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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 32 No 3 (2003)
Articles
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Hemophilia B is factor IX deficiency and is inherited as X-linked recessive disorder. The subject of carrier detection in hemophilias has received new impetus in the last several years. Analysis of factor IX gene polymorphisms is considered the best approach for prenatal diagnosis and hemophilia B carrier detection, if the identification of the gene mutation is possible. Allele frequencies of two intragenic RFLP (Xmn I and Taq I) was investigated in 100 Iranian families. For some families, carrier’s detection was done using this method. The results indicated that RFLP segregation analyses provide a useful method for carrier detection in hemophilia B.
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The continuous filter is a kind of sand filter, which will operate without any interruptions for backwashing and also it accepts high-suspended solid levels in feed stream. Fouled sand is continuously removed from the filter bed, washed and recycled back without interruption with filtration process. Various samples of water with certain amounts of turbidity enter through a feed pipe and being distributed to the filter. A central column runs from top to bottom of the filter. The water is led through an outer tube in the column by a set of radial, distributor arms. The polluted water flows up ward through the sand bed. The water emerges; clean, in the top section of the tank, and eventually spills over a weir, and then inters into a discharge pipe. In this research, the continuous sand filter was studied to determine its disinfection efficiency in addition to turbidity removal. The results showed that the filtered water had a high quality and the turbidity reduction was 95.5 %. Inspecting the work of the filter had revealed that the removal rates of coliforms and microbial colonies were 99.67 % and 98.99 % respectively. On the other hand, by the use of direct filtration, turbidity reduction was over 97 %. In direct filtration, drinking water with less than 1 NTU turbidity was provided. This continuous sand filter has the advantage of stable operation and more energy saving as compared to the conventional ones.
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A case control study was performed in three districts in Hormozgan province in 2001 to assess how different determinants affect on malaria morbidity. It assume that results will help the decision makers in all levels of national development program. A total of 384 febrile patients with positive peripheral blood smear were selected as case group, and 753 people with negative peripheral blood smear as control group in three districts ( Minab , Jask , Roodan ) in Hormozgan province during second half of the year 2001. Appropriate questionnaire was designed and data entered twicely. Data were analyzed as matched and unmatched case – control using EPI6 and STATA softwares. Some determinants showed strong and significant relationship with malaria morbidity, including ; illiteracy (OR = 0.59), lack of health house and surrounding as a satellite village (OR = 2.83), far away from health facilities (OR = 1.43), not accessibility to school (OR = 1.75), road (OR = 2.3), screening and curtain (OR = 3.65), electricity accessibility (OR = 1.96), television (OR = 1.50), radio (OR = 1.73), telephone (OR = 2.71), and bed net (OR = 1.69). There was no significant relationship between malaria morbidity and the following determinant: residual spraying in the past 6 months (OR = 1.08). This study indicates that several factors affect on malaria control program. Malaria exists in low socio–economic and undeveloped conditions. Coordination of all sectors and close collaboration among them is a necessary component for malaria control program.
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Ahaptoglobinemia is a common phenomenon in tropical countries,where it is probably due to malaria-induced haemolysis. Previous studies have suggested that ahaptoglobinemia is more useful than the other parasite detection indexes to estimate the endemicity of malaria. The present study shows the relationship between malaria and haptoglobin, as a genetic marker in Balouch population of Sistan & Baluchistan provience, the highly malaria endemic area in southeast of Iran. Using starch gel electrophoresis, the results showed 20.2% ahaptoglobinemia in patients (n=203) and 3% in controls (n=197). Statistical analysis showed significant association between ahaptoglobinemia and malaria (P<0.001).Therefor, the frequency of ahaptoglobinemia may be more than the frequencies obtained from blood smear studies (1.9%) in malariuos patients.
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Leishmaniasis is a common parasitic disease in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Police personnel deployed in the suburbs and rural areas are the most often exposed to the potential risk of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Furthermore, since the same police personnel are sent on duty to other places, their migrations can also play a considerable role in the transmission of this disease to their various destinations. In this study, the studied population comprises those patients referred to the police public health centers, in Isfahan, Ilam, Bushehr, Khorassan, and Khuzestan provinces from 1997 to 2001. The suspected individuals were counted as haring leishmaniasis after examination of the suspected lesions was confirmed by demonstring Leishman bodies in Geimsa stained smears that prepared them and/or culture in NNN media. The results showed altogether 610 cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases confirmed by Leishman bodies’ demonstration in suspected lesions and promastigotes forms in NNN media. The distribution of absolute and relative frequencies of CL were 288(47.2%), 155(25.0%), 96(15.7%), 54(8.7%) and 27 (4.3%) in Khorasan, Ilam, Khusestan, Isfahan and Bushehr provinces from 1997 to 2001 respectively.
