World kidney day 2014: Kidney disease and elderly

It is believed that there is an increasing rate of chronic kidney disease to end-stage kidney failure. Nowadays, there is an international awareness on the importance of chronic kidney disease as well as declining the frequency and impact of renal disease and its associated health problems worldwide (1). Each year, there is a ceremony on the second Thursday of March in many countries around the world (1). While, the term of acute kidney injury (AKI) was suggested to reflect the wide spectrum of classic acute kidney failure, however, AKI

The Relationship of General Health, Hardiness and Spiritual Intelligence Relationship in Iranian Nurses

Objective: Nursing is one of the stressful jobs that affect nurse's well-being. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between spiritual intelligence, hardiness and well-being among Iranian nurses. Methods: Samples of this cross- sectional study selected by Randomized stratified sampling, 125 nurses who have been working in different wards of Bushehr university hospitals. Data were collected using spiritual intelligence, hardiness, well-being and demographic characteristics questionnaires. Correlation, t-test, ANOVA, Tukey and regression analysis were applied. Results: The results revealed a significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and hardiness, spiritual intelligence and well-being, Hardiness and well-being. It also showed that among the demographic characteristics (age, gender, working ward, marital status, job experiences, and education) working ward significantly correlated with spiritual intelligence. Conclusion: Improvement of spiritual intelligence and reinforcement of hardiness could help increase the well-being of nurses

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice about Emergency Contraception among Health Staff in Bushehr State, South of Iran

Emergency Contraception (EC) is used within a few days of unprotected sex to prevent an unintended pregnancy. About one quarter of pregnancies in south of Iran are unintended. EC is important option that women can use after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure for preventing of unplanned pregnancies and adverse maternal and perinatal health outcomes. Health staff have influence on women’s contraceptive behavior and their knowledge and attitudes about EC can affect women’s contraceptive behaviors. Data are lacking about the knowledge, attitude and practice of hormonal EC method among health staff in Bushehr state, south of Iran. A cross-sectional study using self administered questionnaire was conducted. A sample of 170 health staff were surveyed. The mean age of respondents was 30.6±5.1. Overall 6.5% of participants had poor knowledge, 25.2% moderate knowledge, 68.3% good knowledge about EC. Half of participants had positive and half had negative attitude towards the EC method. Midwives and family health workers were more knowledgeable (p<0.05) and more frequently counseled women about EC than general practitioners (GPs) (p<0.001). The most cited reason for EC prescriptions were rupture condom and none use of contraception. Our findings showed despite of majority of health staff had good knowledge about EC, their knowledge about the indications for prescription of EC and its side effects was inadequate. The educational efforts for health staff should be focused more on the specific aspects of EC method. GPs also should be more involved in family planning program

Experimental dataforsynthesisofbi-metalized chitosanparticleforattenuatingofanazodye fromwastewater

In thisdataarticle,weintroducedataacquiredfromnewadsor- bent, bi-metalizedchitosanparticlethatissuccessfullysynthesized and appliedtoremovetheorangeIIdye,anazodye,fromtextile wastewater.Theadsorbentwasmeso-andmacro-porousmaterial with BETsurfaceareaof12.69m2/g andpHzpc 6.6. Thesimulated textile-wastewatercanbesignificantly treatedusingarelatively low quantityoftheadsorbent.Overall,theuseofbi-metalized chitosan particlecanbeconsideredapromisingmethodforelim- inating theazodyefromwastewatereffectively.Accordingly,these data willbeusefulfordecolorizingofazodyesfromtextilewas- tewater

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice about Emergency Contraception among Health Staff in Bushehr State, South of Iran

