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pISSN: 2251-6085
eISSN: 2251-6093
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief:
Dariush D. Farhud, MD, Ph.D., MG.
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). 
Vol 29 No 1-4 (2000)
Articles
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Although most parts of Iran is free of malaria owing to appreciable struggle against this disease by the Ministry of Public Health, in every case of fever of unknown origin (FUO) possibility of malaria should not be neglected. Unjustified administration of antibiotics can delay the diagnosis because of diminishing effect in number of malaria parasites in peripheral blood. For this reason frequent peripheral blood smears may be necessary to establish the diagnosis. In this article, 10 cases of malaria (age ranged from 2 m to 12 y) were diagnosed at Hazrat Ali Asghar Hospital, mostly referred to as FUO with possible diagnosis of malignancy, within the last 10 years (1986-1996).
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Barfabad River is one of the most important surface water resources in the west of Iran which passes from the south of Kerend and through the Islamabad city and receives high volume of human and industrial sewage. For assessing the water quality of the river, 8 stations were chosen and 72 samples were taken during 9 months from April 1997 to January 1998 and were analysed according to the standard methods. Sewage of Islamabad and Kerend cities, with population of 77412 and 10760, respectively, and wastewater of the Islamabad sugar factory, and slaughterhouse of Islamabad and Keredn, discharge into the river without any treatment. Due to discharge of Islamabad sugar factory wastewater into the river, in November, BOD and COD load in the 4th station was 122 and 376 mg/l respectively, in comparison with the first 15 mg/l, showing increases of 15/2 and 25 times, respectively. The least concentration of DO was 5 mg/l in November in the 5th station during 9 months, in comparison with the first station which was 7.5 mg/l, CDO decreased 15 times. The highest amount of turbidity was 150 N.T.U. in the 4th station in October, which in comparison with the first station with 15 N.T.U. the turbidity showed an increase of 10 times. In addition, the presence of biological indicators such as sludge worm and leach in the 5th and 7th stations in October and November indicated high level of pollution during those months.
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Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniosis is endemic in Chabahar area, south east of Iran. In order to determine the natural leptomonad infection of phlebotomine sandflies caught from rodent burrows, an investigation was carried out in three foci of this area during June to October 1997. Sandflies were collected by sticky traps, placed at the openings of Meriones hurrianae and Tatera indica burrows. Totally, 667 Phlebotomus papatasi and 465 Phlebotomus salehi were dissected, of which 2.1% and 1.07% of the above studied species found to be infected with promastigote, respectively. Four P.papatasi and one P.salehi indicated infection in the gut as well as the head. This is the first report of promastigote infection of P.salehi in Iran, and P.papatasi in Sistan and Baluchistan province as well.
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In this study the causes of mortality in children less than 5 years of age has been investigated. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, results were analysed by a descriptive analytic method. The investigation was carried out among 597 children less than 5 years including 296 boys and 301 girls. The sample was selected by census method and the necessary information was collected using questionnaire and documented family records in the local health houses. The results of interviews and filed records showed that the prevalent causes of mortality in children under 5 years in this area were prematurely in order of decreasing, low birth weight, respiratory infections, accidents, non-contiguous and diarrhoeal diseases. About one-fourth of the causes of mortality still remain unknown.
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Yersinia enterocolitica is newly included in the classification of both the invasive bacteria, e.g. Shigella, and the toxicogenic bacteria, e.g. Escherichia coli. Five human strains and 45 environmental strains were used to produce Y.enterocolitical enterotoxin at 40C, 240C and 370C using infant mouse assay. At 250C enterotoxin was produced by 10 environmental strains and by all of the 3 human strains. At 40C, enterotoxin was produced by only 3 environmental strains. At 370C, none of the strains produced enterotoxin. This enterotoxin was stable for 60 min at 1000C and 1210C (autoclave) for 20 min and did not lose its activity in infect mouse assay. Increased production on enterotoxin was observed following addition of 0.4% glucose in culture medium only at 250C, but not at 370C.
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From August to October 1996, three different statistical communities of spices, including 37, 41, 26 samples for each one of black pepper, turmeric and sumac, respectively, were taken randomly from 35 various packaged labels and 2 production centres, in the west of Tehran, and examine for assessing fungi and bacterial contamination by using EC, VRBL agar LST, Brilliant green media, and compare with National Iranian Spices Standards. The results of the experiment showed that 81.7% of all samples had somehow fungal and bacterial contaminations. Coliforms, E.coil, and also Penicillium, Mucor, Aspergillus, were recognized among the 104 samples. Turmeric, black pepper and sumac were contaminated by bacterial and fungal agents 95, 86.5 and 53.8%, respectively.
