Aghamolaei T., Sobhani A,
Volume 2, Issue 3 (5 2004)
Abstract
Primary school students constitute an important demographic category: the fact that they are going through a phase of rapid physical, social and mental growth makes them especially vulnerable to the obnoxious effects of disease and malnutrition. In Iran, one of the major causes of malnutrition and growth deficiency is lack of food. The objective of this study was using anthropometric techniques to assess nutritional status in primary school students at Bandar Abbas. This is a cross-sectional study involving 1300 subjects selected by cluster sampling. Indices used in this study were weight for age (W/A), weight for height (W/H), and height for age (H/A). Malnutrition was defined as an index value more than 2 standard deviations below the standard level. We found wasting (W/H) in 15.7%, stunting (H/A) in 11.7% and underweight (W/A) 21.2% of the subjects, with no significant difference in nutritional status between boys and girls. Prevalence of all three types of malnutrition increased with age and school grade. Students who had received nutrition education showed better nutrition status compared to those without such background education. Measures to control malnutrition can include education, proper recording and follow-up of nutrition and growth data in the form of health files, and nutritional interventions. The latter is particularly relevant in higher age groups and school grades.
T Aghamolaei , H Eftekhar , K Mohammad , A Sobhani, D Shojaeizadeh , M Nakhjavani , F Ghofranipour ,
Volume 3, Issue 4 (4 2005)
Abstract
Diabetes is a chronic disease of lifelong duration, and its management requires a
fundamental change in the patient’s lifestyle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
efficacy of a health education program on the knowledge, behavior, HBA1c and
health related quality of life of diabetic patients after following the patients’
participation in the program.
The study population consisted of type 2 diabetic patients attending at Bandar Abbas
diabetic clinic. Eighty patients were randomly selected and they were randomly
assigned to two groups, 40 to the intervention and 40 to the control group. At the
initial visit and 4 months after education, knowledge and behavior were assessed by
questionnaire HBA1c measured by colorimetric method and health-related quality of
life assessed by means of WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. The education sessions for
intervention group were held at diabetic clinic. The 40 patients that assigned to the
control group gave the appropriate consent and completed questionnaires at baseline
and after 4 months.
The intervention group had statistically significant increase in the mean of knowledge
score from 6.7 to 15.8(p=0.000), physical health from 64.7 to 77.2 (p=0.000) and
psychological health from 56 to 71.4(p=0.000) and had statistically significant
reduction in the mean of HBA1c from 9.4 to 8.2 (p= 0.000).Also the intervention
group had statistically significant increase in self-monitoring blood glucose, weight
monitoring, exercise and diet. Patients in control group showed no significant changes
in the outcomes measured except for knowledge.
Lida Varmazyar, Soheil Sobhan,
Volume 15, Issue 2 (9-2017)
Abstract
Background and Aim: Spices are likely to contain toxic heavy metals. The objective of this study was to assess the non-carcinogenic risk of consuming curry powder, turmeric and cardamom, marketed both in bulk and in packaged form, in Hamedan, Iran, as regards lead and cadmium in 2015.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study, conducted in Hamedan, Iran, included nine samples of packaged and nine samples of bulked spices, the heavy metal contents of which were measured in triplicates, after acid digestion, by atomic absorption. The data were analyzed by SPSS, the statistical tests being one-way ANOVA, Shapiro-Wilks test, oOne-Sample T-Test, Pearson's correlation coefficient and the independent T-test.
Results: The maximum mean concentrations of lead and cadmium (mg/kg) were 5.48±0.95 and 0.13±0.20, respectively. The mean concentration of lead in turmeric samples was higher than the respective WHO standard. On the other hand, the health index (HI) of lead in the turmeric sample (mean =3/25×10-2, 1/5×10-1) and that of cadmium (222×10-3, 1/04×10-2) were less than one, that is, below the risk threshold for children and adults, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings based on health index show that consumption of spices does not pose any risk for the consumers. However, considering that the mean concentration of lead in the turmeric samples exceed the respective standard, as well as the non-biodegradability and bioaccumulation of heavy metals, if consumption of spices is not controlled, health problems in the long term are not unlikely to occur in the consumers. Therefore, regular periodic monitoring of chemical pollutants content of spices, especially heavy metals, is recommended for protection of consumers’ health.
