Mohammad Rezaei

Comparison of urinary oxidative biomarkers in Iranian children with autism

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder usually presents in early childhood and thought to be influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Individuals with autism vary widely in abilities, intelligence, and behaviors. It is common for children with autism to exhibit eating disorders and some have preferences for soft and sweetened food making them susceptible to caries. Furthermore, a wide spectrum of medical and behavioral symptoms exhibited by children with autism makes routine dental care very difficult. Intellectual disability is evident in approximately 70% of individuals with autism and most psychiatric disorders, including autism, are associated with increased oxidative stress. 29 subjects diagnosed with autism, in the age group of 6 to 12 years, were a part of the study. Furturemore, 24 normal healthy siblings of same age group were taken as the control group. The present study aimed to evaluate oxidative stress biomarkers such as urinary total antioxidant concentration (TAC), catalase activity (CAT) and total thiol molecules (TTM). The results showed the autism group have significantly higher CAT activity and concomitant lower TAC and TTM concentration in comparison with control group. The results are discussed in relation to an increased vulnerability to oxidative damage, which may contribute to the development and clinical manifestation of symptoms of autism.

Speech Intelligibility in Persian Hearing Impaired Children with Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aids

The aim of present study is to evaluate and compare speech intelligibility in hearing impaired children with cochlear implants (CI) and hearing aid (HA) users and children with normal hearing (NH). The sample consisted of 45 Persian-speaking children aged 3 to 5-years-old. They were divided into three groups, and each group had 15, children, children with CI and children using hearing aids in Hamadan. Participants was evaluated by the test of speech intelligibility level. Results of ANOVA on speech intelligibility test showed that NH children had significantly better reading performance than hearing impaired children with CI and HA. Post-hoc analysis, using Scheffe test, indicated that the mean score of speech intelligibility of normal children was higher than the HA and CI groups; but the difference was not significant between mean of speech intelligibility in children with hearing loss that use cochlear implant and those using HA. It is clear that even with remarkabkle advances in HA technology, many hearing impaired children continue to find speech production a challenging problem. Given that speech intelligibility is a key element in proper communication and social interaction, consequently, educational and rehabilitation programs are essential to improve speech intelligibility of children with hearing loss.

Combined gestures and auditory-verbal training for comprehension and production of verbs in deaf children

Objective: An important factor determining the efficacy of speech therapy for children with severe hearing loss is the type and the method of educating children in the use of speech language items. Given the shortage of golden time for language learning, it is necessary to use efficient speech therapy approaches for improving the language of the child. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of adding gestures to auditory-verbal training (AVT) in speech therapy for children with severe hearing loss. Methods: In this double-blinded clinical trial, 66 children with severe hearing loss were randomly assigned to two groups of 33 subjects. Receptive and expressive language competence for some simple Persian verbs was evaluated by the Newsha test. The AVT was accompanied by gesture for the intervention group and no accompanying gesture for the control group. Simple verbs include fifty early action words such as sit, run, hold, and go. Results: In both the experimental and control groups, a significant difference was observed for receptive language of simple verbs before and after the intervention (P = 0.001, P = 0.045). However, no significant difference was found before the intervention (P = 0.532), there was a significant difference between mean receptive score of the two groups after the intervention (P = 0.032). Conclusion: Adding gestures to AVT significantly changed the mean expressive score in 2-3-year-old children with severe hearing loss. But, both the synthetic approach and the AVT had the same degree of positive effect for education of receptive language of simple verbs for these children.

Validity and reliability of the depression in old age scale (DIA-S) in Iranian older adults

OBJECTIVE One of the most common geriatric psychiatric syndromes is depression. The aim of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Depression in Old Age Scale (DIA-S) as a self-report screening tool for depressive symptoms in Iranian elders. METHODS The population sample was consisted of 210 older subjects admitted to Hamadan adult day care centers. The DIA-S and a socio-demographic questionnaire were used to gather the data. Concurrent and convergent validity were assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and Abbreviated Mental Test score (AMTs), respectively. Measures for internal consistency were calculated with Cronbachs alpha. Factor structure of DIA-S was evaluated by principal component analysis, using varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization. Test-retest reliability was carried out using re-administration DIA-S to 24 participants after a gap of 16days. Independent t-test and ANOVA were used to assessing significance of differences across demographic groups. RESULTS The mean score of DIA-S was 3.69 (SD: 1.92, Range: 1-9). The Cronbachs α for DIA-S score was 0.821, indicating a high degree of internal consistency and homogeneity between the DIA-S items. Test-retest correlation on the 24 patients showed excellent results (ranging from 0.748 to 0.946). Factor analysis revealed one component that confirmed the theoretical construction of the scale. Based on the results, statistically significantly higher DIA-S scores with lower incomes were found. CONCLUSIONS The DIA-S is a valid and reliable self-report screening tool for depressive symptoms in Iranian geriatric population and may be used in clinical and epidemiological studies.

