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Music is a scientific-cultural phenomenon that is related to medicine. The present study aims at reviewing the status of Iranian music in medical knowledge and its effectiveness on the brain and other organs of the body for treatment. This study with a descriptive-analytical approach by the keywords of music therapy, songs, and music history has been done by reviewing papers, books, medical history sources, and valid databases. A content review of texts shows that Iranian musicians have been aware of the music’s effect on the quadruple temperaments as maintaining health and a therapeutic method for physical and mental illnesses. They believed in the connection between human nature and melodies. Today, researchers also believe that the metaphysical power of music and its positive effects on human morality and behavior and emotional states can be viewed from two dimensions: general and specific. Music therapy is a complementary therapy that improves the healing process of patients by raising the threshold of beneficial stress and mitigating negative affections, regulating internal processes, creating a state of relaxation, and boosting safety strength. Music was played in religious ceremonies in ancient Iran and was a sub-branch of mathematical sciences. Philosophers, physicians, musicians, and even poets have expounded on the effect of music on the human psyche. Music stimulates motivation, energy, and emotional connection, and because of its cost-effectiveness, attractiveness, ease of use, non-invasiveness, and performance by non-specialists, the latter can be used as a particular therapeutic technique in medicine and standard therapies and rehabilitation. Music is a scientific-cultural phenomenon that is related to medicine. The present study aims at reviewing the status of Iranian music in medical knowledge and its effectiveness on the brain and other organs of the body for treatment. This study with a descriptive-analytical approach by the keywords of music therapy, songs, and music history has been done by reviewing papers, books, medical history sources, and valid databases. A content review of texts shows that Iranian musicians have been aware of the music’s effect on the quadruple temperaments as maintaining health and a therapeutic method for physical and mental illnesses. They believed in the connection between human nature and melodies. Today, researchers also believe that the metaphysical power of music and its positive effects on human morality and behavior and emotional states can be viewed from two dimensions: general and specific. Music therapy is a complementary therapy that improves the healing process of patients by raising the threshold of beneficial stress and mitigating negative affections, regulating internal processes, creating a state of relaxation, and boosting safety strength. Music was played in religious ceremonies in ancient Iran and was a sub-branch of mathematical sciences. Philosophers, physicians, musicians, and even poets have expounded on the effect of music on the human psyche. Music stimulates motivation, energy, and emotional connection, and because of its cost-effectiveness, attractiveness, ease of use, non-invasiveness, and performance by non-specialists, the latter can be used as a particular therapeutic technique in medicine and standard therapies and rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Effective performance in online education increasingly impacts the quality of classes and, consequently, student learning outcomes. This study aims to compare satisfaction levels and learning rates between online and face-to-face methods of teaching medical physiology. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study involved 79 medical students divided into two groups. The first group received instruction on heart physiology (5 weeks, one session per week) online via the Navid system, while the second group received face-to-face instruction. At the study's conclusion, both groups underwent the same test to assess learning outcomes, and satisfaction with the teaching methods was evaluated through a questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using Stata 14 statistical software, employing logistic regression and linear regression models. Results: The two groups differed in terms of the course studied, student nativeness, and satisfaction levels with the educational method. Satisfaction with online education was reported at 69%, compared to 65% for the face-to-face method. The average learning score for students in the online group was 12.93±0.12, while in the face-to-face group, it was 13.48±0.47. However, the linear regression model revealed no significant relationship between students' scores and specific educational methods (p=0.32). Significant relationships were observed between age, nativeness, and dormitory accommodation with satisfaction levels in online education. Conversely, none of the variables showed a significant relationship with satisfaction levels in face-to-face education. Conclusion: Both e-learning and face-to-face methods demonstrated relatively similar effects on students' learning outcomes. However, satisfaction levels with online education appear to be influenced by variables such as age, nativeness, and dormitory accommodation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the Protestant mission hospitals in Iran during the reign of Reza Pahlavi, this article analyzes the concepts