Identifying and ranking factors influencing job stress among Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Employees in Phase 14 of South Pars: a cross sectional study in South of Iran

Introduction The present paper aims at identifying and ranking the factors affecting job stress of HSE employees in the phase 14 of the South Pars (a petroleum company in south of Iran). Methods In this cross sectional study, all HSE employees in one of the phases in south pars of Iran (the phase 14) including 150 employees were investigated in 2015. The data were collected using a questionnaire and measuring some environmental and occupational factors such as sound and chemical pollution. Results The validity of the questionnaire was approved by opinion of the 10 expert persons in this field (Content Validity Index .85%) and the reliability of the questionnaire was approved by Cronbach Alpha equal to 0.70. At present study the one sample T test indicated that the environmental and managerial factors affect job stress of the HSE employees. Among the environmental factors, long working hours, poisonous materials risks, air pollution, heat and moisture and air pollution mostly affect job stress, respectively. On the other hand among the managerial factors, job security, lack of meritocracy, not in time payment and prejudice in salary affect job stress the most, respectively. Conclusions As the results of this study, respect to environmental and occupational factors according to employees’ viewpoint in each industry is too important

The impact of mental illnesses on the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 patients

Background: The underlying medical conditions with COVID-19 patients may affect the clinical symptoms, morbidity and mortality. Due to the high prevalence of mental illnesses and their impact on inflammatory processes and pulmonary function, we evaluated the impact of depression and anxiety as the highest prevalence of mental illness on clinical manifestations of COVID-19 patients.Methods: A questionnaire form about past medical history completed for the COVID-19 patients. Patients with underlying depression and anxiety excluded and compared with the patients without comorbidities of medical or mental conditions in terms of the common clinical manifestations.Results: Total out of the 560 patients reviewed, 174 patients had no history of any disease (named as group A). 39 patients had the history of depression only and 45 patients had the history of anxiety only (respectively named as groups B and C). There was a high and meaningful frequency of feeling dyspnea (p value 0.05).Conclusions: Comorbidity of depression and anxiety may affect the clinical symptoms in patients with COVID-19. Respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, tachypnea and feeling dyspnea), tachycardia and chest pain are the more manifested symptoms in the patients with depression and anxiety and may be due to their underlying disease. The impact of mental illnesses on morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 patients remains unclear and requires further studies

Serum iron level in patients with COVID-19: a case report study

Coronavirus disease emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and led to worldwide pandemic in March 2020. Due to early diagnose, treatment and prevent transmission of COVID-19 disease, we need rapid laboratory tests and develop them. This paper focuses on serum Iron level in patients with COVID-19. We assess the serum Iron level due to the following reasons: I. Iron is a key part of hemoglobin structure in which is essential for providing Oxygen to the body organs, particularly for the patients with pulmonary involvement such as COVID-19. II. Iron deficiency can contribute to muscle weakness and reduction of respiratory capacity, at which increases the risk of deterioration of COVID-19 patients. III. Elevation in Hepcidin level (due to the increase in IL-6 level) in COVID-19 patients inhibits Iron absorption from intestinal lumen and blocks the Iron release from macrophages. IV. Iron is an essential element in infectious suppress and inflammatory process. We noticed that most of the patients, especially admitted to hospital due to the respiratory symptoms, have lower serum Iron level

The relationship between serum vitamin D level and asthma severity in asthmatic children (aged 1-15 years) in Ardabil, 2012-13

Background:Vitamin D plays an important role in many immune and allergic diseases, and its deficiency is more in areas with low solar radiation. Asthma is a common disease in children of Ardabil city. The present study was designed to evaluate vitamin D levels in asthmatic children in Ardabil.Methods:A total of 100 asthmatic children (40% boys and 60% girls) with a mean age of 5.7 ± 3.46 years (1-15 years) and who visited the Bou-Ali pediatric hospital were included. Vitamin D levels, disease course, IgE levels, and eosinophil counts were evaluated. A group of healthy children was also included to compare vitamin D levels between asthmatic and non-asthmatic children. All data were analyzed by statistical methods in SPSS v.16.Results: The vitamin D levels in asthmatic children were lower than those in the healthy group. Furthermore, the increase in the vitamin D level was significantly associated with lower history of hospitalization (P = 0.02), better response to bronchodilator treatment (P = 0.01), lower IgE level (P = 0.02), and decrease in the mean age of children (P = 0.04). However, no significant association between vitamin D levels and sex (P = 0.08), history of anti-inflammatory drug use (P = 0.78), and eosinophil count (P = 0.08) was observed in asthmatic children.Conclusion:Results showed that vitamin D deficiency was more common in asthmatic than in non-asthmatic children and the level of vitamin D was directly associated with the response of the children to treatment.

Fractures in non-homogeneous rockfill materials from a micromechanics perspective

This study investigates particle breakage and cracks propagation of non-homogeneous rockfill materials, particularly conglomerates, from a microscale perspective. The conglomerate's materials were gathered from Masjed-E-Soleyman, MES, rockfill dam, Iran. The study of particle breakage in rockfill material has been investigated by several researchers worldwide, both in the laboratory and through numerical simulations. However, the previous research focused on homogeneous rockfill materials, not non-homogeneous ones. The first part of this research investigates crack propagation in conglomerates due to high-stress conditions in a rockfill dam. The second part of the paper evaluates the effects of crack propagation on the MES dam crest settlement. In this paper, the microstructure of conglomerates rockfill was determined by performing a set of XRD analyses. The results revealed that calcite constitutes the majority of the rockfill structure. In accordance with geology science, the calcite has a high potential for breaking, and a numerical simulation was developed to illustrate the fractures and crack propagation in a rockfill dam of 177m in height. The results of this research are useful for understanding the concept of large deformations that occurred in the MES dam and needed rehabilitation measures for preventing dam breakage

