Iranian Journal of Health Sciences
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Summer 2023

Dengue fever has become a major public health problem in many world regions due to increased trade, travel, and problems controlling Aedes vectors. This policy brief aims to review, analyze, and present evidence-based policies for dengue prevention and control.

The present research is a compilation of a policy brief in Iran, carried out in 3 stages according to its methodology. In the first stage, the problem’s justification and description were provided systematically by examining scientific documents by searching national and international scientific databases, websites, guidelines, and books. In the second stage, the first author prepared a draft of the priority elements related to the policy framework and discussed them with other authors. In the third stage, the draft questions were categorized and summarized, and subsequently, the policies were compiled in close discussion with all authors.

According to the recommendations of the best available evidence in the literature, 5 policy options were presented for the prevention and control of dengue fever as follows: 1) developing basic, applied, and innovative research; 2) strengthening the capacity and capability of the human, infrastructural, and health system in all relevant sectors for the surveillance, control, monitoring, and evaluation; 3) strengthening inter- and intra-sectoral coordination and collaboration; 4) community engagement and mobilization; and 5) scaling up of functions and integrating tools. 

To increase the long-term impact of policies, it is recommended to use an integrated approach with the continuous support of all stakeholders (local, national, and regional).

Family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer face many challenges when caring for them. The patients need not only the care of health professionals but also social support. Therefore, this study aimed to summarize the existing studies on social support for family caregivers of Alzheimer patients in a systematic review.

In this review, the search was done in domestic (Magiran, SID) and foreign (Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed) databases as well as Google Scholar from 1990 to August 2021, according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews) statement. The Cochrane and STROBE checklists were used to evaluate the quality of the articles.

Out of 709 articles on social support in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients, 7 entered the final list. The number of family caregivers participating in these studies ranged from 81 to 648. The mean age of caregivers in all studies was over 50 years. The studies emphasized the importance of improving social support in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients. Most study studies were conducted in America, which included all the interventional studies in this systematic review. In most studies, social support’s role in reducing family caregivers’ problems and promoting their satisfaction was important. 

Creating social networks and encouraging the use of these supports will be very helpful in reducing the problems of family caregivers of Alzheimer patients. More attention to health literacy is likely useful as a revelation of the need for social support in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients and the government.

Afghanistan experiences a significant maternal mortality rate, which could be mitigated through the empowerment of women and increased social support. This study aimed to explore the relationship between empowerment and social support among pregnant women seeking care at governmental hospitals in Kabul City, Afghanistan.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 4 governmental hospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2020. Through a convenient sampling, 428 pregnant women were recruited. The Kameda empowerment (Cronbach α=0.89) was used to measure woman empowerment. Sarason social support questionnaires with two subscales, including social support number (Cronbach α=0.95) and social support satisfaction (Cronbach α=0.96), were used to collect the study data. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16, and the Pearson correlation test determined the association between variables at the significance level of P<0.05.

The study participants’ Mean±SD age was 26.55±5 years. Many were illiterate (28.3%), and more than half (79.7%) were homemakers. Almost two-thirds had no sources of income (71.3%). The Mean±SD gestational age was 32.16±5.04 weeks, and 77.6% of participants wanted their pregnancy. The Mean±SD score for empowerment from 428 research samples was 85.48±9.02, for social support number was 5.49±0.65 (which indicates the low number of people who support women), and for social support satisfaction was 1.5±0.43 (which indicates a low level of social support satisfaction). Empowerment had a positive significant relationship with social support satisfaction (r=0.157, P=0.01) and social support number (r=0.129, P=0.007).

Given the significant positive relationship between empowerment and social support in pregnant Afghan women, the low scores of social support call for more attention to the special needs of Afghan women to enhance the social safety net and improve social support, particularly among pregnant women, and eventually enhance the empowerment and reduce the maternal mortality rate among them.

Social media play a crucial role in setting cultural standards for the ideal body, which are often unrealistic and emphasize the importance of thinness for girls. This research aimed to explore the effect of media literacy on eating disorders with the mediating role of body image of female athletes in Izeh City, Iran.

This correlational research was applied in terms of purpose. The statistical population includes all females of Izeh City who were engaged in professional and non-professional sports activities from 2021 to 2022. The samples were collected using available sampling (N=256). To collect data, we used 4 questionnaires: personal characteristics questionnaire, a standard media literacy questionnaire by Karman and Karatash (2009), a standard eating disorders questionnaire by Fairburn and Beglin (1994), and a standard body image questionnaire by Garner (2004). Its validity was confirmed using content validity and convergent and divergent validity. The reliability of the questionnaires was confirmed using the Cronbach α as follows: media literacy: 0.945, body image: 0.821, and eating disorders: 0.708. Data were tested using the Pearson correlation test and structural equation modeling.

