Health and Development Journal
Year:2013 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Background: Bisphenol A, a toxic environmental pollutant released from industries, can be dangerous even at low concentrations. The aim of this study was to investigate the adsorption of bisphenol by red mud modified with nitric acid.Methods: Red mud was modified with nitric acid and washed with distilled water. It was then dried at 103oC for six hours and seived (mesh size: 100). The optimum equilibrium time was determined in various bisphenol concentrations and doses of adsorbent. The optimum amount of bisphenol, dose of adsorbent, and pH were calculated by keeping the optimum equilibrium time constant. Isotherms and kinetic relations were determined by using equiliberium data.Results: Increasing contact time and dose of adsorbent enhanced the adsorption of bisphenol; there fore, increasing contact time from 10 to 210 minutes increased the adsorption from 43% to 84%.Increasing adsorbent dosage from 2 to 20 g/l increased adsorption from 40% to 82 %. Adsorption was also promoted by decreasing the initial concentration of bisphenol. The best pH for bisphenol removal was 3. The adsorption data was best fitted to the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic model.Conclusion: Red mud is a waste product from the industrial processing of aluminum. According to our findings, it can be used as an effective, low-cost, and available adsorbent to remove bisphenol from industrial wastewater.

Background: Early dental caries in childhood is one of the health problems. This survey was carried out to determine the prevalence of dental caries and its contributing factors among 3-6 year old children in Varamin, Iran kindergartens.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 838 children aged 3-6 years from Varamin kindergartens were selected by census and examined for dental caries using WHO criteria. Variables including age, gender and the location of kindergarten were recorded in a check list. The socioeconomic state of kindergartens’ locations, were classified as high, moderate and low level by the consensus of 5 informative natives and governmental experts. Data were analyzed using Kappa, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-Square, Kruskull Wallis, and Spearman's Correlation Coefficient.Results: The mean score of dmft index (Decayed/ Missed/ Filled Tooth) in the studied children was 3.99±4.30 and 28.2% of children were caries free. dmft score showed a significant direct relationship with age. Children in rural areas had significant higher mean dmft score compared to children in urban areas (P=0.056). There was no significant statistical difference between dmft and gender or socioeconomic status of the location of kindergartens.Conclusion: The results indicate a high prevalence of early dental caries in Varamin children. Therefore, particular emphasis should be placed on educational and interventional programs, especially for mothers and kindergarten nurses and trainers.

Background: Motivated employees are the most valuable resource of the organization. Thus, considering their needs and satisfaction is important. Organizational justice, due to its significant impacts on the organizational and individual work outcomes, employees’ attitudes and behaviors like job satisfaction, is of a great importance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational justice perception and job satisfaction among employees of Kerman University of Medical Sciences.Methods: The target population of this study was headquartering employees of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, among whom 285 ones were selected. For the assessment of distributive justice Niehoff and Moorman questionnaire, for procedural and interactional justice Moorman questionnaire and for job satisfaction JSS (Job Satisfaction Survey) questionnaire were used.Results: All three dimensions of organizational justice including distributive, procedural and interactional justice had a significant relationship with job satisfaction. But among the three dimensions of organizational justice, only distributive and interactional justice could predict job satisfaction. Also, organizational justice and job satisfaction of employees were not significantly different based on sex, age group, job tenure, employment status, and education.Conclusion: Since organizational justice and its dimensions have a significant relationship with job satisfaction and organizational justice can predict job satisfaction, managers should pay attention to organizational justice which leads to enhanced job satisfaction.

Background: Desalination plants have an important role in providing community drinking water. The increasing trend of water consumption and decrease of natural resources of fresh water make this role even more important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of inlet and outlet water of desalination plants by reverse osmosis (RO) process in Qeshm, Iran and also to compare the quality of outlet water from this process with National and International standards of drinking water.Methods: This study was performed by obtaining samples of inlet and outlet water of desalination plants working by reverse osmosis (RO) process in Qeshm for 7 months. Total hardness, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, temperature, pH, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, chloride, sulfate and microbiological parameters were investigated. Data analysis was performed by SPSS16.Results: Total hardness and fluoride in the treated water from this process were lower than desirable limits and chloride concentration was higher than the permitted limit. The rest of the chemical and physical parameters were in acceptable range. Most qualitative parameters of the outlet water of the RO process decreased by 99% compared to the inlet water and outlet levels were in the standard range.Conclusion: Desalination plants by reverse osmosis (RO) process have a high efficiency in providing healthy drinking water based on qualitative standards.

