Social capital and related factors in Western Iran students.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Social capital involves a set of norms available in social systems which improves the interaction between people and reduces the costs of interactions and communications. The purpose of this research was to study the social capital of the students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences and its related factors, 2017. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The method of this study was the descriptive survey. The statistical sample of this study included all students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences among whom 378 students were selected randomly as the study sample. Delaviz questionnaire of social capital was employed for data collection and data analysis was performed using SPSS software, through descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and Inferential statistics (U-Mann Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis). RESULTS: The mean of social capital was 70.56 ± 10/88. The minimum and maximum mean was measured for "participation in local community" and "group participation", respectively. In this study, there were significant associations between social capital and gender, field of study as well as marital status (p < 0/01). CONCLUSIONS: Social capital is known as the most important factor for people dealing with stressful situations, and can facilitate toleration of problems for them. It can also support the health and life satisfaction of students.

Detection of Leishmania major DNA within wild caught Phlebotomus papatasi and species composition of sand flies in endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis, in western Iran.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most important public health problem in many developing countries. The present study was conducted to determine the vector(s), the parasite and the species composition of sand flies in the Dehloran County during May-November 2012. Sand flies were collected by sticky traps and mounted in Puri's medium for species identification. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques of kDNA, ITS1-rDNA, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were used for identification of DNA of Leishmania parasites in infected sand flies. A total of 82443 specimens comprising 15 species of sand flies (5 Phlebotomus and 10 Sergentomyia) were collected and identified. The species of Phlebotomus papatasi was dominant in outdoor and indoor resting places. Among the 280 specimens of female P. papatasi tested by PCR of kDNA, ITS1-rDNA genes of the parasite followed by RFLP, only 5 of them (1.8 %) were positive to Leishmania major parasites. This is the first molecular detection of leishmania infection of P. papatasi to L. major in this region. The results indicated that, P. papatasi was only species found infected by L. major and the principal vector of disease agent to human.

Prevalence and risk factors of Pediculus (humanus) capitis (Anoplura: Pediculidae), in primary schools in Sanandaj City, Kurdistan Province, Iran.

Human head lice, Pediculus (humanus) capitis, infest people worldwide and are most prevalent in children. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of head lice, in relation to socioeconomic status of the family and hygienic practices in the home. The prevalence rate was determined in 27 primary schools that had 810 students in Sanandaj city who were selected by multistage, systematic random sampling. A total of 38 students from all grades were infested with different rates of infestations. In addition, standard questionnaire recorded information about demographic features of each student were fulfilled. Children aged 10-11 years were the most frequently affected, there was a significant relationship between head louse infestation, family income and parents education level (α=5%). Pediculosis is a public health problem in many parts of the world. Pediculosis was found to be more prevalent among children of fathers with lower level of education and socioeconomic status, it is necessary to give health education to families in order to prevent pediculosis in this area.