Harmful alcohol consumption is associated with considerable social and economic damage to individuals and society. Because gender and ethnic background influence alcohol intake differently, examining gender specific factors influencing harmful drinking is necessary. This study investigated gender differences in alcohol consumption, harmful drinking, and the associated factors among Korean adults.

We analyzed the data from the 2012–2015 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Data from survey participants aged 20–64 years (N = 18,581) were included. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test was used for alcohol dependence, and pooled weights were used. Chi-squared tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted.

The prevalence of harmful alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score ≥ 16) was 10.7% in the total sample; 18.4% in men and 3.4% in women, which constituted a significant difference. Education, marital status, smoking, perceived stress, and depressive feeling were associated with harmful drinking in both genders. However, household income, occupation, and perceived health status were associated with harmful drinking only in men.

Since there are gender differences in harmful drinking and alcohol dependence, gender tailored prevention and intervention strategies for alcohol dependence are necessary including consideration of smoking, stress, and depressive feeling.

It was supposed to analyze status and affecting factors in water and food-borne communicable disease by screening entrants with diarrhea symptom at the point of entry in Korea

Symptomatic travelers with water and food-borne communicable diseases who entered Korea were diagnosed by a health declaration and detection of causative agents in water and food using laboratory tests. Among those entered in 2017, the affecting factors in the incidence of communicable diseases among those who had diarrhea at the entry into Korea, were analyzed, with frequency and chi-square test.

The number of travel entrants with gastrointestinal communicable diseases increased by 40.19% from 2013 to 2017. The percentage of causative agents of water and food-borne communicable diseases was the highest at 69.2% from July to September. The rate of detection of causative agents of communicable disease pathogens in travelers from Southeast Asia entering Korea was 70.2%, which was higher than people arriving from East Asia and Central Asia (57.5%; p < 0.001).

The positive ratio of causative agents of water and food-borne communicable diseases was high among travelers that had entered Korea from July to September, with a high number among entrants from Southeast Asia. Based on the positive detection of causative agents, the entry period and countries visited were statistically significant affecting factors (p < 0.001).

Unhealthy lifestyles among young people are seriously related to incapacity and health problems in adulthood. The aim of this study was to determine the importance of a health-promoting lifestyle and its association with self-efficacy and well-being.

In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 500 students from Shahroud University of Medical Sciences (Shahroud, Iran) were randomly selected in 2017. The Persian versions of Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile, Self-Efficacy Scale, and WHO-5 Well-Being Index were used.

Among the participants, 34% of students had an abnormal imaginable well-being, and 68% of students had high self-efficacy. The mean score of a health-promoting lifestyle was 127.47 ± 19.78, which is interpreted as moderate, and the mean score of physical activity was 14.10 ± 4.95, which is poor. There was a significant relationship between well-being, and self-efficacy with health-promoting lifestyle. Age, gender, educational level, place of residence, student employment, self-efficacy, and well-being were associated with students’ lifestyles.

A health-promoting lifestyle of students in this study was moderate and they did not have an acceptable level of physical activity. The direct effect of well-being, and self-efficacy on lifestyle, revising students’ curriculums to improve their health behaviors, and general health indicators, can all lead to the enhancement of health-promoting lifestyles.

Aflatoxins are a category of poisonous compounds found in most plants, milk and dairy products. The present research was carried out to detect the presence of aflatoxin M₁ (AFM₁) in samples of milk collected from Hamadan province, Iran.

Twenty five samples of ultra-high temperature (UHT) and 63 samples of pasteurized milk were collected and the amount of AFM₁ was measured by an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay method. In addition, the estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard index (HI) of AFM₁ was determined by the following equations:(EDI= mean concentration of AFM₁ × daily consumption of milk/body weight; HI= EDI/Tolerance Daily Intake).

AFM₁ was detected in 21 (84%) UHT milk samples and in 55 (87.30%) pasteurized milk samples. Seven (28%) samples of UHT and 21 (33.33%) pasteurized milk samples had higher AFM₁ content than the limit allowed in the European Union and Iranian National Standard Limits (0.05 μg/kg). None of the samples exceeded the US Food and Drug Administration limit (0.5 μg/kg) for AFM₁. EDI and HI for AM₁ through milk were 0.107 ng/kg body weight/day, and 0.535, respectively.

A significant percentage of milk produced by different factories in Iran (84% of UHT and 87.3% of pasteurized milk) was contaminated with AFM₁. Therefore, more control and monitoring of livestock feeding in dairy companies may help reduce milk contamination with AFM₁. As the HI value was lower than 1, it can be assumed that there was no risk of developing liver cancer due to milk consumption.

