Psychometric properties of a Persian-language version of the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire: ATQ-Persian

AIMS: To examine the psychometric properties of a Persian-language version of Hollon and Kendall's (1980) Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ-Persian)--a measure of negative automatic thoughts in depression. METHODS: In a sample of 125 student volunteers from two Iranian universities we assessed the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of ATQ-Persian, and examined its concurrent validity against the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al., 1996). We also examined the factor structure of the test through comparing the fit of various proposed factor-analytic models to the data using confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: ATQ-Persian had excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.96), test-retest reliability (r = 0.84) and correlation with the Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.77). Using a receiver operating characteristics curve, a score of 53 on ATQ-Persian was associated with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 78% for detecting moderate to severe depression defined through Beck Depression Inventory. None of the proposed factorial models fitted the data well. However, models with correlated factors generally provided better fit than models with orthogonal factors, suggesting that the latent factors underlying ATQ-Persian are highly correlated. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the reliability and validity of ATQ-Persian as a measure of negative automatic thoughts in depression.     

7-Piperazinylquinolones with methylene-bridged nitrofuran scaffold as new antibacterial agents

Quinolone class of antibacterial agents has considerable attention to find new useful antibacterial agents. Therefore, a series of N-substituted piperazinylquinolones bearing (5-nitrofuran-2-yl)methyl moiety were synthesized and evaluated against a variety of bacteria. The methylene-bridged nitrofuran functionality has been recently used in oxazolidinone class of antibacterial agents containing piperazinyl moiety by introducing ranbezolid as a 5-nitrofuran analog of eperzolid. The results of antibacterial evaluation revealed that the influence of (5-nitrofuran-2-yl) attachment to the 7-piperazinylquinolones against different bacterial species depends on the type of substituents at the N-1 and C-8 positions. Better results were obtained with ethyl at N-1 and CF at C-8 in the term of activity against Bacillus subtilis and E. coli. While, the optimum activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia was entailed by a molecule possessing cyclopropyl at N-1 and CH at C-8.     

Bilateral Optic Nerve Head Angiomas and Retrobulbar Haemangioblastomas in von Hippel-Lindau Disease

A 39-year-old man presented with progressive visual loss in both eyes. His past medical history was remarkable for biopsy-proven bilateral adrenal phaeochromocytomas. Ophthalmoscopy revealed an optic nerve head angioma and macular lipid exudates in the right eye and a regressed optic nerve head angioma in the left eye. A fluorescein angiogram revealed a lobulated pattern of leakage and venous staining from the optic nerve head angioma. Brain and orbital magnetic resonance imaging showed haemangioblastomas of the right intraorbital and left paraclinoid optic nerves and in the left cerebellopontine angle area. These findings were consistent with a clinical diagnosis of von Hippel-Lindau disease.     

Practical development and operationalization of a 12-hour hospital census prediction algorithm

Hospital census prediction has well-described implications for efficient hospital resource utilization, and recent issues with hospital crowding due to CoVID-19 have emphasized the importance of this task. Our team has been leading an institutional effort to develop machine-learning models that can predict hospital census 12 hours into the future. We describe our efforts at developing accurate empirical models for this task. Ultimately, with limited resources and time, we were able to develop simple yet useful models for 12-hour census prediction and design a dashboard application to display this output to our hospital’s decision-makers. Specifically, we found that linear models with ElasticNet regularization performed well for this task with relative 95% error of +/− 3.4% and that this work could be completed in approximately 7 months.     

Sleep hygiene behaviours mediate the association between health/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing

Background

Health literacy and e-health literacy are important factors helping people shape awareness of health behaviours in different aspects, including sleep hygiene behaviours. Good sleep hygiene behaviours promote sleep quality and are beneficial to overall mental wellbeing.

Objective

We aimed to examine if sleep hygiene behaviours may mediate the association between health literacy/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing.

Methods

Adult Iranian subjects (n = 9775; mean [SD] age = 36.44 [11.97] years; 67.3% females) completed the Health Literacy Instrument for Adults, eHealth Literacy Scale, three items on sleep hygiene behaviour that have been used in prior research and the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Data were then subjected to structural equation modelling (SEM) including 500 bootstrapping resampling to examine whether sleep hygiene is a mediator in the relationship between health literacy/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing.

