Journal of Occupational Health and Epidemiology
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Summer 2018

No doubt that the bright future of higher education systems is being threatened worldwide by the growing trend of research misconduct (RM) and its faith depends on our act against it. RM as a pandemic scientific damage has turned to a complicated phenomenon and its remedy needs global determination. As I have mentioned before (1), as long as the main target of publication, at least for many academic people, is producing a paper, as it has been claimed (2), so many deviations could easily happen by those academic people who do not have any fidelity to ethics considerations. These people are not the right people to work in the academic places, and in particular, in the educational ones. But, the question remains: how could it have been possible for such people to be recruited in the academic organizations in the first place. This situation gets even worse, when their position is uprgaded as a result of their illegal behavior. In turn this also increases their chances to become leaders of different sectors. These sectors (such as the Research Centre or a Medical School) become the arena for piracy of plagiarism and this nasty cycle of deficiency continues to spread. Now imagine, we are faced with an infected university or a bigger academic organization, which is not even after a cure. After a while there will be a disastrous situation.
However, in industry or other fields that people could sell what they make based on the results of their research called a “product”, it is not easy to create products based on fake results! But we are concerned about the fake results in the medical universities, which most of them at last often are converted to papers.
Notwithstanding, it seems like in some academic organizations, there must be a sort of mechanism which may not be able to control all the process of recruiting faculty members. In some countries (in particular, developed countries), people who want to work in universities should be qualified enough, in terms of the ethics as well as scientific knowledge and experience in order to land the job. Whereas, in some developing countries, it’s not that rigid for the applicants to have a permanent academic job. The situation gets even worse when we know most often it’s not easy to let off such people, afterward!! It is a sad reality and ridiculous.
Now what should the countries facing these situations do with such people after they root? Although, at the beginning they only consist of a very small proportion of the academic staff, but their disorder can be very contagious! My experience shows that these people have a severe tendency to generously share their fake “works” with others!! They readily add your name to the list of the fake paper authors! (They bite you!, it reminds me of scary Zombies (3), "Academic Zombies"!)
Unfortunately, they have few wrongful objectives. For instance, after a while, many academic staff become ‘abettor’ and so it is not possible to comply even if they witness an ethical problem. This process, unfortunately, continues until most academic staff fall into the trap and after a while most colleagues are infected, even those who are in charge and, incidentally, do not have enough time to do research and being a part of other’s research would be very tempting!! Now, dishonest people can continue for many years in a safe margin. THIS MEANS “DISASTER”.
In such an educational academic place, what should happen to young university students? They are at the beginning of a long way and have less knowledge about research ethics (4) and this could cause deviations from the right path. What are they supposed to do?! Even if they condemn this behavior, they would be just silent and it is not fair to expect them to complain. However, they are truly right to follow their leaders (supervisors)! This means that the new generation is also exposed to this infection after a short duration. This progressive epidemy has been a matter of concern in recent years (5). We need to do something urgently, otherwise, how could we compensate this tremendous damage? WOW!!

Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) is one of the several methods that can serve as an alternative to the Pap test for diagnosis of precancerous lesions in the cervix. This study aimed to compare the screening value of VIA and Pap test in such diagnosis. The population of this descriptive study was 304 women who attended Afzalipour Hospital in Kerman, Iran, from March 2016 to March 2017 that enrolled in the study by the convenience sampling method. Pap test and VIA were performed and followed by colposcopy. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, logistic regression. The result of Pap test in 136 (44.74%), VIA in 200 (65.79%), and colposcopy in 98 (32.24%) patients was positive. The sensitivity and specificity of VIA was 100% and 34.7%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of Pap test was 50.0% and 55.3%, respectively. In 93.5% of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN 1) cases and 100% of CIN 2 and CIN 3 cases, VIA results were true positive (P > 0.999), whereas in 44.2% of CIN 1 cases, 50% of CIN 2 cases, and 42.9% of CIN 3 cases, Pap test results were true positive (P = 0.923). The sensitivity of VIA and Pap test was reflected VIA ability to identify all cases of the disease, but the specificity of VIA was found to be only 34.7%, which means that it will cause additional costs by imposing supplementary tests on healthy individuals (false-positives).

