Journal of Health Sciences and Surveillance System
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Oct 2018

The classroom is an important part of the educational environment, which should meet the standard requirements including safety and adequate spaces regarding the number of learners, color, lighting, noise, proper equipment, and air conditioning. This study aimed to investigate the safety level of classrooms in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) classrooms (n = 63), in the south-west of Iran. Data regarding the safety measures were collected using an audit checklist.  Finally, an index called Classroom Safety Requirement Index (CSRI) was introduced in order to calculate percentage of safety measures in the classrooms.

The results revealed that the ‘environmental condition’ dimension of the CSRI was in a good level. The ‘building’, ‘equipment’ and ‘electrical’ dimensions were in the medium level, and the ‘fire safety and emergency’ dimension was placed in the poor level. 38.70% of the classes (24 classes) were in the Standard Occupant Load (SOL or degree of overcrowding) and others (61.30% of classrooms) were overcrowded (unacceptable occupant load).

The examined classrooms were very poor regarding the ‘fire safety’ and ‘emergency exit’, which requires proper and appropriate measures to improve safety in these areas.

Crystalline silica is one of the compounds used in different industries. One of the industries in which this compound is used is the tile industry that can cause disabling lung disease. The purpose of this study was to reduce and eliminate workplace air pollutants by Local Exhaust Ventilation system (LEVs).   In this interventional-practical study, designing LEVs is accomplished according to the velocity pressure method balanced system design of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and is performed in spray dryer hall in a tile factory. The studied population consisted of 22 workers selected randomly. After implementation, the LEVs efficiency was evaluated, both in terms of occupational health and fluid mechanics. In order to evaluate the system from the point of view of occupational health, the measurement of Crystalline silica, inhalable and total dust was done before and after installation of LEVs by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 7601, 0600 and open face methods, respectively; also, to evaluate the system as to fluid mechanics, we measured the velocity and flow rate in some hoods and ducts.   Results showed that the obtained mean values of total, inhalable and silica dust after installation of LEVs had a statistically significant difference before the use of LEVs (p<0.05); also, the efficiency of removing the mentioned pollutants was 66, 94 and 96%, respectively.    The performance of the ventilation system was in accordance with the values obtained in the design.

Acute appendicitis is the major cause of abdominal pain which indicates urgent surgery. Commonly, it is diagnosed through clinical signs and symptoms and blood test. This study aimed to assess the  accuracy of acute appendicitis diagnosis through signs and symptoms, Alvarado score system, and ultrasonography method. This was a cross-sectional study. Medical profiles of 696 patients with abdominal pain suspected of acute appendicitis referred to Shahid Faghihi hospital were reviewed from June to October 2016. A checklist was used for data collection. The gold standard for diagnosis of acute appendicitis was patient’s pathology report. For signs and symptoms, Alvarado score system and ultrasonography method sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, and the Youden’s index were calculated based on true positive and true negative values. Among 696 patients suspected of acute appendicitis, 371 (53.3%) were men and 325 (46.7%) women. The mean age for women and men was 30.14+11.49  and 30.53+11.61 years, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for ultrasonography and Alvarado score system were 68.1% and 78.9%, 76.1%, and 59.9%, respectively. The areas under roc curve and the Youden’s index for ultrasonography and Alvarado score system were 0.73, 0.47, and 0.71, 0.55, respectively.   The results showed that ultrasonography and Alvarado score system were effective pre-surgical diagnostic tests for patients suspected of acute appendicitis.

Effective common factors such as therapeutic alliance and group cohesion play essential roles in outcome treatment in borderline personality disorder. The present study aimed to investigate the role of therapeutic alliance and group cohesion in group therapy based on mentalization and dialectical behavior in borderline personality disorder. This is a single-blind randomized controlled clinical trial conducted on 36 patients diagnosed with BPD (12 in each three groups). They were examined by a semi-structured clinical interview. Data were collected from March 2017 to June 2017. All screening and performance procedures were performed daily in Hefez hospital, Shiraz. Patients were selected through targeted sampling. Data were entered into SPSS, version 21, by using repeated measures and simple regression analysis and analyzed by one who was blind to the groups. The computer method was used for randomization. The participants were categorized into intervention and control groups. Before, immediately and two months after the intervention, the participants filled out the Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index (BPDSI), Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), Group Cohesion Scale (GCS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) questionnaires. After the intervention, therapeutic alliance (p=0.005) and group cohesion (p=0.0001) in both experimental groups had significantly higher scores compared to the control group. The two relationship elements were found to contribute to psychotherapy outcome. Therapeutic alliance and group cohesion had also been estimated to account for at least as much variance in psychotherapy outcome as specific therapeutic interventions.

