Journal of Research in Health Sciences
Volume:19 Issue: 3, Summer 2019

Hyperkyphosis is often accompanied by forward head and shoulder postures. Together, these three disorders are called “Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS)”. We aimed to perform a photogrammetric analysis of UCS among teachers and to determine the effects of National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) exercises with ergonomic training interventions on the syndrome. Study design: A semi-experimental study.

Photogrammetric analysis was performed using the UCS software among teachers in order to determine the angles of forward head, rounded shoulders, and hyperkyphosis. Twenty-three teachers were selected purposefully and enrolled in Fasa City in 2018. They were randomly divided into experimental (n=12) and control (n=11) groups. Experimental group attended 12 wk of NASM exercises with ergonomic intervention but the control group did not participate in any regular exercise. The data were analyzed using paired t-test and differential independent t-test (P<0.05).

The results indicated a significant decrease in forward head (P=0.001), shoulder angles (P=0.000) and hyperkyphosis (P=0.003). The applied intervention had a 90% positive effect in reducing the forward head angle, an 88% positive effect in reducing the rounded shoulder angle and a 90% positive effect in reducing the kyphosis angle. However, the results for the control group did not show a significant difference for forward head, rounded shoulders, and hyperkyphosis angles.

The UCS software application can be used as an accurate instrument for measuring the extent of the UCS. Moreover, using NASM exercises can lead to a reduction in the UCS among teachers.

We aimed to determine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a representative sample of Iranian children and adolescents. Study design: A cross-sectional study.

In this nationwide school-based study, 6-18-yr-old students were selected via multistage cluster random sampling method from 30 provinces of Iran in 2011-2012. SES of each participant was determined using the categories of the Progress International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) for Iran and the Principle Component Analysis (PCA) method. The students’ HRQL was evaluated using the Persian version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL™ 4.0TM 4.0) Generic Core Scales. The level of physical activity was evaluated using the physical activity questionnaire for adolescents. The association between SES and HRQL was evaluated using multiple linear regression analysis.

Overall, 23043 students were enrolled. The mean of total PedsQL™ score, school function, and psychosocial subscales was significantly different between different categories of SES (P<0.001). The differences in total population and among girls were between low and middle categories and low and high categories, but in boys, the difference was between low and high categories. There was a significant association between SES and school functioning, psychosocial function, and total score of HRQOL. Moderate and high SES had higher score compared to low SES group [β=1.0(0.5-1.6) for Moderate SES/Low SES and β=1.6(1.0-2.2) for High SES/Low SES].

SES is in positive association with HRQOL of Iranian schoolchildren, mainly due to its impact on school function. HRQOL could be improved by elimination of the socio-economic inequalities especially in the field of school function.

Dialysis is a dominant therapeutic method in patients with chronic renal failure. The ratio of those who experienced the event to the predictor variables is expressed as event per variable (EPV). When EPV is low, one of the common techniques which may help to manage the problem is penalized Cox regression model (PCRM). The aim of this study was to determine the survival of dialysis patients using the PCRM in low-dimensional data with few events. Study design: A cross-sectional study.

Information of 252 dialysis patients of Bandar Abbas hospitals, southern Iran, from 2010-16 were used. To deal with few mortality cases in the sample, the PCRM (lasso, ridge and elastic net, adaptive lasso) were applied. Models were compared in terms of calibration and discrimination.

Thirty-five (13.9%) mortality cases were observed. Dialysis data simulations revealed that the lasso had higher prediction accuracy than other models. For one unit of increase in the level of education, the risk of mortality was reduced by 0.32 (HR=0.68). The risk of mortality was 0.26 (HR=1.26) higher for the unemployed than the employed cases. Other significant factors were the duration of each dialysis session, number of dialysis sessions per week and age of dialysis onset (HR=0.93, 0.95 and 1.33).

The performance of penalized models, especially the lasso, was satisfying in low-dimensional data with low EPV based on dialysis data simulation and real data, therefore these models are the good choice for managing of this type of data.

To achieve preventive and controlling activities of Brucellosis, we aimed this study as the first prospective cohort survey on brucellosis in Iran. This cohort in different phases from 2016 until 2020 going to investigate about brucella infection in selected population of Famenin, a city located in Hamadan province, west of Iran. Study design: A prospective cohort study.

At the first phase of study, Famenin inhabitants including urban and rural people were studied during September to December in 2016. All identified household’s people referred to specified health centers and clinically visited. Blood sampling was done, then these subjects were joined and the follow-up was initiated. At the next step, taken blood samples were examined using Wright kits and 2ME test for diagnosis the seroprevalence of brucellosis. Participants will be followed up for next years to examine clinical profiles of brucellosis and complete investigation about the main risk factors to reach strategies to control and reduce human and animal brucellosis.

In the first phase, according to statistical analysis, 3363 persons including 47clusters were enrolled and considered for future studies. All participants were interviewed and demographic questioners were successfully completed.  Finally, 2367 blood samples were entered in serology analysis.  The seroprevalence of brucellosis based on serologic titers of Wright and 2ME test was 6.59% (95% CI: 5.62%: 7.66%) and 3.46 %( 95% CI: 2.72%: 4.20%) respectively.

