Prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug abuse in Iranian adults: Results of Azar Cohort Study.

Background: Substance abuse has significant health impacts on families and society as a whole. We aimed to provide detailed prevalence estimates of substance abuse among the Azar Cohort Study respondents in Tabriz, Iran. Methods: Data on 15006 participants of Azar Cohort Study were analyzed. The variables included tobacco smoking, alcohol use, drug abuse, and socio-demographic characteristics. The prevalence of substance abuse (with a 95% confidence interval) was calculated using the direct standardization method. Results: Overall, 9.3% and 6.2% of the participants were regular and heavy cigarette smokers, respectively. Also, 1.9% and 2.1% of participants reported a history of using illicit drugs and alcohol, respectively. Substance abuse was more prevalent among males than females. Substance abuse varied significantly with age and socioeconomic variables. Conclusion: We identified specific demographic and socioeconomic groups with a higher prevalence of all studied behaviors. Such high-risk groups should be targeted when designing substance abuse prevention programs.

Predictors of Pediatric COVID-19 vaccination: a case-control study in Tabriz, Iran.

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 vaccination of children can help reduce the severity of the infection and the death rate caused by it and also helps achieve herd immunity. The level of acceptance and high vaccination coverage is the main elements in the success of immunization programs. Children's vaccination is dependent on their parent's decision. This study aims to identify predictors of the children's COVID-19 vaccination accomplishment by their parents. METHOD: In this case-control study, 577 vaccinated children as cases and 366 un-vaccinated children as controls were randomly selected from the general population of Tabriz, Iran 2022, and their data were collected by telephone calls and interviews with the children's parents. Cases and controls were compared in terms of clinical and demographic factors of the child as well as the socioeconomic status (SES) of their parents by using a multivariable mixed-effect logistic regression model. RESULTS: According to the results of the multivariable logistic regression, the age of the child (OR = 1.26 95% CI (1.14, 1.40), p-value < 0.001), previous COVID-19 infection of the child (OR = 1.92, 95% CI (1.21, 3.04), p-value < 0.001), having no underlying disease in the child (OR = 1.76, 95% CI (1.02, 3.02), p-value = 0.04), the dwelling place of the household (the high-level dwelling in compared to a low level (OR = 3.34, 95% CI (1.6, 6.64), p-value = 0.001), the middle level of dwelling compared with low level (OR = 4.87, 95% CI (2.46, 9.51), p-value < 0.001)), and Father's job (Employee and technician Fathers compared to worker fathers (OR = 2.99, 95% CI (1.55, 5.77), p-value = 0.001)) were significant independent predictors of children COVID-19 vaccination. CONCLUSION: Several demographic and socioeconomic factors were associated with children's vaccination. Older children, children without any underlying disease, children with a history of COVID-19 infection, and children of parents with higher levels of SES were more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This finding can be considered in children's vaccination policymaking.

Factors associated to patients' referral to public or private Covid-19 healthcare centers in Tabriz, Iran.

BACKGROUND: In Iran, tracking of patients and its associated data recording in private healthcare centers are poor, and thus a majority of patients suffering from Covid-19 are treated without any control on the isolation and quarantine processes. The present study aims to investigate the factors contributed to referral to private or public healthcare centers that provide Covid-19 care services. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to January 2022 in Tabriz, Iran. We invited a total of 258 and 202Covid-19 patients from governmental and private healthcare centers, respectively, to participate in the study by convenient sampling method. Applying a self-administered questionnaire, we collected data on the reason of referring to the healthcare centers, patient's waiting time, quality of healthcare services received by the patients, patients' level of satisfaction, accessibility, insurance coverage, perceived severity of the disease, and the level of staff compliance from health protocols. Logistic regression model was used for data analysis by using SPSS-26 software. RESULTS: Adjusted for other variables, higher socio-economic status (AOR (Adjusted Odds Ratio) = 6.64), older age (AOR = 1.02), referral of friends and family members (AOR = 1.52), shorter waiting time (AOR = 1.02) and higher satisfaction (AOR = 1.02) were contributed to referral to private centers. Better accessibility (AOR = 0.98) and wider insurance coverage (AOR = 0.99) were also contributed to referral to governmental centers. CONCLUSION: Providing more appropriate insurance coverage by private healthcare centers, and promoting their level of accessibility seems to promote patients' referral to such centers. Moreover, establishing an accurate system for recording patients' information and follow up in private centers might promote the role of private healthcare centers in managing the overload of patients on healthcare system during such epidemics.