With the advancement of nanotechnology, nanoparticles have been applied in our modern society. However, the hazardous effects of nanoparticles on organisms have not been thoroughly clarified yet. Considering the migration of nanoparticles in food and its subsequent consumption by humans, we have employed normal cell line, the African green monkey kidney cell line (Vero) for evaluation of the cytotoxic activity of the silver nanoparticles. Currently, there are various approaches to perform toxicity tests. In this study, we investigated the effects of citrate-based silver nanoparticles on Vero cells to explore the adverse effects of these nanoparticles. In an experimental work, to synthetize silver nanoparticles, silver nitrate and citric acid were used. Nanoparticles were further characterized by UV-Visible Spectroscopy, Dynamic Light scattering (DLS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Cells were exposed to various concentrations of the nanoparticles (1.56 to 1000 µg/ml) for 24 h and 48h. The cytotoxic activity and apoptosis were determined using MTT assay and acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining, respectively. The present study showed a dose-dependent cytotoxicity of the silver nanoparticles with log IC50 values of ~ 10.68 and 2.06 µg/ml for 24 h and 48 h, respectively on Vero cell lines. Analysis by AO/EB staining indicated that the silver nanoparticles induced apoptosis in the cell lines. Silver nanoparticles revealed cytotoxic effects on the Vero cells which was associated with the method of synthesis of silver nanoparticles.

This descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the interaction effects of sewage sludge and its biochar on anthracene biological degradation in a Pb polluted soil under sunflower cultivation   Treatments consisted of applying three rates of anthracene (0, 12.5 and 25 mg/kg soil), two levels of sewage sludge and its biochar (0 and 30 t/ha) in the presence of Azetobacter bacteria and Piriformospora indica (P. indica) fungus. After 60 days, plants were harvested and plant Pb concentration was measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy. In addition, the soil petroleum hydrocarbons concentration and soil microbial respiration were measured by the method described by Besalatpour et al. (2011). The catalyze enzyme activity was assayed. Plant inoculation with P.indica and Azotobacter significantly increased the degradation of anthracene in soil by 12.8% in the soil treated with 25 mg anthracene/kg soil. In addition, the soil Pb availability was decreased by 14.6% in the mentioned treatment. Applying 30 t/ha sewage sludge and its biochar significantly increased the plant biomass and anthracene degradation in the soil treated by 12.5 mg anthracene /kg soil by 13.5% and 12.6%, respectively. Soil treated with sewage sludge and its biochar had a positive effect on plant resistance to abiotic stresses and degradation of anthracene in the soil. Among this, plant inoculation with P. indica and Azotobacter had also an additive effect on bio-remediation of anthracene in the soil that is a positive point in environmental studies. However, soil pollution with heavy metals had an adverse effect on it.

Safe performance and patient safety are two important issues in the delivery of healthcare services. Non-technical skills are necessary for safe performance of anesthesiologists in the operating room. This study aimed to assess the anesthetists’ non-technical skills in Iranian hospitals. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 38 anesthetists working in orthopedic surgery wards of two hospitals in 2019. The data were collected using the Anesthetist’s Non-Technical Skills (ANTS) system, which included four domains, namely task management, teamwork, situation awareness, and decision-making. The anesthetists were assessed by a trained observer via observing and recording the events during surgeries. The mean score of ANTS was 10.12±1.66 out of 16. Among the four skills, the highest and lowest mean scores were related to “task management” (2.94 out of 4) and “decision-making” (2.26 out of 4), respectively. Work experience showed a significant positive relationship with “decision-making” (p=0.008, r=0.974). However, higher education level was not associated with improved anesthesiology skills. The quality of non-technical skills was below the acceptable level in the studied anesthetists. Thus, it is recommended that the anesthetists’ skills should be improved through educational and political interventions.

The main aim of this research is to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on malaria control with respect to indoor residual spraying (IRS) in a community of Southern Iran.

Human malaria is an important vector-borne infectious disease in Iran. It remains endemic over most parts of the oriental region of Iran that is still in the pre-elimination phase without considerable drop in the proportion of malaria cases.

This research was a cross-sectional household survey conducted in Kazerun, Fars province, Iran, to examine he malaria status and identify the parameters that obstruct the progress of the elimination phase. A standard questionnaire with 20 questions was provided to households including knowledge, attitude and practice categories. Sampling was then stratified to choose the samples in three rural foci of Kazerun.

The sex ratio of participants included 192 females (92.3%) and 16 males (7.7%), respectively. This community benefited mostly from acceptable literacy level. A strong association prevailed between the majority of respondents’ (88.5%) knowledge of fever and chills as the main symptoms of malaria and their literacy level. The majority (198, 95.2%) of volunteers declared that malaria disease was transmitted through the mosquito bites. In line with this study, literate persons have raised motivation and attitude to use bednets and keep themselves away from mosquitoes. These individuals cooperate perfectly with healthcare workers in malaria control program strategies (especially IRS).

Comprehensive and synergistic measures are needed to be taken to manage malaria elimination strategy in Iran.