[ possibility of applying less tracer gas in ASHRAE-110-95 method of hood performance test]

A considerable amount of sulfur hexafluoride is applied to evaluate the performance of each laboratory hood according to ASHRAE-110-95 method.SF [6] is extremely hostile to environment and expensive. In present work, the possibility of conducting this method of hood performance test with less volume of SF [6] was investigated. The performance of a laboratory hood was evaluated using ASHRAE110-95 standard method at three different ventilation capacity as well as three different volumetric flow rates of injected SF 6 while a mannequin was located at the front of hood. Face velocity was measured 180 times using a thermal anemometer TA-2 model.Air flow was visualized through injecting low and high volume of smokes at 18 tests. Sulfur hexafluoride was injected at three different volumetric flow rates of 2, 3 and 4 lit / min.The occupational exposure of a hypothetic hood operator was determined 27 times through direct reading. The average and standard deviation of face velocity at hood inlet were 0.42 +/- 0.04, 0.6 +/- 0.07, 0.7 +/- 0.11 m / s respectively, ranging from 0.36-1.1 m / s. the studied hood did not have an acceptable performance when tested with high volumes of smoke, but it did have an acceptable performance while it was tested with low volumes of smoke. The application of ASHRAE 110-95 hood performance test with smaller volume of tracer sulfur hexafluoride gas is not recommended.

[Studying the nursing students experiences of clinical errors and dealing with them]

Clinical errors are considered as serious treat for patient safety. Since the students are in training process, therefore the patients in teaching hospitals are faced with variety of medical errors. The aim of this study was to explore clinical errors of nursing students and dealing with them. In this qualitative study, purposeful sampling semi-structured interviews were performed with 30 male and female nursing students in 2010. The interviews were transcribed line by line and were analyzed according to Morse's content analysis approach. Clinical error was explained as "treat for patient's life or damage". The most common error was medical and procedural errors. "Hiding" from the others was the dominant dealing approach of the students with clinical errors. Disclosing errors of the students was faced with anger of nurses and physicians, patients, their relatives, the instructor, and feeling guilty of the students. "Not asking for help or guidance, lack of knowledge and skill, not enough supervision by senior nurse or instructor" were some of related factors for occurrence of clinical errors by the novice learners. The most frequent error occasion was when a trainee received an oral order. The live experiences of the students indicated that error events are inevitable in clinical areas and their dominant dealing approach is hiding error. It is very important that students learn and understand ethical and legal approaches of managing clinical error before they enter real practice. To minimize error occurrence, reporting programs may be considered a necessity

[Workplace behaviors and its correlation with demographic characteristics: perspective of nurses in teaching hospitals in Gorgan]

Incivility behavior and violence have long-term complication on individual performance. These behaviors cause complex issues at workplace in the nursing profession and lead to embarrassment and threats of nurses and patients health and endanger the climate. The aim of this study was to determine workplace behaviors and its correlation with demographic characteristics, perspective of nurses in teaching hospitals in Gorgan. In this descriptive - correlational study, 232 nurses who employed at two hospitals in Gorgan were participated. Data collected by "Nursing Incivility Scale", "[NIS]". Validity of this scale was approved with face validity and reliability through test-retest [Cronbach's alpha=0.86]. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and linear regression models with SPSS/16. The total score of incivility from the perspective of nurses was 3.89 of 5.00 likert. The most incivility behavior score was reported with physician interacting and the lowest was observed in the interaction of nurses with a supervisor. There was a significant correlation between age and type of employment with incivility behaviors [[P=0.04] and [P=0.02] respectively. Similarly, the correlation between working in type of hospital ward and incivility behaviors was significant [P=0.02]. The highest score of incivility behavior reported in the emergency ward was 4.43 from 5 and the lowest in genecology ward was 2.71 from 5. Incivility behaviors among nurses can affect the quality of services provided by them. Therefore, considering factors that lead to incivility in nursing workplace is necessary

[Relationship between crown forms and periodontium biotype]

Periodontium biotype has many variations among different people. It has been suggested that the variation in the periodontium biotype may be related to the shape and form of the crowns of the teeth. The aim of this investigation was to examine the forms of the crowns in the maxillary anterior segment and corresponding gingival characteristics among healthy young Iranian subjects. For this cross-sectional study 200 individual [100 male and 100 female] with average age of 26.5 +/- 7.29 with healthy periodontium were chosen from dental students. The gingival angle, height of interdental papilla, crown width and crown height of maxillary anterior teeth were measured by a digital caliper on a diagnostic stone cast. Also marginal gingiva's thickness, probing depth and width of keratinized gingival was assessed clinically by a William's probe on each individual. Binary logistic regression method was used for statistical analysis. In central teeth [11-21] gingival thickness had a significant correlation with amount of keratinized gingiva and probing depth. In lateral teeth [12-22] gingival thickness had significant correlation with amount of keratinized gingiva, probing depth and crown width. In canine teeth [13-23] gingival thickness had significant correlation with amount of keratinized gingiva, probing depth, crown's height, papilla's height and gingival angle. There was no statistical relation between crown's form and gingival thickness. Based on the findings, crown form had no relation with the gingival thickness but in each type of tooth gingival thickness was related to different factors

