AbstractIntroduction:Arsenic is one of the heavy metals known to be a cause of cancer and many other serious human health problems. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has classified arsenic as a Group 1 carcinogen. Studies were performed in different populations to investigate the association between arsenic and breast cancer and the present paper attempts to review these studies.Methods and materials:Accessible electronic resources including, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct and Scopus and Google Scholar were searched, with relevant phrases up to October 30, 2016. All articles were reviewed by two people separately and among them, original epidemiologic studies that investigated the association between breast cancer and exposure to arsenic were included.Results:Eventually seven articles were selected from 126 retrieved articles. Although three studies (one case-control and two ecological) were not able to show a significant affect, others provide some evidence of a relation between arsenic and breast cancer in specific subgroups.Conclusion:Exposure to arsenic may increase the risk of breast cancer. The strength of this relation can vary due to regional and individual differences.

Background: Diabetes is a chronic disease that its prevalence will double in the world by 2030. According to the report of world health organization (WHO) in 2014, diabetes is the fourth main disease contributing to premature death among Iranians. Objectives: According to the third national program of care system for risk factors of non-communicable diseases, the prevalence of diabetes is reported to be more than 8 percent. Given the high prevalence of diabetes and its importance, the aim of this study was compare the quality of life in patients with type II diabetes and healthy people in Kerman. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional. Two hundred diabetic patient and 200 healthy people participated in this study. The WHOQOL-BREF was used to collect data. Results: This study showed that score of quality of life in all dimension in diabetic patients were fewer than healthy people impressively (P < 0.05). The score of quality of life in physical dimension was higher in men than women (P = 0.035) and it was also higher in people graduated in diploma than other levels of education (P = 0.047). Conclusions: To recapitulate, since chronic diabetes disease is not fatal, the patients will not be recovered and they practically have the disease and its complications over their entire life, it is recommended to address the quality of life among these patients' especially physical and psychological domains.

AbstractIntroduction:Cadmium (Cd) is one of the heavy metals that have negative effects on human health. In Iran, there is no policy to regularly measure Cd in the general population. However, some studies have been performed on special groups and in different cities of Iran. This paper has reviewed these studies and human contamination levels in Iran.Method and materials:All accessible electronic information resources such as Scientific Information Database (SID), Magiran, IranMedex, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar and Science Direct were searched, with relevant phrases and their Persian translations. The search included all studies conducted in Iran and listed in the databases until March 15, 2016.Results:Eventually, 18 articles were selected from 25 retrieved articles. Cd was higher among industrial workers exposed to Cd. In the general population, Cd was higher among smokers and in people with environmental exposure from living in industrial areas.Conclusion:Considering the high Cd contamination in the workers of industries, it seems to be necessary to do surveillance in this group through periodic regular check-ups and avoiding unnecessary exposure to Cd as much as possible. Also due to the high concentration of Cd in smokers, there should be more awareness of the damaging effects of smoking, especially among pregnant women, and more attention to local industries, especially those dealing with Cd, is necessary. These industries should be kept at a safe distance from residential areas.

Background: The present study aimed to investigate breast cancer trend, incidence, and mortality among Iranian women and was one of the first provincial and population-based studies to investigate breast cancer changes during 14 years in the largest province of Iran, Kerman. Methods: This was a population-based longitudinal study. Information about women diagnosed with breast cancer from 2001 to 2014 was obtained from the Cancer Registry of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Independent-samples t test, one-way analysis of variance, linear regression, time series graphs, and fitted line plots were performed using SPSS 22 and Minitab 17.Results: A total of 2771 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in Kerman province from 2001 to 2014. The mean age of female patients was 49.52±12.88 years. The total incidence rate was 13.5 per 100,000 women and there was an increasing trend for incidence and age at diagnosis. Also, 254 women died from breast cancer during these 14 years and the mean mortality age was 54.16±14.33 years. There was also an increasing trend for mortality and age of death.Conclusion: There is an increasing trend for incidence and mortality from breast cancer in Kerman province and this requires interventions such as appropriate screening programs. Also, enabling physicians and increasing patient awareness to identify breast cancer symptoms is necessary.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Objectives: Regarding the effect of delay on survival in patients with breast cancer and the high incidence of delayed presentation in these patients in Iran, we decided to study the factors affecting delay in seeking treatment in patient with breast cancer in Kerman, South-east of Iran. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 80 cases (with delay time less than 3 months) and 80 controls (patients with delay time more than 3 months) were enrolled. A questionnaire including demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and Health belief model (HBM) subscales was used for data collection after reliability and validity assessment. Results: The majority of the patients were housewives (73.2%) and most of the patients lived in urban areas (63.7%). The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that there was a significant relationship between the perceived barriers OR = 1.48 (CI 95% = 1.18 -1.86), cues to action OR = 0.72 (CI 95% = 0.55 -0.93), perceived susceptibility OR = 0.87 (CI 95% = 0.78 -0.97), and the first symptom OR = 0.259 (CI 95% = 0.08 -0.79) with delay in seeking treatment in patients with breast cancer. Conclusions: According to the results, health belief and knowledge about breast cancer were two important factors affecting delay in treatment seeking in patients with breast cancer in Kerman, Iran. In order to reduce this delay, appropriate health education programs should be performed.

