[Association between risk of pre-eclampsia and contraceptive methods or duration of cohabitation]

Pre-eclampsia is one of major causes of maternal morbidity and mortality, IUGR [Intra uterine growth retardation], preterm birth and mortality in newborns. According to Immune mal-adaptation hypothesis, using contraceptive methods or short period of unprotected cohabitations may be risk factors of pre-eclampsia. The aim of this study was to determine the possible association between these factors and pre-eclampsia. This study was performed on 300 pregnant women who were admitted in the delivery ward of the Tamin Ejtemaee hospital in Shahrekord, Iran. They were matched for age categories and interviewed for filling the questionnaires. Data analysis was done by SPSS 14, using student t-test, odds ratio or X2, tests. Majority of the participants, both in the case and control groups, were primi-gravida and only 20% had a history of one or more abortions. A significant positive association was seen between the total duration of cohabitation [marital duration] and the risk of pre-eclampsia [P<0.001]. This correlation remained significant even after elimination of number of delivery. There was no significant relationship between using contraceptive methods and pre-eclampsia. The results of this study have challenged the immune mal-adaptation hypothesis in some aspects and it seems that there may be another explanation for the role of long cohabitation as a risk factor in pre-eclampsia, which requires further researches

Approach of cutaneous leishmaniasis in rodents of the rural areas of Damghan, Iran

[Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] is a parasitic infection, which is caused by protozoa of genus [Leishmania] and usually has a reservoir of family [Jerbilineae]. There are reports of infection from different areas of Iran annually. Damghan, a township of Semnan province of Iran, is one of the endemic foci of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis and it had an epidemy of this infection in 1999. Because existing Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in reservoirs can affect the probablity of human infection and can influcnce the [Preventive and Control Programms], a descriptive study was design to determine the [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] in rodents of the rural areas of Damghan, Iran between years 2001-2002. This research was a descriptive study, done in 12 chosen villages of Damghan township. Installing hunting net randomly in different places of study area trapped the rodents. After anaesthetizing and writing all the external characteristics, impression smears were prepared from ears and the other suspicious parts of the rodents' bodies. These smears were stained with Giemsa's stain and examined microscopically for the presence of Leishman bodies. The Observation data was recorded in special charts and analyzed statistically. In this study the total number of 310 rodents belonging to 4 Species were hunted in which 250 of them had [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis]. [80.6%]. There was no signifcant difference between the rate of infected rodents in [areas having human disease reports] and [areas without it]. The major genus and species of the trapped rodents was [Nesokia indicant] which also showed the maximum rate of infection [83%].The maximum rate of infected rodents was observed in spring season [83.9%] and Western areas [86%]; and the minimum rate was in summer [73.2%] and Southern areas of the study [68%].The results indicated that prevalence rate of [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] was extremely high in the rodents of the rural areas of Damghan township. High number of these rodents and their proximity to the houses and work places of people, may lead to exist [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] for the following years even in [human epidemy form] and so there is a special need for designing [Comprehensive Control Programs]