nationwide survey of prevalence of pediculosis in children and adolescents in Iran

Since 2005, pediculosis is one of the obligatory reportable diseases from community to the Center of Disease Control. This study is the first nationwide survey on the prevalence of pediculosis and some associated risk factors in Iranian children and adolescents. National data of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education were gathered in 2005 through school screening programs and obligatory reports from the country health centers. 12,359,448 Iranian children and adolescents were screened in 2005. Overall, 213,450 students, consisting of 198,947 girls and 14,320 boys were reported have pediculosis. The prevalence of pediculosis was 581 per 100,000 population that varied from 1/100 000 to 8,303/100,000. In general, the highest prevalence of pediculosis was documented in south-eastern cities. The prevalence of pediculosis was significantly higher in girls than in boys [93% vs. 7%, respectively, p<0.0001]. In both genders, the highest prevalence of pediculosis was documented in the 6-10- year age group. Of those infected, 62% lived in rural areas, and 32% of those infected with pediculosis had a previous history of this infection. Most [99.37%] infected individuals had head lice, the rest had body and public pediculosis. The prevalence of pediculosis is low in Iranian children and adolescents, but this infestation is still a health problem in some south-eastern cities with warm climate and low to middle socioeconomic status

Nationwide report on the findings of integrated school health screening program in Iran

Screening of students' health problems could lead to timely prevention and control of many health disorders. This study aimed to determine the nationwide prevalence of common disorders through school health screening program in Iran. This cross-sectional national screening program was conducted in 2007-2008 among first-and third-grade-students in primary schools, first-grade-students of middle and high schools of all provinces in Iran. Data were obtained from 3,124,021 [81.9%] students reported from the whole country classified into 33 geographical zones. Of total students studied, 12.48% had weight abnormalities, 4.77% had visual disorders, 3.95% had head lice, 2.24% had behavioral disorders, and 0.6% had hearing disorders. Among students studied, 0.4%, 0.7%, 0.4% and0.8% had endocrine, psychological, neurological and genitourinary disorders, respectively. In addition, 2.1%, 1.9%, 1.8%, 0.8%0.5%, 0.3% and 0.3% of students had ear, nose and pharynx disorder, anemia, skin and hair, cardiac, abdominal, vertebral and lung problems, respectively. In elementary schools, 57.6% of first-grade-students with at least one disorder were managed in outpatient settings and 6% of them were hospitalized for more investigation. Among third-grade-students of elementary schools, these values corresponded to 13.2% and 1.1%, respectively. Among first grade students of middle and high schools, this prevalence was 58.5% and 44.6% and 1.2% and 0.3% of students were hospitalized for more investigation. This integrated school screening program revealed a considerably high prevalence of health disorders among school students. These results might help health policy makers to design future health promoting programs

[ survey on comparison of tympanic and nasopharyngeal temperatures in patient undergoing open heart surgery]

Body temperature controlling in patient undergoing open heart surgery is very important and critical. In fact it is the base of work and by measuring temperature correctly, complications of hypothermia can be prevented. The overall purpose of this study was to determine and compare tympanic and nasopharyngeal temperatures in patient undergoing open heart surgery with hypothermia. This was a correlation study. The sample consisted of 60 patients undergoing open heart surgery with hypothermia. Body temperatures are measured in three sites - right ear, left ear and nasopharynx. Both of them were measured simultaneously before, during and after hypothermia. Tympanic temperatures were measured with an infrared thermometer and the nasopharyngeal temperatures were monitored by heart and lung machine, in fact it is a process in open heart surgery. This study showed that the mean of body temperatures are different in three sites. The difference between right and left ear wasn't significant, but the mean of nasopharyngeal temperature was significantly different with right and left ear. In order to determine the sensitivity of tympanic to changes of temperature, correlations between three sites - right ear, left ear and nasopharyngeal - are calculated. Temperatures at three sites had a high correlation [p= 0.01]. All sites are sensitive to changes of body temperatures and they can show core temperatures of body well. Therefore, when there are limitations for monitoring of body temperatures by nasopharyngeal route, the tympanic route can be a good replacement

Prevention of obesity using low carbohydrate ketogenic diet

This review focuses on the effect of low carbohydrate ketogenic diet on obese subjects presenting with various metabolic syndromes. Here, we provide data from our laboratory and from various other investigators on the therapeutic effectiveness of ketogenic diet on obese subjects. In this review we provide the rationale behind using ketogenic diet as a treatment of obesity and its beneficialroleinneurodegenerative / neurological disorders, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary diseases, cancer etc. Administering ketogenic diet for a relatively longer period did not produce any significantsideeffect. Therefore, based on the data presented in this review, it is recommended that it is safe to use ketogenic diet for a longer period of time for obesity and associated disorders

Heat treatment of bacteria: a simple method of DNA extraction for molecular techniques

To evaluate the efficacy of two simple methods involving use of heat for extraction of bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] be used in molecular techniques like polymerase chain reaction [PCR], restriction fragments length polymorphism [RFLP] and DNA sequencing and compare them with DNA extraction using commercial kits. DNA extraction by improved alternative methods and commercial kit. Microbiology Research Laboratory, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait. Forty isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. DNA was extracted from isolates by either boiling for 10 minutes or microwave irradiation for 10 seconds. For comparison, DNA was also extracted using a commercial kit. All extracted DNA samples were analyzed by PCR, RFLP and / or DNA sequencing of TEM and SHV genes of the bacteria. Successful extraction of DNA. PCR, RFLP and DNA sequencing gave the expected results in all the DNA samples extracted by all the three methods [boiling, microwave irradiation and the commercial kit]. The results were qualitatively equivalent in all methods. Heat may be used to extract DNA from K. pneumoniae which can be utilized successfully in performing PCR, RFL and DNA sequencing

effect of locus coeruleus lesioning on tonic and phasic pain

Bulbospinal noradrenergic pathways are shown to have an important role in descending inhibition of pain sensation. Locus ceruleus [LC], as a rich noradrenergic nucleus in the brain stem which has projections into the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, was evaluated for antinociceptive activity by using tonic and phasic pain models in the rat. LC-lesioned rats demonstrated moderate increase in both phases of the formalin test, but did not show any effect to thermal noxious stimuli, applied in the tail-flick test. These results indicate the relative involvement of LC in inhibition of tonic, but not phasic, pain