Comparative Evaluation of Ultraviolet and Visible Light Transmittance through Prescriptive Ophthalmic Minus Lenses

Background: Wearing spectacles is the most common approach in correcting the refractive errors worldwide. Due to harmful effects of overexposure to solar ultraviolet radiations, the usage of multi-layer coatings in ophthalmic lenses has recently been increased. These lenses can reduce the reflections and hence increase the transmission of visible light; they can also decrease the transmission of ultraviolet rays. This study aims to compare the transmission of ultraviolet (A and B) and visible rays through coated and uncoated prescriptive ophthalmic plastic lenses.Materials and Methods: In this study, 39 minus non-photochromic multi-coated white plastic single-vision lenses; 9 similar lenses but without any coatings were assessed by spectral transmittancemeter for evaluation of the transmission of visible and ultraviolet rays.Results: The transmission of visible light was 97.9%±1.07% for coated lenses and 93.5%±0.54% for lenses without coating. Ultraviolet-A transmission was 12.15%±8.02% for coated lenses compared to 66.27%±23.92% in lenses without coating. The transmission of ultraviolet-B rays was 1.21%±0.4% and 23.0%±15.97% for lenses with and without coatings, respectively.Conclusion: The transmission of visible light was significantly higher in multi-coated lenses compared to uncoated samples; whereas the transmissions of ultraviolet rays in multi-coated lenses were significantly lower than uncoated ones. Therefore, it is recommended that, except for particular cases, prescribed lenses be equipped with this multi-layer coating

The factors affecting job motivation of university employees and its relationship with health factors at workplace

Background: Job motivation of workforce is one of the most important issues that organizations face to perform their tasks and duties well and with confidence and maintain their effectiveness. Methods: The present study was applied research conducted by using a combination of library studies and Delphi technique. The sample size of the present study was 332 employees of Islamic Azad University of Khuzestan. They were selected using Cochran's formula. Two researcher-made questionnaires including job motivation questionnaire with 54 questions and health factors questionnaire with 30 questions were used to collect the data. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS-22, Lisrel, and Amos-22 Software. Results: The variable of factors related to job motivation consisted of 15 components. The variable of job motivation in general found that according to the scoring scale of Abbas Bazargan, this variable is at more than satisfactory level. The variable of health factors was at more than satisfactory level. There was significant association between job motivation with health factors (P<0.001). Relationship between job motivation and health factors showed that direct and significant relationship between job motivation with health factors. The value of path coefficient of impact of health factors on job motivation showed that the relationship between job motivation and health factors is significant. Conclusion: Job motivation is a multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be measured directly by one variable. One of the important tasks of organizations is finding the ways to create and strengthen motivation. Managers should consider motivating employees as one of the most important tasks

Factors related to pedestrians mortality following road traffic accidents in Tehran and Alborz Provinces, Iran

Background and aims: This study aimed to investigate the deaths and injuries following pedestrian traffic accidents and factors associated with death of pedestrian in Tehran and Alborz provinces. Methods: In this cross-sectional study all traffic accidents related to pedestrians in Tehran and Alborz provinces reported from March 21, 2013 to March 21, 2014 by the traffic police were studied. The Database related to death of Legal Medicine Organization was used in order to determine the exact number of deaths. The standard population of World Health Organization was used in order to calculate the age-standardized incidence rate. We used Chi-square test, T-test and logistic regression to extract statistically significant associations. P-value under 0.05 was considered significant. Result: The age-standardized mortality and injury rate were respectively, 6.1 and 65.1 per 100,000 populations. The pedestrian’s road traffic (PRT) mortality and injury rates in men were 3 and 1.5 times more than women respectively. Statistically significant relationships were observed between the pedestrian’s age, the direct cause in the accident, classification of road, month of occurrence, days of week, type of vehicle, accident location and pedestrian action with the death of pedestrians. Conclusion: Given that the highest incidence rate of death was observed in the age group over 65 years old, it is necessary to pay special attention to the physiologic characteristics of this age group by predicting safety plans and also to provide more secure conditions for this high risk group in accident-prone road sections

How Much of Hazardous Blue Light is Transmitted By Spectacle Lenses?

