Journal of Health in the Field

Background and Aim: In the third millennium, aging are appeared as a global reality more than before.Developments in controlling of the contagious diseases, nutrition and healthy environment resulted in increasing life expectancy. So the twentieth century challenge for surviving has been replaced by living stay with better quality and healthy aging. Present study was carried out in order to determining the knowledge, attitude and practice of the urban elders about healthy lifestyle in 2008.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive analytic research, 450 elder people of Tehran residents with more than 60 years old were studied. The sampling method was random clustering and structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Interviewers completed questionnaires after referring to their homes. SPSS V.18 software was used for data analyses.

Results: 54.6 percent of elders were men. Mean scores in each of the three fields for men was more than women. Our findings show significant relation between age, sex, income and marital status of subjects with their knowledge, attitude and practice. So with increasing age their knowledge, attitude and practice were decreased respectively. Knowledge, attitude and practice of elders about healthy lifestyle was related to membership in public and national organizations, significantly (p=0.01).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate on need to comprehensive programming for health education about healthy life style, respecting social determinants of health and encourage elder residents of urban regions to membership in public organizations.

Key words: Elderly, Healthy Lifestyle, Knowledge, Attitude , Practice

Introduction: Sexually transmitted diseases were acquired through avoidable and changeable behaviors, so education should be considered as an effective strategy to prevent new HIV infections. This study aims to determine the effect of educational intervention on knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions of the second grade students in male high schools of Bavanat about HIV/AIDS in the year 2011.
Materials & Methods: In this semi-experimental (before & after) study, after selection of schools that have study condition from 5 high schools, all 99 students of two high schools were selected. The data gathering tool was a valid and reliable researcher designed questionnaire. After pre-test, educational intervention was conducted immediately and 45 days after educating, respectively. Primary and secondary post-tests were performed. Participation in the plan was voluntary and informed. In this study, the collected data have been analyzed using the SPSS version 14 software.
Results: The findings showed that the mean scores of knowledge have significant difference after intervention (p<0.001). In addition, the difference between pre and post intervention about mean scores of attitude and behavioral intentions was statistically significant (p<0.001).
Discussion & Conclusion: Regarding promotion of students’ awareness and attitudes, continuing and new educations in curricula of students is suggested.
Key words: Education, HIV/AIDS, Knowledge, Attitude, Behavioral Intention

Background: The olive oil mill wastewater is one of the contaminating food industrial wastewaters. Olive oil extraction process imports wastewater with high phenolic chemicals into the environment. In this study the toxicity of raw olive oil mill wastewater and the effluent of electro-coagulation have been investigated.
Material & Methods: Germination test was used for evaluating the toxicity of wastewater and effluent process. Electro-coagulation-flotation examinations performed in a plexiglas electrochemical reactor with 1750 ml practical volume. 4 blades of aluminum and titanium as anode and cathode electrodes with a gap of 2 cm were connected to DC power supply in monopolar parallel mode.
Results: Based on the information from this study, the pollution load of phenolic compounds in olive oil mill wastewater is 1000 times more than municipal wastewater. Also, the evaluation toxicity of effluent obtained from the process in natural pH of wastewater (pH=5.2), 117 mA/m2 current density and 30 minutes time process, suggests that the effluent causes plant species growth, even without dilution.
Conclusion: The results obtained from this research can warn us to the risks of releasing these wastewaters without treatment and toxic effects on the different species of plants. Results demonstrated although using of electro-coagulation-flotation process removes high percent of pollutants of olive oil mill wastewater, but, it can’t attain the discharge limitations, then it should be more treated with some other methods.
Key words: Toxicity, Electro-Coagulation-Flotation, Olive Wastewater

Background and aim: Family planning services are frequently used and important services for women of reproductive age. These services are crucial in enabling women to meet their fertility goals. The aim of this study was to determine and compare of the quality of family planning services in urban health centers from the viewpoint of clients, employees, experts and staff managers at different levels.
Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study, 500 women who seeking care from health care center under the supervision of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences regarding family planning services, 147 health providers, and 18 family health managers at different levels of district, provincial and national were investigated using revised SERVQUAL questionnaire.
Results: The results revealed negative gap in all dimensions of service quality. There was an overall negativegap score of -0.37 between clients expectations and perceptions of service quality (p<0.001). For the health care providers, experts and staff managers, this gap was equal to -0.50 (p<0.001). On the other words the heath care providers and program managers estimated the clients expectation more than actually were and ability of health system to address to these expectations less than clients perceptions of quality.
Conclusion: Negative gap between clients expected and perceived service quality should be considered seriously for planning and implementation of proper interventions for service quality improvement.
Key words: Service Quality, Family Planning, Health Care Center, SERVQUAL

Background and Aims: Nitrite and nitrate ions are considered part of the natural cycle of nitrogen. Concentrations over the standards endanger human health, therefore determination of groundwater nitrite and nitrate contamination, using a new technology is necessary. The purpose of this study was to compile, map, and evaluate patterns of nitrite and nitrate occurrence in Zanjan groundwater during 2006 to 2010.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was investigated on Zanjan drinking water wells. Groundwater samples were taken directly from 72 wells. Nitrite and nitrate content of samples identified. Geographic information systems, ArcGIS and IDRISI, were used to map and evaluate the data and also analysis the nitrite and nitrate content trends.
Results: The results of this study showed that only a well had nitrate concentration above the standard and other wells were acceptable in nitrite and nitrate concentrations. The data showed falling and rising trend in nitrite and nitrate concentrations, respectively.
Conclusion: Whereas the sewer system and wastewater treatment plant in Zanjan is not yet fully implemented, and traditional method of wastewater disposal is using absorption wells, hence, it can be contamination sources in the water.
Key words: Nitrite, Nitrate, Groundwater, GIS, Zanjan

Background and Aims: Currently 80% of waste management costs in Iran include solid wastes collection, and about 60% is spent on workers payroll. Importance of this issue is little improvement in the collection operation has significant impact on total cost savings. The location study is Region 1 of Bandar-Abbas city, with population of 111572 and the area of 2371 hectares. The region composed of 3 areas and 11 neighborhoods. The aim of this survey is solid waste collection and transportation cost analysis of Region 1
of Bandar-Abbas city with in next 15 year.
Material’s and Method: To provide solid waste collection and transportation costs analyzing in Region 1 of Bandar–Abbas city, WAGS software was used. The software has 40 main variables and 16 defaults.

Results: The results showed that within next 15 years, solid waste collection and transportation management needs 35 billion Toomans. The average costs within next 15 years for household solid waste collection are 73806.1 Toomans per year and 60674 Toomans per kg annually. Also, results showed that main costs are relevant to payroll and fuel.
Conclusion: To improve the current situation, collection system must be mechanized and workers should be organized to decrease the costs . Also with machinery improvement and regularly maintenance, fuel costs will be reduced.
Key words: Solid Waste Management, Cost Analysis, WAGS Software, Collection system, Bandar–Abbas city