جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « South Khorasan » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

 Since the early diagnosis of celiac disease (CD) is crucial, understanding its epidemiological characteristics can facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment. This study investigated CD's epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics in South Khorasan Province, Iran.

 This study aimed to clarify the epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, and laboratory findings of patients with CD in South Khorasan Province.

 This descriptive epidemiological research was conducted on 110 individuals with CD referred to the Gastroenterology Clinic from March to August 2019. The data were acquired via a comprehensive questionnaire, encompassing the participants' demographic specifications, medical records, the symptoms of the disease, laboratory diagnostic evaluations, and biopsy results. The data were employed for epidemiological inquiry, and the corresponding analyses were performed in SPSS v. 22.

 The participants' mean age was 28.38 ± 15.25 years,78 (70.9%) were men, and 32 (29.1%) were women. The most common clinical gastrointestinal symptoms included abdominal pain in 70 (63.6%), diarrhea in 44 (40%), constipation in 43 (39.1%), and nausea in 35 (31.8%). Of the 83 biopsy cases, 3 (3.6%), 4 (4.8%), 9 (10.8%), 21 (25.3%), and 43 (55.4%) belonged to Marsh-I, Marsh-II, Marsh-IIIa, Marsh-IIIb, Marsh-IIIc categories, respectively.

 Most participants were male and aged 10 to 20 years. Abdominal pain was the most common clinical symptom. All the pathologically examined patients showed evidence of CD, while approximately two-thirds were serologically positive.

COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease and a pandemic. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of people about this disease can play an essential role in better accepting executive actions set by health officials and national planners.

This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of the general population of South Khorasan province about COVID-19 and the influencing factors.

This cross-sectional study was performed online on 699 people living in South Khorasan, Iran. The participants were chosen by a convenience sampling technique. The research tool was an adapted questionnaire from researchers that included demographic characteristics, 15 questions on awareness, 12 questions on attitude, and seven questions on practice. Data were analyzed using the independent t test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

The levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice of the participants were 73.13, 80, and 84.85%, respectively. Themost common symptoms of this disease were shortness of breath, dry cough, and fever or headache, in sequence. More than half of the participants (56.90%) felt at risk for contracting the disease. Most participants washed their hands (80%) and used a facemask (79.60%). The correlation between awareness and practice was 0.60. Older, divorced, and low-educated people had lower knowledge and practice.

Despite that the levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice of people was good regarding COVID-19 in this study, the continuous informing of the people through television, radio, and social media is needed for maintaining the status quo. Besides, new approaches and policies for the poor, rural populations, the elderly, the illiterate, and the unemployed should be adopted by relevant authorities due to their lower level of knowledge and practice.

Identification of the settlements located in high-risk zones in terms of natural hazards is one of the first steps in risk management and development planning. This study aimed to identify villages exposed to earthquakes and floods in South Khorasan province.

The present study used the Analytic Hierarchy Process method to evaluate the validity and reliability of measuring instruments through exploratory factor analysis. Since the value of the KMO index was 0.879, the number of samples was sufficient for analysis. Moreover, the significance of the Bartlett test was less than 5% and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was obtained at 0.856; accordingly, the questionnaire was reliable.

Based on the spatial analysis of the seismic vulnerability, 214 and 502 villages were in the zone of very high and high vulnerability, respectively. Moreover, the results of flood vulnerability showed that the southern and northwestern parts of South Khorasan province had the lowest vulnerability. The number of villages located in the very high vulnerable zone was very limited and included only seven villages of Chenesht, Kalateh Abbas, Takti Ti, Tangel Behdan, Ebru, Khankuk, and Ostan Siah, which are located in the east of the province.

Based on the integrated results of two hazards (i.e., earthquakes and floods), it is observed that 523 rural settlements are in a very high-risk zone, which accounts for 14.7% of the total settlements in the South Khorasan province, compared to the total rural settlements. Furthermore, the highest dispersion frequency of rural settlements is in the zone of moderate vulnerability. This zone with 1,344 settlements includes about 37.7% of the total settlements in the province

Anemia is a multifactorial and common public health problem in geriatric age groups, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study was designed to study the prevalence of anemia and associated factors among the elderly population in Birjand, Iran, in 2019.

This was a cross-sectional approach to the baseline data of the Birjand longitudinal aging study (BLAS) in which 1396 people aged ≥ 60 years were screened for the presence of anemia based on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. For each participant, a standard questionnaire was administered. Furthermore, the height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were calculated. Blood samples were obtained from each participant for hematological examination. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, and other indices of cell blood count were measured using an automatic cell counter. The prevalence rates were estimated using survey analysis with the weight of Birjand county older population. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to detect the associated factor with anemia.

The mean age of the participants was 69.73±7.66 years. The crude prevalence of anemia was 11.10%, and the age-standardized prevalence based on the standard WHO population 2000-2025 was equal to 16.78% (12.81%–21.66%) (15.95% [10.41%–23.69%] in women and 17.32% (12.65%–23.25%) in men. Mild and normocytic anemia were the predominant types. The mean hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were lower in women than in men and the mean platelet count in women was higher (p<0.001). In the final multivariate logistic regression model, only age groups, BMI, fish consumption, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were related to anemia.

