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Background: The prevalence of substance abuse (SA) among youth has increased in recent years. However, limited data exist about SA among medical sciences students. Therefore, this study assessed SA prevalence and contributing factors among medical sciences students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019. Participants were 238 medical sciences students randomly selected from Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. The data collection instrument was the SA prevalence assessment questionnaire developed by the Mental Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Iran. Data were analyzed using the SPSS (v. 22.0) software. Findings: The most commonly abused substances were waterpipe tobacco (31.9%), cigarettes (20.2%), and alcoholic beverages (10.5%). Most participants with a history of SA had started SA before entering university. The prevalence rates of waterpipe tobacco smoking, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption were 9.2%, 8.8%, and 4.2% in the past month and 16.4%, 18.1%, and 7.6% in the past year, respectively. The prevalence of SA among dormitory students and students with lower grade point averages was significantly higher than among non-dormitory students and students with higher grade point averages. Conclusion: The onset age of SA was mainly before eighteen years, so strategies are needed to reduce SA in secondary schools. Moreover, strategies are needed to prevent and reduce SA at universities, particularly among dormitory students and students with lower grade point averages. University authorities should use effective educational and counseling programs to prevent student SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Considering the importance of underground water sources, continuous evaluation of their quality should be considered to prevent chemical pollution. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the changes in the chemical quality of water in the Qanats (aqueducts) and wells of Ardestan Plain during the years 1995 to 2019. Methods: This research was conducted retrospectively in 2021 based on the data collected by Ardestan Department of Natural Resources during the period of 1995-2019. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 2016 and compared to Iranian drinking water quality standards. Results: Data showed that Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and the Total Hardness of well water were increased 367.3, 168.8 respectively. These parameters were increased by 188.1 and 90 mg L-1 for Qanat water, respectively. And other water quality parameters were increased including magnesium, calcium, sulfate, bicarbonate, chloride and Electrical Conductivity (EC). The trend of TDS and TH showed that in the all of the well water exceeded from the drinking water standard especially in 2019. Conclusion: Paying attention to the process of chemical changes of water in the Ardestan plain reminds us that in the future, water sources will be at risk of damage, especially in the low-altitude parts of the plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Landfill leachate contains many pollutants including chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, organic matter, minerals, and toxins. Given the importance of COD removal from landfill leachate, this study was conducted to evaluate and compare different methods used for the removal of COD from leachate. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted as a narrative review using keywords of leachate, COD, landfill in related journals issued in scientific databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, SID, and Google Scholar. We reviewed different aspects of COD removal from leachate to find better options in this respect. Results: The highest rate of COD removal was observed for batch reactor methods of anaerobic and aerobic granular activated carbon and electro Fenton by 98.4% COD removal, and the lowest one was 22.7% for the electro-Fenton method. The most commonly used methods for removing COD from solidwaste leachate have been physical and chemical methods. Conclusion: This study showed that a wide range method has been used to remove COD from leachate. It seems that combined methods are more effective to reduce the content of leachate COD. Besides, methods such as Fenton and absorption are more preferable because of simple application and low energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Paying attention to the needs of patients with psychiatric disorders has recently come into focus. Failure to meet the needs of patients can affect their quality of life. This study aimed to determine the main areas of the needs of patients with severe psychiatric disorders and evaluate their relationship with the quality of life., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 174 patients with severe mental illness who were referred to Iran Psychiatric Hospital for hospitalization or outpatient treatment were enrolled in this study (68 with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, 106 with bipolar disorder type 1). A qualified psychiatry resident conducted interviews with each patient to determine their needs using the Camberwell Assessment of Need Short Appraisal Schedule (CANSAS) and the severity of their illness using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and Young Mania Rating Scale. A checklist for demographic data and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire was completed by patients. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Since the number of needs distribution was not normal, we used the Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and chi-square tests for qualitative variables., Results: The total number of patient needs was 9 (mean = 9.1, SD = 3.7). The most unmet needs were intimate relationships (69.5%), sexual expression (65.5%), and information on condition and treatment (51.1%). Unmet needs showed a negative correlation with the quality of life ( P < 0.001) and a positive correlation with the severity of depression ( P = 0.045), negative symptoms ( P = 0.001), and general psychopathology ( P < 0.001)., Conclusion: A higher number of unmet needs of severe psychiatric patients is associated with lower quality of life and more severe disorders., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 Iran University of Medical Sciences.)

Borrelia burgdorferi is a tick-borne bacterium responsible for approximately 300,000 annual cases of Lyme disease (LD) in the United States, with increasing incidences in other parts of the world. The debilitating nature of LD is mainly attributed to the ability of B. burgdorferi to persist in patients for many years despite strong anti- Borrelia antibody responses. Antimicrobial treatment of persistent infection is challenging. Similar to infection of humans, B. burgdorferi establishes long-term infection in various experimental animal models except for New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits, which clear the spirochete within 4 to 12 weeks. LD spirochetes have a highly evolved antigenic variation vls system, on the lp28-1 plasmid, where gene conversion results in surface expression of the antigenically variable VlsE protein. VlsE is required for B. burgdorferi to establish persistent infection by continually evading otherwise potent antibodies. Since the clearance of B. burgdorferi is mediated by humoral immunity in NZW rabbits, the previously reported results that LD spirochetes lose lp28-1 during rabbit infection could potentially explain the failure of B. burgdorferi to persist. However, the present study unequivocally disproves that previous finding by demonstrating that LD spirochetes retain the vls system. However, despite the vls system being fully functional, the spirochete fails to evade anti- Borrelia antibodies of NZW rabbits. In addition to being protective against homologous and heterologous challenges, the rabbit antibodies significantly ameliorate LD-induced arthritis in persistently infected mice. Overall, the current data indicate that NZW rabbits develop a protective antibody repertoire, whose specificities, once defined, will identify potential candidates for a much-anticipated LD vaccine., (Copyright © 2019 American Society for Microbiology.)