Spoken and Written Narrative in Persian-Speaking Students Who Received Cochlear Implant and/or Hearing Aid

Objectives To compare narrative skills between fourth and fifth grades of Persian-speaking students with hearing impairments and typical hearing students of the same grade and also to evaluate the effects of group, sex, hearing age, and educational grade of the students on their spoken/written narrative performance. Methods The subjects were 174 students aged 10–13 years, 54 of whom wore cochlear implants, 60 suffered from moderate to severe hearing losses and wore hearing aids, with the remaining 60 students being typical hearing in terms of the sense of hearing. The micro- and macrostructure components of spoken and written narrative were elicited from a pictorial story (The Playful Little Elephant) and then scored by raters. Results Compared to the typical hearing, the students with hearing impairments had significantly lower scores in all of the microstructure components of narratives. However, the findings showed no significant difference among different groups in macrostructure components of narratives. It was also revealed that the students had equal performance in spoken and written narrative. Finally, factor analysis manifested that group, sex, hearing age, and educational level of children might alter the outcome measures in various interactions. Conclusion Although cochlear implantation was more effective than hearing aid on spoken and written narrative skills, the Persian-speaking students with hearing impairments were seen to need additional trainings on microstructure components of spoken/written narrative.

High Frequency Tympanometry (1,000 Hz) for Neonates with Normal and Abnormal Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions

Background and Objectives This paper aimed at evaluating the characteristics of high-frequency (1,000 Hz) acoustic admittance (ya) for the neonates with transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) as either pass or refer group. Subjects and Methods Using a 1,000 Hz probe tone, 297neonates (152 male, 145 female aged 0–104 days old) were evaluated. Tympanometric parameters admittance value at +200 dapa, middle ear admittance, and tympanometric peak pressure were calculated for each tympanogram. Results The mean of ya was 0.9678 mmho in the TEOAE for the pass group and 0.7229 mmho in the refer group. The mean of acoustic admittance at +200 (y200) was 2.0657 in the TEOAE for the pass group and 1.7191 for the refer group. The mean of Tpp was 23/8591 in the TEOAE for the pass group and 59/7619 for the refer group. Conclusions There were significant differences in the distribution of different types of tympanograms, the mean of ya, tympanic peak pressure, and y200 between the TEOAEs for the pass and the refer groups.

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Adaptation of Mini-Cog Test in Iranian Older Adults

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Mini-Cog in Iranian older adults. It was a cross-sectional study; 50 older people with dementia and 50 without dementia who matched for age, gender, and education entered the study. The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders criteria for dementia were used as gold standard. A battery of scales included the abbreviated mental test score (AMTS), the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Mini-Cog was performed. Validity and reliability of the Mini-Cog determined using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson’s r), Cronbach’s alpha, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The Persian version of Mini-Cog showed a good inter-rater reliability (K = 0.76, p < .01) and a positive concurrent validity (r = 0.39, p < .01) with the AMTS. The sensitivity and specificity were 88% and 62.8%, respectively, using the original cutoff point of 2. The findings showed that the Persian version of Mini-Cog have an acceptable sensitivity, specificity, and substantial overall agreement with the AMTS.

Nutrition Related Behavior Problems in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Feeding is an essential function which affects life quality of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Approximately, 80% of the ASD patients have some feeding difficulties. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of behavioral feeding problems in ASD. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 30 individuals with ASD referred to speech and language pathol- ogy clinic were included using random sampling. To gather the data, Screening Tool of feeding Problems (STEP) was used. Data analysis was done through SPSS. The findings of the study indicated that all subjects were somehow involved with behavioral feeding problems Findings indicate that in autism children, behavioral feeding problems were prevalent. These problems will be treated by opportune identification.