Farbod Amiri; Laya Ohadi; Shaghayegh Shahrigharahkoshan; Sahar Dadkhahfar; RM Robati
Abstract
Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been considered a major health issue. Even in the initial days of the pandemic, dermatologists faced several challenges in preventing, diagnosing, and treating COVID-19. Like other physicians, dermatologists encountered several ethical issues. ...
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Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been considered a major health issue. Even in the initial days of the pandemic, dermatologists faced several challenges in preventing, diagnosing, and treating COVID-19. Like other physicians, dermatologists encountered several ethical issues. Dermatologists have served a significant role as front liners, focusing on the cutaneous manifestations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The COVID-19 pandemic affected medical practice significantly. Due to the health emergencies caused by SARS-CoV-2, medical students’ education, patients’ prioritization, care, and cosmetic procedures were affected. Additionally, new strategies were devised to reduce the risk of transmission. This review article examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on dermatology practice. We reviewed 33 articles following a search of the PubMed and Google Scholar databases for articles studying how COVID-19 affected dermatology practice.
Mohammad Mahdi Parvizi; Mahshad Shabani; Nasrin Saki; Shirin Rajabi; Thomas Rampp; Mehdi Pasalar
Abstract
Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common disorder of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Several documents in conventional medicine claim an association between FD, sleep disturbance, and some dermatological conditions, but there is still debate about these relationships. This study aimed to measure ...
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Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common disorder of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Several documents in conventional medicine claim an association between FD, sleep disturbance, and some dermatological conditions, but there is still debate about these relationships. This study aimed to measure the association between FD and some skin problems and sleep indices based on the attitudes of traditional Persian medicine.
Methods: This study was carried out on patients with the diagnosis of FD and healthy people. The study populationconsisted of patients who referred to the gastroenterology clinic of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (Shiraz, Iran) from July to December 2019. To diagnose dyspepsia, we used Rome III criteria. Skin problems and sleep indices were evaluated using a validated researcher-made questionnaire. P-values of ≤0.05 were considered significant.
Results: Overall, 160 patients (46 men and 116 women) with FD and 155 healthy individuals (36 men and 119 women) were enrolled in the study. There were significant differences between patients and healthy individuals in terms of dryness of skin (P = 0.001), oily hair, deep sleep, long sleep, insomnia, difficulty sleeping, and nightmares (p≤0.001). On the other hand, there were no significant differences between the groups in intermittent sleeping (P = 0.116) and periorbital edema after sleeping (P = 0.195).
Conclusions: According to the results of this study, it seems that there is a positive relationship between FD and some dermatological and sleeping indices based on traditional Persian medicine resources.
Smitha S Prabhu; Sathish Ballambat Pai; Manasa Narayan Kayarkatte
Abstract
Phototherapy is an essential and useful therapeutic procedure wherein the properties of ultraviolet light are used to cure certain dermatological conditions like psoriasis, vitiligo, and atopic dermatitis. This is usually an office-based procedure dependent on the accurate use of sophisticated phototherapy ...
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Phototherapy is an essential and useful therapeutic procedure wherein the properties of ultraviolet light are used to cure certain dermatological conditions like psoriasis, vitiligo, and atopic dermatitis. This is usually an office-based procedure dependent on the accurate use of sophisticated phototherapy units. Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, phototherapy practices were shut down as they were considered as non-essential services. Here, we attempt to analyze how COVID-19 has affected phototherapy and seek to formulate a working guideline for safe phototherapy operations in these taxing circumstances. We used search engines like PubMed, Google Scholar, and Embase to retrieve articles and guidelines regarding phototherapy in dermatology, using the pertinent search terms. There was a paucity of data with only a couple of research letters and guidelines by the British Association of Dermatology and the American Academy of Dermatology, as well as general guidelines issued by the Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists. After a careful study of various modalities of phototherapy and viral inactivation, we collated a set of guiding instructions toward the appropriate utilization of phototherapy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Phototherapy is a viable option for selected patients even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. However, local and national guidelines have to be followed while selecting the patient and operating the phototherapy machine with adequate protective measures for both the patient and the healthcare worker. Home phototherapy units and PUVASOL are good options for those patients who are unable to attend the phototherapy center due to various reasons.
Alireza Khatami; Pegeen Walsh
Abstract
The World Health Organization characterized the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. According to official reports, over 12,300,000 individuals have caught the disease globally ...