This is a Letter to the Editor and does not have an abstract

Comparative Evaluation of Spectral Transmittance of Some Welding Glasses with ANSI Z87.1

Background: Welding emits harmful rays to the eyes. We evaluate and compare the UV, blue light and IR transmittance characteristics of some currently available welding safety protectors with ANSI Z87.1 criteria.Materials and Methods: Three type of welding safety protectors (three of each type) have been evaluated for spectral transmittance. One-sample T-test was performed to establish is there a statistically significant difference between the standard criteria and UV, blue and IR regions for the welding protectors (α=0.05).Results: In ultraviolet (UV) (far and near) region, two types of the tested protectors (P1, P2) transmitted lower than the maximum allowable value specified in the standard (P<0.001). In infrared (IR) spectrum only one type (P3) transmitted lower than the maximum allowable value specified in the standard (P<0.001). In blue light region, all of the tested protectors transmitted lower than the maximum allowable value specified in the standard (P<0.001).Conclusion: Although all of the tested glasses could meet some parts of the criteria, but none of them could meet the complete spectral transmittance requirements of ANSI Z87.1

A clinical prediction model for predicting the surgical site infection after an open reduction and internal fixation procedure considering the NHSN/SIR risk model: a multicenter case–control study

IntroductionSurgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common surgical-related complications worldwide, particularly in developing countries. SSI is responsible for mortality, long hospitalization period, and a high economic burden.MethodThis hospital-based case–control study was conducted in six educational hospitals in Tehran, Iran. A total of 244 patients at the age of 18–85 years who had undergone open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) surgery were included in this study. Among the 244 patients, 122 patients who developed SSIs were selected to be compared with 122 non-infected patients used as controls. At the second stage, all patients (n = 350) who underwent ORIF surgery in a hospital were selected for an estimation of the standardized infection ratio (SIR). A logistic regression model was used for predicting the most important factors associated with the occurrence of SSIs. Finally, the performance of the ORIF prediction model was evaluated using discrimination and calibration indices. Data were analyzed using R.3.6.2 and STATA.14 software.ResultsKlebsiella (14.75%) was the most frequently detected bacterium in SSIs following ORIF surgery. The results revealed that the most important factors associated with SSI following an ORIF procedure were found to be elder age, elective surgery, prolonged operation time, American Society of Anesthesiologists score of ≥2, class 3 and 4 wound, and preoperative blood glucose levels of >200 mg/dl; while preoperative higher hemoglobin level (g/dl) was found to be a protective factor. The evidence for the interaction effect between age and gender, body mass index and gender, and age and elective surgery were also observed. After assessing the internal validity of the model, the overall performance of the models was found to be good with an area under the curve of 95%. The SIR of SSI for ORIF surgery in the selected hospital was 0.66 among the patients aged 18–85 years old.ConclusionNew risk prediction models can help in detecting high-risk patients and monitoring the infection rate in hospitals based on their infection prevention and control programs. Physicians using prediction models can identify high-risk patients with these factors prior to ORIF procedure

Investigating the Mediatory Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in the Relationship between Self-Perception, Peer Support, and Subjective Well-Being in Visually Impaired Teenagers

Background: Subjective well-being is considered as one of the most important measures for the health of a society, and it refers to emotional improvement to be able to enjoy life. The main objective of the current study was to investigate the mediatory role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between self-perception, peer support, and subjective well-being in visually impaired teenagers. Methods: The study was a descriptive correlation performed by path analysis. The statistical population included all female students with visual impairment in Kermanshah city and 176 of which were selected as the sample of the study using convenience sampling. The research instruments included Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scales (PWB), the Self-Concept Scale, the Peer Support Questionnaire, and Self-Efficacy Beliefs Questionnaire. The proposed model was evaluated using path analysis with AMOS software. Results: The results showed that all the direct paths, except for the path from self-perception to subjective well-being, were significant (P= 0.0001). Moreover, the indirect paths through self-efficacy beliefs to subjective well-being were also significant (P= 0.0001). Conclusions: According to the results of the study, the proposed model had a good fit, and is an important step in identifying the factors affecting the subjective well-being of adolescents with visual impairment. Keywords: Visual impairment, Subjective well-being, Self-perception, Peer support, Self-efficacy beliefs

Investigating the Mediatory Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in the Relationship between Self-Perception, Peer Support, and Subjective Well-Being in Visually Impaired Teenagers

Background: Subjective well-being is considered as one of the most important measures for the health of a society, and it refers to emotional improvement to be able to enjoy life. The main objective of the current study was to investigate the mediatory role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between self-perception, peer support, and subjective well-being in visually impaired teenagers. Methods: The study was a descriptive correlation performed by path analysis. The statistical population included all female students with visual impairment in Kermanshah city and 176 of which were selected as the sample of the study using convenience sampling. The research instruments included Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scales (PWB), the Self-Concept Scale, the Peer Support Questionnaire, and Self-Efficacy Beliefs Questionnaire. The proposed model was evaluated using path analysis with AMOS software. Results: The results showed that all the direct paths, except for the path from self-perception to subjective well-being, were significant (P= 0.0001). Moreover, the indirect paths through self-efficacy beliefs to subjective well-being were also significant (P= 0.0001). Conclusions: According to the results of the study, the proposed model had a good fit, and is an important step in identifying the factors affecting the subjective well-being of adolescents with visual impairment. Keywords: Visual impairment, Subjective well-being, Self-perception, Peer support, Self-efficacy beliefs