Abstract

Humans have been long exposed to various infectious agents and have struggled or avoided encountering these factors based on their knowledge, awareness and experience at different times, in order to keep and promote their health. Although humans have overcome these factors and thus survived, whenever they encounter a new pathogenic agent not fully acquainted with its epidemiological behaviors, they have surprisingly faced with these factors. Accordingly, they were forced to surrender to all the resulting epidemic and pandemics owing to the lack of sufficient knowledge to fight them. The same fact is being experienced in COVID-19 pandemic, and human beings realized the lack of awareness of the actions and reactions of emerging factors, even in this day and age. They also acknowledged that the fight against this emerging agent and its consequences would be based on the experience of previous emerging agent as well as scientific and technological advances, and that they would win the battle.        

Here, we tried to investigate the casualties and correlations of the persistence and disappearance of emerging diseases, considering the experiences gained from the epidemiological behavior of emerging factors in the previous epidemics and pandemics. This goal has been followed in three consecutive sections: 1- Causes of emergence, 2- Stability and persistence and 3-The instability of many emerging diseases. We have concluded that the same is true for SARS, MERS, or coronaviruses that typically cause common cold.

And at this time human will come to believe that natural and intentional biological hazards have always lurked in human health! As a final word, the awareness and readiness of human beings, maintaining environmental health and respecting the biological rights of all human beings are the purely all factors that will reduce the damage is.

Keywords: Emerging, Reemerging, Disappearing, Epidemic, Pandemic, COVID-19

Abstract Background and Aims: Statistical indicators of any phenomenon, including a disease, are of utmost importance to conceive the current situation, predicting the future situation and then planning accordingly, both at individual level and particularly for policy-making and management level. The purpose of this paper is to take a comprehensive but critical look at popular indicators in understanding and management of corona virus pandemic, followed by suggesting few key indicators which should be utilized for monitoring the performance of a health system in tackling COVID-19.
Materials and Methods: Various variables and indicators related to the disease have been reviewed. Variables and indicators have been categorized and their application has been discussed. Finally, the best variables and indicators have been argued as useful for monitoring the performance of a health system.
Results: Closed Case Daily Death Rate and Daily Death to New Patients in the past 14 days rate seem to be more sensitive indicators to show the performance of health systems.
Conclusion: Collecting good data to produce appropriate indicators and their subsequent use for policy making as well as adapting strategies to new patters depicted through data analysis, is an important factor in the success of managing Corona virus epidemic.
Keywords: Corona, epidemic, Corona mortality rate, Closed Case Daily Death Rate

Abstract Background and Aim: Methane is one of the gaseous materials with high potential of damage. Today, it is widely used in process, chemical industries and human environments. This study thus aimed to predict the emissions and the probable effects of liquid methane using ALOHA software in order to perform appropriate safety measures and consequently to reduce the plausible adverse effects. Materials and Methods: Considering the results of HAZOP studies, the worst case scenario was chosen and, using ALOHA software, possible methane gas leak scenarios from the reservoir were modeled. During the study, all the moral standards were observed. Results: Based on the results obtained, gas concentrations of liquid methane would reach 400000 ppm in a distance of 39 meters around the reservoir, which is in the range of PAC-3 demonstrating risk of death threatening the lives of surrounding people. In the event of a full leakage of 238 meters around the reservoir, the methane gas concentration is predicted to be 50000 ppm, which is equivalent to the low explosive charge (LEL) of methane gas. Wave pressure of vapor cloud caused by methane leaks exceeds 1 psi in a distance of 270 meters. Conclusion: The consequences of methane toxicity in the studied refinery are one of the most serious threats to the personnel. Therefore, preparing a reaction plan for emergency conditions will have an effective role in limiting the harmful effects of the toxic and dangerous materials emissions. Keywords: Methane gas, consequence modeling, refinery, ALOHA software

