Exploring barriers and challenges in protecting residential fire - related injuries: a qualitative study

Background: Building fires can be a great threat to the safety of residents, and can lead to economic and social damage. Exploring the views of stakeholders is a great source for understanding the factors that affect fires. The purpose of this study was to explore stakeholders’ experiences of unintentional fire-related injuries in residential buildings in Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was carried out using grounded theory. The study was conducted in Iran, in 2017. The study participants consisted of 25 people including stakeholders who had practical experience/or were knowledgeable in the field of preventing and fighting building fires. Purposeful and theoretical sampling were used for data collection. Data were analyzed based on constant comparative analysis and according to recommendations by Strauss and Corbin. Results: "Lack of a comprehensive approach to prevention of fire-related injury" emerged as a core variable which impacted on residents' safety against fires. The findings were classified into four groups of challenges related to the structure of building, socio-economic challenge, residents of the building and rescue services. Conclusions: Based on participants` experiences, unintentional fire-related injuries in residential buildings are affected by cultural context and economic, social and geographical factors. Improving the safety against unintentional fire-related injuries in residential buildings requires multidisciplinary operations including both change and improvement of the building construction and change in the beliefs and practices of residents to increase safety against fires

Preventive measures for fire-related injuries and their risk factors in residential buildings: a systematic review

Abstract: Background: Every year, a large number of people lose their lives or become injured seriously as a result of fires. Fires in buildings pose a great threat to resident safety. The aim of this systematic review is to identify preventive measures for fire-related injuries in residential buildings, taking into account associated risk factors. Methods: In this study, a systematic review was performed of all studies conducted in the field of residential building fires, influencing factors and available safety procedures. From the earliest record up to 7 July 2017, databases of PubMed, Web of Science/Knowledge, and Scopus were searched and selected articles included in the study. Results: A total of 5,613 published articles were examined, of which 30 were finally found to meet the inclusion criteria. The findings of the study were included in two main groups of preventive measures and risk factors for residential building fires and related injuries. Regarding preventive measures, the factors to reduce the risk of fire-related injuries raised in the studies under review included rule amendments, changes and modification of the environment, behavior change such as emergency evacuation during fire occurrence, improvements to emergency medical services, and awareness-raising. Also, many of the studies showed that areas with a large number of young children, older people, people with physical and mental disabilities, alcohol and drug addicts, smokers, single-family households and low-income families were particularly at risk of fire-related injuries and deaths. Conclusions: There are features in residential buildings and attributes among residents that can be related to fire hazard and fire-related injuries and deaths. The most important point of this study is to focus on preventive strategies including environmental modification, promotion of safety rules and changes in risk behavior among residents. Policy makers should pay more attention to these important issues in order to promote safety and injury prevention in relation to building fires

Cost-income analysis of oral health units of health care centers in Yazd city

Background and Aims: Increasing demands for health care's services on one hand and limited resources on the other hand brings about pressure over governments to find out a mechanism for fair and appropriate distribution of resources. Economic analysis is one of the appropriate tools for policy making on this priority. The aim of this study was to assess capital and consumption of oral health units of health care centers in Yazd city and comparing it with revenue of these centers and determining of cost effectiveness.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study, all health care centers of Yazd city with active dentistry department were evaluated. The data has been extracted from current documents in health care center of county based issued receipts and daily information registers.Results: Expended cost for providing of oral hygiene services in second half of 2008 in 13 medical health centers of Yazd included active dentistry section was 557.887.500 Rials and revenue to cost ratio was about 34%. The most provided service was related to tooth extraction and the average of tooth restoration in each working day was 0.48.Conclusion: With attention to low tariffs of dentistry services in medical health centers and paying subsidy to target groups, expenses of oral hygiene are always more than its revenue

