Larval habitats and biodiversity of anopheline mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in a malarious area of southern Iran.

Background & objectives: Malaria is the most important mosquito-borne disease in Iran. It is endemic in south to southeastern part of the country. Knowledge about bio-ecology of vectors will support authorities for appropriate management of the disease. Bashagard district is one of the main endemic areas for malaria in south of Iran. This study was conducted to determine anopheline fauna, diversity and affinity in the area, characterization of larval habitats, and mapping their potential distribution across the district. Methods: The potential aquatic habitats for Anopheles larvae were extracted from Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) image and digital elevation model of the area using GIS. Surface water bodies were sampled monthly during 2009–10 for anopheline larvae, while characteristics of their physical environment were recorded and water samples were analyzed. Results: A total of 4511 Anopheles larvae were found during the year with the lowest and highest frequencies in February and April, respectively. Dominant species was Anopheles culicifacies. The Shanon diversity index ranged from 0.570–0.829 at fixed collection sites, while the affinity index was significant among some vector species. Conclusion: Riversides and riverbeds were the main breeding places which provided sandy, rocky, and clay beds for different species. The potential breeding places as well as distribution of collected species were mapped. Knowledge about ecology of malaria vectors provides information to health sector for effective control programs.

The relationship between women's health beliefs and their participation in screening mammography.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. Early diagnosis of this disease can reduce mortality significantly and will promote women's quality of life. Changes in the women's beliefs and attitudes are necessary to encourage them to undergo screening mammography. To make this change happen, understanding their health beliefs is important. This attempt is to determine the relationship between women's health belief of city of Kerman with their participation in mammography on the basis of health belief model in the year 2005-2006. This study was an experimental-control one in which the main independent variable was health belief including different dimensions such as perceived sensitivity, perceived intensity, perceived barriers, perceived benefits, "cues to actions" and self-efficacy. Participation in the mammography was taken as the dependent variable. Two samples consisting of 148 women who had and 148 women who had not underwent mammography were selected. Data were collected through questionnaires and were analyzed by SPSS=12 software. The result of this study showed that women's health belief in some dimensions of health belief model such as perceived benefits of mammography use, the presence of cues to action in mammography use is associated with having mammography. Moreover the total score of mammography group was more than the score of the group without the mammography. When the two groups were compared in terms of demographic data, experimental group showed significant statistical differences with regard to age, benign breast mass and family history of breast cancer. (P, 0001)Understanding the benefits and advantages of mammography and cues to action will increase women's adherence toward doing it. It is of great importance to better realize breast cancer screening behaviors and factors influencing it. It is also necessary to recognize the factors affecting health professionals' and particularly nurses' use of mammography.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the interaction between Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax in humans.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to quantify the interaction between Plasmodium falciparum and R vivax and the sources of heterogeneity between studies. METHODS: We systematically reviewed three databases: Medline (1966-2001), Embase (1980-2001) and CAB-health (1976-2001). Random effects meta-analysis was applied to the data of 62 selected populations. Meta-regression was used to assess the following potential sources of heterogeneity: age-group, presence of fever, continent, temporal and spatial span of studies, and endemicity level. RESULTS: The summary odds ratio (OR) between P. falciparum and P. vivax was 0.6 (95% CI: 0.49-0.79). The minimum and maximum observed ORs were 0.01 and 10.9, respectively, and the heterogeneity test was highly significant (tau2 = 0.92, p < 0.0001)--the ORs varied over a very wide range. The ORs in longer studies and in those from areas with higher prevalence yielded smaller, more strongly negative association. This is consistent with the idea that any difference in the species' temporal patterns should decrease the OR, and more so over longer periods of time. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Although such odds ratios between Plasmodium species may be partly due to missed mixed infections when reading blood slides, the negative association between the OR and prevalence supports the existence of biological interactions such as suppression or cross-immunity between species.