Mojtaba Norouzi; Haleh Ghaem; Hamid Reza Tabatabaee; Malihe Abdollahi; Mohammad Afkar; Fatemeh Rahmani
Abstract
Background: Malaria is one of the most important vector-borne diseases, a major health problem, and a serious cause of mortality around the world. Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) together with insecticide-treated nets is among the primary methods used for controlling and reducing the burden of malaria. ...
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Background: Malaria is one of the most important vector-borne diseases, a major health problem, and a serious cause of mortality around the world. Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) together with insecticide-treated nets is among the primary methods used for controlling and reducing the burden of malaria. The present study aimed to determine the appropriate time for malaria management based on entomology, vector abundance, temperature, and precipitation data. Methods:The study data were collected using the entomological data existing in Kazerun’s health and treatment network and weather station between 2009 - 2016. The data were analyzed via time series models with monthly time intervals, which included 96 months. The following models were applied: Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA), Moving Average (MA), Autoregressive (AR), and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). Indeed, kriging approach was employed for interpolation of temperature and precipitation in the study points. All analyses were done using Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) software. Results: Temperature followed a similar trend in the six villages under investigation. It was predicted up to 20 months after the observations using MAmodel. Accordingly, the mean of temperature was 30°C.The trend of precipitation showed great fluctuations; thus, the results of the precipitation model were not accredited. The trend of Anopheles abundance was predicted using ARMA in Jahad-Abad, Hakimbashi, Seyed Hossein, and Dadin and using ARMA in Khesht and Jareh. According to the results, Anopheles abundance followed a descending trend in the study regions. Considering the temperature trend and peak of Anopheles abundance in the areas under investigation, the best time for residual spraying was two weeks prior to the peak of Anopheles abundance within the temperature range of 25-30°C. Conclusion: Considering entomology and temperature data, two weeks prior to the peak of Anopheles abundance within the temperature range of 25-30°C was found to be the best time for residual spraying in order to prevent and control malaria. Other preventive and control measures, such as active case detection, timely treatment of patients, and public education should also be intensified at this time.
Hamidreza Tabatabaee; Parvin Afsar-kazerooni; Yousef Alimohamadi; Alireza Hasanabadi; Fatemeh Khavandegaran; Katayoun Tayeri; Abbas Rezaianzadeh; Jafar Hasanzadeh
Volume 3, Issue 1 , January 2015, , Pages 13-19
Abstract
Background: Intensified strategy includes special attention to the symptoms such as cough (more than two weeks), fever (more than three weeks), night sweats (more than three weeks), and weight loss (more than 3 kg per month). If any of the above symptoms was positive, in suspected individuals for TB, ...
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Background: Intensified strategy includes special attention to the symptoms such as cough (more than two weeks), fever (more than three weeks), night sweats (more than three weeks), and weight loss (more than 3 kg per month). If any of the above symptoms was positive, in suspected individuals for TB, more assessment should be done. The aim of this study was to compare between intensified and routine case finding for a better case selection method for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis among HIV-Infected Persons.Methods: The sample size was calculated 237 patients (474 for the two groups). In the current study, the patients were divided randomly into two groups: A) intensified case finding group and B) routine case finding group. Considering the sputum culture as the gold standard, we calculated the sensitivity and specificity, Positive predictive value (PPV), Negative predictive value (NPV) for fever, weight loss, coughing more than two week, night sweats, and PPD test.Result: A total of eight positive cases of tuberculosis were detected in the intensified while four were found in the routine case finding group. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV for cough in diagnosis of TB were 25%, 87%, 6%, and 97%, respectively. For weight loss, they were 62.5%, 83%, 10.8%, and 98.5% respectively while these amounts were, 7%, 85%, 97.6, 37.5 for night sweats. For fever, they were, 25%, 92.9%, 10.5%, and 97% respectively, and for PPD they were 87.5%, 40%, 4.6%, and 98.9%, respectively.Conclusion: Key symptom screening, such as cough, fever, weight loss and night sweats, has an important role in detecting TB among HIV-infected patients.
Mostafa Barzideh; Alireza Choobineh; Hamidreza Tabatabaee
Volume 2, Issue 2 , April 2014, , Pages 66-71
Abstract
Background: Evidence shows that job stress potentially has adverse effect on individuals’ health and organizational productivity. It has, therefore, become an important issue in the occupational health context. The aims of this study were to investigate job stress dimensions among nurses of Shiraz ...
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Background: Evidence shows that job stress potentially has adverse effect on individuals’ health and organizational productivity. It has, therefore, become an important issue in the occupational health context. The aims of this study were to investigate job stress dimensions among nurses of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) hospitals and comparing the results with the findings of the previous studies conducted in other countries. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 385 randomly selected nurses of SUMS participated. The Persian version of Job Content Questionnaire (P-JCQ) and demographic questionnaire were used for data collection. The linguistic validity and psychometric properties of P-JCQ have been assessed and approved in a previous study. One sample t-test was used to examine the differences between means of job stress dimension scores of the present and those of the previous studies carried out in other countries. Results: The means (SD) of decision latitude, psychological job demands, social support, physical job demands and job insecurity were found to be 58.15 (6.50), 38.19 (5.14), 22.67 (3.67), 16.03 (2.58), and 7.74 (3.85), respectively. The results revealed that decision latitude and social support dimensions were in a low level among the study subjects. In contrast, psychological job demand, physical job demand, and job insecurity dimensions were shown to be in a high level. Conclusion: The SUMS hospital environment collectively imposes higher job stress on the nurses as compared to that of other countries. To prevent harmful effects of job stress on the nurses’ health and job performance, developing macro-ergonomic strategies in this working environment, such as enhancing job control, reducing job demands, and providing supportive climate, seem necessary.
Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Fatemeh Darabi; Mahin Nazari; Hamidreza Tabatabaee
Volume 1, Issue 1 , July 2013, , Pages 6-13
Abstract
Background/Objective: This study aimed to address the knowledge gap in citizenship education. In other words, there was an attempt to investigate the effect of a citizenship education program on knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms, and behavioral intention of high schools girls. Methods: 228 female ...
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Background/Objective: This study aimed to address the knowledge gap in citizenship education. In other words, there was an attempt to investigate the effect of a citizenship education program on knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms, and behavioral intention of high schools girls. Methods: 228 female students, 91 in the experimental and 137 in the control groups participated in this study. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The educational program was run in the experimental group using interactive teaching-learning techniques. The research data were, then, analyzed in SPSS, using inferential statistics. Results: The mean score of the students’ knowledge in the experimental group increased from 7.35±1.93 in the pretest to 11.14±1.78 in the posttest, while in the control group this score remained approximately the same in the pre- and post-tests. The pre- and post-test means of attitude scores were statistically different, but not in the control group. The pretest mean scores of the subjective norm in the experimental and control groups were relatively similar, but in the posttest it became significantly different (experimental: 25.78±3.77, control: 23.40±4.62). The students’ behavioral intention score increased from 18.51±2.71 to 20.87±3.04 in the experimental group. The mean scores of intention in the pretest and posttest were not statistically different in the control group. In the second posttests, the levels of these constructs remained unchanged in the control group, but they were significantly higher than pretest scores in the experimental group. Conclusion: This study revealed the adolescents’ need for as well as the efficacy of a citizenship education program.