JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN HEALTH SCIENCES (JRHS)
Year:2010 | Volume:10 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Background: Most of the studies have reported higher occupational health hazards on hazardous waste workers (HWW). However reports regarding the association between health hazards and pro-inflammatory cytokines in HWW are scanty. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between occupational health hazards and serum pro-inflammatory cytokines in HWW.Methods: One hundred two subjects working in hazardous waste areas in different parts of Bangalore at Karnataka, India were enrolled into the study in 2009. Using questionnaire the respiratory morbidity and other work related problems in HWW was carried. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in study subjects were determined by using Enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay kits (Pierce Biotechnology, USA). The differences of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines levels between the groups were computed by using non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. SPSS 10.0 for windows version of statistical software was used in the analysis.Results: The morbidity conditions such as respiratory (34%), musculo-skeletal (24.5%), past illnesses (12.7%), dermatological (11.8%), gastrointestinal (9.8%), injuries due to contact with sharp objects & heavy equipments (7.8%) and nose and eye (4.9%) problems were observed in HWW. The levels of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-8 (P=0.041) & TNF-a (P=0.040) significantly increased in landfill area workers and subjects having respiratory symptoms.Conclusion: The levels of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-8 & TNF- a were significantly associated with subjects having respiratory symptoms & further supporting that they are inflammatory markers in respiratory symptoms.

Background: The novel influenza A (H1N1) virus was first detected in March 2009 in Mexico and then disseminated to many other countries worldwide. In this study, we assessed the potential risk factors of swine flu as well as the most important clinical manifestations of this infectious disease among confirmed cases during early phase of pandemic H1N1.Methods: Subjects (cases and controls) were selected from those patients with signs and symptoms of respiratory tract infection who referred to health centers of eight cities throughout Hamedan Province, western Iran form July to December 2009. Characteristics of the participants were obtained by interviewers using pre-determined questionnaire. Cases were distinguished by pharyngeal soap specimens positive for influenza A virus using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Logistic regression model was conducted at 0.05 significance level using Stata 9.1 statistical software to assess the effects of various risk factors on H1N1 influenza infection.Results: Totally, 245 confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza were compared with 388 controls. Case fatality rate of influenza infection was about 2.86%. In comparison with age group of 1-19 yr old, adjusted odds ratio estimates was 1.91 [95% CI: 1.06, 3.46] for age group of 20-39 yr old, 0.94 [0.37, 2.38] for age group of 40-59 yr old, and 0.34 [0.09, 1.37] for age group of 60-79 yr old. Adjusted odds ratio estimates of influenza A infection was 8.12 [95% CI: 3.11, 21.6] for pregnant women compared to nonpregnant women; 1.84 [95% CI: 1.32, 2.86] for high educated individuals in comparison with low educated individuals; 2.11 [95% CI: 1.25, 3.57] for whose who had close contact with suspected influenza patients; and 2.15 [95% CI: 1.16, 3.98] for individuals with normal body mass index (BMI= 25-30) compared with underweight individuals (BMI< 20). There were no significant differences in clinical manifestations between cases and controls.Conclusion: The risk of influenza A infection is highest among children and adolescents, pregnant women, high educated individuals, and those who had close contact with suspected influenza patients during pandemic phase. In addition, there is no pathogonomonic sign or symptom to distinguish influenza infection clinically from other kinds of respiratory track infections.

Background: The adverse effects of noise are well known and noise problems due to industrialization of communities are increasing over the time. Oil industries due to the process and nature of production; contain many noise sources such as compressors, turbines, and pumps, which cause excessive noise exposure. The objective of this study was to evaluate the noise characteristics of compressors in Tehran Oil Refinery and study on visible control measures.Methods: To get to the appropriate control method, procedures such as basic theories, measuring sound parameters, frequency analysis, related diagrams and noise propagation schemes due to the measurement results, equivalent noise exposure level (Leq(8h)) and exposure noise dose and technical specification of compressors are considered in this paper. Considering field and analytical results, module enclosure with particular specifications (like absorbent layer, specific wall, window and door design etc.) is predicted to be the best control method.Results: Calculation results of multiple layer density of the enclosure (W=16.5 kg/m2) and needed density for the dominant frequency of the source (W=12 kg/m2) demonstrated that the designed enclosure satisfies the goal.Conclusion: Results of designing sandwich layers’ module demonstrated that installing the designed enclosure causes 20 dB(A) reduction in total sound pressure level of the source’s dominant frequency.

