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Background and Objective: Colorectal cancer is the third common malignancy in the world. Personal habits including life style and nutrition have been proposed as risk factors of colorectal cancer. We conducted this study to assess the nutritional characteristics in colorectal cancer patients in Golestan province of Iran.

Materials and Methods: This case-control study was done on 47 colorectal cancer cases, diagnosed during 2004-05 and 47 healthy controls. A questionnaire containing socio-demographic and nutritional characteristics (FFQ) was filled for each of the participants. Chi square test was used to assess the relationship between variables.

Results: In each of the two groups, 40.4% were females and 59.6% were males. The mean±SD age of age in cases and controls were 52.4±13.4 and 52.1±13.1 years, respectively. Total energy expenditure of higher than 1837.5 Kcal/ day was significantly related to colorectal cancer (OR=3.8 95% CI: 1.2-11.3). Colorectal cancer risk was higher in individual with frying cooking method (OR=3 95% CI: 0. 8-11.1). The risk of colorectal cancer was 6.5 times higher in individuals with fat consumption of higher than 118.5 grams/day (95% CI: 1.5-28.8). No significant relationship was seen between vegetables consumption and the risk of colorectal cancer.

Conclusion: This study showed that high total energy expenditure, high fat consumption and using frying method for cooking are risk factors of colorectal cancer in Golestan prevince in Nothern of Iran.

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Background and Objective: Destructive effects of thyroid diseases in pregnancy and fetal frowth is well established subclinical autoimmune thyroid diseases can double the rate of preterm labor, abortion and postpartum thyroiditis. This study was done to compare thyroid function and autoimmunity derangment in goiterous and non-goiterous pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This case – control study was done on 100 healthy and 100 goiterous pregnant women in Dezyani hospital located in Gorgan, Northern Iran during 2005. Five mililiter of blood sample was obtained from each subject to measure thyroid hormones concentration including T3/ T4/ TSH/ T3 RUP and thyroid autoantibodies (Anti Tg/Anti TPO). Thyroid hormone and auto antibodies were measured using IRMA and ELISA techniques. Results: Thyroid volume was enlargel twice and tripl of its orginal size in 34% and 66% goitrious pregnant women respectively. Mean serum TSH in cases and controls were 1.81+/-1.33 microU/ml and 1.84+/-1.4 microU/ml respectively. The mean of Anti TPO and Anti Tg in cases were 373.91+-197.36 U/ml and 248.80+-70.59 U/ml respectively. The same indecs for controls were 79.52+-63.99 U/ml and 248.80+-70.59 U/ml respectively. In pregnant women with goiter 36% had high Anti TPO and 9% had high Anti Tg, but in control group 16% and 4% of controls had elevated Anti TPO and Anti Tg, respectively. Conclusion: According to thyroid function tests there were elevation of antibody in 20% of the healthy subjects and 45% of the goiterous subjects, therefore it is advisable to measure thyriod function tests accompanied with thyriod antibodies in all pergnant women either with or without goiter in order to prevent feto-maternal disorders.

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Background and Objective: Celiac is a hereditary disease presented with chronic inflammation of small intestine. Several studies supposed a relationship between Celiac disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Tissue trans-glutaminase antibody is one of the best serological markers in Celiac disease. This study was designed to evaluate the association of Celiac and IBD using tissue trans-glutaminase antibody.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study 127 confirmed IBD patients who were referred by gastroentrologists 2005-08 enrolled into the study. A questionnaire was completed and tissue trans-glutaminase antibody was evaluated with ELISA method with a Cut-off=12 U/ml.

Results: Among 127 referred patients, serum samples of 102 patients were collected. Mean±SD of age was 36.17±15.2 years and 48% were males. Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and other colitis were observed in 76 (74.5%), 7 (6.9%) and 19 (18.6%) of patients, respectively. Tissue trans-glutaminase antibody was positive (19.8 U/L) in one 46-years-old male patient with ulcerative colitis.

Conclusion: Tissue trans-glutaminase antibody titer was not significantly different between IBD patients and controls, thus it seems not appropriate to suggest as one of the routine tests in IBD patients.

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Background and Objective: Obesity presented as the most pivotal public health problem. Motivational interviewing is a client-centered and direct technique to improve intrinsic motivation of people to change behavior using search and resolve ambivalence that its beneficial outcomes have widely been confirmed. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of motivational interviewing on weight loss in women. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, 150 women with overweight and obesity were randomly divided into control, motivational interviewing and motivational interviewing and intention implementation groups. Data were collected through a researcher made questionnaire at baseline and 2 month follow up. Results: The score of protection motivation theory constructs including susceptibility, severity, rewards, self-efficacy, response efficacy and cost were significantly increased in the two intervention groups compared to the control group (P<0.05). Anthropometric characteristics were significantly reduced in the motivational interviewing and motivational interviewing with intention implementation group (P<0.05) in compare to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Motivational interviewing integrated into intention implementation causes weight loss and increase the constructs score in women.

