Health and Development Journal
Year:2014 | Volume:3 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

Background: The concept of active aging is suggested by the World Health Organization in which emphasizes on healthy quality of life and its determinants. Social support is one of these determinants, therefore this study intents to investigate the relation of these two concepts among elderly people covered by Kerman welfare organization.Methods: This cross sectional study was performed with 100 elderly people. Two questionnaires named Lipad's elderly quality of life and Norbeck's social support were employed for measuring variables. Data were analyzed by SPSS 17 software.Results: The findings of the current study revealed the higher quality of life scores in all aspects of quality of life in elderly males, while females' scores in social support were higher than males. The results showed that various types of social support are associated with quality of life. Furthermore structural support was a stronger predictor for total quality of life.Conclusion: This study showed that social support can be regarded as one of the main social determinants affecting quality of life among elderly people. The welfare organization as one of the trustees for supporting the elderly can play an important role in promoting social relations and improving quality of life among old people.

Background: Natural organic substances in water cause problems during water treatment processes. The potential of these compounds as precursor of trihalomethanes formation has increased the necessity of removing these compounds from water more than ever. In the current study, the effect of chitosan, as a cheap and efficient coagulant, in the electrocoagulation process with iron electrode for removal of humic acid from aqueous solutions was evaluated.Methods: In this study, a batch reactor equipped with 4 iron electrodes in dimensions of 2*20*200 mm, with a volume of 1 L and connected to an electrical source was used. The effects of current density, initial humic acid concentration, chitosan concentration and pH in the electrocoagulation process were investigated. Excel software was used to analyze the obtained results.Results: The results indicated pH=6, current density=40 V, and chitosan concentration=2 mg/L as the optimal conditions for the process. Also, in the presence of chitosan as a coagulant aid in the electrocoagulation process, after 60 min, the process efficiency reached 68%.Conclusion: Based on the current findings, electrocoagulation process is a suitable process in removal of humic acid. Also, chitosan is an efficient coagulant aid in the electrocoagulation process with iron electrode and increases the process efficiency.

Background: Alzheimer's disease is a chronic progressive disease disturbing cognitive, perceptual and behavioral functioning of elderly and affects their quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the awareness and performance of elderly referred to health centers of Tehran 6th district in regard to Alzheimer's disease and its prevention.Methods: This was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study in which the awareness and performance of 363 elderly visiting the health centers of Tehran 6th district in regard to Alzheimer's disease was evaluated. Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire including 28 questions. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were evaluated and the questionnaires were completed by trained persons. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistical methods and through SPSS16 software.Results: Mean age of subjects was 69.7 (SD=7.1) years. From all, 201 ones (55.4%) had the necessary knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease and its prevention and 105 ones (28.9%) had good preventive behavior. Mean score of preventive behavior was 1.0 (SD=0.9) in males and 1.3 (SD=1.2) in females that shows significant difference between the two sexes.Conclusion: Based on the obtained results that show inadequate performance of subjects, implementing health educational programs is necessary to improve the performance of elderly in control of Alzheimer’s disease.

Background: The advent of new technologies with widespread dissemination of information has caused a fundamental change in information and educational resources. On the other hand, selection of an appropriate and valuable source of information in the field of health education is essential. Therefore, this study was designed and implemented with the objective of comparing Health Center’s staff of Kerman University of Medical Sciences with staff of Kerman cities’ health centers in regard to utilization of health information resources.Methods: In this cross- sectional study, all health personnel of the province health centers (n=52) and health centers of Kerman province cities affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences (n=171) were evaluated. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed through SPSS20 software and using independent t-test, chi-square and Pearson correlation.Results: Mean score of the province health staff was 58.6±14.14 and that of Kerman cities’ health staff was 59.6±14.60 that showed no significant difference (P=0.236). In whole, 71.2% of the province health workers and 58.9% of the province cities’ health workers had poor practice. The status of utilization of information sources showed significant difference based on media types in both groups; that is, use of digital media was lower than other media types. There was no significant relationship between demographic variables and use of health information resources in the two groups.Conclusion: Since there was no difference in practice between the two groups and digital media had the lowest role in aquiring health information, it is essential to develop the culture of using digital media.