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Biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons (20 g/kg dw soil) was investigated in 3 media, differing in the kind of petroleum fractions. In the laboratory experiments, during 5 months, the activities of petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms and dehydrogenase activity of soil was determined. Gas chromatographic analysis showed the biological decontaminations for gas oil, kerosene and synthetic mixture (gas oil, kerosene and furnace oil) are 60 %, 36 % and 55 %, respectively. Dehydrogenase activity which was assessed by TTC technique, correlated significantly positive with the numbers of microorganisms. The Spearman rank correlation coefficients(r) in contaminated soils with gas oil, kerosene and synthetic mixture were 0.79, 0.80 and 0.69, respectively.
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Rubella or German measles is a mild contagious disease in non-pregnant women, but in pregnant affected mother’s possibility of fetus infection in the first twelve weeks of gestation is 80%. Between 13-14 weeks of gestation is 54% and by the end of the second trimester is 25%. If fetus gets infected severe anomalies will progress. At present no vaccination against rubella is begin envisaged by the National Immunization Program in Iran. Because of serious complications of the rubella in pregnancy, it’s very important to determine the immune status of young girls at their pre-marriage age. Five hundred eighty nine high school girls were selected at random from different high schools and then a questionnaire was filled up. Blood samples were obtained and anti-rubella IgG titre was detected in each sera by using American Diaplus Diagnostics ELISA kits. From 589 samples 500 students (89.4%) showed positive and 89 students (15.1%) revealed negative results for anti-rubella IgG. Of all 63 students (10.69%) had previously been vaccinated against rubella. The results indicated that 15.1% of all students and 20.7% of precollege girls would be mothers, are seronegative. Comparison of these results with the conclusions obtained in other cities of Iran shows that it would be necessary to screen rubella IgG antibodies in premarriage young girls on other regions of country and vaccination against rubella could be considered as a part of National Immunization Program.
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Iranian J Publ Health, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp.37-40, 2003 Isolation of Clostridum botiulinum (Types A, B, E) in Sediments from Coastal Areas in the North of Iran *HR Tavakoli 1,V Razavilar 2 1Dept. of Nutrition and Food Hygiene,School of public health, Baghyatollah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2Dept. of Food Hygiene, School of Veterinary Medicine, Tehran University , Iran Clostridium botulinum has long been recognized as an etiological agent of food borne botulism and has been reported as an important food safety hazard. The aim of this study was to obtain information about C. botulinum distribution in north areas sediments of Iran in order to ascertain the risks associated with consumption and processing of fish from these waters. Two hundred and seventy samples of sediments from coastal areas of "Gilan" and "Mazandaran" provinas of Iran were collected and analyzed. The supernatants were inoculated into cooked meat media and then , grown specimens were stained and cheked microscopically. After centrifuge ,the supernatants were divided into three (untreated ,heated , and tripsinised )and toxicity of them were tested by mouse bioassay. All mice controlled for 4 days for symptoms of botulism. Monovalent standard antitoxins were used for detection of toxin type. The present study revealed that the prevalence of C. botulinum (types A, B and E) in sediments from different areas of Gillan and Mazandaran was 3.6% and 4.6% respectively, Mean prevalence of C. botulinum in sediments from north regions of Iran was 4.1%. It is also demonstrated that C. botulinum type E is predominant type seen in aquatic environments of the coastal areas of Iran. This is the first report of C. botulinum distribution in the sediments coastal areas of Iran. Introduction *Corresponding author: +98 21 4811483
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Growth monitoring is very important in nutritional assessment of children up to the age of maturity. Based on studies in Kohgiluyeh-Boirahmad province, many of under five years old children are suffering from protein- energy malnutrition, although the nutritional conditions of school children are unknown. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of protein- energy malnutrition in rural school children of Boirahmad. 544 school children were selected from eleven rural primary schools. Weight and height were measured with 0.1 kg and 0.5-centimeter precision, respectively. Nutritional indices including height for age, weight for age and weight for height were determined using EPI6 software and compared with relative NCHS standards. Based on –2 SD cut of point for indices, 15.7 %( CI=12.6- 18.8), 12.5 %( CI=9.9-15.5) and 3.6 %( CI= 2-5.2) of children were suffering from stunting, underweight and wasting respectively. Girls were better than boys in height for age. Parents’ education and father job had significant association with height for age. Results suggest that stunting, an important form of protein- energy malnutrition is moderately prevalent in Boirahmadian school children, but to determine the causes, more studies are suggested.
