فهرست مطالب

Research in Health Sciences - Volume:17 Issue: 2, Spring 2017

Journal of Research in Health Sciences
Volume:17 Issue: 2, Spring 2017

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1396/04/11
  • تعداد عناوین: 9
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  • Jalal Poorolajal Page 1
    Iran has made a substantial progress in science and technology during the last two decades, despite international sanctions. Iran's scientific community remained productive, even while economic sanctions make it difficult for Iranian universities to prepare their requisite equipment1. Furthermore, Iran's university population has swelled from 100,000 in 1979 to more than 4.5 million in 20122,3.
    Based on the Scopus database4, the number of citable documents produced by Iranian scientists rose about 48-fold during the last two decades, from 832 citable documents in 1996 to 39,727 in 2015. According to this database, Iran produced only 0.07% of the scientific products of the world in 1996, but 1.32% in 2015. Iran could improve its scientific level among the world's top scientific countries during the last two decades and could pass many developed countries of the world and reach the 16th global rank and the first regional rank in 2015 (Figure 1). This figure indicates an increasing trend in the number of citations to Iranian scientific production from 1996 to 2010 and a decreasing trend thereafter. In the first view, one may imagine that the quality of the Iranian scientific productions has fallen in the recent years and the number of citations to Iranian publications has not been growing along with the number of scientific products. However, we should keep in mind that old papers had more opportunity to be seen, read, and cited than the new ones. That means citation to scientific productions is a time-dependent process. As shown in Figure 2, during the last two decades, the global rank of citations per paper (CPP) for Iran changed in the same way as it did for the United States.
    Based on the Iranian 'Comprehensive Scientific Map' (CSP), Iran must achieve the first place of science and technology in the Muslim world and obtain an outstanding position of science and technology in the world by 20255. In addition, Iran should achieve the authority of science and technology in the world by 2055. That means experts and scientists of the world need to refer to Iranian publications. For this purpose, we have to be a pioneer in many aspects of science and technology as well as the human resources. As shown in Figure 3, Iran's human development index (HDI) value has been growing slowly during the last two decades6. Based on this figure, Iran's scientific productions have been improving constantly over time, however, HDI has not been improving along with growing in the number of scientific productions during the last two decades. As shown in Table 1, Iran could achieve an outstanding position related to scientific production among developed countries, but Iran is still far from its proper position in health-related indicators such as HDI, gender development index (GDI), total disability adjusted life year (DALY), life expectancy at birth, maternal mortality rate, and under-5 mortality rate. Healthy and productive human resources is the best and most valuable asset of every country. Therefore, progress will not be achieved unless this brilliant asset is the focus of special attention.
    In order to achieve an outstanding place of science and technology of the world and the world's scientific authority, Iran requires to improve not only the HDI but also the infrastructure of the science and technology on the basis on what mentioned in the CSP5 as follows. About 7% of the growth domestic product (GDP) must be dedicated to education and 7% to research ($37,107,000,000 and $16,492,000,000, respectively based on GDP in 2016). The number of full-time faculty members must increase to 2000 per million populations (i.e., 160,000 faculty members based on 2016 population). Full-time researchers must include 10% of the government and 50% of the higher educational institutes. The number of papers per population must be 800 per one million populations. The number of CPP must be 15 per paper. About 4% of the annual GDP growth must result from science and technology, etc. Until requirements for growth and development are provided and essential infrastructures are improved, it is difficult to achieve the world's scientific authority.
  • Association between Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Val158Met (158G/A) Polymorphism and Suicide Susceptibility: A Meta-analysis
    Tahereh Sadeghiyeh, Fatemeh Hosseini Biouki, Mahta Mazaheri, Masoud Zare-Shehneh, Hossein Neamatzadeh, Zahra Poursharif Page 2
    Background
    Common functional Val158Met polymorphism in the Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene may have an impact on an individual’s susceptibility to suicide, but individually published results are inconclusive. Therefore, we performed this meta-analysis to provide a more precise estimation of the association between COMT 158G/A (COMT Val158Met) polymorphism and suicide susceptibility. Study design: A cross-sectional study.
    Methods
    This systematic review and meta-analysis is a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases was conducted on case-control studies published up to Mar 2017. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.
    Results
    We identified 14 eligible case-control studies, including 2353 suicide attempters and 2593 controls. The pooled results indicated that COMT 158G/A (COMT Val158Met) polymorphism was not significantly associated with increased overall suicide risk. The same results were revealed based on ethnicity, Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) status and genotyping technique. However, there was significant association between COMT Val158Met polymorphism and suicide risk among females under the homozygote (AA vs. GG: OR=1.829, 95% CI=1.158-2.889, P=0.010) and recessive (AA vs. AG : OR = 1.787, 95% CI=1.195, 2.671, P=0.005) models, but not among males.
    Conclusions
    COMT 158G/A (COMT Val158Met) polymorphism was associated with suicide susceptibility only in females.
