Iranian Journal of Health Sciences
Volume:11 Issue: 1, Winter 2023

Current evidence shows that physical fitness (PF) is declining among children and adolescents in Africa and worldwide, and this trend is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the baseline PF data of primary school children in Lagos State, Nigeria, and to determine the predictors of low PF within the cohort.

A total of 733 primary school children aged 6-12 years in Lagos, Nigeria, were included in this cross-sectional quantitative study. PF measures were assessed using the Eurofit battery test including sit and reach (S&R), standing long jump (SLJ), sit-ups (SU), 5 m shuttle run test (5 m-SRT), and cricket ball throw (CBT). A structured questionnaire was used to determine the socio-demographic factors. Anthropometric and cardiovascular measurements were performed using standardized protocols. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentages, median, and quartiles, and inferential statistics of the Mann-Whitney U test, Quade analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) correlation matrix, and multiple linear regression model.

Boys showed significantly higher SU counts (P<0.001), higher CBT (P<0.001), lower 5 m SRT (P=0.003), and the same SLJ (P=0.008) than girls, while S&R scores were statistically comparable (P=0.135). Also, the results showed that sex (B=-0.647, P=0.015), height (B=0.831, P=0.0001), weight (B=-0.641, P=0.007), and hip circumference (HC) (B=0.955, P=0.009) were significantly associated with total PF (measured using S&R, SLJ, SU,5 m SRT, and CBT).

Increased weight and gender were the main predictors of low PF among primary school children in Lagos, Nigeria.

The COVID-19 pandemic imposes a significant burden on healthcare systems. Proper self-care practice in people can reduce the pressure on the medical staff and save time and expenses for the patients. We assessed the quality of self-care education of healthcare worker from the viewpoint of patients who recovered from COVID-19.

This cross-sectional study was conducted by convenience sampling on 346 recovered patients from COVID-19 who referred to the clinics and hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2021. A valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire evaluated the quality of self-care education provided by a healthcare worker to patients. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 21 applying t test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation at a significant level of less than 0.05.

The mean quality of the self-care education questionnaire was 98.28±12.12 out of 110 for 346 participants with a mean age of 46.17± 14.71 years. The mean score for communication skills, educational method, and content were 12.83±3.55 out of 15, 13.72±3.81 out of 20, and 71.71±7.6 out of 75, respectively. There was a relationship between marital status and educational content (P=0.005). Communication skills (P=0.002) and educational method (P=0.05) had a relationship with educational level. Age had a negative relationship with communication skills (P=0.005) and educational method (P=0.01).

This study showed the high quality of self-care education of healthcare worker on recovered COVID-19 patients. The design, implementation, and evaluation of self-care training should be considered according to the factors related to it such as marital status, educational level, and age.

We measured the psychometric properties i.e., validity, reliability, and stability of the Persian 10-item Kessler psychological distress scale (K10) among older adults in Iran.

We recruited elderly (60+ years) subjects (20 per item of the questionnaire) from various sampling units in the general population of Gorgan district, Golestan, Iran. After the translation/back-translation process, the questionnaire underwent various forms of validity and reliability, including Cronbach alpha (overall, by items, and by group of yes to an item and no to an item). The intra-class correlation coefficient was measured at a two-week interval, and inter-rater agreement was also determined. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were also conducted, along with receiver-operator characteristics vis-à-vis hospital anxiety and depression scale. 

In total, 190 subjects (47.3% males, mean age: 70.3, 95% CI: 69.2-71.4) participated in the study. A total of 35.8% had psychological distress (PD) (i.e., score >20). The alpha coefficient was 0.88 with no item below 0.86. The alpha coefficients to report a yes to an item (α=0.85) or no to an item (α=0.90) were similar to each other. The intra-class coefficient for test-retest at a two-week interval was 0.90. Exploratory factor analysis showed a one-factor structure of the underlying construct, with a cumulative variance of 97.1%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed high fit indices for the questionnaire (0.91) and a low standardized residual of 0.05. 

We measured psychometric parameters of the Persian version of the K10 scale for detecting PD among older adults, which was found to be adequately valid, reliable, and stable. Our questionnaire fills the prior gaps regarding the lack of validated tools for the timely detection and management of PD among older adults in the Persian-language cultural contexts. Our study emphasizes that the Kessler questionnaire is a unidimensional scale, and detects non-specific PD with all items indicating a single underlying construct of “distress”.

Stress, academic failure, and low academic achievement of learners are among the major problems in their academic lives and the education system of each country. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of perceived academic stress in relationships of self-compassion and self-regulation with academic well-being in female students in Kermanshah City, Iran. 

The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all the female senior high school students of Kermanshah, within the 2020-2021 academic years. The random cluster sampling method was employed to select 216 students who completed the academic well-being, self-compassion, self-regulation, and perceived academic stress questionnaires. Path analysis and bootstrap method were adopted to evaluate the proposed model and test indirect relationships, respectively. 

