scholarly journals Assessment of dentists' knowledge and practice regarding the principles of protection against ionizing radiation

Background: Today, the use of dental radiography equipment in dental centers has increased due to its high application in the diagnosis of dental diseases. As a result, concerns are increasing regarding repeated exposure to this low dose level of radiation. Therefore, the knowledge and practice of dentists about radiation protection are essential for themselves and the patients. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of dentists about radiation protection. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed based on a questionnaire in several cities of Iran. The first part of the questionnaire included such information as gender, years of work experience, and participation in radiation protection workshops. The second, third, and fourth sections consisted of questions on radiobiology, radiation protection, and performance, respectively. Results: In this study, 94 dentists participated, and the mean scores of dentists (out of 5 points) for radiobiology knowledge, radiation protection knowledge, and performance were obtained at 2.66±1.1, 2.80±1.01, and 2.87±1.37, respectively. The results of Pearson analysis showed that general knowledge had a significant relationship with performance (P=0.014). There was also a significant relationship between the history of participation in radiation protection workshops and performance (P=0.01). Conclusion: It was found that more knowledge about the effects of ionizing radiation on the body and more awareness of the principles of radiation protection would help dentists to better observe the practical principles of radiation protection. Also, participating in radiation protection workshops could increase dentists' knowledge, and therefore, improve their performance.

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 465
Author(s):  
Leena R. Baghdadi ◽  
Shatha G. Alghaihb ◽  
Alanoud A. Abuhaimed ◽  
Dania M. Alkelabi ◽  
Rawan S. Alqahtani

In 2019, a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)) caused a global pandemic. There was an urgent need to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 to reduce its spread and economic burden. The main objective of this study was to understand the attitudes and concerns of healthcare workers (HCWs) towards the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine, whether their decision was influenced by their history of taking the seasonal influenza vaccine, and factors that influence the acceptance of the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We selected and surveyed 356 HCWs via an electronic self-administered questionnaire. A total of 61.16% of HCWs were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and 55.9% of them had received the seasonal influenza vaccine in the preceding year (2019–2020). The strongest predictors for taking the COVID-19 vaccine were the HCWs’ belief that the COVID-19 vaccine would be safe, needed even for healthy people, that all HCWs should be vaccinated against COVID-19, and that HCWs will have time to take the vaccine. Being female, being middle aged, having <5 years of work experience, having no fear of injections, and being a non-smoker were predictive factors for taking the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine. No associations were found between the intention to take the COVID-19 vaccine and a history of taking the seasonal influenza vaccine.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shima Salehi ◽  
Rozita Hosseini Shamsabadi ◽  
Hassan Otukesh ◽  
Reza Shiari ◽  
Monir Sharafi

Abstract Background: Lupus is an inflammatory and autoimmune disease that involves various tissues and organs of the body. Identification of diagnostic elements to rapid identification of seronegative lupus cases is very important in order to prevent morbidity and progression of disease. This study aimed to compare clinical and laboratory findings of seropositive cases with seronegative lupus patients. Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study was performed on 43 children (17 seronegative and 26 seropositive) with lupus who were admitted to Ali Asghar Hospital during 2007-2017. Seropositive patients had anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) titration >1/80, while seronegative patients had ANA titration <1/80 (at the time of disease diagnosis). Clinical and laboratory findings were compared between two groups.Results: Serositis in patients with ANA- was significantly higher than ANA+ (41.17% vs. 23.07%; p = 0.042). ANA- group had higher autoimmune disease history than ANA+ group (42.85% vs. 15.0%; p = 0.041). The family history of the disease in the ANA- group was greater than ANA+ group (50% vs. 23.52%). The percentage of hypertensive patients in ANA- group was higher than ANA+ group (52.94% vs. 26.92%; p = 0.037). Neurologic symptoms in ANA+ and ANA- groups were 38.46% and 17.64%, respectively (p = 0.043). The frequency of patients with thrombocytopenia in ANA+ group was significantly greater than ANA- group (32% vs. 12.5%; p=0.041). There was no significant difference in other clinical and laboratory findings between two groups. Conclusion: Seronegative lupus patients had higher percentage of musculoskeletal symptoms, autoimmune disease history, familial history of disease, and hypertension, while neurological and thrombocytopenia symptoms were higher in seropositive patients compared to seronegative cases. Therefore, evaluation of these factors can be helpful to diagnosis of seronegative patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-27
Author(s):  
Arzu Erden ◽  
Murat Emirzeoğlu

