International Journal of Preventive Medicine
Volume:8 Issue: 11, Nov 2017

Results of tuberculin skin test (TST) surveys among different populations have been reported in many studies as a method for detecting primary Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Combining these results provides reliable estimates of primary latent tuberculosis (TB) infection for health policymakers. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of latent TB infection in general and high‑risk populations in Iran. National and international databanks were searched using specifc keywords. After restricting the search strategy, duplicates exclusion, reviewing titles, abstracts and full texts, and quality assessment, eligible papers were selected. The heterogeneity between the results was assessed according to Cochrane and I‑squared indices. The prevalence of positive TST reactions was estimated using fxed and random effect models. Totally, 33 papers were entered into the meta‑analysis reporting the TST results in 12693 people aged over 18. The prevalence (95% confdence intervals) of positive TST reactions in all groups, general population, health staff, medical students, household close contacts, patients with TB, immunocompromised patients, HIV/AIDS patients, and those with risky behaviors was 26.2% (19.6–32.8), 25.4% (4.8–46.1), 38.9% (27.4–50.9), 13.4% (9.9–16.7), 35.9% (16.4–55.5), 13.7% (8.4–18.9), 29.4% (21.2–37.7), and 14.6% (3.9–25.3), respectively. Our study showed great varieties of positive TST results among different Iranian subpopulations. Furthermore, the prevalence of latent TB infection among health professionals and family members of TB patients was considerably different from that of the other subgroup. Since TB control programs such as active case fnding are routinely conducted among household close contacts and HIV/AIDS cases, other high‑risk groups including health‑care workers and immunocompromised patients should be taken into consideration in these preventive programs.

Medicinal plants have special importance around the world. Further, they have been noticed for nutrition and illness treatment such as preparation of anticancer new drugs. Therefore, a wide range of studies have been done on different plants, and their anticancer effects have been investigated. Nowadays, cancer is the most important factor of death rate in the developed and developing countries. Among them, stomach cancer is one of the most common malignancies around the world. At present, it is recognized as the fourth common cancer and the second factor of death rate due to cancer. So far, there has been wide range of effort for cancer treatment; however, in most cases, the response to the treatment has been very weak and often accompanied improper subsidiary effects.
The present problems as a consequence of chemical treatment and radiotherapy and many subsidiary problems created due to their use for patients, and also, the resistance to the current treatment has motivated researchers to apply new medicines with more effect and less toxicity. The secondary metabolisms existent in the plants have an important role in the treatment of several diseases such as cancer. This study was conducted to investigate and collect scientifc results for stomach cancer and to clarify the role of medicinal plants and secondary plant compounds on its treatment.

The objective of this study was to determine the gender differences in health‑related quality of life (HRQoL) and to indicate to what extent this difference can be explained by differential in demographic and chronic disease conditions in Iranian elderly people.
This analysis was carried out on cross‑sectional data of QoL assessment among 750 elderly individuals aged 60–90 years who were dwelling in urban population of Babol, the North of Iran. The multiple linear regression model was used to estimate the association between gender and HRQoL after controlling sociodemographic characteristics and chronic disease conditions.
Women had signifcantly lower score in HRQoL in all subscales compared with men after adjusting several confounding factors (P = 0.001). The unadjusted mean difference in overall HRQoL scores was -11.2 (95% confdence interval [CI]: -13.8, -8.6) points, but it was reduced to -6.5 (95% CI: -9.0, -3.9) points between gender after adjusting by age, educational level, living status, physical activity, smoking, abdominal obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
Adjusting for sociodemographic and chronic disease conditions reduced the effect size of poorer HRQoL for women compared with men but did not remove the sex differences. The poorer scores of HRQoL in Iranian women needs further physical, psychological, and social supports in elderly.

Classic phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic disorder. The purpose of this study was to assess epidemiological factors of PKU phenotypes in a neonatal screening program for Mazandaran, Iran.
In this descriptive‑retrospective study from 2007 to 2015, neonates PKU level was conducted by phenylalanine level based on a biochemical technique by ELISA and then by confrmatory methods high performance liquid chromatography.
Of the 407,244 screened newborns (48.7% girls and 51.3% boys), 14 girls and 13 boys were diagnosed defnitely from 465 suspicious cases of PKU. The incidence of PKU was 0.66 in 10,000, which was noted in different severity (severe PKU ‑ 1:67,874, mild PKU ‑ 1:45,249, and HPA ‑ 1:33,937). In addition, we did not detect any cases of nonclassic PKU.
Although the consanguineous marriage pattern is a major cause of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) particularly in Iranian, there was no signifcant difference between groups in this study. Now, screening should be executed for all of the family that they have the familial history of PKU in Iran. According to varies actual of prevalence and incidence rate of PKU reported a real patient and taking PKU with mild PKU and HPA, it is recommended, the will provide the PKU reports based on the severity of the disease.