Malignant skin tumors are of the most common types of cancers worldwide. Rafsanjan County, Iran, is geographically located in a warm and arid area. In addition, due to farming activity, a large population of this county is exposed to sunlight. The present study aimed at to determine factors associated with malignant skin tumors among patients referred to Ali-ibn Abi Talib Hospital, Rafsanjan, Iran, (2011-2013). In this cross-sectional study, medical records and histologic slides of patients referring to the pathology department of Ali-ebn Abi Taleb hospital in Rafsanjan during the years 2011-2013, with a definitive diagnosis of malignant skin tumors, were extracted. The slides were reviewed to determine the subtypes of each tumor type. A researcher-made checklist including demographic characteristics, tumor type, and subtypes was completed, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Of 70 patients, 69 patients had a single tumor and 1 patient had 2 skin lesions. There were 71 cases of malignant skin tumors, including 87.3%, 9.9%, and 2.8% cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and melanoma, respectively. The ratio of men to women in total skin tumors was 1.7 to 1. 48.6% of patients consisted of farmers. The most frequent cites for BCC and SCC were head and neck with frequency of 96.8% and 85.7%, respectively, and for melanoma, lower limb with frequency of 100%, was the most frequent cite. The results of this study indicated that skin cancer was more common among older men and farmers. It is recommended that training and screening programs be carried out to reduce risk factors, and prevent and detect these tumor types, especially among at-risk groups.

The imbalance between job demand and controls is associated with physical and mental disorders. The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ) is one of the newest tools for macro-ergonomics evaluation of organizations and workplaces. In this research, the reliability and validity of the Persian WDQ (PWDQ) in the evaluation of occupational accident management and safety promotion in Persian-language organizations were studied. This descriptive study was performed among 397 randomly selected workers in a glass manufacturing company in Saveh, Iran, in 2016. The questionnaire had 77 questions with four main factors. A demographic questionnaire was also employed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the structure of factors in PWDQ. Data analyses were performed in SPSS software (independent t-test and Pearson's correlation test) and LISREL. The mean total score of the questionnaire was equals to 253.44 ± 45.05. Reliability for all questions, based on Cronbach’s alpha value, was calculated at 0.94. The result of the validity tests also indicated suitable generalization of the PWDQ. Furthermore, fitness parameters were in acceptable ranges. Pearson's correlation test showed that all factors of social characteristics are significantly associated with occupational accident (P<0.05). Moreover, feedback from job factor was negatively correlated with accident. The PWDQ would be applicable as a valid and reliable tool for evaluating the work characteristics of Persian-language organizations and industries. In addition, it was found that using this tool based on the macro ergonomics principles is suitable for accidents control, safety promotion, cost management, and improvement of organizational efficiency/productivity.

Occupational burnout is an emotional response to chronic occupational stress. The aim of this study was determine the rate of occupational burnout among physicians working in Rafsanjan University hospitals Rafsanjan, Iran, and its correlation with personality dimensions: 2016. In this descriptive and correlational study, 161 physicians were recruited using the census method. After obtaining informed consent, respondents filled in the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple linear regression. Gender, age, and working experience did not have a significant association with occupational burnout (P > 0.050). Moreover, 16 (9.9%), 139 (86.3%), and 6 (3.7%) of the physicians had low, moderate, and high occupational burnout, respectively. The mean score of emotional fatigue of women (P = 0.015) and individuals aged 35-50 years (P = 0.400) was higher. The association of job burnout was significant and inverse with all dimensions of personality and significant with the personality dimension of neuroticism (P < 0.001). Regression analysis indicated that 23.8% of occupational burnout was predictable by the personality dimension of extroversion [P = 0.021]. Ninety percent of the physicians had moderate to severe occupational burnout that was related to some personality dimensions. Since doctors play an important role in promoting community health, it seems necessary that trustee organizations, while investigating the factors affecting occupational burnout and trying to improve the status quo, use personality assessment as part of the appointment and organization process.