Emergency Contraception (EC) is used within a few days of unprotected sex to prevent an unintended pregnancy. About one quarter of pregnancies in south of Iran are unintended. EC is important option that women can use after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure for preventing of unplanned pregnancies and adverse maternal and perinatal health outcomes. Health staff have influence on women’s contraceptive behavior and their knowledge and attitudes about EC can affect women’s contraceptive behaviors. Data are lacking about the knowledge, attitude and practice of hormonal EC method among health staff in Bushehr state, south of Iran. A cross-sectional study using self administered questionnaire was conducted. A sample of 170 health staff were surveyed. The mean age of respondents was 30.6±5.1. Overall 6.5% of participants had poor knowledge, 25.2% moderate knowledge, 68.3% good knowledge about EC. Half of participants had positive and half had negative attitude towards the EC method. Midwives and family health workers were more knowledgeable (p<0.05) and more frequently counseled women about EC than general practitioners (GPs) (p<0.001). The most cited reason for EC prescriptions were rupture condom and none use of contraception. Our findings showed despite of majority of health staff had good knowledge about EC, their knowledge about the indications for prescription of EC and its side effects was inadequate. The educational efforts for health staff should be focused more on the specific aspects of EC method. GPs also should be more involved in family planning progra

Investigation of heat stress in workplace for different work groups according to ISO 7243 standard in Mehr Petrochemical Complex, Assaluyeh, Iran

   Heat stress is a significant occupational health and safety for workers in petrochemical industries. Heat stress is a combination of heat load individual and environmental factors impose on workers’ bodies, which in turn, have impacts on workers’ performance, safety, and health. The present paper is carried out to determine the heat stress levels in workplace and to compare it with allowed Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) according to ISO 7243 standard. the present study was carried out in three consecutive weeks in Mehr Petrochemical Complex in South Pars Special Economic Zone in Assaluyeh, 270Km southeast of Bushehr in spring of 2011. The study was carried out on workers in different parts including workers in packaging, mechanics, welding, and store keeping sections.  Environmental parameters of dry temperature, natural wet temperature, glowing temperature, and relative humidity were measured to calculate an index for Wet Bulb Globe Temperature according to ISO7243 standard, and metabolism rate was estimated according to ISO 8996 standard. Metabolism level for workers in two groups of mechanics and welding sections according to ISO 8996 standard was 95W/m2, and for workers of packaging and store keeping sections calculated as 75W/m2. Based on ISO 8996, work load for all four sections was light. The means of weather parameters such as dry temperature, natural wet temperature, glowing temperature, and relative humidity were statistically significant for all four sections. It was also indicated that the highest level of WBGT were obtained for workers in mechanics (33.26±0.21), packaging (32.02±0.2), welding (31.37±0.2), and the lowest level was estimated for store keeping workers (27.4±0.22), with changes being statistically significant. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: findings of the present study indicated significant changes between different groups in measured parameters and calculated indices, which confirm results of previous body of research. Workers in three groups of mechanics, packaging, and welding are exposed to heat stress, and among these three, mechanics workers’ exposure to heat stress is higher, but WBGT index in store keeping work place is lower than allowed level. Thus, they have been experiencing favourable work atmosphere.

Marriage related suicide fatality rates

Objective: The present study aimed at estimating the case fatality rates of suicide acts in different marital status subgroups and to find interrelation with a population living in Bushehr province along the coastal region of the Persian Gulf coast in southwest of Iran. Method: In this analytical and observational study, suicidal data were gathered in 5 successive years (2008–2012) in the population of Bushehr. Data were extracted from suicide registration forms provided by the Psychiatric Health Unit of Ministry of Health. Questions mainly focused on demographic characteristics, including age, sex, literacy, residency, marital status, birth rank, the number of previous suicide attempts, and probable reasons of suicide, such as family conflicts or/and psychiatric complications. Fatality rates in different subgroups (male/female; married/unmarried; etc.) were compared and odds ratios were computed. The main limitation of this study was the lack of a specific grouping for those who cohabited together (Those who live together and have a sexual relationship without being married). The logistic regression model was used in data analysis. Results: Case mortality rates of suicides were found to be 3.5% for both sexes, 5.2% in males and 2.7% in females. However, among the single population, either divorced or widowed, the probability of death due to suicide was 3.5 times higher (95% CI: 1.5–2.9) as compared to the unmarried. Age as a confounding factor in fatality rates made a significant difference between married and unmarried people, and differences disappeared after adjusting for age. However, fatality rate was still higher in the widowed/divorced group compared to other groups even after adjusting for age. Conclusion: Fatality rate was higher in married people compared to the unmarried, however, after adjusting for age as a determinant factor, no significant difference was observed between the 2 groups. The highest death rate belonged to the age-specific widowed/divorced individuals as compared to all other marital status subgroups

