2023 Impact Factor: 1.3
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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 28 No 1-4 (1999)
Articles
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Study of a family with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney diseases (ADPKD) in five generations, including 96 healthy and 47 affected individuals, has been carried out in Tehran. Investigation on individuals, including final diagnoses by clinical findings, sonography, radiography and laboratory results, have Lead to the completion of genealogical chart of the family. The affected individuals have reached a stage of the disease with confirmed occurrence of renal damages. Uncertain diagnoses, unconfirmed statements of the family members about probable presence of the disease in some other members, and also the death of some members by other reasons were not possible to be registered in the chart. Up to now the chart has been the largest and the most complete in Iran, compared with the ones reported in the available literature.
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Treatment efficiency, design factors and kinetic coefficients were studied using two pilots of activated sludge (AS) and powdered activated carbon technology (PACT), for treating Tehran Oil Refinery effluent, in a duration of more than 12 months In order to evaluate the performance of each system against growth inhibitor shock loads, different concentrations of phenol and furfural (10-300 mg/l) were applied, following a series of experiments in which, treated effluents from the two systems were used as influent water into two aquariums containing freshwater Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) of 9-15g weight, 6-9 cm length and with a fish density of 5g/1. Results of fish fatal rates with 125 and 250-mg/l phenol were 16% and 38% for AS system and 5.6% and 8% for PACT system, respectively. Changing the growth inhibitor to furfural, with a concentration of 100 mg/I, led to the fatal rates of 100% and 0% for AS and PACT systems, respectively. Increasing furfural load to 300 mg/I destroyed only 20% of fish in PACT pilot.
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The performance of selective media LTB, (leauryl tryptose broth), MMGM (minerals modified glutamate medium), BGBB (brilliant green bile broth), for the detection of E.coli in water in water, were compared and the following result were obtained: The MMGM found to be unsuitable as confirmatory medium for the detection of E.coli at 44 C, due to the occurrence of an unacceptable number of the false-negative and false-positive results. The comparison of the two confirmatory medium LTB, BGBB for the confirmation of E.coli at 44 C, it was found that LTB was less inhibitory than BGBB for the recovery of E.coli in mixed populations. The occurrence of a higher number of false-negatives in BGBB is a more serious disadvantage since it would lead to an underestimate of the actual number of E.coli. Therefore, the results of this study showed that LTB is a more suitable confirmatory medium than BGBB.
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Investigation on the current response of An.stephensi larvae to four WHO recommended larvicides, i.e. Malathion, temephos, chlorpyrifos and fenitrothion, were carried out in the laboratory in 1999. Diagnostic concentrations of pesticides only yielded 100% mortality with malathion. In contrast, levels of susceptibility to temphos, chlorpyrifos (0.025 mg/l) and temephos (0.625 mg/l) killed 72%, 90% and 87% of the population of An. Stephensi, respectively. At the LC50 level the efficacies of chlorpyrifos and fenitrothion was higher than malathion and temephos. Relative toxicity of chlorpyrifos and fenitrothion was 6 and 24 times more than temephos and Malathion. The findings of this study suggest that the diagnostic dose of organophosphate larvicides depends on time, location, strain and genetically background of resistance to insecticides; hence they can be attributed to all species of anopheles.
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Several cell lines (18) of poorly differentiated rat ascites hepatomas which grown intraperitoneally were analyzed with respect to their mRNA levels of GST-P and albumin. The expression of albumin was dramatically decreased and became undetectable in all of the examined hepatomas compared with normal rat liver. The GST-P mRNA level in the hepatomas was correlated with their ability for formation of cellular islands in ascites. The island types, expressed GST-P at high level and the free type ones showed very low level of GST-P mRNA.
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To determine the coverage rate, timeliness and quality of ante-natal care in rural areas under the coverage of Health Houses in West Azerbaijan province, 30 Health Houses (HH) were randomly selected out of 731 HH in the province. In each HH, using the method of Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) 28 women having recently born babies was selected. Data were collected using check-list for facilities, and questionnaires and forms to be completed from the files by interview. The study showed that the method of LQAS is quite effective for evaluation of this service at HH level. The weighted total coverage of ante-natal care was 46.2%. Quality of care was acceptable for 53.9% of mothers. The weighted average of time lines of care was 49.8%. Availability of facilities in delivery of this service was 100%, showing there was no short coming in this respect.
