Background Hypertension is one of the major causes of many diseases, such as heart attack, strokes, kidney failure, and many internal disorders. This presentresearch study aimed to investigate the impact of educational programs based on the health belief model to promote hypertension prevention behavior of Iran University of Medical Sciences staff. Methods This study has incorporated pretest-posttest quasi-experimental based on 128 staff members and randomly assigned the recruited and involved participants to an intervention (n = 64) and a control group (n = 64). The data collection tool was based on a questionnaire related to health belief model constructs based on 42 questions. The study interpreted the results using ANCOVA and robust ANCOVA as suitable approaches. Results ANCOVA showed improvement in the cues to participants’ action following educational interventional (p = 0.011). the robust ANCOVA specified that the intervention was successful for participants with low to moderate initial levels of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy scores. The levels of these components did not change in participants with very high baseline scores. Compared to a control group, regardless of baseline score, the perceived benefits and practice (behavior) of participants at the intervention group were improved significantly (P <  0.05). Conclusion This current study specified that the education-based health belief model effectively promotes hypertension preventive behaviors among Iran University of Medical Sciences staff.

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Aloysia citriodora (A. citriodora) has a long history of traditional use for sedation and treatment of insomnia in different societies. This study was carried out to assess the efficacy of A. citriodora in patients with insomnia. One hundred patients were randomly divided into two groups of A. citriodora (total essential oil 1.66 mg/10 ml and total amount of flavonoid in terms of quercetin 3.22 mg/10 ml of the syrup) and placebo. They were advised to use 10 cc of the syrups; an hour before the bedtime for a period of 4 weeks. Participants were assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) questionnaires at the baseline and then 2 and 4 weeks after the enrollment. Mean scores of global PSQI and its four components including sleep latency, habitual sleep efficiency, daytime dysfunction, and subjective sleep quality and also ISI score in the A. citriodora group improved significantly after 4 weeks of treatment when compared with the placebo group (p < 0.001, for all of them). Also, improvement of global score of PSQI and ISI was observed in the intervention group as compared with the placebo group, 2 weeks after the enrollment (p < 0.001). The results of this study showed that oral intake of A. citriodora can be suggested as a complementary treatment for patients with insomnia.

There are a paucity and contradicted data about the impact of concurrent heredity of polymorphic genes and risk of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). In the present study, the concurrent effects of three polymorphisms affecting the integrity of DNA consist of ABCB1 C3435T, ABCG2 C421A, and XRCC1 Arg194Trp on development of chronic myeloid leukemia were studied. Furthermore, the role of these polymorphisms in clinical and laboratory outcomes of patients was evaluated. In this case-control study, 70 CML patients and 140 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. The clinical features of patients such as phase of disease and response to treatment and laboratory data before and after treatment with imatinib mesylate were collected. ABCB1 C3435T, ABCG2 C421A, and XRCC1 Arg194Trp single nucleotide polymorphisms were evaluated by restriction fragment length polymorphism-polymerase chain reaction. The T allele of ABCB1 C3435T, T allele of XRCC1 Arg194Trp, and C allele of ABCG2 C421A polymorphisms were significantly higher in patients than controls. TT genotype of ABCB1 and TT genotype of XRCC1 were associated with higher risk of chronic myeloid leukemia development. CC421 ABCG2/TT3435 ABCB1 and CC421 ABCG2/TT27157 XRCC1 were also correlated with a higher risk of CML. Patients with C allele of ABCB1 had poor cytogenetic response, and correlation of CC421 ABCG2/TT3435 ABCB1 diplotype with accelerated phase of CML was significant. Patients with CC421 ABCG2/TT3435 ABCB1 and CC421 ABCG2/TT27157 XRCC1 diplotypes might be at higher risk to rapid and severe development of CML and have weaker response to treatments with imatinib.