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Background: Adolescence is a unique stage of life accompanied by physiological and psychological modifications, along with stress, confusion, and depression., Materials and Methods: The present descriptive-analytical cross-sectional research was done on 267 male adolescents who studied at high schools in Zanjan, Iran. Demographic characteristics questionnaires, a 48-item food frequency questionnaire, a short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to collect data., Results: The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of age, weight, height, and sitting time was 15.94 ± 0.91 years, 68.53 ± 15.28 kg, 1.75 ± 0.06 m, and 449.25 ± 322.06 min, respectively. The study results showed that students with poor sleep quality showed a higher rate of depression than those with good sleep quality in the high and low physical activity groups (p < 0.05). The stress, depression, and anxiety scores significantly correlated with sleep quality in the physical activity groups (p < 0.05). The structural equation model analysis results showed that mental health directly affected sleep quality; this association was significant in the low physical activity group., Conclusion: We found that sleep quality was independently related to mental health in young Iranian men. However, dietary intake was not a significant predictor of mental health or sleep quality. More studies are required to evaluate the association between dietary intake and sleep quality in adults., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Human activities usually have some contamination as effluents from chemical industries and radionuclides from nuclear reactors. For assessing the probable radioactive contamination in vicinity of Tehran Research Reactor, The gross alpha and beta radioactivity concentrations in soil, pine and cedar leaves and some selected fruits (fig, apple, berry and pomegranate) were investigated using an alpha/beta spectrometer during 2021-2022. Also, the concentrations of artificial and natural radionuclides in samples were investigated by the method of gamma spectroscopy. The gross alpha activity concentrations in soil, pine and cedar leaves and some selected fruits samples are from 0.05 to 0.35 Bq/gr and 0.07-0.31 Bq/gr and 0.04-0.18 Bq/gr, respectively. The gross beta activity concentrations in soil, pine and cedar leaves and some selected fruit samples are from 0.73 to 4.25 Bq/gr and 0.21-3.97 Bq/gr and 1.01-2.71 Bq/gr, respectively. Average activities concentration of natural radionuclide 232 Th, 238 U and 40 K in soil, pine and cedar leaves and some selected fruits are 31.89-16.23-582.73 Bq/kg and 1.84-0.99-84.60 Bq/kg and 1.98-1.09-72.08 Bq/kg respectively. From artificial radionuclides, just 137 Cs is recognized in soil sample and the range of 137 Cs concentration in surface soils was observed to vary in the range 0.85-2.21 (Bq/kg). The result showed that the Tehran Research Reactor activities not have increased the environmental radioactivity and radiation level in the area., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most prevalent cause of ovulatory infertility and endocrine abnormalities in reproductive-age women. Although the MIND diet has been introduced to improve brain function, evidence shows that the MIND diet is rich in beneficial food groups that can have a preventive effect on other metabolic disorders. The present study was conducted to investigate the association between adherence to the MIND diet and PCOS., Methods: This age and BMI frequency-matched case-control study was conducted on 216 women between January 2018 and March 2019 in Yazd, Iran. PCOS was diagnosed based on Rotterdam criteria. Participants were selected by convenience sampling method. The validated 178-item food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the usual dietary intake. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between the MIND diet and PCOS., Results: The findings of the present study showed a significant inverse association between adherence to the MIND diet and PCOS in the crude model (OR for T3 vs. T1: 0.12 (95% CI: 0.05-0.25), P-value < 0.001) and multivariable-adjusted model including energy intake, age, BMI, waist circumference, marital status, pregnancy history, drug use history, education and physical activity (OR for T3 vs. T1 = 0.08 (95% CI: 0.03-0.19), P-value < 0.001). Adherence to the MIND diet had a protective effect of 92%., Conclusion: Although the results of the present study showed that higher adherence to the MIND diet is associated with a lower risk of PCOS, more studies are needed to confirm these findings in the future., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Hemodialysis is a conservative treatment for end-stage renal disease. It has various complications which negatively affect quality of life (QOL). This study aimed to examine the relationship between fatigue, pruritus, and thirst distress (TD) with QOL of patients receiving hemodialysis, while also considering the mediating role of treatment adherence (TA). This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2023 on 411 patients receiving hemodialysis. Participants were consecutively recruited from several dialysis centers in Iran. Data were collected using a demographic information form, the Fatigue Assessment Scale, the Thirst Distress Scale, the Pruritus Severity Scale, the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey, and the modified version of the Greek Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire for Hemodialysis Patients. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The structural model and hypothesis testing results showed that all hypotheses were supported in this study. QOL had a significant inverse association with fatigue, pruritus, and TD and a significant positive association with TA. TA partially mediated the association of QOL with fatigue, pruritus, and TD, denoting that it helped counteract the negative association of these complications on QOL. This model explained 68.5% of the total variance of QOL. Fatigue, pruritus, and TD have a negative association with QOL among patients receiving hemodialysis, while TA reduces these negative associations. Therefore, TA is greatly important to manage the associations of these complications and improve patient outcomes. Healthcare providers need to assign high priority to TA improvement among these patients to reduce their fatigue, pruritus, and TD and improve their QOL. Further studies are necessary to determine the most effective strategies for improving TA and reducing the burden of complications in this patient population., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Building envelopes have a critical role in the sustainability of the construction sector. The goals of the current research are assessing the environmental impacts of typical exterior wall assemblies and presenting the best Iranian market option through taking account of both embodied and operational energy. Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS) is used to determine the operating loads of each wall. Simapro, a life cycle assessment software, is applied for managing data on environmental impacts. The derived results demonstrate that human health is the most severe damage category for all the analyzed walls. Also, the end-of-life stage's environmental impact is insignificant compared to the production and use stages. Reducing carbon emissions has the highest priority, such that replacing 1 m 2 of masonry brick wall (the worst option) with prefabricated extruded polystyrene (XPS) drywall (the best option) can result in saving 1257.85 kgCO 2 eq. The operational phase of the studied walls has a wide range of environmental impacts. Prefabricated Knauf drywall as well as prefabricated XPS drywall consumes less energy for the operating phase mainly due to providing sufficient quantity of isolations that leads to the better total environmental performance. In conclusion, it should be noted that the thermal performance of building materials should be given more attention., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Dysmenorrhea is the most common health problem among women of reproductive age. The aim of the present study was to investigate the modifying role of water intake in menstrual distress and severity of pain among young female adolescents., Method: A semi-experimental study was conducted on a sample of undergraduate female students aged 18-30 years in Isfahan, Iran from 2016 to 2019. Volunteers who had history of suffering from primary dysmenorrhea and drank less than 1600 ml water per day were assigned into water intake (n = 70) and control (n = 70) groups. Participants could select the group in which they desired to be considered. The water intake group was asked to drink water regularly based on a protocol for two menstrual periods while the control group did not receive any form of intervention. Demographic information and menstrual characteristics and severity of menstrual pain (based on a visual analogue scale), were obtained using a short questionnaire. The data were compared between and within two groups before and after intervention using chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, and the Friedman's analysis of variance., Results: The mean age (SD) of participants was 22.0 (2.7) years and 77 students reported normal duration of menstrual bleeding. The number of students who had normal duration of menstrual bleeding (4-6 days) in water intake group increased after intervention (39 vs. 49 after first and 46 after second cycles of menstruation). However, the interval of menstrual cycle did not change significantly in either groups. Considerable decrease in using pain killer was observed in water intake group (p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed between control and water intake groups before intervention in pain intensity (pain mean score 7.64 vs. 7.06), but within group comparison showed that pain intensity was significantly decreased among water intake group (p < 0.0001) while for control group only a significant decrease was observed for the first day of menstrual bleeding., Conclusion: The findings suggest that water intake might have modifying role in reducing menstrual bleeding duration, pain killer utilization, and pain intensity during menstrual period., Trial Registration: IRCT20180708040377N1, 16 April 2020, Retrospectively registered, at https://www.irct.ir/trial/32446.

