ABSTRACT
Quality of printed papers in 4 four medical journals affiliated to one of the universities of medical sciences in Iran was assessed based on methodological and statistical methods. In this cross sectional study conducted in 2010, out of all articles published between the years 2002 to 2008 in one of the universities of medical sciences for affiliated journals that were equal to 1568, a sample of 162 articles were selected with Multi-stage stratified sampling method. For data collection, standard questionnaire was used to develop an information form. One sample t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare scores from different parts of article. Cross sectional studies with 61.7% [100 papers] formed most of studies. Median of authors and number of references for each article were 3 and 19, respectively and 10% of articles had more than 35 references. Material and methods with 3.53 points from 4 points [88.2%] earned the mighest score which was of high quality and conclusion achieved the lowest score. Also p-value has been reported correctly in 102 articles [81.6%]. In 95 articles [58.6%] results were not compare with the similar internal articles whereas only in 21 articles [13%] comparison was not made with similar external researches. The present study showed that the overall quality of the medical articles is not desirable. Hence, employing experts in research methods and statistics in various medical studies can improve the quality of articles in this branch of science.
ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Species identification and information on transmission pattern of malaria parasite in any malaria endemic area is key to success for a malaria control programme. In this investigation, malaria diagnosis using molecular method was used to assess the transmission pattern of malaria parasite in three malaria endemic regions: Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Methods: Blood samples were collected from the patients presenting with vivax malaria from Afghanistan (n = 108), Iran (n = 200) and Pakistan (n = 199). Malaria parasite detection was made by the gold standard (microscopy) and also nested-PCR assay, using 18S small sub-unit ribosomal RNA (ssrRNA) gene. Results: Based on microscopy method, the level of mixed infection was zero to 2.5 per cent; however, nested-PCR assay detected 6.5, 22 and 23.5 per cent mixed infections in samples collected from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, respectively. The present results showed that the co-infection of P. vivax with P. falciparum was frequent in malaria endemic regions of Iran and Pakistan. Interpretation & conclusion: The present data suggest the need for improving microscopy diagnosis method and the clinician should also have careful clinical observation, along with the reports on Giemsa-stained thick blood films, particularly in summer time when P. vivax is predominant. Also sharing information on transmission pattern of mixed infection among these countries may help in designing better control strategies for malaria.