Findings

Both health literacy and e-health literacy were significantly associated with mental wellbeing (r = .63 for health literacy and .39 for e-health literacy; p < .001) and sleep hygiene behaviours (r = .58 for health literacy and .36 for e-health literacy; p < .001). Sleep hygiene behaviours were significantly associated with mental wellbeing (r = .42; p < .001). Moreover, SEM that incorporated bootstrapping approaches indicated that sleep hygiene behaviours were significant mediators in the association between health literacy/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing.

Conclusions

We conclude that health literacy and e-health literacy are associated with mental health wellbeing in the Iranian population. Additionally, the association could be mediated via sleep hygiene behaviours.

Patient or Public Contribution

The study was co-designed with healthcare providers from the vice-Chancellor's Office for Health Affairs of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences as equal partners. Moreover, the women's health volunteers were involved in the design of the study.     

Adolescent morphine exposure increases nociceptive behaviors in rat model of formalin test

The number of adolescents who use illicit drugs has increased dramatically. Adolescence is a critical period for brain development and maturation. The importance of the study of pain perception and the possible mechanisms involved is crystal clear. Up until now, there has been no evidence regarding the long-term effect of adolescence morphine administration on pain perception. The objective of the present study was to investigate long-lasting effect of adolescent morphine exposure on pain perception as well as analgesic response to a single dose of morphine injection. Adolescent and adult rats received morphine or saline, and then after 30 days of washout period, formalin test was performed. To evaluate morphine analgesia, in a separate group of animals, formalin test was performed after injection of a single dose of morphine during adulthood. The results demonstrated that the adolescent rats treated by morphine exhibited higher pain-related behaviors compared to the control group, while the same results were not observed in adult rats that had been treated by morphine. Moreover, there was no significant difference in analgesic response to a single dose of morphine between two experimental groups. This study demonstrates enduring effect of morphine exposure during adolescence on pain perception.     

In situ electrochemical activation as a generic strategy for promoting the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction and alcohol electro-oxidation in alkaline medium

In situ electrochemical activation as a new pre-treatment method is extremely effective for enhanced electrocatalytic performances for different applications. With the help of this method, in situ surface modification of electrocatalyst is achieved without using pre-made seeds or complex synthesis procedure. Herein, with the purpose of finding an in situ and simple electrochemical activation protocol, the green synthesis of Au/Pd nanoparticles (AuPd) by means of polyoxometalate (POM) is reported. Structural analysis of the AuPd nanohybrid unveil the Au-core/Pd-shell structure which surrounded by POM. We propose a novel cathodic electrochemical activation in phosphate buffer solution which can greatly boost the electrocatalytic activity of the as-prepared AuPd and Pd electrocatalyst not only for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) as a model of electro-reduction, but also for methanol and ethanol electro-oxidation reaction (MOR & EOR). For the HER in 1 M NaOH solution, after the electrochemical activation, the needed potential to drive a geometrical current density of 10 mA cm⁻² significantly decreases from – 400 mV vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) to −290 mV vs. RHE. For the EOR and MOR, electrochemically activated AuPd realized 3.4- and 2.9- fold increase in mass current density (mA mg_Pd⁻¹) with respect to the pristine AuPd electrocatalyst, respectively.

In situ electrochemical activation as a new pre-treatment method is extremely effective for enhanced electrocatalytic performances for different applications.     

Comparing Serum Levels of Th17 and Treg Cytokines in Women with Unexplained Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion and Fertile Women

Background: Increased evidences have shown that unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) is associated with inflammatory responses and breakage of immunological autotolerance. Therefore, the balance between Th17 and Treg cells may elucidate the pathophysiology of URSA. Objective: To investigate the serum concentration of regulatory and inflammatory cytokines associated with Treg and Th17 in both normal and URSA females. Methods: Forty-six women with URSA and 28 non-pregnant control women with at least one successful pregnancy were included. Serum was obtained from both groups and stored at -70°C. The serum concentrations of IL-17, IL-21, IL-22, IL-10, and TGF-β were quantitatively determined by ELISA. Results: The levels of IL-17, IL-21, and IL-22 in sera were significantly higher (P<0.001, P=0.01 and P<0.001, respectively) and TGF-β serum concentration was significantly lower (P=0.02) in URSA women compared with normal controls. Conclusion: Our results suggest that enhancement in Th17-associated cytokine levels and reduction in TGF-β may be one of the factors involved in URSA.