Association between gout and the development of Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: As a natural antioxidant, uric acid plays a protective role against neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD). Therefore, the risk of PD has been found to be lower in people with hyperuricemia. In this article, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate whether gout affects the future risk of developing PD. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus, the Web of Science, and Google Scholar to find relevant studies, up to March 16, 2022. Studies investigating the risk of PD, following a gout diagnosis, were included if they were cross-sectional, case-control or cohort studies. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) checklist was used to assess the quality of all included studies. The meta-analysis was performed using STATA 17.0. RESULTS: Ten studies were included, which were comprised of three case-controls, six cohort studies and one nested case-control study. We found no significant association between gout and the risk of PD among both sexes (RR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.86-1.04), although the association was significant for females (RR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.02-1.17). Subgroup analysis also showed no significant findings by age group, whether they were receiving treatment for gout, study design, quality assessment score, and method of gout ascertainment. In contrast, the studies that defined PD according to the use of drugs showed significant results (RR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.76-0.89). There was a significant publication bias on the association between gout and PD. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of gout had no significant effect on the risk of subsequently developing PD. Further analyses are recommended to investigate the effects of demographic and behavioral risk factors.

ESRG, LINC00518 and PWRN1 are newly-identified deregulated lncRNAs in colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death in humans because of cancer. This rank of death could be due to the high rate of incidence from one hand, and the lack of sufficient diagnostic and therapeutic approaches from the other hand. Thus, molecular tools have been emerging as the potential biomarker to improve the early diagnosis and therapeutic management that subsequently could lead to the heightened survival rate of colorectal cancer patients. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) have shown promising capabilities to be used in clinics. The profiling methods could identify novel aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in colorectal cancer. We, thus, performed a comprehensive and unbiased approach to shortlist the dysregulated lncRNAs based on the colon adenocarcinoma TCGA data. An unbiased in silico method was used to rank the yet to profiled lncRNAs in colorectal cancer. qPCR was used to measure the expression level of selected lncRNAs. Our results nominated ESRG, LINC00518, PWRN1, and TTTY14 lncRNAs as the top-hit novel lncRNAs with aberrant expression in colon cancer. The qPCR method was used to profile these lncRNAs that showed the up-regulation of ESRG and LINC00518, and down-regulation of TTTY14 in thirty paired colorectal cancer specimens. The statistical analyses demonstrated that ESRG, LINC00518 and PWRN1 could distinguish the tumor from normal samples. Moreover, ESRG showed a negative correlation with the overall survival of patients. These diagnostic and prognostic results suggest that profiling ESRG, LINC00518 and PWRN1 s may have implications in clinics.

Differentiating between girls and boys in transition through smoking stages: A sex-specific growth mixture modeling.

Background: Smoking is a complex process, and adolescents pass through a number of different stages on the way to become smokers and it is sex-dependent. Methods: In this cohort study, the illustrative samples of 10th-grade students (2241 girls and 2956 boys) were assessed using a multistage sampling in Tabriz, Iran. The main variables of the study were smoking status, intention to start smoking, and smoking during the past week/ month, which were collected using a valid and reliable instrument. Sex-specific GMMs were fitted to assess the transition through smoking stages. Results: GMMs lead in a 2-class optimal model: "Occasional/Intending smokers" and "Non-smokers". GMMs indicated that girls had lower levels of smoking status, intention to start smoking, smoking during the past week/month in both classes (significant and negative intercepts: -8.5 to -0.6). In addition, transitions toward higher levels of smoking status, intention to start smoking, smoking during the past week/month were observed in both classes for boys, but in the second class for girls (significant and positive slopes: 0.2 to 2.7). Conclusion: This study highlighted the importance of stopping the initiation and avoiding transition through smoking stages with special sex-specific planning in the future.

Students' Nutrition Literacy and the Existence of Health Care Providers in Iranian Schools.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between Students' nutrition literacy and the existence of health care providers in Iranian schools. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: This study was conducted on 504 students in Ardebil City, northwestern Iran from Oct 2017 to Jan 2018. The FLINT questionnaire was used to assessment the food and nutrition literacy. Socio-demographic characteristics and the existence of health care providers were collected using demographic questionnaire. RESULTS: Nearly 75% of students had not a health care provider. Most students had a low FNLIT (62% males and 58.1% females). The probability of low FNLIT was lower in students with health care providers than those without them (OR=0.46, CI 95%; 0.10, 0.91). CONCLUSION: One of the reasons for the low nutritional literacy of students may be due to the lack of health care providers in schools. Health educational administrators employ specialized health care providers in Iranian schools.

Delignification and detoxification of peanut shell bio-waste using an extremely halophilic laccase from an Aquisalibacillus elongatus isolate.

Lignocellulose bioconversion is a harsh process requiring the use of surfactants and organic solvents. Consequently, the incorporation of laccases in this bioconversion requires the bioprospecting of enzymes that can remain stable under extreme conditions. An extracellular, highly stable laccase was produced by the halophilic isolate Aquisalibacillus elongatus in submerged liquid culture fermentation. Statistical and non-statistical strategies gave the highest enzymatic activity (8.02 U mL-1) following addition of glucose (1.7 g L-1), copper sulfate (0.8 g L-1), urea (15 g L-1), and CaCl2 (0.8 g L-1). The enzyme, after purification using a synthetic affinity support, delignified a peanut shell substrate by 45%. A pH of 8.0 and a temperature of 35 °C were optimal for delignification of this bio-waste material. Addition of [Bmim][PF6], 1,4-dioxane, acetone, and HBT promoted this bio-waste delignification. Bio-treatment in the presence of 50% [Bmim][PF6] gave a maximal lignin removal of 87%. The surfactants tested had no significant effects on the delignification yield. The laccase also detoxified the toxic phenols found in peanut shell waste. The high catalytic efficiency of this enzyme against a lignocellulosic sample under extreme conditions suggests the suitability of this laccase for industrial applications.

Improved production and characterization of a highly stable laccase from the halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter salexigens for the efficient delignification of almond shell bio-waste.

Extremozymes have gained importance for their ability to efficiently develop the processes in rigorous industrial conditions with incidence in the recycling of especially robust natural wastes. The production of an extracellular laccase from the halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter salexigens aided for the bio-delignification of almond shell was optimized using response surface methodology followed by one-factor-at-a-time, resulting in an 80-fold increase in the enzyme yield. Out of 10 different medium components, CuSO4, ZnSO4, glucose, and urea were shown to have the greatest effects on the laccase production. The crude laccase was surprisingly stable against the various solvents, salts, chemicals, pH ranges, and temperatures, and it exhibited a high catalytic efficiency to a wide range of phenolic and non-phenolic substrates. Laccase reduced the kappa number of the lignin of almond shell by approximately 27% without the aid of a mediator, and the delignification efficiency strengthened by up to 58% reduction in kappa number in the used harsh conditions. Due to the high potential of the enzyme in delignification, specifically under extreme conditions, laccase from C. salexigens can be considered as an ideal alternative for chemical treatment methods in cellulose fibres extraction of lignocellulosic bio-wastes or delignification of the lignin and lignin-derived industrial wastes.