HAKIM RESEARCH JOURNAL
Year:2002 | Volume:5 | Issue:3|Papers Count:14

As comprehensive and periodical studies on substance abuse epidemiology are lacking in Iran, it is unlikely to study the alterations in incidence, prevalence, and patterns of substance use by comparing the results of such kind of studies. The aim of current study was assessment of the trend of drug abuse incidence in the country in three recent decades. This cross-sectional study was conducted in central cities of ten different provinces having variant social and cultural circumstances. A total number of 1500 substance-dependent individuals were selected to study their year of initiation of drug use, the year of substitution of using methods by injection drugs, drug taking patterns, and some other relevant factors, by means of a questionnaire. As drug users have always been a hidden population, the samples were approached by three different methods: volunteer drug users seeking treatment at outpatient clinics, drug users in prisons, and street drug users, the latter through snowballing method. Although the analysis of annual incidence of using drugs showed fluctuations in consecutive years in the past three decades, it kept a rising trend during that period. The highest rise in incidence belonged to the period of 1973-1978 with 166 percent. This trend, afterwards, showed a steady reduction till 1987 to be followed by a 59 percent rise during the period of 1988-1992. The average annual increasing rate for the incidence of drug abuse during the period of 1978-1998 has been 8 percent. In other words, the total population of drug users has doubled each 12 years. Taking into account the average annual growth rate of the Iranian population, which has been 2.63% at the same period, it become apparent that the incidence of drug abuse has had a more than three fold upsurge compared to population growth. The average rise in incidence of injecting drugs was calculated to be as high as 330 percent during the past decade and apparently 33 percent annually.

Hookah usage has been increased during recent years especially in younger age groups. Hookah is popular in Hormozgan province and has 18.8% prevalence in 15-year and over population.Objectives of this study were to assess the Hormozgan people opinions about contributing factors to tendency to hookah, at high-risk groups and its hazards on human health. In addition, this study looked for the proposed methods of campaigns against hookah usage.This qualitative study was conducted as a Focus Group Discussion. Eighteen groups of people, each group consisted of 8-10 individuals, participated in the study including females and males, in both rural and urban areas, community health workers behvarzes and well-distinguished people of the areas.This study illustrated that hookah usually used in social meetings and it is a cultural behavior. Relative cheapness, availability and absence of health education programs against hookah are predisposing factors for the hookah usage. Hookah is more frequent in urban areas especially in females. Males usually use hookah after middle age. Adolescents have high tendency to newly provided tobacco, which has fruity smell. Hazards of hookah are not clear among Hormozgan people. Appropriate educational programs and suitable target groups for them are: TV programs, giving information via mosques for Sunni Moslems, improvement of families knowledge through mothers, health education in schools for prevention in youth and emphasizing the role of health personnel to advise people to quite hookah usage.Based on the results of this study, quite of hookah could be a group activity and also combat against drug abuse is an urgent need in the area by authorities.

In this study we have tried to evaluate the frequency of acute rubella infection in patients with acute exanthematous disease occuring in different geographical areas of Iran.For this purpose, laboratory investigation for detection of acute rubella infection has been performed on serum samples of 1169 patients surveyed in the context of Measles Elimination Programmed, in which acute measles was excluded by laboratory testing. Serological diagnosis of acute rubella has been performed by demonstration of seroconversion or antibody rise in hemagglutination inhibition test or by detection of IgM in Capture IgM EIA. Acute rubella infection has been detected in 51.8% of all 1169 measles negative cases and this rate was 63.6, 61 and 29.7 percent for north, central and south part of Iran, respectively. 1169 measles negative cases corresponded to a total of 2728 febrile rash patients, relative frequency of acute rubella in these patients was 22.2% and this rate was 37%, 24.9% and 10.5% for north, central and south part of Iran, respectively. Relative frequency of acute rubella in exanthematous patients was 31.1% in patients below 15 years old compared to 7.4% in those equal and older than 15 years old.  

