The Effect of Iranian Evaporative Cold Vest on Physiological Indices in Hot and Dry Climate in a Climatic Chamber

Background: Heat stress is a threat for health and safety in workplaces. The aim of this study was to examine the cooling ability of the Iranian evaporative vest in hot and dry conditions in a climatic chamber. Method: This interventional study was conducted on 12 male students in 2013. Heat strain score index, skin temperature, oral temperature and heartbeat in two phases of with and without wearing cold vest were measured in two intensity different activities on a treadmill in a climatic chamber (mean temperature 38.8ºC, relative humidity 32.9% and WBGT 29.9ºC). Data were analyzed using t-test and repeated measures test. Results: In two trials with and without wearing the evaporative cooling vest, the skin mean temperature differed significantly but heat strain score, heartbeat rate and oral temperature in both activities did not show a significant difference. Conclusion: The results showed that Iranian evaporative cooling vest is effective in reducing skin temperature, in light and moderate activities, in hot and dry conditions; but it has a little effect on oral temperature, heart rate and heat strain score index

Awareness of Ergonomics and its Relationship with the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders: a study on physiotherapists in Shiraz, Iran

Background: Ergonomics is a science dealing with human's physical and mental abilities and limitations, and inattention to this science leads to physical injuries among the staff and consequently affects the efficiency and productivity of the organisations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the awareness of Shiraz physiotherapists about ergonomics and its relation with the prevalence of their musculoskeletal disorders. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2015 on all physiotherapists working in Shiraz hospitals. Data were collected through a questionnaire about the awareness of ergonomics and analyzed through SPSS22 software package. Results: Mean age and work experience of the physiotherapists were respectively 34.06±8.5 and 9.38±7.45 years. Mean awareness of subjects about ergonomics principles, work conditions and the rate of occupational injuries and work problems were respectively 3.15 ± 0.5, 2.70 ± 0.52 and 1.80 ± 0.82 from 5. There was a significant relationship between awareness of ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders (P=0.04). Increase in awareness of ergonomics was associated with decrease of the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (P=0.04, CI 95% =0.086-0.995, OR=0.259). Conclusion: The results show that increased awareness of ergonomics leads to musculoskeletal disorders reduction. Therefore, compiled educational programs can have a significant impact on learning about right body postures during work and can consequently reduce musculoskeletal disorders and occupational injuries and problems

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

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Evaluation of Hearing Loss and Changes in Blood Pressure of Welders in a 4 Year Period

Improvements in science and technology and the use of modern machinery in manufacture have led to increase in the number of workers exposed to hazardous agents including noise. This study evaluated the effects of occupational noise on hearing loss and blood pressure in welders after 4 years.In this cohort study, all of the welders working at one of Neyshabur's water heater producing factories were studied. A questionnaire including demographic data, history of diseases and certain drug use was completed for each worker. Moreover the workers audiometry results and blood pressure measurements from 4 years ago were compared with recent results. Data analysis was performed using SPSS18software.The average age of the welders was of 35.6 ± 6.25 and the mean years of employment was 7.66 ± 2.18 years. The equivalent noise exposure of workers on one business day was 97.8 dB and varied between 90-110 dB. After 4 years, there was a significant increase in hearing loss (6.04 dB) in the right ear of workers at 8000 Hz (p=0.0001) and in the left ear at 1000 (1.77 dB)(p=0.04), 4000 (2.29 dB)(p=0.02)and 8000 Hz (4.89 dB)(p=0.0001). During this time blood pressure also increased but was not significant. There was no significant relation between age, years of employment, smoking and education with individual hearing loss during these four years. Many neglected job groups such as welders are prone to hearing loss and possibly chronic increases in blood pressure due to noise exposure in their workplace and should use protective hearing equipment

The analysis of occupational accidents in one of the production and utilization sturgeon factories in Bandar Turkaman in 2009

Introduction & Aims: Job accidents impose many economic and social problems on the society. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of accidents and their relation to epidemiologic factors in the production and exploitation factory of sturgeon in the port of Bandar Turkaman in 2009.Methods: This descriptive study used statistical information and accidents report forms in the factory. A two-part checklist was designed. The former part contained the injured person’s profile such as age, sex, education, work experience and marital status, and the latter part contained details related to the accident itselfsuch as the causes, consequences, time and location of the accident. Data were analyzed with the software Excel.Results: The survey results showed that most accident victims (54%) were aged between 50-45 years. The most frequent accidents was happened at 10 a.m. September with a 12.6 percent and January and February, each with 11.7 percent, had the highest frequency of accidents among the months of the year. The most injured organ was the hand with the percent of 79, and as for the type of accidents, cutting (68%) had the highest frequency.Conclusion: Studies showed that many accidents occur in this factory but some job accidents are not recorded because the system for reporting and recording accidents in detail does not exist. It is recommended that all accidents be recorded in accordance with scientific methods and standards recommended by the International Labour Organization classification.*Corresponding Author: Rahimi Moghadam Somayeh, MSc Occupational Health, Occupational Health Department, Nishabur University of Medical Sciences, Nishabur , Iran

The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its contributing factors in farmers of Zarand in 2010-2011

Background & objective: Farmers are exposed to numerous risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders, such as awkward postures, highly repetitive movements and carrying heavy loads. The prevalence of these symptoms is therefore predicted to be significant in this group of workers. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among farmers in Zarand county in Iran. Methods: The present descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 farmers in Zarand. Participants were selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected by community health workers at health houses of the region using the Nordic Questionnaire. The data obtained were then analyzed in SPSS-18. Results: A total of 98% of the farmers were male, 98.9% were married and 62.9% had a normal BMI. The highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was perceived in the knees (58.3) and the lowest in the elbows (8.19) over the last 12 months. The results of statistical tests showed a significant relationship between age and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in all the 9 body parts examined. A significant relationship also existed between the frequency of these disorders and variables including weight and height. Work experience and good exercise habits reduced the likelihood of developing these disorders. Conclusion: The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was significant among the farmers examined. Performing ergonomic interventions aimed at modifying body posture at work, designing useful tools and performing exercises at set intervals are measures that should be taken to help farmers keep healthy

Discrimination of Paederus fuscipes and Paederus littoralis by mtDNA-COI PCR-RFLP

Background: Linear dermatitis is endemic in Iran where most cases occur in the Caspian Sea coast and Fars prov­ince. The disease is caused by beetles of the genus Paederus which are active from early spring to beginning of au­tumn although its incidence rises from May to August. The classic taxonomy of Paederus spp. is based on the male genitalia that is very complex and needs expertise. In this study, we report a DNA-based method to discriminate Paederus fuscipes and Paederus littoralis (=syn: P. lenkoranus, P. ilsae). Methods: Type specimens were collected from north and south of Iran. Molecular typing of the species was per­formed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-am­plified fragments of mtDNA-COI. Results: Sequence analyses of the data obtained in this study showed significant DNA polymorphisms. There were 89 substitutions between COI sequences of the two species. The mtDNA-COI fragment comprises several useful species-specific restriction sites comprising HaeIII that could result in distinctively different species-specific PCR–RFLP profiles. The HaeIII enzyme cuts the 872 bp PCR amplicon of P. littoralis into 737 and 100 bp and two small nonvisible bands whereas it does not cut P. fuscipes amplicon into fragments. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that molecular typing is useful method and allows one to differentiate between two species and is recommended for discrimination of other Paederus species, which morphologically are indistin­guishable or very difficult to be distinguished