Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences
Volume:13 Issue: 4, Oct 2021

The present study evaluated the effect of the integration of electro-kinetic (EK) oxidation with sonication degradation of diesel in a hydrocarbon contaminated wastewater. The effect of operational parameters including initial pH (3 - 9), sonication (100 - 300 W), voltage (0.5 - 3 V/cm), and reaction time (60 - 150 min) were studied consecutively. The highest total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) destruction rate of 40% was achieved at pH 5. Also, increasing the sonication intensity up to 300 W improved the removal rate to 70%. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model was selected due to higher correlation coefficient. Considering the obtained integration of EK oxidation with sonication is a viable and efficient technology for treatment of diesel contaminated wastewaters.

Body image dissatisfaction has been rising in recent years. Despite the large body of evidence on body image, few studies have directed gender comparisons of body image in Iran.

This study aimed to investigate body image dissatisfaction and its correlation with anthropometric indicators and body composition in men and women.

Following a cross-sectional design, 95 females and 95 males (age range: 18 - 50 years and body mass index: 18.5 - 40.0 kg/m2 ) who attended a nutrition clinic in Ardabil city were recruited using a convenience sampling method. Anthropometric measurements were achieved while participants were lightly clothed with no shoes. The body fat percentage, visceral fat level, and visceral fat area were measured using a bioelectrical impedance analysis. The body image was evaluated using the Multidimensional Body Self-Relation Questionnaire (MBSRQ). Data analysis was administered using SPSS, and a two-tailed P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The appearance orientation (females: 4.04 ± 0.57 vs. males: 3.72 ± 0.49, P-value < 0.001) and illness orientation (females: 3.70 ± 0.74 vs. males: 3.41 ± 0.83, P-value = 0. 01) subscales scores were higher in women than men. A negative association was observed between appearance orientation subscale score with anthropometric indicators and body composition. In contrast, the subjective weight, overweight preoccupation, and health evaluation subscales scores were positively correlated with anthropometric measurement and body composition.

This study investigated body image dissatisfaction in a small sample of Iranians. Gender was an important factor in determining body image subscales. Thus, health interventions should be specially designed.

The neonatal period is one of the most sensitive stages of life, requiring proper understanding and attentive care.

Accordingly, this study was done to investigate the effectiveness of theory of planned behavior (TPB)-based educational intervention on newborn care in pregnant mothers.

This study was conducted as quasi-experimental research on 100 pregnant mothers who were assigned randomly to two groups of intervention (N = 50) and control (N = 50). The data collection tool was a valid and reliable questionnaire based on TPB, which was completed by both groups before the intervention. Considering the effective constructs of this theory, the educational intervention was performed in the form of four 60-minute education sessions in one month for the intervention group. One month after delivery, the data were recollected from both groups and analyzed using statistical tests.

The mean and standard deviation of the mothers’ age in both intervention and control groups were 26.14 ± 4.7 and 26.10 ±5.19 years, respectively (P = 0.48). Before the educational intervention, the behavioral intention of the intervention group was 3.33 (out of 5), which significantly increased to 4.54 after the educational intervention (P < 0.001). Also, the performance of mothers regarding neonatal care in the intervention group increased from 2.86 to 4.64 (P = 0.001) after the education.

The TPB-based educational intervention, along with active follow-ups, led to better and more principled behavioral intention and care provided by pregnant mothers to their newborn infants. Therefore, providing TPB-based education in other healthcare centers is recommended.

This study aimed to identify and prioritize the dimensions and indicators of measuring customer lifetime value (CLV) for the supplemental health insurance industry.

In this exploratory qualitative study, first, the initial dimensions and indicators of CLV were extracted through a scoping review. Next, 20 key informants, including academics and insurance industry experts, were selected by purposive sampling and then interviewed to identify and extract other dimensions and indicators of CLV for the supplemental health insurance industry. The data were collected using an in-depth and semi-structured interview and analyzed using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

Out of 232 retrieved articles, 13 studies were eligible to include in this scoping review. After reviewing this study, seven general factors, including customer profitability, service cost, customer retention rate, revenue, discount rate, and time and price paid by the customer, were identified as effective factors in CLV. Moreover, 61 comments were identified after interviewing experts (at the first stage of the interview). Then, after three stages of semi-structured interviews, 17 comments were removed, and 44 comments were approved. Finally, three dimensions, including profitability, customer loyalty, and value co-creation, and 13 indicators, including customer satisfaction, trust, repurchase intention, customer trust, brand performance to repurchase, financial purchasing pattern, service delivery pattern, information search, information sharing, co-production, feedback, helping, and tolerance, were extracted. After conducting the fuzzy AHP, profitability (0.652), customer loyalty (0.226), and customer value co-creation (0.122) were the most important dimensions for CLV, respectively. Additionally, purchase pattern (0.274), financial procedures (0.261), and service delivery pattern (0.117) had the highest priority among the indicators, respectively.

According to the results, although customer profitability was the most important dimension to measure CLV, CLV is a combinatorial concept. Therefore, the dimensions of customer loyalty and customer value co-creation should be taken into consideration as effective dimensions in predicting and measuring the concept.

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers in women. Among factors reducing BC mortality, referring to health centers for early diagnosis is important. The level of knowledge, attitude, and performance of women toward BC risk factors has a major contribution in deciding to refer to a health center for early diagnosis.

The present study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and performance of women referring to Kashan and Aran-O-Bidgol comprehensive health centers toward breast cancer risk factors.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 820 women aged 30 years and above in 2020 using a standard questionnaire, including sections of sociodemographic and existence risk factors, 20 items for women’s awareness of the signs and symptoms of BC, risk factors, and breast self-examination, 10 items for attitude measurement, and 5 items for performance measurement. Data analysis was administered by SPSS using relative frequency and Chi-square tests.

Data of 776 (94.6%) participants were included in the analysis. The majority of participants had a moderate level of knowledge (66.4%) and attitude (76.6%) towards BC. For performance, about 44% of the participants had no breast self-examination during the last year. The results showed a significant association between marital status and education level with knowledge and attitude; employment with knowledge; age and income with attitude and performance (P < 0.05).

Given the low level of knowledge, attitude, and performance of old aged and low educated women, as well as the increased risk of the disease in the elderly, it is necessary to provide educational interventions to this high-risk group.

Nowadays, ionizing radiation is increasingly used in medicine. One of the most frequent X-ray examinations is pelvic radiography. Gonads are susceptible in the pelvic area. Gonadal shielding (GS) is a useful method to reduce the received dose by gonads. Despite the benefits of using gonadal shielding, it is rarely used by radiographers.

This cross-sectional study was carried out in ten governmental hospitals with 300 radiographs.

The radiographers’ knowledge of using GS had a value equal to 59.1%. However, the radiographers did not have enough information on the subject, although their awareness about the significance of GS was acceptable.

Although the radiographers believed in the necessity of using GS for pelvic, abdominal, and spine examinations, they used no shields.