The increasing number of population in Tehran, resulted from high rate of immigration, has caused a significant increase in water use and wastewater production. Also, regarding the development of industrial activities to provide the needs of Tehran population, high rate of industrial wastewater is annually produced in the region. On the other hand, considering the problem of water shortage in Tehran, wastewater reuse and recycling has become an important and considerable issue.This research, with the major objective of studying the possibility of wastewater reuse for Tehran metropolitan area in the group of metal and non-metal industries, was conducted in 2 stages. At first stage, industrial effluents of this group were studied, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Then, possibilities of wastewater recycling in industrial processes and reuse in irrigation were studied. The total amount of annual water which was used in this group of industries in the region was 44160 m3/d (85% supplied from groundwater resources and 15% from Karaj dam). Car manufacturing and glass manufacturing factories presented the highest and lowest water use rates, with 37% and 3% respectively. The total amount of wastewater production in the region reached to 38995 m3/d. This study also showed that tile and ceramic and also asbestos industries have a good potential to recycle the final effluent and to reuse it in other processes. Furthermore, results of the study on different soil classes and effluent qualities, showed that industrial wastewater may easily be reused in the west of Tehran for irrigation purposes and groundwater recharge, provided that the acceptable health-related regulations are completely considered.

Approximately 40 percent of pregnancies are unwanted in Iran, which most of them are due to inaccurate use or useless of contraceptive methods. In this cross–sectional study, 4141 women were interviewed who had at least one live child and attended to 12 Tehran university hospitals for delivery in 1996. The questionnaire was included some questions regarding demographic situation, fertility history, contraceptive use prior the pregnancy and willingness to pregnancy. The data was analyzed by multinomial logistic regression using STATA 5 software. This model revealed that factors including women’s education, their husbands' attitude toward contraceptive use, women’s age, the number of children by gender (daughters and sons) and the history of contraceptive use prior the pregnancy had influences on pregnancy intention. It is recommended that appropriate policies should be considered on the basis of improving education, appropriate counseling, training of contraceptive methods, promoting male participation in family planning programs and services.

Surgery is the usual way of treatment in liver hydatid cyst , but sometimes it is accompanied by morbidity or complications and even mortality. Because of underlying disease, surgical procedure could be difficult in some patients and occasionally postsurgical recurrence occures Efficacy and safety of medical therapy in hydatid cyst is questionable therefore investigations in hydatid cyst treatment with less complicated and more applicable modalities seems to be necessary in all patients.In this descriptive prospective study, ten unilocular peripheral liver hydatid cyst in seven patients (4 females and 3) male which had been documented by laboratory and radiological findings were selected. Eight hundred milligram of Albendazole had been administered orally to each patient daily for 10 days and thereafter the cyst was drained percutaneously under sonographic guidance. Whole content of cysts aspirated with fine needle and fifty percent of cyst volume were replaced by scolicidal solution and after twenty minutes this fluid completely aspirated. The selected scolicidal was hypertonic saline for one half of cysts and ethanol (95%) for the other half. Volumes of cysts were between 12-350 ml and the volume of injected scolicidal fluids between 6-150 ml. Albendazole continued for twenty days after drainage. Patients were followed for two years. Age of patients was between 18 and 44 years. The diameter of cysts was between 3 to 9 centimeter. The most common sign was abdominal pain. During the follow up period two liver cysts completely disappeared. Three cysts became hypoechoic mimicking pseudotumor with same or smaller size than primitive cysts. In three cysts during the follow up the size of cysts decreased and internal echo area and floating and detachment of germinal layer in site of cyst was appeared. Allergic reaction was not seen in any patient. Liver enzymes and blood cell count before and after the procedure were normal. No sign of cyst recurrence was seen in abdomen or pelvis. Regarding the results, it is concluded that percutaneous drainage may be one of the modalities of treatment in unilocular peripheral liver hydatid cyst but investigation should be continued.

