Journal of Health
Year:2012 | Volume:3 | Issue:1 (8)|Papers Count:9

Background & Objectives: This paper presents risk management of a rolling stock process during the excavation of a long tunnel.Methods: Risk analysis with was conducted by MFMEA method using QS9000 and SAE.J1739 recommendations. Eight failure modes were postulated and the effects of each failure were determined. Potential reason and probability of failure and risk priority number of each failure were calculated using their severity rates. All the hazards were ranked based on their risk numbers. Effectiveness of recommended preventive measures was determined.Results: The results revealed that all studied failures have the highest severity rate of 10, being ranked as critical. Wheel abrasion had the highest likelihood of 6, and the longitudinal breakage of rail had the lowest detection rate of 6. The lateral leveling held the highest risk priority number of 200.Conclusion: It was concluded that the risk management has a significant influence on reducing accidents at workplaces such as tunneling.

Background & Objectives: Ground water is one of the important water resources. Quality indices are amongst the comprehensive and routine methods to evaluate water quality. Fuzzy Logic, as an appropriate method, applies artificial intelligence to develop complex and unknown systems e.g. environmental indices. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive index based on fuzzy logic and qualitative properties of ground water.Methods: Considering their effects on water quality and human health, 24 physico- chemical parameters were used for this study. Qualitative index was designed based on Mamdani inference system and tested using the data obtained from aqueducts located within Yazd city.Results: Fuzzy groundwater quality index provides more strict outputs than the NSF which uses nine parameters to present water quality. The differences observed might be due to differences in the number and interrelationships between parameters used for each index.Assessment of Yazd’s aqueducts water quality using Fuzzy index indicated that ground water quality is lower than the standard values set for drinking purposes.Conclusion: According to the results obtained, the proposed index can be used as a comprehensive tool to present actual water quality, especially for drinking purposes.

Background and Objectives: Safety climate in a workplace is the results of the values, attitudes, and individual and group interests, competencies and patterns of behavior which determines the commitment to occupational safety and health management in an organization, management practices and its effectiveness. Occupational safety and health management system (OSHMS) is an established system in an organization which has specific function in its subject. This study investigated the relationship between performance evaluations of this system and the results of measuring safety climate in an industry.Methods: The Australian OSHMS audit standard (AS OHS Audit tool) was used for OSHMS performance evaluation. It has 5 sections, 21 elements and 117 criteria; each criterion gets score in the range between zero and 5 points. Safety climate was measured by Loughborough University Safety Climate Toolkit in which 17 dimensions are considered.Results: 7 out of 21 elements of OSHMS did not get minimum score (i.e. score 2) required. Of 17 dimentions considered in safety climate, 9 dimentions did not obtain the minimum required score (i.e. score 6). But, in total the safety climate scores which had normal distribution, were consistent in different dimensions with the OSHMS performance evaluation points.Conclusion: The safety climate in this industry is highly influenced by the performance of OSHMS and can be considered as an indicator of the performance evaluation of this system.

Backgrounds & Objectives: Iron easily enters to ground water resources due to its abundance in the earth crust. Presence of iron, even at low concentrations, causes aesthetic and operational problems such as color, taste, and staining; making it necessary to remove from drinking water. Most of the conventional methods to remove iron produce high quantities of sludge. This research surveys utility of new techniques such as nanofiltration to remove iron from ground water.Methods: This descriptive study conducted to investigate utility of nanofiltration on removal of dissolved iron in laboratory scale. Iron concentration and operational pressure were 0.5-2.5 mg/L and 2-10 bar, respectively. FeCl2.4H2O was used to obtain different iron solutions and iron measurement done by phenantroline method.Results: At iron concentration of 2.5 mg/L, increasing operational pressure from 2 to 10 bar increased removal efficiency from 91.84% to 92.95%. Increasing operational pressure increases flux and consequently the removal efficiency.Conclusion: Findings indicate that nanofiltration performance on iron removal from ground water is affected by operational pressure and flux. This method has high efficiency to remove iron from ground water.