Lowe Syndrome: Report of a Case and Brief Literature Review

Background: The oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe (OCRL) is a rare x-linked recessive disorder first described in 1952. This syndrome is characterized by ocular involvement, mental retardation and kidney disease. The causative gene is OCRL1. Survival rarely exceeds 40 years. Case Presentation: A 13-year-old boy was referred because of short stature. In physical examination his height was 108.2 cm. He had poor growth, psychomotor retardation, severe hypotonia, congenital cataract which was operated on earlier in life, searching nystagmus, anti social behavior and used foul language. He had been on treatment for renal tubular acidosis (Fanconi syndrome) since 8 month of age. Conclusion: The possibility of OCRL should be considered in boys with cataracts and glumerolar disease. As the condition can be diagnosed in first months of life, early treatment can prevent patients from various complications

Primary Vesicoureteral Reflux In Iranian Children:A Follow-Up Of 330 Cases

Background: Experience with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) differs in differ-ent centers and there are plenty of controversies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of primary VUR complications and the rate of recurrence of UTI. Methods: The medical charts of all infants and children with primary VUR who were followed up by two nephrologists were reviewed. During 19 years (1985-2004), 330 patients (271 females, 59 males) with 496 refluxing ureters were followed up as primary VUR. Results: The patients' age at diagnosis was 4 days to 16 years (mean: 4.1 years) and the mean duration of follow-up was 4.5 years. Urinary tract infec-tion (UTI) was the presenting symptom in 95% and fever was recorded in 35% of cases. Frequencies of different grades of VUR at initial investigation were 10%, 35%, 30%, 13% and 12% for grades I to V, respectively. Recurrence of UTI in VUR of grades I to V were 22.2%, 18.1%, 20%, 23.4% and 17.9%, re-spectively. Follow-up voiding cystourethrogram revealed resolution of VUR in 55%, improvement in 27.5%, no change in 12%, and deterioration in 5.5%. Complications such as chronic renal failure and hypertension were observed in 13 and 13 patients, respectively. Renal scarring was present in 52% of boys and 29% of girls. Conclusion: The present study indicates that symptomatic primary VUR is more common and has better prognosis in girls. Recurrence of UTI is not re-lated to the grade of VUR

Reference value for body mass index in adult living in Yazd city using the \"Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape

Introduction: The reference values for anthropometrics obtained from a specific population may not be appropriate for use in other populations. This study aimed to provide the reference values for body mass index (BMI) in a large Iranian population aged 20-69 years old living in Yazd City, Iran. Methods: In this study, anthropometrics and related variables of 9422  residents of Yazd were analyzed. Body mass index (BMI) for the 5th, 85th, 90th, and 95th percentiles according to gender and age were calculated. The generalised additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS) was fitted to the data. Akaike's Information Criteria (AIC) was used to study the occasion of the model. The R software was used to analyze the data. Results: Overweight levels for healthy men and women varied from 25.2 to 28.4 and 25.6 to 27.9, respectively. The levels of obesity varied from 27.8 to 30.3 in men and from 28.2 to 32.3 in women. According to the suggested cut offs, the prevalence of obesity was 27.9% , the prevalence of overweight was 17.1% and the overall prevalence of obesity and overweight was 45% in the reference population. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the need for more attention to obesity and overweight and lifestyle improvements in weight loss, especially in females, are completely felt and the causes of this phenomenon and its harmful effects on the health of the community should be more prominent in the policy makers of the health secto

Evaluation of multiple linear regression function and generalized linear model types in estimating natural menopausal age: A crosssectional study

Background: Since women spend about one-third of their lifespan in menopause, accurate prediction of the age of natural menopause and its effective parameters are crucial to increase women’s life expectancy. Objective: This study aimed to compare the performance of generalized linear models (GLM) and the ordinary least squares (OLS) method in predicting the age of natural menopause in a large population of Iranian women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the recruitment phase of the Shahedieh Cohort Study, Yazd, Iran. In total, 1251 women who had the experience of natural menopause were included. For modeling natural menopause, the multiple linear regression model was employed using the ordinary least squares method and GLMs. With the help of the Akaike information criterion, rootmean- square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error, the performance of regression models was measured. Results: The mean age of menopausal women was 49.1 ± 4.7 yr (95% CI: 48.8-49.3) with a median of 50 yr. The analysis showed similar Akaike criterion values for the multiple linear models with the OLS technique and the GLM with the Gaussian family. However, the RMSE and mean absolute error values were much lower in GLM. In all the models, education, history of salpingectomy, diabetes, cardiac ischemic, and depression were significantly associated with menopausal age. Conclusion: To predict the age of natural menopause in this study, the GLM with the Gaussian family and the log link function with reduced RMSE and mean absolute error can be a good alternative for modeling menopausal age. Key words: Menopause, Etiology, Statistics, Numerical data

