Iranian Journal of Public Health
Volume:43 Issue: 11, Nov 2014

Happiness underlying factors are considerable from two dimensions: endogenic factors (biological, cognitive, personality and ethical sub-factors) and exogenic factors (behavioral, social-cultural, economical, geographical, life events and aesthetics sub-factors). Among all endogenic factors, biological sub-factors are the significant predictors of happiness. Existence of significant differences in temperament and happiness of infants is an indicator of biological influences. Therefore, this study aimed to consider biological factors that underlie happiness. At the first, all of the biological factors in relation with happiness were searched from following websites: PubMed, Wiley& Sons, Science direct (1990-2014). Then, the articles divided into five sub-groups (genetic, brain and neurotransmitters, endocrinology and hormones, physical health, morphology and physical attractiveness). Finally, a systematic review performed based on existing information. Results of studies on genetic factors indicated an average effectiveness of genetic about 35 -50 percent on happiness. In spite of difficulties in finding special genes, several genes distributed to emotion and mood. Neuroscience studies showed that some part of brain (e.g. amygdala, hipocamp and limbic system) and neurotransmitters (e.g. dopamine, serotonin, norepinefrine and endorphin) play a role in control of happiness. A few studies pointed to the role of cortisol and adrenaline (adrenal gland) and oxitocin (pituitary gland) in controlling happiness. Physical health and typology also concluded in most related studies to have a significant role in happiness. Therefore, according to previous research, it can be said that biological and health factors are critical in underlying happiness and its role in happiness is undeniable.

A detailed study and analysis of previous research has been carried out to illustrate the relationships between a range of environmental emergencies, and their effects on the emotional state of the rescuers involved in responding to them, by employing Pub Med, Science Direct, Web of Science, Google Scholar, CNKI and Scopus for required information with the several keywords “emergency rescue”, “occupational safety”, “natural disaster”, “emotional management”. The effect of the rescuers’ emotion on their occupational safety and immediate and long-term emotional behavior is then considered. From these considerations, we suggested four research propositions related to the emotional effects at both individual and group levels, and to the responsibilities of emergency response agencies in respect of ensuring the psychological and physical occupational safety of rescuers during and after environmental emergencies. An analysis framework is proposed which could be used to study the influence paths of these different aspects of emotional impact on a range of occupational safety issues for rescue workers. The authors believe that the conclusions drawn in this paper can provide a useful theoretical reference for decision-making related to the management and protection of the occupational safety of rescuers responding to natural disasters and environmental emergencies.

Smoking cessation rates have remained stagnant globally. This study was conducted to explore the factors associated with successful smoking cessation among South Korean adult males using nationally representative data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2007 to 2012. A comparison was made between successful quitters and those who failed to quit after attempts to stop smoking. A total of 7,839 males, aged 19–65 years, were included in this cross-sectional study. The outcome measures were the success and failure rates in smoking cessation, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, health behaviors, perceived health status, quality of life, and mental health. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine the various factors associated with smoking cessation success. The cessation success and failure rates were 45.5% and 54.5%, respectively. Smoking cessation was related to older age, marriage, higher income, smoking larger amounts of cigarettes, use of willpower, alcohol abstinence, cancer history, better mental health, and higher levels of quality of life, after controlling for multiple variables. Second-hand smoke exposure at home and using nicotine replacement therapy were associated with a lower likelihood of smoking cessation. A smoke-free environment, use of willpower, alcohol abstinence, and better stress management are important for smoking cessation. Unlike previous studies, not using nicotine replacement therapy and higher levels of daily cigarette consumption were associated with successful smoking cessation, suggesting that motivation appears to be important to smoking cessation in Korean adult male population.

