JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY HEALTH RESEARCH
Year:2014 | Volume:3 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Materials and Methods: In this semi experimental study, the effect of various educational methods on nutritional knowledge, attitude and behaviors of guidance school students in Qom city was evaluated in the period of 2011-12 and compared by using a four-part questionnaire (demographic, knowledge, attitude and behavior characteristics). Three schools were selected by cluster sampling method and from each school, 110 students were randomly grouped (330 students) to control, booklet and lecture groups. Firstly, the questionnaires were completed by students as a pretest and then nutritional educational program was performed for three groups in three sessions; and three months later the same questionnaires were used.Results: Interventions caused a significant increase in the mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and behavior of two experimental groups (P<0.05) although this difference was not statistically significant in control group (p>0.05). The mean differences of knowledge and attitude sections in lecture group were more statistically significant than booklet group (p<0.05).Conclusion: Both educational methods increased the level of nutritional knowledge, attitude, and behaviors of students and it was more significant in lecture group. Collectively, the results of this study demonstrated positive effects of educational health programs on promotion of nutritional knowledge, attitude, and behaviors of students. Therefore, it is necessary to consider educational programs in order to improve nutritional behavior.

Introduction: Malignant melanoma is a fatal cutaneous neoplasm and one of the fastest growing cancers worldwide. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of melanoma in different cultural settings and the probable role of clothing in prevention.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data about diagnosed melanoma patients (i.e. age, pathology, sex, location, and site of skin involvement) were collected from the Kerman and Rafsanjan Cancer Registries from 2005 to 2009. Similar data related to melanoma incidence in Victoria, Australia were obtained from the Victorian Cancer Council, Melbourne. Incidence by age, sex and site of skin was calculated in both Kerman Province and Victoria State. Then the incidence differences for exposed and unexposed limbs were calculated and compared.Results: Melanoma incidence in Kerman was 5.7 in one million annually. Incidence in men was higher than women. The highest incidence was seen in 70-79 years of age. Most cases of melanoma (30%) were localized in the face. Incidence in Victoria State was 431.9 in one million annually. The incidence in men was higher than women. The highest incidence was seen in people of above 80 years of age. Most of the cases (30.1%) of melanoma were seen in the trunk and then arm with 22.1%. The incidence difference between the two nations was significant except for the hands and male’s feet.Conclusion: The present study suggests that clothing is possibly preventing about 25.7, 37.4 and 72.6 cases of melanoma respectively in the trunk, arm and leg in 1,000,000 people annually in Iran.

Introduction: Cadmium (CD) and lead (Pb) are widely used in the industrial and refining activities and are frequently detected in sediments. The main objectives of this research were focused on determining the concentration of Cd and Pb in the sediments of Asaluyeh and compare them with other parts of the world.Materials and Methods: The concentrations of Pb and Cd in the sediments of Nayband Bay area (contaminated area) and Lavar-e Saheli (control area) were measured. In the summer of 2013, the samples of sediment were collected from 40 stations. The samples were digested using the method Yap 2002 and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer.Results: The median concentration of Pb and Cd in the sediments were collected from Nayband ranged from 3.56 to 5.25 mg/gdw and 1.16 to 1.44 mg/gdw, respectively. The concentrations of Pb and Cd in most of the sediment samples in the study area were higher than the Persian Gulf standards.Conclusion: Therefore, it is essential to use abatement efforts to clean-up the polluted areas in the coastal area of the Asaluyeh Bay and prevent the discharge of the untreated or partially treated wastewater to the Persian Gulf as well.

Introduction: Textile wastewaters are heavily polluted with dyes and chemicals and have a broad range of pH, high COD concentration and suspended particles. In this study, the efficiency of color and turbidity removal from synthetic textile wastewaters were investigated by a combined process of coagulation/ flocculation and electron beam irradiation.Materials and Methods: The experiments have been done on model dye solution samples, which were prepared from ten dyes supplied from Yazd Baff factory. Aluminum sulphate was employed as coagulant. Then samples were irradiated by electron beam accelerator at different doses. Absorption spectra of the samples were measured using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The pH and turbidity values of the solutions were measured by a pH meter and turbidimeter.Results: According to results, the degree of decoloration and turbidity removal of synthetic dye solutions increased when the alum concentration increased and reached 64% and 90% respectively at 112 ppm of alum. After irradiation, it is observed that absorbance decreased rapidly at 540 nm by increasing the radiation dose because of macromolecules degradation and then it decreased slowly to a degree of decoloration of 95% at 3 kGy. The level of pH decreased by irradiation and then changed very slowly or remained constant with increasing irradiation dose.Conclusion: The results indicate that a combination of coagulation/ flocculation and irradiation is so effective for turbidity removal and decoloration. Coagulation process eliminates suspended particles from disperse dyes effectively, while destruction of soluble dye molecules happens by irradiation, which considerably increases decoloration efficiency.