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In this research, the effects of the addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) into the aeration zone of an activated-sludge (AS) system for treating Tehran Oil Refinery effluent, was investigated during more than 12 months in a PACT pilot-scale model. Besides the evaluation of organics removal efficiency and determination of basic design factors kinetic coefficients, a series of experiments were conducted in order to study the variations in biological growth (especially bacteria and monocellular organisms) related to PAC addition. After sampling from mixed liquor and microscopical studies, adequate samples were filtered, dewatered and fixed. The samples were then coated by 100 A films of (Au) and were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed significant improvement of bacteria and monocellular organisms in the presence of PAC, which may be raised from providing more contact surface and better nutrient availability for microorganisms, decreasing the effects of toxic shock loads and providing better conditions for microorganisms against intensive mixing. Electronic photomicrographs by SEM confirmed good attachments of ciliate to PAC particles, along with appropriate efficiency of bacteria diffusion into its meso and microspores. Also, the comparison between the count number of protozoa in two pilots of PACT and AS, showed better conditions for growth of microorganisms, using PAC.
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Turner syndrome is one of the best known chromosome anomalies in human being, by an approximate incidence of 1/2500 female at birth. The cause is a chromosomal aberration, mainly with the karyotype 45, X. Ninety six patients aged 6 to 26 years with short stature were studied for chromosomal anomalies. Out of these 82 were phenotypically female and 14 phenotypically male. Twenty seven showed abnormal karyotypes, 15 were pure Turner with a chromosome complement of 45, X. Seven showed mosaiscim of 45, X/46, XX and 5 showed 45, X/46, XY cell lines. Most of the features of Turner’s syndrome were manifested in the fifteen 45, X Turners while the 45, X/46; XX did not show all the features due to the presence of a normal cell line. Out of the mosaics 45, X/46, XY, four had female phenotypes with normal genitalia while one had a male phenoytype with poorly developed male genitalia.
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Environmental pollutions are in considerable attention in steel industries in Iran, where mostly are located around Isfahan. Therefore, an investigation was done mainly on the industrial pollution and waste related to the Isfahan Steel Complex. A plant was installed to collect the uncontrolled fumes, gases and particulates from blast furnace number II during tapping. This plant collects about 2 tons of dust each shift which previously were directed into the atmosphere. The efficiency of the system is going to be improved with some correction currently under way. Asbestos was used very widely for different purposes (about 124 tons per year) as powder, sheets, ropes and woven materials. In steel ladles, preheating furnaces of rolling mills and the power generating plant, asbestos is used as a heat insulator. The small amount of asbestos still being used is kept strictly under control and asbestos and waste is disposed of in a suitable manner. Blast furnace slag is used in the cement industry and construction works and in the slag wool plant especially built for this purpose close to the complex. Efforts have been made to replace dangerous solvents like carbon tetrachloride and other hazardous organic solvents with less toxic ones. The environmental management emphasizes the maintenance and repair of electrofilters, venture scrubbers, bag filter houses, mulicyclones and other means of pollution control which almost all are under way. The use of a venture scrubber with and adjustable throat is being considered to enhance the efficiency of the converters. Converter slag and other waste containing chemicals including cyanide ions are the main subjects being examined at present.
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Povinding quality health care services, without constant qualitative and quantitative studeies/evaluation, seem to be impossible. High rate of children immunization coverage in Iran, however, represents parts of a quality assessment of mother and child health care services in rural areas of West-Azerbaijan Province, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, LQAS method was employed for the purpose of quality assessment. Children between 10 to 36 months old from the pre-mentions areas constitute the study population of present report. Sample was selected through a multistage sampling method and a questionnaire together with a checklist was utilized for data collection. Findings demonstrate a very high rate immunization coverage of children (>96%). Mother’s knowledge about the data of next vaccination and DPT potential side effect's are estimated to be 32%, and 58%, respectively. Children's overall immunization adequacy rate, despite the high rate coverage, equalled to 59% which does not represent a high quality service in this respect. This study approves the reliability and practicality of LQAS method for quality assurance of health services.
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Cancer in all forms caused 9% of deaths throughout the world. In the developed countries it is the second ranking cause of death and in the developing countries it is ranked fourth as the cause of death. In Iran, cancer ranks third as the cause of death. The second most prevalent types of cancer in Iran were lymphoma and leukaemia (L&L). The estimated incidence of L&L in 1952 was 0.66 per 100,000 populations. Our prime interest was to determine the L&L incidence rate and also to identify some of the risk factors related to L&L. Mazandaran was selected because there was an ongoing program of registry conducted by Babol Research Station of the IPHR. In the first part of this study, the geographical distribution of all cases seen since 1992 in this province was identified. The second part was a population-based matched case-control study to identify some of the risk factors of these cancers. 257 patients of all types of L&L were selected with the same number of controls. 648 cases of leukemia and lymphoma in Mazandaran were found in cancer registry from 1992 to 1997. In all types, the male to female ratio was almost 1.5. No significant association was found with the factors studied except for history of drug addiction which is true for adult patients. The study shows the importance of leukaemia and Lymphoma as important public health problems in this province. As these areas are the main centres of growing rice in the country, there is the possibility of some association of L&L with the types of insecticides and herbicides used.
