Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences
Year:2023 | Volume:15 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

Background: The prevalence of coronavirus has become one of the most important challenges and concerns, and awareness of the mental health status of people in the workplace has become an important issue. Bank staff, like other workers, maybe under severe physical and psychological stress. Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the degree of anxiety among bank staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conductedamongthe bank staff by participating 199employees. The corona disease anxiety scale (CDAS) questionnaire was used to gather data. For analyzing data, the t-test and chi-square test was applied. Results: 160 males (80. 4%) and 39 females (19. 6%) participated in the study. 55. 6% of the participants reported that when they think about COVID-19, it leads to anxiety, and 38. 3% said that they feel sad when they think about the danger of corona often. The results showed that an underlying disease increases the chance of being infected with COVID-19 (OR = 3. 786, 95% CI: 1. 227-8. 708 and P = 0. 018). Also, the results revealed a significant relationship between increasing physical symptoms and psychological symptoms in participants and the probability of being infected with COVID-19. Conclusions: The results showed that stress and anxiety among bank employees increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, making the necessary arrangements to reduce stress and anxiety among employees through proper politicization and more managers’,attention to this phenomenon in this period is essential.

Background: Blastocystis hominis is an enteric protozoan in humans and animals. This survey aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of physicians about B. hominis. Methods: This study was performed on physicians working in Ahvaz County, using a convenience sampling method from January to June 2020. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and an electronic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, were calculated for all variables. P-values < 0. 05 were considered significant. Results: Our results showed that of the 352 physicians, 64. 2% and 58. 0% knew that B. hominis might cause abdominal pain and diarrhea, respectively, but their knowledge was poor about the possibility of extraintestinal clinical symptoms such as urticaria. Regarding the transmission route, 91. 8% agreed that the fecal-oral route is the main mode of B. hominis transmission, but only 17. 9% were aware of the role of host animals in its transmission. Furthermore, the physicians had poor knowledge of the need to treat symptomatic patients and resistance to metronidazole in some cases. More than two-thirds of the physicians (68%) had good practice treating infected immunocompromised patients but had poor practice treating symptomatic patients. Conclusions: This study emphasizes improving physicians’,knowledgeof pathogenicity, clinicalsymptoms, andtreating B. hominis. Since B. hominis is a common protozoan with pathogenic potential, we recommend training sessions for physicians to inform them of new findings about B. hominis.

Background: Having the individual characteristics of entrepreneurial employees in organizations is a unique asset that enables the organization to move towards entrepreneurship by using these capabilities more easily and with less investment and spending less time selecting and training employees. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and entrepreneurship in district 1 Iran teaching hospitals. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performedon946 staff of hospitals of medical sciences universities using censusmethodin 2020. The instruments of measurement were standard enterprise entrepreneurship questionnaire and entrepreneurial personality traits questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling using Smart Pls2 software. Results: The results showed a significant direct relationship between risk–, taking and organizational entrepreneurship (r = 0. 62). Also, there was a relationship between the component of internal locus of control with organizational entrepreneurship (r = 0. 71), between the achievement component with organizational entrepreneurship (r = 0. 68), and between personality traits of entrepreneurs with organizational entrepreneurship (r = 0. 68) (P ,0. 05). Conclusions: Regarding the direct relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and entrepreneurship, it seems that entrepreneurship will be improved and vice versa if identified and supported by entrepreneurial personality traits. Thus, making decisions that affect both of these variables will improve organizational entrepreneurship and achieve a healthy and entrepreneurial organization.

Context: This review article aims to discuss physical activity during the corona period and its relationship with the physical and mental health of children and adolescents. Methods: A literature search was conducted on the Pub-Med, Wiley, ScienceDirect, and Springer databases from 2020 to 2022 to find related articles scientific. Search engines were searched on September 7, 2022, using the following keywords: Exercise and children and adolescents and COVID-19, physical activity and children and adolescents and COVID-19, sport and children and adolescents and COVID-19, physical activity and children and adolescents and COVID-19 and physical and mental health. Results: The present findings revealed a decline in physical activity levels in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. These reductions were associated with various physical and mental health problems. It seems there is a difference in the prevalence of insufficient physical activity across genders, regions, and countries. Conclusions: Restrictions on mobility, social distancing, or closure of schools, clubs, and recreational centers, although an effective measure against the spread of COVID-19, have caused an increase in sedentary behavior, and so the incidence of numerous mental and physical health problems. Therefore, these limitation periods should be shortened as much as possible.

Background: Nurses, as health advocates and front-line fighters in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, experience severe professional stress and psychological crises. Objectives: The present studywasconducted to explain the nurses’,perception of expected organizationalandprofessional support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this qualitative study, data collection was performed through semi-structured, individual, and in-depth interviews. A total of 20 nurses participated in the study through purposive sampling. The data were collected within June-October 2021. The collected data were analyzed based on Granheim and Lundman’, s method. Results: The findings of the study were presented in theformof 4mainthemesand10 subthemes, including lack of physical support (i. e., lack of tools and equipment and problems concerning using personal protective equipment to care for COVID-19 patients), lack of psychological support (i. e., paying attention to nurses’,job stress and mutual understanding of managers and nurses), lack of welfare support (i. e., high workload, financial support, providing facilities for nurses for employment, and providing facilities to support staff in childcare), and weakness in efficient crisis management (i. e., insufficient attention of managers to the principles of crisis management and the lack of a standard infectious disease hospital for COVID-19 patients). Conclusions: Health system policymakers should provide comprehensive physical, psychological, and welfare support for nurses, effective professional and organizational context, and efficient crisis management to improve the quality of care.

Background: Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal and an important part of diesel exhaust particles (DEPs). Cadmium in high concentrations exhibits detrimental effects and increases the allergenicity of pollen grains. Objectives: The research aimed to study the effects of Cd on the proteins and allergenicity of Petunia hybrida pollen. Methods: Petunia plants were cultured in a greenhouse and treated with various concentrations of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) (400, 800, and 1200 , mol/L). The pollen were collected daily from the flowers of both experimental and control plants. Pollen extracts were prepared in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) from control and Cd-treated plants, and changes in protein banding profiles were compared by sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Mice were sensitized by the treatment of pollen extracts and aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3) as an adjuvant 3 times. The allergenicity of pollen extracts was evaluated by the skin test and the amount of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the experimental animals. Results: The gel electrophoresis results revealed that in the Cd-treated pollen grains, two new protein bands, 46 and 51 kilodaltons (kDa), were observed that may have allergenicity. The results of serological tests showed that the mean of wheal diameter and IgE level were higher in animals sensitized by Cd-treated pollen grains than in control ones. Conclusions: In recent years, pollinosis has increased in polluted areas, especially DEP-polluted areas, the reason may be that Cd, as an important part of DEP, acts as an effective agent in the induction of the formation of detoxifying proteins which can also act as new allergens.