it is implemented and educated to medical students and doctors.
Extracting hidden rules from Brucellosis patients data in Razavi Khorasan province using association rule mining technique
Authors: Hashtarkhani Soheil
Published: December 2017

Brucellosis is a transmissible disease between humans and animals through infected animals and their products. The disease exists in most parts of the world especially in developing countries. Because of the serious impact of the disease in public health and socio-economical status, controlling the disease is very important in developing countries. The purpose of this article is to identify hidden patterns and relations between brucellosis patients which can be beneficial for physicians in diagnosis process. This study is a retrospective study of data collected from brucellosis patients of Razavi Khorasan province recorded at the health center, have been used. Due to differences in format and number of features collected during different years, before processing operations carried out in several stages to the same data. Fields associated with different methods and with expert opinion was converted into discrete fields and fields lost was estimated using the EM algorithm. APPIORI algorithm analysis was performed using the hidden relationships between data found that significant relationships were infected with expert opinion. Among the 163 relationship with over 7.0 Confidence rate which Weka software was discovered, by the application in consultation with an infectious disease expert, 10 clinically significant relationships were reported. Diagnosing brucellosis is really difficult to physicians because of its vague nature and symptoms. Because many unknown relationships between risk factors and demographic characteristics of the patients, the use of data mining concepts, especially in the medical data is beneficial because usually high volume assumptions are available. Further studies can test the validity of these rules like Randomize Control Trial studies.
Effects of sexual education mobile applications on men’s sexual awareness and satisfaction: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Gholizadeh Mojtaba , Shareh Hosein , Jarahi Lida , Ahmadian Mohammad , Sarbaz Masoumeh , Darabi Mohammad Reza , Hasibian Mohammad Reza , Eslami Saeid
Published: December 2017

BACKGROUND: Sexual education programs can improve sexual awareness and satisfaction. Yet, sex education is ignored in developing countries. Under such circumstances, we have used IT tools to improve sexual education.

OBJECTIVE: In this article, we used a mobile application (mHealth) to impart sex education.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was held, in which participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: The control group, with 25 participants, which received only counseling from sex therapists, and the intervention group, with 25 participants, which received the mobile application system in addition to counseling from sex therapists. Participants were persons referred to sex therapists at a clinic. In each group, sexual satisfaction and awareness were evaluated. We measured sexual satisfaction with the help of the Larson questionnaire and sexual awareness by the Ann Hooper questionnaire.

Results: Our data demonstrated that sexual satisfaction was not statistically significant (P=0.44), but awareness showed statistically significant differences (P=0.007) in the intervention vs. the control group. Also, the mean in both groups had statistically significant differences before and after the intervention (P=0.001).

Conclusion: Our results showed that mobile applications can improve sexual awareness but cannot affect sexual satisfaction in the short term.

Trial Registration: The clinical trial was registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) under registration ID:  IRCT2016110130640N1
Comparing three data mining algorithms for identifying associated risk factors of Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Tayefi Maryam , Esmaeily Habibollah , Ghayour-Mobarhan Majid , Amirabadizadeh Ali Reza
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) shows increasing prevalence and global health burden, causing a concern among health service providers and health administrators. The current study is aimed at developing and comparing some statistical models that are useful in measuring or establishing such associations. The three particular statistical methods investigated in this study are artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machines (SVM) and multivariate logistic regression (MLR) using demographic, anthropometric and biochemical characteristics on a sample of 9528 individuals from Mashhad city.

Methods: The statistical methods involved in this study are also known as machine learning algorithms and require dividing the available data in to training and testing dataset. This study has randomly selected 70% cases (6654 cases) for training and reserved the remaining 30% (2874 cases) for testing. The three methods are compared with help of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

Results: The prevalence rate of T2DM is 14% in our population. The ANN model has 78.7% , accuracy, 63.1% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity. Values of these three parameters are 76.8%, 64.5% and 78.9% respectively for SVM and 77.7%, 60.1% and 80.5%, respectively for MLR. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) is 0.71 for ANN, in SVM model was 0.73 for SVM, and 0.70 for MLR. 

Conclusion: The overall conclusion is that ANN performs better than two models and can be used effectively to identify associated risk factors of T2DM.
A review of the use of telemedicine technology in caring for high-risk pregnant women
Authors: Ayatollahi Haleh , GhalandarAbadi Malihe
Published: December 2017

Introduction: The number of high-risk pregnancy in the country is a lot, and the evidence shows that quality of care is not high for this group of people. Due to the importance of pregnancy care and its effect on the mothers' and newborns' health and the priority of prevention over treatment, serious attention needs to be paid to this group of patients in this field, like other fields of medicine, telemedicine has been used as a tool to improve the quality of care.

Aim: This study aimed to review the applications of telemedicine technology in the care of high-risk pregnant women.

Method: The was a review study which was completed by searching the databases, such as PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of knowledge and by using keywords like “mhealth", "telehealth”, “high-risk pregnancy”, telemedicine”.