Background: Sleeping is one of the important biological needs of human beings which has an important role in maintaining health and quality of life. Driving is one of the occupational groups in which the quality of sleep is of a great importance for job performance and safety. This study was conducted to evaluate the sleep quality of truck drivers in the city of Kerman, Iran.Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 truck drivers in the transportation terminal of Kerman city in 2011 through simple random sampling. Data collection was performed using a questionnaire containing demographic features and Petersburg sleeping quality questionnaire. ANOVA, t-test, Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and c2test were used for data analysis.Results: Mean age and driving record of studied drivers were respectively 40.51±9.03 and 15.25±8.26 years. Mean score of sleeping quality was 7.58±0.37 from 21. In whole, 61% of the drivers had unsatisfactory sleep quality. Quality of sleep showed significant relationship with age (P<0.01) and driving record (P=0.02). Also there was a significant relationship between age and working hours (P=0.03).Conclusion: The results of the current study showed that sleep quality of most truck drivers in Kerman is unsatisfactory, and as sleeping is one of the factors that can affect drivers’ health and safety on the roads, we suggest that initiatives should be implemented for alleviating the sleeping problems of drivers.

Background: One of the principles of the quality management systems in organizations is attention to customer centered approach and one of the scales for evaluation of the efficacy of provided services is customer satisfaction. This research aimed to compare satisfaction levels of customers attending primary health care centers in Bardsir (with ISO certificate) and Zarand (without ISO certificate) districts affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This comparative and cross- sectional study was carried out in 2011 with 960 people (n=480 in each district). The data gathering instrument was a validated self-construct questionnaire including two main parts of general and specialty services for evaluation of satisfaction rate. Data were analyzed through SPSS version 18.0 and using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Pearson correlation and logistic regression model. Judgment criterion for desired satisfaction was attaining 75% of the score of each part.Results: The desired satisfaction level of customers of health centers affiliated to Zarand district was more than that of Bardsir district (83.3% vs.70.2%, P<0.01). Moreover, there was a significant difference between two districts in regard to satisfaction levels of general services (P<0.05). Result of logistic regression model showed no significant relationship between total satisfaction and demographic variables.Conclusion: As compared with Zarand district, implementation of ISO quality management system in the Bardsir district has not enriched total customers' satisfaction. Thus, the utilization of quality management approaches based on needs rather than organizational emotions and fashions are emphasized.

Background: Selection of an appropriate leadership style coordinated with external motivation can improve job performance, job promotion and job satisfaction and consequently lead to achieving both individual and organizational goals. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between leadership style and job satisfaction of staff working in Health Care Networks in Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2011.Methods: The study population of this cross-sectional study was 874 managers and staff of Kerman health care networks. The sample included 21 mangers and 853 staff. Data gathering tools were job satisfaction and leadership style standard questionnaires. Data analysis was performed through SPSS16 and using Chi-square and ANOVA tests.Results: According to the obtained results, most managers used the combined relation and task-oriented leadership style and job satisfaction of the majority of staff was moderate. Mean job satisfaction score was higher in people-oriented leadership style compared to integrated and task-oriented styles. There was a significant relationship between leadership style and job satisfaction.Conclusion: According to the results, there is a meaningful relationship between job satisfaction and leadership style in Kerman University of Medical Sciences and people-oriented leadership style leads to higher job satisfaction.

Background: Nurses are exposed to various stressful situations in their work environment. It is obvious that occupational stress affects physical and psychological health of nurses and consequently the quality of their work. The purpose of the present study was to determine nursing occupational stress and factors influencing that in order to implement interventional programs for decreasing them.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 241 nurses working in teaching hospitals of Zanjan were selected through stratified sampling. Data were collected through three questionnaires for demographic features, job characteristics and nursing stress scale. Data analysis was performed through SPSS16 and using Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U test and Spearman Correlation.Results: In whole, 1.2% of the nurses had low tension, while 48.1% were suffering from moderate and 50.6% from high levels of tension in their positions. Female nurses and those without intention for continuing studies had significantly higher levels of job stress (p<0.007 and p<0.05 respectively). Job stress showed no significant relationship with age, marital states, shift working, job experience, work place, overtime working and number of children.Conclusion: The level of stress is high in nurses. It is suggested that implementing some interventional measures for decreasing nursing job stress, especially in high risk groups, such as preventing confrontation with physicians or coworkers can decrease job stress in nurses.