and ideas referred to as medical care in missionary narratives as well as reactions of the Iranians to the missionary medical initiatives. Trying to situate mission hospitals in the context of the rapid social and cultural changes that the Iranians faced because of the implementation of the monarch's reforms and the policies of centralization, statism, and social uniformity, the article puts emphasis on the fact that mission hospitals introduced a processual and negotiable type of medical modernity different from what was launched by the state at that time. Creating the healthcare networks in Iran, the Protestant hospitals produced the ideal—in the missionaries' eyes—types of medical modernity that might be presented as the social and cultural roles played by patients, converts, and nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 35 years Iran had significant quantitative progress in postgraduate medical education; and growth in specialist's physician workforce supply. Health and medical education policy makers have struggled with many issues related to physician supply, such as determining the sufficient number of physicians workforce and the appropriate number to train; establishing new medical schools; the diversity of specialty programs; efforts to increase the supply of physicians in specialty level in remote and rural areas; and the growing number of female physicians and its impact on health services. After establishment of Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) in Iran, expansion of medical specialty education was a priority. Since then, great advances have been made in training of new specialty programs. Despite of these brilliant advances during the last decades in Iran, there has been no integrated and comprehensive documentation of previous and current growth trend, yet. To understand where Iranian physician supply and specialty training is headed, we examined the Iranian medical specialist's trends from 1979 to 2013 in a national study by support of Iranian academy of medicine. This paper documents the growth trend of medical specialist's workforce over the past 35 years. Examining the health manpower growth trends allow health and medical education policy makers to plan innovative strategies for the purposeful development of postgraduate medical education to ensure that in future there would be sufficient physicians supply, with the right skills, in the right places in response to population demands.

Background: During the last 3 decades, Iran has experienced a rapid population growth and at the same time the health of Iranian people has improved greatly. This achievement was mainly due to training and availability of health manpower, well organized public health network and medical science and research improvement. In this article, we aimed to report the relevant data about the medical science and research situation in Iran and compare them with other countries. Methods: In this study, after reviewing science development and research indicators in medical sciences with participation of key stakeholders, we selected 3 main hybrid indexes consisting of "Research and Development (R&D) expenditures," "Personnel in Science and Technology sector" and "knowledge generation" for evaluation of medical science and research situation. Data was extracted from reliable databases. Results: Over the past decade, Iran has achieved significant success in medical sciences and for the first time in 2015 based on Scopus index, Iran ranked first in the number of published scientific papers and number of citations in the region and among all Islamic countries. Also, 2% of the world's publications belong to Iran. Regarding innovation, the number of Iranian patents submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was 3 and 43 in 2008 and 2013, respectively. In these years, the number of personnel in science and technology sectors including post graduate students, researchers and academic members in universities of medical sciences (UMSs) have increased. The female students in medical sciences field account for about twothirds of all students. Also, women comprise about one-third of faculty members. Since 5 years ago, Iran has had growth in science and technology parks. These achievements were attained in spite of the fact that research spending in Iran was still very low (0.5% of gross domestic product [GDP]) due to economic hardships and sanctions. Conclusion: Medical science and research development has been at least partially due to health technological development, training and availability of health manpower and improvement of overall health status in Iran compared to other Islamic countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deciding on pharmaceutical subsidy is regarded as a challenging issue for healthcare policymakers in Iran in most times. Public preferences, rarely attended in Iran, could be invaluable for including a particular drug in the list of subsidized medications. Objectives: The current study aims to elicit the public preferences to develop an evidence-based decision-making framework for entering a drug into the list of subsidies in Iran. Methods: Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was employed to elicit the public preferences. Around 34 attributes were identified based on the systematic review and interview with 51 experts. By holding an expert panel, 7 attributes were finalized, namely: the survival after treatment, quality of life after treatment (QoL), alternative treatment, age group of the target population, cost burden for the government, disease severity, and drug manufacturer country. Next, 1224 households were selected for the survey in the city of Tehran, using random cluster sampling. Data were analyzed using conditional logit model. Results: The survival after treatment (β = 1.245; SE = 0.053) and cost burden for the government (β = − 0.140; SE = 0.050) had the highest and lowest priority, respectively, in the preferences for allocating subsidy to a drug. In developed region, unlike the other two regions, the level of domestic drug production (β =− 0.302; SE = 0.073) was inversely associated with preferences toward allocating subsidy to a drug. In contrast to other districts, those living in district number one (β = 2.053; SE = 0.138) gave the highest value to promoting the QoL after treatment. Conclusions: It is suggested that policymakers pay more attention to attributes such as effectiveness and alternative treatment when developing an evidence-based framework for entering a drug into the list of subsidies. This study highlighted the public belief in the government's subsidy for medicines, provided that, this results in an increased survival and QoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: After intensified economic sanctions against Iran, decreased welfare of patients were more recognizable. The present study was aimed at identifying the challenges and stress level experienced by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) regarding treatment and health care services in 2018-2019 after strengthening of economic sanctions against Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on MS patients in Tehran, Iran. A structured questionnaire was designed to measure the main variables addressing the challenges and stress level of MS patients with respect to receiving care and treatment services. Results: In total, 1039 MS patients were enrolled into the study. Among the patients who answered yes to the questions, 873 (85.8%) and 837 (86%) were concerned about medicine unavailability and supply and purchase of internationally branded medicine, respectively. Moreover, 671 (70.3%) subjects were concerned about replacing their medicines with cheaper alternatives due to financial problems and 427 (41.4%) were unwilling to continue their treatment due to the economic burden of MS. In total, 795 (82%) were concerned about the effectiveness of Iranian drugs in comparison with internationally branded drugs. Generally, 970 (93.53%) subjects had experienced increased current living costs and 711 had experienced (68.82%) reduced nutrition quality, which (OR: 2.68; 95% CI: 1.99, 3.60) was significantly higher among subjects who had an income of less than or equal to 250 US$ per month. Conclusion: The sanctions can impose greater stress and hardship on patients due to the unavailability and costs of medicines. Iran should manage health care quality and provide services to prevent the adverse effects of sanctions on MS patients and guarantee patients' right to receive well-established medication and health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cataract is mentioned as one of the most important blindness factors in the world. Management and treatment methods of cataract dates back to antiquity. Avicenna is one of prominent Persian scientists that played an important role in the development of ophthalmology in ancient Persia. In this review, Avicenna’s points of view about cataract is discussed in the Canon of medicine and compared with the current medicine. Cataract or “Nozol-al-maâ” is an obstructive disease due to the accumulation of a dense liquid layer between the lens and cornea. Avicenna categorized cataracts based on their density, size and color. To treat and manage cataract, he took three approaches: changing life style and nutrition in the first step; using simple and complex medicines in the next step; and performing surgery in the last stage. Nowadays, in vivo and in vitro studies have proven the effects of some food, nutraceuticals and medicinal plants in preventing cataractogenesis progression. As surgery is the only remedy of cataract today and postoperative problems may occur, finding new non-surgical procedures can be noteworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical knowledge and its scientific and practical experience have long been important among countries with longstanding backgrounds. One of the most important branches of medical science is the science of anatomy, which has contributed to the treatment of unknown diseases and the surgery of the organs of the body. Among the medical anatomy versions, those who have used body anatomy imaging have been more successful in conveying concepts and medical education and treatment of diseases. Since the Renaissance, great painters such as De Vinci or Jan van Calkar have had a grand interest in anatomical imagery and have presented a particular style. In Iran, some medical manuscripts, such as Mansouri's Anatomy Book or Akbari Medicine, have a specific anatomy of the body. The purpose of this article is to study the anatomy of the human body in some medical versions of the West and Iran illustrated. For this purpose, several specimens of medical prescription manuscripts are selected as examples. In Western versions, the design and presentation of components of the body are very influential in the style of Greek and Roman sculpture, and the figures are