Media literacy negatively and significantly affected female athletes’ eating disorders (r= -0.196) and body image (r=-0.365). Also, body image negatively and significantly affected female athletes’ eating disorders (r=-0.566). Moreover, media literacy indirectly and significantly affected female athletes’ eating disorders (r=0.202) with the mediating role of body image. Finally, the test of the eating disorders model based on media literacy with the mediation of body image had a good fit (GOF=0.492).

Considering the effect of media literacy on girls’ eating disorders, the health organization should include healthy eating and the consequences of eating disorders in educational topics in schools.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most prevalent autoimmune chronic disease globally. The current study was conducted to determine the relationship between fatigue severity and circadian rhythm sleep disorders among Iranian MS patients. 

The statistical population of this cross-sectional study included MS patients who were members of the MS Association in Khorramabad City, southwestern Iran. The sample size included 64 MS patients who met the inclusion criteria for the study and were selected through a simple random method. The study data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, fatigue severity scale (FSS), and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 18 through the independent t-test and Pearson correlation test. The significance level was considered to be <0.05. 

Fatigue severity of 53% and 47% of studied patients were severe and weak, respectively. The mean scores of men’s fatigue severity and sleep disorders were significantly more than women’s (P=0.01, P=0.03, respectively). The Pearson correlation coefficient between circadian rhythm sleep disorders and fatigue severity scores was 0.33, which was significant (P=0.008). 

Sleep disorders and fatigue severity in the studied patients can be outcomes of MS or whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between them. So, the sleep disorder aggravates the fatigue severity. If this relationship is confirmed in a randomized clinical trial, it can help reduce the fatigue severity in MS patients by treating sleep disorders.

Adopting a proper location for a hospital will result in allocating optimal resources, improving access to health care, improving the quality of hospital services, reducing the waste of time, reducing energy consumption, decreasing costs, and reducing traffic. Accordingly, this study was conducted to adopt the optimal location for hospitals in Yazd City, Iran.

This research is descriptive in terms of type and applied in terms of objectives. The used criteria for this study covered data related to military, residential, sports, industrial, green space, education, population density, communication roads, and available hospitals. All effective criteria were distinguished, and a map of each criterion was provided to locate the hospitals optimally. The weight of each criterion was determined by the analytic hierarchy process method and applied to the maps in the GIS software environment. The final land valuation map was prepared by combining the maps to construct the hospital.

The highest weight was calculated for the population density layer (0.24) and the lowest for the sports layer (0.025). The classified map to construct a hospital in Yazd City, Iran was classified into 5 categories, from very appropriate to very inappropriate. The map revealed that about 34% of the studied area is appropriate for building a hospital.

Due to the importance of proper geographical access to hospital treatment facilities, it is recommended that new hospitals in Yazd be constructed on very appropriate land plots, and the priority in building a hospital to be very appropriate land plots located in the fourth district.

Soil remediation in contaminated soils is an important factor of environmental research. This research evaluated the effect of sepiolite, palygorskite, and triple super phosphate (TSP) on decreasing the heavy metals uptake by wheat cultivars inoculated with Piriformospora indica (P. indica).

Treatments included applying sepiolite, palygorskite (at the rate of 0% and 5% (W/W), and TSP (0% and 0.5% W/W) in the Pb- and Zn-polluted soil under cultivation of 2 wheat cultivars (Mihan and Pishgam cultivars) that inoculated with P. indica fungus. Plants were harvested after 90 days, and Pb and Zn concentrations in soils and plants were measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Furthermore, the catalase (CAT) enzyme activity was also measured. 

With applying 5% (W/W) sepiolite and palygorskite, the plant Pb concentration was significantly reduced by 11.8%, while the plant Zn concentration increased by 13.9%. Plant Zn and Pb concentrations considerably increased and decreased following plant inoculation. However, plant cultivars showed different results. Our results showed that the Pb and Zn concentrations were lower in Mihan than in the Pishgam wheat cultivar. In addition, increasing soil Pb availability caused a significant increase in CAT enzyme activity. Soil contamination with heavy metals had a negative impact on plant root colonization. 

The interaction of plant cultivars and P. indica significantly affected plant heavy metal uptake by plants. However, environmental studies have found that applying organic amendments like nan-clays or TSP can reduce the absorption of Pb by plants.

In statistical quality control, inspecting complete products is very hard due to its cost and time. This research uses a time-truncated single acceptance sampling plan to investigate bladder cancer data for the exponentiated moment exponential distribution. 

A single acceptance sampling plan is used to investigate bladder cancer data when a patient’s remission times following an exponentiated moment exponential distribution. Minimum sample sizes, operating characteristic function, and the associated producer’s risks are obtained and calculated.

Minimum sample sizes necessary to ensure a certain mean lifetime for selected acceptance numbers and consumer confidence levels are obtained. The operating characteristic function and the associated producer’s risks are provided. We also analyzed the minimum ratios of the mean life to the specified life.

The results show optimal sample sizes decrease when the time to pre-determined mean lifetime ratio increases. Besides, the operating characteristic values of the proposed single sampling plan increase when the ratios of the mean life to the specified life increase.