Background: Sepsis is the third cause of death in the fi rst month of life, and the umbilical cord is an important source for sepsis Objectives: We compared the eff ects of Bathing or not Bathing on bacterial colonization and cord separation time. Methods: A quasi-experimental study assessed term newborns at Golestan hospital, Tehran, Iran, from 2019 to 2020 in three groups. Bath (B) group included neonates who were bathed with tub water every two days (n = 90). Clean product (CP) group neonates were bathed with cleaners every two days (n = 87). Dry care cord (D) group neonates were not bathed during the fi rst 10 days (n = 63). Periumbilical cord swabs were collected on the 10th day and cultured in blood agar and Eosin methylene blue agar. Bacterial sensitivity tests were done by disk diff usion. Results: The average time to cord separation was 8. 2  1. 74 days (group B: 9. 1  2. 1 days, group CP: 8. 7  1. 82 days, group D: 6. 8  1. 3 days), which was shorter in group D (P= 0. 048). The positive culture rates were 77. 8% in group B, 78. 1% in group CP, and 74. 6% in group D, which were not signifi cantly diff erent between the groups (P = 0. 073). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common isolated species. Staphylococcus epidermis and Escherichia coli were the other most common species. Conclusions: Bathing with or without cleaners is safe. No-bath and water bath with or without cleaners had no diff erence in the rate and type of bacterial culture in umbilical cord but the cord separation time was shorter in the no-bath group. Therefore, in the fi rst week, if a mother does not believe in Bathing her baby, she should not be denounced and told that she did something wrong with cord hygiene.

One of the sacred water tank Brahmsarovar, at Kurukshetra in India was studied to assess the impact of mass Bathing during new moon day (called as Amavasya in India) in terms of physico-chemical and biological characteristics. Overall water quality index was calculated using online calculator. Results have revealed significant (P<0.05) increase in organic pollution indicating parameters viz. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), total solids, chlorides, alkalinity and decline in dissolved oxygen (DO) which may be attributed to organic, domestic waste, their microbial decomposition, addition of soaps, detergents and their absorption by aquatic flora. A sharp and significant increase in ammonia concentration was also observed which is again due to high organic matter of animal origin. No significant variation in plankton population was observed, however, numerical value of species diversity index showed a decrease indicating the elimination of sensitive taxa. Since the conditions are not beyond the limit so proper legislative efforts to disinfect the water regularly and to educate the pilgrims can improve it. Since fish netting is banned in such holy tanks so it is recommended to use it for the conservation of wild stocks of important fish species.

Background: Nowadays there is a strong tendency for early Bathing of healthy newborns but little is known about the thermal stability of newborns in response to early Bathing. The aim of this study was to compare the thermal effect of Bathing on healthy newborn within 1-2 h of life versus 4-6 h after birth. Methods: In this randomized comparative study 100 healthy newborns in a newborn nursery of a charity hospital in Tehran were studied. The inclusion criteria were: healthy term (≥ 37 wk) newborn over 2500 grams with rectal temperature > 36.5oC , apgar score > 7 in 1 and 5 min after birth and lack of manifestations of any diseases like sepsis or respiratory distress syndrome .The exclusion criteria were the history of recent fever, leukocytosis, urinary tract infections and using medicines in their mothers. In the experimental group, 50 newborns were bathed within the first 1-2 h of birth; those in control group were bathed at the 4-6 h of age. Rectal temperatures were measured in four different times: before Bathing and immediately as well as 30 and 60 min after Bathing. Results: Rectal temperatures as measured at four different times did not differ significantly between infants bathed within 1-2 h of birth and those bathed 4-6 h after birth .There were no significant differences between the groups in types of gender, birth weight, gestational age, parity, delivery route, interval time between rupture of membranes and delivery, apgar scores at 1 and 5 min of age. Conclusions: Healthy full term newborns with rectal temperature > 36.5 °C can be bathed within 1-2 h of birth without any risk of hypothermia.

The aim of this study was evaluation an organic germicide (Aquagerm) histological affects on Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) vital tissues. This new disinfectant is an aquatic antiseptic and mixed-oxidant disinfectant which is produced for the first time in Iran. This new product mechanism is based on oxidant properties of pro-sulphate which attack crucial structures of pathogens. In this study, forty healthy fish were selected and divided in to two groups as control and treatment. The treatment group was treated with 1/2000 concentration of organic germicide for 45 min (according to the manufacturing protocols). At 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 and 96 h after bath challenge, 5 specimens were collected from treatment and one from control group. Gill, brain, kidney, and liver of all fish were sampled. Some histological damages such as edema and detachment of basic layer in secondary gill filaments were observed in gill microscopy results. The most important histological changes observed in the brain were congestion of some blood vessels. Furthermore, some evidences of increased melano-macrophage, glomerular shrinkage, and dilatation in Bowman capsules were recorded whereas no any damages were observed in liver. All histological changes removed after 48-96 h. It could be concluded that, all pathological observations in this study were just a natural response of fish body after exposing to the new disinfectant, and they were not recorded any damages like those which happen against hazardous chemicals. It seems that there is no risk associated with the consumption of this disinfectant for the fish tissues.

Background & Aims: Weight is the most sensitive growth criterion, and it is a way to survey the totalhealth. Improvement in care procedures of preterm infants in addition to decreasing the cost of care, itcan result in the reduction of complications in neonatal period. With regarding to the importance ofgrowth and development, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tub Bathing on weight gainof preterm neonates.Materials & Methods: This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial.132 preterm infants with agestational age of 32-37 weeks were randomly divided into two treatment and control groups. Theinfants of treatment group were bathed three times in the interval of one day inside the bathtub whilethe control group received routine skin care. In both treatment and control groups, the weight outcomemeasured daily and these data were registered in the checklist. The data were analyzed using SPSSsoftware and descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Less than 0.05 P value was consideredstatistically significant.Results: The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between both groups interms of the changes of weights in preterm infants (P>0.05).Conclusion: According to the results of the study, an increase of weight gain of preterm infants afterBathing in all three measurement times was observed comparing to the control group, so it isrecommended to use Bathing of newborns, especially tub Bathing, in the care giving program of theinfants hospitalized in newborns' wards and NICUs.