Introduction: Vitiligo is caused by partial or complete destruction of melanocytes in the affected skin area and influences the patient's quality of life. Besides physical involvement, vitiligo patients experience a high level of stress. Depression and Anxiety are common psychiatric disorders in vitiligo patients. Aim: This study, as the first study, evaluates hopelessness, anxiety, depression and general health of vitiligo patients in comparison with normal controls in an Iranian population. Method: Hundred patients with vitiligo and hundred healthy controls were examined. General health, depression, hopelessness and anxiety were evaluated based on general health questionnaire. Anxiety, depression and hopelessness levels were analyzed using Chi-Square, and the mean value of general health was evaluated through t-test. Results: The results showed that anxiety and hopelessness levels were significantly higher in vitiligo patients than those who are in healthy controls. This significant difference refers to high levels of anxiety and hopelessness among women with vitiligo. It was also found that the single patients were more anxious, hopeless and depressive, while the married patients were only more anxious and hopeless than those who are in the control group, respectively. General health of patients was significantly worse than in healthy controls. The low level of general health in patients was related to poorer level of general health among women with vitiligo. Conclusion: It seems that women with vitiligo are more mentally stressed than men with vitiligo. Both singles and married vitiligo patients suffer from anxiety and hopelessness.

Background: Nursing is a critical job in the health care system. However, nurses suffering from poor job conditions suffer from job dissatisfaction, eventually causing burnout. This is a very important concern for the health care system because the turnover of nurses leads to a waste of money and time of this system. Therefore, nurse managers need to find a way to measure and reduce the burnout. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) is a famous inventory to measure the job burnout in human services. This study aimed to measure the validity and reliability of the Persian version of MBI-HSS. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in two hospitals of Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fars Province, Iran, in July 2017. Nurses participated with their own discretion in this study and filled the MBI-HSS themselves. The questionnaire consisted of 22 items comprising three dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s  alpha were performed in this study using Stata software, version 12. Results: Overall, 200 nurses were included in this study, with a mean age of 29.48 ± 6 years. The result of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the weight of each item in its own dimension was greater than 0.4 or another dimension. Also, the Cronbach’s alpha for 3 dimensions was greater than 0.7. Conclusions:  Our study showed that the Persian version of MBI-HSS has sufficient validity and reliability, similar to that of the original version, for the measurement of burnout in Persian speakers of human services workers.[GMJ.2018;7:e995]

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This study aims to describe the herbal and traditional remedies in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) with an overview on related available evidence in modern medicine. This study is a review that focuses on the most important Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) sources including Avicenna's Canon of Medicine, Jorjani's Zakhīra‐yi Khārazmshāhī, and Aazam‐Khan's Eksir‐e‐Aazam, as well as pertinent information from Embase, PubMed, Scopus, Scientific Information Database, and Google Scholar by using the keywords salak, rīsh‐e‐balkhi, cutaneous leishmaniasis, and leishmaniasis for selected remedies. Several oral and topical herbal remedies, such as Vitis vinifera L. (Unripe grapes), Berberis vulgaris L., Rheum ribes L., Santalum album L., Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J.Presl (Camphor), Brassica nigra (L.) K. Koch, Crocus sativus L., Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb, honey, and Alum root, were mentioned in TPM resources for the treatment of CL. Furthermore, cauterization, cupping, and leech therapy were considered for this purpose. In this review, some evidence‐based studies will also be presented that have demonstrated the therapeutic properties of some of these products. In conclusion, the sages of TPM have recommended several systemic or topical medications, in addition to physical procedures, for treatment of CL, all of which could be a base for conducting further research on its efficacy.

BackgroundCutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the highly prevalent endemic diseases in the Middle East and North Africa. Many treatment modalities have been recommended for this condition but success rates remain limited. Herbal remedies have also been used for treatment but evidence-based clinical trials with these products are sparse. In-vitro and in-vivo studies have shown the anti-leishmanial and curative effects of extract of fruits and leaves of Juniperus excelsa (J. excelsa). The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of topical J. excelsa M. Bieb extract as an adjuvant to cryotherapy for the treatment of human CL.Materials and methodsThis study was designed as a two-arm triple-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial using a parallel design. Seventy-two patients with clinical diagnosis of CL confirmed by leishmania smears were allocated to receive either a topical formulation of leaf of J. excelsa extract (group A) or placebo (group B) for 3 months. Both groups received cryotherapy as baseline standard treatment. Patients were evaluated before and weekly after the intervention was initiated until complete cure.ResultsOverall, 82% of patients in group A, experienced complete cure and 9% of them had partial cure. On the other hand, 34% in group B reported complete cure, while 14% of them had partial cure at the end of treatment protocol with a significant difference between the two groups (P< 0.001). The mean duration to healing of the lesions in patients who received J. excelsa extract was statistically significantly shorter than the placebo group (p = 0.04). No significant side effect was seen in the J. excelsa extract group except for mild to moderate local irritation after a few weeks in a few numbers of patients.ConclusionThe results of this study showed that topical J. excelsa extract can be used as an adjuvant treatment modality in addition to cryotherapy for accelerating the time to cure in addition to increasing the complete cure rate in CL.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov IRCT2015082523753N1