Tehran University of Medical Sciences

About: Tehran University of Medical Sciences is a education organization based out in Tehran, Iran. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 35661 authors who have published 57234 publications receiving 878523 citations. The organization is also known as: TUMS.

Gaming disorder: Its delineation as an important condition for diagnosis, management, and prevention

Abstract: Online gaming has greatly increased in popularity in recent years, and with this has come a multiplicity of problems due to excessive involvement in gaming. Gaming disorder, both online and offline, has been defined for the first time in the draft of 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). National surveys have shown prevalence rates of gaming disorder/addiction of 10%-15% among young people in several Asian countries and of 1%-10% in their counterparts in some Western countries. Several diseases related to excessive gaming are now recognized, and clinics are being established to respond to individual, family, and community concerns, but many cases remain hidden. Gaming disorder shares many features with addictions due to psychoactive substances and with gambling disorder, and functional neuroimaging shows that similar areas of the brain are activated. Governments and health agencies worldwide are seeking for the effects of online gaming to be addressed, and for preventive approaches to be developed. Central to this effort is a need to delineate the nature of the problem, which is the purpose of the definitions in the draft of ICD-11.

Toxicity Evaluations of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Cell “Vision” versus Physicochemical Properties of Nanoparticles

Abstract: In the last few decades, nanoparticles (NPs) have been recognized as promising candidates for starting a new revolution in science and technology due to their unusual properties, attracting the attention of physicists, chemists, biologists, and engineers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the toxicities (at both cellular and molecular levels) of three forms of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) of various surface chemistries (COOH, plain, and NH2) through the comparison with gene expression patterns of three cell types (i.e., human heart, brain, and kidney). For this purpose, both an MTT assay and a DNA microarray analysis were applied in three human cell lines—HCM (heart), BE-2-C (brain), and 293T (kidney)—under the exposure to SPIONs-COOH, SPIONs-NH2, and bare SPIONs. The specific gene alteration and hierarchical clustering revealed that SPIONs-COOH altered genes associated with cell proliferative responses due to their reactive oxygen species (ROS) properties. It was also found that...

Effects of workload, work complexity, and repeated alerts on alert fatigue in a clinical decision support system.

Abstract: Although alert fatigue is blamed for high override rates in contemporary clinical decision support systems, the concept of alert fatigue is poorly defined. We tested hypotheses arising from two possible alert fatigue mechanisms: (A) cognitive overload associated with amount of work, complexity of work, and effort distinguishing informative from uninformative alerts, and (B) desensitization from repeated exposure to the same alert over time. Retrospective cohort study using electronic health record data (both drug alerts and clinical practice reminders) from January 2010 through June 2013 from 112 ambulatory primary care clinicians. The cognitive overload hypotheses were that alert acceptance would be lower with higher workload (number of encounters, number of patients), higher work complexity (patient comorbidity, alerts per encounter), and more alerts low in informational value (repeated alerts for the same patient in the same year). The desensitization hypothesis was that, for newly deployed alerts, acceptance rates would decline after an initial peak. On average, one-quarter of drug alerts received by a primary care clinician, and one-third of clinical reminders, were repeats for the same patient within the same year. Alert acceptance was associated with work complexity and repeated alerts, but not with the amount of work. Likelihood of reminder acceptance dropped by 30% for each additional reminder received per encounter, and by 10% for each five percentage point increase in proportion of repeated reminders. The newly deployed reminders did not show a pattern of declining response rates over time, which would have been consistent with desensitization. Interestingly, nurse practitioners were 4 times as likely to accept drug alerts as physicians. Clinicians became less likely to accept alerts as they received more of them, particularly more repeated alerts. There was no evidence of an effect of workload per se, or of desensitization over time for a newly deployed alert. Reducing within-patient repeats may be a promising target for reducing alert overrides and alert fatigue.

Salvia officinalis extract in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease: a double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial.

Abstract: Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of Melissa officinalis extract using a fixed dose (60 drops/day) in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Design: A four month, parallel group, placebo controlled trial undertaken in three centres in Tehran, Iran. Methods: Patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease aged between 65 and 80 years (n = 42; 18 women, 24 men) with a score of > 12 on the cognitive subscale of Alzheimer’s disease assessment scale (ADAS-cog) and < 2 on the clinical dementia rating (CDR) were randomised to placebo or fixed dose of Melissa officinalis extract. The main efficacy measures were the change in the ADAS-cog and CDR-SB scores compared with baseline. Side effects were systematically recorded. Results: At four months, Melissa officinalis extract produced a significantly better outcome on cognitive function than placebo (ADAS-cog: df = 1, F = 6.93, p = 0.01; CDR: df = 1, F = 16.87, p < 0.0001). There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side effects except agitation, which was more common in the placebo group (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Melissa officinalis extract is of value in the management of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease and has a positive effect on agitation in such patients.

A systematic review of the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines used in the treatment of obesity

Abstract: This review focuses on the efficacy and safety of effective herbal medicines in the management of obesity in humans and animals. PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and IranMedex databases were searched up to December 30, 2008. The search terms were “obesity” and (“herbal medicine” or “plant”, “plant medicinal” or “medicine traditional”) without narrowing or limiting search elements. All of the human and animal studies on the effects of herbs with the key outcome of change in anthropometric measures such as body weight and waist-hip circumference, body fat, amount of food intake, and appetite were included. In vitro studies, reviews, and letters to editors were excluded. Of the publications identified in the initial database, 915 results were identified and reviewed, and a total of 77 studies were included (19 human and 58 animal studies). Studies with Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), Sambucus nigra, Asparagus officinalis, Garcinia atroviridis, ephedra and caffeine, Slimax (extract of several plants including Zingiber officinale and Bofutsushosan) showed a significant decrease in body weight. In 41 animal studies, significant weight loss or inhibition of weight gain was found. No significant adverse effects or mortality were observed except in studies with supplements containing ephedra, caffeine and Bofutsushosan. In conclusion, compounds containing ephedra, CQ, ginseng, bitter melon, and zingiber were found to be effective in the management of obesity. Attention to these natural compounds would open a new approach for novel therapeutic and more effective agents.