Background & Objectives: Ardabil province is located in northwest of Iran and has valuable natural potential. Mineral and hot springs, as wonders of creation, that have already been used for treatment purposes for a long time, pose special importance in terms of medical tourism in Ardebil province.Methods: Status of 14 mineral hot springs of Ardebil province was analyzed following data collection. Ranking was done based on theraputic indices of 14 selected springs and past three years statistics for most prevalent diseases in the country.Results: Ranking of selected springs based on their therapeutic properties according to common diseases in the country gave significant results. The results suggest that some of the hot springs and mineral springs of Ardebil province are very useful for treatment of some diseases. Based on their therapeutic properties for treatment of cadiovascular disease, Besh Bajylar, Ghahvekhane e Hemat hot springs, Dypgol, “Aylanjyq, Vyladareh, Ahandar, Ghave Khane e Momtaz, Qynerjeh, and Saqezchy”, “Borjloo and Ghare Sheeran”, Biledaragh, and Guzsooyi were ranked as first to seventh priority, respectively.Conclusion: Ardebil province due to special geographical conditions can be one of the important centers for health tourism within the other countries, since presence of natural riches including hot springs may be the best method to treat many diseases.

Background & Objectives: Elderly is a stage of human growth and development. In order to improve elderly Quality of life, more attention should be paid on their expectation and needs at this stage. The purpose of this study was to determine Quality of Life and prevalence of chronic illness in elderly people.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 participants who were cognitively intact. Cluster sampling method was used to select samples and data were collect using Farsi version of Short Form Health Survey (SF36) questionnaire. The data on chronic disease were gathered through interview. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA were used for data analysis.Results: Average score for QoL was 57.43±22.80 (ranging from 0 to 100). QoL statistically correlated with gender, educational levels, economic status, and health status (p<0.05). The result of study revealed that 82% of participants suffer at least from one chronic disease.Conclusion: This study showed that different factors affect QoL of elderly people and the majority of them suffer at least from one chronic illness. Therefore, any planning to increase social contribution of elderly population and improve medical and health services; special attention should be paid on these factors.

Background & Objective: Fire brick workers expose to dust that may affect their respiratory system. This study conducted to evaluate respiratory complaints and Spirometric parameters in a number of Fire Brick workers.Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 51 fire brick workers as a case group and 56 workers of food industries as a control group. Respiratory Symptoms Questionnaire and spirometry, as a standard method, were applied to evaluate respiratory problems and lung functions, respectively.Results: Respiratory complaints in case group were significantly higher than the controls. All the spirometric parameters, except FEV1/FVC, in cases were also significantly lower than that of control group (p<0.05).Conclusion: This study shows that exposure to dust may lead to increased respiratory symptoms and spirometry abnormalities in fire brick workers.

Background & Objectives: Many adulthood diseases originate from childhood nutrition and the most of human food patterns and habits are formed in childhood. To improve nutritional pattern and promote mother's health, implementing strategies e.g. health education are on the top of nutrition health priority.The aim of this study was comparing the effectiveness of different teaching methods of health workers on knowledge of mothers about infant’s nutrition and changes in their anthropometric pattern.Methods: This quasi-experimental study evaluated effectiveness of attendance and non-attendance training methods. The study population included mothers’ of breast-fed children less than 6 years of age. In this study, 303 subjects were selected using random sampling method from 16 urban health centers. Data were collected by a standard questionnaire and analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS software.Results: Average age of subjects was 26.9±5.8 years, about 10% of mothers were employed and 75% of mothers exclusively breast-feed their infants. Statistically significant differences were observed in nutritional knowledge of mothers on children’s diet before and after training (p<0.05). However, there has been no significant difference on subjects’ knowledge between different training methods. Both height and weight of before training significantly differ from those of after training (p<0.05).Conclusion: Although both methods improved mothers’ knowledge and infants’ anthropometrical indices, however, attendance education of staffs was more effective than non-attendance method. Therefore, we recommend both attendance and non-attendance methods to improve knowledge and enhance health promoting behaviors.