Context: The level of body awareness, performance emotional state (PES), and demographic characteristics in different sports are subjects to be investigated. It is important to examine the concepts of PES and body awareness to better understand the body–mind relationship in different sports. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the level of body awareness and PES of athletes. Design: In this cross-sectional study, the independent variables are groups (4 different sports), and the dependent variables are body awareness and PES. Participants: The study was conducted on 188 licensed athletes (85 footballers, 36 basketball players, 34 handball players, and 33 swimmers). The mean age of the participants was 14.64 (1.89) years, mean height was 172.44 (11.03) cm, and mean body weight was 62.35 (13.12) kg. Settings: Four sports clubs and 2 high schools were the intervention facilities. Intervention: Body Awareness Questionnaire and Continuous Optimal Performance Emotional Status Scale-2 were used for data collection. Sociodemographic information was recorded. Main Outcome Measures: One-way analysis of variance was used for analysis of normal distribution data in 4 different groups, and the Kruskal–Wallis test was used for the analysis of data that did not show normal distribution. Results: There was no difference in body awareness among the branches (P = .17). The PES of the footballers was better than that of other athletes (P = .01). The correlation between body awareness and PES was medium (r = .47, P < .01), and the correlations between body awareness and age, licensed year, and number of weekly training sessions were weak (r = .22, P < .01; r = .19, P < .01; r = .15, P = .03). Conclusions: The body awareness of athletes may not differ among different sports, but PES is related to many factors such as mood, age, license years, and number of training sessions. In rehabilitation and training, body awareness and PES should be evaluated together.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Pooresmaeil ◽  
Masoumeh Aghamohammadi

Abstract Background Covid-19 is an emerging disease, which has confronted nurses with new moral distress. This study aims to determine the moral distress and its related factors among nurses working in the covid-19 wards of Ardabil city in Iran. Methods This cross-sectional descriptive study evaluated 159 nurses working in the covid-19 wards of Imam Khomeini hospital -as the only hospitalization center for the patients with covid-19 in Ardabil, 2021. The instruments used included a personal-occupational information form and Corley's moral distress scale. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance) in SPSS v22. Results The mean and standard deviation of the frequency and intensity of the nurses' moral distress were estimated 52.28 ± 5.24 and 51.54 ± 5.86, respectively, which indicated the moderate level of moral distress in the both dimensions. The item "I hesitate to tell the patient or the patient's family about his condition and treatment" (4.74 ± 0.75) showed the most moral distress based on the intensity and the phrase "too much work reduces the quality of my work” (4.81 ± 0.55) caused the most moral distress in the frequency dimension. The results indicated a significant relationship between the intensity and frequency of moral distress with the type of nurses' employment (P < 0.05). Moreover, a significant relationship was observed between the nurses’ position and the frequency (P = 0.04), and the nurses’ work experience and the intensity of moral distress (P = 0.02). Conclusions It seems that providing the necessary training for how to deal with the moral distress in new waves of the disease and using the experiences of the experienced nurses in this field are essential due to observing the moderate level of moral distress among nurses working in covid-19 wards.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Astrid Kristina Kardani ◽  
Ninik Asmaningsih Soemyarso ◽  
Jusli Aras Aras ◽  
Risky Vitria Prasetyo ◽  
Mohammad Sjaifullah Noer