Introduction: Pain and anxiety are a major problem of burn patients. Despite the use of different medications, patients still suffer from these two problems. Aromatherapy along with medication may help in alleviating these symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the effect of inhalation aromatherapy with damask rose essence on pain and anxiety in burn patients., Methods: This three group clinical trial was conducted on 120 patients with burns less than 30% TBSA. The patients were randomly allocated into three groups, aromatherapy damask rose essence, placebo, and control. The pain intensity was assessed using visual analogue scale prior to intervention, immediately before, and 15 min after dressing. Anxiety was measured using Spielberger Inventory at before intervention and 15 min after dressing, also the prolonged effect of intervention on pain was assessed by number of the analgesics drugs received for four hours after dressing change. The intervention included inhalation of 6 drops of 40% damask rose essential oil in the damask group, and six drops of distilled water in placebo group one hour before dressing change. The control group received no intervention., Results: Baseline state-trait anxiety and pain intensity were similar in these three groups (p > 0.05). We found a significant reduction in pain intensity immediately before and after dressing and state anxiety after dressing in the damask group compared to the placebo and control groups (p < 0.001). However, we found no significant difference between the placebo and control groups in terms of these variables at these times (p > 0.05). Also, we found no significant difference among three groups in frequency of analgesics drugs and trait anxiety after intervention (p > 0.05)., Conclusion: Inhaled aromatherapy with Damask rose essence reduces subjective pain intensity and state anxiety in burned patients. Therefore, it is recommended considering use of damask rose essence, as an easy and affordable method along with other treatments., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.)

