Objectives: Work ability may be considered as an important aspect of well-being and health status. One of the most important factors in association with work ability is health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study has been to determine the association between work ability, individual characteristics and HRQoL of female workers. Material and Methods: The design of this study has been cross-sectional. The work ability index (WAI) and Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-12) questionnaires were used to collect data. Three hundred and twenty female workers were selected from food supplier factories in Karaj. One-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation analysis, independent sample t-test and multiple linear regression methods were used to analyze data. Results: Mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) of the WAI stood at 35.02 and 5.57, respectively. The categories of the WAI for women being as follows: 8.8% poor, 62% moderate, 25.4% good and 3.7% excellent. Mean±SD for the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of quality of life was 58.84±11.12 and 57.45±9.94, respectively. There was a positive significant association between the PCS and MCS with the WAI (p = 0.0001). Workers with higher education had a better work ability (p = 0.002) and shift-work workers had a worse work ability (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Work ability of majority of women was moderate. Considering mean age of studied women (27.6 years old), this work ability is not satisfactory. Physical and mental components of the HRQoL were the important factors associated with work ability.

Background: High systolic blood pressure is the leading risk factor for global mortality. Applying effective strategies to control hypertension is a rising concern. Guidelines are approved to be effective in the management of patients with cost-effective interventions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the adherence of family physicians working in Isfahan health centers to the national hypertension guideline, in 2019. Methods: Using a cross-sectional study, the practice of 43 physicians selected by a multistage sampling method from the perspective of hypertension management was observed in 377 visits. The data gathering form was designed according to the national hypertension guideline. Adherence to the guideline was evaluated by dividing the earned score by the most score one can earn. Data were analyzed using Independent T -test, Pearson correlation and linear regression model. Results: The mean score of adherence to the national hypertension guideline was 33.6 ± 16.42%. There was a significant association between physician's sex, years passed from graduation, type of occupation contract, type of university of education, and attending empowerment class and adherence to the national hypertension guideline. Conclusions: The results of our study show that family physicians just follow one-third of the recommendations in the national hypertension guideline.

Background: Neonatal sepsis is a leading cause of death in neonates worldwide. The investigation of biomarkers for the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis is in progress with controversial outcomes. The current report aims to evaluate the values of salivary C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) for the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 89 neonates, including 49 neonatal septic case and 40 healthy group admitted at the neonatal intensive care unit, were evaluated. The salivary samples of IL-18 and CRP were measured before the antibiotic therapy initiation, as soon as blood samplings. Sepsis diagnosis was confirmed by the positive blood culture. The diagnostic values of the biomarkers were determined using the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) analysis. Besides, the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV) positive likelihood ratio (LR+), negative likelihood ratio (LR-), and diagnostic accuracy were measured. Results: Salivary CRP level was remarkably higher in septic case than healthy group (5.2 ± 4.61 vs. 3.5 ± 1.7; P = 0.02), while salivary IL-18 was not different between the groups (0.1 ± 0.29 vs. 0.04 ± 0.19; P = 0.25). The ROC curve for IL-18 showed insignificant values ( P = 0.37). The ROC curve of salivary CRP showed area under the curve of 0.63 (95% confidence interval: 0.51–0.74; P = 0.03) with the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, LR+, LR − and diagnostic accuracy of 44.9% (31.8–58.7), 80% (65.2–89.5), 73.3% (55.5–85.82), 54.2% (41.6–66.3), 60.6% (50.29–70.18), 2.24 (1.57–3.2), and 0.68 (0.63–0.75) at the cutoff of 4.55 ng/L, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the current study, salivary CRP can be considered a biomarker for the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, while no statistical values for salivary IL-18 were detected. Due to the significance of neonatal sepsis, further evaluations are strongly recommended.

Cervical cancer is the most common neoplasm among women worldwide (1). It is estimated that 529,800 new cases worldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year. The disease incidence is not common in the Western world (2). There are more than 85% of the cases in developing countries (3). It is estimated that the incidence rate of cervical cancer in Iran is 2.5 per 100,000 (4). According to a recent study, mortality rate of cervical cancer was 42% among these patients in Iran (4). If cervical cancer is detected in an early stage, it can be treated, while, advanced stage of cervical cancer is associated with poor prognosis and a lower survival rate (5-7). On the other hand, advanced cervical cancer is the main cause of mortality in women. Recently, early ORIGINALNI NAUČNI ČLANAK

Background: The first case of Covid-19 disease was identified in Iran on February 19, 2020, and spread rapidly throughout the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Isfahan province of Iran from February 29, 2020, to July 21, 2020, and evaluate the effect of health system screening on the final outcome patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all patients with positive COVID-19 PCR test and patients with negative PCR test but suspected clinical symptoms of COVID 19, admitted to Isfahan hospitals from February 29 to July 21were included in the study and the epidemiological characteristics of patients such as demographic characteristics, underlying disease, early signs and symptoms and the final outcomes of patients were analyzed using SPSS software version 20. Results: Of 11817 inpatients with COVID-19, 6590 (55.9%) were male, 1222 (10.4%) died, 9759 (82.8%) were discharged, and 4324 (36.7%) of hospitalized patients were asymptomatic. Among the hospitalized patients, 4642 (35.8%) had received primary screening services, and the mean age of the screened patients was statistically significantly higher than the group without primary screening (58.9±20.61, 55.08±21.57, P=0.068). 6914 (64.6%) of hospitalized patients had a positive initial PCR test, which was statistically significantly higher in patients with diabetes and an early symptom of sore throat. The Odds Ratio (OR) of readmission was most significantly associated with underlying cancer (OR=3.05, CI 95% 1.31-7.1) (P=0.011). The rate of readmission was statistically significantly higher in elderly, rural residents, and patients with underlying disease, diabetic, and hypertensive patients (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that about half of the people who tested positive for COVID- 19 needed to be hospitalized, and about 9 percent mostly diabetic and hypertensive patients, needed readmission. More than half of the hospitalized people were not screened by the health system. However, screening by the health system had no effect on the length of hospital stay and disease outcome.