This study investigated the association between occupational ethics and job engagement with the mediating role of career adaptability among employees of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran, in 2017-2018 academic years. This is a descriptive and correlational study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all employees of Ardebil University of Medical Sciences (300 people), of which 160 employees were selected by simple random sampling method. Work ethics, job engagement questionnaire, and career adapt-abilities scale were used for data collection. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used by SPSS software, and Lisrel software was also applied to examine the appropriateness of conceptual model of research. Based on our findings, the direct effect of work ethics on job engagement was significant (P < 0.05) with beta 0.41, on career adaptability with beta 0.30, and also the career adaptability showed a direct effect on job engagement with beta 0.24. The mediating role of the career adaptability in the association between work ethics and job engagement was statistically significant with the beta 0.07 (P < 0.05(. we concluded that work ethics and career adaptability are significant variables in association with job engagement in Ardabil medical university employees, and it might be taken into consideration among managers.

The revised National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lifting equation (RNLE) is commonly used for risk assessment of manual handling, and can estimate low back pain (LBP) biomechanical stressors of lifting and/or lowering of loads. The aim of this study was to evaluate manual material handling by using the RNLE, LBP, and LBP disability index (LBPDI) among workers in a tile and ceramic industrial unit in Tehran, Iran. A sample of 30 workers (manual workers) in a tile and ceramic production line was recruited. Low back pain prevalence and disability index were measured using body map questionnaire combined with visual analog scale and self-report Oswestry disability index (ODI), respectively. Statistical data analysis was done using SPSS software, version 22. According to results, composite lifting index was 14.77. Low back pain prevalence among workers was reported equal to 100%; also, Low back pain intensity was equal to 68.8 ± 17.8. The mean of Low back pain disability index among workers has been reported equal to 41.3 ± 17.1 (severe crippled). The results show that composite lifting index value for these jobs exceeded 3, which means that there is a significant level of physical stress associated with these jobs for nearly all workers. Both strength and endurance for this job are high; therefore, job redesigning could decrease the physical demands, Low back pain prevalence, and Disability index, through modifying the job layout and work stations.

Since human resources is the most important asset of each organization, and its effective management is the key to the success of organization, this study aimed to investigate the occupational and organizational consequences of perception of perceived organizational justice and support among faculty members of Islamic Azad University in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. In this descriptive study, among 747 faculty members, 300 were selected through proportionate stratified random sampling method using Morgan table. The collected data were analyzed using path analysis and structural equation modeling methods. Organizational support and perception of organizational justice had, respectively, a direct and significant association with organizational citizenship behavior (β = 0.25, T = 4.70) (β = 0.24, T = 4.62), job satisfaction (β = 0.29, T = 5.71) (β = 0.31, T = 5.64), job performance (β = 0.22, T = 4.30) (β = 0.31, T = 5.98), organizational commitment (β = 0.21, T = 3.91) (β = 0.20, T = 3.74), and an inverse significant association with turnover intention (β = -0.21, T = -3.85) (β = -0.16, T = -3.03) and absenteeism (β = -0.99, T = -3.63) (β = -0.21, T = -3.90). Based on the findings, it can be concluded that any increase in perceived organizational support and perception of organizational justice leads to an increase in organizational behavior, job satisfaction, job performance, and organizational commitment, as well as reduction in turnover intention and absenteeism among faculty members.

With industrial development, many production processes emit high levels of noise, presenting problems for society. This emission causes an environmental impact on employees and also on the surrounding environment. The present study was performed with the objective of analyzing the noise emission in a plastic recycling plant in the municipality of Caçador, Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil, with the perspective of the environmental suitability with the regulatory environmental agencies. According to the relevant legislation, the plant had significant noise emission levels, reaching 98 A-weighted decibels [dB (A)], since NBR 10151/2000has permitted the emission of 70 dB (A) for industrial areas. Thus, the plant under study needs to seek for ways to reduce its noise emission in its production process; this issue can be attributed to the isolation of the washing process, as the centrifuges in this process are responsible for generation of main part of the noise. Regarding the occupational hygiene process, the plant needs the distribution of ear protectors due to the emission of noise, seeking the best quality of work for its employees.