    Keywords: Suicide, Catechol-O-methyltransferase, Genetic association, Meta-analysis, Susceptibility
  • Collins Bekoe, Tatdow Pansombut, Pakwan Riyapan, Sampurna Kakchapati, Aniruth Phon-On Page 3
    Background
    Dengue fever is one of the infectious diseases that is still a public health problem in Thailand. This study considers in detail, the geographic consequence, seasonal and pattern of dengue fever transmission among the 76 provinces of Thailand from 2003 to 2015. Study Design: A cross-sectional study.
    Methods
    The data for the study was from the Department of Disease Control under the Bureau of Epidemiology, Thailand. The quarterly effects and location on the transmission of dengue was modeled using an alternative additive log-linear model.
    Results
    The model fitted well as illustrated by the residual plots and the Again, the model showed that dengue fever is high in the second quarter of every year from May to August. There was an evidence of an increase in the trend of dengue annually from 2003 to 2015.
    Conclusion
    There was a difference in the distribution of dengue fever within and between provinces. The areas of high risks were the central and southern regions of Thailand. The log-linear model provided a simple medium of modeling dengue fever transmission. The results are very important in the geographic distribution of dengue fever patterns.
    Keywords: Infectious Disease, Dengue, Linear Models, Thailand
  • Nelly Layoun, Souheil Hallit, Mirna Waked, Zeina Aoun Bacha, Isabelle Godin, Michele Dramaix, Pascale Salameh Page 4
    Background
    We aimed at examining quitting behaviors among Lebanese cigarette smokers in order to clarify characteristics of adults who were more likely to intend to quit smoking.
    Study design: A cross-sectional study.
    Methods
    This study was conducted between March 2014 and March 2015, involving 382 patients randomly chosen from 5 outpatient clinics in 5 hospitals in Lebanon. A standardized questionnaire was completed including socio-demographic characteristics, smoking behavior, chronic respiratory symptoms, Fagerstrom scale, Mondor scale, packaging perception, quitting behavior and readiness to quit ladder.
    Results
    40.8% of participants reported having higher stages of readiness to quit while 33% and 7.9% of them intended to quit in 2 and 6 months later, respectively. Higher stages of readiness to quit were associated with high motivation to quit smoking (ORa=1.98; P=0.007), chronic wheezing and real quit attempt duration of ≥ 1 month (ORa=2.35, P=0.020 and ORa=2.15, P=0.003, respectively). Highly motivated smokers (ORa=1.83, P=0.040), who would have changed their favorite pack due to the graphical warnings (ORa=2.11, P=0.010) and who had past quit attempt (ORa=4.39, P
    Conclusions
    Significantly higher intentions to quit cigarette smoking were associated with a higher motivation and influenced by shocking images and health related warnings on tobacco boxes. We hope our results will initiate public health educational programs and interventions to surge the intention to quit cigarette smoking as the first step of quitting.
    Keywords: Cigarette Smoking, Motivation, Readiness potential, Smoking Cessation
  • Shahram Arsang-Jang, Marjan Mansourian, Firouz Amani, Tohid Jafari-Koshki Page 5
    Background
    Trend analysis is an important tool to monitor epidemiological changes of disease over time to guide resource allocation. This study aimed to study incidence trends and change-points of smear positive, smear negative, extra-pulmonary and relapse of tuberculosis (TB) in Iran from 2001 to 2015.
    Study design: Repeated cross-sectional study
    Methods
    Nonlinear segmented regression was used to describe TB incidence trends; annual percent change (APC), average annual percent changes (AAPC) and change points for each disease separately.
    Results
    Of 154930 TB cases, 49.8% were smear positive, 19.7% smear negative, 27.32% extra-pulmonary and 3.18% relapse. For all TB types, the peak of incidence was in 2001. Two change point were estimated for all TB types (P
    Conclusions
    Even though the TB incidence rates were decreasing, the amount of reductions seem inadequate, to reach the goals of TB control in Iran. Especially, the increase in the extra-pulmonary TB rates is a point of concern that highlights more attention is required for these cases. It is essential to improve economic supports toward TB control, illegal immigrants, data registry systems and physician's sensitivity in TB detection.
    Keywords: Iran, Poisson distribution, Relapse, Tuberculosis
  • Mahbobeh Faramarzi, Mahla Cheraghi, Mohammad Zamani, Farzan Kheirkhah, Ali Bijani, Seyed Reza Hosseini Page 6
    Background
    We aimed to determine the gender-specific predictors of depressive symptoms among an Iranian elderly community population.
    Study design: A cross-sectional study.
    Methods
    This study was performed on elderly subjects (aged ≥60 yr) who participated in the Amirkola Health and Aging Project, Amirkola, Babol, northern Iran in 2011-12. Depression was assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale. Fourteen variables, including marital status, age, education, occupation, living alone, social support, dependency in daily activities, physical activity, smoking, body mass index, chronic pain, medicine use, comorbidities, and cognitive impairment, were analyzed as predictors of depression.
