Journal of Disease and Diagnosis
Volume:7 Issue: 2, Dec 2018

Radiation has a negative biologic effect, which depends on the duration of exposure and dose. This study aimed to assess knowledge of the principles of radiation protection among medical staff in educational hospitals in Bandar Abbas University of Medical Sciences. This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 105 health workers who were exposed to radiation during 2018. The sample size was determined by Cochran's statistical formula. The sampling method was the census method. Our target group was all employees who used radiation as part of their work. Data gathering tool was a researcher-made demographic questionnaire and a checklist containing 21 radiation protection principles. To each correct answer, the score of 1 and each wrong answer was given a zero score. Data then analyzed using SPSS version 20 software, P-value<0.05 was considered as significant difference. Based on the findings, the mean scores of the participants was 10.26, and the lowest and highest score were 6 and 16, respectively. Also, there was a significant relationship between education level, workplace, work experience, and continuing education with the level of knowledge of the principles of radiation protection (P-value<0.05). The average level of knowledge of the medical staff was related to the level of education and retraining courses. It is suggested that regular training courses on radiation protection should be held for all employees using radiation.

Today, there has been a growing prevalence of oral diseases among children. Coming to know mothers’ attitude toward and awareness of this issue can shed light on their weaknesses and can help the healthcare staff to address those weaknesses in specific relevant instructions. Therefore, the present research aimed to explore the attitude and awareness of the oral hygiene of children aged 1-6-year-old among mothers who visited Bandar Abbas healthcare centers.  This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 300 mothers of children 1-6-year-old who visited at Bandar Abbas healthcare centers. The sample selection followed a stratified method. The data was collected via a questionnaire comprised of demographic information, awareness (24 items) and attitude (22 items) sections. The exclusion criteria were one’s unwillingness to participant in the study. Data were analyzed via SPSS 19 with the required statistical tests, descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Correlation, One-way ANOVA, and regression.  The mean awareness score of the sample was estimated at 14.76±3.261 while the mean score of attitudes was 92.58±9.522. Statistically significant correlations were found between mother’s awareness and education (P-value=0.001), mother’s occupation (P-value =0.024), father’s occupation (P-value=0.039), socioeconomic status (P-value=0.003) and the number of children (P-value=0.01).  The present findings led to some suggestions to raise the mother’s awareness. These suggestions include holding educational classes and handing out pamphlets and brochures.

Renal osteodystrophy (ROD) is a common bone and mineral metabolism disorder in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This study aimed to determinate the frequency of the subtypes of ROD and evaluate the diagnostic value of biochemical as the well as radiographic markers for the diagnosis of ROD among hemodialysis patients in Golestan province of Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 50 patients with ESRD who referred to hemodialysis ward of 5th Azar Hospital in Gorgan city during 2016 were randomly selected and investigated. The biochemical and radiographic evaluations of ROD and its subtypes was performed, and then all patients underwent bone biopsy and histopathological study. Finally, the diagnostic value of the non-invasive methods was assessed. The mean age of patients was 59.5±12.0 years, and 27 patients (54.0%) were female. Also, 38 (76.0%) of ESRD patients had ROD, and 12 patients (24.0%) had no evidence of bone disorders. Among patients with ROD, 20 cases (52.6%) had the subtype of osteitis fibrosa cystica, five patients (13.2%) adynamic bone disease, 11 patients (28.9%) osteomalacia and two patients (5.3%) had mixed uremic osteodystrophy. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and predictive values and accuracy of the non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of ROD were 92%, 82%, 95%, 75%, and 90%, respectively. The results of this study showed that frequency of ROD in ESRD patients in Golestan province was high and the biochemical and radiographic markers have a high diagnostic value for the diagnosis of ROD as well as histopathological assessment.

Hospital-acquired infections are one of the main challenges and concerns of patients and medical staff in hospitals and healthcare centers. Meanwhile, Clostridium difficile infection is one of the most important bacterial hospital infections. Prevention is the best and most effective way to deal with these infections. Designing and using vaccines against these infectious microorganisms is the best way of prevention. In this review, we evaluated 80 research articles and guidelines in the field of designing and developing new vaccines against nosocomial infections. The articles were collected from Google Scholar, PubMed, Research Gate, NCBI, CDC, and WHO databases. To date, considering the properties and virulence factors of each microorganism, some vaccines have been designed and made up from cellular complexes or recombinant proteins. The magnitude of vaccine effect varies by bacteria and strain type. Some vaccines have conferred high-levels of protection and immunity. However, there is still no vaccine against some bacteria, which has led to more in-depth research in this area. Although significant successful attempts have been made so far to design vaccines against the most important hospital-acquired infections, there is still a essential need to design and develop new vaccines against these infectious bacteria.

