Showing 6 results for Exposure
Hadadi A, Afhami Sh, Kharbakhsh M, Hajabdoulbaghi M, Rasoolinejad M, Emadi H, Esmaeelpour N, Sadeghi A, Ghorashi L,
Volume 65, Issue 9 (12-2007)
Abstract
Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at substantial risk of acquiring bloodborne pathogen infections through contact with blood and other potentially infectious materials. The main objectives of this study were to determine the epidemiological characteristics of occupational exposure to blood/body fluids, related risk factors of such exposure, and hepatitis B vaccination status among HCWs.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2004 to June 2005 at three university hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Using a structured interview, we questioned HCWs who had the potential for high-risk exposure during the year preceding the study.
Results: With a total number of 467 exposures (52.9%) and an annual rate of 0.5 exposures per HCW, 391 (43%) of the 900 HCWs had at least one occupational exposure to blood and other infected fluids during the previous year. The highest rate of occupational exposure was found among nurses (26%) and the housekeeping staff (20%). These exposures most commonly occurred in the medical and emergency wards (23% and 21%, respectively). The rate of exposure in HCWs with less than five years of experience was 54%. Percutaneous injury was reported in 280 participants (59%). The history of hepatitis B vaccination was positive in 85.93% of the exposed HCWs. Sixty-one percent had used gloves at the time of exposure. Hand washing was reported in 91.4% and consultation with an infectious disease specialist in 29.4%. There were 72 exposures to HIV, HBV and HCV exposure to HBV was the most common. In 237 of the enrolled cases, the source was unknown. Job type, years of experience and hospital ward were the risk factors for exposure.
Conclusion: Education, protective barriers and vaccination are important in the prevention of viral transmission among HCWs.
Barzegar M, Talaei Zavareh Sa, Salami M,
Volume 68, Issue 10 (1-2011)
Abstract
Background: Numerous evidences indicate that various environmental stresses during
pregnancy affect physiological behavior of the offspring. This experimental
study was designed to investigate the effect of noise stress during prenatal
period of rats on spatial learning and memory and plasma corticostrone level in
postnatal life.
Methods: Three groups of pregnant rats were given daily noise stress with durations of
two and/ or four hours in last week of pregnancy period. The fourth group was
left unstressed. The male offspring from the unstressed and different stressed
groups were assigned as controls and stressed groups. The animals were
introduced to a spatial task in Morris water maze 4
trials/day for five consecutive days. The probe test was performed on the 5th day of the experiment. The delay in findings and the distance passed to locate
the target platform were assessed as the spatial learning.
Results: Our results showed that prenatal exposure to noise stress for two and/ or four
hours a day, leads to impaired acquisition of spatial learning in the postnatal
animals. The plasma level of corticostrone in the two stressed groups of rats
markedly matched with their behavioral function. Prenatal exposure to 1-
hour noise stress revealed no effects on the offsprings' behavior and plasma
corticostrone level.
Conclusion: Based on our study results, it seems that applied range of stress which is
executed through the noise stress could increase the plasma corticostrone level
and could decrease spatial learning and memory of adult male offspring.
Gholamreza Pouryaghoub , Ramin Mehrdad , Soussan Salehpour , Mehran Shahryari ,
Volume 72, Issue 2 (5-2014)
Abstract
Background: Cancer is the third cause of death in Iran. Approximately 5-10% of all human cancers are thought to be caused by occupational exposure to carcinogens. Dif-fuse mesotheliomas of the peritoneum and pleura are considered "signal tumors," or pa-thognomonic of exposure to asbestos. There is also evidence that nonasbestos agents can induce malignant mesotheliomas. So, we need to study the history of exposure to asbestos in patients suffering from mesothelima to determine relationship between them in Iran, especially in occupational settings.
Methods: We received the data of 272 mesothelioma's patients having been registered in 1385 to 1389 in Cancer Bureau, in Ministry of Health. One hundred fifty four of them had telephone number. Finally we could interview with 60 families and gathered data of patient's history of occupation, cigarette smoking and residence place interred in the designed questionnaire. Then we brought out the variants of age, sex, the province of birth place and the involved organs from the data of Cancer Bureau. Analysis of frequency of variants was carried out and compared once in 272 patients being registered in Cancer Bureau and then in the interviewed 60 patients.
Results: Distribution of age, sex, the province of birth and living place and the involved organ were similar in cancer registry's data and the interviewed patients. Distribution of cigarette smoking and exposure to asbestos in the interviewed patients were 28% and 63% respectively. Occupational distribution of interviewed patients consisted of con-struction workers 20%, oil company employees 13.3%, administrative staff 8.3% and drivers 6.7%.
Conclusion: The results of our study specified the jobs with high risks of exposure to asbestos and approved the relationship between the exposure to asbestos and the inci-dence of mesothelioma in Iran, according to researches in other countries. So the con-sumption of asbestos in Iran, like 20 other countries in the world is necessary to be banned.
