سال:1395 | دوره: | شماره: |تعداد مقالات:8

Background: Sulfur mustard (SM) has been considered as a carcinogen in the laboratory studies. However, its carcinogenic effects on human beings were not well discussed. The main purpose of our study is to assess carcinogenesis of SM following acute and/or chronic exposures in human beings.Methods: The valid scientific English and Persian databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, IranMedex, and Irandoc were searched and the collected papers reviewed. The used keywords were in two languages: English and Persian. The inclusion criteria were the published original articles indexed in above‑mentioned databases. Eleven full‑texts out of 296 articles were found relevant and then assessed.Results: Studies on the workers of the SM factories during the World Wars showed that the long‑term chronic exposure to mustards can cause a variety of cancers in the organs such as oral cavity, larynx, lung, and skin. Respiratory system was the most important affected system.Acute single exposure to SM was assumed as the carcinogenic inducer in the lung and blood and for few cancers including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.Conclusions: SM is a proven carcinogen in chronic situations although data are not enough to strongly conclude in acute exposure.

Background: Fatty acids play various physiological roles in the organism; they are crucial for the structure of cell membranes, metabolic processes, transmission of nerve impulses and brain functions. In recent years, particular attention has been paid to the rich sources of omega‑3 for the treatment of many diseases, especially mental illnesses. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of omega‑3 supplement in the treatment of patients with bipolar I disorder (BID).Methods: In this double‑blind clinical trial, 100 patients suffering from BIDs were randomly divided into two, i.e. control (n=50) and experimental (n=50) groups. In addition to the other standard treatments, 1000 mg of omega‑3 supplement was given to the experimental group on daily basis for 3 months and placebo was given to the control group. The Young Mania Rating Scale was completed for both groups before and after the intervention. Afterward, data were analyzed using paired-test, independent t-test, and Chi‑square test.Results: Before intervention, mean severity of mania in the experimental group (23.50 ± 7.02) and control group (23.70 ± 8.09) was not significant (P ≤ 0.89). The difference after the intervention in the experimental group (10.64 ± 3.3) and control group (20.12 ± 6.78) was significant (P<0.01).The mean intensity of mania before (23.50 ± 7.02) and after (10.64 ± 3.3) intervention reported to be significant at P<0.05.Conclusions: Since omega-3 supplement was effective for the treatment of BID, it is suggested to use omega-3 supplements as an adjuvant therapy along with the other pharmacotherapies.

Background: One of the most common sexual‑transmitted infections among women is human papillomavirus (HPV) infection which is associated with genital cancers. Different studies in Iran reported various prevalences, and combining their results could be important for health policy makers. This study aims to determine the total prevalence of HPV infection as well as its related genotypes, particularly HPV16 and HPV18 among Iranian healthy women.Methods: Searching the Scientific Information Database, Iranmedex, Magiran, Irandoc, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and ScienceDirect databanks using relevant keywords and excluding duplicates and irrelevant evidence followed by applying exclusion criteria and quality assessment, eligible articles were selected. Standard error of the prevalence was calculated based on binomial distribution. Random effects model was used because of the high heterogeneity among the results.Results: Of 14 studies entered into the systematic review, 24 pieces of evidence reported the HPV prevalence among 7655 healthy and noncancerous women in different Provinces of Iran. Total prevalence of HPV, 9.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.8–12.02); HPV16, 2.03% (95% CI: 1.3–2.8); HPV18, 1.7% (95% CI: 0.9–2.5); and other genotypes of HPV, 5.3% (95% CI: 3.6–6.9) were estimated.Conclusions: Our meta‑analysis showed that the total prevalence of HPV and its high‑risk genotypes (16 and 18) among healthy noncancerous Iranian women was very high.

Background: The presence of noncutaneous neoplasms does not seem to increase the risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma; however, it seems to be associated with the development of other hematological, brain, breast, uterine, and prostatic neoplasms. An ecological transversal study was conducted to study the geographic association between cutaneous malignant melanoma and 24 localizations of cancer in forty European countries.Methods: Cancer incidence rates were extracted from GLOBOCAN database of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. We analyzed the age‑adjusted and gender‑stratified incidence rates for different localizations of cancer in forty European countries and calculated their correlation using Pearson’s correlation test.Results: In males, significant correlations were found between cutaneous malignant melanoma with testicular cancer (r=0.83 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.68–0.89]), myeloma (r=0.68 [95% CI: 0.46–0.81]), prostatic carcinoma (r=0.66 [95% CI: 0.43–0.80]), and non‑Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (r=0.63 [95% CI: 0.39–0.78]). In females, significant correlations were found between cutaneous malignant melanoma with breast cancer (r=0.80 [95% CI: 0.64–0.88]), colorectal cancer (r=0.72 [95% CI: 0.52–0.83]), and NHL (r=0.71 [95% CI: 0.50–0.83]).Conclusions: These correlations call to conduct new studies about the epidemiology of cancer in general and cutaneous malignant melanoma risk factors in particular.