Results: The results showed that in addition to describing different telemedicine technologies in pregnancy care, advantages and disadvantages of using these technologies were discussed in a number of papers. The most important benefits of using telemedicine in high-risk pregnancy included patient satisfaction, quality of care improvement, cost reduction and fast communication between clinical staff.  The main challenges of using these technologies included ethical, technical and financial challenges.

Conclusion: Reducing health care costs and improving health care delivery to the pregnant women are among the leading health policies in all countries. Despite numerous challenges in deploying telemedicine technologies, it seems that using this technology is highly acceptable among users and the advantages of using this technology can help to accelerate delivery of health care to the high-risk pregnant women.
Challenges to establish new medical technologies, that are not yet contractually stipulated with the insurers, into the daily medical routine
Authors: Seger Wolfgang
Published: December 2017

Advances in medical care are to a large extent brought forward by new medical technologies. Their implementation into daily medical routine requires a careful handling to be of rational use for individual patients and to avoid harm as well. For this responsible task critical key questions are listed for the deciding  medical doctor treating an individual patient, for a  conclusive scientific evaluation and as a decision support for insurers and policy makers to assess the economic potentials and regulatory challenges of new medical technologies and innovations.
Towards developing an integrated index of access to dialysis facilities: A systematic review
Authors: Hoseini Benyamin , Tara Mahmood , Kiani Behzad , Azizi Amirabbas
Published: December 2017

Background: The equitable Access to Healthcare Services (AHS) constitutes one of the main priorities of the healthcare providers. Access to Dialysis Facilities (ADF) has an important impact on the renal dialysis patients. There are many spatial and non-spatial factors that potentially can affect ADF.

Objectives: We aimed to review available literature on factors affecting ADF. We have also tried to identify knowledge gaps in current studies in order to use those elicited factors to cover these gaps in developing an integrated index of ADF.

Methods: In May 2016, the literature was systematically searched using the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of science, Scopus, Science Direct, and IEEE Xplore. A 3-step method to identify studies related to ADF was used. Study selection processes were performed by two independent reviewers. The quality of studies was assessed using a mixed approach scoring system.

Results: Initially, 975 literature were identified searching the selected databases. After removing duplicates, study screening, and applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, 34 studies were identified for final review. Given the content of selected studies, three groups of studies were identified and 42 factors with the potential effect on ADF were determined.

Conclusion: Our systematic research revealed that most of the factors with the potential effect on ADF are non-spatial. Such factors were underseen in many studies focusing mainly on the spatial dimensions of ADF. We recommended that all possible spatial and non-spatial factors together should be taken into account as part of an integrated index of ADF.
STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING MORTALITY IN PATIENTS WITH BRAIN TRAUMATIC INJURIES RESULTING FROM TRAFFIC ACCIDENT BY USING DATA MINING
Authors: Erfannia Leila , Raeesi Ahmad , Ebrahimi Saeid
Published: December 2017

Introduction: One of the most important health problems is road traffic accident. Brain traumatic injury caused by crashes is the first cause of mortality among young people. Capabilities of Data Mining methods to find factor affecting and the prediction therapeutic outcomes leads to the improvement and effectiveness of the services. The aim of this study was to find the Factors affecting mortality in patients with brain traumatic injuries resulting from traffic accident by using the C5.0 decision tree and Bayesian network data mining methods.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the population of this study was 106 records of patients with brain traumatic injury caused by traffic accident referred to Khatam-al-Anbia hospital in Zahedan city. Data were collected with a researcher-made checklist that was prepared in consultation with experts in this field and review of previous studies. The validity of this checklist was confirmed by three health information technology experts. Data were analyzed by using two software SPSS MODELER 18.0 and SPSS Statistics 24.

Results:  The accuracy of C5.0 decision tree and Bayesian network were 84.9% and 74.5% obtained. The most important variables that affect the death of accidental patients include Type of lesions, the work of the person in an accident (driver, passenger, pedestrian), accident location (inside or outside the city), and age of the patient. According to the result of this study, the type of lesions with the cause of death (p-value=0.024) is statistically significant.

Conclusion: The results of C5.0 decision tree and Bayesian network showed the most important and effective variable is type of lesions. Hence, by predicting the factors affecting in death of brain traumatic patients, healthcare provider with timely action can reduce the death and irreparable of  injuries to these patients.
AWARENESS OF PATIENTS’ BILLS OF RIGHTS AMONG MEDICAL STAFF IN MASHHAD MEDICAL UNIVERSITY` TEACHING HOSPITALS
Authors: Kamali Mostafa , Azizi Amir abbas , Mahmoodian Sanaz sadat , Kamali Sedighe
Published: December 2017

Introduction: Respecting patients’ rights practice and keeping patient satisfied is one of most important principles in ethical medicine. Increasing Awareness and respecting patients’ rights result in better health care considering human and ethical rights. The Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran published a patients’ bill of rights and mandated it be posted conspicuously for the patients. With regard to necessity of Patients’ bill of rights, patients’ role in decision making and respecting their right, this study aimed to investigate awareness of patients’ bills of rights among medical staff in Mashhad medical university` teaching hospitals

Methods: The current analytical cross- sectional study was conducted on 129 medical staff in the year 2014-15 in Mashhad medical university` teaching hospitals. The data were collected using a self-administer questionnaire with 28 questions whose reliability was 80 according to Cronbach's alpha. One-way analysis of variance, Student's t-distribution was used to compare means of Awareness via SPSS Ver. 21.