Our aim was to investigate the frequency of the behaviors that are most often associated with excess weight gain in Kuwaitis and to determine which gender and age groups are at highest risk for each behavior. A questionnaire developed to identify barriers to exercise in western populations was modified for use with Kuwaitis and posted online during September through December 2012. Data from 1370 adults 18 to 59 years old with BMIs ranging from 15.1–70.8 was collected. The prevalence of seven behavior patterns was examined for age, BMI, and gender groups as well as the odds ratio of each behavior for each BMI group. Both individual unhealthy exercise behaviors and the sum of all such behaviors were more frequent in overweight and obese individuals. For all behaviors the odds ratio was significantly greater for those with BMIs of 30-39 than for those with BMIs below 25 (P< 0.05). Some exercise avoidance behaviors were more frequent in older age groups and in overweight females. Unhealthy exercise behavior patterns were highly prevalent in obese individuals. Tailoring programs and counseling to the most common of these patterns in Kuwaiti obese should facilitate greater success in weight management.

Body mass index (BMI) has been demonstrated to be associated with serum uric acid (SUA) level in many developed countries, however, there is still a lack of large sample study in Jiangsu Province, one of the most economically developed regions in China, where fat-rich diet is common. Through retrospective analysis in healthy subjects, we determined the association of BMI with hyperuricemia risk. Data of 39,736 participants from January 2011 to June 2013 in China were analyzed for parameters including physical examinations and biochemical blood analysis. On univariate analysis, SUA was positively correlated with age, SBP, DBP, BMI, FPG, red blood cell count, hemoglobin, white blood cell count, platelet, cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, ALT, AST, bilirubin, albumin, BUN and creatinine. SUA was significantly elevated in a linear fashion as BMI increased, and SUA in obesity was significantly higher than underweight. The prevalence of hyperuricemia remained approximately 2.98 times greater among individuals with overweight, and 5.96 times greater among obesity, compared to individuals with underweight. There is a positive relationship between BMI and SUA among healthy subjects in Jiangsu province, China.

Identification of risk factors of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Egypt is crucial for developing appropriate prevention strategies. There are few community-based studies on the epidemiology and risk factors of hepatitis C infection in Egypt, which could not provide enough information. Clear identification of past and current risk factors for infection is of utmost importance so that intervention programs can be appropriately focused. This study aims to provide up-to-date information about changes in the incidence of individual risk factors for HCV infection transmission in Egypt. A total of 396 chronic HCV patients on follow-up treatment at liver center in El-Qabbary General Hospital in Alexandria were evaluated retrospectively regarding the potential iatrogenic, community acquired and behavioral HCV risk factors. Risk factors for HCV transmission were found in all study populations. At least three identifiable risk factors were reported by each participant. Some behavioral and community-acquired exposures that entail several risky behaviors particularly, unsafe sexual practices were exclusively established among males. We report a significant decline in prevalence of HCV transmission through blood transfusion, parenteral treatment, hospitalization, surgery, non medicalized circumcision, Hijiama done by informal practitioner, tattooing, folk body piercing and threading, sharing hygiene and sharp items, and the use of communal barber or manicure sets among younger age cluster. The pattern of risk differed among older patients compared to younger age group suggesting improved medical care and infection control measures and raised public health awareness regarding the different modes of viral transmission.

User-generated medical messages on Internet contain extensive information related to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and are known as valuable resources for post-marketing drug surveillance. The aim of this study was to find an effective method to identify messages related to ADRs automatically from online user reviews. We conducted experiments on online user reviews using different feature set and different classification technique. Firstly, the messages from three communities, allergy community, schizophrenia community and pain management community, were collected, the 3000 messages were annotated. Secondly, the N-gram-based features set and medical domain-specific features set were generated. Thirdly, three classification techniques, SVM, C4.5 and Naïve Bayes, were used to perform classification tasks separately. Finally, we evaluated the performance of different method using different feature set and different classification technique by comparing the metrics including accuracy and F-measure. In terms of accuracy, the accuracy of SVM classifier was higher than 0.8, the accuracy of C4.5 classifier or Naïve Bayes classifier was lower than 0.8; meanwhile, the combination feature sets including n-gram-based feature set and domain-specific feature set consistently outperformed single feature set. In terms of F-measure, the highest F-measure is 0.895 which was achieved by using combination feature sets and a SVM classifier. In all, we can get the best classification performance by using combination feature sets and SVM classifier. By using combination feature sets and SVM classifier, we can get an effective method to identify messages related to ADRs automatically from online user reviews.