Regarding this, the present study was conducted to identify the effective factors on sleep satisfaction and chronobiology among rural adults. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 385 adults how living in 31 rural areas of Fariman city, Iran, selected through stratified sampling technique. The sample size was calculated using a conservative approach with the assumption of sleep disorder prevalence of 50% and confidence interval of 95%. The sampling in each rural area was performed through systematic sampling using the household records. Data collection was accomplished by means of a researcher-made questionnaire. Validity of this questionnaire were confirmed by two Neurologist and one Social medicine specialist. Reliability were calculated by Cronbach 0.65. Data were assumed and analyzed by SPSS 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). We used Chi-Square and Exect Fisher test for analysis and P-value≤0.05 was significant. According to the results, 264 (68.8%) subjects were female. The mean age of the female and male participants were 36.63±15.20 and 43.63±17.49 years, respectively. Furthermore, 75.1% of the subjects expressed that they easily fell asleep at night. However, for 73.4% of the participants, it took 30 min to fall asleep. People who had a midday nap felt more satisfied with their sleep (P-value<0.001). Sleep disorder is a predisposing factor for social problems and a threat to physical and mental health. Consequently, it is essential to adopt some plans facilitating the individuals to regularly evaluate their sleep status as a health component and try to improve the quality of their sleep.

Aging is considered as one of the crucial stages of human development; it is not only the end of life but also is a normal and natural process. The disability is among the consequences of the elderly, which affects the whole process of aging. The present study aimed to determine the rate of physical disability and its effective factors in the elderly in Khalkhal city in 2017.  This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 400 elderly people who referred to Khalkhal health centers, using convenience random sampling. The data collection tool was a short version of the disability scale of the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ 8-item DI).  Our study showed that the total disability score in the elderly was 2.56 ± 5.24 (2.69 ± 5.40 in men and 2.41 ± 5.06 in women). Also, there was a significant relationship between disability score and age, illness history, the frequency of hospitalization, the perception of health, number of children, current occupation, and lifestyle (P-Value<0.05).  The overall findings of this study indicated the high rate of disability among the elderly in Khalkhal city. Further, men are more likely than women to experience a disability. Therefore, the use of preventive and contributing measures for national aging health programs can improve the quality of life of the elderly.

Excessive use of plastic bags has become a major problem in the worldwide causing irreparable damages to the environment and humans. The purpose of this study was to identify the individual and environmental factors associated with the use of plastic bags among the vendors of Hadishahr city, Iran. This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 400 vendors working in Hadishahr city. The data were gathered using a researcher-made questionnaire, which measured knowledge and attitudes of vendors regarding the use of plastic bags at the individual level.  At the environmental level, access to alternatives plastic bags and social support to use of alternative was measured. Plastic bags in kilograms per week was measured as the consumer behavior Data were analyzed using SPSS software via Chi-square, t-test and hierarchical regression tests. The average usage of plastic bags by the vendors was 4.5 kg per week. 97.8% of vendors gave plastic bags for the customers to carry away their purchased items. The individual-level factors (knowledge and attitude), along with social support for the use of alternatives taken from environmental factors were the most important predictors for the use of plastic bags; they were able to predict consumption behavior (15%) along with other variables. In order to reduce the plastic bags consumption while training, it is necessary to provide social support for the usage of alternatives and environmental access to these alternatives.

Education is a dynamic and continuous process and requires the knowledge and learning of the most basic human needs. These needs created due to the changes that occur with increasing age in the learning system of the elderly people, are more evident at old age. It is important to select the appropriate educational method for learning in this age group. Hence, this review study investigates the effect of different educational methods in interventional studies on Iranian elderly people, considering the importance of lifelong learning. This study is a scoping review study. The reviewed studies were selected through the search in PubMed proquest, science direct, Google, Google scholar databases and with using the keywords of education, lifelong learning, learning and adult education. According to the studies reviewed, 115 articles related to different educational methods, 22 articles were consistent with research goals, the impact of face-to-face methods, group discussions, e-learning (video) and lectures on learning the elderly people of Iran. However, no study was found in the field of electronic studies using social networking software (Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.), Web-based and e-mail-based studies. Majority of these studies have investigated the effect of education on lifestyle and health promotion behaviors through traditional approaches. The results showed that studies that used education methods appropriate to elderly people, had a positive and significant effect on their learning. Further studies are recommended in the area of educational methods and comparison of these methods.