Results: The results indicated that awareness of medical staff was M=65/3, SD=67/0. Nursing staff were the most aware and radiology staff were the less aware from patients’ bills of rights.

Conclusion: Today, observing patients 'rights is one of the most important issues that should be placed at the top of the attention of health care programs, observance of patients’ bills of rights make  people feel  satisfied with respect for them at health care centers  . So it is neceesery to inform patient and professional on patients’ bills of rights by publishing more attention to patients’ bills of rights result on better health care
Effect of lopinavir and efavirenz on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of glibenclamide in diabetic rats
Authors: Vennapanja Prashanth , Ramarao Ajmera
Published: December 2017

Objective: The aim of the study is whether the impact of Efavirenz and Lopinavir will increase the plasma level of Glibenclamide or not. Efavirenz and Lopinavir is an antiretroviral drug to treat HIV AIDS and inhibits cytochrome P450-3A4. Multiple CYP isoforms are involved in the metabolism of Glibenclamide like CYP2C8 and CYP3A4. Hence there is more possibility of Efavirenz and Lopinavir to inhibit the metabolism of Glibenclamide by inhibiting CYP 3A4.Methods: Efavirenz and Lopinavir (10 mg/kg,p.o.) alone and along with Glibenclamide (10 mg/kg, p.o.) was given to normal and diabetic rats. PK/PD parameters were studied. In the rats co-treated with Efavirenz and Lopinavir and Glibenclamide.Results: The pharmacokinetic parameters like clearance of Glibenclamide was reduced, peak plasma concentration, area under the plasma concentration time curve and elimination half-life were significantly increased when compared to pioglitazone treated rats.Conclusions: This study revealed that lopinavir and efavirenz affected the disposition of Glibenclamide in rats probably by the inhibition of CYP3A4, leading to increasing Glibenclamide concentrations that could increase the efficacy of Glibenclamide or it may causes severe hypoglycemia. Therefore, its warrants to use relatively less dose of Glibenclamide than the normal dose.
Teaching Qualitative Research Online
Authors: Freeman Jr. Sydney , D Bird Steven
Published: December 2017

As Sydney Freeman, Jr., Associate Professor in the Adult, Organizational Learning and Leadership program at the University of Idaho’s College of Education, did one final review of his syllabus for ED 589 Theoretical Applications & Design of Qualitative Research, he knew that this was a different approach to teaching qualitative research. Generally, this kind of information was better taught in person where students could have physical interactions with their professor. The material was often quite challenging to teach. However, this structure was different than many qualitative courses taught across the United States are structured. This was not going to be easy.
O PSICÓLOGO ORGANIZACIONAL E DO TRABALHO NA GESTÃO DE PESSOAS: perspectiva ética como competência primordial
Authors: Visc Bruno , Vasconcelos Eveli Freire , Pellicioli Eduardo
Published: December 2017

Este artigo é uma revisão reflexiva da literatura especializada em Psicologia Organizacional e do Trabalho (POT) e tem como objetivo permitir uma visão geral sobre a atuação na área, enfatizar a prática profissional em gestão e distinguir a ética como uma pauta imprescindível. Em sua elaboração, foram referenciados estudos teóricos e empíricos. Em meio ao atual cenário brasileiro e aos inúmeros desafios impostos às organizações e a seus profissionais, são propostas reflexões no sentido de contribuir com a criação de estratégias de transformação da situação organizacional, a partir da formação e do desenvolvimento de competências. Por fim, a discussão traz a ética como um fenômeno que constitui o arsenal de competências, capaz de contemplar as reais necessidades de ação da gestão de pessoas no ambiente organizacional, ampliando suas possibilidades de intervenção e indicando as oportunidades de pesquisa voltadas à temática. This paper brings a reflective review of the content related to the Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) and the purpose is to provide an overview of an update in the field, emphasize a professional practice in management and distinguish ethics as an essential topic. For its elaboration, both theoretical and empirical studies were referenced. Considering the current Brazilian scenario and the numerous challenges imposed on organizations and their professionals, reflections are proposed in order to contribute to the creation of a strategy for transforming the organizational situation, based on training and skills development. Lastly, the discussion points to ethics as a phenomenon that constitutes the arsenal of competences, able to contemplate the real needs for action by the management people in the organizational environment, expanding the possibilities of intervention indicating the opportunities of research focused on the subject.