لیلا مصطفایی

Anterior crossbite is one of the most common orthodontic problems. Parents' level of awareness determines how they deal with their child's anterior crossbite problems. In the present study, the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of parents of primary school children about anterior crossbite was evaluated.

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a questionnaire was designed to assess parents' knowledge, attitude and practice of children's anterior crossbite.  Face validity was confirmed through interviews, content validity was assessed by CVR calculation and construct validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis. The questionnaire was provided to 250 parents and its construct validity and reliability were calculated using SPSS software. The final questionnaire was completed by another 250 parents to assess parents' knowledge, attitude and practice.

Based on factor analysis, the questionnaire was classified into 6 domains. The average scores in the areas of "treatment awareness", "complication awareness", "treatment attitude", "diagnosis attitude", "treatment practice" and "prevention performance" are equal to 19.48 ± 3.33 (out of 25), 10.19 ± 2.01 (out of 15), 7.53 ± 2.79 (out of 20), 9.83 ± 2.31 (out of 15), 19.4 ± 3.46 (out of 25), and 9.41 ± 2.07 (out of 15), respectively.

Parents had good knowledge, attitude and practice regarding anterior crossbite and only the "attitude towards diagnosis" of parents was relatively low which requires training in this field.

Noise, is one of the most common sources of occupational diseases, which has a physical nature studied in various forms. Since few studies have been conducted on some of these forms, such as the calculation of sound spectrum level, the present study was done to assess the balance of spectrum in Crepenaz textile factory. In this study, first, Pykanol Hall in Crepenaz factory, which is the most important location in terms of noise production, was set up into 286 sound stations with 6 in 6 meters wide for each one. In addition, noise levels have also been studied. The sound pressure is measured using a sound level meter and subsequently frequency analysis was performed in the stations with the level of noise more than 85 dB. In the third step, with calculation of the balance of spectrum in these stations, an opportunity was provided to facilitate the comparison of the extent of the risk exposure in the stations. Of 286 sound stations, only 73 were active. In seven stations, the sound pressure level was more than 85 dB. A comparison between sound levels was subsequently provided and carried out. The present study demonstrated a distribution of sound pressure levels in the different parts of the factory. The sound control in this work place was provided through determining the stations with high sound levels and calculating the sound levels.

Exact recognition of the needs of patients with leukemia and move to solve them will promote the health standards in the country. The aim of this study was to evaluate the needs and to assess the process of diagnosis and treatment of leukemia and their shortcomings according to experts’ views in this field. This study was a descriptive study and the population under study consisted of 101 specialists in Hemato-oncology and pathology across the country, who were selected by random cluster sampling. Data was collected by valid peer reviewed questionnaires with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.80. The collected data were evaluated and analyzed using SPSS, and chi-square test. According to specialists, lack of diagnostic facilities in small cities, timely diagnosis, especially in cases of chronic leukemia and inadequate attention to the mental state of patients during the treatment process was considered as the most important problems of health system in the diagnosis and treatment of leukemias. Shifting the health policies towards greater attention to equip the health care centers and reviewing the policies resulting in concentration of services in large cities, providing health care plans acceptable for the patient's mental state by counseling centers during the process of treatment and finally financial support of patients with leukemia (particularly low-income patients) by governmental and non-governmental organizations will certainly pave the way to achieve modern standards.