Introduction: Dental fear is a major factor in postponing and cancelling a dental appointment. The studies in this field are still limited. The current study was conducted to examine dental fear in patients refering to dentists of Mashhad, Iran.Materials and Methods: In a descriptive study, 400 patients were selected randomly from 20 dental offices in Mashhad. The data were collected, using Dental Fear Scale. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire have been measured and confirmed in previous studies. The data were analyzed, using the SPSS software to perform t-test, ANOVA, Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient.Results: Nearly 20.8% of the participants had mild dental fear, 57.5% and 21.8% had moderateand severe dental fear. The mean score of fear was statistically higher in females (49.95±13.3) compared to males (39.69±14.7). In terms of marital status, the highest mean score of fear was observed among the divorced and widows (51.82±14.2). In terms of occupation, the highest mean score of fear was observed among the housewives (52.63±12.89). Correlational analysis showed an inverse relationship between dental fear score and age (r=-0.18, p<0.001), education level (p=-0.28, p<0.001) and income (p=-0.39, p<0.001).Conclusion: Females, particularly housewives, have a significantly higher level of dental fear, and it had an inverse correlation with age, education level and level of income. Therefore, decreasing dental fear level should be considered in interventional and educational programs.

Introduction: Industrial growth, development programs and infrastructure projects, in spite of numerous advantages and benefits, have been considered as the source of many hazards, risks and failures. Risk assessment is the organized and systematic methods to identify hazards and risk estimation of decisions ranking, in order to reduce the risk to an acceptable extent. The aim of this study was the risk assessment of Ilam gas refinery using William fine procedure.Materials and Methods: Executive group, including managers of the gas refinery departments and agencies, was formed in order to identify the risks. The risks of units using the form HSE-FO-001 (0) -90 were identified and the risk assessment was recorded. This technique is based on the calculation and assessment of risks with a severity of the outcome, occurrence probability and exposure.Results: 289 risks were found in this study, of which 5 risks (1.73%) had a level of urgency (urgent need for corrective actions), 40 (13.84%) had abnormal levels (need of immediate attention) and 244 (84.43%) had a normal risk level (should be deleted).Conclusion: According to information obtained from the risk assessment tables, the major risks that threaten employees of Ilam gas refinery including the risks associated with working at height, inhalation of gas containing H2S and exposure to excessive noise. Therefore, engineering measures must be conducted to reduce the level of risk in the refinery units.

Introduction: Satisfaction as a key indicator of health care quality is important for development, recognition and treatment of people in need. The aim of this study is to determine the rate of satisfaction of referral people from the health centers of Yazd city.Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive analytic (cross- sectional) study. The participants were 360 clients, who had referred to 13 health centers of Yazd city and were selected by simple sampling methods. The data was collected by a standard questionnaire. After collection, the data were analyzed by SPSS 18, descriptive tables, ANOVA, and T-test.Results: The mean age of participants was 32.81±9.96, from which 135 (37.6%) were male and 224 (62.2%) were female. About 303 (62.2%) patients were married. 187 (51.9%) patients were university graduates and 15 (4.2%) were illiterate. Results showed that the satisfaction from the time in more than 94% of participants was moderate. And 49.4% of participants were mostly satisfied by the behavior of employees.Conclusion: Results of the present study showed that most discontent patients complained of equipment, which should be considered for future planning by authorities.

Introduction: Dyes have complicated structures, they are usually toxic and resistant to biological treatment and enter the environment through industrial waste streams. The present study is aimed to review the isotherm and kinetic adsorption studies of Reactive Blue 19 (RB19) dye onto Jujube stems powder from synthetic textile wastewater.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in laboratory scale. Synthetic wastewater was prepared with dissolving RB19 in distilled water. The dye concentration was determined by using UV/Vis spectrophotometer at 592 nm. In this study, we investigated the effects of initial dye concentration, pH, adsorbent dose and contact time. For better understanding of the adsorption process, the experimental data were analyzed with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and kinetic studies.Results: The results showed that removing RB19 dye with Jujube stems powder as a natural biosorbent had the best efficiency in alkaline environment (pH=10) and by increasing the pH from 3 to 10, the dye removal efficiency increased. By decreasing the initial dye concentration and increasing the time and adsorbent dose, dye removal efficiency increased. In this study, the best fit of the adsorption isotherm data was obtained using the Langmuir model. Kinetic analysis of our results showed that the results well fitted the pseudo-second-order reaction.Conclusion: We can conclude that Jujube stems powder could be used as a biosorbent for dye removal from aqueous solutions.