ABSTRACT
Background: Depression is one of the mental disorders which have become a public health problem throughout of the world. The objective of this study was to investigate depression and to determine its correlated factors among students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences [SUMS]
Methods: 358 students of SUMS participated in this cross sectional study in 2012. The participants were selected by Proportion Partition sampling method. A two-part questionnaire was used as the data collecting tool. In the first part, demographic characteristics and in the second part the Beck Depression Inventory [BDI] were included
Results: Mean score of depression in the studied population was 10.98. More than half of all the participants [54.7%] were symptomless; 41% of them were in the weak to moderate depression categories, and 4.2% in the strong and very strong categories. The data showed a significant relationship between scores of depression and marital status, academic grade, field content of study, use of psychoactive drugs, job outlook, problem with marriage and religious commitments. The depression scores in the married, religious and postgraduate participants and in those participants with course pleasure and excellent career perspective were lower than those in the other groups
Conclusion: Taking measures to reduce the factors leading to mental disorders is recommended. The involvement of students in socio-cultural, recreational and sport activities, reinforcement of consultation and clinical psychological services, and promotion of religious beliefs are instrumental in the enhancement of moral values and amelioration of depression among university students
ABSTRACT
Background: Medicinal plant extracts such as those obtained from Salvia species have a wide variety of chemical compounds in their essential oils. The repellency of a number of essential oils including those from the labiates like Salvia against several insect species including the common house flies is reported
Objective: The aim of this investigation was to find out the excito-repellency effects of Salvia sclarea L. [Lamiaceae] extracts against adult house flies, Musca domestica L. [Diptera: Muscidae]
Methods: Air-dried plant material from the aerial parts of S. sclarea was subjected to hydro-distillation in a Clevenger type glass apparatus model Soxhlet with acetone, benzene, petroleum ether, chloroform, and aqueous solvents. Only adult house flies were inserted into an exposure chamber and their behavior was monitored for feeding tendency, repellency rate and deterrence rate. Statistical analyses were carried out by one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA] with computation of the significance of differences in the outcome of various treatments
Results: There were significant differences among most of the various extracts with their controls in the sequential effects of feeding [P=0.04], deterrent [P=0.023] and repellency [P=0.01] rates of house flies. The order of potency for various extracts with a concentration of 100 g/l was as follows: petroleum ether> benzene> water> acetone> chloroform
Conclusion: It is thus conceivable to search for native means of combating house flies by fractionating the active ingredients in the Clary sage in the light of its excito-repellency effects
ABSTRACT
Background: Human malaria remains a major malady in Eastern Iran. Vector control interventions such as indoor residual spraying are used to fight with the disease. This study was undertaken to determine the lethal and residual effects of three different pyrethroid insecticides on adult mosquitoes of Anopheles stephensi on different surfaces in Iran, as part of a national program to monitor insecticide resistance in endemic areas
Methods: Two main endemic foci were selected as collection sites. Wild adult females of An. stephensi [mysoriensis strain] from the first focus were subjected to standard susceptibility tests, using lambdacyhalothrin, deltamethrin and cyfluthrin insecticides within holding tubes according to the method proposed by WHO. In Kazerun, the residual effects of these compounds were examined by conical bioassay tests of An. stephensi [type strain] on plaster and cement walls. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test to determine the differences in susceptibility and residual effects of An. stephensi mosquitoes to these insecticides
Results: The susceptibility of females of An. stephensi to three concentrations of lambdacyhalothrin, deltamethrin and cyfluthrin insecticides culminated in full scale mortality at the highest diagnostic dose. The maximal residual time of these three insecticides on plaster and cement walls was estimated to be about three months. There was no significant difference in the mortalities of An. stephensi on different sprayed surfaces [P=0.653]
Conclusion: All field-collected An. stephensi populations exhibit gross susceptibility to all diagnostic doses of the three evaluated insecticides. In endemic areas, lambdacyhalothrin reveals a slightly longer residual activity than the other two insecticides
ABSTRACT
Background: Geographical distribution of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis [ZCL] has continuously been extended in recent years in Iran. The Beiza District is one of the newly-emerged endemic foci of ZCL in southern Iran. The main aim of the present study was to detect the vector[s] of ZCL in this area
Methods: To detect the fauna and vectors of ZCL in this district, sand flies were caught using sticky papers. Seventy randomly selected female sand flies out of 730 were molecularly investigated for Leishmania infection using species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction [PCR] assay between April and October 2010
Results: A total of 2543 sand flies were caught. The fauna was identified as 10 species [five Phlebotomus spp. and five Sergentomyia spp.]. Phlebotomus papatasi was the most dominant species both indoors and outdoors [37.55% and 16.35%, respectively]. L. major was detected in 5 out of 48 investigated Phlebotomus papatasi [10.41%]. Sequence-based characterization was carried out to confirm the PCR findings. The positive samples were shown to have 75-88% similarity with L. major sequences in GenBank
Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, similar to the other foci of ZCL in Iran, P. papatasi is the proven and primary vector of CL. This study could be drawn upon for future strategy planning in this newly emerged endemic focus
ABSTRACT
Background: The German cockroach, Blattella germanica L. [Dictyoptera: Blattellidae], has become resistant to many insecticides due to control failures in hospital and student dormitory settings of southern Iran
Objective: This study was thus designed to detect and monitor carbamate resistance in two strains of German cockroach using lethal dose bioassay methods
Methods: Wild dormitory [D] and hospital [H] strains were collected. Adult males were subjected to the jar exposure procedure. A range of concentrations based on the world health organization [WHO] standard concentration of carbamate insecticides [carbaryl, bendiocarb, propoxur] were used. For each insecticide, four to seven different concentrations leading to >0% and <100% mortality were assayed. Ten insects were placed in each jar and the exposure time of contact was held constant for 30 minutes. Mortality data [as LD[[50]]] were assessed using probit analysis
Results: Although both strains showed lethality values above those of the WHO standards, the H strain was more resistant to all of the three carbamate insecticides than the D strain, possibly due to the frequent and excessive dosage of these chemicals used in the hospital environment. The order of resistance for H strain was carbaryl > propoxur > bendiocarb. The ratio of LD[50] in H strain to that of D strain for bendiocarb was about twice that of the other two insecticides indicating that German cockroaches were most susceptible to bendiocarb under both environments
Conclusion: It is concluded that excessive reliance on carbaryl in both D and H settings has led to resistance