Molecular identification of antagonistic bacteria from Tehran soils and evaluation of their inhibitory activities toward pathogenic fungi

To find antagonistic bacteria with potential antifungal activity against some pathogenic fungi, including Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Fusarium moniliforme and Penicillium marneffei, a total of 148 agricultural soil samples from different sites of Tehran were examined. Antagonistic soils were selected by screening against A niger on glucose-yeast extract [GY] agar using a visual agar plate assay method. All growing bacteria were examined for antifungal activity, and antagonistic bacteria identified based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Among a total number of 97 bacteria isolated form inhibitory soils [36 samples], 16 bacteria were reported as strong growth inhibitors in co-cultures on GY agar with all tested fungi at variable degrees. Fungal growth inhibitory bacteria were cultured against all fungi and growth inhibition was measured and analyzed between test and control groups by statistical analysis [ANOVA]. Molecular identification of antagonistic bacteria indicated that most bacterial isolates belonged to the genus Bacillus [81.25%], including B. subtilis [5 isolates], B. amyloliquefaciens [6 isolates] and B. valismortis [2 isolates], followed by one isolate [6.25%] from each Streptomyces sp., Pseudomonas chlororaphis and Acinetobacter baumannii. Based on the visual plate assay results, total fungal growth inhibition of all bacteria was reported in the range of 13.2 to 68.3%. P. chlororaphis SI 05 was reported as the most potent antagonistic bacterium which inhibited the growth of A. niger by 68.3%, followed by F. moniliforme [66.4%], A. flavus [64.7%] mdR marneffei [57.1%].P. chlororaphis and some other inhibitory bacteria reported in the present study, they may be considered not only as a rich source of useful metabolites with potential application in antifungal drug discovery, but also as potential candidates for biological control programs

[Investigation of blood lead levels and its toxicity in workers of zinc melting factory of Dandi, Zanjan, Iran]

Environmental pollutions that affect human health are one of the important worries related to heavy metals production. Our objective of this study was to investigate the blood lead levels in workers of Zinc melting factory of Dandi Zanjan and to compare its level with healthy men who were living around the factory. This study was carried out on 40 workers as case group and 40 healthy non-worker male individuals who where living around the mentioned factory in Dandi region of Zanjan as control group. Blood lead concentrations was measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer [GFAAS]. The data were analyzed using T-test and ANOVA. The mean of blood lead levels in case and control groups were 16.06 and 10.47- micro g/dL respectively [P = 0.0001]. There was also a significant difference between workers lead levels in different parts of the factory [P = 0.04]. Blood lead levels in factory workers were higher than in control group, although blood lead levels were in reference limit in workers on the basis of OSHA standards. Since the major way of lead pollution is respiratory tracts, therefore it is necessary to use appropriate air conditioner systems in such factories

[ effects of triple-therapy in metabolic control of patients suffering from type 2 diabetic mellitus [DM]]

Although patients with uncontrolled type 2 Diabetes mellitus[DM] despite conventional treatment with oral hypoglycemic agents eventually require insulin to achieve glycemic control, most of them reject use of insulin. To evaluate the efficacy of adding acarbose to full doses of conventional oral hypoglycemic agents on the metabolic control of the patients this study was designed. In this uncontrolled follow-up study, 20 patients with type 2 DM and persistent poor glycemic control despite maximal doses of sulfonylurea and metformin were recruited to receive additional treatment with acarbose. Insulin therapy was rejected by all the patients and 12 weeks of dietary reinforcement and supervision for their diet and exercise programs failed to improve their glycemic control. An active treatment period with acarbose 100 mg thrice daily was followed by a 12-week of placebo. Efficacy was assessed by changes in HbA1c, fasting and 2-h postprandial plasma glucose and fasting plasma lipid levels. Acarbose treatment was associated with significantly greater reductions in HbA1c [-1.3 +/- 0.2% vs. placebo 0.2 +/- 0.1%, P = 0.038], Fasting Plasma Glucose[FPG][-25.3 +/- 10 mg/dl vs. placebo 10 +/- 6mg/dl, p:0.019], 2-h postprandial glucose [-24 +/- 8 mg/dl vs. placebo 15 +/- 7.5 mg/dl, P :0.001] and body mass index[BMI] [-0.5 +/- 0.32 kg/m[2] vs. placebo 0.42 +/- 0.29 kg/ m[2], P: 0.01]. There were no significant changes in plasma lipids levels. In patients with type 2 DM inadequately controlled on conventional oral agents, acarbose resulted in beneficial effects on glycemic control and mean body weight. Additional use of acarbose can be considered as a useful alternative in such patients if they are reluctant to accept insulin therapy

