Contributions of public and private sectors to the Iranian cataract surgery output

This study determined trends in the contributions of the public and private sectors to the cataract surgery output in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Data about cataract surgeries performed at surgical centres throughout the nation were extracted from patient charts for a 5-year period from 2006 to 2010. Of the total 516 273 surgeries performed in 2010, more were done in public sector centres [61.7%] than private ones [38.3%]. The total number of surgeries increased by 59.1% between 2006 and 2010. Analysis of the relative contributions of the public and private sectors showed a 41.0% increase in surgeries in public centres and 100.5% in private centres over the 5-year period. Thus the rate of growth of cataract surgery in the private sector was 2.7 times greater than that in the public sector. Despite a smaller contribution to the total number of cataract surgeries, the private sector has experienced a substantial rate of growth

Malaria in Mazandaran, Northern Iran: passive case finding during 1997-2012

Malaria is one of the most important parasitic diseases in tropical and temperate regions. The aim of this study was to determine the trend of malaria in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran during 1997-2012. This retrospective study was conducted from 1997 to 2012. The population's study was individuals who registered at health centers of Mazandaran Province. Peripheral blood smear were prepared for each case, stained with Giemsa and examined by light microscope. In addition to demographic data, other parameters including Slide Positive Rate [SPR], Annual Parasite Incidence [API] and Annual Blood Examination Rate [ABER] were analyzed. In total, 844 cases of malaria were reported. Plasmodium vivax was predominant species with 821 cases [97.4%]. The number of malaria cases increased from 1997 to 2005 and then decreased to 3 cases in 2011. Some cities had not reported any cases during last three years. The highest infection rate, 163[20.07%], was seen in 2001-02. The SPR had the highest value [0.54%] in 2004-05. The maximum API and ABER were observed in 2001-02 and 1997-98. 641[75.9%] of cases were imported from hyperendemic areas such as Afghanistan and South-eastern Iran and 94 [11.1%] malaria patients were recorded as introduced cases. The highest infection rate of malaria [21.3%] was seen in Babolsar. Extensive malaria control should be continued to Mazandaran to become malaria-free region and in prevention of re-introduction stage

Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in the quail egg interior contents: a provincial study

Poultry products have been recognized as major sources of human gastrointestinal disease caused by Salmonella spp. and several outbreaks have been reported where eggs were the source of human infection. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in the quail egg interior contents from retail stores of Semnan, Iran and to characterize the isolated Salmonella serovars via serotyping and Multiplex PCR techniques. 140 packages of quail eggs [each package containing 12 eggs] were collected from different batches during summer 2010 and tested for the presence of Salmonella through conventional culture and serotyping methods. From these samples, S. enteritidis was detected in the egg contents of one package [0.71%] out of 140 packages. This isolate was confirmed by Multiplex PCR generated amplification products for a random sequence that is specific for the genus salmonella and spv and sefA genes. According to our results, S. enteritidis is the most prevalent serotype of quail egg content contaminant in the Semnan area of Iran and the multiplex PCR method could be used as a reliable method of identifying Salmonella serovars

[Modern information architecture in ICD11: a dynamic, interactive, and ontological context]

International Classification of Diseases [ICD] is considered as the most successful product among various activities performed by World Health Organization. However, ICD has faced many challenges due to dynamic environment of needs. The main purpose of this study was to identify ICD challenges and structure of ICD 11 life cycle through a review study of the published papers. A review study was adopted as the methodology of this paper. Data were collected by search strategy in the following databases: NLM, SCIENCEDIRECT, WHO, and ICD 11 related sites. The findings showed that ICD was used in many countries some of which found ICD an insufficient tool for the level of details needed for clinical and administrative uses. In addition, little consideration was given to adaptability of codes and mapping between the ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes. Therefore, WHO initiated a new dynamic architechture based on semantic web application and employed a four stage workflow engine for collecting proposals. This architecture has applied a Semantic Wiki as well as a four stage peer review to provide a three layer ontological structure. ICD11is at the experimental stage and it is predicated that it would have a significant role in the interaction and interoperability of different terminologies leading to the development of Electronic Health Records

[ status of filled consent form of hospitalized patients in Ardabil - Northwest of Iran [2010]]

Patients consent for medical care is a legal requirement. Consent is a document that patient must be necessary aware about all risks of surgery, treatment strategy, Substitution and the risks involved by physician. This study was done to evaluate status of filled consent form of hospitalized patients in Ardabil - Northwest of Iran. This descriptive cross sectional study was done by interview with patients and accompained patients in hospitals of Ardabil - Northwest of Iran during 2010. Patient demographics and other variables gathered by a questionnaire. Data was analyzed by Chi-Square test. 86 [57%] of patients were female and 64 [43%] male. 35 [23%] were illiterate and 92 [61%] under diploma. 45% of patients get information about their illness from doctors. According to patient ideas, 13% of reception personals did not complete consent form. 65 [43.3%] of patients stated that the context of consent form was unreadable and long. Rate of completing form for patients were 87%. 40% of completed forms was not signed by witnesses. The patients and relatives were not satisfied with the form itself, and this observation statistically was significant [P<0.001]. This study showed that validity of completed consent forms are low and it is necessary to design programs for improvement the quality of filling the consent forms