Students emotional health and bullying behavior are receiving greater attention worldwide due to their long-term effects on students’ health. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived school climate, peer support, teacher support, school pressure and emotional health and bullying among adolescent school students in Jordan. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to recruit a sample of 1166 in-school adolescents in Amman between November 2013 and January 2014. A multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select respondents and Health Behavior in School Aged Children questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlation to detect relationships among study variables. Significant correlations (P value was ≤.05) were found between school climate including teacher and peer support and emotional health and bullying behavior of school students. School pressure was not correlated significantly with emotional health and bullying. Study findings emphasize the importance of school related factors in influencing students’ emotional health and bullying behavior. This indicates that the issue of bullying and emotional health of students in Jordanian schools requires further attention, both for future research and preventive intervention.

Health price inflation rate is different from increasing in health expenditures. Health expenditures contain both quantity and prices but inflation rate contains prices. This study aimed to determine the factors that affect the Inflation Rate for Health Care Services (IRCPIHC) in Iran. We used Central Bank of Iran data. We estimated the relationship between the inflation rate and its determinants using dynamic factor variable approach. For this purpose, we used STATA software. The study results revealed a positive relationship between the overall inflation as well as the number of dentists and health inflation. However, number of beds and physicians per 1000 people had a negative relationship with health inflation. When the number of hospital beds and doctors increased, the competition between them increased, as well, thereby decreasing the inflation rate. Moreover, dentists and drug stores had the conditions of monopoly markets; therefore, they could change the prices easier compared to other health sectors. Health inflation is the subset of growth in health expenditures and the determinants of health expenditures are not similar to health inflation.

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune blistering disorder of the skin or mucosa. Since low vitamin D status has been linked to many immune disorders, we designed this study to compare the vitamin D status in PV patients with healthy controls. In this case-control study, vitamin D status of 32 newly diagnosed PV patients was compared with 36 healthy control subjects. All patients were selected from the specialized dermatology departments of Razi Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences in a 2-year period (2009-2010). The severity of the disease was estimated according to Harman’s scores. Serum concentration of 25(OH)D was measured by Roche Elecsys System. Data were analyzed by independent t-test. Both groups were similar based on sex, age and body mass index. The mean duration of disease was 5.57±0.93 months. The mean oral and skin severities were 1.81±0.20 and 2.31±0.17 respectively, based on Harman’s scores. Serum 25(OH)D was significantly lower in PV patients compared to controls (-8.90; 95% CI, 2.29-15.51 and P = 0.009). There was a negative correlation between vitamin D level and the oral severity of disease (r = -0.39 and P = 0.02). PV patients had significantly lower serum level of 25(OH)D compared to healthy subjects which might contribute to worsen the disease. These data indicate the importance of improving vitamin D level in pemphigus patients.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects physical and emotional aspects of patient’s lives. The aim of this study was to evaluate Emotional Intelligence (EI) in cases with MS. One hundred sixty six clinically definite MS and 110 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. All participants filled valid and reliable Persian version Emotional Quotient inventory (EQ-i) questionnaire, which had been developed due to Bar-On model. Mean EI total score and 12 out of 15 subscales were significantly different between patients and controls. Total EI score and most of its subscales were significantly higher in patients with RR (Relapsing Remitting) than Secondary Progressive (SP) ones. There was significant negative correlation between EDSS and total EI score (rho=-0.4, P<0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis between the EI as a dependent variable and sex, type of disease, level of education, age and marital status as independent variables in patients showed that type of disease and level of education were independent predictors of EI. Emotional intelligence as the ability to behave better and communicate with others should be considered in MS cases as their physical and psychological health are affected by their illness.

This study aimed to evaluate freeze-dried sera as an alternative to non-freeze dried for detection of anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies over the course of 11 months using the direct agglutination test (DAT). Altogether, 60 serum samples (30 from humans and 30 from dogs) were collected from various geographical locations in Iran. All the collected sera were pooled and each pooled serum sample contained 10 different sera. In the beginning, the human and dog pooled sera were categorized as positive (weak and strong) and negative based on anti-L. infantum antibodies using the DAT. All the freeze-dried and non-freeze-dried sera were stored at −70°C, −20°C, 4°C, 22–28°C and 56°C for 11 months. The positive and negative human and dog pooled sera were separately tested using the DAT each month and the results were compared to non-freeze-dried sera kept under the same conditions. We found strong agreement (100%) between the results obtained from freeze-dried human and dog in strong DAT positive sera kept at −70°C, −20°C, 4°C and 22–28°C during this study. The human and dog pooled sera stored at 56°C were corrupted after 2 weeks. The DAT results were highly reproducible using freeze-dried human pooled sera in the beginning and month 11 of this study (CV = 0.036). Freeze-dried human and dog strong DAT positive sera are highly stable under different temperature conditions, are easy to transport and are safe for use as positive and negative serum controls in laboratories.

