A Gender-Based Study of Sensation Seeking in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Compared with Healthy Subjects

Introduction: The relationship between psychological factors and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the topics that has occupied the minds of researchers in the field of health psychology. The present research aimed at studying the levels of sensation seeking in coronary patients and healthy subjects.Methods: Two hundred and twenty-three coronary patients and 255 healthy subjects completed the Sensation Seeking Scale-form V (SSS–V). Next, 100 coronary cases (50 males and 50 females) that had referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, and 100 healthy subjects, were compared in terms of levels of sensation-seeking. All participants were selected by purposeful sampling (aged 25 to 64 years). Data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) through the SPSS 18 software.Results: Coronary male patients scored higher than coronary female patients in thrill and adventure seeking and healthy males scored higher than healthy females in boredom susceptibility. Healthy females scored higher than coronary females in thrill and adventure seeking, and in boredom susceptibility subscale, healthy males scored higher than coronary males.Conclusions: The identification of individuals with sensation seeking features will allow the identification of susceptible coronary patients for preventive procedures

Effects of Emotional Images on Cardiovascular Responses in Males with Coronary Artery Disease and in Healthy Males: The Role of Sensation Seeking

Introduction: Individuals exposed to certain types of images, based on their personality features, experience different emotional states and physiological responses. The present study addressed the effects of stressful and pleasant stimuli on blood pressure and heart rate in male patients with coronary problems and healthy males based on sensation seeking levels.Methods: One hundred and seventy eight male patients with coronary artery diseases referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran; and 185 healthy male subjects completed the Sensation Seeking Scale-form V (SSS-V). After obtaining acceptable scores, 100 patients and 100 healthy males were classified in four groups: high sensation seeker patients, low sensation seeker patients, high sensation seeker healthy subjects, and low sensation seeker healthy subjects (each group with 50 samples aged 30-49). First, blood pressures and heart rates were recorded before stimulus induction. Then, the participants were exposed to stressor pictures. After 15 minutes of relaxation, and a cognitive task, the participants were exposed to pleasant pictures. The blood pressure and heart rate were recorded after presenting the two stimuli.Results: High sensation seeker patients achieved lower scores in diastolic blood pressure in comparison with low sensation seeker patients after presenting the stressful stimulus, and healthy high sensation seekers achieved lower scores in systolic blood pressure in comparison with healthy low sensation seekers presented with pleasant stimulus.Conclusions: Low sensation seeker patients experienced negative emotions more than high sensation seeker patients. Therefore, the role of induced mood states may be important in relation to physical health

Factors Influencing Health Promoting Behaviours in Women of Reproductive Age in Iran: Based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model

INTRODUCTION: Health promotion behaviours are considered as preventives of non-communicable diseases and key determinants of maintaining and improving the health status. AIM: This study aimed to investigate and identify effective factors on health-promoting behaviours based on Pender model in women of reproductive age from February to April 2017, in Savojbolagh, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study is conducted on 240 women aged between 15 to 49 years in Savojbolagh, Iran, in 2017. The questionnaire consisted of several items, including socio-demographic characteristics, health-promoting lifestyle profile-II (HPLP-II), self-efficacy, social support and constructs of Pender’s health promotion model. SPSS-18 software has been applied for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the women was 31.10 ± 7.29 years. Total HPLP-II score was 106.64 ± 11.93. The highest and the lowest mean in the subscales were belonged to nutrition and physical activity, respectively. According to the bivariate analysis, the total HPLP-II score is significantly related to prior health-related behaviour (p = 0.000). There was a statistically significant relationship between stress management and the variables including perceived benefits, perceived barriers, prior health-related behaviour, situational influences, commitment to a plan of action (p < 0.05). Also, health responsibility had a statistically significant relationship with self-efficacy (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: According to our results, it can be inferred that there is a problem with the HPBs of women. Considering that health-promoting behaviours like physical activity had a low score, it is a necessity to plan and perform interventions for improving health promotion behaviours

The Relationship between Sleep Quality and Happiness in Men with Coronary Artery Disease

Background and Aim: Good sleep quality has beneficial effects on happiness and being unhappy is significantly associated with negative cardiac outcomes. The present research aimed at studying the relationships between sleep quality and happiness in male coronary patients. Methods: One hundred male coronary patients that having been referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ). All participants were selected by purposive sampling (aged 37 to 67 years). Data were analyzed by multiple regression (simultaneous method) through the SPSS 18 software.Results: There was a significant negative difference between happiness with sleep disturbances and use of sleeping medication in coronary patients. Conclusion: This study showed that poor sleep quality in coronary patients has negative effects on their happiness. Therefore, the quality of sleep in these patients should be given more consideration by community health care providers.Keywords: Sleep Quality, Happiness, Coronary Artery Disease

Effective Factors of the Healthy Nutritional Behavior Based on the Application of Social Cognitive Theory among 13-15-Year-Old Students

