Chronic Diseases Journal
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Autumn 2018

Traffic accidents in Iran are the second leading cause of mortality and the first cause of years of life lost (YLL). This study aims to determine the epidemiology of road traffic accidents referring to Shahid Chamran Hospital of Kangavar, Iran, in 2014. This was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. The studied population included all dead and injured patients of traffic accidents referring to Shahid Chamran Hospital in Kangavar in 2014 that by using census sampling method were entered in the study. The data collection tool was a researcher-made checklist involving demographic and traffic variables that were filled by examining hospital records and making phone calls to all participants. Data were analyzed through chi-square and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests. The mean age of participants was 30.98 ± 17.06 years. 75.81% of the population was men. The average time of traffic accident occurrence was 15:14:47. The majority of injured subjects were motorcycle drivers (32.89%), followed by car passengers (22.41%), and pedestrians (19.64%). Car-motorcycle (29.60%), overturning (28.66%), and car-pedestrian collision (17.45%) were the first three most common types of traffic accidents, respectively. Multiple trauma (42.29%), lower limb trauma (24.88%), and head/neck trauma (17.87%) were the most frequent injuries. There was a statistically significant association between the types of accidents and the variables of marital status, educational level, place of residence, days of the week, seasons, injured person’s condition, type of collision, and the injured organ (P < 0.050). Based on the findings, since the majority of casualties in traffic accidents are motorcyclists, it is recommended to review the traffic rules for this group.

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease with a global distribution that is caused by pathogenic spirochetes of Leptospira. It has a global spread, but it is more common in warm and tropical regions. In developing countries such as Iran, it is considered as a work-related illness and occurs mostly in farmers, ranchers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and fishermen in the warm seasons of the year. The aim of this study was to report the information available at the provincial health center about the clinical features of patients with leptospirosis in Golestan province, Iran, from 2011 to 2015. This cross-sectional descriptive study surveyed all patients with leptospirosis in Golestan provincial health center from 2011 to 2015. All information was collected by a self-designed checklist that its reliability was approved by three infectious specialists. In case of defective files, patients were contacted. The collected data were analyzed by an epidemiologist via SPSS software. In this study, during the years of 2011 to 2015, 75 cases of leptospirosis were recorded. 50 cases (66.6%) were men and 25 (33.3%) were women. The most common complaint of patients at referral was fever (70 cases, 93.33%). The most complained problem after fever (93.33%) was musculoskeletal pain and jaundice reported 57.33% and 54.66%, respectively. It is important to pay attention to this disease in farmers and villagers, especially in agricultural seasons. Due to the high prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of leptospirosis, early diagnosis based on common symptoms is important. Healthcare centers in each area are required to recognize common diseases to reduce irreversible complications.

Since the epidemiology of animal bites and the relevant factors in post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) are of great significance for preventing the deaths resulting from rabies and controlling the rabies disease, the main purpose of the current study is to account for the patterns of animal bites and factors associated with delay in PEP in bitten people. This cross-sectional study was conducted on all animal bites cases in Khaf city, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran, and included 553 cases of animal bites recorded from March 2014 to February 2016 in the healthcare centers. Chi-square test (or Fisher’s exact test) was used to identify the factors associated with delays in PEP. Results indicated that majority of the cases with animal bites were men (79.7%) aged from 21 to
60 years (48.5%). Due to the type of animal bites in all ages, the damages caused by dogs (85.2%) were greater than the damages caused by cats (9%) and other domestic or wild animals (5.8%). The frequency of delay in treatment was 14.4% in women and 5.2% in men (P = 0.002). The frequency of treatment delay in housewives (18.6%) and children under 6 years old (6.3%) was greater than that in other occupations (P = 0.003). According to the current study's results, individuals’ gender and occupation are among the main factors associated with delay in PEP. Therefore, identifying factors related to delay in treatment and providing people with the necessary education by health personnel are of considerable significance in prevention of unpleasant consequences of animal bites.  

