[Application of satellite remote sensing for tracking of arthropod vectors of diseases]

Arthropod-borne diseases are one of the major causes of human mortality. Since launch of the first meteorological satellites in 1960s, remote sensing has been increasingly implicated in the field of human health research and the data from satellites and their sensors with different spatial and temporal resolutions opened a new field of research in human health for scientists. Search engines and national/international scientific databanks were used to search keywords of remote sensing, satellite, tick, mosquito and sand fly and obtained articles were analyzed. Some ecological indices were used more in remote sensing of arthropod-borne diseases, including NDVI, SST, LST and CCD. Data of environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, land use/ land cover help us to detect the habitats of vectors of diseases regard to their ecology. However, the scope of applications, beyond theoretical large potentialities, appears limited both by their technical nature and the related models developed. The main problem for application of remote sensing in health science and epidemiology of diseases, is the costs of satellite images as well as the availability in the studied times to monitor a specific subject like vector or agent of the disease. Although the majority of health studies and diseases monitoring need to application of high spatial resolution images

[Factors affecting quality of life in elderly diabetic residents of the Kahrizak Geriatric Nursing Home of Tehran]

Investigating problems of the elderly, as they age is very important, since any chronic disease can affect their quality of life. Diabetes is one of the diseases that affects the physical, mental and social aspects of such individuals. This descriptive analytical study was conducted on elderly diabetic residents of the Kahrizak Geriatric Nursing Home during 2011. A total of 93 individuals, selected randomly, completed demographic and the World Health Organization quality of life questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS16 software, using t-test and ANOVA. In this study, 34 men and 59 women, average age 74.2 +/- 8 years, were evaluated in different domains of quality of life. Based on data analysis, men earned higher scores in the physical domain [P=0.017]. Social domain had a significant [P=0.009] relationship with marital status and married individuals had higher scores. There was a significant correlation between the income and quality of life in the mental domain [P=0.035], but no significant relationship was found between educational status and quality of life. The increasing rate of elderly diabetic populations among geriatrics groups, indicates the urgent need for strategic planning of interventions aimed at improving of environmental, social, physical and mental status of these age groups