Occupational stress among male employees of Esfahan steel company, Iran: prevalence and associated factors

Lack of data on occupational stress among Iranian industrial employees persuaded us to design and conduct this study to evaluate the prevalence and associated parameters of occupational stress among the male employees of Esfahan Steel Company, one of the biggest industrial units in Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 400 male employees were sampled from the operational divisions of the company. Socio-demographic data and stress-related variables were entered into a logistic regression to determine the significant associated factors of occupational stress among the participants. Of all the samples, 53% were found as stressful. A monthly salary of less than $600 [odds ratio [OR] = 1.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.21-2.94], family-related problems [OR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.22-6.21], work environment [OR = 3.09, 95% CI = 1.78-5.33], and having a second job [OR = 2.68, 95% CI = 1.78-6.78] were significantly associated with the outcome. Attention to some variables, especially economic problems and the work environment of employees, might play a protective role against the prevalence of occupational stress, not only among the employees of ESCO, but also among all industrial employees in Iran

Detection of vim- and ipm-type metallo-beta-lactamases in Pseu-domonas aeruginosa clinical isolates

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most important bacterium isolated from burn wounds, and its resistance to imipenem due to metallo-beta-lactamases is increasing. This study was designed to detect vim1, vim2, Ipm1 and ipm2 metallo-beta-lactamases genes between Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates isolated from Shahid Motahari Burns Hospital, Iran. To that end, we isolated 483 nonduplicate consecutive isolates of P aeruginosa from burn infections; and after biochemical confirmation, we examined the imipenem susceptibility via the Kirby-Bauer method. All the imipenem-resistant and imipenem-intermediate isolates were screened for vim1, vim2, ipm1 and ipm2 genes through the FOR method. From the 483 isolates, 272 [56%] and 63 [13%] isolates had resistant and intermediate zones in their imipenem antibiogram pattern, respectively. Fifty-four [16.1%], 7[2.1%], 22[6.6%], and 11[3.3%] of the resistant and intermediate isolates had vim1, vim2, ipm1 and ipm2 genes in their PCR results, respectively. MBL-mediated imipenem resistance in P aeruginosa is a cause for concern in the treatment of infective burn patients. The rate of imipenem resistance due to MBL was increased dramatically and newer versions of MBL families were detected for the first time. These results suggest that an effective method should be provided to fight MBL production in clinical isolates

[Antisense technology]

In 1978, Zamecnik and Stephenson explored that how nucleotides as antisense agents can inhibit viral replication process in vitro. Since that time antisense technology has been developed as a strong facility for therapeutic usages. Antisense molecules are complementary nucleic acids which specifically bind to the target mRNA and inhibits its translation. Theoretically, antisense molecules could be used to control over expressions of genes and related disorders like viral diseases, inflammations, cancers, etc. Despite of their simple structures, there are serious challenges for using of these materials which should be resolved in near future