statuesque. But in Persian versions, the anatomical figures have a flexible body and no contractual dry state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the Qajar era, Iran's relationship with the West created the ground for political, social and cultural developments. One of the most important advantages was that Iran's relations with the West led to the introduction of new ideas and approaches in the field of medicine and health in Iran. At that time, the low-quality healthcare and medical services provided in Iran, compared with the development in Western medical sciences attracted the attention of some Qajar periodicals and journals. One of these journals was Ganjineh-e-Fonoon, which devoted itself mostly to publishing articles on the progress made in medical and health issues. This periodical was first published before the Constitution Movement in Tabriz. An examination of the articles published in Ganjineh-e-Fonoon showed that while most articles welcomed modern medicine, they challenged the credibility of traditional medicine. Regarding this, it can be claimed that this journal, as one of the influential periodicals of the day, played an important role in informing and helping people in their transition from relying on traditional medicine to modern medicine. The present study is a library research which has employed a descriptive approach in the analysis of the data collected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The temperament is a basic concept of maintaining health in Traditional Persian Medicine. The two main grouping of temperament is hot/cold and wet/dry. Many female disorders include infertilities are diagnosed and treated based on the dystemperament therapies. This report describes design of a questionnaire for uterine temperament detection and its use to evaluate the uterine temperament of a population of infertile women. Methods: The uterine temperament parameters derived from main textbooks were used to design a questionnaire which its validity and reliability was proven by statistical methods. The questionnaire was then used to detect the uterine temperament of 54 infertile females. Also full history and physical exam and vaginal sonography was performed in the 3rd day of the menstrual cycle for all study participants. Results: The mean age was 30.92 ± 5.53 years old. Mean uterine temperament score was 3.21 ± 0.53 for hotness and 4.28 ± 1 for wetness. Mean general body temperament was 138.88 ± 17.61. The general body temperament hotness/coldness was significantly correlated with the uterus hotness/coldness (r = 0.0842); while the wetness/dryness temperament of the body and uterus were not correlated. Moreover, uterus temperament was not correlated with the size of the uterus and ovaries in sonography, but pelvic width was correlated with hot uterine temperament (r = 0.354, P = 0.0145). Conclusions: In the present study, the most prevalent achieved temperament was cold and wet in patients with infertility complaint. Moreover, the hot/cold temperament of body and pelvic width were correlated with uterus temperament. This may propose new prevention and also treatment methods in the field of infertility, which needs to be further evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student Research Committee (SRC) has been developed a subset of each university's Vice chancellor for research in purpose of research training for motivated students and conducting their research interests. In this paper, we evaluated effect of SRCs on Iran's research through Scopus database and showed that SRCs has a remarkable impact on Iran's publication performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the great emphasis on teaching professionalism in universities, creating changes in one's professional behavior is a serious challenge in medical education. In this regard, one cannot ignore the role of faculty members. The present study was set to investigate the opinions of medical education experts about the expected results of faculty development programs regarding PH teaching and learning professionalism. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in two phases including content analysis study and Delphi. In the first phase, 10 medical education experts participated in the study. Data gathering was carried out using semi-structured interviews. Codes were analyzed using classic content analysis method. In the second phase, a six-member focus group and Delphi with 23 experts from across the country participated, and themes from the previous phase were confirmed and finalized. Results: Analysis of the content of the interviews in the first phase and discussing in the focus group and Delphi showed two main themes: 1) direct results and 2) indirect results with six subthemes. Direct results included three subthemes of creating role model faculty members, scientific improvement, improving professionalism, and inspiring the students; indirect results included three subthemes of change in educational environment of the university, change in the university system, and effects on the society's culture. Conclusion: Faculty development in professionalism can contribute to university faculty members to become better role models and inspire their students, peers, and even the society. Therefore, improving professional behavior in university faculty members can have direct and indirect effects on improving the society due to their crucial role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]