Psychiatric disorders in Iranian children and adolescents

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents in five provinces of Iran: Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and Mashhad. Method: In the present study, we selected 9,636 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years through multistage cluster random sampling method from Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and Mashhad. We instructed the clinical psychologists to complete the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for the participants, and those who received a high score on SDQ, completed the Persian version of Kiddie-SADS-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL). We used descriptive analysis and 95 confidence interval to investigate the relationship between scores of the K- SADS questionnaire and demographic factors . We used one-way ANOVA to test the significant differences among the disorders according to sex, age and province of residence. Results: Based on the results, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (4.45) had the highest prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the five provinces and substance abuse and alcohol abuse (0) had the lowest prevalence. In addition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had the most prevalence in boys (5.03) and ODD had the most prevalence in girls (4.05). Among the three age groups, 6 to 9 year olds had the highest rates of ADHD (5.69); 10 to 14 and 15 to 18 year olds had the highest rates of ODD (4.32 and 4.37 respectively). Among the five provinces, Tehran and Mashhad allocated the highest rates of ODD; Isfahan and Shiraz had the highest rates of ADHD; and Tabriz had the highest rates of social phobia. Conclusion: The current study revealed that the overall frequency of psychiatric disorders based on Kiddie- SADS-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) was higher than a similar study. Moreover, in this study, among the five provinces, Tehran and Mashhad allocated the highest rates of ODD; Isfahan and Shiraz had the highest rates of ADHD; and Tabriz had the highest rates of social phobia. Therefore, these percentage of psychiatric disorders in Iran lead us toward a greater use of consultation and mental health services

Labor Waste in Housing Construction Projects: An empirical study

Purpose - High-level labor waste is a major challenge in construction projects. This paper aims to identify, quantify and categorize labor waste in the context of Iranian housing construction projects. Design/methodology/approach – This research uses a case study approach, with empirical data collected through direct observations and semi-structured interviews. Findings – Having triangulated the findings from the literature review and empirical studies, a list of eight types of waste was derived for the thirteen observed laborers in ten case study projects. The empirical studies allowed the labor waste identified from the literature to be verified and refined by considering it in the context of the observed activities, and led to two new types of waste being identified which were not considered in the literature. Findings indicate that nearly 62% of laborers’ time is spent on non-value adding activities. It appeared that ‘unnecessary movement’, ‘waiting’ and ‘indirect work’ make up the highest labor waste. Research limitations/implications - This research focuses only on onsite resource flows in a housing construction site. It does not include offsite flows such as material delivery to site. Originality/value - The findings have provided substantial evidence on type and amount of labor waste and provide a solid basis to stimulate construction actors to participate in reducing labor waste and improving productivity

Medication errors in the Middle East countries: a systematic review of the literature

Background: Medication errors are a significant global concern and can cause serious medical consequences for patients. Little is known about medication errors in Middle Eastern countries. The objectives of this systematic review were to review studies of the incidence and types of medication errors in Middle Eastern countries and to identify the main contributory factors involved. Methods: A systematic review of the literature related to medication errors in Middle Eastern countries was conducted in October 2011 using the following databases: Embase, Medline, Pubmed, the British Nursing Index and the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature. The search strategy included all ages and languages. Inclusion criteria were that the studies assessed or discussed the incidence of medication errors and contributory factors to medication errors during the medication treatment process in adults or in children. Results: Forty-five studies from 10 of the 15 Middle Eastern countries met the inclusion criteria. Nine (20%) studies focused on medication errors in paediatric patients. Twenty-one focused on prescribing errors, 11 measured administration errors, 12 were interventional studies and one assessed transcribing errors. Dispensing and documentation errors were inadequately evaluated. Error rates varied from 7.1% to 90.5% for prescribing and from 9.4% to 80% for administration. The most common types of prescribing errors reported were incorrect dose (with an incidence rate from 0.15% to 34.8% of prescriptions), wrong frequency and wrong strength. Computerised physician rder entry and clinical pharmacist input were the main interventions evaluated. Poor knowledge of medicines was identified as a contributory factor for errors by both doctors (prescribers) and nurses (when administering drugs). Most studies did not assess the clinical severity of the medication errors. Conclusion: Studies related to medication errors in the Middle Eastern countries were relatively few in number and of poor quality. Educational programmes on drug therapy for doctors and nurses are urgently needed

Retraction note: Cutaneous mast cell tumor (Mastocytoma): Cyto-histopathological and haematological investigations Diagn Pathol., 9 (2014) (9)

The Editor-in-Chief and Publisher have retracted this article 1 because the scientific integrity of the content cannot be guaranteed. An investigation by the Publisher found it to be one of a group of articles we have identified as showing evidence suggestive of attempts to subvert the peer review and publication system to inappropriately obtain or allocate authorship. This article showed evidence of plagiarism (most notably from the articles cited 2-7) and peer review and authorship manipulation. © The Author(s). 2016