Background: Identifying the pattern of tobacco use and its related factors in employees is crucial.This study aimed to investigate the pattern of tobacco use and its related factors in employees of Kermanshah Province, Iran.Methods: In 2012, 7129 employees were investigated in a cross‑sectional study using the census method. Data on tobacco use and on several chronic diseases obtained using a standardized questionnaire on noncommunicable diseases risk factors of the World Health Organization through face‑to‑face interviews. Statistical analysis was performed based on the Chi‑square test and multivariate logistic regression.Results: In general, the prevalence of tobacco use, smoking cigarettes, and smoking waterpipe was 9.9%, 8.9%, and 1.2% among the employees, respectively. Tobacco use was significantly higher in the age group over 40 (14.0%), in male gender (13.3%), in married individuals (10.8%) and in those with diploma and lower degree (16.4%), (P<0.001). At the individual level, the odds ratio of tobacco use was 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2–1.8) in hypertensive, 1.8 (95% CI: 1.2–2.6) in diabetic employees and 1.7 (95% CI: 1.3–2.3) in those with heart diseases, compared to healthy individuals. After adjusting for age, gender, marital status and educational level, there was not any significant relationship between tobacco use and health complaints and only the demographic variables remained significant.Conclusions: Preventive public health policies are mandatory especially in younger ages and male employees to promote their knowledge on disadvantages of tobacco use.

Background: High fasting plasma glucose (FPG) is one of the main leading risk factors of ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). We estimated population attributable fraction (PAF) and attributed death of these fatal outcomes of high FPG at national and subnational levels in 25–64 years old Iranian adult.Methods: We used national and subnational data of the Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance Survey for exposure to risk factors in 2005 and 2011 among Iranian adults of 25–64 years old.For estimating the attributed death, using the death registration system data of Iran, we multiply the cause-specifi c PAFs by the number of outcome-specifi c deaths.Results: In Iran, high FPG was responsible for about 31% of attributed total deaths of IHD, stroke, and CKD in 2011. The related attributed deaths had increased from 2005 to 2011. In females, the PAFs for the effect of high FPG on IHD, stroke, and CKD were higher in 2011 than 2005 in all age groups. In males, this increase has occurred in over 45 years old. The highest PAFs of high FPG outcomes mostly related to central provinces of Iran. The central region of Iran had the highest and the southeast of the country had the lowest levels of attributed deaths.Conclusions: Considering the global 25 × 25 targets for noncommunicable disease mortality reduction, high FPG as a leading risk factor of fatal outcomes should be more targeted through the dietary, behavioral, and pharmacological interventions in Iran.

Background: With increasing age, the prevalence of chronic diseases increases. Since health‑promoting behaviors (HPB) are considered a basic way of preventing diseases, especially chronic diseases, it is important to assess HPB. This study examines the validity and reliability of the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP‑II).Methods: This is a cross‑sectional study which is conducted on 502 elderly individuals aged 60 and over in Tehran, Iran. In order to determine the validity, content and construct validity were used. The content validity index (CVI) was used to assess the content validity and to assess construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item‑total correlations were employed.For reliability, test‑retest analysis was used, and the internal consistency of the HPLP‑II was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha. For data analysis, SPSS‑8 and Amos‑ software was used.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 66.3 ± 5.3 years. The CVI for the revised HPLP‑I and all its subscales was higher than 0.82. The CFA confirmed a six‑actor model aligned with the original HPLP‑I. Pearson correlation coefficients between the revised HPLP‑I and their items were in range of 0.27–.65. Cronbach’s alpha of the revised HPLP‑I was obtained as 0.78 and for their subscales were in the range of 0.67–.84. Intraclass correlation coefficient was obtained 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.59–.86, P<0.001).Conclusions: The Iranian HPLP‑II scale is an appropriate tool for assessing HPBs of the Iranian elderly.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease which many factors are involved and is developing considerably worldwide. Increasing aging population and obesity in the societies has improved the scale of the type 2 diabetes significantly. The aim of this study was to determine the direct medical costs of outpatient cares of diabetes in Iran.Methods: Active patients of Isfahan Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center (IEMRC) by the end of March 2011 were employed for data extraction. Type 2 diabetics were classified into 4 groups based on their therapeutic regimens. Type and frequency of health care services were extracted from the patients' profiles manually. The incidence of major diabetes complications were also examined from the subjects' profiles. The numbers of services used by the patients in different treatment groups were multiplied by the desired medical tariffs to calculate the direct medical costs.Results: 2898 number of cases was reviewed in this study; 63.8 % women and 36.2% men.4.3% of the patients were placed group I; 50.1% in group II, and 34.6% and 11% in groups III and IV respectively. The age distribution of the patients varied widely from 30 to 90 years; 5.8% between 30 and 39 years, 62.3% between 40 and 59, and 31.9% at 60 and over. Nephropathy (72.4%), and neuropathy (39%) were the most frequent adverse effect between the type 2 diabetics in Isfahan. The group III with spending $192.3 in total was absorbed the highest amount of the resources between the patients' groups. The average direct medical cost of outpatient cares of diabetics per year was 155.8 US $.Conclusions: The direct medical cost of diabetes management is progressed sharply in past years in Iran. Pharmaceutical expenditures was the main cost component of outpatient cares for diabetes. It is estimated that the Iranians directly spend approximately $4.05 milliard annually to manage 5.2 million diabetics in the country.