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Abstract Background Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a debilitating condition, affecting women of reproductive age. It is characterized by severe periodic physical and psychological symptoms, which end after the onset of menstruation. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) for PMDD patients. Methods A total of 48 PMDD women, in the age range of 18–44 years, were randomly assigned to two intervention and control groups. The intervention group participated in 16 weeks of EFT treatment, while the control group was selected based on the waiting list (waitlist control group) and followed-up after three months. Forty-four patients finally completed this study. The participants completed the Premenstrual Syndrome Screening Tool (PSST), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) in the first premenstrual period before treatment, the first premenstrual period after treatment, and the premenstrual period three months after treatment. Results Based on the repeated measure analysis of variances, the total score of DERS and the total score of PSST decreased significantly (P 0.05). Conclusion Based on the present results, EFT can be an effective treatment for alleviating the symptoms of PMDD. This treatment can reduce the emotion regulation difficulties of women with PMDD and alleviate the symptoms of depression and stress. Trial registration Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT ID: IRCT20220920055998N1, Registered on: 12/2/2023.

Abstract Background Sexual satisfaction is a crucial part of a fulfilled life, and the ability to have satisfying sexual function is crucial to one’s sexual health. This study investigated the effect of the combined administration of saffron and vitamin E and vitamin E alone on the sexual function of women in their reproductive years. Methods A triple-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted with 50 participants experiencing sexual dysfunction without comorbid sleep disorders or severe depression. They were allocated into two groups using a block randomization method (stratified based on the severity of moderate or mild/normal depression). During the 8-week intervention period, participants in the experimental group were administered a 15 mg saffron capsule (safrotin) in the morning and a combination capsule containing 15 mg saffron and 50 mg vitamin E (safradide) in the evening. During the same period, the control group consumed one saffron placebo capsule in the morning and one capsule containing 50 mg of vitamin E and saffron placebo in the evening (in identical appearance to safradide). The Female Sexual Function Index was used to assess sexual function, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) was used to measure levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. These measures were administered at baseline as well as four and eight weeks post-intervention, with an additional measurement taken four weeks after the intervention ceased. The repeated measures ANOVA, ANCOVA, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare the groups. Results Following the intervention, the experimental group (saffron and vitamin E) demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the overall mean score of sexual function compared to the control group (placebo of saffron and vitamin E) (adjusted mean difference (AMD): 4.6; 95%CI: 3.1 to 6.1; p

BACKGROUND: In women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), emotional problems constitute most of their symptoms. This study aimed to identify the emotion schemes of women with PMDD and to determine the core emotional pains at the center of the emotion scheme of PMDD to facilitate the treatment of this disorder using an emotion-focused therapy (EFT) approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was performed using the directed content analysis method by Hsieh and Shannon. The participants were selected by purposive sampling. The Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) was used for the primary diagnosis of women, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5) was conducted for the final diagnosis. A total of 10 participants were examined via in-depth interviews in this study. The emotion scheme matrix was used as a framework to identify the emotion scheme of PMDD. RESULTS: Based on the emotion scheme matrix, the participants’ experiences were classified into two main themes, four categories, and eight subcategories, with 37 extracted codes. CONCLUSION: Based on the present results, the primary and secondary emotions and behaviors in women with PMDD indicated perceptual-situational, bodily-expressive, motivational-behavioral, and symbolic-conceptual elements in line with the core emotional pains of desperation, despair, and feelings of worthlessness based on the primary maladaptive scheme of shame, which is responsible for different psychological symptoms.