Functional imaging of Broca's area in native Persian speakers: an fMRI study

The problem of localization of speech associated cortices using noninvasive methods has been of utmost importance in many neuroimaging studies, but the results are difficult to resolve for specific neurosurgical applications. In this study, we used fMRI to delineate language-related brain activation patterns with emphasis on the Broca's area during the execution of two Persian language tasks. The subjects comprised of nine healthy right-handed men who participated voluntarily in this study. They performed two consequent fMRI paradigms namely; "Word Production" and "Reverse Word Reading". The fMRI data were collected and analyzed. Then, functional images were registered to anatomical images using FSL software. The laterality indices were also calculated in regions of interest with different threshold levels. The results indicate that Broca's area, as the classical language-production center, was robustly activated while performing these two tasks. In eight out of nine subjects, the left hemisphere dominancy and Broca's area activation were observed and in one case activation was prominent in the homologous area in the right hemisphere. Similar pattern of cortical activation during Persian word production and Anglophone languages such as English was revealed. fMRI is a valuable means for brain mapping in language studies

[Waist circumference cut off in relation to hypertension in Iran]

Cardiovascular disease is the most important reason for mortality in many countries, and because of its increasing prevalence, it is vital to recognize the related risk factors. Hypertension is a major risk factor for CVD. Waist circumference [WC] cut point is a simple way to recognize hypertension. WC cut off points vary for different races, making it necessary to determine WC cut off points in Iranians. This study was conducted to determine the waist circumference cut off in related to hypertension in Iran. We enrolled 83772 individuals, 41775 men and 41997 women, aged eighteen years and older from cities and villages throughout the country. The cut off point for waist circumference was determined and exams for blood glucose and COL, TG was done. Cut off points for waist circumference were determined for hypertension using the ROC curve analysis, yielding 89 cm for men and 93 cm for women. These results showed that the cut off point for WC in Iran is higher than other Asians and is more similar to whites; the present study shows that waist is ciruimference a strong determinant in relation to hypertension

Prediction of protein-protein interactions using protein signature profiling / 基因组蛋白质组与生物信息学报·英文版

Protein domains are conserved and functionally independent structures that play an important role in interactions among related proteins. Domain-domain interactions have been recently used to predict protein-protein interactions (PPI). In general, the interaction probability of a pair of domains is scored using a trained scoring function. Satisfying a threshold, the protein pairs carrying those domains are regarded as "interacting". In this study, the signature contents of proteins were utilized to predict PPI pairs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Homo sapiens. Similarity between protein signature patterns was scored and PPI predictions were drawn based on the binary similarity scoring function. Results show that the true positive rate of prediction by the proposed approach is approximately 32% higher than that using the maximum likelihood estimation method when compared with a test set, resulting in 22% increase in the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. When proteins containing one or two signatures were removed, the sensitivity of the predicted PPI pairs increased significantly. The predicted PPI pairs are on average 11 times more likely to interact than the random selection at a confidence level of 0.95, and on average 4 times better than those predicted by either phylogenetic profiling or gene expression profiling.

Intracranial rhabdomyosarcoma presented as chronic subdural hematoma: a case report

Intracranial rhabdomyosarcoma is a very rare disorder. Subdural rhabdomyosarcoma has not been reported yet. It can be misdiagnosed with chronic subdural hematoma in CT images. Herein, we presented a 2.5-year-old boy with intractable chronic subdural hematoma who were treated with burr hole insertion, needle aspiration and shunting for about 2 years with partial resolution of his symptoms after each procedure. The final pathologic evaluation after extensive bilateral craniotomy revealed rhabdomyosarcoma. The role of CT and MRI in early diagnosis and management of this rare situation is discussed

Ureteral injury in an incidental vaginal incision during cesarean section

Incidental vaginotomy, a potentially severe complication, has occasionally been reported in cesarean sections performed after prolonged second stage labor. There is controversy on the significance of vaginotomy and its consequences in cesarean section. Ureteral injury has been reported as a possible complication of cesarean section. Herein, we present a case of anterior vaginal incision instead of lower uterine segment, where the right ureter had been obstructed by sutures. The injury was detected and corrected during the operation. Thus incidental vaginotomy in cesarean section must be taken seriously and avoided as far as possible. It is also crucial to inspect and preserve the integrity of ureters in such cases

[Prevalence of hypertension in Iranian urban and rural populations aged over 20 years in 2004]

