Journal of Research in Health Sciences
Volume:14 Issue: 2, Spring 2014

There are many risk factors besides age and immune suppression for herpes zoster. Family history as a risk factor is suggested in some recent studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between herpes zoster and family history. This case-control study was undertaken in Farshchian Hospital, Hamadan, Iran. “Case group” included patients with confirmed diagnosis of herpes zoster. “Control group” was chosen among other dermatologic patients or their companions without any history of herpes zoster. Immune deficiency was the main excluding criteria. Information about age, gender, dermatome involved (only in patient group), history of chronic dermatologic or systemic diseases and family history of herpes zoster was asked using special questionnaires. Case and control groups included 217 and 200 participants respectively. Mean age of cases and controls was 49.08±15.59 and 49.96±15.54 years old respectively (P=0.936). 53.5% of cases and 54.5% of controls were women (P=0.845). Most frequent dermatomes involved in patients were thoracic (85/217; 39.25%) and cervical dermatomes (55/217; 25.3%). Frequency of herpes zoster in first-degree blood relatives in cases and controls was 65/217 (30%) and 16/200 (8%) respectively (OR=4.91; 95% CI: 2.73, 8.85; P=0.001). Our findings indicated a significantly higher proportion of patients with family history of herpes zoster comparing to controls. This study confirms family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster. Therefore, the old patients with positive family history of herpes zoster may be appropriate candidates for vaccination with Zostavax. However, more evidence based on large cohort studies in needed to confirm our findings.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a pandemic disease. It is the second leading cause of death from infectious diseases after human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the world.The main objective of this paper was to determine and compare the epidemiology of TB incidence rate and its trend changes during 1990-2010 in six WHO regions regarding age, gender and income levels. The Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) and Annual Percent Change (APC) of TB incidence, mortality, treatment-successes, case detection rates, as well as change points of trend was estimated using segmented regression model. The number of change points was selected by the permutation procedure based on likelihood ratio test. Two change points for global TB incidence rate trend with AAPC5years equaling -1.4 % was estimated, the maximum AAPC5years of six regions was attributed to the American region (-3.5%). AACP of TB treatment-successes rate for Eastern Mediterranean (+2.2), the Americas (+1.6), south East Asia (+.8) and Global (+1.1) were significant (P<0.05). Moreover AACP5years of TB case detection rate for South East Asia (+7.5), Eastern Mediterranean (+4.9), Africa (+2.8) and the Americas (+1.7) were significant (P<0.05). Globally, all of income categories had descending trend of TB incidence and mortality rate, except the upper-middle income level that had ascending incidence trend (AAPC=+0.7%). Globally, TB incidence and mortality rates have downturn trend and TB treatment successes and detection rates have upward trend, but their changes rate are insufficient to reach the goal of TB stop strategy. The economic levels have effect on trend, with no clear pattern, so it seems necessary that evaluation TB control programs based on characteristics of countries for reach TB control goals.

The rabies is one of the most important officially-known viral zoonotic diseases for its global distribution, outbreak, high human and veterinary costs, and high death rate and causes high economic costs in different countries of the world every year. The rabies is the deadliest disease and if the symptoms break out in a person, one will certainly die. However, the deaths resulting from rabies can be prevented by post-exposure prophylaxis. To do so, in Iran and most of the countries in the world, all the people who are exposed to animal bite receive Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) treatment. The present survey aimed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of PEP in southern Iran. The present study estimated the PEP costs from the government`s Perspective with step-down method for the people exposed to animal bite, estimated the number of DALYs prevented by PEP in the individuals using decision Tree model, and computed the Incremental cost-effectiveness Ratio. The information collected of all reported animal bite cases (n=7111) in Fars Province, who referred rabies registries in urban and rural health centers to receive active care. Performing the PEP program cost estimated 1,052,756.1 USD for one year and the estimated cost for the treatment of each animal bite case and each prevented death was 148.04 and 5945.42 USD, respectively. Likewise 4,509.82 DALYs were prevented in southern Iran in 2011 by PEP program. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for each DALY was estimated to be 233.43 USD. In addition to its full effectiveness in prophylaxis from rabies, PEP program saves the financial resources of the society, as well. This study showed performing PEP to be more cost-effective.

