Evaluation of the measles-rubella mass vaccination campaign in the population covered by Tehran University of Medical Sciences

We evaluated the measles-rubella mass vaccination campaign in the Islamic Republic of Iran in December 2003. Vaccination coverage, community awareness of the campaign and the quality of vaccination services were assessed in the population covered by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. At the end of the campaign 96.4% [95% CI: 94.6%-98.2%] of the population sample [n = 390] had been vaccinated. Awareness of the campaign was 80.59% of the sample [n = 190] at the start, rising to 96.8% during and 100.0% at the end of the campaign. None of the 24 vaccination teams sampled were over the threshold for unacceptable performance. The mass media and vaccination teams demonstrated good performance and have achieved their goals

Designing and compiling a generic informed consent form human volunteers participating in research

Performing research on [human] volunteers may involve useful or harmful effects. To preserve the volunteers' dignity, numerous world associations have issued declarations such as Nuremberg s, Helsinki s, Belmont s report, etc. One of the four ethical principles in research is respecting volunteers' rights and the most obvious aspect of this respect materializes in obtaining the volunteers informed consent. This informed consent form has been compiled by a Delphi quality study which 15 experts have participated in its designation and compilation. At first, the experts replied the questions posed by the researchers on the frame and contents of the form. Then, the replies were summarized and once again were sent to the experts for a second revision. Eventually, the final form was edited by a Persian language expert. The final result of this research is an informed consent form which includes three main parts: introduction, body and places provided for signatures. Compilers of this form find it a suitable and useful way to obtain volunteers informed consent. This form has been prepared for all researchers in different fields of medical science and the authors welcome any comments, suggestions or criticisms by professors and specialists

[ comparative study of sodium valporate and propranolol in prophylaxis of childhood migraine]

Background: Sodium valporate is one of the drugs that have been proved effective in adults. To compare the effectiveness and safety of sodium valporate and propranolol in childhood migraine, this study was carried out

Materials and Methods: An open labeled crossover clinical trial was carried out haying a 4 week medication-free baseline phase, an eight week treatment phase for each drug and a 4 week wash out period before crossing over. Forty eight patients were randomized to sodium valporate or propranolol treatment group [1:1 ratio]

Results: The response to treatment was evaluated on the basis of frequency and severity of migraine attacks. Sixty percent of valporate treated patients and seventy eight percent of propranolol treated ones showed 50% or greater reduction in headache frequencies from the baseline phase. Thirty one percent of valporate and 50% of propranolol treated group revealed at least one grade improvement in functional restriction. McNemar statistical analysis did not show a remarkable difference between groups concerning both frequency and severity. No serious side effect was seen during treatment

Conclusion: Sodium valporate was generally well tolerated in this study and showed favorable efficacy in childhood migraine