Biomedical subjects

Farshid Alaeddini

Publications and source records attributed to Farshid Alaeddini.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography to predict reversibility of mitral regurgitation with CABG.

The optimal management of moderate (grade 2-3+) ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains controversial. While CABG alone can reverse regurgitation in some patients with moderate MR, adjunctive mitral repair may be necessary in others. We performed low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) in 60 patients with moderate MR who were about to undergo CABG. Group I, 25 patients who demonstrated reduction in MR during DSE, had CABG alone. Group II, 35 patients in whom MR was unchanged during DSE, had mitral valve repair as well as CABG. MR was reduced postoperatively in both groups (P < 0.0001). Postoperative ejection fraction in Group I (12.2%) improved more than that in Group II (9.3%) (P < 0.01). We conclude that CABG alone may be sufficient to correct moderate MR when MR is reduced during DSE.

Aged↗

PubMed2006

Reproductive knowledge, attitudes and behavior among adolescent males in Tehran, Iran.

CONTEXT: Iran's culture and religion prohibit sexual contact prior to marriage. Due to the sensitivity of the topic, little is known about the sexual activity of unmarried adolescent males or about their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, sexuality and reproductive health. METHODS: A population-based study of 1,385 males aged 15-18 in Tehran was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. Participants were questioned about their beliefs and knowledge regarding reproductive health, and asked whether they had engaged in sexual activity. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with sexual knowledge, attitudes and behavior. RESULTS: Twenty-eight percent of the sample reported having engaged in sexual activity. Sexual experience was associated with older age, access to satellite television, alcohol consumption and permissive attitudes toward sex. Substantial proportions of respondents held misconceptions regarding condoms, STIs and reproductive physiology. Attitudes toward premarital sex were more permissive among respondents who were older, were not in school, had work experience, had access to the Internet or satellite television, lived separately from their parents, or reported having used alcohol, cigarettes or drugs. CONCLUSION: The relatively high prevalence of sexual activity and the lack of knowledge regarding STIs and contraceptives pose a significant threat to the sexual and reproductive health of adolescent males in Iran. Programs are needed to provide adolescents with the information and skills to make safe sexual decisions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Blink reflex and auditory speech perception in prelingually cochlear-implanted children.

CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that R- prelingually cochlear-implanted children are not optimal candidates for cochlear implantation. However, if this group are implanted, other rehabilitation methods should be incorporated into their rehabilitation program in order to achieve better results and maximize the efficacy of their prosthesis. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate that the blink reflex or auropalpebral reflex evaluation can be used as a prognostic factor for the assessment of auditory and speech perception levels in prelingually cochlear-implanted children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In an observational, analytical, prospective study conducted at a single cochlear implant rehabilitation center in 85 prelingually cochlear-implanted children, the presence or absence of the blink reflex (BR) was evaluated and the results of auditory and speech perception tests were compared between reflex-positive (R+) and reflex-negative (R-) patients. To obtain the BR, four electrodes were applied in both the Nucleus and MED-EL systems and then stimulated by means of current levels higher than the previously detected most comfortable level of the patient until the reflex appeared. Auditory and speech perception levels were measured using the vowels-confusion test and the categorization of auditory perception scale. RESULTS: The mean results of auditory and speech perception tests were significantly higher in R+ compared to R- patients.

Auditory Threshold↗

PubMed2005

Diagnostic and therapeutic value of short-term corticosteroid therapy in exacerbation of mustard gas-induced chronic bronchitis.

