Job satisfaction amongst agricultural extension personnel in Kurdistan Province of Iran

Understanding behaviour of an individual in an organization requires knowing something about organization and some psychological factors as well as job satisfaction. Job satisfaction broadly is considered to be as attitude of a person reflecting the degree to which his/her important needs are satisfied by this job. To study the job satisfaction level and factors associated with job satisfaction of Extension personnel, a sample of 74 extension personnel from Kurdistan province of Iran were selected. To study the job satisfaction level among respondents, Bray Field and Rothe Job Satisfaction Index was used. A data form was used to collect information about selected personal variables. The reliability and validity of the Bray Field and Rothe Job Satisfaction Index were determined. Cronbach's alpha computed to measure reliability of the 20 items of scale was 0.82. The data were analyzed using statistical methods such as frequencies, percentage, mean score, standard deviation, and product moment correlation and regression analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the extension personnel (51.4%) belonged to high level of job satisfaction, followed by 35.1 and 13.5 percent belonging to medium and low level of job satisfaction, respectively. The index items most suggesting negative job satisfaction was unclear promotion policy in organization and low salary, respectively. According to regression analysis educational level, level of job diversity and salary were found to have contributed to the increase of job satisfaction among extension personnel. South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 35 (2) 2006: pp. 176-18

Relationship between utrine cervical carcinoma and oral contraceptives

Background and Objective: The utrine cervical cancer is the third common cancer among women word-wide. Oral contraceptives (OCs) have characterized as one of the possible risk factors for cervical cancer which are daily used by millions of women. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between utrine cervical carcinoma and oral contraceptives. Materials and Methods: This case - control study was done on 128 patients with utrine cervical cancer as cases and 128 healthy women as controls in Tehran, Iran during 2008. The cases matched with controls according to age, history of abortion, number of deliveries, and social-economical status. Data were analyzed using SPSS-11, student’s t-test, Chi-Square, Pearson's correlation and Fisher’s exat tests. Results: Significant correlation was observed between utrine cervical cancer and the history of using and duration of oral contraceptives (P<0.05). Eighty-one (66.3%) and 46 (35.9%) of subjects in case and control groups used oral contraceptives, respectively. The possibility of utrine cervical cancer through oral contraceptives consumption was 3.072 (CI 95% 1.05-2.91) and this rate increased to 5.2 times after consuming the oral contraceptives for longer than 8 years. Conclusion: This study showed that the usage of oral contraceptives increase the possibility of utrine cervical cancer by 3 times

Resistance training improves skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity in elderly offspring of overweight and obese mothers

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Maternal obesity predisposes offspring to adulthood morbidities, including type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance have been associated with shortened telomere length. First, we aimed to investigate whether or not maternal obesity influences insulin sensitivity and its relationship with leucocyte telomere length (LTL) in elderly women. Second, we tested whether or not resistance exercise training improves insulin sensitivity in elderly frail women.METHODS: Forty-six elderly women, of whom 20 were frail offspring of lean/normal weight mothers (OLM, BMI ≤26.3 kg/m(2)) and 17 were frail offspring of overweight/obese mothers (OOM, BMI ≥28.1 kg/m(2)), were studied before and after a 4 month resistance training (RT) intervention. Muscle insulin sensitivity of glucose uptake was measured using (18)F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose and positron emission tomography with computed tomography during a hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp. Muscle mass and lipid content were measured using magnetic resonance and LTL was measured using real-time PCR.RESULTS: The OOM group had lower thigh muscle insulin sensitivity compared with the OLM group (p = 0.048) but similar whole body insulin sensitivity. RT improved whole body and skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity in the OOM group only (p = 0.004 and p = 0.013, respectively), and increased muscle mass in both groups (p &lt; 0.01). In addition, in the OOM group, LTL correlated with different thigh muscle groups insulin sensitivity (ρ ≥ 0.53; p ≤ 0.05). Individuals with shorter LTL showed a higher increase in skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity after training (ρ ≥ -0.61; p ≤ 0.05).CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Maternal obesity and having telomere shortening were associated with insulin resistance in adult offspring. A resistance exercise training programme may reverse this disadvantage among offspring of obese mothers.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01931540.</p