Background:Identifying and employing appropriate learning styles could play an important role in selecting teaching styles in order to improve education.Objectives:This study aimed to determine the relationship between learning styles preferences and gender, educational major and status in first year students at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.Patients and Methods:A cross-sectional study employing the visual-aural-read/write-kinesthetic (VARK) learning style’s questionnaire was done on 184 first year students of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing and health services management at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2012. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed through experts’ views and reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients (α = 0.86). Data were analyzed using the SPSS ver.18 software and x2 test.Results:Out of 184 participants who responded to and returned the questionnaire, 122 (66.3%) were female; more than two-thirds (68.5%) of the enrolled students were at the professional doctorate level (medicine, pharmacy, dentistry) and 31.5% at the undergraduate level (nursing and health services management). Eighty-nine (48.4%) students preferred a single-modal learning style. In contrast, the remaining 95 students (51.6%) preferred multi-modal learning styles. A significant relationship between gender and single modal learning styles (P = 0.009) and between status and learning styles (P = 0.04) was observed.Conclusions:According to the results, male students preferred to use the kinesthetic learning style more than females, while, female students preferred the aural learning style. Knowledge about the learning styles of students at educational institutes is valuable and helps solve learning problems among students, and allows students to become better learners.

Background: Out-of-pocket and informal payments are considered as 2 most important topics for equity in health care financing. Therfore, this study was conducted to systematically review and meta-analyze the status of these payments in Iran's health care system. Methods: Required data were collected through searching the following key terms: "Unofficial", "Informal Payment", "Iran", "Health Financing", "Health expenditure", and "Out-of-pocket" on Scopus, PubMed, IranMedex, SID, and Google Scholar databases. After extracting and screening previous studies, data were collected from the articles using PRISMA pattern. To perform the metaanalysis, Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA: 2) software was used. Results: A total of 15 studies were entered in this review. Overall, the rate of out-of-pocket payments was estimated to be 50% (95% CI: 45-57%). A significant correlation was found between gender and the rate of out-of-pocket payments (p≤0.05). Moreover, the overall rate of informal payments was found to be 35%. Most of the informal payments were in form of cash, and the main reasons for informal payments were appreciating the staff and medical team as well as requests made by the hospital staff. Length of stay, marital status, employment status, income, and insurance coverage were key factors in the field of informal payments. Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, out-of-pocket and informal payments are more prevalent in Iran. Considering the negative effects of these payments on the health care system, it is of prime importance to implement extensive interventions to reduce or even prevent these payments.

Background: Iran is located in Asian esophageal cancer belt, with age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) of approximately 7 per 100,000 for both men and women. To provide potential solution recommendations for achieving accurate estimations regarding the burden of the disease in Iran, we designed a study to assess the burden of esophageal cancer in Iran during 1995-2015 by collecting data from the Global Burden of Disease studies. Methods: Data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) during 1995-2015, which were published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. For this purpose, disability adjusted life years (DALYs), incidence, and prevalence rate were applied to report burden of esophageal cancer based on gender and age group in Iran during 1995-2015. The Cochran-Armitage and t test were used to assess statistical significance. Stata Version 13 and Excel 2016 were used for data analysis. Results: During 1995-2015, in total, 304 102 DALYs (179 562 for males vs. 124 540 for females) were attributed to esophageal cancer in Iran. In both genders and all ages, the number of DALYs increased significantly from 45 018 in 1995 to 74 399 in 2015. Conclusion: Esophageal cancer is still a public health issue in Iran. Most of DALYs were due to years of life lost (YLL), suggesting the need for prevention, early detection, and screening programs. P-value was statistically significant just between male and female groups (p<0.05).

Collecting and analyzing appropriate information and performing comprehensive systematic studies, considering safety, effectiveness, and cost effectiveness of the technologies are prerequisites for making decisions on buying and using different diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. This study aimed to systematically identify and analyze available evidences related to the effectiveness of contact thermography technique in diagnosis of different diseases. This study was a systematic review of published and gray literature. We searched relevant databases, bibliography of related papers, and companies' websites, using appropriate search strategies and key words. The CASP tool was used by two experts to evaluate the quality of retrieved papers and inconsistencies were resolved by discussion. After removal of duplicate citations, 308 titles were identified through database searching, among which 276 were excluded on reviewing of the titles and abstracts. The full texts of the remaining papers (32) were assessed against the inclusion criteria and 14 papers were recognized qualified, which were categorized into three groups of: breast cancer, DVT, and others. The results showed although contact thermography is a safe, rapid and cheap technique to be used in screening and diagnosing different diseases, but results did not show any acceptable diagnostic value in comparison to other diagnostic techniques. It might be beneficial to use it as a complementary technique. More research is recommended in this area.

Background: Hospital infections have affected millions of people around the world and are considered as one of the most important issues related to patient safety. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate the extra costs caused by hospital-acquired infections in hospitals. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in Tehran province, Iran, in 2017. Medical records of 235 patients hospitalized in one of Tehran hospitals were reviewed for the study. They were divided into case (90 patients) and control (145 patients) groups. Data were analyzed using SPSS and STATA software. Results: Results revealed no significant relationship between age and gender with the incidence of nosocomial infection (p>0.05). However, the chance of nosocomial infection is most affected by length of hospital stay and costs paid by patients. Moreover, nosocomial infection increases the length of hospital stay up to 25 days. Our results revealed that the mean±SD hospital stay of infected and non-infected patients were 15.8±17.2 and 40.8±19.1 days, respectively. Furthermore, the total cost of patients without any hospital infection was 2451±3098 USD (83 674 480±105 765 500 Rials). On the other hand, the cost for infected patients was 3264±6078 USD (207 497 500±111 430 700 Rials). Conclusion: Hospital-acquired infections can impose great costs on both patients and the health system. The results of this study indicated the importance of taking specific measures for infection control in hospitals.