A worldwide outbreak of skin cancer, related to ultraviolet (UV) radiations, was reported. Therefore, primary prevention programs were initiated. Application of sunscreens is one of the most efficient ways of protection; however, their efficiency and safety have remained a challenging issue. So, it seems necessary to consider the potential side effects for limiting the use and amount of sunscreens. In this study, an high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system equipped with a UV-visible detector has been used. For separation, an Agilent C 18 column was used (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA). This method was applied for quantitative determination of nine UV filters in commercial sunscreen products which were widely used in Iran. Fifty samples of Iranian and imported sunscreen products were analyzed. The detection limit was determined to be 0.439-1.481 µg/ml, and the quantization limit was determined to be 1.330-4.490 µg/ml. Also, in this study, chemometric methods were used to investigate the differences between Iranian and other countries' sunscreen brands. It was observed that despite the amount of UV filters in Iranian sunscreens, which was in the allowed range, there were some differences between Iranian and other countries' sunscreens. The proposed HPLC method allows efficient and simultaneous analysis of UV filters and is suitable as a quality control assay for commercial sunscreen products.

Background: This study analyzed the age of menarche in different regions of Iran with a review of previous studies and examined the changes of menarche age over the past years., Materials and Methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional study which was conducted in 11 different provinces of Iran with a sample size of 26,831. The year of birth and age of menarche in the population obtained through health records which were available in the health centers collected and also questioning the subjects under investigation., Results: The highest average age of 14.6 years obtained from Kermanshah province and the lowest was from Kerman with 12.98 years. The lowest average was observed with age group under 30 (13.22) and the highest age of menarche (13.53) belonged to the 30 to 40 year age group. The average age of menarche in this study was 13.24 years., Discussion: A declining trend of about two to four months for each ten years has been observed in girls born in 1920s to 1940s and then an upward trend of about nine months for ten years in subjects born in 1950s and 1960s. The stressful condition of war and poor economic and social conditions of Iranian people can justify this upward leap. However in women under 30 years of age, the menarche age showed a rapid declining trend to 13.22 years., Conclusion: Obtaining accurate information and knowing all the factors affecting this issue can be very useful in planning the public health in women and health educational programs.

