Workplace social capital and mental health: a cross-sectional study among Iranian workers.

BACKGROUND: The psychosocial environment of the workplace has received less attention in terms of occupational health. Trust, social network and social cohesion at the workplace (that is, factors related to social capital) may have effects on employee health. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine the association between workplace social capital and mental health among Iranian workers. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, data were obtained from 5 factories in Babol, Northern Iran, in 2016, where 280 workers responded to a survey on social capital at work and psychosocial distress. RESULTS: Approximately 23.6% of the workers had psychological distress, and 23.4% had low social capital in the workplace. There was a significant relationship between mental health and individual workplace social capital (p = 0.025) and aggregated workplace social capital (p = 0.027). After controlling for each individual's characteristics, the prevalence ratio of psychological distress was 2.11 (95% CI: 1.43-3.17) times higher among workers with low individual social capital, and low aggregated workplace social capital was associated with 2.64 (95% CI: 1.28-5.45) times higher odds of psychological distress. CONCLUSION: Higher social capital is associated with a reduced risk of psychological distress. The promotion of social capital can be considered as a means to increase workplace mental health among workers.

Adult tibial shaft fractures - different patterns, various treatments and complications.

BACKGROUND: Tibial Fractures constitute a large number of emergency operations in most trauma centers. There are different approaches for tibial fractures. To our knowledge, there is insufficient evidence to consider post-operative complications in relation to both surgical methods and the types of fractures. Our purpose is to report our experience regarding the efficacy and complications associated with diverse surgical methods of different patterns of tibial shaft fractures in adults. MATERIAL/METHODS: We studied 387 adult patients. The patients' information was registered from the charts and after examination. The methods used were intramedullary interlocking nails, simple intramedullary rods, plating and external fixation. Early and late complications were recorded and by applying the DELPHI method different treatments were compared. Finally, the safest mode of treatment is proposed. RESULTS: In the intramedullary interlocking nails method the most noticeable complication was delayed union and the highest rate of complications was seen in open oblique fractures. In the simple intramedullary rods method the most frequent complication was pain, and in the with butterfly fractures the complications were the most. In the plating method the most frequent complication was pain, and most of the complications were seen in open comminuted fractures. Finally, in the external fixation method the most frequent complication was non-union and complications were the highest in the patients with oblique, comminuted and segmented fractures. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method to treat transverse, oblique and butterfly fractures is simple intramedullary rods; whereas intramedullary interlocking nails is the better method for comminuted, segmented and spiral fractures.

Positive electrostatic therapy of metastatic tumors: selective induction of apoptosis in cancer cells by pure charges.

BACKGROUND: We discovered that pure positive electrostatic charges (PECs) have an intrinsic suppressive effect on the proliferation and metabolism of invasive cancer cells (cell lines and animal models) without affecting normal tissues. METHODS: We interacted normal and cancer cell lines and animal tumors with PECs by connecting a charged patch to cancer cells and animal tumors. many biochemical, molecular and radiological assays were carried out on PEC treated and control samples. RESULTS: Correlative interactions between electrostatic charges and cancer cells contain critical unknown factors that influence cancer diagnosis and treatment. Different types of cell analyses prove PEC-based apoptosis induction in malignant cell lines. Flowcytometry and viability assay depict selective destructive effects of PEC on malignant breast cancer cells. Additionally, strong patterns of pyknotic apoptosis, as well as downregulation of proliferative-associated proteins (Ki67, CD31, and HIF-1α), were observed in histopathological and immunohistochemical patterns of treated mouse malignant tumors, respectively. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction results demonstrate up/down-regulated apoptotic/proliferative transcriptomes (P21, P27, P53/CD34, integrin α5, vascular endothelial growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor) in treated animal tumors. Expression of propidium iodide in confocal microscopy images of treated malignant tissues was another indication of the destructive effects of PECs on such cells. Significant tumor size reduction and prognosis improvement were seen in over 95% of treated mouse models with no adverse effects on normal tissues. CONCLUSION: We discovered that pure positive electrostatic charges (PECs) have an intrinsic suppressive effect on the proliferation and metabolism of invasive cancer cells (cell lines and animal models) without affecting normal tissues. The findings were statistically and observationally significant when compared to radio/chemotherapy-treated mouse models. As a result, this nonionizing radiation may be used as a practical complementary approach with no discernible side effects after passing future human model studies.