Background and aims: Self-medication, as the most common method of self-care, is one of the major problems in treatment in many countries in the world. The present study was designed to determine the prevalence of self-medication and identify the factors associated with casual medication use among students of Larestan University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2020. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study conducted in 2020. The study was conducted at Larestan University of Medical Sciences and 147 students entered the study through convenience sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher-made self-treatment questionnaire. After collecting the data, the SPSS software version 25.0 was used to analyze the data. Fisher's exact test, independent t test, and chi-square test were used to investigate the relationship between the variables. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of self-medication was 62.5%. The most common sources of self-medication were pharmacies and previous prescriptions. The most common illnesses treated with over-thecounter medications include colds, headaches, and digestive problems. The most important over-thecounter medications include painkillers, anti-colds, antibiotics, iron pills, calcium supplements, and antihistamines. A comparison of students' attitudes towards medication showed that attitudes "I feel my problem has been treated with over-the-counter medications" and "I feel I have enough information about diseases and how to treat them" (the group who did have self-medication and the group who did not have self-medication) had a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed a high prevalence of self-medication among students. We recommend holding special training classes for the communities in order to provide information about the irreparable effects of self-medication and create new policies for prescribing and delivering medicine.

Background and aims: Today, with the increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in the world, the general population with excessive worry due to media reports has a higher level of psychological distress. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the state of anxiety among Instagram users in 2020. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted from June to July 2020 on 313 Instagram users. Coronavirus Anxiety Scale was used to measure anxiety caused by coronavirus in Iran. The subjects entered the study by availability sampling and filled out the questionnaire through the features of Instagram such as posts and stories. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables according to the nature of the variable. The significance level was considered to be P<0.05. Results: Out of 313 participants in the study, 218 (69.6%) were in the age range of 19-35 years. Additionally, 50.5% of them were male and the majority of the participants had academic education. Overall, 21.4% of the participants had moderate to severe anxiety. There was no significant relationship between the participants’ levels of anxiety and demographic variables (age groups, gender, and level of education) (P>0.05). Conclusion: The results of chi-square test showed that no significant relationship was observed between the dimensions of anxiety based on the demographic characteristics of individuals such as age groups (P=0.256), gender (P=0.644), and level of education (P=0.415).

Background Evidence suggests that menopause can be associated with a variety of negative psychological changes such as depression and anxiety, and improving the mental health status of women during menopause is one of the important priorities and challenges of the health system. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of saffron (Crocus sativus L., Iridaceae) herbal tea on happiness in postmenopausal women. Methods In this randomized clinical trial which was conducted in 2021, 72 postmenopausal women were enrolled and divided into intervention and control groups. The randomization blocks method was used for random allocation, and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was utilized to measure the scores. The intervention included the use of 30 mg of dried stigmas of the saffron plant, which was boiled once (in the morning, in 300 ml of boiling water for 10–15 min) and consumed with white rock candy as one cup of saffron tea daily. To compare the trend of changes and after removing the effect of other variables, generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used. Results There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups in any of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics (p > 0.05). The results of paired samples t-test showed that the happiness mean score in the intervention group increased significantly (p < 0.001) from 42.93 ± 8.54 to 61.58 ± 8.24, while in the control group, there was no significant difference between the happiness mean score at the beginning and end of the study (p = 0.861). Also, after applying the treatment program in the intervention group, there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the happiness mean scores (p < 0.001). Conclusion Saffron herbal tea had a positive effect on reducing depression and increasing the happiness score; thus, it is recommended that it should be used as a complementary treatment in consultation with the treating physician. Trial registration The present study was registered with the code of IRCT20210403050818N1 (Registration date: 09/04/2021) in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials. It was also approved by the Ethics Committee of Larestan University of Medical Sciences (Approval ID: IR.LARUMS.REC.1399.017).

Objective: To investigate the trend of animal bites in southern Iran from 2015 to 2019. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of patients with animal bites who were referred to the Center for Disease Control in the three cities of Larestan, Evaz, and Khonj in Fars province, southern Iran from 2015 to 2019. The trend of animal bites incidence was analyzed using the Cochran-Armitage trend test. Results: In total, from 2015 to 2019, 1 944 cases of animal bites were reported. A total of 79.8% of the cases were men. The overall average incidence of animal bites was 142.93 per 100 000 people. The incidence of animal bites was significantly increased (P trend<0.001). The highest incidence was in November (79.04 per 100 000 people) followed by January (76.1 per 100 000 people) and February (69.48 per 100 000 people); also, the lowest incidence was in August (47.42 per 100 000 people) and July (50.0 per 100 000 people). Conclusions: The incidence of animal bites has significantly increased. Given the importance of rabies, control and management of animal bites should be emphasized and considered.