scholarly journals Study of Effective Factors in the Tendency of Young People to Smoke Hookah in Teahouses in Deprived Areas of Zahedan in 2018 - 2019

2022 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Badpa ◽  
Mohammad Ali Fardin

Background: Given the increasing trend of hookah use among youth in deprived areas and the increasing number of traditional teahouses serving hookahs, it is critical to investigate the reasons for this issue. Objectives: The aim was to determine the factors affecting the tendency to use hookahs. Methods: This study was conducted in Zahedan City, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The sampling method in this study was cluster sampling, such that among 15 traditional teahouses, 4 teahouses were randomly chosen. After referring to each of these teahouses, 1385 questionnaire forms were distributed among all youth, and 300 questionnaire forms were returned. The structured questionnaire consisted of a series of questions about demographic data, favorite flavor, duration of using a hookah, the main reason for hookah smoking, etc. The analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics, including mean, SD, and linear regression. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: The results of linear regression showed that the duration of smoking (B = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.22-0.37) and reason for smoking were significantly associated with the rate of hookah smoking (B = 0/56; 95% CI, 0.45 - 0.68). Conclusions: As a result, there is a strong association between smoking duration and the atmosphere of traditional teahouses with the rate of hookah smoking. Thus, other places with a healthy atmosphere (such as gyms and sports clubs) should be made for youths to spend their time.

Author(s):  
Ahmed Salem Ahmed Marey Alhammadi ◽  
◽  
Aftab Hameed Memon ◽  

UAE construction industry frequently faces poor cost performance which commonly known as cost overrun problem. This problem is resulted from several factors and it is important to identify these cost overrun factors in order to avoid and minimize it. Hence, this paper focused on determined the relevancy of factors affecting cost performance in construction projects of UAE. Through a review of past research works conducted globally, 27 factors of cost overrun were listed and used for developing a structured questionnaire. A survey was conducted with 33 practitioners from client, consultant and contractors organizations involved in handling construction projects in UAE. The respondents were requested to state their perception regarding the relevancy of each of the factors that was perceived in context with cost overrun issue using 5-points Likert scale. The responses were analysed using average index method and the results found that all the 27 factors are relevant with construction industry of UAE in causing cost overrun. These factors can be used for further investigation to uncover critical problems of cost overrun.


2016 ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Thi Ngoc Anh Nguyen ◽  
Hoang Lan Nguyen

Background: Breast milk is the most valuable source of food for infants, no food is comparable. However in many countries around the world including Vietnam, the breastfeeding prevalence has been declining. A report of the Ministry of Health showed that only 19.6% of infants in Vietnam were exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months. The study was conducted in Hoi An with the aim at describing the situation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of the mothers in Hoi An city, Quang Nam province and; identifying some factors affecting exclusive breast feeding for the first 6 months in the study area. Methods: A crosssectional descriptive study was conducted in Hoi An city in December 2014. 516 mothers of infants aged from 6 to 12 months were directly interviewed on the basis of a structured questionnaire. Information about general characteristics of mothers and their infants, their knowledge and attitude of breastfeeding and the feeding types of their baby for the first 6 months was collected. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months. Results: The exclusive breastfeeding prevalence for the first 6 months is 22.3%. Knowledge in breastfeeding and attitude toward exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months are factors that significantly related to exclusive breastfeeding prevalence for the first 6 months (OR = 3.3; p=0.001 and OR=10.4; p<0.001, respectively). Conclusion: The exclusive breastfeeding rate for the first 6 months in Hoi An city is low. The promoting antenatal education in exclusive breastfeeding is necessary solution to improve exclusive breastfeeding rate for the first 6 months. Key words: breast milk, exclusive breastfeeding, Hoi An