The increasing incidence of pertussis among adolescents and adults in recent years is an alarming factor in transmission of the infection to non-immune infants and children. Vaccination of pregnant women، immediately after delivery and before being discharged from the hospital may help to protect mothers and their newborns against the disease. Decision making process، regarding maternal immunization، requires credible information and knowledge about seroepidemiology of the infection in pregnant women. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Bordetella pertussis antibody among admitted pregnant women in Hamadan، western Iran. In this cross-sectional study، 288 pregnant women admitted to the Fatemiyeh Hospital، Hamadan، western Iran، were enrolled into the study. After obtaining consent from every patient، serum samples were taken from patients and were kept frozen until testing. Serum level of B. pertussis antibody was measured using ELISA. Level of antibody higher than 24 U/ml was considered positive. The obtained data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS. From 288 pregnant women، 126 (43. 8%) were in their second trimester. Serological results in 103 patients (35. 8%) were positive. The mean age of mothers with positive serology was 27. 5±6 years old. Thirty-five percent of patients had a valid immunization record، and 1. 57% of those with no vaccination record had a positive serology. The level of immunity against B. pertussis in pregnant women was low. Immunization before or during pregnancy can stimulate newborn’s immune response and gives them required protection against pertussis infection.

This study aimed to design a new mouse and evaluate some of its functional parameters. The prototype of an ergonomic mouse was made according to design principles. The study was conducted from 2011 to 2013 in the Department of Ergonomics in Shiraz University of Medical Science. Functional parameters including Movement Time (MT) and error rate of the new mouse were evaluated by 10 participants based on ISO 9241-9 standard. The application of design principles in the new mouse resulted in improving MT and error rate so that they could be comparable to those of a standard mouse. MT, in both the standard and the new mouse was 0.846 and 0.864 s, respectively. Error rate of the standard and the new mouse was reported as 13% and 19%, respectively. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the two mice from these perspectives. Apparently, the studied functional parameters of the new mouse were similar to those of the standard one. The new mouse could be an appropriate substitution for the standard mouse without losing its positive characteristics.

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease that is endemic in some areas of Iran، including East Azerbaijan. IFN-γ is one of the cytokines that triggers cell-mediated immunity، thus initiating elimination of the infection. This case-control study was performed to investigate the association between the polymorphism of the IFN-γ gene at the +874A/T locus and visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In this study conducted during 2012-2013، 267 participants were selected from individuals living in an endemic area of VL. Subjects were divided into three groups; 86 patients with VL، 82 seropositive individuals without any history of leishmaniasis، and 99 seronegative healthy controls. Genotyping of the IFN-γ +874A/T polymorphism was carried out using an Amplification Refractory Mutation System-PCR (ARMS-PCR). The frequency of the +874A allele in the patient group (75. 5%) was higher than in the seropositive individuals (54%). The highest frequency of the +874T/T genotype was observed in seropositive individuals، while the patient group had the lowest frequency (34. 1% vs. 24. 5%). However، these differences were not significant. There was no significant association between IFN-γ +874A/T polymorphism and VL.

It is believed that improved safety culture/climate is a fundamental element to accident prevention. Therefore, development a scale to assess safety climate is a step towards accident control. The purpose of this study was to construct a Persian safety climate questionnaire. The study took place in Tehran and Esfahan oil refineries in Iran in 2010. An initial questionnaire was formed from two previous studies. This tool was translated to Persian based on back translation. The 61-item questionnaire was tested on operational staffs (N=324). Principle component analysis and Varimax with Kaiser Normalization was used to extract factors, in statistical software package SPSS 11.0. The factors were obtained as Management Commitment to Safety and personnel collaboration 23 variables, 17.33 % of the variance, Safety communication five items, 6.97% of the variance, Supportive environment five items, 6.245% of the variance, Work Environment six items, 5.590% of the variance, Formal Training four items, 4.581% of the variance, Priority of Safety five items, 4.177% of the variance, Personal Priorities and Need for Safety three items, 3.333% of the variance. Achievement of a valid and reliable safety climate tool may bring enormous benefits to the refineries. However, a reliable and valid tool to measure safety climate could be useful in other refineries. Moreover, the generic nature of the safety climate scale may grant its use for other workplaces.

