Health and Development Journal
Year:2015 | Volume:3 | Issue:4|Papers Count:8

Background: Dyes are widely applied in the textile, paper, plastic, leather, food and cosmetic industry and color manufacture. Many of these dyes are toxic and carcinogenic. Therefore, removal of dyes from the effluents is essential for environmental protection. The aim of this research is evaluation of the removal efficacy of Janus Green dye from real samples of Ganjnameh River water using multi-walled carbon nanotube.Methods: This study was performed at field-lab scale in the spring of 2012 on a sample from the Ganjnameh River. All of the experiments were done under optimum conditions and multi-wall carbon nanotubes were used in batch. The effect of variables such as pH, amount of adsorbent initial dye concentration and contact time on the efficacy of dye removal was studied. Finally, the adsorption isotherm of Janus Green dye onto the multi walled carbon nanotubes were investigated based on Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models. The diagrams were created by Sigma Plot 10 and descriptive statistics was performed by SPSS 18.Results: The results showed that removal efficiency increased until 0.02 gr adsorbent and 75 min contact time. The optimum pH for Janus Green removal was 7. Also the isotherm equations revealed that Janus Green dye adsorption onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes best fitted the Langmiur adsorption isotherm.Conclusions: The MWCNTs are effective and available adsorbents for removal of Janus Green from industrial wastewater.

Background: Setting research priorities is an important process in management of health researches. If this process is carried out based on the goals and values of the health system, the actual needs will be properly met. This study is aimed to determine research priorities of Kerman Medical Sciences University.Methods: In this documentary study, content analysis method was used. The study was base on upstream documents, which were selected purposefully. Data collection tools were checklist and a researcher-made questionnaire.Results: Research priorities were identified in two categories of structural - organizational studies and environmental researches. The first category of research priorities included human resources, budget management, research management, organizational structure, facilities and physical space, knowledge management, information technology, business processes and organizational culture and the second group of research priorities included health supporting environments, community empowerment, equity in health, the quality of services, and health culture.Conclusion: Setting research priorities based on upstream documents review is a favorable method to determine priorities consistent with actual needs. In this method, priorities will be determined based on goals and values of the system and the existing needs and problems. Using the integrative approach of documents review and utilizing beneficiaries' involvement is also recommended to obtain better results.

Background: Body image reflects how a person thinks and feels about his/her own body.Negative body image results in low self-esteem and depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of body image and self-esteem with marital adjustment among female married employees of Kerman University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 380 female married employees of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2013. Data gathering was performed through a questionnaire including demographic features as well as items related to body image, selfesteem and marital adaptation. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire had been confirmed. Data analysis was done using linear regression model and through SPSS 20 software package.Results: The age of majority of participants (85%) was more than 25 years and most subjects (65%) had bachelor or higher educational degrees. Marital adjustment showed significant relationship with body image (b=0.23, P=0.001) and self-esteem (b=0.65, P=0.001). Self – esteem was a stronger predictor of marital adjustment than body image.Conclusion: According to the obtained results, women’s body image and self-esteem have essential roles on marital adjustment. Therefore, it should be considered by policy-makers and family counselors.

Background: Healthcare authorities, in all around the world, are faced with resources limitations and limitless needs of citizens. Therefore, optimal resources allocation, particularly in the health sector and emergency system, seems to be of great importance. The present study aimed to determine the optimality rate of patients' distribution to hospitals by emergency stations based on the transportation model.Methods: In the current descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study, three required data including the number of patients transferred from the emergency stations to the state hospitals, the average distance between the incident place and the state hospitals and the number of beds in the emergency departments were determined. Then, the transportation model was created based on the above data. Afterwards, the model was put in the LINGO software and the optimal results were obtained.Results: The data provided by the Central Emergency Unit showed that from Sep.2009 to March 2010, the number of transferred patients had been 4233 to Namazi, 1087 to Faghihi, 1999 to Beheshti, and 14 to Ali-e-Asghar hospitals. After modeling by putting the model in the LINGO software, the number of patients’ allocation were determined 584 for Namazi, 1529 for Faghihi, 3600 for Beheshti, and 1620 for Ali-e-Asghar hospitals.Conclusion: According to the obtained results, the majority of patients should be transferred to Beheshti and Ali-e-Asghar hospitals. Therefore, it is required that the mentioned hospitals be improved regarding their human resources and medical equipment.