Nicotine narrows uterine blood vessels reducing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus. This study examined the effects of fetal exposure to secondhand smoke on neonatal anthropometry.

This cross sectional study recruited 128 pregnant women in the third trimester of single pregnancies who had no chronic illness, were not active or ex-smokers, and who were willing to participate in the study. Pregnant women who were exposed to secondhand smoke had umbilical cord blood nicotine concentrations of ≥ 1 ng/mL. Neonatal anthropometry was assessed according to the newborn birth weight and length. The independent t-test was used to determine the neonatal difference in mean birth weight and length between the women who were exposed to secondhand smoke, and those who were not exposed. A multiple linear regression analysis was employed to assess the effect of secondhand smoke exposure on birth weight and birth length, controlling for potential confounding variables (weight gain during pregnancy, body mass index, parity, maternal age, and maternal hemoglobin).

There were 35 women exposed to secondhand smoke (nicotine ≥ 1 ng/mL). Neonate birth weight and birth length were lower among mothers who were exposed to secondhand smoke. However, only neonate birth weight was significantly reduced by exposure to secondhand smoke (p = 0.005). The mean birth weight of these neonates was 2,916.5 g ± 327.3 g which was 205.6 g less than in unexposed fetuses.

Exposure of mothers to secondhand smoke during pregnancy reduces fetal development and neonatal weight.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the waist circumference of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), had an impact on lung function.

There were 180 patients with COPD recruited into this prospective cross-sectional study. The age, weight, body mass index and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Spirometry parameters including forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), were measured and FEV1/FVC calculated.

The mean FEV1/FVC in both normal weight and overweight patients, did not statistically significantly correlate with WC. The COPD assessment test, positively correlated with WC ( p = 0.031). A positive correlation with body mass index ( p < 0.001), smoking ( p = 0.027), and global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease score ( p = 0.009), were observed to positively associate with WC. WC, age, C-reactive protein, duration of disease, and gender (male), were observed to be statistically significant risk factors for the severity of COPD.

WC was not observed to impact upon lung function in this study but it was a predictive factor for COPD severity in patients.

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is under development as an oncolytic virus due to its preferential replication in cancer cells and oncolytic activity, however the viral components responsible have not yet been determined. In this study the effects of VSV wild-type (wt) and M51R-mutant matrix proteins (M51R-mMP) on apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and autophagy pathways, in an esophagus cancer cell line (KYSE-30) were investigated.

The KYSE-30 cells were transfected with pcDNA3.1 plasmids encoding wt or M51R-mMP, and apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and autophagy were evaluated 48 and 72 hours after transfection.

KYSE-30 cells transfected with VSV wt and M51R-mMPs significantly reduced cell viability to < 50% at 72 hours post-transfection. M51R-MP significantly increased the concentration of caspase-8 and caspase-9 at 48 and 72 hours post-transfection, respectively ( p < 0.05). In contrast, no significant changes were detected following transfection with the VSV wt plasmid. Moreover, VSV wt and M51R-mMP transfected cells did not change the expression of caspase-3. VSV wt and M51R-mMPs did not mMP change caspase-1 expression (a marker of pyroptosis) at 48 and 72 hours post-transfection. However, M51R-mMP and VSV wt transfected cells significantly increased RIP-1 (a marker of necroptosis) expression at 72 hours post-infection ( p < 0.05). Beclin-1, a biomarker of autophagy, was also induced by transfection with VSV wt or M51R-mMPs at 48 hours post-transfection.

The results in this study indicated that VSV exerts oncolytic activity in KYSE-30 tumor cells through different cell death pathways, suggesting that M51R-mMP may potentially be used to enhance oncolysis.

Health education programs are one of the most important strategies for controlling cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in endemic areas such as Neshabur city. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a comprehensive health education program to improve preventive behaviors for CL.

This was an interventional study conducted on 136 high school students in Neishabur city. Data collection instruments included a demographic questionnaire and a researcher-made questionnaire based on the “Health Belief Model” and “Beliefs, Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Enabling Factors Model” constructs. The control and intervention groups completed the questionnaires before and 2 months after the intervention. The intervention was conducted in 6, 1-hour educational sessions for the intervention group students and 2, 1-hour sessions for school administrators, teachers, and students’ parents.

There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the pre-intervention phase. However, in the post-intervention phase, there were significant differences between the 2 groups for mean scores of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, cues to action, self-efficacy, attitude, subjective norms, behavioral intention, enabling factors, and behavior associated with CL.

Health education program based on the “Health Belief Model” and the “Beliefs, Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Enabling Factors Model” model constructs may be a comprehensive and effective educational program to improve preventive behaviors against CL in students.