Psychiatric disorders in Iranian children and adolescents

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents in five provinces of Iran: Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and Mashhad. Method: In the present study, we selected 9,636 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years through multistage cluster random sampling method from Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and Mashhad. We instructed the clinical psychologists to complete the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for the participants, and those who received a high score on SDQ, completed the Persian version of Kiddie-SADS-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL). We used descriptive analysis and 95 confidence interval to investigate the relationship between scores of the K- SADS questionnaire and demographic factors . We used one-way ANOVA to test the significant differences among the disorders according to sex, age and province of residence. Results: Based on the results, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (4.45) had the highest prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the five provinces and substance abuse and alcohol abuse (0) had the lowest prevalence. In addition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had the most prevalence in boys (5.03) and ODD had the most prevalence in girls (4.05). Among the three age groups, 6 to 9 year olds had the highest rates of ADHD (5.69); 10 to 14 and 15 to 18 year olds had the highest rates of ODD (4.32 and 4.37 respectively). Among the five provinces, Tehran and Mashhad allocated the highest rates of ODD; Isfahan and Shiraz had the highest rates of ADHD; and Tabriz had the highest rates of social phobia. Conclusion: The current study revealed that the overall frequency of psychiatric disorders based on Kiddie- SADS-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) was higher than a similar study. Moreover, in this study, among the five provinces, Tehran and Mashhad allocated the highest rates of ODD; Isfahan and Shiraz had the highest rates of ADHD; and Tabriz had the highest rates of social phobia. Therefore, these percentage of psychiatric disorders in Iran lead us toward a greater use of consultation and mental health services

A pilot randomised controlled trial to reduce colorectal cancer risk markers associated with B-vitamin deficiency, insulin resistance and colonic inflammation

Colorectal cancer risk is associated with biochemical markers for B-vitamin deficiency, insulin resistance and colonic inflammation, suggesting that these three conditions are each involved in colon carcinogenesis. We expected that dietary supplements of folic acid, n-3 fatty acids and calcium would reduce the markers and thus possibly cancer risk. We therefore randomised 98 participants, with previous colonic polyps or intramucosal carcinomas, to a combined treatment of supplementary folic acid, fish oil and calcium carbonate, or placebos for 28 days. Blood and faecal samples were obtained prior to and at the conclusion of the intervention and analysed for plasma folate, homocysteine, insulin, free fatty acids, triglycerides and faecal calprotectin. In addition, plasma vitamin B12, thiamin, glucose and C-reactive protein were assessed. Our supplemental strategy modestly affected some of the biomarkers associated with folate metabolism and insulin resistance, but had no effect on those associated with colonic inflammation. This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility and practicality of clinical trials aimed at reducing diet-related biochemical risk markers for colon cancer. We suggest that long-term intervention studies with tumour-related end points should be undertaken when the intervention agents used are found effective in short-term biochemical risk marker trials

The global, regional, and national burden of adult lip, oral, and pharyngeal cancer in 204 countries and territories:A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Importance Lip, oral, and pharyngeal cancers are important contributors to cancer burden worldwide, and a comprehensive evaluation of their burden globally, regionally, and nationally is crucial for effective policy planning.Objective To analyze the total and risk-attributable burden of lip and oral cavity cancer (LOC) and other pharyngeal cancer (OPC) for 204 countries and territories and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) using 2019 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study estimates.Evidence Review The incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to LOC and OPC from 1990 to 2019 were estimated using GBD 2019 methods. The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate the proportion of deaths and DALYs for LOC and OPC attributable to smoking, tobacco, and alcohol consumption in 2019.Findings In 2019, 370 000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 338 000-401 000) cases and 199 000 (95% UI, 181 000-217 000) deaths for LOC and 167 000 (95% UI, 153 000-180 000) cases and 114 000 (95% UI, 103 000-126 000) deaths for OPC were estimated to occur globally, contributing 5.5 million (95% UI, 5.0-6.0 million) and 3.2 million (95% UI, 2.9-3.6 million) DALYs, respectively. From 1990 to 2019, low-middle and low SDI regions consistently showed the highest age-standardized mortality rates due to LOC and OPC, while the high SDI strata exhibited age-standardized incidence rates decreasing for LOC and increasing for OPC. Globally in 2019, smoking had the greatest contribution to risk-attributable OPC deaths for both sexes (55.8% [95% UI, 49.2%-62.0%] of all OPC deaths in male individuals and 17.4% [95% UI, 13.8%-21.2%] of all OPC deaths in female individuals). Smoking and alcohol both contributed to substantial LOC deaths globally among male individuals (42.3% [95% UI, 35.2%-48.6%] and 40.2% [95% UI, 33.3%-46.8%] of all risk-attributable cancer deaths, respectively), while chewing tobacco contributed to the greatest attributable LOC deaths among female individuals (27.6% [95% UI, 21.5%-33.8%]), driven by high risk-attributable burden in South and Southeast Asia.Conclusions and Relevance In this systematic analysis, disparities in LOC and OPC burden existed across the SDI spectrum, and a considerable percentage of burden was attributable to tobacco and alcohol use. These estimates can contribute to an understanding of the distribution and disparities in LOC and OPC burden globally and support cancer control planning efforts