Several studies have shown differences in HTN prevalence between urban and rural populations. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of HTN and the status of HTN awareness, treatment and control between Iranian urban and rural populations aged over 20 years. As a part of a nation-wide survey in 2004 on risk factors of non-communicable diseases, a cross-sectional study was performed on 75.132 adults aged over 20 years. In all participants, blood pressure was measured for twice in a standard method, followed by a collection of data on patients' awareness, treatment and control of HTN. The data were compared between urban and rural populations. The crude prevalences of HTN were 30.5% [CI 95%: 30.496- 30.50], 29.2% [CI 95%: 29.19-29.21], and age-adjusted prevalences were 26.09% [CI 95%: 26.086-26.094] and 26.03% [CI 95%: 26.015-26.025] for urban and rural populations, respectively. Rural residents were significantly less aware of HTN, its treatment and control than urban people. Considering the similarity of age-adjusted HTN prevalence between Iranian rural and urban communities, there is the same burden on our health system. With respect to the lower degree of HTN awareness and control in rural residents, and the integral role of rural health system in diminishing the mentioned difference, further developments are recommended for system

Color discrimination in Caspian pony

Although an early and influential review led to the often-cited conclusion that color vision is rare among mammals, more recent findings suggest that it is actually widespread. According to Jacobs, all non-nocturnal mammalian species that have been adequately examined show some color vision capacity, although the degree varies enormously. Data on the presence and characteristics of color vision in the horse, however, remain sparse and none in the case of ponies. Eight Caspian ponies were presented with a series of two-choice color vs. grey discrimination problems. One mare pony was eliminated due to traumatic injury to the eye. Experiments were performed in a box of 3 _ 3 meter containing a wall with two translucent panels that were illuminated from behind by light projected through color or grey filters to provide the discriminative stimuli. Ponies were first adopted to the stall [box] with two panels in it and then learned to push one of the panels in order to receive the food rewards behind the positive stimuli in an achromatic light-dark discrimination task. The ponies were then tested on their ability to discriminate between grey and four individual colors: red; 617 nm., yellow; 581 nm., green; 538 nm. and blue; 470 nm. The criterion for learning was set at 85% correct response, and final testing for all color vs. grey discrimination involved grey of varying intensities, making brightness an irrelevant cue. The ponies were tested with all four colors vs. grey discriminations. Except two ponies, the rest were successfully reached the criterion for learning blue color vs. grey discrimination. Only two ponies reached the criterion for learning green color vs. grey discrimination. Only tow ponies reached the criterion for discriminating red and yellow vs. grey. So the answer to the question "do the ponies see color" is yes, they can discriminate between the four selected color vs. grey

[Surgical treatment of severely traumatized eyes with no light perception]

To evaluate the anatomical and functional outcomes of surgical treatment in severely traumatized eyes with no light perception [NLP] vision. In this prospective interventional case series, 18 eyes of 18 patients with severe trauma and NLP vision and RAPD of 3-4+ admitted in Nikookari Hospital, Tabriz-Iran during 2002-2005 underwent deep vitrectomy and other appropriate procedures for one to three times and were followed for 11 to 36 months. All eyes had NLP vision at the time of surgery and underwent the operations 3-14 days after the injury. After mean follow up of 20.5 months, except for one case of phthisis, other eyes achieved acceptable anatomic and functional outcomes. Postoperative vision was NLP in one case due to orbital fracture and optic nerve disruption, light perception in three cases, hand motion in four cases, counting fingers in three cases and 20/100-20/200 or better in seven eyes. NLP vision with RAPD of 3-4+ alone may not be indication for enucleation. Performing exploratory surgery within 14 days after the injury may salvage the globe and improve vision, this approach also entails positive psychological effects on patients and relatives

Hypertension and pre-hypertension: prevalence, awareness and management among Iranian adults older than 20 years

Hypertension [HTN] is an important worldwide challenge. The 7th report of the Joint National Committee [JNC7] provided the last classification of blood pressure levels and introduced the new category of prehypertension. The aim of this study was to estimate the national prevalence of HTN and prehypertension according to the JNC7 guideline and to determine the status of HTN awareness, treatment and control in Iranian adults aged older than 20 years. This cross-sectional study was a part of a nationwide survey on the risk factors for non-communicable diseases, which was conducted in 2004. In 75112 over 20 year old adults, two blood pressure measurements were obtained by a standard method and blood pressure levels were classified according to the JNC7 criteria. Data on patients' awareness, management and treatment of HTN were also collected. The age-adjusted prevalence of HTN and prehypertension was 25.3% and 49.7% in men, and 26% and 38% in women, respectively. Only 35% of hypertensive subjects were aware of their disease, and effective control was observed in 21.4% of them. Considering the high prevalence of HTN and prehypertension and the low awareness and effective control of HTN, our country is facing a serious health problem