Background: Trichomoniasis is recognized as a major sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the world and has the highest prevalence and incidence of STD. the prevalence strongly is related to cultural and social norms in different societies, in relation to sexual partnership, monogamy, or polygamy. Our objective was to describe the frequency and natural history of infection and correlation of clinical signs with parasite detection.Methods: From February 2006 to March 2007, in a cross sectional study, clinical and wet mount examination of vaginal smear along with culture were performed on 683 women attending to private outpatient clinics in Hamadan, western Iran. Trichomoniasis was diagnosed based on major clinical symptoms. Diagnosis was confirmed using wet mount microscopically and culture in Diamond medium.Results: Only 2.2% of patients with clinically diagnosed trichomonal vaginitis were positive for Trichomonas vaginalis by wet smear and culture. The mean age of patients was 33.6±9.7 yr, and majority of them were married and nonpregnant. Some (5 patients) infected cases were divorced and others (7 patients) husband were car driver. There was not statistically significant relationship between clinical diagnosis and laboratory findings (P>0.5), because the most of patients diagnosed trichomoniasis, were infected by Candida or other vaginal infections.Conclusion: Because of special cultural background, the vaginal trichomoniasis has minor importance problem in this population and clinical diagnosis is not efficient for treatment decision.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the design of emergency departments regarding to the patients’ and staff's privacy, confidentiality and facilities in general teaching hospitals.Methods: Emergency departments of all the general teaching hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran were evaluated in 2007 through both direct observation and interview with hospital authorities, and staff. Relevant criteria were studied by a 27-item questionnaire including 19 items for facilities and 7 items for privacy and confidentiality. Extent of emergency departments was the  last common criterion. Data analysis has been done using t-test and descriptive statistics when appropriate. SPSS Software version 16 was used to facilitate quantitative analysis.Results: Eleven out of nineteen criteria (58%) for the facilities were not found in the emergency departments. Privacy criteria had an overall partially more acceptable situation. Only one criterion of privacy and confidentiality was negative for all the emergency departments. It was calm gynecologic and delivery room with specific toilet. The mean was 469.6 (SD=96) square meters for existing extent of emergency departments and 1461.6 (SD=262.1) square meters for the ideal values (P<0.01).Conclusion: Privacy, confidentiality and enough facilities should be considered in designing of teaching hospitals for both stuff and patients. Most of them need to be reconstructed based on new national standards.

Background: This study aimed at determining the job satisfaction level of the staff in Shahroud University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), northern Iran, and its influential factors.Methods: In this descriptive study, conducted in 2008, the participants were 384 workers in SUMS selected through simple random sampling procedure. The participants received a 33-item questionnaire in a Likert format (8 general items and 25 items related to job satisfaction facets). The collected data in form of frequencies and percentages were analyzed with SPSS software.Results: 53.4% of interviewees were female and more than 60% had associate or higher degrees. 42.6% had less than 10 yr and 30.9% had 20 to 30 yr of job experience, respectively. The mean of the overall satisfaction was 13.02 out of 20. Regarding the facets of job satisfaction, work, coworkers, supervisor, and promotion had the highest means, respectively. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients showed a significant relationship between overall satisfaction and the facets (P=0.001). Analysis of variance also showed significant difference in overall satisfaction based on organizational units; however, no significant relationship was observed between overall satisfaction and gender, degree, age, job experience and type of employment.Conclusion: Improvement of promotion process, training and qualifying managers, observing meritocracy principles in appointments, using cooperative management, creating convivial and friendly atmosphere and improving work environment conditions, have brought about an increase in overall satisfaction of employees in SUMS.

Background: Users of hospital information system (HIS) use these systems during working day and know its problems better than others know. Studying their views is very important and can be especially effective in the development of the information system. The aim of this study was to investigate the users' views towards the quality of hospital information system in the training hospitals of Mashhad University of medical sciences.Methods: The current study was an applied research in Training Hospitals of Mashhad (East of Iran), which was conducted with descriptive cross-sectional method. A four-section questionnaire was designed for data collection consisting of: characteristics of information quality, reasons of low quality of information, accessibility of information and decision support. Validity and reliability were tested and SPSS was used for data analysis.Results: 62.8% of users explained that one of reasons of low quality information was a problem related to obtaining information. 47.7% of them were unsatisfied with hospital information system ability for decision-making support. In general, 53.2% of users were slightly satisfied with the overall quality information of the system.Conclusion: There are some problems concerning information quality of HIS in Mashhad training hospitals. These problems include inappropriate information quality of the system and incompatibility with user needs which leads to decreased satisfaction of users towards the system.

Background: Nosocomial infections constitute a global health problem, leading to a high rate of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and antimicrobial resistance patterns of nosocomial infections in educational hospitals of Hamadan, western Iran.Methods: During a 1-year period from April 2006 to March 2007, all patients with culture-proven nosocomial infections from educational hospitals in Hamedan, western Iran were included. Nosocomial infections were defined as a culture proven infection, which occurred more than 48h after admission in the hospital. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of isolated bacteria was performed by disc diffusion method.Results: A total of 170 cases of culture-proven nosocomial infections were diagnosed. Most cases were in intensive care units (ICUs) (57.4%). The common sites of infection were lower respiratory tract (51.8%) and urinary tract (31.9%). Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli, were the most prevalent pathogens (32.7%, 22.9%, and 14.8% respectively). Most enterobacteriacea isolates were resistant to third generation cephalosporins. The resistant rates to ceftriaxone were 75.5% for K. pneumoniae, and 76% for E. coli. Among P. aeruginosa isolates, 26.5% were resistant to ceftazidim, and 36% to ciprofloxacin. Among S. aureus isolates, 80% were methicillin-resistant.Conclusion: The patients in the ICUs are at a higher risk of nosocomial infections. The high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in the hospitals highlights the need of further infection control activities and surveillance programs.