Knowledge of medical interns and radiology residents, students, and staff about the radiation dose received by patients in different imaging methods

Background and purpose: Knowledge on the risks of radiation during diagnostic imaging is necessary to protect patients against the hazards of ionizing radiation. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge of interns, radiology residents, radiology students, and staff about radiation doses received by patients in radiological examinations. Materials and methods: During a cross-sectional study, 163 individuals (interns, radiology residents, students, and staff in Kashan University of Medical Sciences) were asked to identify the average dose of radiation received by patients. A researcher-made questionnaire was administered. Average of correct answers in the groups was analyzed using the SPSS 16 software. The scores above 75%, 75-50%, 50-25%, and below 25% were considered as very good, good, moderate, and poor levels of knowledge, respectively. Results: The mean scores for the level of knowledge about the dose received by patients were 57.9±2.45% and 52.4±2.65% in the staff and radiology students, while it was 35.35±-1.65% and 41.35±6% in interns and residents, respectively. Conclusion: In this study most of the radiology staff and students had good levels of knowledge about the radiation dose received by patients during diagnostic radiological methods. Therefore, revising curricula with more emphasis on radiation protection is recommended for medical interns and residents. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Data on the environmental exposure to lead in Iran

The data was obtained to present the environmental and occupational exposure to lead in Iranian populations based on the published articles. To acquire the data, online resources including Google Scholar, Magiran, SID, Iranmedex, PubMed, and Science Direct were searched and 104 articles were found out of which 70 that focused on the level of lead in blood, urine, milk, and hair of different Iranian populations were selected. Since the results of the studies were not homogenous, it was not possible to carry out a meta-analysis. The average blood lead level (BLL) among workers, ordinary people, patients with specific diseases, addicts, and pregnant women, women in labor, infants, and children are presented in this article. The average BLL was compared to the standards. © 2018 The Author

System Dynamics Model For Hospital Waste Characterisation and Generation in Developing Countries.

Waste management policy makers always face the problem of how to predict the future amount and composition of medical solid waste, which in turn will help determine the most appropriate treatment, recycling and disposal strategy. An accurate prediction can assist in both the planning and design of medical solid waste management systems. Insufficient budget and unavailable management capacity are the main reasons for the scarcity of medical solid waste quantities and components historical records, which are so important in long-term system planning and short-term expansion programs. This paper presents a new technique, using system dynamics modelling, to predict generated medical solid waste in a developing urban area, based on a set of limited samples from Jenin District hospitals, Palestine. The findings of the model present the trend of medical solid waste generation together with its different components and indicate that a new forecasting approach may cover a variety of possible causative models and track inevitable uncertainties when traditional statistical least-squared regression methods are unable to handle such issues

Studying the Environmental Health Status and Consumption of Baking Soda in Military and Urban Lavash Bakeries of Tehran in 2012

Background and purpose:Consumption of baking soda, as a primary material for preparation of bread dough, has been banned due to its health complications in Iran. So bread production in our country faced difficulties and one part of them is related to health issues which are bread production. Also, in some cases, baking soda is used in the bread production. This study was done to study the environmental health status and consumption of baking soda in the military and urban Lavash bakeries of Tehran in 2012. Materials and methods:This is a descriptive comparative study done on Lavash bread production of 14 military bakeries and 14 corresponding urban bakeries near them. PH in the samples was tested based on Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran No. 2628. To check the status of environmental health and personal hygiene of bakeries, the check list of Cereal Research Center was used. Results:In terms of environmental health status,28.6% military bakeries and7.1% urban bakeries were at good level. In terms of personal hygiene, all bakeries were in the poor category. Also,42.9% of military Lavash bakeries and 14.3% of urban Lavash bakeries used baking soda in their bread production. Conclusion:Environment health and personal hygiene status in military bakeries are better than the urban bakeries however, hygiene status was not desirable in military bakeries. Also, baking soda consumption in military bakeries was more common than the urban bakeries. According to the results of this study, control of health status and avoiding baking soda consumption in the bakeries are necessary