BackgroundPostmenopausal women are interested in using complementary and alternative medicine because of their menopausal symptoms and the side effects of chemical medications and hormone therapy. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the use of complementary medicine (CAM) and menopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among 288 postmenopausal women who were referred to health centers in Kerman, southeastern Iran, from 2020 to 2021. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the CAM questionnaire, and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS).ResultsThe mean score for the menopausal symptoms of the participants was 8.73 ± 6.11. Only 28.8% of the participants had no/little symptoms. About 65.3% of the participants used at least one type of CAM in the previous year. The most commonly used types of CAM were nutritional supplements, prayer, and medicinal herbs. A significant association was found between the use of medicinal herbs, dry cupping, relaxation and meditation, prayer, and menopausal symptoms. Women experiencing menopausal symptoms used more CAM methods than those without menopausal symptoms (Odds ratio = 2.25, 95% confidence interval = 1.33–3.80).ConclusionThe study results indicated that the severity of menopausal symptoms and scores in somatic-vegetative and urogenital domains were higher in CAM users compared to non-CAM users. But there was no significant difference in the psychological domain between CAM and non-CAM users. Based on the results, it is suggested that more research be done in different communities with different healthcare systems to find out how complementary and alternative medicine affects menopausal symptoms in women.

Gas conditioning or cooling towers have broad industrial applicability, especially in the cement industry. Most cement factories deal with the same problems as others do. However, the solutions to these problems are barely internationally published and have not received much attention, which results in spending a lot of time and money researching the previous solutions. Iran is among the top ten cement manufacturing countries in the world. Therefore, many of these problems have occurred in Iranian cement factories. The purpose of the present paper is to provide a review of studies in this field over the last decades, with a particular focus on advances in Iran. This paper concludes the most important findings of the literature to suggest the best possible solutions for improving the performance and lifetime of gas conditioning towers and for decreasing the common problems, such as dust build-up and wet bottom. Furthermore, the paper reviews the numerical methods for modelling different aspects of these towers. The results can also be used to reduce water and energy consumption, air pollution, and repair and maintenance costs of cement factories.