Application of health belief model to predict COVID-19-preventive behaviors among a sample of Iranian adult population

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has infected nearly 9.5 million people in 216 countries, areas, or territories in the world. The fight against the COVID-19 has become a very serious international challenge. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of COVID-19-preventive behaviors using the health belief model (HBM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 558 samples from the adult population of Iran. The online convenience sampling was conducted in this research. The online 68-item questionnaire link was published all over Iran through social networks including Telegram and WhatsApp, which are common in Iran. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 19. Descriptive statistics, bivariate Pearson's correlation test, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 33.3 +/- 10.01 years. The participants were often female (61.3), married (57.9), and resident of the city (81.0) with university educational level (78.8). The results showed that the HBM structures predicted 29.3 of the preventive behaviors of COVID-19 in the subjects. The perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy significantly predicted the preventive behaviors, but the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity were not significant in the regression model. The internet and virtual social networks (49.8), broadcast (33.5), and healthcare providers (15.8) were the most important sources of information related with COVID-19. In response to COVID-19-related internal cues to action, 36.6 did not pay attention and 34.7 tried to self-medicate. Only 28.5 of the subjects referred to the hospital, healthcare center, or physician. CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy, perceived barriers, and perceived benefits were the key determinants of COVID-19-preventive behaviors in the subjects. It can be concluded that the HBM is a good tool to predict COVID-19-preventive behaviors in Iranian population

Virus-sampling technologies in different environments

Exposure to pathogenic microorganisms, especially viruses, can lead to various diseases, allergies, and hospital infections. The application of sampling procedure is still a challenge to sample viruses from different environments such as air, water, wastewater, etc. However, there are many procedures such as filtration, impactor, impinger, cyclone, electrostatic separator, and MD-8 airscan that are applied for sampling and measuring viruses from air. Among conventional filters, the gelatin type can be readily dissolved in a liquid for molecular counting or cell culture without significant changes in virus tissue. Liquid impingers are the most frequent devices that are applied for the collection of viral aerosols. Also, many methods including precipitation, ultracentrifugation, electronegative membrane, and ultrafiltration have been used to prepare samples of food, wastewater, feces, urine, and surfaces. In many studies, the aforementioned methods have been employed to sample the coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 in various environments. Also, various PCR procedures have been commonly used to identify the virus from the environmental samples. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Is it possible to preserve the blood supply of erectile organs by anastomosis using the hypogastric artery in kidney transplantation?

Afshar Zomorrodi,1 Farzad Kakaei,2 Sahar Zomorrodi,3 Amin Bagheri1 1Department of Urology and Kidney Transplantation, Emam Reza Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 2Department of Surgery, Emam Reza Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 3Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Introduction: Three modalities for treating chronic kidney failure are peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis, and kidney transplantation. Among them kidney transplantation is cost-efficient and leads to a somewhat normal quality of life. In this approach, most often the external iliac artery is selected for anastomosis, but this could be disastrous if anastomosis leads to a complication. The traditional end-to-end approach for anastomosis of the kidney artery to the internal iliac artery leads to pelvic organ ischemia. However, if the end-to-end anastomosis is replaced by an end-to-side approach, it is safer. This report discusses some cases of end-to-side anastomosis using the internal iliac artery. Method: In ten cases of chronic kidney failure, we anastomosed the kidney artery to the internal iliac artery with an end-to-side approach. Results: After vessels were unclamped, all patients had diuresis. Their creatinine was in normal range and was blood flow in the internal iliac artery, based on color Doppler ultrasound. Conclusion: End-to-side anastomosis can be done in some chronic kidney failure patients if their internal iliac arteries are large enough. This approach is safer than anastomosis using the external iliac artery. Keywords: kidney transplant, internal iliac artery, anastomosi

Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward covid-19 among a sample of iranian general population

BACKGROUND: The new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly spreading around the world. At present (up to July 11, 2020), 255,117 cases and 12,635 deaths due to this disease have been reported in Iran. Following the guidelines recommended for the prevention and control of the disease is the most important approach to combating this global threat. AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice, and fear of the Iranian people in relation to COVID-19. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 558 Iranian people who entered the study by convenience sampling method. The knowledge, attitude, practice, and fear of the Iranian general population toward COVID-19 were collected using an online 50-items questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, independent sample T-test, and bivariate Pearson’s correlation were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The studied subjects were mostly in urban area (81.0), female (61.3), and married (57.9). The participants’ knowledge about personal hygiene (88.9), using a facemask (82.2), and the symptoms of the COVID-19 (76.8) were adequate. However, their knowledge about contaminated surfaces disinfection procedure (41.8), and the importance of using a facemask for healthy people (43.7) was lower. The highest level of the subjects’ attitude was related to the role of social distancing (94.6), staying at home (94.5), and personal hygiene (91.2). The low levels of attitude were also associated with access to personal protective equipment (84.1) and the psychological effects of COVID-19 (65.3). Furthermore, the highest levels of practices were related to avoiding hand shaking with others (91.5) and washing hands frequently (88.8). The practices such as following a healthy and nutritious diet (45.1) and wearing gloves (51.4) were reported to be less common. CONCLUSION: The results showed that about half of the subjects did not have enough knowledge about COVID-19. However, the attitude and practice of most of the participants toward COVID-19 were moderate or good. Nevertheless, the extensive health education interventions are needed to promote knowledge about COVID-19 and also to motivate people to do preventive behaviors. © 2020 Heshmatollah Nourmoradi, Farogh Kazembeigi, Hojatollah Kakaei, Mohsen Jalilian, Amin Mirzaei