The results indicated that all direct paths were significant (P<0.001), except for the path from self-compassion to academic well-being. The relationships of indirect paths were made significant through the mediating role of perceived academic stress in academic well-being (P<0.01). 

According to the research results, perceived academic stress had a mediating role in the relationship between self-compassion and self-regulation with academic well-being in students; thus, it can be useful for developing and designing specific plans to prevent academic failure and improving academic well-being of students.

Media literacy is defined as the ability to access, analyze, and evaluate the messages transferred by the media, which has various dimensions including creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This study was conducted to investigate the media literacy of students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 370 students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences participated. They were selected via social networks using stratified random sampling in 2021. The data were collected using demographic and media literacy measurements. Furthermore, the data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 20.

The results showed that 87% and 13% of the participants had a moderate and high level of media literacy, respectively. The highest and lowest mean scores were related to dimensions of media message content perception and media message analysis. The study also showed a significant relationship between age, grade point average, and father’s education level with media literacy. Using social media like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Facebook was significantly associated with media literacy. 

The result showed that the rate of media literacy in students was moderate, but students had a low level of media message analysis and critical thinking. So, we conclude that there is a need to provide training in media literacy skills in institutions, universities, and schools.

Nowadays, breast cancer is reported as one of the most common cancers among women. Early detection of the cancer type is essential to help inform subsequent treatments. The newest proposed breast cancer detectors are based on deep learning. Most of these works focus on large datasets and are not developed for small datasets. Although large datasets may lead to more reliable results, their collecting and processing are challenging. 

This paper proposes a new ensemble deep learning model for breast cancer grade detection based on small datasets. Our model uses some basic deep-learning classifiers to grade the breast tumors, including grades I, II, and III. Since none of the previous works focus on the datasets, including breast cancer grades, we have used a new dataset called Databiox to grade the breast cancers in the three grades. Databiox includes histopathological microscopy images from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).

The performance of the model is evaluated based on the small dataset. We compare the proposed three-layer ensemble classifier with the most common single deep learning classifiers in terms of accuracy and loss. The experimental results show that the proposed model can improve the classification accuracy of the breast cancer grade compared to the other state-of-the-art single classifiers.

The ensemble model can be also used for small datasets. In addition, they can improve the accuracy compared to the other models. This achievement is fundamental for the design of classification-based systems in computer-aided diagnosis.

Low back pain (LBP) is a global health problem and one of the leading causes of disability. Also, LBP is a major occupational problem among nursing staff. The study aims to determine LBP, disability, quality of life (QoL), and the relationship between LBP and job-related risk factors and dimensions of QoL in nurses.

In this cross-sectional study with a descriptive-analytic approach, eligible nurses working in teaching hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences were included in the study by census method. Data were collected based on the demographic questionnaire, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (QBPDS), and Short-Form 36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire. Data were analyzed (descriptive, logistic regression, spearman correlation) using SPSS software, version 23.

This study included 402 nurses with a mean age of 36.47±7.1 years and employment mean of 11.83±6.4 years of an employment. The prevalence of LBP was 86.3% and the mean of pain intensity and disability were 4.8±2.7 and 30.4±17.4, respectively. The mean QoL components, such as physical and mental were 58.03±19.6 and 57.42±18.3, respectively. The factors that were significantly associated with LBP were body mass index (BMI) (P<0.0001), frequent bending (P=0.004), and workplace communication (P=0.008). LBP affected dimensions of QoL, especially physical function (P=0.008), role physical (P=0.02), general health (P<0.0001), and social function (P=0.03).

This study showed the high prevalence of LBP among nurses and the role of individual and workplace factors in the occurrence of LBP. Such cognition facilitates the design of an educational program and undertakes the targeted preventive actions.

Rumination is one of the most significant symptoms of several mental illnesses. Rumination is classified into two brooding and reflection categories. Notwithstanding the prevalence of rumination, the discrimination between its subtypes among various clinical populations has been overlooked.

In this comparative study, our sample size included 95 patients who were interviewed at a specialized health clinic in Sari City, Iran. For diagnosis, we applied structured clinical interviews, the Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale, and the second version of the Beck depression inventory (BDI). To test our hypothesis, we used the ruminative response scale (RRS) which enabled us to divide ruminations into brooding and reflection. In the first step, the descriptive statistics of the research, including mean, standard deviation, and standard error of the mean were determined. An independent samples t test was conducted to determine whether people with major depressive disorder (MDD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) significantly differed in rumination subtypes.

Out of 95 participants, who entered the study, 50 people suffered from MDD, and 45 participants were diagnosed with OCD. For people with MDD, the mean±SD of the age of the participants was 31.62±6.94 years, while the age of the people with OCD was 32.11±6.37. Our independent samples t test analysis determined a significant difference in brooding between the groups (P<0.05). Nonetheless, the two groups did not show any difference in reflection.

Considering the higher mean for brooding scores in people with MDD, it is concluded that this population is more likely to adopt this type of passive and maladaptive rumination as a regulatory strategy, which in turn prone depressed people to lower mood.