RESUMO
St. John's wort [Hypericum perforatum L.] is an important medicinal plant that has been widely used for its antidepressant properties. In this study morphological characteristics variation of populations of H. perforatum were investigated. In this study, different morphological characteristics of 25 H. perforatum populations in Iran's natural habitats were evaluated in 2010. The results indicated that the highest coefficients of variations were found in flowers number, the fifth internodes' length and capsule length [respectively, 93.46, 85.28 and 84.7%]; however the lowest coefficients of variations were seen in flower width [11.72%] and sepal length [11.91%]. The largest dimensions of flowers, sepals and petals related to the population which was gathered from Zanjan/Tarum city. The highest leaves dimensions and dark glands density on the bottom leaves were observed in Alamut and Kalaleh populations. The highest positive significant correlations were seen between flower length with flower width; dark glands density on the middle leaves surface area with dark glands density on the bottom leaves surface area; petal length with flower length and width; capsule length with capsule width; non-flowering branches number with branches number; light glands density on the middle leaves surface area with light glands density on the bottom leaves surface area. The lowest significant correlations were observed between capsule length with flower length and width. The principal components analysis showed that four components explained 68.9% of total variance. The cluster analysis divided these populations into four clusters with no consistency in their geographical distributions. In conclusion, this study indicated that there were high variations among the Iranian St. John's wort populations which can be utilized in the breeding programs
RESUMO
Use of bed-net continues to offer potential strategy for malaria prevention in endemic areas. Local communities are indispensable during design and implementation stages. A cross-sectional study of 192 randomly selected inhabitants was carried out in malarious zone, Siahoo direstrict, Hormozgan Province, southern Iran. In addition, we monitored human landing periodicity of main malaria vectors and as well as self-protection of inhabitant in the study area for a period of one transmission season between April to October 2006. The biting activities were seen throughout the whole night for three malaria vectors, Anopheles jluviatilis, An. stephensi and An. dthali, and An. fluviatilis exhibiting bimodal peaks, the first at midnight [0:00-1:00] and the other before dawn [5:00-6:00 am] but the maximum biting activity of An. stephensi was occurred at second quarter of night [11:00-12:00 pm]. The majority of interviewers [83.3%] knew that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes and 70.3% of them stated that bed-net is the best control measures. Most subjects [62%] did not have a mosquito net. Study subjects were aware of an association between mosquito bite and malaria transmission. Health workers at different levels of the health care delivery system should disseminate relevant information about self-protection to help community members to be involved more in malaria control
RESUMO
This paper sets off with an argument that as an outcome of modernism, medical sciences excluded human soul and spirit and followed a more, if not mere, mechanico-chemical approach in treating patients. It then discusses alternative approaches to medicine and that models of medicine and health care are looking into not only the fundamental spiritual dimension of care, but also the significance of spiritual development of the individual towards healing. The paper presents Avicenna as a forerunner in medical sciences with a [w] holistic view while his contribution to cure and healing will be highlighted. The paper will end with some concluding remarks