Anti-influenza antibody level after vaccination in north of Iran

Objective:Influenza is a highly transmitted disease and about 10% of the world's population is affected by this disease annually. The aim of this research was to study the variation of serum antibody levels among subjects who had already been vaccinated against influenza. Methods And Materials:This descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 196 subjects who had influenza vaccination (influvac 2005/2006) and on 200 subjects who were matched with the vaccinated subjects by their ages in Gorgan which is located in the northeast of Iran. The subject's sera were prepared seven weeks after the influenza vaccination. Their serum antibody levels were determinated by the heamaglutination inhibition test. Results:The antibody titre in 81 subjects of the vaccinated group and in 175 subjects of the control group was less then 1/40. The mean antibody titre of the vaccinated subjects and the control group was 143.4±10.89 and 18.34±3.2, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P value=0.000). Conclusion:The findings showed that the mean titre of the antibodies in the vaccinated and control groups was statistically different. This means that the influenza vaccine has good efficacy in our population

Epidemiology of Shigella-Associated diarrhea in Gorgan, north of Iran

Objective : Shigella is an important etiological agent for diarrhea and especially dysentery. Shigellosis is an intestinal infection that is a major public health problem in many developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Shigella and its various species in diarrheal samples in Gorgan located in the north of Iran. Materials and Methods: Between January-December 2005, the epidemiology of Shigella- associated diarrhea was studied among 634 patients in Gorgan. The diarrheal samples accompanied with a questionnaire, which contained the demographic and main symptoms of the patients, were transported to the laboratory and inoculated in different culture media. Colonies suspected to be of Shigella were detected using differential biochemical tests and subsequently, the serotype of Shigella was defined using antisera. Results : Shigella was isolated from 56/634 diarrheal samples) (8.8%) of which S. sonnei was the predominant species (55%). Occurrence of Schigella was highest in the 2-5 years′ age group (70.9%) and highest in summer (73.2%) with the most frequent clinical manifestation being abdominal pain (67.8%). The prevalence of Shigella in males and females was 8 and 9.8% respectively, but this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: It has been shown that Shigella sonnei is the most common Shigella serogroup among 2-5 year-old children in Gorgan. It is therefore suggested that hygienic training be given to childcare attendants and the children themselves

Existence of multiple nontrivial solutions for semilinear elliptic problems

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to prove the existence of multiple nontrivial solutions to a semilinear elliptic problem at resonance. The proofs used here are based on combining the Morse theory and the minimax methods

Age related prostate-specific antigen reference range among men in South-East Caspian Sea

The purpose of this study was to describe the distribution of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) and to determine age-specific reference range in a population of Persian men. Venous blood samples were taken from 287 men, from Gorgan located in the North of Iran, South-East of Caspian Sea, aged 15 ≥ 80 year. The serum PSA levels was measured using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbant-Assay (ELISA) technique and age-specific range for PSA level was determined. The serum prostate-specific antigen level for six age group of 15-40 years, 41-50 years, 51-60 years, 61-70 years, 71-80 years and >80 years were mainly in the range of 0-2.5 ng mL-1, for 76.6%, 2.6-4 ng mL-1 for 9.1% and as whole 85.7% of all men in this study had ≤4 ng mL-1, 8.7 and 5.6% all men of six age group had PSA level of 4.1-10 ng mL-1 and >10 ng mL-1, respectively. The findings of present study indicated that a large proportion (76.6%) men in this region have a lower PSA level of 0-2.5 ng mL-1 and only 9.1% of men have PSA level of 2.6-4 ng mL-1. It is therefore concluded that acceptable reference range of 0-4 ng mL-1 for PSA level require further reassessment. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Prescribing antibiotics by general and specialist physicians: A pharmacist administrated survey

This study was carried out to evaluate the pattern of antibiotics prescribed by either General Physician or specialist, mostly practiced medicine in the private sectors, in Gorgan, Located in south-east Caspian sea in the northern Iran. This research was a prospective study, using a pharmacist administrated questionnaires to record the prescribed antibiotics. The findings indicated amoxicillin, cephalexin, penicillin, with 31.4, 21 and 17.4% are among the most widely prescribed antibiotics, respectively. ENT specialist prescribed the highest rate of antibiotics (24.1%), although as whole General physicians are among high antibiotics prescribing doctors, with such rate of antibiotics prescription, an educational program, among the community health centers, especially for young physicians on the need for antibiotics therapy and risk factors associated with increase rate of antibiotic resistant organism are suggested

Prevalence of HTLV-1 antibody among major thalassemic patients in Gorgan (South East of Caspian Sea)

