Professor Stanisław Kafel passed away on March 23, 2023 in Warsaw, Poland. He was a distinguished employee of the Institute of Food and Nutrition (IŻŻ) in Warsaw, incorporated in 2020 into the structures of the National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene. As an outstanding expert in meat hygiene, Professor Stanislaw Kafel, has also worked for the Food Agriculture Organisation(FAO) in Rome and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.
Background: Internet can act as an excellent resource for gaining valuable health related information. However, excessive online research and investigation about health-related issues may impose a negative impact. The term cyberchondria is used to describe a clinical condition in which frequent internet searches for health-related information leads to exaggerated anxieties about physical well-being.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of cyberchondria and associated factors among the information technology professionals of Bhubaneswar in India.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 243 software professionals in Bhubaneswar using a previously validated Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS-15) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics in terms of number, percentage, mean and standard deviation were presented. Independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance was applied to compare the cyberchondria score between two and more than two independent variables respectively.
Results: From 243 individuals 130 (53.5%) were males and 113 (46.5%) were females with mean age 29.82±6.67 years. The prevalence of cyberchondria severity was found to be 46.5%. The mean cyberchondria score of all study subjects was 43.80±10.62. It was significantly higher among those who spend more than 1 hour in the internet during night, feel fear and anxiety in visiting the doctor or dentist, interested in gaining the health-related information from other resources and agreed that gaining health related information has increased after COVID-19 pandemic (p˂0.05).
Conclusion: Cyberchondria is a growing issue with regard to mental health in developing countries and has the ability to cause anxiety and distress. Appropriate actions must be taken to prevent it on a societal level.
Background: The locations of food purchase have an impact on the quality of food consumed.
Objective: To examine food purchasing habits at traditional and modern markets, their associated factors, and their effects on consuming natural and processed foods.
Material and methods: This work used a validated conceptual and methodological framework of a study conducted among 507 households in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region in Morocco. Data on sociodemographic and economic characteristics and the frequency of food purchasing were collected from household representatives through a population survey. The food frequency questionnaire was used to collect frequency of consumption of 20 foods, including 10 natural and 10 processed. The associations between the variables were studied by the Chi-square test with a level of significance of p <0.05.
Results: Among the households 70% were urban, 62% have nuclear families, 51.5% a size of 5 to 12 members, 41% middle standard of living, 87% frequented markets and souks (MS), and 19% frequented large and medium-sized stores (LMS) at least once a week. The households have in majority a frequency of natural foods consumption ≥ 3 times/week, including fresh vegetables (91%), olive oil (85%), and fresh fruit (84%); and processed foods, such as refined flours (68%), industrial cheese (65%) and industrial yoghurt (52%). MS and LMS frequentation were associated with environment (p<0.001), family type (p=0.01 and p=0.002, respectively), household size (p=0.04 and p=0.002 respectively) and standard of living (p<0.001). Foods whose consumption was associated with both MS and LMS frequentation included fresh vegetables (p<0.001) as natural foods and baked goods as processed foods (respectively, p=0.01 and p=0.04).
Conclusion: The results of this study argue for implementing a nutrition education strategy based on the choice of food purchase locations as well as the consumption of natural or processed foods as part of a sustainable Mediterranean diet.
Background: Preventing overweight and obesity in early childhood is a priority for healthcare systems worldwide due to the harmful effects on health and economy over the medium and long term.
Objective: The aim of this study is therefore the identification of the determinants predictive of overweight and obesity during the first 24 months of a child's life.
Material and methods: From May 2021 to January 2022, 1012 mother-child pairs were included in this study and were interviewed at urban and rural health centers in the Skhirat-Temara in Morocco prefecture using a questionnaire. The anthropometric measurements of the children were also taken according to World Health Organization standards.
Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 0-24 months was 16.5%. This prevalence increased with age (12.5% for the 0-6 months group, and 15.5% and 21.5% respectively for the 7-12 months and 13-24 months groups). Cesarean delivery (aOR=1.78; 95%CI: 1.26-2.51; p=0.001), more than two living siblings in the household (aOR=1.48; 95%CI: 1.03-2.12; p=0.03), male gender (aOR=1.56; 95%CI: 1.10-2.20; p=0.01), and child age (aOR=0.94; 95%: 0.92-0.97; p <0.001) are significant predictors of overweight and obesity. Paternal smoking (aOR=2.16; 95%CI: 1.15- 4.06; p=0.01), short sleep duration (aOR=4.05; 95%CI: 1.27-12.88; p=0.01) in children aged 7-12 months, and combined breastfeeding (aOR=5.88; 95%CI: 2.07-16.72; p<0.001) during the first six months in children aged 13-24 months are also predictive determinants for this problem.
Conclusion: The identification of early predictors of overweight and obesity can be used by public health decision-makers as a roadmap for action to prevent and improve health.
Radon is noble, monatomic, radioactive, heavier than the air gas. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless. It exists in natural environment as a result of the decay of radium, and emits mainly alpha radiation and less beta radiation. Residential radon concentrations vary widely by geographic area. The higher concentration of radon is expected globally in the grounds where uranium, radium and thoron are present. Radon may gather in caves, tunnels, mines as well as in other lowestlying spaces, such as basements, and cellars. In accordance with Atomic Law (2000), the reference level for the average annual concentration of radioactive radon in rooms intended for human habitation is 300 Bq/m3. The most dangerous damages caused by ionizing radiation i.e. radon and its derivatives are changes to DNA, which may disturb the functions of cells and in the consequence lead to induction of cancer of respiratory tract, mainly of lungs and also leukaemia. So, the main consequence of exposure to high amount of radon are cancers of respiratory system. Radon enters the human organism mainly through inhaled atmospheric air. Moreover, radon significantly increased a risk of induction cancer in smokers and vice versa, smoking promotes the development of lung cancer after the exposure to radon and its derivatives. Radon may also have beneficial effect on the human body. Therefore it is used in medicine; mainly in radonbalneotherapy i.e. bath treatments, rinsing the mouth and inhalation. Beneficial effects of radon confirms the validity of the theory of radiation hormesis, which assumes that low doses of radiation may stimulate the repair of DNA damage by activation of protective mechanisms, which neutralize free radicals.
Background: Village health volunteers have been an important group who plays the role in prevention and control of COVID-19 pandemic situations at primary care units, Thailand.
Objective: The objective of this cross-sectional analytic study was to assess the level and analyze the association between personal information, capability, opportunities, motivations, and behaviors to prevent and control COVID-19 among Village healthy volunteers in a high risk district, Southern Thailand.
Material and methods: G*power program was used to calculate the sample size of 145 VHVs recruited for this study. Data collection was done using a well-structured questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale for capability, opportunities, motivations, and behaviors component, and multi-stage sampling of 18 sub-district health promoting hospitals was carried out. Data analysis was done using descriptive, Chi-square and Fisher Exact test.
Results: Majority (89.7%) of the VHVs were female, and 62.8% were 28-59 years old. More than half, 55.9% (81) have been VHVs for 11-36 years. Generally, higher capacity was found among 59.3% (86) of the VHVs, low opportunity level among 81.4% (118), high motivation among 53.8% (78) and a good behavior towards the prevention and control of COVID-19 among 72.4% (105). The VHVs' age and duration of practicing were significantly (P< 0.01 and P < 0.05 respectively) associated with COVID-19 prevention behavior (x2 =6.894 and 5.255 respectively). Likewise, there are significant association between capacity (p ≤ 0.001 and x2 = 31.014), opportunity (p≤ 0.05 and x2 = 9.473), motivation (p ≤ 0.001 and x2 = 0.0001) and VHVs' behaviour to prevent and control COVID-19.
Conclusion: HVHs' opportunity is very low in the study area and it negatively affects good behavior for the prevention and control of COVID-19. All stakeholders in the district can use the association among the capability, opportunity, motivation and behavioral model to develop practice guideline and set policy for preventing COVID-19 in the community.
Background: Considered a modern phobia, Nomophobia (NO MObile PHOne PhoBIA) is a term describing irrational fear or anxiety of being unable to access one's own mobile phone.