Surgical treatment of postintubation tracheal stenosis: Iranian experience of effect of previous tracheostomy

Shahryar Hashemzadeh1, Khosrow Hashemzadeh2, Farzad Kakaei3, Raheleh Aligholipour4, Kamyar Ghabili51Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Research Center, 2Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Shahid Madani Hospital, 3Department of General Surgery, 4Students Research Committee, 5Medical Philosophy and History Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IranBackground: Postintubation tracheal stenosis remains the most common indication for tracheal surgery. In the event of a rapid and progressive course of the disease after extubation, surgical approaches such as primary resection and anastomosis or various methods of tracheoplasty should be selected. We report our experience with surgical management of moderate to severe postintubation tracheal stenosis. We also compared intraoperative variables in postintubation tracheal stenosis between those with and without previous tracheostomy.Methods: Over a 5-year period from June 2005 to July 2010, 50 patients aged 14–64 years with moderate (50%–70% of the lumen) to severe (>70%) postintubation tracheal stenosis underwent resection and primary anastomosis. Patients were followed up to assess the surgical outcome. To study the effect of previous tracheostomy on treatment, surgical variables were compared between patients with previous tracheostomy (group A, n = 27) and those without previous tracheostomy (group B, n = 23).Results: Resection and primary anastomosis was performed via either cervical incision (45 patients) or right thoracotomy (five patients). In two patients with subglottic stenosis, complete resection of the tracheal lesion and anterior portion of cricoid cartilage was performed, and the remaining trachea was anastomosed to the thyroid cartilage using a Montgomery T-tube. There was only one perioperative death in a patient with a tracheo-innominate fistula. The length of the resected segment, number of resected rings, and subsequent duration of surgery were significantly greater in group A compared with group B (P < 0.05). Six months after surgery, the outcome was satisfactory to excellent in 47 (95.9%) patients.Conclusion: This surgical approach leads to highly successful results in the treatment of moderate to severe postintubation tracheal stenosis. In addition, previous tracheostomy might prolong the duration of surgery and increase the need for postoperative interventions due to an increase in the length and number of resected tracheal segments. Therefore, in the event of emergency tracheostomy in postintubation tracheal stenosis, insertion of the tracheostomy tube close to the stenotic segment is recommended.Keywords: trachea, tracheostomy, tracheal stenosis, intubation, tracheal resectio

Preparation of a sepiolite/Cu-BDC nanocomposite and its application as an adsorbent in respirator cartridges for H2S removal

A newly developed Cu-BDC MOF nanocomposite based on natural sepiolite (Sep) was prepared and characterized using XRD, SEM, EDS, BET, and FTIR techniques. The surface areas of the sepiolite and the Sep/Cu-BDC nanocomposite were obtained as 105.5 m(2) g(-1) and 270.5 m(2) g(-1) with average micropore volumes of 0.39 and 0.32 cm(3) g(-1), respectively. The Sep/Cu-BDC nanocomposite was prepared from the Cu-BDC metal-organic framework with values of 10, 25, and 40 by weight. The synthesized nanocomposite was tested to estimate the adsorption capacity and breakthrough time under various temperature, humidity, and concentration conditions using a designed setup. The aeroqual S500 direct-reading sensor with 0.01 ppm accuracy was used to measure the exact amount of hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). The produced Sep/Cu-BDC nanocomposites had an extremely high adsorption capacity compared to the primary sepiolite. Among the different adsorbents, the Sep/Cu-BDC (25 wt) nanocomposite exhibited the highest adsorption capacity of 55.13 mg g(-1) (SD = 0.70) and breakthrough time of 46.32 min (SD = 1.53), respectively. Also, the amount of adsorption and breakthrough time of H2S were decreased with increasing moisture and concentration. The pressure drop was also increased slightly. The nanocomposite with 40 wt of Cu-BDC showed a significant decrease in the adsorption capacity and breakthrough time of H2S. The Sep/Cu-BDC adsorbent was regenerated using thermal regeneration at 190 degrees C in N-2 flow for 4 h, and the results showed that the adsorbent could be used for three consecutive cycles exhibiting excellent recyclability and thermal stability

Non-Marginal Donor C-Loop Ulcers as a Cause of Gastrointestinal Bleeding After Pancreas Transplantation: Three Case Reports

Unfortunately, pancreas transplantation (PTx) has been associated with the highest surgical complication rate of all the routinely performed organ transplant procedures. Complications can arise not only from the pancreas itself but also from the simultaneously transplanted duodenum. One of these complications is gastrointestinal bleeding, which might be from anastamotic site ulcer, pseudoaneurysm, arterioenteric fistula, severe rejection, or cytomegalovirus infection. In this case series, we present three patients presented with severe anemia 3 to 6 months after PTx with enteric drainage by end-to-end anastomosis of ascending loop of a Roux-en-Y to donor duodenal C-loop. The source of bleeding in all three cases was non-marginal donor duodenal C-loop ulcers. High donor pancreas exocrine output associated with relatively low drainage of a small end-to-end anastomosis may be the cause of these ulcers. It is recommended to use a side-to side anastomosis to prevent this complication