مجله طب دریا
سال دوم شماره 4 (پیاپی 8، زمستان 1399)

Providing healthy water and food in the armed forces, in addition to having a direct impact on the physical and mental health of the forces, is one of the concerns of commanders and managers. The transfer and relocation of forces in various missions and operations, especially in the Navy, emphasize the importance of water and food management. Today, nanotechnology with various applications in the field of water and food resource management has also come to the aid of the defense industry. However, this technology has been used in other fields of the Navy, such as nanofibers in antibacterial diving suits, self-cleaning suits, fire-resistant suits, as well as equipment, boat hulls as lightweight and corrosion-resistant coatings, it also has many applications, but in this review, we will have a glimpse of the use of this technology in providing healthy water and food for the forces in critical conditions at sea. In the past, the goals of drinking water purifiers were to reduce suspended solids and eliminate live pathogens in water, which could be achieved by conventional filtration and disinfection methods. However, with increasing concentrations of particulate matter, nitrogen compounds, organic and mineral matter, and heavy metals in water sources, conventional methods do not meet the needs of consumers and it is necessary to use relatively new processes in purifiers.

Environmental pollution, especially marine pollution, is one of the most complex and threatening issues facing human beings today. Fighting chemical pollutants and substances that endanger the health of the environment is one of the most important tasks and missions of todaychr('39')s society. The sea is one of the rich resources with special privileges to meet some of the human needs throughout history, so the preservation of its environment and the living things that live in it play an important role in the continuation of human life. Pollution is the direct or indirect transfer or intrusion of materials or energy by humans into the environment, resulting in harmful effects on the marine environment by endangering biological resources, endangering human health, and creating barriers to marine activities. Fishing will damage the use of seawater and reduce recreational resources. In some places in the oceans, the number of these particles is even higher than the number of plankton, where the high levels of the oceans live. Fish also eat these plastic particles, and eventually their stomachs contain more plastic than plankton. Hence, fish die despite having a full stomach. At the same time, it is not only fish that are at risk of plastic particles in the seas, but these particles also endanger the life of seabirds. On the one hand, it is possible for birds to get stuck in plastic bags and suffocate, on the other hand, when these birds eat fish, plastic particles enter their bodies. Another problem with plastic bags is the lack of a proper way to dispose of them without having harmful consequences for the environment.

Medical and educational care and the creation of special measures to prevent the spread of the disease are of great importance in maintaining the health of seafarers. Direct and immediate access to appropriate medical care always is not available to this group. Given that sailing is a dangerous occupation with a higher mortality rate than many onshore jobs, self-care is the most common behavioral response to prevent common diseases in this group. The most important achievement of strengthening the self-care approach is that sailors make the right decisions about the proper use of health care and choose and implement appropriate self-care behaviors for health problems. Sailorschr('39') self-care can include prevention of occupational diseases, prevention and protection of occupational and mechanical detrimental factors, prevention of ergonomic detrimental factors, prevention of chemical detrimental factors, prevention of physical detrimental factors, prevention of nutritional problems. Self-care in seafarers clearly increases the efficiency and individual skills of sailors against disease. On the other hand, learning self-care activities can lead sailors to stay healthy, increase a personchr('39')s adaptation to the environment and health problems, increase the ability of sailors to take care of themselves, and reduce the incidence of disability and treatment costs.

Tuberculosis is a life-threatening infectious disease mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Determining the incidence of tuberculosis and treating sick people is one of the important strategies to prevent the occurrence of the disease and accelerate the process of achieving the goals of sustainable development to reduce cases of tuberculosis.

This is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. The information is extracted from the recorded data of the tuberculosis care system and a researcher-made checklist with questions from patients as well as health system staff.

The total number of tuberculosis cases was 89, of which 57.3% were female. The mean age was 61.71 years. The cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were 78.7% and the others were extrapulmonary. The overall incidence of tuberculosis and smear-positive cases in Kerman in 2018 were equal to 11.4 and 6.1 per 100,000 population, respectively. Also, the incidence of negative and extrapulmonary tuberculosis cases in 2018 was equal to 1.2 and 2.2 people per 100,000 population, respectively.

These findings showed that the incidence of tuberculosis in Kerman is slightly higher than the national average, however, this small amount requires further investigation and survey of the causes and finally measurements to reduce the incidence of this disease.

Data suggests that elderly people are more easily infected by COVID-19 and develop a more serious prognosis than other age groups. The current study compared the clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings between groups of elderly and non-elderly Iranian patients with COVID-19.

Data was collected on 598 patients that had been diagnosed and confirmed with COVID-19 in Baqiyatallah hospital, Tehran, Iran from February 26 to March 26, 2020. Patients were assigned to the elderly (≥65 years old) and the non-elderly (<65 years old) groups and clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, imaging manifestations, and outcomes were compared between two age groups.

