[Investigating the trend of hourly changes of air pollutants in Tehran during 2004 to 2008 and exercise recommendations for athletes and patients]

Regarding negative effects of air pollution on health and athletic performance, this study was run to determine the trend of hourly changes of air pollutants in Tehran [2004 to 2008] and recommend exercise advices for athletes and patients. After getting data from 7 air pollutant monitoring stations, the hourly means of air pollutant concentrations were measured and converted to Air Quality index [AQI] values. To find the cleanest and the most polluted hours in exercise places [parks and stadiums], map of Tehran air pollution was created using data from monitoring stations and Arc GIS software. Exercise advices were recommended according to latest American College of Sports Medicine [ACSM] standpoints. Fine particles less than 10 micrometer [PM10], carbon monoxide [CO] and ozone [O3] were major air pollutants in Tehran. Hourly concentration changes of PM10 were minimal and beyond the desired level. Overall, the cleanest hours were early morning [before 7 am] and then 17 to 18. It is better to perform physical activities in early hours of morning [before 7 am] in Tehran. Regarding the existence of air pollution in all hours of day and night, efforts to reduce air pollution are critical

effect of Ramadan fasting on outcome of pregnancy

Pregnancy is a physiological condition that its concurrence with fasting introduces some controversies about condition of mother and fetus. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fasting on pregnancy outcome. The historical cohort paradigm of this study was conducted on referrals of one of the Tehran's hospitals in 2004. All pregnant women at one of the trimesters in holy month of Ramadan were included in the study. The women were divided into non-fasting, 1-10 days I fasting, 11-20 days fasting, and 21-30 days fasting. For statistical analysis of data, covariance analysis and SPSS package was used. Findings: In this study, 189 cases were evaluated and their mean age, weight, and body mass index [BMI] were 25.9 years, 61.7 kg, and 23.9 kg/m[2] respectively. The mean for number of days on fasting was 13 days and 66 cases [34.9%] had not been on fasting. In addition, there was no significant difference between BMI at the beginning of pregnancy, mother's age, number of pregnancies, and a history of abortion in different groups. Meanwhile, there was also no significant difference between means of weight, height, and head circumference of infants with number of days on fasting. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between pregnancy outcome parameters and fasting at different trimesters. According to these findings, in healthy women with appropriate nutrition, Islamic fasting has no inappropriate effect on intrauterine growth and birth-time indices. Meanwhile, relative risk of low weight birth was 1.5 times in mothers on fasting at first trimester as compared to non-fasting mothers

[ trend of pharmaceutical research in Iran compared to Middle East and North Africa: a scientometrics study]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Iranian trend of research in pharmaceutical sciences published in international publication and to compare it with that in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa in 1996-2006 through scientometrics methods. In this ecological study, the data were extracted from ISI: Web of Science, Scopus and International Pharmaceutical Abstract [IPA] databases. The indexed documents of authors from Iran as well as 13 other regional and North African countries in mentioned databases in the fields relevant to pharmaceutical sciences including pharmacy, pharmacology, toxicology and medicinal chemistry in the last 11 years [1996-2006] were retrieved and quantitatively analyzed. Analysis of indexed pharmaceutical documents from the Middle East and North African countries [1996-2006] showed that Iran ranks second in the ISI/WOS, Scopus and IPA. However, Iran has achieved the first rank in the WOS and Scopus in the years 2004-2006 and in IPA in the last two years [2005-2006]. Ranking of normalized indexed pharmaceutical documents based on GDP and population showed Iran fell to the forth rank in Scopus and IPA and the fifth in WOS. Iran has managed to stand on the first place of science production within the field of pharmaceutical sciences among Middle East and North Africa in the last 11 years. Maintenance of the acquired rank requires planning and paying enough attention to utilization of research potentials of universities and research centers within the field of pharmaceutical sciences and the interdisciplinary sciences