Chronic bronchitis is the most frequent late respiratory disease among Iranians exposed to mustard gas during the Iraq-Iran war. The aim of this study was to investigate efficacy of oral and intravenous corticosteroid therapy in improving lung function in mustard gas induced chronic bronchitis patients. 65 mustard gas-exposed chronic bronchitis patients, who were not responsive to standard treatments in exacerbation occasions, were randomly divided into two groups: an intravenous group (39 patients) receiving 500 mg intravenous methylprednisolone daily, and an oral group (26 patients) receiving 1 mg/kg oral prednisolone daily. Corticosteroid was tapered over the study period in both groups. Spirometery was performed on admission and on day 8 of therapy for assessment of effectiveness of therapy. There was significant improvement in spirometery indexes of both groups in approximately half of the patients over the study period. Furthermore, there was no difference between the pulse corticosteroid versus oral corticosteroid therapy in these patients. Since short-term corticosteroid therapy has a significant effect on lung function of almost fifty percent of patients with mustard gas-induced chronic bronchitis in exacerbation occasions, we suggest a short-term bolus steroid treatment to triage the patients into responders and non-responders for subsequent treatment.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMed2004

Assessment of fertility among mustard-exposed residents of Sardasht, Iran: a historical cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Mustard gas (HD) is an alkylating agent with mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. Previous reports have demonstrated the ability of this class of compounds to cause adverse reproductive effects, however as of the time of this writing, few correlations have been established between HD exposure and human infertility. In the present study we hypothesize that infertility among mustard-exposed individuals is higher than among the general population. METHODS: 117 couples, 90 with at least one partner, and 27 with both partners exposed to HD in June 1987, were evaluated for occurrence of infertility (defined as the failure to conceive after 12 months of unprotected intercourse). Two groups of subjects were considered in order to establish dose-responsive effect of HD on fertility. One cohort was married at the time of exposure and were evaluated in a time period 12 months from that date. The second cohort married after the date of exposure and each couple was evaluated for a year during a period following marriage. Measurements of these subjects were compared with worldwide incidence of fertility. RESULTS: A 7.5% rate of infertility was observed among couples who were married at the time of exposure; and a rate of 10.3% was noted among individuals single at exposure and subsequently married, for an overall rate of 8.3%, which compares with a worldwide rate of 10-15%. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that within a population of HD-exposed individuals, elevated environmental levels of the agent during a time period in which couples were actively attempting to conceive, failed to correlate with increased risk of infertility. However, these results must be interpreted with caution based on experimental design which limits the definition of infertility to one 12 month time period.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Views of Iranian medical journal editors on medical research publication.

OBJECTIVE: Medical journal editors play an important role in optimizing research publication. This study evaluates the views of Iranian medical journal editors, and their knowledge of medical publication standards. METHODS: In May 2001, 51 editors from all journals approved by the Ministry of Health were invited to participate, 27 of whom completed the study. A self-administered questionnaire, based on the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMS) was used which consisted of 28 questions in 9 subject fields. These fields included: peer review, conflicts of interest, authorship criteria, publication ethics, duplicate publication, mass media, advertising, competing manuscripts, and the Internet. The knowledge of the editors was assessed by a scoring system, with a range of -46 to +44 points. RESULTS: Twenty-three of the participants were editors-in-chief and 4 were managing editors. Their average age was 47.3 +/- 8.7 years and 25 were male. All journals were peer-reviewed, most having 2 or 3 reviewers for each manuscript. Of the journals, 92.6% accepted or rejected an article on the basis of the views of most reviewers and 52%, sometimes or always, used a statistician as a reviewer. Most of the editors believed that writing the first draft and designing the study are authorship criteria, and most of them believed that these 2 are stated in URMS. Seven journals (25.9%) never published advertisements. Among journals that sold advertisements, the most popular policy (85%) was the rejection of advertisements because they advertised harmful products. Out of 27 journals, 12 were accessible on the Internet, and 7 had independent websites. Of the editors, 81.5% thought that a website is useful for their journal. The average knowledge score of the editors was 6.5 +/- 7.5. None had a negative score, 33% scored zero, 45% obtained average scores and 22% obtained good scores. CONCLUSION: The results show that peer review is favored by all the editors studied, though it seems that journals do not follow clear-cut policies in this regard. Most of the editors, agreed with the statements of URMS to some extent and generally most have average to high knowledge of URMS.

Adult↗