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Background and Objective: Smoking is one of the important risk factors for many diseases and increases the premature death.Transtheoretical models is one of the behavioral models for behavior understanding specifically in addictive behaviors. This study was done to evaluate the application of transtheoretical model to determination of smoking behavior among smokers.

Methods: This descriptive - analytical study conducted on 450 male smokers in Gorgan, northern Iran during 2014. Data gathering instruments were Diclemente smoking stages of change, Velicer decisional balance and temptation, Prochaska processes of change measurements along Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependency.

Results: Based on the stages of changes, 39.1%, 13.8%, 42.4%, 2.7% and 2% of subjects were in precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance stage, respectively. There was a significant relationship between stages of change with all transtheoretical model variables and nicotine dependency (P<0.05). Cons of smoking, self-reevaluation, self-liberation, and social liberation had the highest effect while helping relationship had the lowest effect.

Conclusion: Cons of smoking, self-reevaluation, self-liberation, and social liberation had the strongest predictors of smoking stages movement. Helping relationship had the lowest predictor of smoking stages movement.

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Background and Objective: Individuals habit has been changed due to technology improvement as a result fast food consumption has dramatically increased in Iran. This study was done to determine the effective factors on Fast food consumption among high-school students based on planned behavior theory.

Methods: This descriptive-analytic, cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 high-school students in Aliabad city in Golestan province in north of Iran in one year study from October 2014-2015. A valid and reliable researcher-made and self-administered questionnaire based on TPB constructs (including attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and behavior intention) was utilized to collect the data.

Results: The frequency of fast food consumption was 4.01 per month and hamburger and pizza were the most prevalent fast foods. TPB explained fast food consumption behaviors with relatively high R2 around 0.65, effectively. Frequency of fast food consumption was significantly associated with behavioral intention and subjective norms (P<0.05).

Conclusion: As friends are the effective subjective norm for student fast food consumption therefore, they must specifically be considered in developing beneficial educational interventions.

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Background and Objective: Considering the importance of coverage and quality of data in Golestan population-based Cancer Registry (GPCR), northern Iran. This study was conducted to determine the effect of the referral of cancer patients to medical centers outside Golestan province on the coverage of the population-based cancer registry program.
Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was performed on all cancer patients registered in the diagnostic centers of Golestan province, northern Iran during 2008-10. Data of patients referred to the centers of the province from the bank of the Golestan province cancer registry program and data of patients referred to the centers outside the province were received from the Ministry of Health Department of Cancer. Data were analyzed using the record linkage method.
Results: A total of 6083 new cases of cancer were registered in Golestan province. According to the cancer data, 678 (11%) of them were referred to outside of Golestan province centers. 343 of these 678 patients (50.6%) were found as duplicate records between the two datasets. The most frequent cases were gastric cancers (70.4%), breast (63.5%) and esophagus (62.5%).
Conclusion: This study suggested that referrals of cancer patients to centers outside the Golestan province may result in an underestimation of about 5% in GPCR. This level of underestimation seems to have no considerable effects on completeness and quality of data in the GPCR.

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Background and Objective: Family-centered empowerment involves engaging clients and their families in decision-making processes to improve health outcomes, thereby enabling them to exert control over their health status through informed choices. Self-efficacy is considered the most crucial component of empowerment and holds significant importance in the management of chronic diseases and the enhancement of self-efficacy. This study was conducted to compare the effects of patient-centered and family-centered empowerment model-based training on perceived self-efficacy and fasting blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 120 patients with type 2 diabetes who attended rural comprehensive health centers in Gorgan, Iran, during 2023. Patients were enrolled in the study using a multi-stage cluster sampling method and were divided into three groups of 40: A control group, a family-centered empowerment group, and a patient-centered empowerment group. The interventions in the patient-centered and family-centered groups were delivered in 6-8 people groups based on a four-stage model. These stages included threat perception, problem-solving, educational participation, and evaluation. Patients in the control group received only the routine health center training. Data collection instruments included the standard Perceived Self-Efficacy Questionnaire in middle-aged diabetic patients and a checklist for recording clinical characteristics.
Results: The fasting blood glucose levels decreased in all three groups after the intervention; however, this difference was not statistically significant among the groups in either the pre-test or the post-test. In the post-test, a statistically significant increase in perceived self-efficacy was observed between the patient-centered group and the family-centered group, as well as between the patient-centered group and the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The patient-centered and family-centered empowerment model-based training on patients’ perceived self-efficacy was evaluated as effective; however, it had no effect on the fasting blood glucose levels of patients with type 2 diabetes.