Cross cultural adaptation of the menopause specific questionnaire into the persian language.

BACKGROUND: The menopause-specific quality-of-life (MENQOL) was developed as a specific tool to measure the health-related quality-of-life in menopausal women. Recently, it has been translated into about 15 languages. AIM: This study was performed to develop the Persian version of the MENQOL questionnaire from the original English language version. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study that evaluated 300 menopausal women attending five primary health-care centers in Shiraz. The "forward-backward" procedure was applied to translate the questionnaire from English to Persian by two independent translators and then back translated into English and was checked to ensure the correct translation. Then, participants were interviewed and the questionnaire filled out. RESULTS: Over all Cronbach's alpha was 0.9 and in subscales of vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual were 0.8, 0.7, 0.8 and 0.3, respectively. However, the major items were acceptable (Cronbach's alpha > 0.7), but internal consistency in sexual item was poor (Cronbach's alpha = 0.3). The result of internal consistency was acceptable in subgroups of age, disease, education, marital status and smoking habit. CONCLUSIONS: The Persian MENQOL questionnaire demonstrates good internal consistency in vasomotor, physical and psychosocial domains, but not sexual. Therefore we suggest that, the items: "Vaginal dryness during intercourse" and "weight gain" should be deleted in Persian version of the MENQOL. This questionnaire can be used in Persian language and Iranian culture in different subgroups of age, marital status and educational level as well as in individuals with hypertension and diabetes.

Enoxaparin for the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a pilot exploratory clinical trial.

AIM: Low molecular weight derivatives of heparin have been recently suggested for the treatment of different diseases including oral lichen planus (OLP) due to their effectiveness and limited side effects. However, no studies have concerned the effectiveness of these agents in the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). The present study then aimed to assess this effectiveness in vivo. METHODS: Included were 30 RAS patients consecutively referred to our centers without any systemic diseases. The ulcers were examined in terms of size and number. Recurrence intervals were recorded by the patients. 1 U/0.002 mL enoxaparin was injected subcutaneously (3 mg). Injections were repeated once a week for 8 weeks. The patients were followed monthly for three months. To determine the level of pain, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) from 0 to 10 was used. The data were statistically analyzed to determine the difference between the number, size, and pain using Wilcoxon test. RESULTS: It was shown that 8-stage injection of enoxaparin is associated with significantly reduced number, size, recurrence intervals, and the intensity and duration of pain of the lesions in 21 males (70%) and 9 females (30%) of the present study. CONCLUSION: According to the limitations of the present study, systemic Enoxaparin seems successful in reducing the number, size, recurrence frequency and the duration of pain and discomfort in RAS patients without significant side effects.

Fetal macrosomia: risk factors, maternal, and perinatal outcome.

BACKGROUND: Macrosomia is defined as birth-weight over 4,000 g irrespective of gestational age and affects 3-15% of all pregnancies. Aim The present study aimed to determine the relationship between mother's characteristics and macrosomic births and also compare macrosomic and normal newborns regarding the maternal and offspring complications of diabetes during pregnancy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this case control study, among the 420 consecutive births occurring in public and private hospitals of Shiraz, Iran from October 2006 to March 2007, the data of 32 macrosomic and 128 normal newborns were analyzed using t-test and chi square in bivariate and logistic regression in multivariate model. RESULTS: The mean (SD) of neonate weight, height, and head size was 3323.4 (709), 48.95 (3.2), and 34.9 (1.8), respectively. Regression analysis showed that gestational diabetes (Odds Ratio (OR): 11.9, Confidence Interval (CI): 4.6-30.3), preeclampsia in the pregnancy period due to diabetes (OR: 3.81, CI: 1.1-13.2), and macrosomic birth history (OR: 3.3, CI: 1.04-10.4) were the main predictors of macrosomia. Moreover, macrosomia increased neonate hypoglycemia (OR: 4.7, CI: 1.4-15.8) and section delivery (OR: 4.1, CI: 1.27-13.1). CONCLUSION: Gestational diabetes, preeclampsia due to diabetes, and history of macrosomic birth were the main predictors of macrosomia. Moreover, macrosomia increased some delivery complications for both mothers and newborns.