Payesh
Year:2003 | Volume:2 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

Objective(s): To investigate about knowledge, attitudes and practice among general practitioners in Tehran, Iran.Material & Methods: Using a short questionnaire 339 physicians were entered into the study. The subjects were approached during the 13 compulsatory postgraduate courses.Results: The study findings indicate that 84.9% of general practitioners believe that the use of alternative therapies is mounting yearly and herbal medicine, cupping and acupuncture (respectively) are the most common methods being used.There were at least 9.9% of physicians using one or more methods of complementary medicine in practice and 24% of them had referred their patients to alternative therapist during the last 6 months. The knowledge of the majority of general practitioners about the most of the common procedures was very limited. Physicians besides having emphasis on supervision of such activities, disagree strongly with these methods being performed by non-physicians.Conclusion: Overall physicians had positive attitudes toward usefulness of complementary methods. However, there is need to improve their knowledge on the topic.

Objective(s): To determine the prevalence of cleft lip and palate in newborns of Yahyanejad Hospital in Babol during 1996- 2000.Material & Methods: This was a retrospective study on newborns case records.Results: In all 14036 case records have been studied. There were11 infants with cleft lip and/or palate. The mean of frequency of clefts were 0.78:1000. There was not any significant relationship between sexes of the children, age of mothers, age of pregnancy and different kinds of cleft (P>0.05).Conclusion: According to the results, Babol could be consider as a low prevalence of cleft lip and palate area.

Objective(s): To investigate the relation between social class and self-reported health among the general population in Tehran.Material & Methods: Using a multi-stage cluster sampling method in all, 4163 healthy individuals aged 15 years and over were interviewed. Social class was measured using two indicators: Area of residence and years of formal education. Health status was measured using Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36).Results: The mean age of the respondents was 35.1 (sd: 16) years. 52% were female, mostly married (58%) and the mean years of formal education for whole population were 10 (SD: 4.5). Overall, women reported poorer health (P<0.001). The results showed that there was a significant difference between educational level, area of residence and self-reported health. In other words: those with higher education rated their health better than those with lower education (P<0.001) and living in different areas affect the people perception of health (p<0.001).Conclusion: The study findings suggest that perception of health is highly associated with people socioeconomic background.

Objective(s): The aim of this study was to explore the effects of mood problems seen in bipolar disorder on size and coloring of the Draw-A-Person (DAP) Test.Material & Methods: The sample consists of 30 children and adolescents (16 male /14 female, with mean age 15.4) admitted to the Child and Adolescent Wards of the Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital and Imam Hussein Hospital in Tehran, Iran. All subjects were inpatients and fulfilled Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder-IV (DSM-IV) criteria for bipolar disorder at the time of study. Subjects with a documented mental retardation were excluded from the study. Then DAP was administered individually. Symptoms of elevated mood, euphoria and irritability were observed in 90% of subjects; and symptoms of dysphoria were seen in 10%.Results: The size of the figure was remarkably increased in the sample group as compared with the standard data; and was increased in male compared with female patients. But the differences did not reach significant level. Of 30 patients, 11 subjects (4 male and 7 female) used colors, while the majority (63.4%) preferred not to use color. Among the patients who used green color in their drawings, 80% had religious believes and feelings.Conclusion: The results suggest that mood problems in children and adolescents with bipolar mood disorder have not a significant effect on size and coloring of the figure on the DAP.

Objective(s): To investigate about seroma formation in breast cancer patients after definitive surgery. Material & Methods: A convenience sample of breast cancer patients was entered into the study. Eligible patients were those who underwent surgical therapy (modified radical mastectomy or breast preservation and axillary lymph node dissection). The demographic data and clinical information were extracted from case records. Seroma formation was studied in relation to age, type of surgery, tumor size, nodal involvement, pathological type, preoperative chemotherapy, surgical instrument (electrocautery or scalpel), use of pressure garment, duration of drainage and arm activity. In all, 135 breast cancer patients were studied. The mean age of the patients was 46.2 (SD = 11.8) year and mostly presented with the stage II disease (59%). Seventy-two percent underwent modified radical mastectomy and the remaining 28% received breast preservation surgery.Results: Seroma occurred in 39% of patients. In logistic regression analysis an association of postoperative seroma with pathological type was noted (ductal versus non-ductal, odds ratio=17.7, P=0.01). The seroma formation did not show any significant results by any other variables studied. Conclusion: The findings suggest that breast cancer patients' pathological characteristics are an independent predicting factor for seroma formation.

A biological attack can begin silently and insidiously. Instead of police, fire and emergency medical services rushing to a clearly apparent incident scene, medical facilities may be the first to see victims of a bioterrorism attack.In this study we proposed a surveillance system to detect, and respond to emergency health threats caused by bioterrorism.We recommended new models of disaster management for effective responding plan in bioterrorism.

Objective(s): To determine the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score and its relation to intake of nutrients and the number of servings from each food group of adolescents residing in district 13 of Tehran. Material & Methods: This study was conducted within the framework of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS), as part of a dietary intake assessment according to the Food Guide pyramid of individuals residing in district 13 of Tehran. In this study 819 adults, aged 19 years and above, was chosen. Dietary intake assessment was undertaken with 2-day 24-hour recalls. HEI was calculated based on 9 components (The groups of Food Guide pyramid: components 1 to 5, the percent of fat and saturated fatty acid intake, cholesterol consumption: component 6 to 8 and dietary variety score: component 9). The score range for each component was 0 to 10. Therefore the sum score of this index was 90. In this study HEI score modified to the previous studies. Dietary variety score was determined according to the number of consumed foods in the sample size of this study. The HEI score was categorized into three groups: less than 45 (poor diet), 45-72 (needs improvement) and more than 72 (good diet). Partial correlation was used to show the relation between HEI score and intakes of nutrients and the number of servings from each food group. The score for each component was calculated and grouped into three categorize: <5, 5-8 and >8. The percentage of people according to each components of HEI was determined.Results: The mean score of HEI was 65.1±9.8 in men and 64.9±8.8 in women. The results showed that the serving number of food groups and approximately nutrients except selenium in those with good diet was significantly higher than the group with HEI less than 45 (P<0.05). In contrast the percent of total fat and saturated fat intake in those with HEI≥72 was lower than other groups (P<0.001). The number of food items in individuals with HEI score≥72 was significantly more than others (p<0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between the serving number of grains group (r=0.2, P <0.001), vegetable (r=0.4, P<0.001), fruit (r=0.4, P <0.001), dairy (r=0.3, P<0.001), meat (r=0.1, P<0.001) and HEI. There was a significant negative correlation between Total fat intake, percent of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol consumption (r= -0.1, P<0.001) and HEI score. The number of food items had a strong significant positive correlation with HEI (r=0.5, P<0.001). There was significant positive correlation between HEI and nutrients intake. The results showed that 73.3% of adult's diet needs improvement. Conclusion: HEI is an appropriate tool for assessment of diet quality in adults. The diet of most adults needs improvement and nutrition education is necessary in this age group.

Balneotherapy involves immersion of the patient in mineral water baths or pools. The mechanisms by which broad spectrums of diseases are alleviated by balneotherapy have not been fully elucidated. They probably incorporate chemical, thermal, mechanical and immunomodulatory effects. In this article the dermatologic and the general uses of this mode of treatment is explained. A sketch of its resources in Iran is given and some recommendations about improvements that can be made on the use of this national wealth are also proposed.