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An attempt was made to determine the discriminative dose of a number of pyrethroid insecticides for An. stephensi tested on blood fed adult female 1 or 2 days against two strains, i.e. India and Bandar Abbass laboratory species in 1998. The tests were carried out according to WHO standard method in lots of 25 adult mosquitoes in 4 replicates. India and Bandar Abbas species of An. stephensi were tested with insecticides permethrin 0.1% , 0.25%, 0.75% and 1%, deltamethrin 0.005%, 0.0125%, 0.025%, 0.05% and 0.1%, lambdacyhalothrin 0.01%, 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.2%, cyflothrin 0.005%, 0.0125%, 0.025%, 0.5% and 0.1%, etophenprox 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% in 60 min exposure. Based on the results, discriminative dose were calculated for the above insecticide respectively 0.25%, 0.025%, 0.025% and 0.5% for two species. According to the results, An.stephensi has similar susceptibility to pyrethroid insecticides.
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A serological survey was carried out to determine the incidence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in childhood and adolescence in Tehran during 1996-1997. Sera from 480 children £ 14 years old and 740 males and females 15-40 years of age were investigated for EBV IgG antibodies to the viral caspid antigen (VCA) by an enzyme-linked lmmunosorbant assay (ELISA). The incidence of EBV Infection increased from 50% at £ 3 years of age to about 70% in the 4-6 years old group, was stationary at the age of 7-14 years, and then increased old further progressively with age, to reach more than 90% in males and females by age ³ 40 years. There was a significant increase in incidence of infection with age (P<0.001), and no significant sex difference. The study indicates that infection with EBV has a rather early and widespread occurrence in Tehran compared with other developing areas.
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Coronary heart disease is one of the most common diseases causing mortality and morbidity in industrialized and developing countries. The first presentation in 25% of cases is sudden cardiac death. The most common risk factors in dead people are hypercholesterolemia. This study was carried out to compare the prevalence of risk factors in patients hospitalized in CCUs and cardiology departments (case group) and people who died because of sudden death myocardial infarction before arriving at hospitals (control group). This study was a case-control one, carried out on 154 patients and 112 dead persons. The questionnaires were completed after referring to their first relatives and the documents, in control group and in case group, were completed from patients and their records in hospitals. Then history of risk factor was compared. The ratio of men/women in the first group (hospitalized patients) was 3 and the second group (dead patients) was 1.7 (P=0.000). The peak ages in men of both groups were 60 to 69 years old, 2-3 times more than women in both groups. The most prevalent risk factor in women of both groups was hypertension, the same as in men of the control group. But the most prevalent risk factor in men of the case group was smoking (P=0.000). So, primary prevention, which has a great role in controlling coronary artery disease, is suggested.
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Nowadays, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is considered as a major cause for mortality in the world. Life style changes and physical inactivity have main role for CVD. This study was performed to determine the level and kinds of physical activity and exercises done by residents of Isfahan (³ 15 years old). The sample size was 1520 selected from random clusters in Isfahan city. For all subjects questionnaires containing 35 questions were completed. The results showed that about 70% of subjects did some kinds of exercises and physical activity including walking and aerobic morning activities. Nearly 14% had severe physical activity and 8% had athletic exerciser. Walking, despite of its duration ,was a common activity in 70% of people and cycling was done only by men including 12% of the total sample. The comparison of the main results with other countries showed that there were some similarities and differences. For example in our country, there is no proper condition for sever physical activity and exercises. Therefore, it is essential to design educational programs through mass media to advocate places for prompting people to exercise.
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Although mental health in Iran has been accepted as one of the elements of Primary Health Care (PHC), comparing to other elements, its coverage is the least. The purpose of this research was to determine the cost-benefit of the integrating of epilepsy disease treatment in PHC in Kurdestan province. In one case-control study, 42848 subjects under the coverage of mental health in PHC (case group) were compared with 42444 subjects who were not covered by mental health services (control group). Ninety two epileptic patients in the former group and 80 epileptic patients in the latter group were compared in terms of age, sex, occupation, annual inpatient-day stay, and annual outpatient contacts. These patients were interviewed, and then the collected data analysed through SPSS package. The results of evaluating the above-mentioned variables from 5th March 1993 to 19th March 1994 are as follows: The mean of outpatient contacts in case group was greater than that of the control group (P=0.000). The mean of annual cost per patient in case group was smaller than that of the control group (P=0.000). The mean of annual benefit per patient in case group was greater than that of the control group. The variables sex, age, inpatient-day stay, was not statistically significant. The research findings emphasized the economically useful aspect of the treatment of those epileptic patients who were under the coverage of mental health care in PHC. These findings also emphasized the cost-effectiveness of treatment in the strategy of mental health as the element of PHC.