The aim of the present study was to develop a dental caries risk assessment tool for Iranian preschoolers.
In a validation and cross‑sectional study, a random sample of 150 preschool children was involved. This study was conducted in three phases: questionnaire design (expert panel and peer evaluation), questionnaire testing (pilot evaluation and feld testing), and validation study. The initial assessments include interview, dental examination, and laboratory investigations. Validity and reliability indices, content validity index (CVI), content validity ratio (CVR), impact score, and test‑retest and Cronbach’s alpha were measured. Decayed, missing, flled teeth (dmft) scores were calculated according to the WHO guidelines.
The Iranian version of caries risk assessment (CRA) questionnaire contained 17 items. Cronbach’s alpha coeffcient (0.86) indicated a suitable internal consistency. The mean scores for the CVI and the CVR were 0.87 and 0.78, respectively. The prevalence rate of dental caries in the study group was 69.3%, and the mean dmft was 4.57 (range 0–19).
The Persian version of CRA questionnaire was adapted to the Iranian population. The fndings demonstrated overall acceptable validity and also reliability in the application of test‑retest. The results of the present study provide initial evidence that the designed CRA form could be a useful tool for CRA in the Iranian preschoolers.

There are scant studies on the prevalence and determinants of tobacco smoking among 1st year university students in Iran. We aim to determine the prevalence of substance abuse and identify factors related with tobacco smoking in 1st year students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS).
A self‑administered questionnaire was used to collect information onsociodemographic, cigarette smoking, hookah smoking, and related risk factors among 521 1st year students in QUMS between January and February 2014. We used logistic regression to determine factors associated with substance abuse among students.
The descriptive statistics indicated that the prevalence of lifetime cigarette and hookah smoking was 8.6% (confdence interval [CI] 95%:6.5–11.4) and 35.5% (CI 95%: 31.5–39.7), respectively. After adjustment for other factors, being male, the presence of any smoker in the family and having smoker friends were factors associated with cigarette and hookah smoking among students. Our fndings also revealed the co‑occurrence of risk‑taking behaviors among students.
Our study showed considerably low prevalence of tobacco smoking among 1st year students. Longitudinal studies are necessary to approve the observed results of this study and thus allow for a certain generalization of the observations.

There are more than 500 different mutations on phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene that is responsible for phenylketonuria (PKU) diseases and the spectrum of these mutations is varied in different populations. The main clinical manifestation of untreated patients is severe mental retardation. The PAH gene, that is 90 kb long, is consisted of 13 exons and 12 introns. The aim of the present study was to identify the frequency of fve common mutations on PAH gene among patients with PKU in Mazandaran and Golestan provinces including c.1066‑11G>A, p. R261Q, p. R252W, p. R261X, and c.1200 1G>C.
Forty unrelated PKU patients, that 22 of them, were from Mazandaran and 18 of them from Golestan provinces were enrolled in the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from leukocytes using Qiagen DNA extraction kit and polymerase chain reaction ‑ restriction fragment length polymorphism method was applied to detect fve common mutations.
Three out of the 5 investigate mutations were identifed among the patients. The c.1066‑11G>A mutation has the highest frequency (27.5%) among the patients and the frequency of p. R261Q and p. R261X mutations were 3.75 and 1.25%, respectively. In Golestan province, only c.1066‑11G>A mutation was observed in investigated alleles.
The high frequency of c.1066‑11G>A mutation in Golestan province may be related to genetic drift, founder effect, and consanguinity.

A healthy lifestyle is important because of its long-term benefits; however, there is a paucity of information concerning health choices among Iranians. We evaluated personal health behaviors, attempts to change unhealthy behaviors, and factors affecting attempts at change.
The design of this cross-sectional study was to assemble a representative cadre of >18-year-old adults in Shiraz, Iran, using a multistage cluster sampling technique. Validated questionnaires collected participant's demographic information, such as weight, height, cigarette smoking history, physical activity, and attempts at lifestyle changes during the previous year. To determine predictors of attempts to change unhealthy lifestyle and to identify confounders, we applied single and multivariable logistic regression methods, respectively. A confidence interval of 95% was calculated for each odds ratio.
The prevalence of attempts to change unhealthy lifestyle was 42%, 64.8%, and 27.8%, respectively, for losing weight, being more physically active, and smoking cessation. Unemployment, low levels of education, and decreased socioeconomic status have important roles in attempts to change lifestyle conditions. Low socioeconomic status was a risk factor for quitting smoking. Occupation (unemployed/homemaker) and low level of education were two significant factors for being more physically active.
The prevalence of inadequate physical activity and being overweight or obese was considerable in Shiraz, Iran. Attempts to change unhealthy lifestyle were less than ideal. Social determinants of health factors including unemployment and low levels of education and socioeconomic status play important roles in attempts to change current lifestyles.

While disseminating health research findings to the public, it is very important to present appropriate and accurate information to give the target audience a correct understanding of the subject matter. The objective of this study was to design and psychometrically evaluate a checklist for health journalists to help them prepare news of appropriate accuracy and authenticity.
The study consisted of two phases, checklist design and psychometrics. Literature review and expert opinion were used to extract the items of the checklist in the first phase. In the second phase, to assess content and face validity, the judgment of 38 persons (epidemiologists with a tool production history, editors-in-chief, and health journalists) was used to check the item's understandability, nonambiguity, relevancy, and clarity. Reliability was assessed by the test–retest method using intra-cluster correlation (ICC) indices in the two phases. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess internal validity of the checklist.
Based on the participant's opinions, the items were reduced from 20 to 14 in number. The items were categorized into the following three domains: (a) items assessing the source of news and its validity, (b) items addressing the presentation of complete and accurate information on research findings, and (c) items which if adhered to lead to the target audience's better understanding. The checklist was approved for content and face validity. The reliability of the checklist was assessed in the last stage; the ICC was 1 for 12 items and above 0.8 for the other two. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.98.
The resultant indices of the study indicate that the checklist has appropriate validity and reliability. Hence, it can be used by health journalists to develop health research-based news.