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious health problem in children, with increasing morbidity and mortality rates throughout the world. Children with CKD tend to experience magnesium (Mg) defi ciency that can stimulate an infl ammatory response in the body. One of the infl ammatory responses is an increase of Interleukin-6 (IL-6).  Study to analyze the correlation between Mg and IL-6 in pre-dialysis CKD children. The methods a cross sectional study was conducted in Dr Soetomo General Academic Hospital from November 2018 to April 2019. Children with pre-dialyis CKD were included in this study. Variables of serum Mg level (mg/dL) and infl ammatory marker (IL-6) were measured from the blood and analyzed by ELISA method. The correlation between Mg and IL-6 was analyzed with Spearman’s correlation test with p <0.05.  Result a total of 47 children (27 boys vs 20 girls) between 3 months to 18 years old, with pre-dialysis CKD and no history of magnesium supplementation were included. The primary disease that causes of CKD were lupus nephritis (38.3%), nephrotic syndrome (23.4%), urologic disorder (23.4%),  tubulopathy (10.6%) and others (4.3%). The average IL-6 level was 55.42±43.04 pg/dL and Mg level was 2.06±1.54 mg/dL. There were no signifi cant correlation between IL-6 level and Mg level with staging of CKD and duration of illness (p>0.05), but there was a signifi cant correlation between serum Mg level and IL-6 level (r=-0.748; p<0.001). Magnesium levels have a signifi cant inverse correlation with IL-6 levels in pre-dialysis CKD children. The lower the Mg levels in the blood, the higher IL-6 levels and vice versa. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kumar Yadav ◽  
Nand Ram Gahatraj ◽  
Dipendra Kumar Yadav ◽  
Sujan Babu Marahatta

Reproductive health rights ensure that people are able to have satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capacity to reproduce with freedom to decide, when and how often to do so. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices on reproductive health rights among madhesi married women. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 madhesi married women of reproductive age in Sarlahi district conducted from July 2014 to December 2014. Data were entry in Epidata software and analyzed by SPSS 20 version. Of the total 384 respondents most of them (39.3%) were of age group 25-35 years from different ethnic groups. Most were simple illiterate (65.6%) and housewife (60.9%) very few of respondents were knowledge about reproductive health rights (37%) and not statistical significant relationship with level of knowledge and level of practice (χ 1 2 =2.036, p=0.154). Level of knowledge was statistically significant relationship with educational level (χ 4 2 = 43.983 p<0.001). Use of FP services have statistically significant relationship with Age group (p<0.001). The level of knowledge and level of practice on RHRs is still very low in Madhesi women. Keywords: Reproductive health rights; Madhesi women; practice


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzieh Honarbakhsh ◽  
Mehdi Jahangiri ◽  
Haleh Ghaem

Background: Using appropriate respiratory protection equipment (RPE) is very important to protect healthcare workers (HCWs) against respiratory hazards. The aim of this study was to identify the level of knowledge, perceptions and practices of HCWs on using RPE. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 284 employees of educational hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The study’s instrument was a self-made questionnaire that comprised four components: demographic inquiries and questions designed to assess the knowledge, perceptions and practice of HCWs regarding RPE. Collected data were analysed using SPSS software version 21. Results: Average scores of knowledge, perceptions and practice of HCWs on using RPE were 66.50% ± 11.93%, 80.32% ± 10.05% and 70.12% ± 20.51%, respectively. A significant association was observed between knowledge and age, job experience, history of using respirator, marital status and risk of respiratory hazards in the workplace and perceptions with age and education and practice with education. Conclusion: Studied HCWs had positive perceptions and moderate level of knowledge and practice about the use of RPE. Full implementation of respiratory protection program in the hospitals would be helpful to improve the knowledge, perceptions and practices of HCWs regarding RPE.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Ayu Ghalda ◽  
Nazhif Gifari ◽  
Nadiyah Nadiyah