Author(s):  
Miyoung Lee ◽  
Yeon-Suk Kim ◽  
Mi-Kyoung Lee

Prenatal depression is an important factor in predicting postpartum depression. Most studies have assessed factors affecting prenatal depression by focusing on pregnant wives. However, the emotional and psychological aspects of both expectant parents need to be considered. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of spouse-related stress in expectant couples on prenatal depression and investigate the mediating effects of marital intimacy on this relationship. A total of 120 expectant couples from two cities in Korea at more than 15 weeks of completed pregnancy participated in the study. Using a structured questionnaire, we assessed the general characteristics of the participants, spouse-related stress, prenatal depression, and marital intimacy. The results revealed that four actor effects and one partner effect were significant. Marital intimacy and prenatal depression among expectant parents were affected by spouse-related stress. Moreover, spouse-related stress in the husbands completely mediated marital intimacy in pregnant wives, demonstrating partner effects on prenatal depression in pregnant wives. Therefore, it was observed that paternal factors affect prenatal depression in pregnant wives. This warrants the inclusion of husbands in marital interventions and strategies to improve marital intimacy in pregnant wives.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Seema Khadirnaikar ◽  
Annesha Chatterjee ◽  
Sudhanshu Kumar Shukla

BACKGROUND: Leukocyte infiltration plays an critical role in outcome of various diseases including Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). OBJECTIVES: To understand the genetic and epigenetic factors affecting leukocyte infiltration and identification and validation of immune based biomarkers. METHOD: Correlation analysis was done to get the associations of the factors. CIBERSORT analysis was done for immune cell infiltration. Genetic and epigenetic analysis were performed. Cox regression was carried out for survival. RESULTS: We categorized the TCGA-LUAD patients based on Leukocyte fraction (LF) and performed extensive immunogenomic analysis. Interestingly, we showed that LF has a negative correlation with copy number variation (CNV) but not with mutational load. However, several individual genetic mutations, including KRAS and KEAP1, were significantly linked with LF. Also, as expected, patients with high LF showed significantly increased expression of genes involved in leukocyte migration and activation. DNA methylation changes also showed a strong association with LF and regulated a significant proportion of genes associated with LF. We also developed and validated an independent prognostic immune signature using the top six prognostic genes associated with LF. CONCLUSION: Together, we have identified clinical, genetic, and epigenetic variations associated with LUAD LF and developed an immune gene-based signature for disease prognostication.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Luciana Dias Belchior ◽  
Betina Santos Tomaz ◽  
Ana Paula Vasconcellos Abdon ◽  
Norberto Anizio Ferreira Frota ◽  
Daniela Gardano Bucharles Mont’Alverne ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by nigrostriatal degeneration, with dopaminergic depletion, and inflammatory and oxidative changes in the brain, leading to movement and coordination disorders. Recent studies have shown that treadmill training can be beneficial for these patients, but there is little evidence assessing the related blood parameters, such as oxidative stress and neurotrophin levels. Objective: Assess the influence of treadmill training for patients with Parkinson’s on gait, balance, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and reduced glutathione. Methods: Twenty-two patients with PD (Hoehn and Yahr II and III), older than 40 years, were randomly allocated to two groups: CG (n = 12) - drug treatment and IG (n = 10) - treadmill. Assessments related to functional capacity (quality of life, static and dynamic analysis of gait) and blood parameters such as GSH and BDNF were conducted before and after the eight-week intervention. Results: The demographic data of the groups were homogeneous in terms of age, sex, height, weight, time since disease onset, mini mental examination and the geriatric depression scale. Significant intergroup differences were found for the mental component summary, surface variation, latero-lateral oscillation, antero-posterior oscillation and mean velocity in the post-intervention period. The IG exhibited a strong association between BDNF and GSH, with statistically significant values. Conclusion: It was concluded that controlled treadmill walking improves static balance, quality of life and plasma BDNF and GSH levels in patients with PD.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 452
Author(s):  
Jan Bitta ◽  
Vladislav Svozilík ◽  
Aneta Svozilíková Krakovská

Land Use Regression (LUR) is one of the air quality assessment modelling techniques. Its advantages lie mainly in a much simpler mathematical apparatus, quicker and simpler calculations, and a possibility to incorporate more factors affecting pollutant concentration than standard dispersion models. The goal of the study was to perform the LUR model in the Polish-Czech-Slovakian Tritia region, to test two sets of pollution data input factors, i.e., factors based on emission data and pollution dispersion model results, to test regression via neural networks and compare it with standard linear regression. Both input datasets, emission data and pollution dispersion model results, provided a similar quality of results in the case when standard linear regression was used, the R2 of the models was 0.639 and 0.652. Neural network regression provided a significantly higher quality of the models, their R2 was 0.937 and 0.938 for the factors based on emission data and pollution dispersion model results respectively.


Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Amiresmaeili ◽  
Majid Heidari Jamebozorgi ◽  
Azam Heidari Jamebozorgi

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Di Hu ◽  
Chuning Liu ◽  
Kai Xia ◽  
Amy Abramowitz ◽  
Guorong Wu ◽  
...  

Background: With the rapid development of neurobiology and neuroimaging technologies, mounting evidence shows that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is caused by the build-up of two abnormal proteins, amyloid-β plaques (A) and neurofibrillary tangles (T). Over time, these AD-related neuropathological burdens begin to spread throughout the brain, which results in the characteristic progression of symptoms in AD. Objective: Although tremendous efforts have been made to link biological indicators to the progression of AD, limited attention has been paid to investigate the multi-factorial role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the prevalence or incidence of AD. There is high demand to explore the synergetic effect of sex and SES factors in moderating the neurodegeneration process caused by the accumulation of A and T biomarkers. Methods: We carry out a meta-data analysis on the longitudinal neuroimaging data, clinical outcomes, genotypes, and demographic data in Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (http://adni.loni.usc.edu). Results: Our major findings include 1) education and occupation show resilience effects at the angular gyrus, superior parietal lobule, lateral occipital-temporal sulcus, and posterior transverse collateral sulcus where we found significant slowdown of neurodegeneration due to higher education level or more advanced occupation rank; 2) A and T biomarkers manifest different spatial patterns of brain resilience; 3) BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs10835211 shows strong association to the identified resilience effect; 4) the identified resilience effect is associated with the clinical manifestation in memory, learning, and organization performance. Conclusion: Several brain regions manifest resilience from SES to A and T biomarkers. BDNF SNPs have a potential association with the resilience effect from SES. In addition, cognitive measures of learning and memory demonstrate the resilience effect.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah AL-Mutairi ◽  
Muna Saeid

The attempt is made in this study to identify students’ motives and reasons behind enrolling in a MBA program offered by universities operating in Kuwait. It also explores criterion used to select the program. To achieve these objectives, data were collected through a well-designed and structured questionnaire and pre-testing was carried out to examine the efficiency of the instrument. The study showed that the main reasons behind selecting the MBA program by students are to satisfy their personal concerns and improve their knowledge and skills. Moreover, the students used program alumni and campus visit as main sources of information followed by friends’ suggestions and university websites. When evaluating the MBA programs, the students cited overseas accreditation as the most used criteria followed by faculty reputation, institution reputation and admission requirements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-238
Author(s):  
Christian Gjersing Nielsen ◽  
Line Bjørnskov Pedersen ◽  
Rasmus K. Storm

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine citizens’ willingness to pay (WTP), in relation to having a professional first-tier football club in a medium-sized Danish municipality, when tangible economic benefits such as economic growth and/or inbound migration produced by these are absent. Design/methodology/approach Using the contingent valuation method on survey respondents, the study examines factors affecting WTP using binary logistic regression and interval regression and further extrapolates the WTP from the sample to the municipal population. Findings Citizens significantly value having a first-tier football club in their municipality even when tangible benefits are absent, although a large proportion of respondents stated to be against the municipality being financially involved in professional team sports clubs (PTSC). WTP is largely driven by interest in sports and the local football club. It is argued that the findings cannot be generalized across contexts. Research limitations/implications There can be circumstances where public subsidy of PTSCs is beneficial to economic welfare. However, authorities should be careful in their evaluation of whether to subsidize PTSCs. Originality/value The study expands on existing research by informing respondents about the lack of tangible benefits produced by PTSCs, hereby focusing on WTP on an informed basis.


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