Evaluation of the association between asthma and non-neurogenic urinary incontinence in children; a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children. Asthma can lead to sleep disorders and psychiatric issues, which are often accompanied by urinary incontinence in children. Furthermore, several studies have shown a relationship between allergic diseases and urinary incontinence. This study aims to examine the association between asthma and non-neurogenic urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This case-control study included 314 children over three years old referred to Amir Kabir Hospital; 157 with asthma and 157 without asthma. After explaining each urinary disorder in accordace with the International Children's Continence Society's definitions, parents and children were asked about their presence. The disorders included monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis(MNE), nonmonosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (NMNE), vaginal reflux (VR), pollakiuria, infrequent voiding, giggle incontinence (GI), and overactive bladder (OAB). The analysis was performed using Stata 16. RESULTS: The average age of the children was 8.19 ± 3.15 years. Patients with asthma (p = 0.0001) and GI (p = 0.027) had a considerably lower average age than patients without these disorders. Asthma and urinary incontinence, including NMNE, Infrequent voiding, and OAB, were significantly correlated (p = 0.017, 0.013, and 0.0001, respectively). Moreover, the association between MNE and asthma was significant in males (p = 0.047). CONCLUSION: Due to the relationship between asthma and urinary incontinence, children with asthma must be evaluated for the presence of urinary disorders and, if present, receive the proper treatment in order to improve their quality of life.

Green Synthesis of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by RS Lichen Extract and its Application in Removing Heavy Metals of Lead and Cadmium.

The present study was carried out with the aim of green synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles by a distilled extract of SR (Ramalina sinensis), a local species of Fandoghlu forest in Ardabil. Among effective compounds in the extract of this local plant to remove lead and cadmium toxic metals are carbohydrates and phenolic compounds and the green synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles was accomplished in a 1 h period at 70 degrees Celsius, with gradual addition of ammonia to the distiled extract obtained from plant. Synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles have been confirmed by various techniques such as ultra-violet spectrophotometry, XRD, FT-IR, SEM, and EDAX elemental analysis. In the spectrum obtained from the UV-spectrophotometer, the peak appearing at 310 ± 5 nm indicates the electron transfer of oxygen to the synthesized iron from the SR lichen. The XRD spectrum also showed the characteristics of Ɵ2 Theta=30.55, 36, and 43.35, which confirmed with iron oxide nanoparticles. The uniform spherical nature of iron oxide nanoparticles (III) in size from 20 to 40 nm were visible using SEM images. The obtained peak at 514 cm-1 in the infrared spectrum showed the formation of a new bond between iron and oxygen. The thermodynamic studies and adsorption investigation showed that lead was followed by the Langmuir adsorption model (R2 = 0.999) and cadmium was followed by Freundlich absorption model (R2 = 0.986) and the process of removing is spontaneous and exothermic. The data obtained from kinetic studies of removing lead and cadmium from aqueous solutions were fitted in a second-order kinetic model with an appropriate correlation coefficient of 0.99. The ability to remove lead and cadmium by magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide was respectively 82% and 77% for initial concentration of 50 mg/l and pH in the range of 5-4.

Application of decision tree for prediction of cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence based on environmental and topographic factors in Isfahan Province, Iran.

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease that continues to be a health problem in Iran. Nearly 350 million people are thought to be at risk. We investigated the impact of the environmental factors on CL incidence during the period 2007- 2015 in a known endemic area for this disease in Isfahan Province, Iran. After collecting data with regard to the climatic, topographic, vegetation coverage and CL cases in the study area, a decision tree model was built using the classification and regression tree algorithm. CL data for the years 2007 until 2012 were used for model construction and the data for the years 2013 until 2015 were used for testing the model. The Root Mean Square error and the correlation factor were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the decision tree model. We found that wind speeds less than 14 m/s, altitudes between 1234 and 1810 m above the mean sea level, vegetation coverage according to the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) less than 0.12, rainfall less than 1.6 mm and air temperatures higher than 30°C would correspond to a seasonal incidence of 163.28 per 100,000 persons, while if wind speed is less than 14 m/s, altitude less than 1,810 m and NDVI higher than 0.12, then the mean seasonal incidence of the disease would be 2.27 per 100,000 persons. Environmental factors were found to be important predictive variables for CL incidence and should be considered in surveillance and prevention programmes for CL control.

The comparison of selenium and lead accumulation between contaminated muddy and sandy sediments from four estuaries along the Persian Gulf: effect of grain size.

