Modern Care Journal
Volume:14 Issue: 1, Jan 2017

Lifestyle is a set of health-promoting behaviors, which empower individuals to maintain and promote their health and prevent illnesses. Poor lifestyle habits in adolescence endanger individuals’ health in adulthood. The present study was performed to analyze the relationship between social capital and lifestyle among a group of Iranian adolescents.
This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was performed during year 2014. A stratified random sample of 400 tenth-, eleventh- and twelfth-year students was recruited from boys’ and girls’ high schools located in Birjand, Iran. Data were collected via a demographic questionnaire, the social capital index, and the adherence to a healthy lifestyle questionnaire. The data were entered in the SPSS software (v. 16). Descriptive statistics measures, such as frequency, mean, and standard deviation, were used to describe the data. Moreover, pearson and spearman correlation analyses, one-way analysis of variance, stepwise regression analysis, as well as independent-sample t, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed for data analysis.
Most participants had good social capital and a moderately healthy lifestyle. Social capital was positively correlated with lifestyle (r = 0.49; P Improvement of adolescents’ social capital could promote their lifestyle.

Functional constipation is one of the most common health problems in older adults. Its development greatly depends on nutritional status in that a high fiber diet including fruits and vegetables can prevent or manage it. The present study aimed at assessing vegetable and fruit consumption among the elderly with functional constipation, based on the health belief model.
This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 163 elderly people aged 60 and older, who referred to retirement houses located in Isfahan, Iran, in 2013. The Rome III diagnostic criteria were used for functional constipation screening. Moreover, a demographic questionnaire, a researcher-made questionnaire developed based on the constructs of the health belief model, and a researcher-made 24-hour fruit and vegetable consumption checklist were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using SPSS Software (V, 20.0) and by running independent sample t test, Pearson correlation analysis, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression analysis at a significance level of less than 0.05.
The mean of participants’ age was 70.04 ± 6.41, while the means of their fruit consumption and vegetable consumption were 1.61 ± 0.73 and 1.31 ± 0.87 servings daily, respectively. Almost 44.2% of the participants consumed less than 2 servings of fruits and 55.8% consumed less than 2 servings of vegetables daily. Fruit and vegetable consumption was directly correlated with perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and knowledge and was inversely correlated with perceived barriers (P This study revealed that the elderly with functional constipation consume inadequate amount of fruits and vegetables and the health belief model is a significant predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption among the elderly. Educational interventions based on the health belief model can be helpful in promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetable consumption in the elderly.

Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection and one of the 5 leading causes of death around the world. Chronic hepatitis B has a variant natural history. Around one-third of patients with chronic hepatitis may eventually develop cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to follow-up chronic hepatitis B carriers.
This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was done on 235 chronic hepatitis B carriers, who referred to an infectious disease and tropical medicine clinic, in Birjand, Iran. All chronic hepatitis B carriers, who had referred to the study settings from 2005 to 2013, were approached. Data were entered in the SPSS software (v. 21.0) and analyzed via the Chi-square and the Fisher’s exact tests at a significance level of less than 0.5.
The majority of participants were male (132 cases, 56.2%) and married (193 cases, 82.1%) and were aged 33.3 ± 0.7. The follow-up mean time was 5 years with a range of 3 to 9 years. During this follow-up period, 10 individuals (4%) experienced seroconversion from hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity to negativity, 35 (15%) developed active hepatitis, 8 (3.5%) developed cirrhosis, and 2 (1%) developed liver cancer. The remaining 180 participants (76.5%) had inactive hepatitis. Among participants, 45 (19%) were hepatitis B e antigen-positive, 24.5% of whom experienced positivity to negativity seroconversion.
Most chronic hepatitis B carriers are primarily asymptomatic. However, 15% developed serious liver disease over time. Therefore, careful lifelong follow-up assessments are needed for early diagnosis and prevention.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In developing countries, early diagnosis of breast cancer through available screening methods is the main strategy to reduce mortality.
This study aimed at investigating the barriers to breast cancer screening methods in nursing and midwifery personnel of hospitals of Birjand, Iran.
In this cross sectional study, a total of 202 female nursing and midwifery personnel working in hospitals of Birjand (lasted from July 2015 to September 2015) were selected using the stratified sampling method. The barriers to breast self-examination and clinical breast examination were investigated using a researcher-made questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the SPSS software (V. 16) using descriptive statistic and chi-square test. P values of The results showed that only 11.3% (N = 16) of the participants, who performed breast self-examination, did it on a monthly basis. Intervals between CBE performance in 35.5% of women was 5 or more than 5 years. The main barriers to breast self-examination and clinical breast examination in women were, respectively, lack of time, negligence, lack of symptoms of breast cancer, fear of potential surgery for cancer, and fear of losing beauty. There was a significant association between age, marital status, educational field of study, tenure, and BSE. History of having a child increases performance of CBE yet results also showed that females, who had a history of benign breast diseases, were less prone to perform CBE.
According to the results of this study, it seems that interventions, such as changes in psychological and educational programs, to increase the performance and knowledge and create a positive attitude towards these methods in females are needed.