Background: Obesity is associated with developing polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The present study investigated whether weight loss after bariatric surgery could improve symptoms and related hormones in women with morbid obesity.Methods: In a retrospective observational study, 50 women aged 18-40 years with body mass index (BMI)=42.3 kg/m2 who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) were enrolled. Evaluation of anthropometric data, serum testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin (PRL), fasting plasmaglucose (FPG), and lipid profile were measured preoperatively and at 1-year follow-upResults: Of 50 women, 32 (64%) women were diagnosed to have PCOS. The mean BMI at 1-year follow-up was 27.05 kg/m2. Hirsutism and irregular menstruation resolved entirely among 68.8% (11/16) and 100% (18/18) at 1-year follow-up. There was a significant decrease in total serum testosterone (2.1±0.2 to 0.9±0.1 ng/mL) and LH (8.5±3.36 to 5.02±2.4 mIU/mL) at 1-year follow-up, whether changes in levels of serum FSH, PRL were not significant.Conclusion: Bariatric surgery was effective in weight loss and improvement of PCOS symptoms and related hormones in women with morbid obesity. Thus, women with PCOS and morbid obesity should be eligible for bariatric surgery.

Abstract Background Childhood malnutrition is a crucial public health issue in developing countries. Mothers’ nutritional knowledge significantly affects children’s nutritional status. It also appears that mothers with low health literacy are unable to adequately meet their children’s nutritional needs because they do not clearly understand their children’s nutrition and malnutrition status. Methods This randomized controlled trial aims to describe the development and study protocol of the MyKid’sNutrition application, a smartphone-based intervention for mothers of preschool (2–6 years old) children. The application contains several contents on children’s healthy eating, childhood underweight, children’s loss of appetite, and child growth assessment. As part of the MyKid’sNutrition trial, a total of 116 participants will be randomized 1:1 either to (a) treatment as usual and MyKid’sNutrition or (b) treatment as usual alone. The results of this trial will be based on changes in growth indicators and mothers’ nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice within the groups and the differences between them. Discussion Due to their widespread availability throughout society, smartphones can be used to deliver educational content on a large scale at a low cost. In addition, they can provide novel ways for patients to receive support. Hence, it is essential to conduct research studies on these types of interventions. MyKid’sNutrition application offers dietary solutions for such nutritional problems as underweight, loss of appetite, and malnutrition in children. Meanwhile, it provides detailed instructions on how to interact with the child. Trial registration IRCT.ir IRCT20140907019082N11. Registered on February 19, 2022.

One important issue in using radiopharmaceuticals as therapeutic and imaging agents is predicting different organ absorbed dose following their injection. The present study aims at extrapolating dosimetry estimates to a female phantom from the animal data of 89Zr radionuclide accumulation using the Sparks-Idogan relationship. The absorbed dose of 89Zr radionuclide in different organs of the human body was calculated based on its distribution data in mice using both MIRD method and the MCNP simulation code. In this study, breasts, liver, heart wall, stomach, kidneys, lungs and spleen were considered as source and target organs. The highest and the lowest absorbed doses were respectively delivered to the liver (4.00E-02 and 3.43E-02 mGy/MBq) and the stomach (1.83E-03 and 1.66E-03 mGy/MBq). Moreover, there was a good agreement between the results obtained from both MIRD and MCNP methods. Therefore, according to the dosimetry results, [89Zr] DFO-CR011-PET/CT seems to be a suitable for diagnostic imaging of the breast anomalies for CDX-011 targeting gpNMB in patients with TNBC in the future.

Some of the issues regarding introducing new radiocompounds in nuclear medicine are the distribution patterns, delivered dose to different organs, diagnostic abilities and side effects. In this study, in order to assess the biodistribution of 64 Cu-DOX-loaded microcapsules, rats were IV-injected with the microcapsules, and 1, 4, 14, and 24 h later, the activities of the targeted organs were measured (%ID/g). The accumulated activities were achieved by %ID/g curves, and S-factors were obtained by MCNP outputs. The MIRD formulation and Monte Carlo method were used to determine the absorbed dose in the target organs. The biodistribution data and PET-CT images showed that the lungs were where the majority of activity was seen. According to MIRD and MCNP, the maximum dose delivered in the lungs was 5.79E+01 mGy/MBq and 4.70E+01 mGy/MBq, respectively. Also, the effective dose was 1.2E+01 for MIRD and 8.31E+00 mSv/MBq for MCNP. These results indicate that 64 Cu-DOX microcapsules can be considered a new radiocompound in pulmonary imaging, and MCNP simulation can be a reliable method for internal dosimetry., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)