Oral soft tissue pathologies among diabetic patients in Rasht- 2005

Diabetes can affect organs including the oral mucosa. There is a disagreement about the prevalence of oral mucosal disease in diabetic patients. We therefore decided to investigate more about that. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of soft tissue pathologies by assessing burning mouth and xerostomia in diabetic patients on the basis of type of diabetes and control status of diabetes. This descriptive, analytic study was done by visiting 486 known diabetic patients who were referred to the Endocrine Clinic in summer of 2005. Their demographic information with history of systemic diseases accompanied by the amount of HbAIC and duration of disease was recorded in their questionnaire. Diagnosis of oral lesions was done by clinical examination. Burning mouth was assessed by visual analog scale in persons who suffered and subjective xerostomia was evaluated by standard questionnaire. Data collection was done by software SPSS 10, and statistical analysis was done by X2 and logistic regression test. In this study, 34 patients were type I and 434 were type II patients with mean age of 47.84 +/- 9.77 years. Frequency of all candidasis lesions was 15.4% which included denture stomatitis 5.3%, angular cheilitis 4.1%, median rhomboid glossitis 1.5%and papillary atrophy of tongue 4.5%. Frequency of non-candidal lesions was 20.1%, which included fissured tongue 10.5%, geographic tongue 7.9% and lichen planus 1.7%. 6.2% of patients suffered from glossodyna. 15.6% of patients had xerestomia. By logistical regression test, we found that type of diabetes affects denture stomatitis, angular cheilitis, tongue atrophy and amount of HbAlc. All of the pathologies were greater in type I than type II diabetes patients. Level of HbAlc had an important role in appearance of oral lesions and level changes can cause problems in the mouth. Thus, patients should maintain their oral hygiene and control their glucose regularly

relationship between fertility rate and socio-economic development

Population growth and the level of fertility and the relationship between them and socio-economic development in different countries, especially in developing countries, are the major interests of today's sociologists and demographists, in particular the case of Iran. In this article, the combination of two methods, Literature Review and further Analysis, were applied, and population data and statistics were gathered from UNPF, UNICEF, World Bank, the relationship between the variables were analyzed using SPSS. Research findings show that higher the level of development, the lower the level of fertility, and population growth. The best pill for contraception is economic development. The relationship between the development and fertility rate is reversal, it means that, in world's deprived regions, with the same level as Iran, and in country's provinces, this relationship is so obvious

[Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism [CH] in Rasht]

Introduction: early diagnosis and treatment of congenital hypothyroidism before 6 weeks of birth and preferably at birth, prevents brain damage. Neonatal screening for CH is carried out routinely in developed countries. Overall, the incidence of CH is 1.4000 infants in average. The incidence is higher in iodine deficient areas also more transient TSH elevation is observed in these districts

Objective: this study was conducted to clarify thyroid dysfunction in the neonates born in Rasht Alzahra Hospital, after elimination of Iodine deficiency in the province

Materials and Methods: all the newborns, up to 3000 neonates, born in one year were included in the study. TSH was measured in cord blood serum immediately after birth by IRMA method. TSH >/= 20 mU/L was considered abnormal. Venous sampling for TSH and T4 was done on recalled patients. Neonates with T4 and TSH measurements <6.5 micro g/dL and >10 mU/L respectively or TSH> 30 mU/L alone were considered hypothyroid. Hypothyroid neonates were evaluated for renal and cardiac anomalies by sonography and echocardiography

Results: 62 neonates had TSH 20 mU/L. The mean of cord blood TSH was 32.5 mU/L, with a range of 20-123 mU/L. in recall, only 2 cases [one girl, one boy] had elevated TSH [TSH>10mu/L] and were considered hypothyroid. None of them had clinical findings of hypothyroidism, goiter and congenital anomalies

Conclusion: with respect to the high incidence of CH and transient TSH elevation [57 cases, 1.9%], supervision on production and consumption of iodide salts via periodic screening of population for iodine deficiency and neonatal screening for CH is strongly suggested