Persian Gulf is one of the most important water sources in the economically developed south part of Iran, and metal pollution is a major concern for the Gulf. The bioavailability and distribution of selenium (Se) and lead (Pb) between muddy and sandy sediments from four estuaries along the Persian Gulf were analyzed. The geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor for metals and correlation between particles size with metals concentration were studied. The average concentration of metals in sediment was ranged 0.08-1.14 µg/g for Se and 0.32-4.37 µg/g for Pb in all estuaries, with the highest concentrations in Musa estuary. The results showed there was positive correlation between particles size of sediment with metals concentration. The highest of metal concentration was absorbed in silt (< 63 µm) sediment, followed by extremely fine sand (63-125 µm), fine sand (125-250 µm), medium sand (250-500 µm) and coarse sand (500-1000 µm), respectively. The organic matter and carbonate in the muddy sediment are higher than sandy sediment, and they had high specific storage capacity for accumulation of heavy metals. The result of Pearson correlation (r) for organic matter and metal was 0.78 for Se and 0.67 for Pb, and for carbonates and metal was 0.54 for Se and 0.61 for Pb. The values of EF in all estuaries show that the enrichment of sediment by heavy metals was by anthropogenic activities such as discharge of petrochemical and oil industrial. Geoaccumulation index indicates that the sediment in the Ahmadi and Ghanam estuaries was unpolluted to moderately polluted, while in the Arvand river is moderately to strongly polluted, and in the Musa estuary is extremely polluted.

Climate and environmental factors affecting the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Isfahan, Iran.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a vector-borne human disease caused by Leishmania, a parasite transmitted by sand flies. CL is endemic in the Isfahan Province, Iran. This study was designed to identify the climate and environmental factors associated with CL incidence in Isfahan Province. Data included incident cases of CL, climate, and environmental factors, which were collected across 23 districts of province from 2007 to 2015. Analyses were performed with generalized linear models (GLMs) to fit a function to the relationships between the response and predictors. We used negative binomial regression due to over-dispersed distribution of CL cases. The effects of all seven climate and environmental factors were found to be significant (all p < 0.01), and the model explained 40% of the deviance of CL incidence. There was a positive relation between mean temperature, relative humidity, and slope of area with disease incidence; however, negative association was demonstrated between maximum wind speed, rainfall, altitude, and vegetation cover with CL incidence. Cutaneous leishmaniasis continues to be a widespread challenge, especially in northwestern parts of Iran. Climate and environmental factors should be considered when selecting the most appropriate strategies for preventing and controlling CL.

Spatial analysis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in an endemic area of Iran based on environmental factors.

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by different species of protozoan parasites. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is still a great public health problem in Iran, especially in Isfahan Province. Distribution and abundance of vectors and reservoirs of this disease is affected by different factors such as climatic, socioeconomic and cultural. This study aimed to identify the hotspot areas for CL in Isfahan and assess the relations between the climatic and topographic factors with CL incidence using spatial analysis. We collected data on the total number of CL cases, population at risk, vegetation coverage, altitude and climatic data for each district of the province from 2011 to 2015. Global Moran's Index was used to map clustering of CL cases across districts and the Getis-Ord (Gi*) statistics was used to determine hotspots areas of the disease in Isfahan. We applied overlay analysis to assess the correlation between the climatic and topographic factors with CL incidence. We found the CL distribution significantly clustered (Moran's Index=0.17, P<0.001) with the Ardestan and Aran va Bidgol (P<0.01) districts along with the Naein and Natanz districts (P<0.05) to be strong hotspot areas. Overlay analysis revealed a high incidence of CL in areas with relative humidity of 27-30%, mean temperature of 15-19°C, mean precipitation of 5-20 mm, maximum wind speed about 12-16 m/s and an altitude of 600-1,800 m. Our study showed that spatial analysis is a feasible approach for identifying spatial disease pattern and detecting hotspots of this infectious disease.

Environmental risk factors for the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in an endemic area of Iran: A GIS-based approach.

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine the environmental factors associated with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Isfahan Province, using spatial analysis. METHODS: Data of monthly CL incidence from 2010 to 2013, climate and environmental factors including: temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), altitude and population density across the Isfahan's cities was used to perform spatial analysis by ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR). RESULTS: OLS revealed a significant correlation between CL incidence and five predictors including temperature, population density, wind speed, humidity and NDVI; which explained 28.6% of variation in CL incidence in the province. Considering AICc and adjusted R2, GWR provided a better fit to the data compared with OLS. CONCLUSION: There was a positive correlation between temperature and population density with CL incidence in both local (city) and global (province) level.