Virtual networks are one of the social issues in the age of communication. The growing development of electronic communication networks among teens has brought about many tricks for the person. The purpose of this study was to compare the psychological well-being and lifestyle of social networks user and non-user female students of high school in district 1 of Sanandaj city, Iran. The research was of a causal type with a practical purpose. The statistical population of the study consisted of all social network user and non-user female students of a high school in district 1 of Sanandaj city in the academic year of 2017-2018. In order to do this research, 123 female students who were social networks users and 123 non-user female students were selected randomly by random sampling. The tools used were Ryff’s psychological well-being scale (54-item version) and Miller-Smith lifestyle questionnaire. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) via SPSS software. The results of the analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of psychological well-being (personal growth and domination components) and lifestyle (P < 0.05). The tendency towards social networks is associated with a reduction in the mental well-being and lifestyle. Moreover, access to them for teenagers and young people is increasing, and they are more at risk than other people. Therefore, it is needed to plan the necessary psychological well-being of adolescents.

By the epidemiological transition, most of the developing countries still have malnutrition problem as well as different levels of obesity and overweight as most important risk factors of non-communicable and chronic diseases. Body mass index (BMI) is a suitable index for studying them. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between children’s BMI and household socioeconomic status in West-Azerbaijan province, Iran, in 2015. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1024 children aged 6-7 years who were assessed in Sanjesh Plan conducted by Organization of Exceptional Education and Training. To determine BMI, world health organization (WHO) Growth Reference (2007) was used. Then, to estimate the risk factors affecting BMI, chi-square test and categorical (multinomial) logistic regression were used. The results showed that obesity, overweight, and thinness were 2.5%, 12.7%, 5.2% in girls, and 4.4%, 12.3%, and 1.8% in boys, respectively, which were statistically significant. Of all the variables studied, insurance, occupation and education level of parents, birth order, and number of household members were not statistically significant. The rest of indicators such as gender, location of residence (city or village), ethnicity, and development degree were statistically significant. Since analysis showed that BMI had relation with development degree and location of residence, it can be said that West-Azerbaijan is at the median of transition. Therefore, health policy makers should pay enough attention to prevention of obesity and overweight as well as elimination of thinness and malnutrition.

Marital adjustment is very important in family’s mental health, and identification of effective factors is of great importance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to predict marital adjustment based on the psychological well-being and happiness of couples. This was a correlational study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all second-grade married teachers in the city of Bukan, Iran, whose total number was 200. In this study, based on Krejcie and Morgan's table, the total sample size was 114. They were selected using available sampling method. For collecting data, Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) were used. For data analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used and data were analyzed using SPSS software. There was a positive and significant relationship between the components of psychological well-being and marital adjustment of couples; the results of regression analysis indicated that the variables of psychological health and couple’s happiness had a significant role in explaining marital adjustment of couples. Beta coefficients of components of life satisfaction and marital adjustment (P < 0.001, β = 0.27) and well-being (P < 0.001,
β = 0.21) were significant. Moreover, there was a significant negative relationship between happiness components with marital adjustment and the highest beta coefficients related to anxiety (P < 0.001, β = -0.28) and depression (P < 0.001, β = -0.19). The mental health and happiness of couples have a significant role in explaining marital adjustment, which is effective in creating couples' satisfaction and consistency.

Obesity is one of the major health problems and eating disorders around the world that has adverse consequences such as behavior change, increasing urbanization, reducing physical inactivity, and inappropriate lifestyle. The present study aimed to determine preventive behavioral obesity in women of Sanandaj County, Iran, in 2015-2016. This was a cross-sectional study. The population included the women aged 18 to 64 years old in Sanandaj, Iran, of them 500 persons were selected by multistage cluster sampling. The method of the study was interviewing with the participants. The data were collected using a questionnaire including 13 questions regarding obesity-preventive eating behaviors. Scoring questionnaire was based on 1 and 0. Questions that were consistent with obesity-related nutritional behavior got a positive score (1) and questions that were against with obesity-related nutritional behavior did not receive any score (0). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software. The average score of obesity-preventive eating behaviors was 58.68 ± 17.38. Less than 39% of the subjects had good obesity-preventative food behaviors and more than 53% had moderate obesity-preventative food behaviors. There were statistically significant differences between obesity-preventative food behaviors and economic status (P = 0.040), age group (P = 0.001), and marital status (P = 0.006). The findings of the study indicated that the most of the subjects did not have a good and healthy diet; therefore, it is necessary to hold training classes in order to change their behaviors in this regard.  