Background: There is a rapid spurt in non-communicable diseases because of some significant changes in nutrition patterns around the globe. Controlling the main risk factors, namely lack of physical activity and smoking, might decrease more than 50% of the deaths and disabilities caused by these factors. This study aimed to investigate the effective factors of healthy food behavior based on the application cognitive social theory to 13 to 15-year- old students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 330 students aged 13–15 years, in Zarrin- Dasht County, Fars Province, south of Iran who were randomly selected from public schools assigned to the study in 2016. The data gathering tools were demographic questionnaire, a researcher-made questionnaire of social cognitive theory (outcome expectations, outcome values, self-efficacy, social support, and self-regulation), and another questionnaire on nutritional behavior. Questionnaires were completed by students. For analyzing data, the SPSS-22 software, multiple regression, and correlation tests were used.   Results: 330 students aged 13–15 years with seventh, eighth and ninth educational grade participated in this study. Among different constructs of social cognitive theory, outcome expectations (P=0.001), social support (P=0.005), and self-regulation (P=0.001), have made significant contribution to the explanation of the variance of appropriate nutritional behavior among the students. In total, these variables account for approximately 63% of the variance of nutritional behaviors. Conclusion According to the results of this study outcome expectations, social support, and self-regulation might be effective in designing educational interventions to achieve healthy food behavior in students

The Exploration of Protective factors on prevention working children’s substance abuse

BackgroundChild labor is one of the challenges among most big cities in the world. In recent years, substance abuse among working, and street children has become a common phenomenon. Thus, in the present study, the protective factors affecting the prevention of substance abuse among Iranian working children were identified by using the social-ecological approach.Materials and MethodsThe participants included Seventeen 8-15-year-old children who were the members of Imam Ali and Ilia non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Semi-structured in-depth interview interviews were used for data collection. Purposive sampling began in December 2015 and continued till data saturation in June 2016. Data were analyzed based on qualitative content-oriented analysis.ResultsDifferent protective factors were identified and classified at five levels of the social-ecological model. Four classes (belief, knowledge, attitude, skill) at the personal level, two classes (family and relatives) at the interpersonal level, two classes (governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations) at the organizational level, the class of living environment at the community level , and two classes (supportive policies and restrictive policies) at the public policies level were considered.ConclusionThe protective factors affecting the prevention of substance abuse are related to personal, household, social, organizational, and public policy factors. Thus, personal and social empowerment, social participation and capacity building seem necessary to strengthen the protective factors which play a significant role in the prevention of substance abuse among Iranian working children

Development and psychometric evaluation of data collection tools for Iranian integrated road traffic injury registry: Registrar-station data collection tool

Background: Comprehensive and accurate data are fundamentally needed for effective management of road traffic injuries (RTIs). Existing sources of RTI reports have a huge underestimation and inaccuracy at some levels. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the registrar-station data collection tool as a part of the Iranian Integrated Road Traffic Injury Registry (IRTIR). Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2018. A data collection tool was developed to be used by the registrar for inpatient section of IRTIR by information retrieved from the literature review and road traffic experts' need assessment. The content validity of the preliminary tool was assessed. The feasibility of the tool was tested in two regional referral injury hospitals. Intra- and inter-rater reliability of the tool was evaluated using the individual/absolute intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Kappa. Validity was revisited after 1 year of the pilot study. Results: The registrar-station data collection tool of IRTIR included 53 items, in five categories. Content validity was approved (modified content validity index was 0.8-1 and content validity ratio was one for all items). ICC was >0.6 for all items, and kappa index ranged between 0.69 and 0.92. The nurse data collection tool of IRTIR was applicable in the pilot phase. Conclusions: The Registrar-Station data collection tool of IRTIR was confirmed as a valid and reliable tool for inpatient traffic injuries as a part of the Iranian IRTIR

The Sensitivity and Specificity of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification and PCR Methods in Detection of Foodborne Microorganisms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract Background: The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method is frequently used for identifying many microorganisms. The present review aimed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of LAMP method for detection of food-borne bacteria and to compare these features with those of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as an alternative molecular diagnostic procedure, and with cultivation method, as the gold standard method. Methods: The literature was searched in electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE) for recruiting publications within Jan 2000 to Jul 2021. We used the combinations of keywords including foodborne disease, LAMP, PCR, Loop-mediated isothermal amplification, and polymerase chain reaction. Meta-analysis was used to adjust the correlation and heterogeneity between the studies. The efficiency of the methods was presented by negative likelihood ratio, positive likelihood ratio, sensitivity, specificity, and odds ratio using forest plots. A Pvalue less than 0.05 was considered as statistical significance cut off. The confidence intervals were presented at the 95% interval. Results: Overall, 23 relevant studies were analyzed. The sensitivities of LAMP and PCR methods were estimated to be 96.6% (95% CI: 95.0-97.7) and 95.6% (95%CI: 91.5-97.8), respectively. The specificities of LAMP and PCR were also estimated to be 97.6% (95%CI: 92.6-99.3) and 98.7% (95%CI: 96.5-99.5), respectively. Conclusion: The specificities of LAMP and PCR assays were determined by comparing their results with cultivation method as the gold standard. Overall, the specificity of both PCR and LAMP methods was low for detection of fastidious bacteria. Nevertheless, LAMP and PCR methods have acceptable specificities and sensitivities, and their application in clinical practice necessitates more studies. Keywords: Food-borne pathogen; Specificity; Sensitivity; Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP); Polymerase chain reactio

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations