Effect of Castor Oil on Cervical Ripening and Labor Induction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Post-term pregnancy is a condition associated with increased maternal and fetal complications. Administration of castor oil causes cervical stimulation by increasing the production of prostaglandins. We examined the effects of castor oil on cervical ripening and labor induction through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The search process was performed to obtain relevant articles from databases including Pubmed, Cochrane library, Scopus, Science direct, SID, Iran Medex, and Google Scholar using the English keywords of cervical ripening, post-term, castor oil, labor induction, Bishop score, and pregnancy considering all possible combinations without time constraints and their Persian equivalents from national databases. Results: A total of eight related articles from the 19 primary studies were extracted and systematically reviewed. According to a cumulative chart, the difference in the post-intervention Bishop score was statistically significant (standard mean difference [SMD] 1.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.67-2.11, p = 0.001), indicating an effect of castor oil on increasing the Bishop score. In addition, the difference in labor induction was statistically significant after the intervention (odds ratio 11.67, 95% CI 3.34-40.81, p = 0.001), indicating an effect of castor oil on increasing the odds ratio of labor induction (experience of vaginal delivery). Conclusion: This meta-analysis showed that oral administration of castor oil is effective for cervical ripening and labor induction. Midwives should closely monitor pregnant women with prolonged labor and collaborate with obstetricians to employ castor oil as a safe intervention to induce cervical ripening and labor to prevent undue caesarean surgery.

Training needs assessment of intensive care nurses in Zabol University of Medical Sciences' Hospitals.

BACKGROUND: The improvement of the knowledge, skill, and attitude of nurses working at the intensive care unit (ICU) through implementing training need assessment and holding continuous in-service training courses are of main requisites for providing better health services to the community. Based on this, in the present work, we are looking for the identification and prioritization of the training need of intensive care nurses in the Zabol University of Medical Sciences' hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: As a cross-sectional, descriptive study, including two phases of identification and prioritization of training needs of ICU nurses, it was conducted by a close-ended researcher-made questionnaire for collecting the data on training needs from the viewpoint nursing officials, supervisors, and head nurses of the ICU wards in the first phase and a multiple-choice scientific test plus a checklist for measuring the knowledge and skill of the nurses in the ICU in the second phase. In both phases, census method was used for collecting the data. The validity and reliability of data-gathering tools, mentioned above, were tested and verified before gathering data. Data were analyzed with the descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The results indicated that ventilator setting according to arterial blood gas sampling and interpretation (77.81), cardiac monitoring, detecting dysrhythmia and taking immediate intervention (73.04), ventilator setting according to patient's respiratory status (68.61), airway management, oxygenation and intubation (64.39), and adults cardiopulmonary resuscitation (61.77) were the high-priority training needs of the nurses successively. CONCLUSION: To improve the quality of training programs and upgrading the knowledge, skill, and attitude of nurses working at ICU, the significance and the weight of each training titles should be determined according to the standards and the continuous in-service training plan along with nurses' training needs and duties.

Analyses and anticipating the future trend of accidents in an electricity distribution company of Iran: A time series analysis.

BACKGROUND: Many work-related fatalities happen every year in electricity distribution companies. This study was conducted to model accidents using the time series analysis and survey descriptive factors of injuries in an electricity distribution company in Tehran, Iran. METHODS: Data related to 2010 to 2017 were collected from the database of the safety department. Time series and trend analysis were used for data analyzing and anticipating the accidents up to 2022. RESULT: Most of the accidents occurred in summer. Workers' negligence was the reason for 75% of deaths. Employment type and type of injuries had a significant relationship (p <  0.05). CONCLUSION: The anticipating model indicated occupational injuries are going to have an increase in the future. A high rate of accidents in summer maybe because of the warm weather or insufficient skills in temporary workers. Temporary workers have no chance to work in a year like permanent workers, therefore acquisition experiences may be less in them. Based on the estimating model, management should pay attention to those sectors of the company where most of the risky activities take place. Also, training programs and using personal protective equipment can help to protect workers in hazardous conditions.

Investigation of the relationship between the safety climate and occupational fatigue among the nurses of educational hospitals in Zabol.

INTRODUCTION: Some working and organizational conditions, such as psychological stress and shift work, are factors that threaten the health of staff working in health centers. These factors can cause fatigue in a long time. Fatigue reduces the ability to process information and decrease to respond to hazardous conditions and will affect the safety of the environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between safety climate and occupational fatigue in nurses working in Zabol city. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 143 nurses working in educational hospitals of Zabol in 2019. The proportional sampling method was used, and the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Questionnaire and the Nurses Safety Questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and SPSS-21 software. RESULTS: In the present study, 57.3% were women and 42.7% were men. The mean score of occupational fatigue was 85.09 ± 41.49, and the mean score of safety climate was 67.15 ± 12.73. There is a significant inverse relationship between occupational fatigue and safety climate. The comparison of safety climate and its subscales between occupational and demographic variables showed that the score of male supervisors' attitude was 01.36 ± 2.41 while the score of female supervisors' attitude was 8.88 ± 2.61, and this difference was significant. Furthermore, cumulative burnout, the attitude of supervisors, and the safety climate were significantly different between different educational levels. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that there is a relationship between occupational fatigue and safety climate. Issues related to safety and risk factors in hospitals due to the high risk of disease outbreak and mortality, in addition to being economical, are important in terms of the human aspect as well. In addition, the activity of nursing staff is more important compared to other groups because of providing health care and communicating with patients; thus, more education about the safety climate of the workplace environment in hospitals can reduce nurses' fatigue.

Prevalence of problematic internet use disorder and associated risk factors and complications among Iranian university students: a national survey.

Background: Despite the growing epidemic of problematic Internet use (PIU), little information is available on PIU and related factors in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 4261 university students among 13universities throughout the country in 2017. The data collection tool included demographic characteristics, the status of using the Internet, social media, computer games, tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs, suicide ideation and attempt, and unprotected sex. PIU was measured using the15-item PIU questionnaire. The status of general health was evaluated using the 28-item general health questionnaire (GHQ) questionnaire. The simple and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to measure the crude and adjusted associations between various factors and PIU. Results: Of 4261 university students, 55.9% were female, 13.5% were smokers, 4.9% were drug abusers, 7.9% were alcohol abusers, 7.8% had unprotected sex in the past year, 7.4%had suicidal ideation in the past month, 1.7% had attempted suicide in the past year, and27.3% suffered from PIU. Only 61.1% had normal health. In contrast, 30.9%, 7.2%, and 0.8%had mild, moderate, and severe general health problems, respectively. There were significant relationships between PIU and age group 20-24 vs. <20 years (odds ratio [OR]=1.39; 95% CI:1.06, 1.82), single vs, married (OR=2.57; 95% CI: 1.85, 3.57), suicidal attempt (OR=2.77;95% CI: 1.47, 5.19), using online games (OR=1.31; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.60), and poor general health (OR=12.14; 95% CI: 4.53, 32.54). Conclusion: Nearly one-third of medical sciences students suffered from PIU. This unhealthy behavior was associated with poor general health and elevated risk of suicidal behaviors. This health-threatening behavior provides an early warning signal that deserves special attention, otherwise, it may threaten both college students' health and function.

Avoidable Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Contribution of Selected Risk Factors for Cardiovascular-Related Deaths.

INTRODUCTION: Contribution of risk factors for cardiovascular-related deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Organization (EMRO) is not estimated quantitatively. AIM: To determine the avoidable burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) due to hypertension, diabetes, smoking, overweight, and obesity in countries of EMRO of the WHO. METHODS: The comparative risk assessment methodology was used to calculate the potential impact fraction (PIF) and percentage of the avoidable burden of CVD-related death due to associated risk factors. Population exposure levels for CVDs and corresponding measures of association were extracted from published studies. The attributable burden was calculated by multiplying the Disability-Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs) for CVDs by the estimated impact fraction of risk factors. DALYs of the CVDs in all countries of the EMRO were extracted from the GBD official website in 2016. RESULTS: Following reduction of the current prevalence of smoking, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and overweight to a feasible minimum risk exposure level in Lebanon, about 12.4%, 4.2%, 10.2%, 3.8%, and 5.7% of the burden of CVD-related mortality could be avoidable, respectively. The corresponding values of avoidable burden in selected EMRO countries were 5.1%, 3.5%, 9.4%, 5.9% and 5.3% in Iran and 9.5%, 4.1%, 11%, 8.2% and 5.4% in Egypt. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that health policy makers of all EMRO countries should take into account the attributable burden of CVD-related mortality due to associated risk factors to effectively develop preventive interventions.

Assessing the risk factors before pregnancy of preterm births in Iran: a population-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth is a major cause of prenatal and postnatal mortality particularly in developing countries. This study investigated the maternal risk factors associated with the risk of preterm birth. METHODS: A population-based case-control study was conducted in several provinces of Iran on 2463 mothers referred to health care centers. Appropriate descriptive and analytical statistical methods were used to evaluate the association between maternal risk factors and the risk of preterm birth. All tests were two-sided, and P values < 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean gestational age was 31.5 ± 4.03 vs. 38.8 ± 1.06 weeks in the case and control groups, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed a statistically significant association between preterm birth and mother's age and ethnicity. Women of Balooch ethnicity and age ≥ 35 years were significantly more likely to develop preterm birth (OR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.01--2.44 and OR: 9.72; 95% CI: 3.07-30.78, respectively). However, no statistically significant association was observed between preterm birth and mother's place of residence, level of education, past history of cesarean section, and BMI. CONCLUSION: Despite technological advances in the health care system, preterm birth still remains a major concern for health officials. Providing appropriate perinatal health care services as well as raising the awareness of pregnant women, especially for high-risk groups, can reduce the proportion of preventable preterm births.

Epidemiology and Pattern of Traumatic Brain Injury in a Developing Country Regional Trauma Center.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the epidemiological aspects of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a regional trauma center. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with TBI during 2013 to 2016 in a single center in Hamedan, central Iran. The distribution and relationships of TBI was assessed with gender, age, type of trauma, traumatic cause, exiting status and Length of Hospitalization (LOH). Data were analyzed by Stata V11 statistical software. RESULTS: In general, 9426 patients with TBI were enrolled in analyses. The mean ± SD age of patients was 29.70 (± 21.46) years. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that being male [OR: 1.29; 95% CI (2.92-4.73), P ≤0.001], 41-50 to 71-80 and 90+ years old' age groups (1.325 days [OR: 2.01; 95% CI (1.60-2.52), p≤0.001] and different types of trauma were significantly related to mortality. CONCLUSION: TBI is one of the main causes of mortality and LOH of the young population. By providing preventive measures and a traumatic care system, the burden of trauma can be greatly reduced, the implementation of the trauma care system in Hamedan province is a necessity.