Half of the world's population consists of women, who play important roles in cultural formation and education, maintain and promote households and their health, and consequently affect the community. In a general sense, women's health may be an important cornerstone for the formation of a healthy community. In developing countries, 67% of women work in the agriculture sector and produce 55% of the food products throughout the world. In East Asian countries, which have the highest level of cloth and furniture export, 74% of workers are women. Due to these considerations, we assessed women's health indicators in Iran. We reviewed health information from national health reports, including two national health surveys conducted in 1991 and 2009 with a sample size of 1/1,000 of the Iranian population, the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Survey, and all published indices that were calculated in 2006 or later. The most important finding was that the maternal mortality rate decreased from 54 per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 37.4 per 100,000 live births in 1997. It decreased further to 24.7 per 100,000 live births in 2006. The Millennium Development Goal is 18-22 per 100,000 live births in 2015.

Background: Unwanted pregnancies and deaths from abortion cost the lives of 500 women daily. This study was designed to determine the rate of use of contraceptive methods and the risks., Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2010 in Tehran, Iran. Total sample size was 304 participants who all filled out a questionnaire which had two parts. Data were analyzed by SPSS., Findings: The results showed that age (p = 0.003), employment status (p = 0.001), number of children (p = 0.001), and marriage (p = 0.01), had a significant relation with type of contraceptive method while, education did not correlate with contraceptive methods., Discussion: New and often younger couples with no experience about different contraceptive methods may tend to use natural methods because of their lack of knowledge of other techniques. Use of modern contraceptives early in marriage or even before marriage could be a good strategy.

Background: Tuberculosis is an endemic disease in developing countries which may involve various organs. Soft tissue involvement including periorbital tissues is very rare, and often this involvement is accompanied by the involvement of other body organs such as lungs. Most of the patients suffering from periorbital infections have underlying diseases and diagnosis of these infections without concomitant involvement of other parts of body is often complex., Case Presentation: In this paper, a periorbital tuberculous infection is described. A 17-year-old male with chronic periorbital mass underwent surgical and medical treatment and the mass recurred. Culture and microscopic studies of the specimen showed mycobacterium tuberculosis. The patient was treated for a periorbital tuberculous infection for a 6-month period with antituberculous regimen and was cured., Conclusion: Periorbital tuberculous infection may occur in the absence of underlying factors or active tuberculosis in the rest of the body organs or a history of tuberculosis infection.

The presence of the mycotoxin zearalenone in corn flour and a cheese snack derived from this was determined. Thirty-eight samples (corn flour and cheese snacks) of different brands were analysed for zearalenone using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Zearalenone was detected in corn flour and cheese snack samples with average content of 0.377 pm (maximum, 0.889 pm) and 0.832 pm (maximum, 1.471 ppm) respectively. The recovery from spiked corn flour and cheese snack samples ranged from 70-87%. The method had a limit of detection of 0.01 microg ml(-1). The linearity of method was determined (y=5.88 x 0.25, r(2)=0.9999), and optimum assay range was 0.05-30 microg ml(-1). The occurrence of zearalenone in the maize product confirms the need to assess the exposure of the Iranian population to this mycotoxin.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors which can help to predict operative mortality before performing the operation, and afterwards., Methods: The study population consisted of 504 patients (91 women and 413 men) who underwent primary isolated coronary artery bypass surgery from December 1997 to September 1999 by the same surgeon in a referral center in Tehran, Iran. Perioperative data were gathered and analyzed both in a univariate and multivariate model., Results: After the operation patients spent 7.3 +/- 4.0 days in hospital. The total operative morbidity was 20.5%. Arrhythmias were the most common complication, with atrial fibrillation as the predominant feature. Major complications of the operation were: low cardiac output (4.2%); prolonged ventilatory support (2.4%); hemorrhage and exploratory reoperation (2.0%); postoperative myocardial infarction (1.4%); postoperative renal failure in (1.4%); and postoperative cerebrovascular accident (0.8%). Operative mortality rate in this study was 2.98%. Factors associated with high operative mortality in univariate analysis were: recent myocardial infarction, low ejection fraction, non-elective operation, left main coronary artery disease and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time., Conclusion: Our data suggest that prior to operation, operative mortality can be best predicted by urgency of operation and left ventricle ejection fraction. After performing the operation, prognostic factors include preoperative LVEF < or = 35%, non-elective operation, and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time. Further study is required to assess the generalization of our findings to Iranian patients.