The previous studies reported some information about prevalence release of high-risk HPV types in HSIL or cervical cancer globally and in Iran, however, this information is not enough for final judgment about vaccination against HPV or any screening program. The aim of the present study was to assess the HPV type distribution in HSIL and ICC specimens of women attending Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences teaching hospitals, Tehran, Iran for treatment during 10 years. This retrospective- descriptive study evaluated the HPV type distribution of pathologic specimens of Iranian women with invasive cervical cancer (ICC) and high-grade squamous cell intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). Formalin-fixed tumor biopsies that were retrieved from women presenting with histological confirmation for ICC and 17 pathologic confirmation for HSIL specimens. The most frequently identified HPV type 16 among both groups, women with invasive cervical cancer (42.18%) and women with High Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (29.41%), followed by HPV18, HPV31 and 26. HPV16 and / or 18 accounted for 82.2% of all infected samples. The dominance of HPV16 over other high-risk types might be even higher than in a region with low HPV exposure. However, there was no strong evidence for any judgment that show to the policy makers; which one is cost-effectiveness and feasibility for cervical cancer prevention in Iran, vaccination, screening or both? More population based study and national meta-analysis needed for better understanding of HPV prevalence and HPV DNA patterns in Iran.

Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is a member of herpes family viruses, which causes varicella (chickenpox) after primary infection and herpes zoster (shingles) because of latent virus reactivation from dorsal root ganglia. Generally, prevalence of varicella antibodies increases with age. We aimed to compare the prevalence of anti-VZV antibody in children under seven years old, in order to obtain a preliminarily picture of general presence of these antibodies to design an immunization plan. In this cross-sectional study, performed from September 2011 to September 2012 in Tehran, Iran, 267 serum samples including sera from 7 month old infants, n= 87; 18 month old children, n= 86; and 6 year old children, n= 94 were assessed for the presence of specific IgG antibodies against VZV, using ELISA technique. 4.6% of 7 month, 12.8% of 18 month and 21.3% of 6-year-old children were seropositive. No relation was found between demographic variables (e.g. age and birth weight) and seropositivity in these age groups. VZV antibodies increased with age. Serum levels of varicella antibodies were elevated in 18 months old compared to 7 months old children, significantly (P < 0.001). In view of the significant elevation of VZV antibodies in children from 7 months to 18 months of age and rate of seronegative children, our results support the necessity of varicella immunization between 7 and 18 months of age in order to prevent viral infection.

This study aimed to measure the hospital productivity using data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique and Malmquist indices. This is a cross sectional study in which the panel data were used in a 4 year period from 2007 to 2010. The research was implemented in 12 teaching and non-teaching hospitals of Ahvaz County. Data envelopment analysis technique and the Malmquist indices with an input-orientation approach, was used to analyze the data and estimation of productivity. Data were analyzed using the SPSS.18 and DEAP.2 software. Six hospitals (50%) had a value lower than 1, which represents an increase in total productivity and other hospitals were non-productive. the average of total productivity factor (TPF) was 1.024 for all hospitals, which represents a decrease in efficiency by 2.4% from 2007 to 2010. The average technical, technologic, scale and managerial efficiency change was 0.989, 1.008, 1.028, and 0.996 respectively. There was not a significant difference in mean productivity changes among teaching and non-teaching hospitals (P>0.05) (except in 2009 years). Productivity rate of hospitals had an increasing trend generally. However, the total average of productivity was decreased in hospitals. Besides, between the several components of total productivity, variation of technological efficiency had the highest impact on reduce of total average of productivity.