Paan use in south-eastern Iran: the associated factors

Smokeless tobacco use is growing among youth in many countries especially developing countries. Paan is one of these products that its use in many cultures is of interest. This study evaluates the use of paan among males school-age and assess the attributed factors. A cross-sectional study was done on 504 high school pupils of Zahedan city, Capital of Sistan va Baluchistan Province, southeastern Iran in June 2007. Samples were selected by multistage sampling method from high school students in different geographic areas. A questionnaire including 43 questions was completed through interviews. The mean age of participants was 16.2 +/- 1.1 years. While 10.4% of the students were current users of paan, 17.9% were ex-users. Mean duration of using paan was 2.5 +/- 1.6 years. Number of daily paan consumption was 4.2 +/- 3.6/day. Cigar was the most common substance used at least once by pupils [18.6%] followed by paan [17.9%], naas [11.5%] and other illicit drugs. Only 64.7% of our pupils did not use any illicit drug at the time of study. Risk of paan use among students who had a history of taking any other substance was 18-fold more than others. In the case of each attitude, score accretion and risk of paan consumption declined up to 16%.Among multiple personal, familial and environmental factors, positive history of using any kind of illicit drugs by students and their attitude had strong association with paan use

[Prevalence of hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia at Golestan hospital during 2006-7]

Among various diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia Hallucination is a main part of clinical features and presentation forms of disease. The present study is the first complete investigation that was designed to assess the frequency of Hallucinations in Schizophrenia. This cross-sectional investigation was done on fifty Schizophrenic patients admitted in Golestan Hospital. Schizophrenia was diagnosed on DSM_IV_TR criteria by psychiatrist and obtained data analyzed using MC_N. The results of this research demonstrated that 82% of patients suffered from auditory, 36% [visual], 24% [tactile], 12% [olfactory], 10% [pain and deep sensation], 6% [gustatory and the sense of presence], 4% [vestibular sensation] and 2% [functional and reflex] hallucination. Compared to previous studies, the results of our investigation provide additional information and have differences at some findings

[Evaluation of frequencies of the Personality disorders [Axis II] in soldiers who evade the draft]

Mental disorders represent an important source of morbidity among military personnel and are a commen reason for early separation from the military, and the most frequency of premature elimination from the army was personality disorder. The goal of this study is evaluation of prevalence of personality disorder in soldiers separated from military service. In this study 102 awoles and 105 soldiers referred to the clinic of 506 Army hospital, evaluated by clinical interviews on the basis of DSM-4 criteria.The results were then analyzed by statistical software of SPSS 13. In this study, the frequencies of personality disorders in awols 73 percent and in the soldiers referred to clinic22 percent [p value 0/00].The frequencies of the most personality disorders [hysterionice, borderline, and antisocial] in awols are respectively 29, 18, and 23 percent and in soldiers referred to clinic are 16/2, 3/8, and 1 percent which there was a significant difference between two groups [p value in borderline 0/02, hysterionic 0/00, and antisocial 0/00]. The frequencies of personality disorders in awols were more common than community and soldiers which referred to clinic of hospital. Other trails are neede to determine relationship between the Personality disorders [Axis II] and separation from military service

Evaluation of serum immunoglobulins and their relevance to chronic lung disease in mustard gas victims

Despite the fact that 8 years has elapsed since the end of the imposed war, chemically injured victims are still suffering from various long-term complications, most of them respiratory in nature. The progressive nature of respiratory problems in these patients suggests that the immune system must be involved to initiate a cascade which ends up causing lung injuries. To evaluate this, humoral immunity was assessed in 179 mustard gas victims in 1992. The patients were followed up for the next 4 years. These included 172 male and 7 female patients with a mean age of 33 years and an average of 6.1 years post-exposure to mustard gas. After physical examination and spirometric evaluation, these patients were divided into 3 groups based on the severity of their respiratory problems, i.e. "severe" [group 1], "moderate" [group 2] and "mild" [group 3]. IgG, IgA, C3 and C4 were measured using SRID technique and IgE by ELISA. The results in each group were compared with the control group consisting of 49 healthy, randomly selected volunteers. Mean age was 32 years in this group. The results indicate that there is a significant fall in IgG, IgA, C3 and C4 levels in group 3 [p=0.009, 0.01, 0.004, and 0.002, respectively] as compared to the control group. IgG had also dropped significantly in groups 2 and 1. On the other hand in group 3.19.6% and 15.2% of patients had lower than normal IgG and IgA levels, respectively. In group 2, 7.7% of patients had low IgG and 5.8% had low IgA levels. These figures were 10% and 3.8% for IgG and IgA in group 1. Of a total of 7 patients in group 3 with low IgA levels, four patients also had low IgG levels. Two of these patients gradually developed more serious respiratory problems and were classified as group 1 after two years. We concluded that: 1] mildly injured patients [group 3] have lower IgG and IgA as well as C3 and C4 levels, and 2]among these patients those who demonstrate low IgG levels are more prone to develop progressive respiratory problems in the future