: Background: There is a paucity of research examining the pattern of and factors that influence cell phone use while driving in Iran. This study aimed to report the prevalence of and factors related to cell phone use while driving based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, among a sample of college students in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Kerman, Iran, in 2016. Participants volunteered to participate after the study was advertised. We used the Texting While Driving questionnaire (TWD) based on the theory of planned behavior for data collection and used SPSS 22 to calculate linear regression and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: Two hundred and fifty-seven (n=257) students completed the questionnaire. Participants were between the ages of 18 and 47 years; 54.4% were females; 52.1% were single; 47.1% were undergraduate students, and 47.9% did not work. There was a significant relationship between intention toward sending and reading text messages while driving and gender, attitude, subjective norm, Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC), and moral norm. Also, there was a significant relation between willingness to send and read text messages while driving and PBC, subjective norm, group norm, and moral norm. For intention, personal factors were involved, and willingness was affected by both personal factors and friend/peer groups. Conclusions: Texting while driving is prevalent among college students in Kerman; and intention and willingness to do this, is affected by several factors. Our findings suggest needs for the individual and peer- group training, and increasing awareness about the dangers of using cell phones while driving among this sample.

Background: Chromium (Cr) is a heavy metal and trace mineral found in various forms. Cr III is an essential nutrient, that is normally found in human blood and urine; in contrast, Cr VI is listed in group I carcinogens and is hazardous for human health. Several studies have been done about measuring human Chromium levels in Iran and this review attempted to summarize these studies. Methods: Electronic resources including SID, Magiran, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar were searched; with phrases including "Exposure to Chromium, Chromium exposure, Chromium measuring, Occupational exposure to Chromium, Environmental exposure to Chromium, Chromium" and their Persian translations until December 2, 2016. Results: From the 1,309 retrieved articles, 32 articles were selected. In welding, electroplating and cement companies, chromium concentrations in workers who dealt directly with Cr were higher than others employees. In the general population, people who lived near a factory or an industrial center, or people who had taken dental treatments especially with orthodontic appliances, had higher Cr levels. Cr deficiency was also investigated in several studies, for its possible relation to diabetes type 2. Conclusion: Cr VI exposure should be under surveillance in Iranian industrial workers; and residential areas should be kept in a safe distance from Cr producing industries. Cr III deficiency might be related to diabetes type 2.

Background and aims:Journal Club is a well-known method for reviewing new scientific articles and evidence-based information; in different fields of medical sciences.Methods:This qualitative content analysis study was done by interviewing nine academics and graduate students at the Department of Librarianship at the Faculty of Health Management and Medical Informatics of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran in 2015. Data collection was continued until saturation.Results:Several strategies for holding better journal clubs were extracted from the interviews. The main themes extracted were that; journal clubs should be held at an appropriate time, have someone in charge of organizing the facilities and content; and let everyone participate in the discussion. Also article appraisal should be taught to participants beforehand. Some of the obstacvles of a good journal club were the lack of sufficient proficiency in English and lack of proper understanding of the subject under discussion.Conclusion:Although in many great universities around the world evidence-based journal clubs are routinely and correctly held; this task has not yet been maturely performed in many educational centers in Iran. More efforts should be put into holding routine and appropriate journal clubs.