Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal
Volume:20 Issue: 11, Dec 2018

Traumatic injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in the working population, worldwide. According to estimates, by 2020, traumatic injuries will be the second cause of disability in developing countries and the third cause of death and disability across nations, worldwide.

This study aimed at assessing work-related traumas and related risk factors that may contribute to the development of injuries among Iranian metal melting workers in Kashan industrial sites.

Data were collected by a descriptive cross-sectional study on 178 Iranian metal melting workers in five manufacturing sites of Kashan, selected as a census. The data consisted of a three-year period from 2014 to 2016. Samples were selected as the census. The study used a demographic questionnaire, accident investigation reports, and interviews with workers that had experienced traumatic injuries, to collect data.

Overall, 58.43% of workers experienced traumatic events. The data indicated a significant association between age, years of employment, and being a witness of an accident with work-related trauma (P < 0.05). Workers involved in smelting operations experienced more injuries than workers at other processing units. Most Injuries affected hands and wrists. The leading causes of work-related injuries were contacting with hot objects (42.3%), fall from height (26.9%), electrical shock (1.9%), strike (18.3%), stuck (3.8%), and strain (1.9%).

These results may contribute to the nature of tasks in metal melting process, requiring performance of hot processes and heavy manual tasks with hand tools. The results provide steps for developing prevention strategies. Metal workers involved in performing hot processes and heavy manual tasks might be considered as first targets for preventive interventions.

Spinal trauma is a devastating event which could disturb a person’s life. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and risk factors of spinal trauma in Rajaee trauma center, Shiraz, Iran. Data for this cross-sectional study were gathered from October 2009 to August 2015. The study was conducted through data extraction from the classified data of trauma patients admitted to Rajaei hospital. After performing some inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4630 cases were analyzed. The variables analyzed as the risk factors of spinal trauma included sex, age, cord injury, mechanism of injury, and injury severity score. The prevalence of spinal trauma among traumatic patients was 7%; also, 3.7% of those with spinal trauma suffered cord injury. The mean age of the spinal traumatic patients was 38.2 ± 17.8, and male-to-female ratio was 2.394. Car accident, motorbike accident, and fall were the main causes of spinal trauma in this study. The lumbar region was the most common injured site in our study. Old age, cord injury, suicide, and car accident were the main risk factors of mortality among spinal traumatic patients. Risk factors of spinal trauma among traumatic patients were female gender, old age, and fall. The risk factors of cord injury in spinal traumatic patients were male gender, old age, and suicide. It was found that spinal trauma, spinal cord injury (SCI), and mortality among spinal traumatic patients in Iran depended on some risk factors, which should be reduced through eliminating such risk factors. Fall was the most prominent factor of the occurrence of spinal trauma. The most important factors of mortality in spinal traumatic patients were suicide and cord injury. Finally, suicide played the most important role in occurrence of SCI.

Physical exercises increase quality of life (QoL) in diabetics. However, the optimal exercise type for patients with diabetes has not yet been established. It is unknown whether pilates is a suitable form of exercise for the QoL of patients with diabetes. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of Pilates-based mat exercise (PBME) on glycemic control, anxiety, depression, and QoL in women with type 2 diabetes. This prospective and randomized study was conducted with 24 women in the Pilates group and 21 women in the control group. Socio demographic data were collected from both groups, including the duration of diabetes since diagnosis, medications being taken, insulin injections, sleep problems, and so on, as well as hospital records of blood laboratory test outcomes (fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin). Pain and fatigue symptoms were assessed using the visual analogue scale. Participants completed the 36-item short form health survey and the hospital anxiety depression scale. Participants in the exercise group performed PBME three times per week for 12 weeks. Both groups continued their routine diet and medical follow-ups during the intervention. Data from the groups were compared before and after the program. Pain (3.00 ± 4.00, 2.00 ± 2.00, P = 0.001), fatigue (5.00 ± 2.00, 4.00 ± 1.00, P = 0.0001), mental health-related QoL (29.00 ± 5.00, 35.00 ± 3.00, P = 0.0001), anxiety (8.00 ± 3.00, 7.00 ± 3.00, P = 0.023), depression (9.00 ± 2.00, 8.00 ± 2.00, P = 0.019), fasting blood glucose (140.00 ± 31.00, 139.5 ± 32.00, P = 0.026), and glycosylated hemoglobin values (6.70 ± 1.16, 6.30±1.00, P = 0.001) in the Pilates group differed before and after the intervention. In the control group, only glycosylated hemoglobin values (6.53 ± 1.42, 6.40 ± 1.27, P = 0.008) differed before and after the intervention. PBMEs affect the parameters of QoL in women with type 2 diabetes, and they might be recommended as a part of their treatment program.

Herniation of the stomach through the esophageal hiatus into the thoracic cavity is a common affliction in modern humans. Its incidence in North America has ranged from 10% to 80%. However, approximately complete herniation of the stomach is scarce. Therefore, we discussed this unusual case. A 43-year-old man with a hypochromic, microcytic, iron-deficient anemia picture, postprandial and postexercise respiratory failures, and epigastric pain was examined by a gastroenterologist in the outpatient clinic of mother and child specialized hospital in Shiraz, Iran in November 2015. Left thorax hemiatrophy was obvious upon physical examination. Positive Helicobacter pylori, peripyloric erythema, and mild chronic active gastritis were diagnosed after an upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy and colonoscopy. In a barium-swallow upper GI series, malrotation of most of the patient’s stomach and the stomach’s dislocation in to the thoracic cavity were detected. A CT scan also showed a large hiatus hernia with a large part of the stomach inserted in the defect. The patient revealed a history of a motorcycle accident about 28 years earlier. After the administration of general anesthesia and the semilateral positioning of the patient, five ports were inserted (three 5 mm and two 10 mm). The stomach was relocated into the abdominal cavity, and the bloody sac was dissected from the left and then the right cross, detached from the thoracic cavity, and completely removed. Two cruses were sutured together using a 1/0 silk suture, and after releasing the short gastrics, a prophylactic Dor fundoplication was performed. The next morning, oral nutrition was started, and the patient was discharged in a good general health condition. Laparoscopic repair of a large hiatus hernia plus Dor fundoplication is an effective method of treatment of such a defect without any symptoms. However, it may be associated with the mild to moderate prevalence of recurring hernias.