International Archives of Health Sciences
Volume:10 Issue: 2, Apr-Jun 2023

We will try to present cases of coinfection with COVID‑19 and mucormycosis in Kashan to increase the awareness of health‑care providers and reduce the number of forgotten and neglected cases.

This is a descriptive cross‑sectional study that patients infected with COVID‑19 become vulnerable to a variety of opportunistic diseases. There are several studies of COVID‑19 and mucormycosis, but an effort has been made to provide a collection of cases in Kashan (the center of Iran) to reduce morbidity and mortality by increasing the awareness of health‑care providers.

A total of 31 patients with mucormycosis following COVID‑19 including 18 males and 13 females were included in the study. All reverse transcriptase‑polymerase chain reaction patients were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome‑coronavirus‑2. Twenty had a history of diabetes, eight had a history of hypertension, and three had no record of any underlying disease. The maxillary sinuses were the most common site of involvement. The maximum length of hospital stay was 52 dayss.

Patients with COVID‑19 vulnerable to comorbidities, any facial involvement, or severe glucocorticoid and antibiotic treatment should be closely examined and monitored at the first encounter and during hospitalization for any signs of mucormycosis and start standard care and antifungal treatment as soon as possible.

This study represents the first attempt in understanding the prevalence of common allergens in Kashan, based on the clinical data i.e., demographic statistics and available SPTs collected.

In a retrospective cross-sectional study on 10,000 patients referred to Kashan Asthma and Allergy Clinic from 2006 to 2016, clinical information was extracted through electronic records. Considering risk factors including a family history of atopy, symptoms, smoking, and suitability of sleeping materials, sensitization to 17 aeroallergens was evaluated using SPT.

About 44.6% of patients had simultaneous allergic rhinitis and asthma, while 21.2% suffered concurrently from ocular allergy. The most prevalent outdoor sensitization was against weed pollens (62.3%), specially Salsola kali (69.9%), mixed extracts of Chenopodium album and Amaranthus retroflexus (58.3%) from Chenopodiaceae family, followed by grasses (44.6%), and trees (35.5%). For indoor allergens, cockroach (32.5%) was the most prevalent aeroallergen, followed by mites (27.1%), mold (23.4%), and animal dander (20.64%).

The study showed that reaction to SPT is generally high in Kashan, especially towards weed pollens of the Chenopodiaceae family. Despite her dry climate, the living style in Kashan has traditionally been inclined to keep indoor spaces humid throughout the year and therefore more prone to such indoor aeroallergens as cockroaches, mites, and fungi infestations.

As the hormonal status of women does influence both mammographic breast density and atherosclerosis, the aim of the study was to evaluate the association between breast density on mammography and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT).

Two-hundred premenopausal women with mammographic breast density of one (n=100) or four (n=100) were selected for this cross-sectional study. CIMT was measured according to the guidelines of Mannheim Consensus. The correlation between mammographic breast density and CIMT was assessed.

Mean age was 45.9±3.4 years and 45.8±3.2 years in the groups with mammographic density of 1 and 4, respectively, which showed no significant difference. CIMT correlated with age with a Pearson Correlation Coefficient of 0.470 (p<0.001). CIMT was significantly higher in women with ACR-mammographic density of 1 (p<0.001).

Women with mammographic breast density of 1 revealed a higher CIMT. Further studies evaluating breast density and CIMT in pre- and postmenopausal women and assessing simultaneously the serum hormone level could give more information about the cause and effect of this correlation.

The current study evaluated the long‑term lung abnormalities based on initial and follow‑up chest computed tomography (CT) images of COVID‑19 patients and investigates the possible factors associated with them.

One hundred and twenty‑four hospitalized COVID‑19 patients who received a follow‑up chest CT scan in three hospitals in Tehran between February 20, 2021 and September, 2021, were included. Based on the presence of persistent lesions in the follow‑up images, patients were divided into residual and nonresidual groups, and logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between different disease characteristics and long‑term lung abnormalities.

The most frequent abnormality in the initial imaging was ground‑glass opacities which was observed in 95.3% of patients, and residual lesions were observed in 39.8% of patients at the follow‑up date. Patients in the residual group were generally older, more frequently suffered from hypertension and dyspnea, and had lower oxygen saturation and lymphocyte count, and lymphopenia was more prevalent among them. Moreover, patients in the residual group had higher initial lung involvement score, and the presence of lymphadenopathy and consolidation was more frequent among them. After adjustment for age, gender, and intervals between the two imagings, logistic regression results showed that hospitalization period, dyspnea, decreased oxygen saturation, decreased lymphocyte count, lymphopenia, consolidation, lymphadenopathy, and high initial lung involvement were strongly associated with the presence of long‑term abnormalities.

The current study revealed multiple discrepancies between residual and nonresidual groups, which can be used to better identify the patients at risk of long‑term COVID‑19 lung complications.

Therefore, the present study has been conducted to predict PPD in the mothers according to stress and perceived social support taking the mediator role of vulnerable personality into account. This research was correlational and basic. The research sample included 300 mothers in Isfahan who gave birth to a child in recent 6 months and were selected through a convenient sampling method. Afterward, they answered the research instruments including the Edinburgh Depression Questionnaire (1978), Harry Stress Questionnaire (2005), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Zimet et al. (1988), and Vulnerable Personality Questionnaire, Bois et al. (2004). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling through the covariance method through AMOS24 software. The findings showed that the results of direct relationships of research variables were significant in all coefficients in the mothers’ model (P < 0.05). The results showed that vulnerable personality has a mediation role in the relationship between stress and perceived social support with PPD in the mothers. In fact, a vulnerable personality can improve the relationship between stress and perceived social support with PPD.

The study was conducted to determine the prevalence of social phobia, related functional disability, and factors associated with social phobia among students in the College of Nursing, Darjeeling, West Bengal. A descriptive, cross‑sectional study was conducted among 248 nursing students. The Social Phobia Inventory, a validated self‑administered questionnaire, was used to assess social phobia; the Sheehan Disability Scale was used to assess functional disability. Analytical statistics were done using the Chi‑square test. The majority (54.4%) of students had social phobia; among them, 59.3% had associated functional disability. The proportion of social phobia was higher among students aged >30 (64.7%). Social phobia was significantly higher among students who never participated in extracurricular activities (P = 0.000), who were ever bullied (P = 0.013), and having unsatisfactory academic performance (P = 0.011). The proportion of social phobia was higher among those who experienced any major traumatic incident (64.8%). The majority of students felt that involvement in peer group activities (68.5%), extracurricular activities (61.7%), and group studies (49.2%) could prevent social phobia. About 17.6% of students showed marked functional disability in social life, 11.2% in family life, and 7.4% at work. Social phobia is highly prevalent among nursing students. Extracurricular and peer group activities with institutional support might help students to overcome social phobia.

The aims of this study were investigating the association between DM prevalence and climate conditions and finding probable hot-spot areas. This ecological study conducted on disease surveillance system of DM data from rural area of two Kashan and Aran-O-Bidgol counties. It is an observational study on the disease surveillance data of health registry system including population characteristics, screened DM cases in 2016. Moran’s I and Getis-Ord’s index were applied to explore the hot-spot areas, and the spatial regression model were conducted for finding the relationship between climate and DM prevalence whilst adjusting some confounders, using GIS software. The information of 48 cities and villages with 26,800 of ≥30 years people located in three mountainous, plain and dry-desert climates were analyzed. The crude DM prevalence ranged 0-45.4%. The analysis revealed evident hot-spot areas and inverse relationship between altitude and DM prevalence (P<0.05). Residences of dry-desert climate had high DM prevalence and there was a significant inverse relationship between altitude and DM prevalence.

This study was conducted to investigate the emotional intelligence (EI) and its relationship with job stress and the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among pre-hospital emergency technicians. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample was selected from a population of about 400 technicians with at least one year of experience in emergency medical service centers. The sampling was done through a census method. The following questionnaires were used to collect the data: Demographic Characteristics, Siberia Schering's Emotional Intelligence Standard Questionnaire, Health and Safety Executive Questionnaire (HSE), and the Impact of Event Scale - Revised Questionnaire (IES-R). The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22. The mean score of EI, job stress and PTSD were 110.18±17.73, 111.36±15.31 and 32.15±12.08, respectively. The results of the study showed that people with high level of EI have lower level of job stress. Moreover, people with high level of EI have lower level of PTSD. As EI predicts job stress and the symptoms of PTSD, the provision of EI training should be taken into consideration by officials as a factor in promoting mental health in medical staff, clinical competence, and the quality of patient care.