Health Science Monitor
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter 2023

Owing to the significant role of CT images in diagnosis and follow up of patients affected with coronavirus, the imaging section of cancer centers in some countries engaged in providing services to COVID-19 patients. The aim of this study was to introduce a CT-independent photographic-based QA method in some radiotherapy departments where CTs are involved with COVID-19 patients.

An anthropomorphic woman-like torso phantom was used in the first step of study for setup arrangement and preliminary data extractions. Then in the second step, four patients with early stage breast cancer were evaluated. In all steps, the key parameters extracted from photographic-based method were compared with the same parameters extracted from CT system, which was considered as the gold standard method. A home-made computer code developed in MATLAB was used to extract parameters in the new method. Finally, the corresponding parameters were compared using the non-parametric Wilcoxon method.

Our results showed that the newly introduced method can predict desired parameters equal to CT-based method. Using this method, a part of the QA program will be performed with no dependency on CT systems. Also, the image sections load work in some radiotherapy departments, which their CT systems are involved with COVID-19 patients, can reduce.

The proposed method could help identify and remove important uncertainties and errors in radiotherapy courses, especially between fractions, without imposing ionizing radiation on patients in pandemic conditions.

Dear Editor, According to the latest report of World Health Organization,  which was published on November 8, 2021, more than 249,743,428 people were infected with COVID-19 and 5,047,652 people died from  this disease worldwide. Furthermore, more than seven billion doses of vaccine have been used against the COVID-19 pandemic across the world (1). COVID-19 can take two forms including the asymptomatic and symptomatic forms and may cause a wide and varied range of symptoms (2-6). One of the most serious and current human rights is to have access to diagnostic, treatment and vaccination facilities against COVID-19, especially in the poor areas and low-income countries. In addition, vaccination is regarded to be a very important primary preventive measure since it causes a significant reduction in the COVID-19 development, decreases its morbidity, and reduces its mortality rates (7). In fact, health inequality is a comprehensive concept that reflects the differences and inequalities in people's access to health care (8). It is obvious that health-care-access injustice ultimately leads to inequality in health (9). At the beginning of 2021, several COVID-19 vaccines were developed. These vaccines were classified into three categories. The first category involved the RNA messenger vaccines (mRNA) which included Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The second category comprised the vaccines which were made with the help of human and mammalian adenoviruses such as Spuntink-V, Astera-Zenec, and Johnson & Johnson. Finally, the third category involved the inactivated viral vaccines such as Bharat Biotech, Sinopharm, and Sinovac (10). These vaccines and the new medications have been effective (11). Nonetheless, there are still countries around the world which are not able to purchase the approved vaccines. Moreover, a number of the people, who have access to the vaccines, are not willing to trust a new vaccine. These two issues are major concerns which severely affect the vaccination coverage rate, the break in the disease transmission chain, and the end of the COVID-19 pandemic (12). Finally, it can be stated that the causes of low vaccination coverage include the following factors (13, 14): Lack of access to vaccines Distrust of governments Negative role of national media Poor performance of health personnel Negative role of social and virtual networks Complications of vaccination Low knowledge about the consequences of the COVID-19 among the general population. In conclusion, it can be noted that, the above mentioned factors influence inequality in COVID-19 vaccination coverage. More specifically, the countries have different vaccination coverage rates. Therefore, the consequences of COVID-19 and the general health status are different across the world.

Nowadays, with the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, millions of people have been infected with the coronavirus, and most countries in the world have been unable to treat and control this condition. The aim of this study was to estimate and predict the COVID-19 prevalence rate based on multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP-ANN) model.

In this cross-sectional study, based on the information of 4,372 patients with COVID-19 referred to Dr. Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, the prevalence rate of this disease was estimated. In addition, considering the role of the health measures and social restrictions, the trend of this index based on the MLP-ANN model was predicted.

According to the results of this study, the prevalence of COVID-19 increased by an average of 7.05 per thousand people daily during the 48 days from the onset of the epidemic, and it reached about 341.96 per thousand people. Based on the MLP-ANN model with a lack of attention to the health measures by individuals in the community and failure to reduce social restrictions by the government, the COVID-19 prevalence increased by an average of 1.03 per thousand people per day. While in the case of attention to the health measures by the people and continued social restrictions by the state, the prevalence of this disease decreased by an average of 2.13 per thousand people, daily.

The study on the prevalence of COVID-19 disease and prediction of the trend of this index provides researchers with useful information about the role of the health measures and social restrictions in controlling this disease.

Cancer is one of the most important causes of death and disability worldwide. In most cases, cancer is not caused by inherent biology, but by the environment where a person lives. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of the common cancers by gender using GIS system in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran.

In this cohort study, all the cancer reports, based on gender, in Razavi Khorasan Province were collected annually from 2011 to 2014. The study variables included the number of people diagnosed with cancer, type of cancer, and gender. The GIS software was employed to draw a geographic map for the prevalence of cancer separately by gender in Razavi Khorasan Province. A geographical map was drawn for breast cancer in women and colon cancer in men in 20 cities of the above-mentioned province.

The results showed that the prevalence of breast cancer in women and stomach cancer in men was higher than other cancers. Also, breast cancer in women and stomach cancer in men was the highest in the capital of the province (Mashhad), which was equal to 4,623 and 2,770 cases, respectively, during the years 2011-2014.

Considering the high prevalence of three types of breast cancer in women and colon cancer in men in Razavi Khorasan Province, especially Mashhad city, it is highly recommended to take necessary measures to prevent these diseases. Drawing a geographic map for breast (women) and intestine (men) cancers for 20 cities of Razavi Khorasan province could be useful for future planners.