The myeloma cell is not able to grow and proliferate out of bone marrow (BM) media, and in laboratory conditions its survival is low. We considered to use an environment that has the same conditions as body physiological conditions. In this study, the effect of the amniotic membrane (AM) on the growth and proliferation of myeloma cells were evaluated. This study was performed on plasma cells derived from BM aspiration (primary cells) in 3 patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Plasma cells of these patients were isolated by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) technique and cultured in different environments of AM for two consecutive weeks, and then were examined by qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for expression of genes related to proliferation [B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2)], implantation [chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4)], and cell cycle stop (P21, P27). Isolated plasma cells were cultured in 3 different groups for 2 weeks. The most cell proliferation was observed in the medium containing Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) medium from amniotic cultures and plasma cells [an environment without fetal bovine serum (FBS)]. All genes were expressed on day zero (on the day of isolation). On the day 4, proliferation genes (BCL2) and implantation genes (CXCR4) had an expression in the control group without FBS medium, but P21 and P27 genes had no expression. The best environment for the growth and maintenance of plasma cells in vitro is the use of RPMI from the AM (without FBS) in which plasma cells can be kept alive for 10 days.  

Suffering from life-threatening diseases such as cancer, due to its impact on the patients and their next of kin causes myriads of changes in the structure and function of the family. The objective of this study was to clarify parents' experiences of childhood cancer. This qualitative study was conducted through purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 parents whose children were diagnosed with cancer in the oncology department of Besat Hospital in Sanandaj City, Iran. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed through Benner’s thematic analysis. During data analysis, 4 main themes emerged including destroyer and terminator of life, horror and hope, disturbance of normal life, and gaining valuable experience. Parental roles, routine care of a child with cancer, and facing multiple treatments and childcare problems threatened parents' compliance with the condition of the disease or treatment, and thus, parents sought social support. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the parents’ probable reaction and different life dimensions. To make healthcare more effective, providing necessary psychological, mental, and emotional support and increasing parental hope is necessary. Parents of a child with cancer should be assisted in preventing some healthcare problems and coping with their child’s illness.  

Staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing is a typing method based on the DNA sequence analysis of staphylococcal protein A gene. The purpose of this study was to do molecular typing of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients in Toohid and Besat hospitals, Sanandaj, Iran, in 2014. Clinical specimens were collected from hospitalized patients over a period of 1 year. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified using culture and biochemical standard methods based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guideline. spa gene patterns in Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified using spa-typing techniques. In total, 20 different patterns of spa gene were obtained in staphylococcus aureus isolates in this study, which included type t030 (6 cases), types t230, t459, and t701 (3 cases of each one), types t11332 and t304
(2 cases of each one), and types t325, t012, t1149, t1810, t197, t325, t7789, t808, t871, t937, t14896, t14913, t14928, and t14929 (1 case of each one). The highest prevalence belonged to types t030 (30.0%), and then, types t230, t459, and t701 (15.0% for each one). New types of t14896, t14913, t14928, and t14929 were identified during this study. There were some well-known patterns of spa types, and also we identified new types that should be studied more to qualify. Analysis of these patterns can improve insight to design nosocomial infection control programs.

Patient-safety is one of the main pillars of healthcare. Given that nurses are the largest group associated with patients, so with safety harms, job-stress among then can reduce patient-safety in hospitals. The aim of this article was to investigate the effects of job-stress on patient-safety in hospitals affiliated to Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, data gathering tools consisted of a reliable researcher-made job-stress questionnaire, and a patient-safety checklist. 320 nurses in hospitals affiliated to Alborz University of Medical Sciences, who were selected using simple randomized sampling method, completed the questionnaire, and the checklist was filled by the researcher. Data were analyzed at two levels of inferential and descriptive statistics. Job-stress and also patient-safety were at average levels in studied hospitals. Among the demographic factors, only the relationship between job-stress and marital status was statistically significant (P < 0.050). There were no significant relationships between different aspects of job-stress among nurses and patient-safety. According to average level of job-stress among studied nurses, the quality of offered services would decrease and patient-safety would become undermined, if no action take place to reduce the job-stress among them. Therefore, it is necessary to increase nurses’ physical, psychological, and social health to increase patient-safety.