In the first phase, an extensive range of data and information were collected as the basic data for following phases of the cohort.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is very important factor to guide managers in a way that leads to access long and short-term organizational goals. The aim of this study was to detect how much emotional intelligence effect on health centers performance. Study design: This is a correlational/analytical study and due to providing some operational strategies for technical health managers and policy makers, it is an applied study.

This study was conducted in 2016 and the population was technical health managers of city health centers in Hamadan Province, western Iran selected by census method. To assess the performance, applied the score that managers have gained in health deputy monitoring. EI measured by Shiring Siberia questionnaire. Data analysis implemented by SPSS software using multiple linear regression, Spearman correlation and Structure Equation Model (SEM).

Emotional intelligence of managers has a direct and significant impact on their performance (P=0.001), linear regression shows that an increment in the emotional intelligence score of managers, 0.718 units will be added to the performance score. Using multiple regression analysis, the severity of each dimension effect on performance were evaluated which awareness has greatest impact (P=0.001, B=0.017) and self-control has the weakest impact (P=0.014, B=-0.08) on performance.

The level of Emotional intelligence and its aspects has a significant effect on the manager's performance. This fact demonstrates need to high attention of health top managers and decision-makers to enhance health managers EI skills.

Depression is a serious mental health illness among adolescents especially girls. Web-based treatment can possibly become a solution for reducing mental health problems in adolescents. This study is one of the first trials aimed to evaluate the efficiency of web-based depression improvement program among female adolescents based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Study design: Randomized Controlled Trial.

A six-month randomized controlled trial based on the SCT was implemented in female schools in Hamadan City, west of Iran in 2018 on 128 female students with mild to moderate depressive symptoms (CES-D =10-45). They were randomly assigned to either intervention or control group (n= 64 in each group). Depression improvement program was implemented through the website via short videos, animations and Power-Point slides. Depression was evaluated using Center for Epidemiologic Depression Scale. A researcher-made questionnaire based on the sheerer and Perceived-Social-Support-Scale-Revised (PSSS-R) questionnaires were used to evaluate the SCT constructs. The data were analyzed using SPSS software.

The intervention program resulted in the improvement of depression in 12 wk based on Intent-to-treat analyses. Nevertheless, these achievements seem to have decreased by 24 wk in intervention group. The intervention increased the mean scores of the constructs of social support and self-regulation from baseline to 12 wk in the intervention group (P<0.05). The intervention had no effect on outcome expectations and self-efficacy. There were no statistically significant associated between theory constructs changes and changes in depression (P>0.05).

The web-based intervention improved depression in female students. Future training using strategies for the sustainable improvement of depression in female students are needed.

We aimed to investigate the effects of exercise based on a specific protocol on the severity and duration of primary dysmenorrhea in students residing in dormitories of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, western Iran in 2017. Study design: Randomized controlled trial study.

Overall, 86 students (43 in the interventional group and 43 in the control group) with mild to moderate dysmenorrhea were enrolled. The exercise based on the FITT protocol (Intensity of exercise, time of exercise, and type of exercise) was implemented for the interventional group in 8 weeks. The McGill Pain scale was used to determine the severity of pain in dysmenorrhea. Duration of pain was calculated in terms of the day. Research data were analyzed using SPSS 20 and the significance level was considered 0.05.

The mean dysmenorrhea severity in the first menstrual cycle after the intervention in intervention group was significantly lower than the control group (3.06 (1.78) and 4.74 (2.14), respectively) and in the second menstrual cycle (2.01 (1.54) and 4.61 (2.01) respectively) (P<0.001). The mean duration of dysmenorrhea in the first menstrual cycle after the intervention in intervention group was less than the control group (1.29 (0.92) and 2.32 (1.26) respectively) P<0.001) and in the second menstrual cycle (0.94 (0.93) and 2.13 (1.24) respectively) P<0.001).

Sports activities based on a certain and organized protocol could improve dysmenorrhea.

Paying attention to men’s health seems quite important for a variety of reasons. We evaluated the change of mortality rates due to various causes in Iranian men over the past decades. Study design: A cross-sectional study.

The mortality rates for deadliest causes of diseases among Iranian men during 1990-2016 were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. Latent Growth Mixture Models (LGMM) were applied to determine subgroups’ cause of death. In this way, the causes within each group showed similar trends of mortality rates over time.

The LGMM clustered causes into 4 classes. Diabetes mellitus, hypertensive heart disease and neurological disorders have had increasing trend. Causes in class 2, including diarrhea, lower respiratory and other common infectious diseases, ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, neonatal disorders, and other non-communicable diseases manifested a slow decreasing trend. Most causes were allocated to 3rd class with a slow increase in mortality rates over time. Finally, within the last class, transport injuries and unintentional injuries revealed a decreasing trend.

Most factors have rising trend, despite the fact that some have shown a very slight downward trend. Consequently, according to the four distinguished clusters resulting from LGMM, it is essential to provide programs to attain the goal of access to prevention, treatment, and support for high-risk mortality factors.