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Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and the milder allelic Becker Muscular Dystrophy (BMD) are X-linked disorders. Both DMD & BMD result from heterogenous mutation in the dystrophin gene and in about 65% of the cases one or more exons of the gene are deleted or duplicated. One third of cases arise from new mutation and the rest are familial. To analyze the prevalence of deletion in Iranian patients, a deletion screening was performed on group 18 exons of dystrophin gene. Deletions were detected in 56.8% of patients. Seventy four percent of deleted exons were located in the major hot spot region, whereas 26% were in the minor hot spot one. The most frequently deleted exons were exons 50, 48 & 47 16.2%, 16.2% & 12% respectively. No deletion was detected in exon 43. The intragenic RFLP analysis (pERT87-15/BamHI & pERT87-8/Taql) were carried out on DNA samples obtained from 22 Iranian unrelated families (196 males & females) showing DMD & BMD clinical symptoms, that 45% of them had informative patterns. The percentage of heterozygosity was 22.75% for BamHl intragenic RFLP, and 22.75% for Taql intragenic RFLP.
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Diabetes is a chronic disease of lifelong duration, and its management requires a fundamental change in the patient’s lifestyle. The aims of this study were to determine behaviors of diabetic patients in relation to management of their disease, assess metabolic control and health-related quality of life of them. The target population was type 2 diabetic patients and a cross-sectional approach was used. We studied 80 randomly chosen patients. To determine behaviors of patients, data was collected using an interview schedule. Metabolic control was assessed by measuring glycosylated hemoglobin (HBA1c), and health-related quality of life was measured by means of WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. The majority of patients had good compliance with adherence to the prescribed medicines (65% always and 35%often) and foot care practices (82.5%). However, only 6.3% of them administered self-monitoring blood glucose and 38.8% complied with dietary regimen always. Among smokers, 13.8% stopped smoking after being diagnosed with the disease. The mean HBA1c in the whole patient group was 9.25 ± 1.06 and it ranged from 6.9 to 12.9 and only 2.5% of them had optimum control. The mean rating of health-related quality of life in all scales varied between 55.67 and 63.75(maximum score: 100). The highest rated mean score was for physical health and the lowest was for psychological. It is recommended that every effort be made to initiate and promote behavioral change and improve metabolic control in diabetic patients. To achieve this, an appropriate patient’s education program should be planned and future research is needed to reveal determinants of compliance behavior and factors associated with metabolic control and health-related quality of life in diabetic patients.
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Head louse infestation is common in various parts of the world. Baluchestan area in southeast of Iran is one of the most infected areas. We studied the head louse infestation among the girls in primary schools of Iranshahr, which is the largest city of the province during November 2002 to May 2003. Totally 918 pupils, between 6-14 years old from 12 urban primary schools were randomly selected by multistep method. Inspection was carried out by dividing the scalp to four sections with rat-tail comb in a well lighted area for about 3-5 minutes. Those suspected of having lice were subjected to comb with a fine – toothed comb for about 7 minutes over a white paper of 60 × 75cm size. Children, whose hair had at least one of the developing stages of parasite including only nits located ¼ inch from the scalp, were considered positive. Children’s age and some hair characteristics including wavy, hair etc in addition to hair oil usage and presence of dandruff were shown to be associated with infestation. The prevalence rate was shown to be 27.1%. Our study indicates that older pupils were more infested than the younger ones. Negative association between infestation rate and dandruff was observed, but application of oil and infestation rate indicated positive correlation. According to our research, using hair oil make scale suitable for infestation, but hair cut, as School authorities recommends has no effect.
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Cercarial dermatitis or swimmers’ itch is an itchy inflammatory response to the penetration of the skin by non-human schistosome parasites. In the hot season, May to September, in Khuzestan province in the south west of Iran, swimming in canals and agriculture activities in swampy areas are common. This survey was made on people from villages north of Ahwaz city in south west Iran, to estimate cercarial dermatitis in this region. For this purpose 2000 people were observed for clinical signs of cercarial dermatitis. Also 2000 Lymnaea gedrosiana snails were collected from agriculture canals and examined for animal schistosome cercariae during 1998-2000. From this survey 1.1% of people had pruritic maculopapular rash on their feet, hands or other parts of body. From the total of examined snails, 2.4% were found to be infected with bird schistosome cercariae including Trichobilharzia sp. Cercarial dermatitis could be a health problem in this area. This is the first report of cercarial dermatitis from this region of Iran.
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A 45 year old farmer from Espand village (located in the west of Iranshahr county, Sistan and Baluchistan Province, southeastern of Iran) with some clinical manifestations referred to the Khatam-Al-Anbia Hospital in the city of Iranshahr. CT scan showed an extensive edema in nasal and para nasal sinuses. Endoscopy consideration revealed the presence of numerous larvae lodged inside the nasal cavity. Our precise investigations indicated that the flies were the old world screwworm (Chrysomia bezziana) according to the morphological characters of adult flies and full grown larvae.