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The World Health Organization characterized the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. According to official reports, over 12,300,000 individuals have caught the disease globally over the past six months. Like many other professions, the disease has affected private and academic dermatology practices around the world. The disease has diverse and extensive skin manifestations with implications for dermatology education and research. Some other issues that may concern dermatologists during the pandemic include ethics pertaining to the optimal use of scarce resources like certain drugs and personal protective equipment as well as surcharging patients and the potential of increasing the size of the preexisting health inequity gap. Considering all these issues, discussing the ethical aspects of dermatology, i.e., dermatoethics, during this pandemic is critical. Herein, we review the four basic biomedical ethics principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aghazadeh Nessa; Rahnama Nooshin; Nasrollahi Saman Ahmad; Komeili Ali; Firooz Alireza; Dowlati Yahya
Volume 20, Issue 1 , 2017, , Pages 15-20
Abstract
Background: Iran has achieved rapid scientific growth in the past two decades. Considerable growth in scientific publications by Iranian dermatologists matches the pace of Iran’s scientific publications in the previous decade. In this study, we aim to identify the current trends in Iranian dermatology ...
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Background: Iran has achieved rapid scientific growth in the past two decades. Considerable growth in scientific publications by Iranian dermatologists matches the pace of Iran’s scientific publications in the previous decade. In this study, we aim to identify the current trends in Iranian dermatology publications and authorship over the past decade. Methods: We compared papers indexed in the MEDLINE database at two time points, 2004 and 2014, using the PubMed Search engine. Results: We found 145 dermatology papers from Iran in 2014 compared to 31 papers in 2004, with an annual growth rate of 36.8%. There was a highly significant increase in the mean number of authors per article from 3.1 to 5.02 (P<0.001), with a significant decrease in the number of single-author papers. A significant decrease existed in the number of male first authors (83.9% to 63.4%; P=0.03). The number of papers published in specialized dermatology journals significantly decreased in 2014 from 80.6% to 42.1% (P<0.001), with 41.4% of the total papers published in Iranian journals. The mean impact factor (IF) per paper dropped from 2.01 to 1.75. Conclusion: The number of international publications by the Iranian dermatologist has proliferated during the past decade. Encouragement of international collaborations, production of high-quality and novel research, improvements to the standards and visibility of national journals, and higher adherence to authorship and publication ethics are essential perquisites for a more productive future for dermatology research in Iran.
Wiwanitkit Viroj
Volume 19, Issue 2 , 2016, , Pages 65-65
Abstract
The recent report, “Serum prolactin level in psoriasis”, is very interesting 1. Ghiasi et al. concluded that “it seems that while intracutaneous prolactin may contribute to the pathogenesis of psoriasis, the probable role of pituitary-produced circulating prolactin in the disease process ...
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The recent report, “Serum prolactin level in psoriasis”, is very interesting 1. Ghiasi et al. concluded that “it seems that while intracutaneous prolactin may contribute to the pathogenesis of psoriasis, the probable role of pituitary-produced circulating prolactin in the disease process needs further investigation .” There are some concerns on this report. First, although Ghiasi et al. have studied serum prolactin, they based their conclusion on intracutaneous prolactin. The serum prolactin is not the same as intracutaneous prolactin. The serum prolactin can be affected by several physiological and pathological factors. In fertile females, variations of baseline serum prolactin can be expected. Indeed, for psoriasis, there are previous reports on prolactin with controversial results. The difference in baseline pathophysiological conditions of psoriatic patients can be a good explanation for the different findings on prolactin levels in patients.
MohammadAli Nilforoushzadeh; Asieh Heidari; Amir Hossein Siadat; Shahram Moradi; Mahboubeh Habibi
Volume 11, Issue 3 , 2008, , Pages 118-122
Abstract
In many ways, medicine, and specifically dermatology, is practiced in much the same manner today as in centuries ago, but more recently, dermatologists have been facing enormous changes in the way they perform their profession and much of this is a result of a fundamental change in the manner in which ...
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In many ways, medicine, and specifically dermatology, is practiced in much the same manner today as in centuries ago, but more recently, dermatologists have been facing enormous changes in the way they perform their profession and much of this is a result of a fundamental change in the manner in which information is exchanged through information technology. With the advent of more advanced telecommunications, imaging capabilities, information transfer, and management options, dermatology, as with many medical fields, is facing new opportunities and challenges. Therefore, the need for integration of new events throughout information technology seems to be necessary. This article determines the effects of health information technology (HIT) on mainly two important aspects: quality and efficiency, and indicates that HIT system substantially improves health care quality and efficiency. This article also identifies advanced types of these information systems in dermatology field. There are challenges to HIT’s adoption and unfortunately, in opposite to the developed countries, investing in technologic affairs mostly has been neglected in the developing countries. Therefore, we have suggested some recommendations for the improvement of these information systems.
Khatami Alireza; Firooz MSPH Alireza
Volume 11, Issue 2 , 2008, , Pages 76-85
Abstract
In a number of important clinical issues such as evaluation of the efficacy or effectiveness of therapeutic or preventive interventions as well as for comparing the harms of interventions, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide the highest levels of evidence, either directly or indirectly. It is ...