Mental health status of infertile couples based on treatment outcome

Background: Infertility is accompanied by numerous psychological and social problems. Infertile couples are more anxious and emotionally distressed than other fertile people. Previous studies suggested that infertility is more stressful for women than men. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the status of general health of infertile couples. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated general health of 150 infertile couples attending to Yazd Research and Clinical Center for Infertility that were selected consequently. The data were gathered by the researchers, based on face to face interview before and after three months of treatment by two questionnaires. The first questionnaire had questions on demographic information and the second one was the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). This questionnaire has four sub- scales areas. All data were transferred directly to SPSS 15 and analyzed. Results: The mean age of women was 28.3 and men were 32.4 years. The scores for all sub- scales of GHQ in women were more than men. There was significant difference between age and general health at physical symptoms scales (p=0.002), anxiety and sleep disorders (p=0.003). The age group 25-29 years had higher scores (more than 7) than other age groups. There was significant difference between the scale of social dysfunction and results of treatment. Conclusion: Our results, similar to the previous studies have revealed negetive social and mental effects of infertility on women is more than men, so there is need that they be educated specially

Effect of islamic fasting on glucose, lipid profiles and Body Mass Index, adiponectin and leptin in obese individuals

Introduction: Fasting is an Islamic practice, which causes various metabolic changes in fasting individuals. Numerous studies have examined different aspects of fasting, but its effect on individuals with different characteristics such as obesity has remained unknown. The impact of fasting on adipose tissue hormones such as leptin and adiponectin is still controversial. In this study, we aimed to examine the effect of Islamic fasting on glucose and lipid profiles, as well as plasma adiponectin and leptin concentrations in fasting obese and normal-weight individuals.Materials and Methods: Obese and normal-weight individuals from Yazd, Iran, who fasted during Ramadan were divided into two groups (n=24). Blood samples were taken from all the participants after 10-12 fasting hours two days before and one day after Ramadan to assess glucose and lipid profiles and plasma adiponectin and leptin concentrations. The individuals who were not able to fast for at least 21 days due to inflammatory or infectious diseases and those who received oral medications or supplements during Ramadan were excluded from the study.Results: Variations in weight, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-c were significant in the obese group (PConclusion: Islamic fasting can prevent cardiovascular diseases in obese and normal-weight individuals through reducing weight, BMI, and some blood lipids, elevating HDL-c level, and changing the concentration of some adipokines

Marital Satisfaction Rate of Women Referring to Health Care Centers of Yazd Suburbs and the Related Factors

Background: Marital satisfaction refers to the positive self-assessment of individuals about their marital relations and marriage quality. Also, it is the most crucial issue in marital life and can either lead to stability or failure of the relationship. This study, therefore, was designed to determine marital satisfaction rate and factors effecting women referring to health care centers in suburbs of Yazd. Methods: This is a cross-sectional research with a sample of 246 women who visited health care centers in suburb of Yazd. Data collection instrument used in this study was the standard questionnaire of Marital Satisfaction Index (IMS). Questionnaire was completed as a self-report, after data collection, information were analyzed using SPSS18 software and Chi-Square test. Results: Frequency distribution of marital satisfaction rate showed that 59.8% and 40.2% of women were respectively unsatisfied and satisfied. Chi-Square test conducted to determine marital satisfaction rate in terms of demographic variables, showed no significant results in terms of age, marriage duration, number of children, education level of women and their husbands, as well as employment status of women (P-value > 0/05). However, significant differences were observed in terms of husband employment (P-value = 0/023) and economical status (P-value = 0/025).    Conclusion: Considering significant association of economic status and husband employment with marital satisfaction of participants, appropriate planning in this regard and providing grounds for employment of these women's husbands is crucial.&nbsp