The Study of Errors in Paragraph Writing on Iranian EFL Students

The aim of the paper is to examinetypes of errors of paragraph writing of Iranian learners of English at under-graduate level in Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and Health Services. The data for this study were 90 first year medical students at under-graduate level in Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and Health Services as foreign language learners participated in this research. The outcome of the study shows that the total number of errors committed by the learners was 290. Based on the classification, it was found that the total number of errors committed by the students was 209 in pre-test of the paragraph writing and in the post-test of the paragraph writing was 81. The result of the study showeda significant difference between pre-test and post-test in paragraph writing of Iranian EFL students

Investigating the Knowledge and Practice of Health Care Providers on Health Literacy and Applying Related Strategies in Relation to Referrals to Comprehensive Health Care Centers in Bushehr City, Iran

Background: Lack of attention to health literacy by health professionals in relation to clients affects the quality and success of health services. The present study aimed to investigate the knowledge and practice of health care providers in Bushehr City, Iran, regarding health literacy and applying its related strategies in the process of communication with patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study done on 91 health care careers in Bushehr. The samples were entered using a census method, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge and practice of healthcare providers about health literacy and applying related strategies in communication and education to clients. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS software. Findings: The level of knowledge of health care providers was weak about health literacy and its related strategies, and the status of performance and application of health literacy strategies in the process of communication and education to the clients was generally moderate. Health care providers with lower age (P = 0.022), less work experience (P = 0.009), contracted employment status (P = 0.008), and higher education level (P = 0.026) had better knowledge about the health literacy. Health care providers with higher levels of knowledge about health literacy strategies also had better performance in using these strategies in practice (P = 0.017). Conclusion: Health care providers' knowledge about health literacy is weak, and there is moderate performance in applying health literacy strategies in the process of communication and education to the clients. Since health care providers who have a better understanding of health literacy strategies, use health literacy strategies more than others do; therefore, training courses is necessary to empower health care providers with the concept of health literacy and its effective role in patient education

The effect of education in nurse’s moral sensitivity

Nursing is a moral effort and moral sensitivity is essential as the first step in moral decision-making process. Teaching moral sensitivity is considered as one of the most important methods to reinforce moral decision making of nurses, thus the aim of this research was to examine the effect of education in nurses moral sensitivity. The current study is a controlled clinical trial study which was done in an interventional way. All of the working nurses of Persian Gulf Martyrdom Hospital in Bushehr city in 1396 were the sampling population of this study. 68 nurses were participated in this research as the samples. They were selected by available sampling method and then were assigned in control and experiment groups randomly. The Lutzen nurses' moral sensitivity questionnaire (MSQ) was used in this study tool. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire is confirmed. Both experiment and control groups did the pre-test. An eight hour training session was held for the experiment group. Both groups did the post-test. The data were coded and analyzed by SPSS software edition 19. Descriptive indicators, T-test, chi-square, and paired sample T-test was used to analyze the data. The mean score of nurses' moral sensitivity, before intervention, was not significant statistically for both groups (P=0.570) and both groups were similar. The comparison of moral sensitivity score mean after intervention with independent T-test showed that the score mean of nurses' moral sensitivity is significantly different in experiment and control groups after intervention (P<.001). The results of this study showed that transferring knowledge and education improves the nurses' moral sensitivity and therefore the inclusion of this material in nursing curriculums as an educational tool can be a step toward facilitating moral sensitivity training to nurses