International Journal of Health Studies
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Jul-Sep 2019

Entering a new environment such as university would expose students to many psychological tensions. Among students, those with higher emotional intelligence can manage their stress better in critical situations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among students.

This study was a cross-sectional one and the population included all students of Shahroud university of medical sciences. The participants were 403 students who were selected through multi-stage random sampling. Shiring emotional intelligence questionnaire and depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) were used to collect data. Independent t-test, chi-square, and pearson correlation coefficient and also SPSS software were used to analyze the data.

The results indicated that 82.2% of the participants (n = 331) had high emotional intelligence and 17.9% (n = 72) had moderate emotional intelligence. The mean score of emotional intelligence was 113.5 among the participants, and levels of stress, anxiety, and depression were significantly different between two groups of students with high and medium emotional intelligence. Correlation of emotional intelligence score with stress score (r = -0.59), anxiety score (r = 0.57) and depression score (r = -0.65) indicated a reverse and significant relationship between emotional intelligence with stress, anxiety, and depression.

According to the relationship observed between emotional intelligence and management of psychological tensions in students, it is suggested that authorities should take the necessary steps to improve students' emotional intelligence.

There is no study in Iran about the energy drinks (EDs) use by students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of EDs consumption and its related factors among the students.

This cross-sectional study carried out among students of Shahroud university of medical sciences. Using a standardized, pretested and self-administered questionnaire, the data were collected. The questionnaire consisted of 65 questions that asked the students' sociodemographic characteristics and their knowledge and habits of ED consumptions.

Of all participants 66.3% were female, 63.1% of students live in dormitories and 6.9% and 19.9% of them live with friends and parents, respectively. Almost 11.5 percent of students are user of energy drinks. The most common reason to try an ED was ‘‘its special tastes’’ (36.2%), followed in order of frequency by ‘‘to stay awake for long hours’’. Logistic regression modeling of EDs use indicated that, male gender, students who live alone and higher monthly costs for personal requirements were also positively and significantly associated with EDs use.

Despite the low prevalence of EDs consumption in our study samples, male students, living alone and higher monthly costs for personal requirements are factors associated with more EDs consumption.

Sway back posture (SBP) is a common postural deviation of sagittal alignment and is the most common postural deviation in 18 to 28-year-old individuals, but there is no standard exercise protocol for treating SBP. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of the global corrective exercise intervention (GCEI) on spinal posture of healthy individuals 18-25 years of age with SBP.

This study was a randomized controlled design with a parallel group, two-arm trial with 1:1 allocation ratio. Seventy participants (mean age 20.9 ± 2.1 years) with SBP ( ⩾ 10°) were enrolled in the study for 12 weeks. The participants were randomly assigned to an exercise (n = 35) or control group (n = 35). The targeted global spine strengthening and stretching exercise intervention included core and postural training, delivered by a corrective exercise specialist in 2 groups of 20 and 15 participants 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Forward head angle and sway angle were measured using a digitized side-view photograph. Kyphosis index and llordosis index were measured using a flex curve ruler.

The 12-week intervention program resulted in significant within group differences in forward head, kyphosis, lordosis and postural sway angle (P < 0.001). There was also a significant between group difference in the changes of all postural variables (P < 0.001).

The GCEI resulted in improved sway back posture in our sample of 18-25-year-old participants. This study supports the theoretical basis for clinical rehabilitation of postural deviations. Further studies are required to generalize these findings to other age and population groups.

Dementia and cognitive decline mainly affect older people. Several instruments have been developed for screening and detection of cognitive impairments, among them is the short form of the informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly (IQCODES); however, there was no instrument to assess it in Persian language speakers. The purpose of the present study was to validate the Persian version of informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderlyshort form (IQCODE-S).

In this study, WHO's standard 'forward-backward' translation procedure was performed. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated and it was administered in a sample of 373 inpatient Iranian elderlies. The convenient sampling was performed to include participants from family members care giving older patients with long diagnosed of dementia. Face and content validity were evaluated and reliability of the instrument was evaluated. Significant level was set at 0.05.

The mean age of the participants was 71.08 ± 9.89 years. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.82. Significant correlations were observed between cognitive status and age, marital status, education and hospitalized wards (Pvalue < 0.05). Appropriate CVI and CVR were calculated as .85 and .7 respectively.

