From the Editor
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This is the fourth issue this year. This issue covers variable topics of interest to our readers in the region.

A paper that reflect collaboration from the region and the World that span seven authors from seven different countries discussed The dos and don’ts of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy: Primary care guidelines for the Middle East and North Africa. A panel of family medicine physicians was convened in Dubai to discuss current awareness of pDPN in the region and to develop consensus statements based on a review of meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and evidence-based guidelines on the screening, diagnosis and management of pDPN. The authors stressed that Diabetes mellitus (DM) is becoming increasingly common in developing countries and is of major concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Since at least 30% of diabetic patients may develop painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (pDPN) within their lifetime, there is an urgent need to increase awareness of the condition among physicians in the region. The panel recommends that all patients with diabetes be screened at least annually for symptoms of neuropathic pain using screening tools such as the Doleur Neuropathique en 4 Questions (DN4) as well as thorough examination of the patient’s feet. Treatment should aim to achieve a clinically meaningful reduction in pain using first-line agents including pregabalin, duloxetine or tricyclic antidepressants. The authors concluded that pDPN is common but under-diagnosed and inadequately treated in the Middle East and North Africa. Physicians in the region are encouraged to implement screening for pDPN and manage patients according to published guidelines.

A second Regional paper reviewed academic life. The authors stressed that Academician ship is a lifestyle that requires thinking not on several, but just on particular fields, such as to perform observation and experiments, follow up patients, educate students, produce new ideas and products, and write all of the results necessarily into the literature. Its duration takes the whole lifespan and it usually does not terminate with earning copious money.

A paper from Iran looked at the Effect of electro-acoustic factors on the continuous use of hearing aid in hearing impaired children under 15 years. This study was conducted based on a causal - comparative approach and by descriptive – analytical techniques using a questionnaire. The obtained results showed that ear resonating (buzz construction), hearing aid whistling, and annoying hearing of ambient sounds had an inverse relationship with the average hours of daily usage of hearing aid. Decreasing ability of understanding speech in the presence of noise is one of the main complaints in hearing impaired people. The authors stressed that speech is a very complex audio-signal consisting of sections and acoustical properties. Each of the sections have great importance for the formation of correct speech understanding. An impairment in organizing input hearing understanding, similar to the incidence of hearing loss, can cause significant implications in the understanding and identification of complex auditory signals, such as speech and music. It seems that small adjustments for the hearing aid and the solving of electro-acoustic problems can improve its daily usage.

A paper from the sociology department explores how the people of Iran who have been prone to increasing socio-cultural change in the past few decades, are exposed to leisure and tourism to be spiritually rehabilitated. As found out, one of the ways to refresh and reactivate the people in a given society is to facilitate tour and travel for them. Similarly, changing economic conditions for large portion of the people on the one hand, and better communications and means of transportation have all contributed to boosting leisure and tourism in the country. It is worth noting that Iran’s literacy rate which has enhanced in an unprecedented manner, has widely affected leisure and tourism at national level. Moreover, the government is also encouraging tourism in order to further activate the economic sycle. The article also explores how more and more people are motivated to go on leisure and tourism to further explore various cultural and touristic attractions of greater Iran from coast to coast. Modern social networks have also played a major role in extending leisure and tourism for different classes of people. The article proposes that improved policy-making positively affects the industry

Kasmaei , S K & Asghari F did a Comparative study of the effects of narrative therapy and play therapy by group approach on inhibiting impulsivity, reducing aggression and increasing interpersonal relations. The research methodology was a quasi-experimental approach. The study population consisted of primary school parentless boys in Welfare Centers in the city of Rasht. The sample in this study included 30 primary school parentless male children (7-11 years old) who had been diagnosed with aggressive behaviors disorders, lack of interpersonal relationships and inability to control impulses by the consultants of welfare centers in Rasht. Using the available sampling method, the sampled members were randomly divided into three 10-subject groups of experimental narrative therapy group, experimental play therapy group and the control group. The research tools included overt and relational aggression questionnaire for primary school children, Hershfield impulsivity scale and children self-efficacy scale in interpersonal relationships with peers. The results showed that both treatment methods, namely group narrative therapy and play therapy are effective on inhibiting impulsivity, reducing aggression and increasing interpersonal relations at the level of (P < 0.01). Separately compared based on the results, we can conclude that the play therapy method is a more effective approach regarding the variables of impulsivity and aggression in comparison with the narrative therapy, while these two treatment methods are not statistically significant on variable of interpersonal relations. The group play therapy method can be used to reduce aggression and impulsive behaviors.

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