In conclusion, our findings showed the association of anemia with some risk factors and diseases. Anemia in geriatric age groups is often underdiagnosed; hence, identification of subgroups at risk for anemia and its associated risk factors in geriatric groups has a paramount importance in preventing adverse outcomes.

Background & Aims of the Study:

 Many people use natural springs for many years to provide therapeutic, recreational, and in some cases, drinking water. The investigation of physicochemical properties and promotion of its indices in hot springs are very important for maintaining the health and well-being of individuals. The present study aimed to investigate some physicochemical properties of hot springs in South Khorasan, Iran, and compare them with the standards in 2018.

In order to assess the physicochemical quality of hot springs in South Khorasan, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), alkalinity, and total hardness parameters were measured and analyzed using standard methods. Data analysis was performed using Excel software (version 2010).

Based on the obtained results, the highest temperature and EC were observed in Dig-e Rostam hot spring with 54.3°C and Ferdowshotspringwith10.43 μs/cm, respectively. Furthermore, the highest pH, alkalinity, and total hardness were obtained in Qaen hot spring with 7.87, Sarbisheh hot spring with 2018 mg/L CaCo3, and Ferdows hot spring with 1204 mg/L CaCo3, respectively.

Based on the results obtained from the review of the physicochemical quality of the hot springs in the southern Khorasan, most of the measured parameters of the springs were not within the standard range.

Regarding the high prevalence of the risk factors for human T-cell leukemia Virus (HTLV) in prison, including the high intravenous drug use and the higher chance of unprotected sexual behaviors, homosexuality, tattoos, and the probability of association between this disease and other sexually transmitted infections such as HTLV, this study compares the prevalence of HTLV-1 and its risk factors in intravenous and non-intravenous drug user prisoners in Birjand. This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in Birjand Prison during 2014-2015. The research community included all the prisoners of Birjand. Census method was used across intravenous drug users and simple random sampling for non-intravenous drug users’ group where sample size was considered to be 300 individuals (69 individuals in the case group and 231 individuals in the control group). Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests in SPSS software v.21 at siginificance level of 5%. According to the results of the study, there was no case of HTLV-1 in either of the two groups. However, prevalence of smoking and history of common injection, non-sterile injections, suspected sexual contact, alcohol consumption, and tattoo in intravenous drug users were significantly higher than in non-intravenous drug users (P < 0.05). The results of this study suggested that although the prevalence of this disease was zero in the studied community, the prevalence of its risk factors was significant. This requires planning to reduce the risk factors associated with this disease in the target community.

Zoonotic diseases are the infectious diseases that can be transferred from vertebrates to humans. Climate changes increase migration of human and animal hosts, vectors, and pathogens and also have considerable impacts on the prevalence of zoonotic diseases. Climatic changes, as well as anthropogenic and natural factors can affect the complicated nature of the human-animal interface. South Khorasan province, located in the Eastern Iran, has dry climate and experiences a very variable climate in the recent years.
The current study aimed at evaluating the relationship between climate changes, such as temperature trend and the prevalence of zoonotic diseases in South Khorasan province.
Zoonotic infections among residents of all ages in the 11 cities of the province were studied from 2005 to 2014 and were compared with the climate changes (temperature trend); the Pearson test and the geographic information system (GIS) were used to analyze data.
The results showed that during the last decade, the emergence of zoonotic diseases dramatically increased, which is of great concern regarding human and animal health. The prevalence of zoonotic diseases showed higher frequencies in the Western part of South Khorasan province, particularly in Tabas and Boshrooye. There were significant differences in the mean annual rate of zoonotic diseases comparing with the mean annual temperature of the province during the studies period (R = 0.74).
Assessment of global changes in the status of vector-borne diseases is of great importance, since the risk of zoonotic diseases increases by climate changes due to the proliferation of the hosts, reservoirs, and vectors. Correlation between the changes in zoonotic diseases, occurred in some of zoonotic pathogens in the recent decade in the studied region, and climate indicators showed that climate changes can provide the conditions for endemicity; the condition that did exist before in this region.

Analysis of the leading causes of death in a community and comparing it with other communities is crucial for planning public health policy. The aim of this study was to determine mortality statistics in South Khorasan Province of Iran by using causes of death data which are classified based on the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10).
In this cross-sectional study, data related to 20281 deaths for the period of 2004 to 2010 which were under the coverage of Birjand University of Medical Sciences were used. These data were collected by the office of statistical system of mortality (Death Registry) and the causes of deaths were classified based on ICD10. The obtained data was analyzed statistically with Pearson's Chi-square (χ2) test, t test and ANOVA in order to find out the pattern of mortality trend in South Khorasan Province.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) were the leading cause of death (29.8%) with the mean age of 72.6±15.5 in all registered deaths. Moreover, ischemic heart disease (44.87%) and cerebrovascular disease (25.67%) were the most common causes in CVD group, respectively. The second leading cause was unintentional injuries (12.9%) which are mostly due to road traffic accidents. The mean age in this group was 36.8±24. Cancers ranked the 3rd place during the period of study with the mean age of 64.86±18.26. The most frequent cancers are related to stomach (15.3%) followed by liver and biliary system (11.4%), lungs and bronchus (9.5%).
Three leading causes of death were cardiovascular diseases, unintentional injuries and cancers which may be prevented by changing life style, diet and reducing risk factors like smoking, obesity and stress.