Parents' Perception of Fissure Sealant Therapy in 6-12 Year Old Children: Evaluating a theory-driven intervention.

BACKGROUND: Dental caries is considered a major global health issue and among the most challenging diseases worldwide. An effective way of preventing dental caries is the fissure sealant (FS) therapy. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of an educational intervention developed based on the health belief model (HBM) for parents' perception of FS therapy for their children. METHODS: Quasi-experiment among 300 parents of 6-12 year-old children, 150 in the intervention group (IG) and 150 in the control (CG), in the south of Iran recruited via both clustering and convenience sampling. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire collecting demographic information, knowledge and data on HBM constructs and FS behaviour. Eight intervention sessions, 40-60 minutes long, were held for over month. The primary outcome was child's receipt of fissure sealants 3 months after the intervention. RESULTS: The two groups had similar knowledge and the HBM constructs at baseline. After the intervention, the receipt of FS therapy was 65% and 12% in the IG and CG, respectively (p ⟨ 0.001, Chi Sq.). ANCOVA supported post-test differences between the intervention and control groups when accounting for baseline scores (p⟨0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The educational HBM-based intervention improved parents' perceptions and their children's receipt of FS therapy. The intervention affected the HBM constructs. Barriers to healthy oral/dental behaviours may be reduced by interventions at multiple layers (beyond the individual level).

Comparison of the effect of ginger and aloe vera mouthwashes on xerostomia in patients with type 2 diabetes: A clinical trial, triple-blind.

BACKGROUND: Ginger and aloe vera are two medicinal herbs mostly used to produce mouthwash. This study aimed to compare the effects of ginger and aloe vera mouthwashes on the xerostomia in patients referred to Bandar Abbas diabetes clinic (Iran). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this triple-blind clinical trial, three groups (n=35 patients in each group) were studied. One group was given aloe vera mouthwash, the other group used ginger mouthwash, and the control group was only given normal saline. All the mouthwashes were used 20 ccs three times daily for 14 consecutive days. The symptoms and severity of xerostomia were measured before and after the intervention by the questionnaire proposed by Fox et al. as well as VAS scale, respectively. Statistical analysis, including the Shapiro-Wilk test used to measure the normality of variables, and Chi-square and McNemar used to compare the scores questionnaire proposed by Fox et al., were also applied. Scores of VAS were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA test. P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant in all these tests. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants included in the normal saline group was 58.13±14.75 years old, 54.14±9.35 years old in the ginger group, and 53.37±11.57 years old in the aloe vera group. The difference between the scores of xerostomia before and after performing the intervention (The amount of reduction in xerostomia) in the ginger group was 6.12±2.004 cm, in the aloe vera group it was 4.08±2.09 cm, and in the normal saline group it was 2.45±2.09 cm. Finally, the ginger and aloe vera mouthwashes significantly reduced all symptoms and severity related to xerostomia, respectively(p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The use of mouthwash is an effective measure to reduce xerostomia under chronic conditions. Aloe vera, ginger, and normal saline are known as effective mouthwashes on controlling this complication. According to the results of this study, ginger and aloe vera mouthwashes could significantly decrease xerostomia and promote oral health in patients with diabetes.

The effects of myo-inositol vs. metformin on the ovarian function in the polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have revealed that myo-inositol could be more influential in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This study was aimed to determine and compare the effects of myo-inositol and metformin on hormonal and metabolic profiles and fertility outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive search was carried out among the English-language databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, and the articles published from April 2010 to February 2019 were tracked down. The fixed and random-effects meta-analysis was used to estimate the pooled effect size. The meta-analysis was performed in Stata Version 14.0. RESULTS: Nine studies with 331 patients treated with metformin and 307 patients treated with myo-inositol groups were included in the analysis. The research groups did not diverge significantly in terms of the basic characteristics, such as age and Body Mass Index (BMI). In the myo-inositol group, the levels of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) [12.55% (95% I: 11.41-13.68%)], S. testosterone [44.38% (95% CI: 38.09-50.67%)] and prolactin [7.97% (95% CI: 6.58- 9.37%)] were significantly higher than those recorded, i.e., LH [7.97% (95% CI: 6.58- 9.37%)], S. testosterone [8.48% (95% CI: 3.14-13.83%)] and prolactin [7.14% (95% CI: 1.50-14.79%)] for the metformin group (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Due to the dearth of related research and the high heterogeneity of the Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) included in other studies, the present systematic review could not establish any differences between metformin and myo-inositol concerning the hormonal profile and the ovarian function. However, the findings indicated that myo-inositol could improve fertility outcomes by modulating hyperandrogenism. Randomized trials are required to understand the mechanistic actions of myo-inositol in comparison with those of metformin regarding oocyte and embryo quality, fertilization, pregnancy, and live birth rates.

Evaluation of thyroid gland as an organ at risk after breast cancer radiotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Radiotherapy can often lead to thyroid dysfunction. Some studies demonstrated that treatment of breast cancer by RT can expose thyroid gland to high doses of radiation. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate consideration of thyroid gland as an organ at risk. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis to select initial studies, a comprehensive search by two independent reviewers was performed. Electronical databases following: Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Elsevier, Embase, ProQuest and Persian databases such as Iranmedex, Magiran, and SID were searched. All searches were restricted to English language between 1985 and 2017. A random effect meta-analysis is applied to estimate pooled effect size across initial studies. Funnel plot with Egger’s test is used to assess potential publication bias. Results: Totally, five studies (478 samples) were included in meta-analysis. The meta-analyses of result showed that thyroid gland is affected by radiotherapy significantly and the TSH increased after radiotherapy (z = 2.68, P = 0.007). The pooled estimate of difference mean for TSH was 0.90 (95% CI 0.24, 1.55). In studies among patients with breast cancer RT, hypothyroidism was reported more than other thyroid disorders. There was not showed possibility publication bias among studies (P > 0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that thyroid gland is affected by radiotherapy significantly and the TSH increased after radiotherapy. Protecting thyroid gland during radiation and follow-up of patients with breast cancer RT are suggested for the assessment of thyroid gland dysfunction

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Toxoplasma gondii infection among sheep and goats in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Toxoplasmosis, a cosmopolitan parasitic infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii, is frequently found in meat-producing animals and human beings. This review and meta-analysis study was performed to evaluate the overall prevalence of T. gondii infection among sheep and goats in Iran. Data were systematically collected from 1977 to 2012 in Iran on the following electronic databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Magiran, Irandoc, IranMedex, and Scientific Information Database (SID). Additionally, abstracts of national scientific congresses and dissertations were included. A total of 34 articles in field of sheep and 18 articles about goat toxoplasmosis, totalizing to the examination of 14,372 sheep and 3,120 goats, reporting prevalence of toxoplasmosis from different regions of Iran fulfilled our eligibility criteria. The overall prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis in Iran was estimated to be 31% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.259825 to 0.352382) in sheep and 27% (95% CI = 0.140097 to 0.424782) in goats, respectively. There was no significant difference in infection rate between males and females among sheep (odds ratio (OR) = 1.002, 95% CI = 0.59 to 1.696) and goats (OR = 1.027, 95% CI = 0.685 to 1.541). Analysis revealed that infection rate in sheep over than 1 year old was 2.4 times more than that in less than 1 year old (OR = 2.396, 95% CI = 1.050 to 5.467). This systematic review and meta-analysis study revealed that infection is widespread in Iran. Further studies are required to improve strategies for controlling infection among flocks and consequently in human population.