Associations between perfectionism cognitions,religiosity and desired number of children in Iranian women

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the associations between perfectionism cognitions, religiosity and the desired number of children in young women.

Background: The desired number of children has been found to correlate with personality and individual difference.

Methods: A sample of 281 women was selected from university settings in Tehran, Iran. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 39 years (M = 23.7, SD = 3.7). All participants responded to a paper-and-pencil survey consisting of measures of perfectionism cognitions, intrinsic religiosity and the desired number of children.

Results: Bivariate correlations indicated that, as hypothesised, perfectionism cognitions were negatively associated with the number of children desired (p < .05). Additionally, intrinsic religiosity was positively associated with the desired number of children (p < .01). Finally, regression analysis suggested that, as hypothesised, perfectionism cognitions and intrinsic religiosity could significantly predict the desired number of children (R² = .19).

Conclusion: Findings of the present study were explained in the light of an evolutionary approach on reproductive psychology. Those with high perfectionistic cognitions desire a smaller number of children and more religious women desire a larger number of children.     

A comparison of pregnancy rate before and after the administration of HCG in intrauterine insemination

Purpose

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is one of the first treatments of infertility. In natural cycles, women conceive when an intercourse takes place during a 6-day period ending on the day of ovulation. The current practice in IUI cycles is to perform IUI 24–36 h after the HCG administration, when the ovulation already took place. In this study, HCG was administered after IUI, which more closely resembles the fertilization process in natural cycles. The aim of the present study is to compare the fertility rates in an IUI protocol in women who took an HCG injection before and after the IUI.

Methods

This study was conducted on 100 infertile couples who referred to the infertility research center of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. They were divided into two groups: HCG injection before IUI and HCG injection after IUI. The main outcome measure was the result of a β HCG test that was done two weeks after the IUI; if it was positive, transvaginal sonography would be performed in the seventh week for clinical confirmation of pregnancy.

Results

The analysis included 50 cycles with HCG administered before and 50 cycles with HCG administered after the IUI. The pregnancy rates were 10 and 12 % (P = 0.85), respectively. Independent factor affected the cycle outcome was the time of infertility.

Conclusion

HCG administration after IUI brought about no improvement in the pregnancy rate. Therefore, HCG can be administered either before or after IUI.     

Effect of expansion technique of uterine incision on maternal blood loss in cesarean section

Objective  

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the method used to expand the uterine incision (sharp vs. blunt) for cesarean section (CS) affects maternal blood loss.     

Remaining Gap in HIV Testing Uptake Among Female Sex Workers in Iran

We estimated the prevalence of recent HIV testing (i.e., having an HIV test during the last 12 months and knew the results) among 1295 HIV-negative Iranian female sex workers (FSW) in 2015. Overall, 70.4% (95% confidence intervals: 59.6, 79.3) of the participants reported a recent HIV testing. Concerns about their HIV status (83.2%) was reported as the most common reason for HIV testing. Incarceration history, having >5 paying partners, having >1 non-paying partner, receiving harm reduction services, utilizing healthcare services, and knowing an HIV testing site were significantly associated with recent HIV testing. In contrast, outreach participants, having one non-paying sexual partner, and self-reported inconsistent condom use reduced the likelihood of recent HIV testing. HIV testing uptake showed a ~2.5 times increase among FSW since 2010. While these findings are promising and show improvement over a short period, HIV testing programs should be expanded particularly through mobile and outreach efforts.     

Exposure to mobile phone (900–1800 MHz) during pregnancy: tissue oxidative stress after childbirth

Background: The present study has investigated the effects of mobile phone (900–1800?MHz)-induced electromagnetic radiation on redox status in the heart, liver, kidney, cerebellum, and hippocampus of dams and the offspring mice.

Materials and methods: Pregnant Balb/C were divided into two groups including the control and the experimental group. The experimental group was exposed to mobile phone (900–1800?MHz), during pregnancy (2?h/d for 20?d). The dams and the offspring of both groups were sacrificed and tissues of interest were harvested immediately after delivery. Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, total thiol groups (TTG) content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities were determined in the tissues.

Results: In the experimental groups, MDA levels were significantly increased, while TTG, SOD, and CAT were significantly decreased in the total tissues of dams and their offspring.

Conclusion: Exposure to mobile phone (900–1800?MHz) during pregnancy induced oxidative stress in tissues of dams and their offspring.     

Effect of Dendrostellera lessertii on the intracellular alkaline phosphatase activity of four human cancer cell lines

The cytotoxicity of an alcoholic extract of Dendrostellera lessertii (Thymelaeaceae) and one of its purified components was evaluated using four different human cancer cell lines. The IC(50) of the crude extract was found to be 28, 33, 31 and 30 microl for K562, CCRF-CEM, HL-60 and LNCaP-FGC-10 cells, respectively. Each microliter of the crude extract corresponds to 0.02 mg of the plant powder material. Similarly the IC(50) of the purified component was 5 x 10(-9), 20 x 10(-9), 8 x 10(-9) and 8 x 10(-9)M for K562, CCRF-CEM, HL-60 and LNCaP-FGC-10 cells, respectively. In addition, besides significant reduction in cell proliferation rates, the crude extract, at a dose of 18 microl/ml and the purified component at a dose of 3.5 x 10(-9)M, were capable of enhancing the intracellular protein content of each of the cell lines by almost 160% while the intracellular alkaline phosphatase activity was increased up to 450%.