Comparison of knowledge, attitude and practice of Urban and rural households toward iron deficiency anemia in three provinces of Iran

Background: Lack of nutritional knowledge is one of the most important reasons of nutritional problems and consequently improper practice, which can lead to several complications. This study has been designed in order to compare knowledge, attitude and practices of the urban and rural households regarding iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in Boushehr, Golestan and Sistan & Balouchestan provinces in 2004. Methods: The sampling method at household's level in each province was the single-stage cluster sampling with equal size clusters. The necessary data were gathered with a structured questionnaire and via the interviews between the questioners and the eligible people in each household. Comparison of frequency of variables between urban and rural areas were tested by chi square test. Results: A total of 2306 households were selected as overall sample size. In urban areas, people recognized iron food sources better than rural areas. Knowledge level of respondents about vulnerable group for IDA and the favorite attitude of households toward IDA were better in urban areas of Sistan & Blouchestan and Golestan provinces. In Sistan & Balouchestan and Golestan, rural households who drank tea immediately before or after meal was more than urban ones. The majority of pregnant and lactating mothers (except for rural areas of Bushehr) did not take iron supplement regularly. Less than 60 percent of children used iron drop regularly. Conclusion: Knowledge, attitude, and practice levels of households toward IDA were not acceptable. One of the best ways of improving nutritional practice is nutritional education with focus on applying available food resources

The ontological basics of perfectionism in designing educational sites

Background and Objectives: The ultimate goal of education is the learner’s growth. Therefore, the main concern of the architects in this field is the educational environment design in accordance with the high goals of educational system. In this study, relying on the opinions of Islamic thinkers in Quranic sciences field, the teachings derived from the Holy Quran and basic components underlying the perfection has extracted. These components have proposed, as the main contents of design criteria and improving the quality of schools and educational places, in three areas of meaning, function and body to help the architects benefit from an efficient design. Materials and Methods: This study has considered as an effective fundamental research, using quantitative-qualitative methodology. The methodology, in beginning, is survey. Then, the validity of the researcher-made questionnaires and the reliability of the variables have been calculated and confirmed through Cronbach's alpha test with a coefficient of 0.764. In addition, Q factor analysis (extracting expert opinions) and R factor analysis (extracting users' interests) were also performed using spss19 software. The specialist’s statistical population includes 25 professors specialized in the fields of Islamic education, educational sciences and architecture. Next, 40 female trade school junior were selected, from Tehran trade schools, as a non-random environmental users sample. Finally, the illustrated questionnaires obtained from the views of the professors were prepared and analyzed. Findings: After 990 minutes of interviews with specialized professors of Shahid Rajaee University, Tehran University, Science and Technology University and Imam Khomeini international University of Qazvin, two-stage coding and extraction of effective categories were done to prepare a researcher-made questionnaire with 40 items. According to the results of the factor analysis, the following three factors have detected; 1- Physical characteristics of educational buildings as a factor of human spiritual excellence, 2- Introversion as an effective factor in human self-knowledge and self-construction, 3- Extroversion as a factor in regulating environmental conditions and natural areas of human perfection from the view of the specialists. Then, the users’ illustrated questionnaires in 9 different educational fields with 3 quality grades, have distributed among users. Conclusion:: The students’ identified needs, regarding the meaning and spiritual growth, "creating peace and security, a sense of satisfaction, increasing thinking power, fostering creativity and increasing responsibility." In the ​​function field, the following issues are supposed to have taken into account: "individualized places, observance of hierarchy, flexibility, social interactions, multifunctional spaces and the cultivation of sensory powers". In the body field, "observance of diversity, attention to details, scalability, beauty and connection with nature" should have given priority in designing the school and campus. Therefore, based on these identified variables, the obtained correlation model of the factors making students' spiritual excellence in school design is specified through: 1- body design with considering growth factor characteristics, 2- human self-knowledge and self-construction, 3- nature and environment. Therefore, considering the important role of the body and especially the characteristics of the school environment in the growth of students' talents, the optimal design of educational environments is clearly effective to make a suitable ground for their spiritual growth. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS©2021 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. ====================================================================================

Perceptual-behavioral impact of neighborhood open spaces on student health

Open urban spaces and contemporary urban neighborhoods are not compatible with the physical and mental characteristics of Iranian male and female students. The per capita restriction of educational spaces in schools threatens the quantitative and qualitative limitation of contemporary residential homes and the prevalence of students' environmental lifestyle machine health patterns. Symptoms such as students' high dependence on horseback riding from home to school, construction of schools without desirable open spaces, expansion of apartment living and housing at least without yard and desirable open spaces, continuous TV viewing, excessive computer use, nutrition patterns Unhealthy and the prevalence of phenomena such as overweight and obesity, social avoidance and depression of some students are a confirmation of the problem of students' environmental health.In such a situation, improving urban environments and redeveloped spaces can be effective in changing some unhealthy patterns of students' perceptions and behaviors. The present article tries to introduce some of the planning and environmental design capabilities of residential neighborhoods compatible with the growth and physical and mental health of children and adolescents.Planning and designing pedestrian and bicycle paths from home to school, proper location and design of social schools, planning and design of access networks and connected local sidewalks, planning and design to prevent crime in the neighborhood, traffic calming And expanding neighborhood safety and tranquility, improving and developing neighborhood and neighborhood parks, designing beautiful local streets with environmental design and furniture and natural landscapes and rows of street trees, expanding mixed and diverse local uses and controlling average residential density to In order to increase the access to the services required by students and the socio-local interaction of students, practical solutions are suggested.Also, the development of specialized interdisciplinary research by programmers and environmental and transportation designers with students' general growth and health specialists is one of the proposed research fields