Mental disorders may lead to several complications in adolescents’ people whose compensation is very difficult and sometime impossible. They are prone to emotional problems. Therefore, knowing prevalence of diseases and valid statistical technique is necessary to plan for prevention and control of diseases. In this cross-sectional study; direct, synthetic, and post-stratified estimation as small area methods were used to compute mental disorder symptoms (MDS) prevalence with county-level reference among adolescents in south of Iran. We conducted Mental Health Study data (MHS) conducted in Bushehr Province, southern Iran in 2005 for individual-level classification of MDS (n=2584). Students were in grade 9, 10 and 11, and enrolled with complete satisfaction. The synthetic method was superior to the direct and post-stratified technique with respect to discrepancy statistics such as MSE and width 95% confidence interval (MSEs(synthetic)≈0.001, MSEs(post-stratified)≈0.010, MSEs(direct)≈0.100). In addition, the width range of 95% confidence intervals for all county estimates was 9.7% to 65.3% based on in direct methods. Besides, the width range of 95% confidence intervals for all county estimates under post-stratified and synthetic method was 16.7% to 62.2% and 11.8 %-25.1%, respectively. Hence, we could categorize prevalence of mental disorder symptoms in Bushehr’s counties into five categories based-on synthetic methods. Maximum and minimum prevalence belongs to Geneveh (0.403) and Dashty (0.398) counties, respectively. The MHS cannot be used as a valid source of county-level mental health prevalence data and the small-area method such synthetic method should be used to estimate prevalence of mental disorder symptoms in county-level. Furthermore, the synthetic method improved MDS prevalence more than direct and post-stratified methods.

Because of the rapid aging rate, the share of health expenditure in gross domestic product rises irreversibly and increases concern among politicians and the general public. The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of the Baumol’s model of unbalanced growth in Iran over the period 1981-2010. This theoretical-analytical study was conducted in 2012 to investigate the various determinants of ongoing rise in the health expenditures. To this end, an Error Correction Model was derived from the long run cointegrating equation to inquire the veracity of Baumol’s theory. Estimating the short run and long run equations by using time series data shows that the rate of increase in health expenditure is aligned with the difference between wage increases in and growth of productivity in the health sector. Besides, results show that both the per capita income and the inflation rate of health care had significant effects on raising the share of health sector in domestic economy. According to rapid population aging and existence of Baumol’s cost disease in Iranian health sector, we predict much more rise in health expenditure in a few decades.

Noise prediction is considered to be the best method for evaluating cost-preventative noise controls in industrial workrooms. One of the most important issues is the development of accurate models for analysis of the complex relationships among acoustic features affecting noise level in workrooms. In this study، advanced fuzzy approaches were employed to develop relatively accurate models for predicting noise in noisy industrial workrooms. The data were collected from 60 industrial embroidery workrooms in the Khorasan Province، East of Iran. The main acoustic and embroidery process features that influence the noise were used to develop prediction models using MATLAB software. Multiple regression technique was also employed and its results were compared with those of fuzzy approaches. Prediction errors of all prediction models based on fuzzy approaches were within the acceptable level (lower than one dB). However، Neuro-fuzzy model (RMSE=0. 53dB and R2=0. 88) could slightly improve the accuracy of noise prediction compared with generate fuzzy model. Moreover، fuzzy approaches provided more accurate predictions than did regression technique. The developed models based on fuzzy approaches as useful prediction tools give professionals the opportunity to have an optimum decision about the effectiveness of acoustic treatment scenarios in embroidery workrooms.

Androgenic-anabolic steroids (AAS) are abused by a growing number of bodybuilders. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to determine prevalence and patterns of AAS use by bodybuilders in Hamadan, western Iran. In this cross-sectional study, participants were recruited from five gym clubs in two area of Hamadan (a total of 10 clubs). Twenty-five bodybuilders from each club were administered. Questions investigating demographic information, sport history, education level, general knowledge about AAS, and their side effects were asked. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16. The frequency of AAS use was 28.8% (72/250). Fifty-four percent of users were 25 years or younger. AAS abuse showed a significant association with duration of exercise. The drugs were suggested mostly from peers (43.1%) and coaches (36.1%). The most commonly consumed anabolic steroid was testosterone (66.7%). The most commonly reported AAS side effect was acne (18.1%). There was not significant association between general knowledge about side effects of ASS and their use. The results of current survey indicate that frequency of ASS use is high in adolescents and young adult bodybuilders. Well educated bodybuilders have a higher prevalence of abuse. Awareness about the side effects of drugs is not deterrent factor for their abuse. Iranian Ministry of Sport and the Youth, and the National Council for Youth, should be urged to conduct more effective prevention strategies.