    Results
    In males, age group of 80-84 yr (odds ratio (OR)=0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.09, 0.55), occupation (OR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.90) and social support (OR=0.82, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.88) had protective effects against depression, and smoking (OR=1.67, 95% CI: 1.15, 2.44), cognitive impairment (OR=2.18, 95% CI: 1.34, 3.45) and comorbidities(OR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.27, 1.60) were found as risk factors. In females, social support (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.65, 1.44) and higher education (OR=0.10, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.84) were two protective factors against depression, and being unmarried (OR=1.88, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.35), cognitive impairment (OR=1.50, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.21), comorbidities(OR=1.30, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.44) and chronic pain (OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.44) were four positive predictors of depression.
    Conclusions
    There were both similarities and differences in predictors of depression between old males and females. These findings suggest physicians and healthcare executives consider gender-specific risk/protective factors to improve preventive mental health programs in older males and females.
    Keywords: Cognitive Dysfunction, Sex, Depressive Disorder, Comorbidity
  • Masomeh Rostami-Moez, Forouzan Rezapur-Shahkolai, Seyyed Mohammad-Mahdi Hazavehei, Manoochehr Karami, Akram Karimi-Shahanjarini, Farzad Nazem Page 7
    Background
    Adolescents especially middle school girls do not follow 60 min of regular physical activity (RPA), recommended by WHO, and endure physical activity decline. Using theory-based interventional program, considering the age of decline in RPA, seems to be effective. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of educational program, based on PRECEDE and Trans-Theoretical models, on preventing decline in RPA and improving it among 7th grade girl students.
    Study design: Randomized controlled trial.
    Methods
    This study was conducted on 7th grade girl students in Hamadan, west of Iran from 2015-16. Participants were divided into intervention (N=179) and control (N=165) groups by random assignment. Physical activity questionnaire for adolescents and the model-based questionnaire were used before and after intervention. Intervention included two months education and six months follow up. The effects of intervention were determined by statistical test and analysis of covariance using SPSS version 16.
    Results
    The higher change in the mean scores was observed in self-efficacy (0.86), counter condition (0.66) and helping relationship (0.57) in the intervention group (P≤0.001). In addition, a significant difference (P ≤0.001) was observed between the two groups 6 months after the intervention in all constructs of model. The mean score of doing physical activity in the intervention group increased from 2.50 to 3.17 that it was differed significantly from the control group (P≤0.001).
    Conclusions
    School based intervention using PRECEDE and Trans-Theoretical models might prevent girl students’ RPA decline and improve their RPA.
    Keywords: Adolescents, Female, Health Promotion, Randomized Controlled Trial, Iran
  • Milad Daneshi-Maskooni, Mahtab Badri-Fariman, Nahal Habibi, Ahmadreza Dorosty-Motlagh, Hashem Yavari, Arvin Kashani, Mostafa Hosseini Page 8
    Background
    Food insecurity is defined as the limited or uncertain availability of enough food for permanent active and healthy life. Upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers (esophagus and stomach) are one of five most common cancers in Iran. This study aimed to determine the association of food insecurity and upper GI cancers in newly diagnosed patients.
    Study Design: Case-control study
    Methods
    Overall, 120 patients with upper GI cancers as cases and 120 patients with orthopedic, ear-nose-throat (ENT), and neurologic diseases as controls were recruited from Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2013. The patients were newly diagnosed using endoscopy or imaging or biopsy methods. They were individually matched for age, sex, and residential area. The general and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) household food security questionnaires were completed. The univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression tests were applied using the Stata 11SE statistical software.
    Results
    The food insecurity prevalence was 69.2% and 43.3% in cases and controls, respectively. Food insecurity, low economic level and family history of cancer were significantly associated with cancer (P
    Conclusions
    Food insecurity was one of the important risk factors for upper GI cancers that health care providers should consider it.
    Keywords: Food insecurity, Esophagus, Stomach, Cancer, Iran
  • Hajar Nazari Kangavari, Ahmad Shojaei, Seyed Saeed Hashemi Nazari Page 9
    Background
    Suicide is a major cause of unnatural deaths in the world. Its incidence is higher in western provinces of Iran. So far, there has not been any time series analysis of suicide in western provinces. The purpose of this study was to analyze suicide mortality data from 2006 to 2016 as well as to forecast the number of suicides for 2017 in four provinces of Iran (Ilam, Kermanshah and Lorestan and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad).
    Study design: Descriptive-analytic study.
    Methods
    Data were analyzed by time­ series analysis using R software. Three automatic methods (Auto.arima, ETS (Error Transitional Seasonality) and time series linear model (TSLM)) were fitted on the data. The best model after cross validation according to the mean absolute error measure was selected for forecasting.
    Results
    Totally, 7004 suicidal deaths occurred of which, 4259 were male and 2745 were female. The mean age of the study population was (32.05 ± 15.48 yr). Hanging and self-immolation were the most frequent types of suicide in men and women, respectively. The maximum and minimum number of suicides was occurred in July and August as well as January respectively.
    Conclusions
    It is suggested that intervention measures should be designed in order to decrease the suicide rate particularly in the age group of 15-29 yr, and implemented as a pilot study, especially in these four provinces of Iran, which have a relatively high suicide rate.
    Keywords: Suicide, Mortality, Interrupted Time series, Iran