This study reports on translation and validation of Persian version of one of the most important screening tools for dementia. It reveals significant association between the elderlies’ cognitive decline and their age, marital status, education, and hospitalized ward.

Diabetes is a global health challenge that cusses high incidence of major social and economic consequences. As such, early prevention or identification of those people at risk is crucial for reducing the problems caused by it. The aim of study was to extract the rules for diabetes diagnosing using genetic programming.

This study utilized the PIMA dataset of the university of California, Irvine. This dataset consists of the information of 768 Pima heritage women, including 500 healthy persons and 268 persons with diabetes. Regarding the missing values and outliers in this dataset, the K-nearest neighbor and k-means methods are applied respectively. Moreover, a genetic programming model (GP) was conducted to diagnose diabetes as well as to determine the most important factors affecting it. Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the proposed model on the PIMA dataset were obtained as 79.32, 58.96 and 90.74%, respectively.

The experimental results of our model on PIMA revealed that age, PG concentration, BMI, Tri Fold thick and Serum Ins were effective in diabetes mellitus and increased risk of diabetes. In addition, the good performance of the model coupled with the simplicity and comprehensiveness of the extracted rules is also shown by the experimental results.

GPs can effectively implement the rules for diagnosing diabetes. Both BMI and PG concentration are also the most important factors to increase the risk of suffering from diabetes.

The premenopausal period is a variable time range in the last years of women's fertility period, which is associated with contrasting physical and mental symptoms in different women. The aim of study was to determine the relationship between lifestyle and physical and psychological symptoms of premenopausal period in women.

This descriptive-analytic study was performed on 400 women referring to Shahroud health centers during the premenopausal period in 1396. Cluster sampling was done. The instruments used included demographic information questionnaire, lifestyle questionnaire (LSQ), Keys and Gyarmo well-being scale, and Hayman's MRS menopause scale. Data were analyzed by SPSS-24 software. Descriptive characteristics were reported using central and dispersion statistical indicators and frequency distribution: Pearson correlation test, t-test, and one way ANOVA were used. The general linear regression model was used to control conflicting variables. Significant level was set at 0.05.

The mean age of women was 46.5 ± 2.8 years. 43.8% of women report severe hot flushes. The results of Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant and positive correlation between the total score of lifestyle with psychological well-being, the severity of menopausal symptoms, and education level (Pvalue < 0.001).

Healthy lifestyle affects the psychological well-being and decreases the severity of menopausal symptoms during premenopausal women, and appropriate education and counseling are essential in this regard.

Being a mother is the sweetest experience of women in her life. Nevertheless, it may also prove unpleasant owing to a wide range of factors that put a mother's life and health at risk during pregnancy and delivery. The aim of the study was to identify the social determinants of health in pregnant women referring to Mashhad educational hospitals in 2019.

The research sample in this descriptive study comprises 1020 pregnant women who were monitored and visited at Mashhad educational hospitals. Data was collected by means of personal and midwifery application forms and, subsequently, analyzed by SPSS®v20 software. Significant level was set at 0.05.

According to the results, the cases studied were confronted with social factors such as spouse unemployment (4.6%), spouse illiteracy (5%), personal illiteracy (5%), bad hygiene behaviors (10.5% with smoking habit), and drug abuse (2.2%). At the same time, 19% of the cases had no insurance coverage.

In addition to the common pregnancy and labor risks, pregnant women are challenged by issues such as poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy that significantly affect their life-quality as well as their ability to improve their health standards.

The present study was aimed to determine the effectiveness of cognitive training method and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the metamemory in the students with special learning disorders.

The study has been conducted based on a semi-experimental design of the pretest-posttest type with a control group. Forty-five students were selected based on a purposive sampling method and assigned to two groups, a control group and an experimental group (each containing 15 individuals) based on a simple randomized method. One of the experimental groups received cognitive training for a period of 20 to 30 sessions, every 45 minutes (twice a week) and the other group was subjected to transcranial direct current stimulation for 20 minutes during ten consecutive days. The statistical method of choice was multivariate covariance analysis (ANCOVA). Significant level was set at 0.05.

The results of data analysis using covariance analysis indicated that both the cognitive training method and the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) were effective in the metamemory (Pvalue < 0.01).

Cognitive training and the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) methods can be applied for improving the metamemory in students with special learning disabilities.