The present research studies changes resulting from regular and continues exercises as well as the effect of a heavy aerobic activity on the immune system of athletes.In this investigation 15 professional athletes from different sports clubs and universities along with 15 non-athlete students whom were matched for sex, age, weight and height were selected. Each individual completed a special questionnaire to be healthy during the study period. Their immune status was evaluated by assessment of the following parameters: WBC differential for lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes and eosinophils. Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry was performed using the following markers: CD3 for T-cell, CD19 for B-cell, CD14 for monocyte, CD56 for NK-cell, CD45 for leuckocyte, CD4 for T-h, CD8 for T-s/c & CD4/CD8 ratio. Also IgG was determined by SRID (single radial immunodiffusion).The statistical community of this research was Tehran University. The proposed activity, a heavy aerobic exercise activity (Bruce protocol), was carried out on a treadmill and continued until the border of incapability. A sample of 10ml blood was obtained from each individual of non-athletes group at rest position between 8:30-9:00 am. The athletes group were also bleeded the same volume, and at the same time (30 minutes before starting Bruce test), and then, the second blood sample (10ml) was obtained from each athlete, immediately after the test. Blood samples were sent to immunogenetic laboratory for flow cytometry, hematology and immunoglobulin assay test.Results revealed that a heavy aerobic activity can decrease the amount of IgG and increase the number of NK cells (CD56) following Bruce treadmil test in professional athletes compared with non-athletes. Also, a significant increase of CD4 and CD8 cells was observed in athletes group.  

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, capable of infecting all mammals, including human. Although toxoplasmosis is clinically asymptomatic in healthy individuals it can cause severe complication in pregnant women and immunocompromised patients.In this investigation, the ultrastructure of RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii and the effects of humoral immunity against the organism on the basis of Sabin-Feldman dye test have been studied using electron microscopy.It was observed that in the sera without specific antibody against Toxoplasma parasites, the cytoplasm of Toxoplasma was stained deeply, specially in the region of ribosomes. In this region, the rough endoplasmic reticulum was seen as dark lines. In those samples the morphology of the Toxoplasma had been altered and was seen swollen. Also it was found that when Toxoplasma exposed to antibody in the presence of accessory factor, its cytoplasm was completely unstained, compared to the deep blue staining of the cytoplasm of Toxoplasma in the mixtures with normal serum. In this mixtures the pellicle of Toxoplasma had been degenerated and there was an apparent extrusion of cytoplasmic contents. In fact, the accessory factor which acts in concert with antibody in human serum, is identical to classical complement pathway and so degenerates the pellicle of Toxoplasma. In addition, the ribosomes which normally present throughout the cytoplasm, lost their ability for staining in consequence of antibody effects, and thus treated organism failed to take up dye in the test. In these samples the nucleus was stained deeply.Considering the observations obtained in this study, it can be concluded that humoral immunity can kill toxoplasma, but despite the ability of antibody to effectively kill extracellular Toxoplasma in vitro, the intracellular habitat of this protozoan in vivo is likely to protect it from the effects of circulating antibody.

The principal hazard of clostridia in human is production of the most lethal toxin. In order to prevent food poisoning and botulism infection, developing new methods to control bacterial growth, toxin production and its activation is essential. Recently, the botulinum toxin type A has been considered in treatment of different disease and many efforts have been carried out to find out its production and stability mechanisms.In this investigation, the effects of magnesium sulfate, and incubation time on germination of spore, growth and toxin poduction by Clostridium botulinum type A were studied. Samples with different concentrations of magnesium sulfate were inoculated with 106 cfu/ml spores, or with 107 cfu/ml bacterial suspensions, anaerobically incubated at 35° C, analysed for spore germination, growth and toxin production. The results indicated that, magnesium sulfate at the level of 6 mg/ml increases the rate of Clostridium botulinum type A spore germination about 40 precent and at 8 mg/ml, increases the growth, protein production, and neurotoxicity of the bacteria 4, 2 and 100 times, respectively.The results of this study show that, enzymes affect spore germination and metabolism can be induced activity by magnesium ions. Therefore, the rate of spore germination and total protein production is increased. It may be possible that, magnesium ions have been chelated with toxin and alert its configuration, then the neurotoxicity increased.  

Cholera, a severe infectious disease, is endemic in Iran and some other tropical countries and occasionally spreads in appropriate conditions. Human, are the only natural host for the Vibrio cholera.Cholera is aquired by the ingestion of water or food contaminated with the feces of an infected individual. This research has considered contamination of microorganism specially Vibrio cholera in 100 ice and cold water samples in different areas of Mashhad city. Sampling was done by a special method, and then samples were transferred to specific media. The results were analysed using statistical methods.Overall, vibrion microorganism was isolated from 12% of samples and 1% of all were contaminated with Vibrio cholerea.Regarding the results of this study, contamination of manufactured ice with cholera is possible, more attention of health system to control and prevent ice from contamination with organisms like Vibiro cholerae is necessary.