Percentile values of serum zinc concentration and prevalence of its deficiency in Iranian children and adolescents: The CASPIAN-V study

To determine the prevalence of serum zinc deficiency and provide the age- and sex-specific percentile values of serum zinc in children and adolescents. We used the gathered data through the CASPIAN-V study, a national survey conducted on 3500 students aged 7-18 years from 30 provinces of Iran. In this study, 1370 blood samples were selected randomly, and serum zinc concentration was measured using a Hitachi automated analyzer. Zinc deficiency was defined as a serum zinc level of less than 75 μg/dL. Age-sex specific reference percentile values were developed for serum zinc concentration. The mean age of participants was 12.4 ± 3.0 years; 49.3 were girls and 73 were urban inhabitants. Mean (standard deviation SD) of serum zinc concentration was 107.23 (25.81) μg/dL with a significant sex difference; 109.03 ± 26.12 μg/dL for males compared to 105.41 ± 25.3 μg/dL for females (p = 0.009). The prevalence of subclinical zinc deficiency was 4.9% (95% confidence intervals CI: 3.0, 6.9) in children and adolescents. Both zinc deficient and sufficient groups were similar in terms of age, sex and residential areas (all p-value > 0.05). Overall, the 5th and 95th percentile values for serum zinc were 68.28 and 151.87 μg/dL, respectively. The value of all percentiles consistently decreased with age. The 10-99th percentile values for serum zinc were greater in boys than girls at all ages. Nearly 5% of subjects had zinc deficiency. Age-sex specific percentile values were established for Iranian children and adolescents. © 2020 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Dietary Animal to Plant Protein Ratio Is Associated with Risk Factors of Metabolic Syndrome in Participants of the AHS-2 Calibration Study

Background: Few research studies have focused on the effects of dietary protein on metabolic syndrome and its components. Our objective was to determine the relationship between the type of dietary protein intake and animal to plant (AP) protein ratio with metabolic syndrome and its components. Methods: This population-based study had a cross sectional design and conducted on 518 participants of the Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2) Calibration Study. Two sets of three dietary 24-h recalls were obtained six months apart. Anthropometric measures and biochemical tests were performed in clinics. Regression calibration models were used to determine the association of type of dietary protein with metabolic syndrome and its components (raised triglyceride, raised blood pressure, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), raised fasting blood glucose and increased waist circumference). Results: The likelihood of metabolic syndrome was lower in those with higher total dietary protein and animal protein intake (p = 0.02).Total protein (β = 0.004, [95%CI: 0.002, 0.007]), animal protein intake (β = 0.004, [95%CI: 0.001, 0.007]) and AP protein intake ratio (β = 0.034, [95%CI: 0.021, 0.047]) were positively associated with waist circumference. Higher AP protein ratio was related to higher fasting blood glucose (β = 0.023, [95%CI: 0.005, 0.041]). Conclusion: Our study suggests that considering a significant amount of plant protein as a part of total dietary protein has beneficial effects on cardiometabolic risk factors

Preventing pain after breast surgery: A systematic review with meta‐analyses and trial‐sequential analyses

Background and objective: The aim of this systematic review was to indirectly compare the efficacy of any intervention, administered perioperatively, on acute and persistent pain after breast surgery. Databases and data treatment: We searched for randomized trials comparing analgesic interventions with placebo or no treatment in patients undergoing breast surgery under general anaesthesia. Primary outcome was intensity of acute pain (up to 6 hr postoperatively). Secondary outcomes were cumulative 24-hr morphine consumption, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and chronic pain. We used an original three-step approach. First, meta-analyses were performed when data from at least three trials could be combined; secondly, trial sequential analyses were used to separate conclusive from unclear evidence. And thirdly, the quality of evidence was rated with GRADE. Results: Seventy-three trials (5,512 patients) tested loco-regional blocks (paravertebral, pectoralis), local anaesthetic infiltrations, oral gabapentinoids or intravenous administration of glucocorticoids, lidocaine, N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists or alpha2 agonists. With paravertebral blocks, pectoralis blocks and glucocorticoids, there was conclusive evidence of a clinically relevant reduction in acute pain (visual analogue scale &gt; 1.0 cm). With pectoralis blocks, and gabapentinoids, there was conclusive evidence of a reduction in the cumulative 24-hr morphine consumption (&gt; 30%). With paravertebral blocks and glucocorticoids, there was conclusive evidence of a relative reduction in the incidence of PONV of 70%. For chronic pain, insufficient data were available. Conclusions: Mainly with loco-regional blocks, there is conclusive evidence of a reduction in acute pain intensity, morphine consumption and PONV incidence after breast surgery. For rational decision making, data on chronic pain are needed. Significance: This quantitative systematic review compares eight interventions, published across 73 trials, to prevent pain after breast surgery, and grades their degree of efficacy. The most efficient interventions are paravertebral blocks, pectoralis blocks and glucocorticoids, with moderate to low evidence for the blocks. Intravenous lidocaine and alpha2 agonists are efficacious to a lesser extent, but with a higher level of evidence. Data for chronic pain are lacking.</p