Pain is a common complaint of the elderly and it is important to evaluate pain intensity carefully in aged people. There are different self-report scales for pain evaluation in elderly individuals, however, only a few studies have compared these scales. This study was conducted to compare 2 regular pain scales: FPS-R and NRS in the elderly population.
In this cross sectional study, we evaluated 2 different pain assessment tools. A total of 120 bedridden patients, who were older than 65 years, and were admitted in governmental hospitals in Hamadan-Iran were studied during 3 months (May-July 2016). For evaluating pain, we used the FPS-R (faces pain scale-revised) and NRS (numerical rating scale). All participant's information were gathered in a checklist and analyzed using the SPSS 16 software.
All patients had some degree of pain that started from 1 month to over 6 months ago, among them, 115 (96%) had persistent pain. The mean pain intensity in the participants was similar with both scales. There was a strong correlation between the 2 scales when using the Pearson correlation method (r = 0.735, P 85 years old had the lowest pain intensity (7.07 vs. 5.36, respectively using NRS, PV = 0.014)
Pain has a remarkable prevalence in bedridden patients in Hamadan. Both scales: the FPS-R and NRS scales had a strong correlation for measuring pain intensity in the elderly patient population, however, simplicity of the FPS-R scale for use with the older adults, makes it an appropriate pain scale in clinical practice. Future studies need to evaluate a suitable management pain for older adults.

Population aging is a major health issue in most countries. Sleep is one of the significant factors affecting aging and elderly people’s quality of life. The present study was done to assess sleep quality and its contributing factors among elderly people.
This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2016 on 284 elderly people aged sixty or more. Participants were selected from healthcare centers located in Birjand city, Iran, via the two-stage cluster sampling method. Data collection tools were a demographic questionnaire and the eighteen-item pittsburg sleep quality index. The collected data were entered into SPSS software (v. 16.0) and analyzed using Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests at the significance level of less than 0.05.
Participants were mostly female (59.3%) and aged 68.93 ± 8.44 on average. Around 69% of them had good sleep quality. The majority of them had mild problems in subjective sleep quality (66.2%), sleep latency (40.5%), and sleep disturbances (64.8%), no problem in sleep duration (58.1%) and sleep efficiency (64.2%), no daytime dysfunction (71.5%), and most of them did not use sleeping medications (79.3%). Sleep quality had significant relationships with gender (P = 0.03), pain (P = 0.007), exposure to environmental stimuli (P Elderly people in Birjand, Iran, have a relatively good sleep quality. The most important factors contributing to their sleep quality are gender, pain, exposure to environmental stimuli, regular physical activity, and menopause-related problems. Empowerment of healthcare providers regarding the accurate diagnosis and effective management of elderly people’s sleep disorders is recommended.

Organizational effectiveness is the main goal of organizational development and excellence. Improvement of staff’s quality of work life may improve organizational effectiveness. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between quality of work life and organizational effectiveness among hospital nurses.
This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 225 hospital nurses who worked in teaching hospitals affiliated to Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran. Nurses were recruited through random multi-stage cluster sampling. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, Brooks and Anderson quality of nursing work life questionnaire, and parsons organizational effectiveness questionnaire. SPSS software (v. 16.0) was used for data analysis via Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and independent-sample t tests, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses.
From 225 nurses, 201 completely filled out their questionnaires. The mean of their work experience in nursing was 7.87 ± 7.62 years. Nurses’ organizational effectiveness was significantly correlated with their quality of work life (P Nurses’ quality of work life is significantly correlated with their organizational effectiveness. Therefore, improving nurses’ quality of work life can improve their organizational effectiveness.

Torsade de pointes (TdP) is a devastating form of ventricular arrhythmia, mainly associated with prolongation of corrected QT (QTc) interval. In general, a TdP episode terminates spontaneously, produces syncopal episodes, or degenerates lethal arrhythmias. There are few reports on TdP in the context of ischemic heart disease (IHD). The present report describes a case of TdP in an IHD patient with presentation of seizure.
We describe the case of a 64-year-old man with a history of diabetes, complaint of chest discomfort, and diagnosis of unstable angina. The patient experienced recurrent myoclonic jerks, as well as transient, but progressive changes in consciousness; however, they were related to cardiac arrhythmia rather than a brain disorder.
Cardiac arrhythmias, similar to TdP episodes, should be taken into consideration in the management of IHD patients with seizure.