Journal of Occupational Health and Epidemiology
Volume:9 Issue: 4, Autumn 2020

Characterization of genes and precise assessment of the number of copies are crucial for understanding the basis of emergence, progression, and identification of predictive markers of tumor malignancy. This study aimed to investigate the role of the changes in some central genes in gastric cancer.

In this experimental study, 30 patients with gastric surgery were selected by random sampling from four hospitals in Kerman to investigate BAX, BCL-2, P53, and MICAL-2 genes in cancerous and healthy tissues. They were then studied using real-time RT-qPCR, PCR- SSCP, and sequencing.

Demographic analysis demonstrated that 66.6% of patients with gastric cancer were men. The age range of men and women was 26-93 and 33-83 years, respectively. In terms of tumor pathology, there was 93.3% adenocarcinoma, 6.6% gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), 16.6% intestinal type, 10% diffuse type, and 73.3% unknown type. The two exons of the p53 gene showed a 2.04 and 3.81 fold increase in expression relative to normal adjacent tissue. Results showed the upregulation of Bcl-2 (1.54%) and MICAL2 (2.23%), while the expression of Bax was downregulated (0.87%). Bcl-2/Bax ratio was not solely correlated with the progression and clinical outcome of gastric cancer.

The data suggest that the changes in BAX, BCL2, P53, and MICAL-2 genes play a key role in gastric cancer.

Smartphone addiction is a serious growing problem with similarities to game addiction and even drug addiction. Nowadays, a large number of Iranian children and teenagers find themselves addicted to their smartphones. This type of addiction has a serious impact on mental health among mothers. This study aimed to compare depression and rumination scores among employed and unemployed mothers of preschool children with smartphone addiction.

This is a descriptive correlational study, in which 150 mothers of preschool children were selected as the sample group. In this study, the Cellphone Overuse Scale (COS), the Beck Depression Questionnaire, and the Intellectual Rumination Questionnaire were utilized. In addition, the Pearsonchr('39')s correlation coefficient and the independent samples t-test methods were used for data analysis.

According to the results, the mean and standard deviation of depression and rumination among employed and unemployed mothers were (M= 3.83, SD= 3.78) and (M=8.48, SD= 7.83), respectively. In addition, the mean of rumination among unemployed mothers (M= 24.08 SD=13.65) was significantly higher than that among employed mothers (M= 14.42, SD= 8.34) (p < 0.05).

The findings provide the preliminary foundation for further studies on designing effective prevention programs to prevent depression and rumination among mothers with children addicted to smartphones.

Accurate knowledge of barriers and solutions for faculty memberschr('39') research empowerment programs will lead to the promotion and development of universities. This study aimed to explore components, barriers, and solutions for faculty members’ research empowerment programs in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences based on the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model.

 In this qualitative study, 15 faculty members, who had participated in research empowerment programs as participants and lecturers, were recruited using the purposive sampling method in 2020 based on semi-structured interviews. Analysis was performed using the content analysis method with MAXQDA software V.20.

The results of the interviews were extracted in eight main categories, including four barriers and four solutions. The barriers included learnerschr('39') problems, resource constraints, planning weaknesses, and performance weaknesses. The solutions included structural improvement, human resource improvement, workshop improvement, and performance improvement.

The results showed that there are barriers and solutions for improving research empowerment programs, which could be used for further improvement. It is recommended that this study be conducted in other universities to accurately identify barriers to executing research empowerment programs.

Investigating information on the causes of death of patients is an undeniable necessity for health policy and disease control at the level of human societies. This study aimed to perform an epidemiological study on patient mortality in Ali Ibn Abitaleb Hospital in Rafsanjan, Southeastern Iran, 2019.

In this descriptive study, 260 patients who died during March to September, 2019 were reviewed. Data were collected from patientschr('39') records using a pre-designed checklist. Data were analyzed using t-test and one-way analysis of variance.

The highest proportion of death was due to internal diseases (38.8%). The mean duration of hospitalization in the emergency ward was 7.14 hours and in other wards was 180.36 hours. The mean time from admission to initial visit was 57.91±29.16 minutes, to death was 185.20 hours, and to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) time was 29.82±19.29 minutes. The cause of death in various groups of patients was significantly different based on their age and the duration of being admitted in hospital (P <0.001). 

Our findings suggested the importance of controlling and preventing internal diseases in the population from that patients referred to this hospital. More investigation on the duration of hospitalization in the ward (by assessing the association between complications due to prolonged hospital stay and mortality) can play an effective role in preventing long-term hospitalization deaths.

Jaundice is one of the most common diseases of the infancy period. It could be caused by different factors, including infections such as the urinary tract. The present study aims to evaluate the prevalence and causes of urinary tract infection in newborns.