Abstract Background and Aim: Given the increasing trend of smoking among students and considering the potential of Health Belief Model (HBM) in predicting Health Literacy (HL) and smoking prevention as well as the role of HL in smoking prevention, this study aimed to determine the effect of HBM based education on HL and smoking prevention among students. Materials and Methods: The present work is a quasi-experimental interventional study that was conducted in 2017 among 120 non-smoking students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran (60 in each intervention and control group). Data gathering tool was a valid and reliable questionnaire based on the constructs of perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy from the HBM, smoking preventive behaviors and the HL Assessment Questionnaire (HELIA) completed in two stages before and 6 months after the education. The collected data were analyzed using proportional tests and SPSS software version 18. All stages of the study were conducted according to moral standards. Results: There was no significant difference between demographic and background variables. The mean scores of perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits and self-efficacy, HL and preventive behaviors did not show any significant difference between both groups before the intervention (p>0.05). Following intervention, however, the mean scores of perceived susceptibility, benefits and self-efficacy, HL and preventive behaviors have changed significantly in experimental group as compared to control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Education based on constructs of perceived susceptibility, benefits, and self-efficacy could be effective in promoting HL and thus smoking prevention among non-smoker students. Keywords: Health Belief Model, Education, Health Literacy, Prevention, Smoking, Students

Abstract Background and Aim: Diabetes is the most common metabolic and chronic diseases in elderly people. The most important complication in this group is psychological illness, including stress, anxiety and depression. Some nonpharmacological interventions, such as muscle relaxation exercises, may reduce these complications. The present study designed to determine the effect of muscle relaxation exercises on reducing stress, anxiety and depression in elderly people suffering type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted as a pre-test and post-test with two groups of experimental and control in the marginal centers of Isfahan in 2019 through face-to-face interview. Totally, 94 elderly people aged ≥ 60 years old with type 2 diabetes and expressed their stress, anxiety and depression ranging from mild to moderate according to DASS-21 questionnaire, were enrolled and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In the intervention group, relaxation exercises were performed twice a day at home for six weeks. The data obtained were analyzed using Stata 14 software and statistical test Chi square, ttest. All stages of the study were conducted according to moral standards. Results: The stress, anxiety, and depression score decreased in the intervention group in the post-test phase as compared to the control group. The results also showed that educational intervention had a significant effect on the three variables. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, muscle relaxation training is recommended as an effective, convenient and low cost method to improve and prevent the psychological problems of the elderly people with type 2 diabetes. Keywords: Muscle relaxation exercises, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Elderly people, Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract Talking about evaluation of countries and communities’ responses to corona virus needs specific criteria; some of them are discussed in this manuscript as below: 1-Population: Count and structure of population affect the outcome of COVID-19 management, the elder population are more prone to mortality and morbidity from corona virus. 2-The Economic, Political and Social structure of the country: Given the experience gained, this is probably the most effective component on the outcome of Corona pandemic. 3-Solidarity and integrated managerial system coupled with people-centered politics are another issues that should be taken into more consideration in any evaluation process. Communities such as China, eastern and south-eastern countries which received orders and executions from one source were more successful. At the same time, communities such as England and the United States have suffered partly due to their unintegrated domestic policy. Despite the delay, thanks to the presence of a unified leadership and coherent management as well as community participation, our country was among the successful communities. 4-Structure of Health Delivery System (HDS): Universal coverage is an indicator to evaluate HDS. The more public health coverage, the more successful would be the plan. Iran, Scandinavian communities and Southeast Asian countries with their good universal coverage were more successful than western countries. It is worth noting here that England is an exceptional country owing to its good universal coverage based on leveling of services, referral system; however, its success was affected by its economic and political status as well as financial payments index which has been mainly defined for medical services. 5-Health Facilities: Efficacy of this item was under controlled by national economic and political managerial system and universal health coverage at health delivery system. The United States, for example, reveals 2 to 3 times as many manpower and hospital beds and equipment as many eastern and western communities. However, the public suffered from COVID-19 due to the poor socio-economic structure. Conflicts in providing these facilities further tarnished the image of the West. Iran otherwise of US sanctions did a good job regarding producing health facilities and even could exporte them. 6- Knowledge responding to corona virus: The experience and knowledge of responding to COVID-19 were distributed fast all over the globe and used by health providers; however, MOLECULLAR CELULLAR and DIGITAL sciences made difference among the countries. All of the successful countries such as china, Singapore, south chorea, Nippon benefited from these sciences, to build up the diagnostic facilities and detection of affected cases and thus responding fast to them. Iran was somewhat successful in molecular-cellular science; however, showed weak and dependent in digital science demonstrating needs to work more seriously in these fields not only in responding corona crisis but as a developmental knowledge, which is hoped to be considered by policymakers and managers in the future. Keywords: World, Corona Virus, Response, Criteria