In this study, the prevalence of HTLV-1 infection among the thalassemic patients was investigated. 181 thalassemiC patients whom referred to Talghani hospital during, Oct. 2004-Sep. 2005 were participated in this study. HTLV antibody was determined using ELISA technique. In this procedure (Diapron laboratory kit) HTLV, positive samples tested by HTLV-1 western blot (kit 2.4) to confirm, ELISA positive samples and also to detect the HTLV types, From 181 thalassemic patients, 93 (51.4%) were males. The age rate of these ranged 1-25 years, (mean of 14.11±6.5). Of these subjects 169 patients (93.4%) were received packet cell at least one unite per month 28(14.9%) of subjects were HTLV positive, while only 4.4% of them were confirmed by western blot and also for contamination with type-1 virus infection. Contamination with this virus increased, as the patients were getting older. The findings derived from this study indicated that among the thalassemic patients in Gorgan there were cases with HTLV-1, infection that was correlated with the other part of the country. It is therefore concluded, that further comprehensive studies are required to identify infected blood donations by blood donors in Gorgan. © 2008 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Aphthous ulcer and the effective factors on it's incidence among the students of Golestan Medical Sciences University in the north of Iran

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and probable predisposing factors of Aphthous ulcer among the medical students. This project was a cross-sectional and descriptive study, which was carried out on 485 students of Golestan University of medical sciences in the north of Iran. Data was collected by filling the questionnaire. The gathered informations entered into SPSS software and were analyzed by Chi square method. The mean age of the students was 21.8 years. 36.9% (179 persons) of subjects had positive history and 8.9% (43 persons) of them had present Aphthous ulcer at the time of interview. 70.6% of students with positive personal history of Aphthous ulcer had positive family history of Aphthous ulcer too. Internal labial mucosa was the commonest site of the lesion among the subjects with present Aphthous ulcer. We found that gender, positive family history, the field of study, the form of diet and stress had a major correlation with the incidence of Aphthous ulcer. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Acute poisoning by drug and pesticide

The concept behind this study is to find out the prevalence and reasons for acute poisoning in the emergency unit of 5th Azar hospital in Gorgan which is the main department in the town. This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study, the sample population were all the patients with acute poisoning either intentionally or accidentally whom admitted to the emergency unit of the hospital during period of one year. This research was implemented using a questionnaires which was filled either by the patients themselves or by those accompany them. The collected data were analyzed using the proper statistical tests. We conclude that the pre-university students are the main age group, drugs and pesticides are major types for either accidental or acute deliberate self-poising. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Culture and the remembering of trauma

This research investigated the influence of culture and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on global autobiographical remembering (Study 1a) and on the phenomenological properties (Study 1b) and memory-content variables (Study 1c) of trauma-specific autobiographical remembering. Australian, British, and Iranian trauma survivors with and without PTSD completed the Autobiographical Memory Test, Self-Defining Memory Task, and Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire and provided trauma- and negative-memory narratives. We found that there were pan-cultural deficits and distortions in the global autobiographical remembering of participants with PTSD (Study 1a). In addition, the presence of PTSD moderated the usual effect of culture on the phenomenological properties of the trauma memory (Study 1b). Finally, participants with PTSD, regardless of cultural background, had significantly fewer expressions of autonomy and self-determination in their autobiographical remembering than did those without PTSD (Study 1c). The findings suggest that pan-culturally, individuals with PTSD have similar disruptions and distortions in their autobiographical remembering

Spatial and temporal patterns of benthic macrofauna in Gorgan Bay, south Caspian Sea, Iran

We quantified the distribution, abundance and assemblage structure of macrofauna at 22 stations in Gorgan Bay, seasonally in 2012-2013. Also, depth, temperature, salinity, DO, TOM and sediment particle size were measured in each station. The highest concentration of TOM was measured near the western littoral zone (10.22) while the mouth part and north-eastern area was characterized by the lowest values (2.65 % and 4.69). A total of 31658 individuals belonging to 12 families and 14 species were identified. Polychaeta with 3 species was the most dominant group in terms of abundance. The four most abundant taxa making up 85% of all specimens were Streblospio gynobranchiata, Tubificidae, Hediste diversicolor and Abra segmentum. The maximum density (7,893 ind/m^2) was obtained at station 1 while the minimum (1,777 ind/m^2) was observed at station 16. The western area was characterized by the highest species diversity (H', 1.94) and the stations 10, 8 and 7 were characterized by the lowest diversity indices (H', 0.72, 0.77 and 0.87, respectively). The PCA showed that water parameters with more temporary variations had a greater significance in explaining the system variability, and a not marked but evident difference between the two parts of Gorgan Bay was observed and supported by nmMDS test. So Gorgan Bay presents transitional macrobenthic assemblages that are spatially distributed along substrate gradients but it seems that the coastal ecosystem of the south Caspian Sea and mouth-eastern part of Gorgan Bay is very dynamic and some species are forming a metapopulation toward western sites