Background: The presence of phenol in water and wastewater, due to its toxic threat to human life and environment, is a major concern. The purpose of this study was to investigate the rate of phenol adsorption by modified Azolla and Canola.Methods: This study was conducted at laboratory scale. In this study the effect of various parameters on adsorption performance was investigated and isotherms and kenitics adsorption were determined. In order to measure the specific surface area of absorbents the BET isotherm technique was carried out. The concentration of phenol in samples was measured by HPLC instrument.Results: Removal efficiency increased with increase of adsorbent dose and contact time and decrease of the initial concentration of phenol. Optimal phenol removal was obtained at pH=3, adsorbent dose of 10 g/L and contact time of 90 and 120 min for Azolla and Canola biomass respectively. Coefficients showed that the best isotherms for Azolla and Canola adsorbents are Langmuier and Freundlich respectively. The reaction rate for both adsorbents agrees with the pseudo-second order kenitics model. Based on the Langmuier model, the maximum adsorption capacities were calculated to be 11.2 and 9.4 mg/g for Azolla and Canola biomasses respectively.Conclusion: According to the obtained results, Azolla and Canola biomass can be used as efficient and cost-effective adsorbents for treatment of industrial effluents.

Background: Social security is a feature of psychosocial science which is necessary for people in order to have a healthy life and continue their social relations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between social security and general health of students.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The sample included 284 students aged 18 to 45 years from the School of Public Health who voluntary participated in the study. In order to collect the data, Social Security and the General Health (GHQ-28) questionnaires were used. Descriptive analyses, t-test, ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient, were performed to analyze the data.Results: There was a significant and direct relationship between social security and general health (r=0.231, p<0.001). Also there were significant associations between social security and, older age (P=0.002), male gender (P=0.002), more income (P=0.001), field of study (P=0.031), and type of residing home (P=0.022).Conclusion: Seems like social security is low in people with worse general health, younger age, women, and low income. More research is needed to determine the reason of less social security in students of specific fields. It is also proposed that more research be conducted on the probable factors related to social security.

Background: Awareness toward peoples’ utilization of health care facilities is a very important issue in the programming and resource allocation process. With implementation of family physician project in Iran and attempts for reforming health referral system, patients’ mobility between regions and its related factors have found more importance.Methods: In this research by using the logit economic model and through retrospective design, the relationship of patient migration with patients’ demographic features, type of health insurance, distance from the health care center and hospitals’ features was determined in 21 disease groups, based on the final diagnosis recorded in patients’ medical files and ICD10 codes. Eviews 6 software was used for all estimations.Results: About 40 percent of inpatients in Kerman hospitals had migrated from other cities where the same services had been available, but the patients were not satisfied of the quality of them. Negative effects of geographical distance, physician and hospital bed count and the positive effect of insurances were constant in all groups, showing similar effects of these variables on patient migration in all disease groups.Conclusion: Results show that factors like distance and kind of disease have no more effect on patient migration than patient perception of the health care center; and ignoring this item, especially in planning the referral system in the big project of family physician, can result in problems in relation to patient equity, patient satisfaction and health organizations’ financial support.

Background: Pediculosis is considered as one of the most common parasitic infections among the students worldwide. Head lice infestation is observed in all parts of the world including Iran, especially in areas with high population density associated with poverty and poor personal hygiene. This study aimed to investigate the preventive behaviors in regard to pediculosis infestation based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) in students.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 179 female 5th grade elementary school students in Gonabad, selected by cluster sampling. Data collection was done through a researcher-made questionnaire, which its validity and reliability had been confirmed. Data were analyzed by using descriptive and analytic tests including multiple linear regression.Results: Mean age of students was 11.24±0.6 years. Mean score of perceived barriers was 15.80±3.30 and mean self-efficacy score was 16.63±2.76 that were higher compared to other items. Preventive behavior showed significant correlation with perceived barriers and self-efficacy. Moreover, hair combing and perceived barriers were determined as final behavior predicting variables.Conclusion: It seems that providing necessary trainings with an emphasis on perceived barriers and self-efficacy improves students’ performance in regard to preventing pediculosis infestation.