The present work is a cross-sectional study conducted on 100 newborns with jaundice hospitalized at the neonatal ward of the Pasteur Hospital of Bam or referred to its outpatient clinic. Participants were selected through convenient sampling. Besides the routine tests for jaundice, a urine sample was also taken from the newborns for culturing and evaluating urinary tract infection. After collecting the data, they were analyzed using the chi-square and t-tests.

According to the results, 41 (41%) of the newborns were girls, and 59 of them (59%) were boys. The prevalence of urinary tract infection among newborns with jaundice was 27%. The most common cause of infection was Escherichia Coli, and the rate of infection was lower among newborns breastfed compared to those fed by infant formula (p<0/05).

The most common risk factors for neonatal jaundice were prematurity, blood type incompatibilities, delivery problems, and decreased breastfeeding. Given that one of the most important causes of long-term jaundice is a urinary tract infection, it may appear before other symptoms.

Careers and the family are considered the most important aspects of adult life, which affect a couplechr('39')s mental health. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy on improving optimism and communication patterns among couples working at state offices of the Ramhormoz County.

The research method was experimental with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population included 160 couples working at state offices of the Ramhormoz County (Iran) in 2019. Using the convenience sampling method, 50 participants were selected and randomly divided into experimental and control groups (n = 25 per group). The research instruments included the Communication Patterns Questionnaire (CPQ) and the Life Orientation Test (LOT). The experimental group received emotion-focused couple therapy for 10 sessions of 90 minutes each. However, the control group received no intervention. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed in SPSS software V21.0 to analyze the data.

The mean ± SD of the posttest scores for optimism and communication patterns were (19.48 ± 3.47) and (17.67 ± 2.79) in the experimental group, as well as (18.63 ± 3.86) and (27.40 ± 4.26) in the control group, respectively. Research findings indicated that emotion-focused couple therapy was effective in improving optimism and communication patterns in couples working at state offices (P = 0.001).

Emotion-focused couple therapy was effective in reducing depression symptoms and marital conflicts among couples as well as improving their communication patterns and optimism.

Occupational physical activity (OPA) is prevalent in the general population. However, its influence on the health status of manual workers is unclear. This study examined the impact of OPA on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of vocational-skilled workers (VSWs) in Nigeria. 

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 354 male VSWs from six cities in Osun State, Nigeria. VSWs were selected using a multistage sampling method. OPA level and HRQoL were assessed using items from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form and the Short Form (SF-36) Health Status Questionnaire, respectively. High OPA was defined as >3000 MET-min/week. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistics.   

Participants’ mean age was 38.3±9.6 years, and 68.4% of the participants reported high OPA. As regards HRQoL, higher scores in physical functioning (PF) and physical composite summary (PCS) were found among the participants with high OPA. Amongst those with moderate OPA, higher scores were found in social functioning, mental health (MeH), and mental composite summary (MCS). Significant differences were found in role limitation due to physical health problems (t=0.55; p=0.002), bodily pain (BoP) (t=0.51; p=0.021), PCS (t=0.46; p=0.014), and MeH (t=0.27; p=0.026).  Additionally, VSWs with high OPA were less likely to have problems with BoP (OR=0.70, CI=0.52–0.95) and MCS (OR=0.53, CI=0.35–0.78), but were twice more likely to have good PCS (OR=2.25, CI=1.21–4.18).         

The OPA level of Nigerian VSWs was high with significant impact on the HRQoL. Interventions focusing on promoting OPA to improve HRQoL are recommended.

Today, occupational safety play the vital role to reduce the number of accidents. In other words, it is necessary to pay attention to improving the safety performance of employees in organizations. Indeed, safety performance is part of safety activities, describing the behavioral aspect of employees and being influenced by various factors. The purpose of this research is to provide a structural interpretation model for improving the safety performance behavior of employees in the industrial and mining city of Shahr-e-Babak.

This research was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of data collection. Prioritization of research variables was performed using a fuzzy hierarchical process (AHP), and interpretive structural modeling was used to identify and develop a model for the association between variables. A pairwise comparison questionnaire was used to prioritize the factors. The statistical population was safety experts. In this study, a purposive sampling method with a sample size of 25 people was used.

According to the results of data analysis, a total of 4 levels (first level: personality traits of conscientiousness; second level: safety climate; third level: safety knowledge, management, attitude, and motivation; fourth level: safety participation, training, and observance) were identified as effective factors in improving safety performance. Based on the results obtained in this study, except for safety participation as one of the dependent variables, all other factors were autonomous variables. These factors had poor conductivity and dependency.

It is concluded that by recognizing the factors affecting the improvement of employee safety performance at different levels of the structural model and considering their impact at each level, it is possible to provide programs to reinforce these factors for improving employee safety performance.