Objectives: To develop and validate the nomophobia questionnaire, administering it to a sample of adolescents representing undergraduate dental students. To assess the prevalence of Nomophobia, determine the usage pattern of mobile phones and evaluate the impact due to lack of access to mobile phones among undergraduate dental students.
Material and method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 302 undergraduate students of Bhubaneswar through a self-administered questionnaire via Google Forms consisting of 19 items evaluating the pattern and anxiety related to usage of mobile phones. Responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale. Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and Chisquare tests were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Test-Retest reliability showed kappa of k=0.86 and Internal consistency Chronbach's-Alpha to be α=0.82. Prevalence of nomophobia (score ≥ 58) was 32.1%, and students at risk of being nomophobic (score 39-57) was 61.9%. It was highest in males (32.6%) and amongst the interns (41.9%) and lowest (25.5%) amongst the second-year students. Participants felt nervous/insecure if their phones were away from them because of the fear that somebody might have accessed their data (3.07±1.93) and or tried to contact them (3.09±1.13) which were not statistically significant (p>0.05).
Conclusions: The present study confirms that nomophobia is an emerging behavioural addiction among dental students. Adequate prevention strategies would be helpful in reducing the impact of the chronic mobile usage. Effect of the mobile phone on dental students and the fear of not having it with them is increasing elaborately, that needs to be controlled. Otherwise, it would negatively affect their academic achievement and well-being.
Folic acid (folacin, B9) is a vitamin that performs many very important functions in the human body, and its inadequate level - deficiency as well as excess, may contribute to an increased risk of developing many disease processes. The aim of this study was to analyze the available scientific literature on folic acid and its impact on human health. A systematic review of the studies, published until November 2022, was made on the basis of searching bibliographic databases such as: PubMed, Elsevier and Google Scholar. The following keywords and combinations were used: folic acid, folate, folic acid supplementation, folate deficiency. Folic acid, thanks to its high biological activity, has a direct and indirect effect on the metabolism of the human body cells. It plays a very important role, among others in the prevention of neural tube defects and megaloblastic anemia, the proper functioning of the nervous system, as well as reducing the risk of developing certain cancers. Currently, the important role of folic acid in maintaining the proper functioning of the immune system is also emphasized, which is of particular importance both in the prevention and in the situation of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection. The effects of deficiency and excess of vitamin B9 may turn out to be dangerous to health and even life. There is a need for nutritional and health education of the society regarding the importance of folic acid for human health, due to the presence of large deficiencies in the population, which is particularly important for some social groups, such as, for example, women of procreation age, pregnant or breastfeeding, people with a nutrient malabsorption, and people who smoke or abuse alcohol.
Background: Globally, alcohol consumption is the major cause of mortality and disease. Future health and life quality may also be affected by early initiation of alcohol consumption. It is a cross-sectional design for a research survey.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate alcohol drinking behavior, the effects of alcohol consumption, and factors linked to alcohol drinking behavior among 410 secondary school students in grades 1-3 in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand.
Material and methods: A simple sample was selected from a stratified random sample of 210 individuals. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire comprised of five sections and 78 items in total. The index of item objective congruence (IOC) of 0.90 and the reliability of 0.74 was used to evaluate the tool's quality. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and chi-square statistics were employed.
Results: The results of the study showed that a total of 40.0% of the participants had previously consumed alcohol, that men were more likely than women to drink (54.8%), that beer was the most popular alcoholic beverage (57.7%), that most people drank alcohol at night while at home (47.6%) and with friends (83.6%), the majority of participants (13.9%) drank alcohol one to three times per week, and their attitudes toward alcohol were moderate (85.7%). Religion, knowledge about alcohol use, and the amount of money received each month from habitat for humanity were not found to be linked to drinking alcohol.
Conclusion: The conclusion is that the use of alcohol by students is influenced by a wide variety of circumstances. Health professionals, educational institutions, and relevant agencies should use these factors to promote alcohol use prevention behaviors and formulate guidelines and measures to prevent this by designing an effective prevention program to reduce the alcohol use behaviors of children and young people in the appropriate manner.
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