Global, regional, and national cancer incidence, mortality, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-Adjusted life-years for 29 cancer groups, 1990 to 2017 : A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study

Importance: Cancer and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are now widely recognized as a threat to global development. The latest United Nations high-level meeting on NCDs reaffirmed this observation and also highlighted the slow progress in meeting the 2011 Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the third Sustainable Development Goal. Lack of situational analyses, priority setting, and budgeting have been identified as major obstacles in achieving these goals. All of these have in common that they require information on the local cancer epidemiology. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is uniquely poised to provide these crucial data. Objective: To describe cancer burden for 29 cancer groups in 195 countries from 1990 through 2017 to provide data needed for cancer control planning. Evidence Review: We used the GBD study estimation methods to describe cancer incidence, mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, and disability-Adjusted life-years (DALYs). Results are presented at the national level as well as by Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income, educational attainment, and total fertility rate. We also analyzed the influence of the epidemiological vs the demographic transition on cancer incidence. Findings: In 2017, there were 24.5 million incident cancer cases worldwide (16.8 million without nonmelanoma skin cancer [NMSC]) and 9.6 million cancer deaths. The majority of cancer DALYs came from years of life lost (97%), and only 3% came from years lived with disability. The odds of developing cancer were the lowest in the low SDI quintile (1 in 7) and the highest in the high SDI quintile (1 in 2) for both sexes. In 2017, the most common incident cancers in men were NMSC (4.3 million incident cases); tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL) cancer (1.5 million incident cases); and prostate cancer (1.3 million incident cases). The most common causes of cancer deaths and DALYs for men were TBL cancer (1.3 million deaths and 28.4 million DALYs), liver cancer (572000 deaths and 15.2 million DALYs), and stomach cancer (542000 deaths and 12.2 million DALYs). For women in 2017, the most common incident cancers were NMSC (3.3 million incident cases), breast cancer (1.9 million incident cases), and colorectal cancer (819000 incident cases). The leading causes of cancer deaths and DALYs for women were breast cancer (601000 deaths and 17.4 million DALYs), TBL cancer (596000 deaths and 12.6 million DALYs), and colorectal cancer (414000 deaths and 8.3 million DALYs). Conclusions and Relevance: The national epidemiological profiles of cancer burden in the GBD study show large heterogeneities, which are a reflection of different exposures to risk factors, economic settings, lifestyles, and access to care and screening. The GBD study can be used by policy makers and other stakeholders to develop and improve national and local cancer control in order to achieve the global targets and improve equity in cancer care. © 2019 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Examination the effect of soil parameters on earth dam slope stability in ABAQUS software

The stability of soil slopes and the determination of safety factors have always been the subject of study for engineers and researchers. The safety factor of slopes can be determined by using the methods of limit equilibrium method (L.E.M.), limit analysis, and strength reduction method (S.R.M.). The equilibrium method determines the slope safety factor based on the equilibrium of the inter-slice force and without the analysis of tension and strain. In the strength reduction method, based on the tension-strain analysis, the strength of various points of the slope is reduced until it reaches the critical state, and by connecting all of the critical points, the critical rupture level will be obtained. Finite element software and finite difference software determine the safety factors in soil slopes by using the concepts of the strength reduction method. In this paper, the safety factors of soil slopes are determined by using ABAQUS software, and using the concept of strength reduction method. There is no option in ABAQUS for the determination of safety factors and it should be obtained by defining the concepts of strength reduction. The purpose of this study is to implement a strength reduction method in a finite element program to calculate the safety factor of slopes. The results of this research indicate that the changes in friction angle affect the safety factor changes more than variations in cohesion. Also, slope angle and its changes affect the safety factor changes more than other factors

Molecular Detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii in the Bronchoalveolar Lavage Samples in Patients with Various Pulmonary Disorders(Original Article)

Background: Pneumocystis jirovecii (P. jirovecii) causes Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in people, especially the immunocompromised ones. It is also one of the serious causes of numerous lung problems in affected patients. Since documented data about P. jirovecii is not available in patients with pulmonary infections in Tehran, this study aimed to investigate the molecular epidemiology and parasitology of Pneumocystis to determine the frequency of the organism infection. Methods: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected for 367 patients hospitalized in the lung department of Shariati Hospital in Tehran from July 2022 to July 2023. The samples were analyzed using Giemsa staining and molecular methods. After DNA extraction from samples, Nested polymerase chain reaction (Nested PCR) was employed for the amplification of the 18SrRNA gene and identification of P. jirovecii. The PCR products of Nested PCR were sequenced for final confirmation.  Results: Out of 367 samples, only one sample (0.27%) and 28 samples (6.7%) were found to be positive through parasitology and NestedPCR analysis, respectively. P. jirovecii was detected in seven (25%) and 21 (75%) immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients, respectively. Fever, shortness of breath and dry cough were the most common clinical symptoms among patients with Pneumocystosis. Patients with pulmonary disorders are prone to colonization by pneumocystis, which increases the risk of pneumocystosis and makes them a reservoir for transmission to susceptible people. Conclusion: It can be concluded that patients with distinct lung disease are prone to colonization by Pneumocystis and, importantly, are at risk of infection. Also, according to the current study, Nested PCR was a suitable method for detecting P. jirovecii organisms because it had a very high sensitivity and specificity