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In this research using two pilot scale systems of activated sludge (AS) and powdered activated carbon technology (PACT), the soluble organic load removal efficiency was evaluated, for a synthetic wastewater with mono-ethylene glycol as carbon source. Also, the variations of biomass and PAC in each reactor were studied and the relative accuracy of differential ignition method for determining the amount of biomass and powdered activated carbon (combined in aeration unit of the PACT pilot) was investigated. Results showed that the method might be used for the determination of PAC and biomass volatility at 400°C and 50°C, respectively, with acceptable accuracy. Comparison the results of this study and some other recent studies, show that there are no significant differences between them at 95% confidence. Furthermore, the results of this study indicated that there was little difference in carbon to biomass ratio which supports the concept that solid residence time (SRT) and the amount of wastage sludge can be determined with total suspended solids analysis and there is no necessity for biomass determination
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In a laboratory study, irritancy of five pyrethroids impregnated nets including lambdacyhalothrin, permethrin, deltamethrin, cyfluthrin and etofenprox were evaluated against a strain of An.stephensi originated from Bandar Abbas, Iran. Mosquitoes were released into special cage impregnated with pyrethroids in one side. In order to measure the irritancy of insecticides, a circular hole was made on the body of cage to fit exit window trap. Impregnated nets with lambdacyhalothrin were 10 and 40mg/rn2. The concentrations for permethrin, deltamethrin, cyfluthrin and etefenprox were 200, 25, 40 and 25 mg/m2, respectively. The irritancy of pyrethroids was compared based on the number of mosquitoes repelled by insecticides and entered into window traps. Results of X2 test revealed that there are significant differences among different pyrethroids it terms of irritancy (P<0.005). The same results can be seen by two Indentations of lambdacyhalothrin (0.025
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This study was carried out to investigate Borrelia latychevi infection in Omithodorus tartakovskyi in the area surrounding Sarakhs County. Ten percent of the countryside was surveyed for a year and a half from the winter of 1996 to autumn of 1998, in 13 separate field trials. In the nine rural areas inspected, 135 burrows of rodent, terristerid birds and turtles were examined by destruction process. In village areas of Tajan, Sarakhs, Khangiran and Golbibi, respectively, 80%, 26.6%, 16.6% and 13.3% of burrows contained ticks. In the areas of Polkhatoon and Marzdaran no ticks were collected, 200 out of the ticks were studied for infection rate of Borrelia latychevi by direct blood engorgement. Only 30% of the studied ticks were capable of causing Caucasian tick-borne relapsing fever in infant mice, and the rate of infection of Ornithodorus tartakovskyi with Borrelia in Tajan area was 36%.
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Dermatophytes are usually characterized on Sabouraud’s dextrose agar (S) by their colonial morphology and microscopic sporulation. In this study, we have prepared new media by using rice extracts for the characterization of the following dermatophytes, T.rubrum, T. violaceum, T. verrucosurn, T.schoenleinii, M.canis, M.gypseum and E.Floccosum. The results of this study showed that, dermatophyte; grow well on these media in comparison with S medium. In addition, the size of colonies was much higher than that of S medium and the colony pigmentation of T.rubrum was appeared after 8 d, and colonial morphology of T.mentagrophytes was quite distinct. In rice extracts media, the optimal macro and micro conidia production were obtained. Therefore, using the rice extract to prepare selective media for growing dermatophytes presented more advantages.
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118 Dentistry students were studied to show the possible correlation between pH, concentration of Ca2+, P3+, Na+, and K+ of saliva and Decay, Missing, and Filling Tooth (DMFT index). Candidates were between 20 and 30 years old and had no background systemic disorders; medial and dental histories, age, sex, and DMFT index were recorded in a questionnaire organized for this purpose. Saliva samples were collected according to the unstimulated whole saliva method. Saliva was expectorated into the test tubes and the PH, Ca2+, p3+, Na+, and K+ measured. Results from case and control groups were compared and statistically analyzed. It was concluded that there was no meaningful correlation between pH, concentration of Ca2+, P3+, Na+, and K+ and dental decay in the population, where as in men there was a meaningful association between pH and decay. Also in women alone there was a relative correlation between concentration of P3+ and decay (PV=0.06).
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Many common diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD) are associated with diet. Hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes and obesity are major risk factors for CVD which are diet-related and the incidence of which is on the increase in Isfahan, Iran. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted, using the 24-hour recall questionnaire, to determine dietary pattern of the adult (>19 years old) population of Isfahan. Based on 2 pilot studies 1200 randomly selected individual were included in the study; equal proportions of both sexes in the age range 19-51 + years old were selected. Data were collected in all the 4 season of the year, 30 days in each season. Data were collected through interviews, using the 24-hour recall questionnaire and a picture book let of food items consumed. Analysis of the data was done using t.student and chi square test in SPSS software. The results were as follows: The mean daily energy was 2070 kcal, the proportion of energy derived from fat, protein and carbohydrate being 23.2%, 12, 4% and 63.0%, respectively; the mean daily cholesterol intake was 255 mg/day. An intersectoral intervention programme is being planned aiming at correcting the dietary habits of Isfahan population.
