Knowledge, attitudes, and first-aid measures about epilepsy among primary school teachers in northern Iran.

OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge, attitudes, and first-aid measures about epilepsy among primary school teachers. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted with participation of 342 primary school teachers during September 2016 to January 2017 in cities of Babol and Qaem-Shahr in Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. Primary schools were selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected through interviews using a structured questionnaire. The knowledge section included general knowledge, causes, symptoms, seizure triggers, first-aid measures, and recommended treatments. The Likert scale was used for the attitudes section. Answers about first-aid measures were categorized as helpful or harmful. RESULTS: The level of total knowledge score of 25 (7.7%) teachers was very high, 140 (43.3%) high, 141 (43.8%) moderate, and 17 (5.2%) low. The mean score about general knowledge was as follows: 6.1 (1.9), range = 0-9; causes 6.3 (1.9), range = 0-10; symptoms of seizures 8.5 (2.5), range = 0-12; and first-aid measures 6.8 (2.0), range = 0-11. Some 83% knew not taking anticonvulsants regularly could trigger seizures, and all teachers said a person with epilepsy should go see a physician. Attitudes were generally positive except for marriage and having children. The level of first-aid measures score of 8 (7.2) teachers was very high, 79 (70.5) high, 25 (22.3) low. Teachers with teaching experience at special schools took more helpful measures CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of teachers about epilepsy was insufficient, attitudes toward people with epilepsy were generally positive, and first-aid measures at the last witnessed seizure were fairly helpful. Having teaching experience in special schools had a positive influence over knowledge and taking appropriate first-aid measure at time of the last witnessed seizure.

The role of α-satellite DNA and heterochromatin polymorphism in leukemia patients and illicit drug addicts.

Heterochromatin is considered to play a role in protecting the genome against mutagens. Changes in the quantity and proportion of different types of satellite DNA could increase genetic susceptibility in individuals with heterochromatic variations; they cause chromosome instability and predispose patients to malignancies. We evaluated the heterochromatin associated with chromosomes in 50 leukemia patients, 93 drug addicts and 93 healthy controls from Tehran, Iran. Barium hydroxide saline Giemsa staining was used to examine heterochromatin polymorphism of chromosomes 1, 9 and 16 in lymphocyte cultures. There were significant differences in this polymorphism in lymphocytes from drug addicts and leukemia patients compared to healthy controls. These polymorphisms could serve as markers for the detection and characterization of chromosome damage in leukemia patients and drug addicts.

Assessing the impact of nutrition education on growth indices of Iranian nomadic children: an application of a modified beliefs, attitudes, subjective-norms and enabling-factors model.

In order to teach suitable feeding and hygiene practices to a group of randomly selected Qashqa'i tribe families with 406 children aged 0-59 months, a culturally appropriate community-based education intervention approach was used. To assess the impact of the intervention on the study group, another group of families with 405 children were randomly selected to serve as the controls. At the beginning of the intervention programme both groups of children had access to a similar diet, consisting of cereals, beans, oil, sugar, milk and yoghurt. Baseline data, age, gender, weight, height and mean arm circumference (MAC), were obtained before the intervention. Using Hubley's behavioural change model, the components of which deal with beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms and enabling factors, the research team studied the behaviour of the family members and tried to change their nutritional behaviour. This was achieved by designing a suitable education programme to be carried out for 12 months. During the programme, families were instructed to follow different methods of food preparation and cooking practices. The final data were collected 3 months after the end of the intervention programme. The results indicated that the children in the study group gained: 1.16 (sd 1.2) kg body weight, 0.033 (sd 0.05) m in height, 0.0067 (sd 0.015) m in MAC, 0.8 (sd 1) in weight-for-age Z-score, 0.97 (sd 1.7) in height-for-age Z-score and 0.28 (sd 1.8) in weight-for-height Z-score by the end of the study. The corresponding values for the control group were 0.42 (sd 1.0), 0.0167 (sd 0.047), 0.0017 (sd 0.012), 0.35 (sd 1.1), 0.56 (sd 1.5) and 0.014 (sd 1.6) respectively and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). These findings suggest that educational interventions involving parents and/or other family members who might play a role in the care behaviour and care resources are important in feeding the children energy- and protein-enriched, hygienic, simple and cheap foods. Such practices could improve child growth even under conditions of poverty.

Analysis of smoking behaviour among Iranian population: a cohort and period analysis.

BACKGROUND: The patterns of smoking in ageing cohorts are important to public health authorities. The aim of this study is to describe the patterns of smoking among Iranian population. METHODS: Data from cross-sectional surveys of Health and Disease Survey (HDS) in Iran were utilized. Smoking was categorized as no smoker, light smoker (less than 10 cigarettes a day), moderate smokers (10 to 20 cigarettes a day), and heavy smoker (more than 20 cigarettes a day). Age group cohorts were constructed by following each age group to the next age group in two consecutive surveys. The change in smoking behavior was express as the difference of smoking prevalence and 95% confidence interval around the difference were constructed. Three birth cohorts of 1930, 1960, and 1975 were constructed among smoker and their age at initiation of smoking were assessed for the three cohorts. RESULTS: Smoking was more prevalent among age group 25-39 in males and age group 40-60 in females. Smoking prevalence increased in all categories of smoking behavior among male cohort of 15-25 year age-group and stayed stable afterward up to their 40's. After age 40, the prevalence of smoking decreased in heavy smokers and stayed stable in light and moderate smokers. A different pattern was seen among female smokers. Age at initiation of smoking decreased in the last decades. Among the male birth cohort of 1930, just 32.6% of smokers started smoking before age 20 compared with 48.7% in birth cohort of 1975, P value < 0.0001. Similar pattern was seen among the female smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The pattern of smoking in Iranian population high lights the fact that smoking behavior is highly age dependent.