Background:Today's internet is a usual and common method for identifying and fulfilling unknown practices. Internet network has been prepared rapid and comfortable access to information. Internet addiction is a new and attractive subject that has been regarded as behavior-based addiction recently.Purpose:To estimate the prevalence of internet addiction and some of the related factors among medical students, Iran.Materials and Methods:An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 426 students selected through two-stage sampling method. Yang standard internet addiction questionnaire was used for data collection. After data entry, χ2, t-test, and Pearson coefficient statistical tests were applied. 0.05 was considered as the significance level.Results:The overall prevalence of internet addiction was 10.8%, with moderate and severe internet addiction equal to 8% and 2.8%, respectively. Mean and standard deviation of Yang internet addiction score was calculated as 32.74±14.52. Internet addiction was associated with sex, marital status, father's job, rate of knowledge about computer and internet, and educational level (P<0.05). But it was not associated with the parents’ education, residential area, field of study and level, and school of education (P>0.05).Conclusion:Because internet addiction leads to wasting of the students’ leisure time and also useful time, it affects the educational situation inversely. Some measures should be taken to plan and improve the use of internet.

BackgroundNational and international statistics from Iran have indicated that progresses and achievements have been made for most health indicators, but there are differences in some indicators in special groups and at the provincial level.ObjectivesOur aim was to assess the main predictors of inequity in seeking Health Care Utilities (HCU) locally.Patients and MethodsData gathered from the HCU survey, which was conducted in the Markazi province of Iran during 2008, was used in the present study. A systematic sampling method, based on the Iranian household framework, was applied in order to choose 758 households as well as 2711 individuals. The household wealth index constructed by Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and robust login link function in Generalized Estimation Equation (GEE) model were used in order to determine the predictors of inequity.Results66.4% of those in need sought outpatient health care from which 97.7% received appropriate services. After adjustment for the clustering effect of household as well as confounding effect of the covariates, GEE model showed that there were inequities in HCU for females (OR = 2.44, CI; 1.24- 4.81) and subjects with inpatient need (OR = 2.14, CI: 1.23-3.72). Being in the lowest quintile of household wealth index was associated with the lower use of outpatient health services (OR = 0.45, CI; 0.23- 0.88).ConclusionsIn spite of improvements in the national health indicator, different groups of people use health care services differently, but these inequities in HCU are related to social and individual factors. Also, it is clear that health sector facilities and the accessibility to health services are not the only predictors.

The adjuvant treatment with melatonin was found to be superior to the placebo and had the same clinical efficacy as sodium valproate, but with higher tolerability. Melatonin may prove to be an efficient substitute for sodium valproate, as a chronic migraine prophylaxis.

Background:Reliability and validity are the key concepts in measurement processes. Young internet addiction test (YIAT) is regarded as a valid and reliable questionnaire in English speaking countries for diagnosis of Internet-related behavior disorders.Objectives:This study aimed at validating the Persian version of YIAT in the Iranian society.Patients and Methods:A pilot and a cross-sectional study were conducted on 28 and 254 students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, respectively, in order to validate the Persian version of YIAT. Forward and backward translations were conducted to develop a Persian version of the scale. Reliability was measured by test-retest, Cronbach’s alpha and interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Face, content and construct validity were approved by the importance score index, content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), correlation matrix and factor analysis. The SPSS software was used for data analysis.Results:The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.917 (CI 95%; 0.901 - 0.931). The average of scale-level CVI was calculated to be 0.74; the CVI index for each item was higher than 0.83 and the average of CVI index was equal to 0.89. Factor analysis extracted three factors including personal activities disorder (PAD), emotional and mood disorder (EMD) and social activities disorder (SAD), with more than 55.8% of total variances. The ICC for different factors of Persian version of Young Questionnaire including PAD, EMD and for SAD was r = 0.884; CI 95%; 0.861 - 0.904, r = 0.766; CI 95%; 0.718 - 0.808 and r = 0.745; CI 95%; 0.686 - 0.795, respectively.Conclusions:Our study showed that the Persian version of YIAT is good and usable on Iranian people. The reliability of the instrument was very good. Moreover, the validity of the Persian translated version of the scale was sufficient. In addition, the reliability and validity of the three extracted factors of YIAT were evaluated and were acceptable.

People with higher HEI used more specialist and GP care, while people with lower HEI used more HW care. The inequity in HCU was low and non-significant in different quintiles of males, females, urban and rural, as well as those who were insured.

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.

Introduction:Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for many mental disorders, especially severe and persistent depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to compare the effect of dexmedetomidine and alfentanil on agitation, satisfaction, seizure duration, and patients hemodynamic after ECT.Materials and Methods:In a three phase crossover randomized clinical trial, 75 patients aged between 18 and 50 years and candidate for ECT were enrolled and assigned into three groups (25 patients in each group). All patients, respectively, took premedication of dexmedetomidine, alfentanil, or saline in three consecutive phases. Patients received 0.5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine, 10 μg/kg alfentanil or normal saline intravenously, 10 min before induction. Finally, seizure and recovery duration, satisfaction and agitation score, and hemodynamic parameters were evaluated.Results:There was no significant difference about seizure duration, agitation score, and hemodynamic parameters between groups but recovery duration was significantly lower in the control group than dexmedetomidine (P = 0.016) and alfentanil group (P = 0.0001). Patients’ satisfaction was significantly higher in intervention groups (alfentanil and dexmedetomidine groups) (P = 0.0001).Conclusion:Given the equal effects of alfentanil and dexmedetomidine, it seems that choosing one of these two drugs for premedication of patients undergoing ECT is appropriate. Drug choice is influenced by numerous factors such as accessibility of each drug and the dominance of anesthesiologist and psychiatrist.

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