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Among several pests of rice as one of the main agricultural products in Iran, rice borer, Chilo suppressalis is one of the most important pests of this crop. Use of pesticides coincided with the occurrence of this pest in the northern region of Iran in 1972. At present in order to control this pest, more than 12000 tones of pesticides granules are used annually. Ecological effects of pesticides application and the use of Trichograma sp. as a natural enemy, for assessing the impacts of pesticides in environments, especially on different living organisms on the plant, in irrigation water, and in 5 cm depth of surface soil, were investigated in two regions of Amol, named Osk. Mahalleh and Capik Field of Tashbandan. Results indicated that the two treatments were not different on croploss. One the contrary, in the pesticide treatment, there was a considerable decrease in the population of living organisms, particularly, no organism was observed in 5 cm depth of surface soil. It is recommended that in order to maintain the balance of environment, the use of chemicals for controlling rice borer must be with extreme care, only in the inevitable was with the use of principles of Integrated Pest Management.
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Bacteria usually cause disease in the gastrointestinal tract by colonization and growth in the gastrointestinal tract, where the micro organisms may invade the tissues of host or secretion of an exotoxin that is performed in food and then ingested by the host, examples of second group include: staphylococcal, Bacillus cereus, clostridial (C.botulinum and C.perfringens type A) toxin. In this study pathogenic bacteria of 350 food products by culture method were investigated. The results were obtained as follows: Bacillus cereus 12 cases (3.4), Staphylococcus coagulase positive 25(7.1%), Staphylococcus coagulase negative 37 (10.6%), Streptococcus alpha hemolysis 18 (5.1%), Enterococcus 3(0.8%) and Klebsiella 5(1.4%).
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Parasites are widely distributed and cause many diseases in humans and domestic animals. In this study in order to find prevalent species of intestinal parasites in Mazandaran province (northern Iran), four cities including Pol-sephid, Aliabad-Katoul, Amol and Babolsar were studied during 1991-1996. Stool samples were preserved in 10% formalin prior to examination by formol-ether concentration method. For diagnosis of Enterobius vermicularis scotch tape method was used. Among helminthtic infections, E.vermicularis and Hymenolepis nana and among protozoa Giardaia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica were the most prevalent species.
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Objective of this study was determining of the Hamadanian young couples about family size, sex ratio and birth order of their asked children. The population of this study was the young men and women that were imminent of marriage, refereed to marriage offices as well as hygienic and therapeutic centres in Hamadan city. This was a cross sectional descriptive study and has been done by using questionnaire and face-to-face interview. In general, the majority of the cases (86, 4%) were asking for two or less children. There was a significant relation between the number of asked children and the birth place, i.e. couples who were born in villages were asking for more children than the cases that were born in cities. Also educated men and women were asked for fewer children. The results of the present work have showed that there was no significant relationship between the number of desired children and marriage age.
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In a study to determine the influence of sexual behaviour to HIV contamination, in 22 patients infected with AIDS in Iran, this survey was conducted. The subjects were 21 male and one female. One of the male patients was from Uganda, another was an intravenous drug addict, and one patient has been abroad for sometime. One of the patients had been abroad and received blood there, and other patients, had blood disease. This result showed that sexual behaviour was not important as to HIV contamination in this group.
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Epidemiological features of some of several foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), such as Bushehr province, had not been detected in Iran. This study was carried out for detection and characterization of epidemiological features of CL in these regions, from Oct. 1998 to Oct. 1999. All of the primary school children aged 7-14 years and total populations of 14 villages were examined for the presence of active lesions or scars of CL and Questionnaire was completed for all of them, using Epi-info performed analyses of data software and Chi-square as well as Fisher exact tests. For detection of animal reservoirs, 165 dogs were examined for the presence of cutaneous lesions of leishmaniasis. Also 192 rodents were trapped by Sherman traps, and prepared smears from their external edges of the ears, were studied for the presence of Leishman bodies. Using culture media and sub-dermal inoculation of parasites in the Balb/c mice isolated Leishmania parasites. Species identification of isolates was performed by RAPD-PCR technique. From the examined children 0.16% had active lesions and 19.3% had scars. These amounts in total population of the studied villages were 0.04% and 4.6%, respectively. The annual incidence of disease in total population of 5 from these 14 villages was 3.2 per thousand. Tatera indica was the predominant specie and in six of them (4.5%) Leishman bodies were seen. In this Study no rodents of other genera and dogs were found to be infected with Leishmania parasites. According to the results of RAPD-PCR technique, Leishmania major was the causative agent of leishmanial infections in human being and rodents. Therefore these regions of Bushehr province are another endemic focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in Iran, and those methods, which had been recommended, for the control of ZCL should be used in this focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis.