Data from a total of 139 elderly patients (23.2%) with a mean age of 73.1±6.5 years (range: 65-94 years), and 459 non-elderly patients (76.8%) with a mean age of 49.1±10.2 years (range: 22-64 years) were evaluated. Comorbidities including; hypertension, liver disease, rheumatism, asthma, and allergy were more common in the elderly than in the non-elderly. Early symptoms in the elderly and non-elderly patients included cough and dyspnea, as well as fever, muscle weakness, and chills. The RBC and hemoglobin in the elderly were significantly lower than in the non-elderly patients. While other laboratory findings were not significant differences between the two groups. The number of neutrophils and the ESR, AST, LDH, and CRP levels were higher in all elderly and non-elderly patients. The incidence of multilobe lesions in CT scan and mechanical ventilation in elderly patients was significantly greater than in non-elderly patients with COVID-19. Elderly and non-elderly patients with COVID-19 received the same symptomatic comprehensive supportive therapies. Eleven (7.9%) deaths occurred in the elderly group and 30 (6.5%) occurred in the non-elderly group.

Elderly patients with COVID-19 are more likely to have a complicated clinical condition and worse in-hospital outcomes than the non-elderly. It’s suggesting that elderly patients should seek early screening and early diagnosis to reduce the mortality rates and worse prognosis associated with COVID-19.

Not only during natural disasters but also during the outbreak of contagious diseases, the probability of multiple psychological reactions increases in the community. This can affect peoplechr('39')s mental and physical health. The aim of this study was to determine the status of stress, anxiety, and depression in the Population of Southern Sistan and Baluchestan Province (Coastal areas), Iran in the COVID-19 Epidemic in 2020.

In this cross-sectional study, 503 people from the general population of southern Sistan and Baluchestan (Coastal areas) were selected by the online sampling method. The tools used included a demographic data checklist and the Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scale (DASS-21). People were classified into five categories (normal, mild, moderate, severe, and very severe). A higher score indicates more psychological disorder and more undesirable mental health status.

Most participants were 19 to 29 years old (43.2%), most of them were married (63.7%), 298 of them were employees (60.6%) and the highest frequency was related to the bachelor degree with 198 people (40.3%). Mean scores of depression were 7.9±8.5, anxiety scores were 5.9±7.1 and stress scores were 11.9±9.3. The variables of gender, employment, and insurance coverage had a statistically significant relationship with stress, anxiety and depression (P<0.05) and the variables of age, marriage and education had no statistically significant relationship with stress, anxiety and depression (P<0.05).

During the epidemic of COVID-19, we see a decrease in the mental health of different people in society and it is necessary that psychological considerations be done continuously and in a timely manner, especially by telephone and online.

The trend of skin cancer in personnel in the open workplace, including sailors, is increasing alarmingly due to exposure to the sunchr('39')s ultraviolet rays. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and practice of skin cancer prevention in sailors in southern Iran.

This cross-sectional study was performed in 2019 on 330 sailors in Deir port in southern Iran who were selected by simple random sampling. The researcher-made questionnaire was used in two parts including demographic data and knowledge and preventive behaviors towards skin cancer. Data were analyzed using SPSS-20 software.

The mean age of 330 sailors; was 37.9±10.4 years. Sailorschr('39') knowledge in this study was moderate. The majority of sailors (74%) stated that changing working hours is a good way to reduce exposure to sunlight and sunburn. Regarding sunscreen, almost the majority of sailors (66%) reported that they had never and rarely used sunscreen. Regarding skin cancer screening, the majority of sailors (72%) had never had skin screening by a physician.

Despite the abundant evidence on the risk of skin cancer in personnel in the open workplace, including sailors, this group is still not sufficiently aware of the issue. To reduce the incidence of the disease and its potential risks, it is necessary to develop sustainable training programs and implement protective measures for sailors.

Organizations should know that if the mouths of organizations are silenced, there will be a decrease in productivity and performance in human capital. The present study was conducted to identify the relationship between managerschr('39') organizational silence and human resource productivity in one of the military-medical universities in Tehran, Iran.

In the present cross-sectional study, all managers of the military medical university were studied by the census. The standard questionnaires of human resource productivity of Hersey and Goldsmith Model and the questionnaire of organizational silence "Salavati et al" were used. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 21.

Pearson correlation coefficient between the two variables of organizational silence and human resource productivity is equal to -0.590 and is significant. There is a significant inverse relationship between the two variables of silence and productivity of human resources (P <0.05). In other words, with increasing silence, the productivity of human resources decreases significantly.

Considering the inverse relationship between silence and productivity, managers are recommended to increase the participation of employees in organizational decisions and reduce the level of organizational hierarchy, to reduce organizational silence and increase productivity in the organization.