Firooz Esmaeilzadeh, Nahid Hatam , Zhila Esmaeilzadeh , Abdolhalim Rajabi , Meysam Anami , Sajad Vahedi , Hossien Mirzaei,
Volume 72, Issue 9 (12-2014)
Abstract
Background: The rabies is a deadly disease and if its symptoms break out in a person, he will certainly die. However, the deaths caused rabies can be prevented by post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
Methods: In this study, subjects were recruited through census and with respect to in-formation which gathered from Fars Province health centers, Pasteur institution and previous studies In Iran. The mortalities for age groups and by sex type have been cal-culated. The decision tree model using probabilities, which the effectiveness of PEP treatment after getting bitten by an animal suspected, persons to receive specified. Dis-ability adjusted life year score (DALY) was applied to estimate the DALYs saved from PEP. In this study it was assumed that if a person suffering with rabies, a few days af-ter the onset of symptoms, death is compulsory. Therefore YLD rabies was considered zero. Finally, to increasing the accuracy and because inherent uncertainty of the data, and the increase the power of analysis, one-way sensitivity analysis was used.
Results: From March 2011 to March 2012, in Fars Province, total cases of animal bites were reported and received PEP treatment. The cases were 5394 (75.85%) male and 1717 (24.15%) female. PEP generally prevented from 177.076 deaths which 134.096 (75.72%) were men and 42.98 (24.27%) of them were women. The age distribution of suspected animal bites in youth more than adults, and in men higher than women. Also due to prevented mortality caused by PEP, it is prevented from 4455.71 DALYs. Based on the sensitivity analysis DALY prevented, except for dogs and cats, there was no change in the other animals.
Conclusion: The implementation of PEP for animal bitten people remarkably reduced the burden of disease in community. Calculations with primitive cost estimations im-plicitly revealed that this intervention is a most cost-effectiveness program.
Younes Mehrifar , Hamideh Pirami , Somayeh Farhang Dehghan ,
Volume 76, Issue 2 (5-2018)
Abstract
Background: Welding generates complex metal aerosols, inhalation of which is linked to adverse health effects among welders. Exposure to manganese (Mn) fume in welding processes can have a harmful effect on welders’ health. Long-term, high-level exposure to Mn is associated with impaired central nervous system (CNS) function. The present study aims to investigate relationship between exposure to manganese in welding fumes and incidence of migraine headache symptoms.
Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in March 2017 in an Iron Smelting Industry. Forty welders were selected as the exposure group and thirty-five employees were selected from the administrative unit as the control group. Data related to symptoms of migraine headache were collected using with Ahvaz migraine questionnaire (AMQ). Air samples were collected on mixed cellulose ester membrane filters in personal air samplers and then analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) (NIOSH Method 7300).
Results: The average concentration of welder’s exposure to manganese was 7.24±2.91 mg/m3, which is very higher (37 times) than the occupational exposure limit (Threshold limit value-time-weighted average). There was no significant difference between the mean age and work experience of the two groups (P<0.05). Comparison of the mean of migraine headache symptoms in the two groups of welders and office workers also showed that the frequency of these symptoms among welders was significantly higher than those reported by administrative staff (P<0.05). The correlation between the frequency of symptoms of migraine headache and the concentration of manganese in the air of the welders’ respiratory area was statistically significant (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Frequency of migraine headache symptoms was higher among welders compared to control group. Statistically the significant relationship was found between airborne Manganese concentration and occurrence of migraine headache; however, a conclusive conclusion is based on more comprehensive studies with larger sample size.
Hasan Asadi Gandomani , Abdorreza Naser Moghadasi , Mohammad Ali Sahraian , Sharareh Eskandarieh,
Volume 79, Issue 12 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background: The onset of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) can be triggered by sun exposure and physical activity. The present study aimed to determine the risk of sun exposure and physical activity in PPMS development.
Methods: The case-control study recruited PPMS cases and healthy controls from the general population from September 2019 to September 2020 in Tehran, Iran. The selection of sex-matched controls from the same source population of cases was performed. Sun exposure was assessed in terms of exposure time in two age groups of 13-19 years and over 20 years in winter and summer.
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Results: This study examined 146 PPMS cases and 294 controls. The sun exposure in summer in the age group 13-19 was negatively associated with the incidence of the disease (OR=0.68 (CI=0.57-0.82)). This relationship was also observed in the groups of men (OR=0.55 (CI=0.40-0.74)) and women (OR=0.70 (CI=0.53-0.91)). Exposure to sunlight in winter in the age group 13-19 was negatively associated with the incidence of the disease (OR=0.28 (CI=0.19-0.42)). In the group over 20 years, sun exposure was negatively associated with disease incidence in summer (OR=0.49 (CI=0.36-0.66)). Exposure to sunlight on average in winter in the age group over 20 years was negatively associated with the incidence of the disease (OR=0.14 (CI=0.07-0.28)) which in the male group OR=0.12 (0.04-0.32)) and women (OR=0.06 (CI=0.02-0.21)) were seen. Regarding physical activity, only physical activity above 4000 MET per week in the group of women was negatively associated with the incidence of the disease (OR=5.30 (CI=1.05-26.59), but in other groups, this negative relationship was not observed.
Conclusion: Exposure to sunlight in winter and summer had a negative relationship with the incidence of the disease. Physical activity was only negatively associated with the incidence of the disease in very high doses and women.
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