The prevalence of the mood or anxiety disorders during pregnancy is reported to be 18.2 %. This study aimed to investigate the effect of prenatal depression on childbirth and neonatal complications.

This cohort study selected 600 pregnant mothers who were referred to Kamali Alborz hospital in 2021 as the participants. These 600 pregnant woment were classified into three groups including: the group of pregnant mothers without depression whose Beck score was below 10, the group of pregnant mothers with untretaed prenatal depression whose Beck score was above 16, and the group of pregnant mothers with prenatal depression who were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). There were 200 participants in each of the above-mentoned groups. These groups were compared with each other in terms of preterm labor, cesarean section, abortion, preeclampsia, birth weight, apgar, and NICU hospitalization status.

In our study, the number of infants with low birth weight in the group of mothers with untretaed prenatal depression was higher than the number of these infants in the group of normal mothers (p < 0.05). Nontheless, there was not a significant differences between the groups in terms of the premature births (p = 0.092).  The rate of cesarean sectionwas higher in the group of mothers with untreated prenatal depression compared to the group of mothers who were treated with SSRIs. Moreover, this rate in both of these groups was higher than cesarian section rate in the group of the normal mothers (p < 0.05). The number of the infants who were hospitalized in the NICU was significantly higher in the SSRIs group (p < 0.05) compared to the other groups. Finally, the number of infants with 1-minute Apgar<7 was significantly higher in the group of mothers who were treated with SSRIs than the group of normal mothers (p = 0.126).

According to the results, cesarean section, premature birth, birth weight, and abortion were more satidfactory in the group of non-depressed mothers and the group of the depressed mothers who were treated with SSRIs in comparison with the group of the depressed mothes with ntreated depression.

Methamphetamine is one of the most widely abused drugs worldwide. Its rapid and simple detection and determination in street drugs and biological samples are of great importance for forensic science applications.

In this work, a simple and sensitive chemiluminescence-based method was established for methamphetamine analysis. It is based on the enhancing effect of methamphetamine on Ce(IV)-Na2SO3 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction. A possible mechanism was discussed for the CL system. Optimization of chemical variables affecting the CL response of the system was performed by an experimental design approach using the central composite design.

Under the optimum conditions, the enhanced CL intensity was proportional to the concentration of methamphetamine in the range of 0.005-5.0 µg/mL, with a detection limit of 1.2 ng/mL.

The developed method applied to determine methamphetamine in street drugs and human plasma samples showed satisfactory results.

Nowadays, traffic accidents are one of the major causes of death worldwide. Therefore, it is essential to determine the modifiable risk factors in order to reduce traffic accidents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the psychological factors, the spiritual health, and the drivers' behavior of the employees of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

This cross-sectional study examined the data on 3245 participants in the Health Cohort Study of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The required information was collected using general health questionnaire (GHQ-28), Manchester driving behavior questionnaire (MDBQ), spiritual health questionnaire (SHEL), aggression questionnaire (AGQ), and Beck's anxiety and depression questionnaires. The data were analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling using SPSS 25 and Amos 24 software.

 The study used the information on 1386 people. Moreover, 754 of these people were men. All of the correction indices highlighted the good fit of the hypothesized model (CMIN/DF=3.3, GFI=0.96, AGFI=0.94, CFI=0.97, TLI=0.97, IFI=0.97, NFI=0.95, SRMR=0.03, RMSEA=0.04). According to the model, aggression (β=0.45, p<0.001), depression (β=0.05, p<0.001), anxiety (β=0.29, p<0.001), and physical and social dysfunction (β=0.29, p<0.001), significantly increased the drivers’ dangerous driving behavior .On the other hand, spiritual health had an inverse and significant relationship (p<0.001, β=-0.4) with risky driving behavior.

The results of this study showed that psychological factors and spiritual health affected the drivers’ behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to implement effective interventions regarding these factors to reduce traffic accidents.

The response of the human immune system to the COVID-19 disease is of vital importance in many ways, including determining the place of serological methods in the survival of patients. Therefore, the present study was designed and implemented with the aim of determining the specific antibody titer against SARS CoV-2 during hospitalization and one month after discharge in children hospitalized in Shahid Motahari Hospital in Urmia.

In this longitudinal study, hospitalized patients with positive RT-PCR test were included in the study due to COVID-19. Inclusion criteria included age less than 15 years and parental consent, and exclusion criteria included immune system disorder or developmental disorder and negative RT-PCR test. Demographic information and severity of the disease along with specific antibody titer of SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated and extracted for all patients.

The average age of the 40 studied patients was 2.48 years, and 32.5% of them were girls. The average level of IgG during discharge and one month after discharge was equal to 73.66 and 128.36, respectively, and it was significantly higher one month after discharge than during discharge (p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the two sexes in terms of antibody titer during discharge (p=0.77) and one month after discharge (p=0.31). There is no significant relationship between the specific antibody level of SARS-CoV-2 during discharge (r=0.12 and p=0.45) and one month after discharge and length of hospitalization. There was no statistically significant difference between disease severity and antibody titer during discharge (p=0.54) and one month after discharge (p=0.20).

The specific antibody titer of SARS-CoV-2 increases significantly after one month of discharge. There was no significant difference between the level of this antibody during discharge and one month later between girls and boys and people with different severity of the disease. No significant relationship between antibody titer and hospitalization time was observed.