Concentrations of serum zinc, hemoglobin and ferritin among pregnant women and their effects on birth outcomes in Kashan, Iran

Zinc and Iron are essential micronutrients in fetus growth and development. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of maternal serum Zinc, Hemoglobin and Ferritin levels with their newborns weight, height and head circumference. This cross sectional-analytical study carried out among pregnant women referred to Naghavi Polyclinic, Kashan, Iran from November 2009 to October 2010. One hundred and twenty-nine pregnant women in the third trimester were selected and anthropometric factors of their newborns [weight, height and head circumference] and their relation to serum Zn, Hemoglobin and Ferritin concentrations were assessed. Serum Hemoglobin deficiency [<11g/dl], serum Ferritin deficiency [<12 microg/L] and serum Zn deficiency [<66 microg/dl] were present in 11 [85%], 9 [7%] and 9 [7%] women, respectively. The proportion of newborns with birth weight of 2500-2999 g was greater among mothers with lower Hemoglobin [<11 g/dl] compared to mothers with normal Hemoglobin [>/= 11 g/dl;p-0.04] Multiple regression analysis showed that among biochemical characteristics of pregnant women, serum Hemoglobin levels were positively correlated with low birth weight [beta=0.26; p=0.04]. But serum Zn and Ferritin levels were not significantly associated with weight, height and head circumference. Low maternal serum hemoglobin levels are associated with low birth weight and does not have any association with birth height or head circumference; but there was no significant association between maternal serum zinc and Ferritin levels with weight, height and head circumference

[Survey on citations of ending research design of Kashan University of Medical Science during 1990-2009]

It's common that researcher's works are published in form of research design and dissertation before that they are published in form of books. With regard to this issue, always significant amount of budget of government and researcher's energy and time are spent for research design. Citation analysis is one of the most widely used methods in evaluating the research performance of scholars. In this study, a citation analysis of approved research project of Kashan University of Medical Science during 1990-2009 was used. This research is a descriptive study and 396 research designs which were done in Kashan University of Medical Science during 1990-2009 were analyzed by citation analysis methods. Data were gathered via checklists. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics methods by SPSS software version11.5. After gathering information and analyzing them, a description of the paper like: total number of citations, their average number of citations per article, distribution of the cited sources, language of citations, and their half-life have been presented. For distinguishing core journals, Bradford' law has been used. 396 research designs were published in Kashan University of Medical Science during 1990-2009. Finding of this study shows that 13812 citations extracted from 396 research design. Average citation number for each research design was almost 35. The highest percent of citations was belonging to English journals. Average citation half-life of Iranian journals is 12 years whilst English Journals is 16 years. Bradford' law applied on cited English journals in order to determine the most used journals [19 core journals]. Results show the importance of English journals as the most important resources of special information. Medical library will have a better acquisition and is cost-effective for saving budget by providing a checklist of core journals. Faculty member will organize their study by study of these journals