AbstractPhysical fitness is the ability of a person body to do a day work without feeling significant fatigue, that the body has a reserve of energy to overcome the excessive workload. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between hydration knowledge, hydration status, body composition, hemoglobin level with physical fitness in gymnastics athletes. This study was design a cross sectional study at GOR Raden Inten East Jakarta. Independent variables were hydration knowledge, hydration status, body composition (percent of body fat) and hemoglobin level, while the dependent variable was physical fitness. The statistical test used in this study was the spearman correlation test, because the dependent variable in this study was abnormally distributed. The results of this study were that there was no significant relationship between hydration knowledge and physical fitness (r = 0.181; p > 0.05), there was no significant relationship between hydration status and physical fitness (r = -0,440; p = 0,052), there was no relationship significant between body composition (percent of body fat) and physical fitness (r = 0,351; p > 0.05), and there was a significant relationship between hemoglobin level and physical fitness (r = 0,600; p < 0.05). The conclusion in this study, there was a significant relationship between hemoglobin level and physical fitness.Kebugaran jasmani merupakan kemampuan tubuh seseorang untuk melakukan suatu pekerjaan sehari-hari tanpa merasakan kelelahan yang cukup berarti, sehingga tubuh itu sendiri memiliki cadangan energi untuk mengatasi beban kerja yang berlebih. Tujuanpenelitian ini untuk mengetahui hubungan pengetahuan hidrasi, status hidrasi, komposisi tubuh, kadar hemoglobin dengan kebugaran pada atlet senam. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuantitatif dengan desain penelitian cross sectional yang dilakukan di GOR Raden Inten Jakarta Timur. Variabel independen yaitu pengetahuan hidrasi, status hidrasi, komposisi tubuh (persen lemak tubuh)dan kadar hemoglobin, sedangkan variabel dependen yaitu kebugaran.  Uji statistik yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan uji korelasi spearman, karena variabel dependen pada penelitan berdistribusi tidak normal. Hasil dari penelitian yaitu tidak terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara pengetahuan hidrasi dan kebugaran (r=0,181; p>0,05), tidak terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara status hidrasi dan kebugaran (r=-0,440; p>0,05), tidak terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara komposisi tubuh dan kebugaran (r=0,351; p>0,05) dan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara kadar hemoglobin dan kebugaran (r=0,600; p<0,05). Kesimpulan dalam penelitian ini yaitu terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara kadar hemoglobin dengan kebugaran atlet.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Hamzian ◽  
Saeed Asadian ◽  
Asiye Golestani ◽  
Hassan Zarghani

Background: Nowadays, ionizing radiation is increasingly used in medicine. One of the most frequent X-ray examinations is pelvic radiography. Gonads are susceptible in the pelvic area. Gonadal shielding (GS) is a useful method to reduce the received dose by gonads. Despite the benefits of using gonadal shielding, it is rarely used by radiographers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in ten governmental hospitals with 300 radiographs. Results: The radiographers’ knowledge of using GS had a value equal to 59.1%. However, the radiographers did not have enough information on the subject, although their awareness about the significance of GS was acceptable. Conclusions: Although the radiographers believed in the necessity of using GS for pelvic, abdominal, and spine examinations, they used no shields.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Aboh Akande

Abstract Background: Nurses are particularly vulnerable to nosocomial tuberculosis (TB) infection because, being in the frontline of patient care, they are frequently exposed to patients with infectious TB disease. Although cost-effective measures are available for TB infection control (TBIC), they are often poorly implemented. Knowledge of TBIC is known to positively influence the practice of the measures. There is however limited data on the knowledge and practice of TBIC among nurses in Nigeria. This study was aimed at determining the levels of TBIC-related knowledge and practices of nurses in Ibadan, and associated socio-demographic factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from 200 nurses in two secondary health facilities, in May 2014. STATA version 13 was used to analyze data: mean knowledge and practice scores of the nurses and logistic regression to explore their association with socio-demographic factors. Results: The respondents had mean knowledge and practice scores of 68.2% and 79.9% respectively. Using cut-off points of 80% and 100% for good knowledge and practice scores respectively, small proportions of the nurses had good scores- knowledge (10.5%) and practice (6%). Knowledge was found not to be significantly associated with the socio-demographic factors. Work experience was the only factor that was significantly associated with practice, with the more experienced nurses (>18 years of experience) having lesser odds of obtaining good practice scores (OR 0.25, 95%CI 0.06-0.94). Also, there was no significant association between knowledge and practice scores. No structured TBIC training had been conducted at this time. Conclusions: The study revealed that small proportions of the nurses had good knowledge and practice scores. The findings from this study will be useful for the planning of interventions to improve TBIC among nurses and other healthcare workers, and to benchmark monitoring and evaluation of the interventions. It is recommended that the nurses should be trained on TBIC to equip them with necessary knowledge and skills. This, together with appropriate TBIC policy directives, availability of TBIC equipment/supplies and facility architectural remodeling will contribute to optimal implementation of TB preventive measures.


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