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In a number of important clinical issues such as evaluation of the efficacy or effectiveness of therapeutic or preventive interventions as well as for comparing the harms of interventions, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide the highest levels of evidence, either directly or indirectly. It is obvious that critical appraisal of these studies to assess their validity and precision is of paramount importance. The aim of this review is to provide the readership an outline about different types of RCTs, the importance of proper appraisal of RCTs, an overview of the most important factors that have an influence on the validity of an RCT and a strategy for systematic evaluation of those factors, and to introduce some useful methods for improving design, implementation and reporting of RCTs as well as some tools that are used for the evaluation of these studies. It is expected that after reading this review, the reader obtains some knowledge about different phases and types of RCTs, as well as being enabled to evaluate the four major factors: randomization sequence generation, randomization concealment, blinding and intention to treat analysis that affect the validity of an RCT.
MT Noor Bala; N Poursina
Volume 8, Issue 3 , 2005, , Pages 190-194
Abstract
Background: Getting access to information about expansion and spread of skin diseases and determination of common types of them in any specific area has particular importance. There is no doubt that cultural, social and genetic factors by an important role in the epidemiology of skin diseases. Objective: ...
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Background: Getting access to information about expansion and spread of skin diseases and determination of common types of them in any specific area has particular importance. There is no doubt that cultural, social and genetic factors by an important role in the epidemiology of skin diseases. Objective: To determine the frequency of various skin diseases in patients referred to Sadooghi hospital in Yazd in the summer of year 1999. Patients and Methods: This descriptive study was done on 1000 patients who referred to the skin clinic. Final clinical diagnosis of patients were classified according to ICD 10. Results: According to ICD 10, more than 60 diseases were diagnosed among which infectious diseases of skin were the commonest (23%) and viral diseases formed about one third of total infections. 19% of cases had dermatitis of which 2 third were contact dermatitis. 10.8% of cases had acne and 7.8% had melasma. In patients under 15 years of age infectious diseases and in patients 15-25 years of age acne were the most commonly found diseases. Cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is endemic in the study area, was the most common parasitic skin infection. Conclusion: Infectious diseases and dermatitis are among the most commonly diagnosed skin diseases in Yazd and need to be considered carefully to make a comprehensive plan to control.
AR Firooz; AR Khatami
Volume 7, Issue 2 , 2004, , Pages 101-111
Abstract
Physicians’ daily need for valid information about diseases, their limited time for finding this information, the inadequacy of traditional sources (E.g. textbooks) to address this matter, the disparity between physicians diagnostic skills and clinical judgment (Which increase with experience) ...
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Physicians’ daily need for valid information about diseases, their limited time for finding this information, the inadequacy of traditional sources (E.g. textbooks) to address this matter, the disparity between physicians diagnostic skills and clinical judgment (Which increase with experience) and their up to date knowledge and clinical performance (Which decline by time), as well as dramatic development in the field of information technology that provides easy access to an uncountable number of data resources, all have resulted in the consideration of evidence-based medicine (EBM) as an appropriate approach to solve these problems. EBM is defined as: “The conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making clinical decisions about the care of individual patients”. The full-blown practice of EBM comprises five steps: Step 1) Asking a well-built clinical question; step 2) Tracking down the best evidence which answer that question; step 3) Critically appraising that evidence for its validity, importance, and applicability; step 4) Integrating the critical appraisal with the clinical expertise and with the patients unique values and circumstances; and step 5) Evaluating our effectiveness and efficiency in executing steps 1-4 and seeking ways to improve them for next time.
A Asilian; F Salehi
Volume 5, Issue 2 , 2002, , Pages 33-38
Abstract
Cryotherapy is a simple, safe and effective method for many benign and malignant skin diseases. If applied with an appropriate technique, the results will be very satisfactory and the complications will be very low. Herewith we will discuss cryotherapy and its applications in dermatology and review the ...
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Cryotherapy is a simple, safe and effective method for many benign and malignant skin diseases. If applied with an appropriate technique, the results will be very satisfactory and the complications will be very low. Herewith we will discuss cryotherapy and its applications in dermatology and review the advantages and disadvantages of this technique.
A Asilian; R Tavakoli
Volume 2, Issue 3 , 1999, , Pages 36-42
Abstract
Explosion of medical information, increase in the speed of communications and the pressure of WHO on observing scientific rules, oblige dermatologists to have a good education and to use more effective education principles. A brief review on the publications on learning principles reveals only a small ...
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Explosion of medical information, increase in the speed of communications and the pressure of WHO on observing scientific rules, oblige dermatologists to have a good education and to use more effective education principles. A brief review on the publications on learning principles reveals only a small role for dermatologists. The minimum benefits of these principles are to acquire a scientific basis to found a suitable pattern for continuing education for us and for teaching our students. Learning and teaching skills can be improved by scientific education. Successful teaching will result in a positive feedback encouraging both teachers and residents. This review will mostly emphasize on learning skills.