Background: Considering the fact that COVID-19 has undergone various changes over time, its symptoms have also varied. The aim of this study is to describe and compare the changes in personal characteristics, symptoms, and underlying conditions of individuals infected with different strains of COVID-19. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 46,747 patients who underwent PCR testing during a two-year period from February 22, 2020 to February 23, 2022, in South Khorasan province, Iran. Patient characteristics and symptoms were extracted based on self-report and the information system. The data were analyzed using logistic regression and artificial neural network approaches. The R software was used for analysis and a significance level of 0.05 was considered for the tests. Results: Among the 46,747 cases analyzed, 23,239 (49.7%) were male, and the mean age was 51.48 ± 21.41 years. There was a significant difference in symptoms among different variants of the disease (p < 0.001). The factors with a significant positive association were myalgia (OR: 2.04; 95% CI, 1.76 – 2.36), cough (OR: 1.93; 95% CI, 1.68—2.22), and taste or smell disorder (OR: 2.62; 95% CI, 2.1 – 3.28). Additionally, aging was found to increase the likelihood of testing positive across the six periods. Conclusion: We found that older age, myalgia, cough and taste/smell disorder are better factors compared to dyspnea or high body temperature, for identifying a COVID-19 patient. As the disease evolved, chills and diarrhea, demonstrated prognostic strength as in Omicron.

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is one of the fastest growing health problems around the world. Several factors can affect this silent disease. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of osteoporosis in women in Urmia, a city in northwestern Iran.METHODS: This cross‑sectional study was performed on 360 non-pregnant women over the age of 15 who referred for bone density testing to the Urmia Imam Khomeini Academic Hospital. Data were collected by questionnaire, and bone mineral density of the femoral neck and lumbar spines L1- L4 was evaluated by dual X-ray absorptiometry.RESULTS: The total prevalence of osteoporosis in this study was 42.2%; prevalence of osteoporosis among women 45 years old or less was 14.3% and over the age of 45 years was 50.7%. The factors such as level of education, history of bone fracture, disease history (rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure), gravidity and parity values, duration of lactation (p<0.001), nutrition dimension of lifestyle (p=0.03), and green tea consumption (p=002) showed a statistically significant association with the bone mineral density. According to the regression model, age (OR=1.081), history of bone fracture (OR=2.75), and gravidity (OR=1.14) were identified as significant risk factors for osteoporosis, while the body mass index (OR=0.94) was identified as a protector against osteoporosis.CONCLUSION: The prevalence of osteoporosis in this study was high, and findings showed that the advancement of age, lifestyle, and reproductive factors (especially gravidity and duration of lactation) were determining factors for osteoporosis .Appropriate educational programs and interventions could help to increase the women’s peak bone mass therefore reducing their risk of developing osteoporosis.

Several serious attempts to treat colorectal cancer have been made in recent decades. However, no effective treatment has yet been discovered due to the complexities of its etiology. we used Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify key modules, hub-genes, and mRNA-miRNA regulatory networks associated with CRC. Next, enrichment analysis of modules has been performed using Cluepedia. Next, quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to validate the expression of selected hub-genes in CRC tissues. Based on the WGCNA results, the brown module had a significant positive correlation (r = 0.98, p-value=9e-07) with CRC. Using the survival and DEGs analyses, 22 genes were identified as hub-genes. Next, three candidate hub-genes were selected for RT-qPCR validation, and 22 pairs of cancerous and non-cancerous tissues were collected from CRC patients referred to the Gastroenterology and Liver Clinic. The RT-qPCR results revealed that the expression of GUCA2B was significantly reduced in CRC tissues, which is consistent with the results of differential expression analysis. Finally, top miRNAs correlated with GUCA2B were identified, and ROC analyses revealed that GUCA2B has a high diagnostic performance for CRC. The current study discovered key modules and GUCA2B as a hub-gene associated with CRC, providing references to understand the pathogenesis and be considered a novel candidate to CRC target therapy.

Chest X-ray (CXR) is a common imaging modality that could impact immediate decision-making for acute chest pathologies. We sought to examine the non-radiologists proficiency of diagnosing acute pathologies manifest on CXR. We selected 9 clinical vignettes, each associated with a CXR, wherein only a single acute chest pathology was manifest. We also added a low-risk vignette associated with a normal CXR. We built an electronic survey with the CXR-embedded vignettes and also inquired about the participants’ confidence in the diagnosis, and prior exposure to the topics. We distributed the survey to senior medical students and general practitioners (GPs) in Tehran, Iran. We scored each correct answer per each vignette as 1 and each incorrect answer as 0; leading into a sum score from 0 to10 for the entire survey for each participant. Of the 136 candidates, 100 had legible survey results (67 medical students and 33 GPs). The overall score (mean [standard error]) was 3.57 [0.20], with no significant difference between the students and GPs (P = 0.15). The lowest rate of correct response occurred for acute respiratory distress syndrome (8%), foreign body (12%), and normal CXR (15%), while the best-answered vignettes were diaphragmatic herniation (77%) and pneumoperitoneum (67%). Self-reported confidence was associated with correct response for pneumoperitoneum, tension pneumothorax, and pulmonary edema (P < 0.05 for all). Diagnostic proficiency of practitioners for acute chest pathologies in our study was poor, including for distinction of a normal CXR. Such dramatic knowledge deficiencies for common or life-threatening chest pathologies should be prioritized in the educational and continuous education curricula. Secure electronic tools for transferring the CXRs to specialists in case of acute pathologies would be an interim pragmatic alternative.

Context: In recent decades, women’s participation in the labor market has increased dramatically. However, this has confronted working women with work-family conflicts. Objective: This systematic review aimed to find the factors related to work-family conflicts befallen women working. Methods: All scientific articles published on the subject from June 2000 until June 2021 were searched in five databases (Science Direct, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar) using the Keywords of factor, female, working, work-life balance, life-work imbalance. Results: We found 3967 articles in the databases mentioned. After removing duplicate items, the titles and abstracts of 2573 articles were screened, 34 full-texts of which were reviewed, leading to the final selection of 31 articles (13 qualitative studies and 17 quantitative studies). Then we searched for the documents that cited any of the initially included studies, as well as the references of the primarily included studies; however, no additional articles were found in this step. We categorized the factors related to work-life conflicts into four categories and 22 sub-categories. The first category was individual factors (e.g., individual capacities and skills); the second category was interpersonal factors (e.g., spousal support and lack of family support); the third category was organizational factors (e.g., organizational policies and working hours), and the fourth category was cultural factors (e.g., patriarchal hegemony in society and family-friendly culture). Conclusions: First, individual skills are needed to be paid more attention to, such as planning, which may be simply modifiable and has the potential to inform therapeutic interventions and preventative strategies. Second, foremen and directors should be informed about the importance of work-life conflicts experienced by women and their decisive role in creating a work-life balance to help improve their working conditions.