Background: Depression is one of the most important mental disorders affecting social, vocational and educational performance. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression and its related factors in Pishva District Health Network employees.Methods: In this cross sectional study, all 124 employees from Pishva District Health Network were enrolled. Depression among employees was assessed using a Standard Persian Depression Assessment Questionnaire (SAMA) and Religiosity was assessed using the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression statistical analysis was performed through SPSS 21 Software.Results: The prevalence of depression was 34.7% including 2.4% severe depression cases. There was a significant relationship between depression and female gender, religious beliefs and experiences, and employment duration. There was no statistically significant relationship between depression and other variables including age, number of children, marital status, educational level, employment status, having a second job, attending religious meetings and having personal religious activities.Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of depression in Pishva district health network employees. Therefore, it should be planned to promote mental health of the employees through detection of underlying causes, holding mental health workshops, educational meetings and consultation services.

Background: Dentistry is a demanding profession with high physical and mental tiredness, which can result in job burnout. The aim of this study was to find the frequency of job burnout in dentists of Kerman.Methods: This cross- sectional study was carried out on 145 dentists working in private offices and health care centers of Kerman. Data were collected using Maslach job burnout questionnaire and analyzed through SPSS18 software and using regression analysis.Results: Among these dentists, 51.7% were male and 48.3% were female. Mean age of participants was 35±7.18 years. In whole, 14.1% had a high level of depersonalization, 30.46% showed high emotional exhaustion, and 71.76% reported high personal accomplishment failure. Demographic variables such as age, sex, occupational status and year of graduation showed no significant relationship with job burnout. But, depersonalization showed a significant relationship with occupational status and marital status.Conclusion: There is a high frequency of job burnout among Kerman dentists. Intervention policies for evaluation and to find the related factors and preventive measures are recommended.

Background: Attention to organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction is effective in improving employees’ performance and quality of services in health care organizations. Due to higher job pressure and dissatisfaction among nurses, it seems like evaluating the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction among nurses is important.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all 150 nurses working in intensive care units and emergency departments of hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences were evaluated. Data collection instrument was a checklist on demographic features and a two- part questionnaire consisting of questions about job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. Data analysis was done using Pearson correlation coefficient and oneway ANOVA.Results: Mean scores of organizational citizenship behavior and satisfaction were respectively 88.21±10.54 and 83.72±17.69. There was a significant correlation between the total scores of job satisfaction (intrinsic satisfaction and extrinsic satisfaction) and organizational citizenship by correlation coefficient of 0.204 (P=0.012). The results of ANOVA and t-test showed no relationship between demographic variables (age, education, experience, organizational unit, gender) and job satisfaction or organizational citizenship behavior and their dimensions.Conclusion: There seems to be a relation between job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour. Therefore, in order to achieve the goals of health care system, hospital administrators should pay more attention to this fact.

Introduction: Mercury is one of the three heavy metals which are listed on top of the US EPA, s list for toxic and hazardous material with priority for human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the situation of environmental and occupational human contamination with mercury in Iran.Method: All studies conducted in Iran which had measured mercury levels in humans in Iran, were searched by electronic databases including Iranmedex, SID, Magiran, Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct and PubMed. Due to the heterogeneity of the study results, meta analysis was not performed on the results.Results: After searching the databases, fourty seven articles were found. From these, 44 were chosen and evaluated. Although contamination with mercury is not high in Iran, but occupational exposure is considerable and contamination in specific groups such as dentists is high.Conclusion: Considering the high exposure to mercury in some occupational groups, using personal protective equipment and proper ventilation at workplaces should be emphasized. Also periodic monitoring of mercury exposure and medical examination of related workers is necessary. In order to decrease environmental exposure, it is suggested that legislations for routine monitoring of mercury in food and using composites without mercury be practiced.