Background and purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one the most prevalent diseases associated with neurological and non-traumatic disability in adults. This autoimmune disease affects the central nervous system (CNS) and manifests different signs and symptoms. The prevalence of disease and age of onset varies considerably across the world. This study aimed at investigating DEMOGRAPHIC, clinical CHARACTERISTICS, and different risk factors in patients with MS.Materials and methods: The study was performed on 152 MS patients from May 2013-July 2014. McDonald diagnostic criteria were used for disease diagnosis. Data was recorded and analyzed in SPSS V.17.Results: The mean age of patients was 31.6±7.3 and females were three times more likely to be afflicted with MS. Most of the female patients were married. The majority of patients had benign disease (86.4%), and positive family history of MS was found in 21.2%. Plaque lesions in MRI were seen in 94% of the patients. Sensory loss, visual impairment and depression were observed in 45.7%, 43.8%, and 9.2%, respectively. Visual impairment was the first sign of the disease that was observed in most of the patients (41.3%). Fatigue and sexual dysfunction were significantly different between relapse-remitting, primary progressive, and secondary progressive form of MS (P=0.05 and P=0.02, respectively). Fatigue was associated with disease progression but other symptoms were not significantly different between three forms of the disease.Conclusion: DEMOGRAPHIC and clinical CHARACTERISTICS of MS in Mazandaran province were similar to those reported from other countries. MS registry is recommended to record all MS cases in order to increase knowledge on DEMOGRAPHIC and clinical CHARACTERISTICS, treatment options, and patient’s response to medications. Furthermore, high familial prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Mazandaran province compared with other regions in Iran calls for further genetic analyses.

Objectives: This research was conducted to obtain a comprehensive picture of DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS and sexual behavioral pattern of men at a psychiatric clinic in Tehran. Method: In this descriptive-cross sectional study, 300 men who consulted the clinic between the 20th of Apnl, 2001 and the 20th of Jan, 2002 composed the subjects of the study. Data were collected via a DEMOGRAPHIC questionnaire and analyzed through descriptive statistics. Findings: 76.2% of subjects suffered from erectile dysfunction and 35.6% had difficulties related to premature ejaculation. 44.6% of the subjects reported a history of psychiatric disorders and taking neuroleptic and anti-depressants medications. The onset of sexual disorders for 23.7% of the subjects was less than one year ago; it was between one to two years ago for 15% and more than three years ago for 53.3%. Results: erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation more than other sexual disorders were the reasons for consultation at the psychiatrists' office and sexual dysfunction clinics.

Introduction: There are more than 150 active Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) patients in Al-Zahra medical center in Isfahan. This center has been working since 2000. We evaluated DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS of our PD patients: Methods: It is an observational descriptive study done in 2011. The information was collected from all patients’ records in Al-Zahra medical center until end of 2009.Results: 1) Out of 240 patients, the mean age was 48 ± 21 years.2) 57% of patients were male.3) Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and glomerulonephritis were the most common cause of chronic kidney disease, 44%, 30%, and 4%, respectively.4) The most common age group was the 7th decade (22.5%) and the least common age group was the 2nd decade (5%).5) 27% of patients were single. We do not have information about divorced and unmarried patients.6) The level of patients’ education was 38%, 38%, and 24% for illiterate, under diploma, and diploma or university education, respectively.7) The number of co-morbid diseases (cardiovascular, diabetes mellitus, etc.) in our patients was 13%, 41%, 25%, 15% for none, one, two and three co-morbid diseases, respectively.8) History of hemodialysis: 54% had history of hemodialysis equal or less than 6 times.9) Body mass index of our patients<19, 19 to 25, 26 to 30, and>30, were 15%, 51%, 29%, and 5%, respectively.10) In 77% of our patients, peritoneal dialysis was the first choice for renal replacement therapy.11) PD was used as renal replacement therapy as a positive selection for 85% of patients.Conclusions: PD was the first choice of renal replacement therapy in most of our PD patients and used as a positive selection. It shows that PD has become a popular form of renal replacement therapy and we need more PD centers to cover patients.

Background and Aim: Despite the wide use of family planning programs, they have not reached their goals -the prevention of unwanted pregnancy- and this failure was mainly due to coitus interrupts. The aim of this study was to find the correlation between socio-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS and contraceptive methods in 15-49 years old women of Shahrekord in 2003-2004. Methods: This descriptive and analytical study was performed on 668 women selected by simple sampling from those referred to 9 urban clinics. A questionnaire with 31 questions about DEMOGRAPHIC and social factors and about the reason that they did not select another contraceptive method, was filled for each woman. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and Chi square test were used. Results: DEMOGRAPHIC factors such as age of husband, age of marriage, duration of marriage, age of the first pregnancy, number of pregnancies, delivery, number of children and desire to have another baby and ideal number of children had significant correlation with choosing coitus interrupts. Social factors such as wife and husband education, wife and husband occupation and the pattern of making decision had significant influence on choosing coitus interrupts. Results also indicated that the most common reason for refusing to use pills was psychological problems, for IUD was uterine bleeding, for TL was desire to have another baby, for vasectomy was husband"s unsatisfaction, and for condom and coitus interrupts was fear of pregnancy. Conclusion: According to the results, young men, couples with lower age of marriage, low age at first pregnancy 6 lower frequency of pregnancy delivery and childern 6, short duration from marriage and also higher educational degree and occupational level, choose coitus interruptus more than the others. Therefore, in familly planning the abovementioned factors should be considered.

Background: The preferred modality of dialysis is a controversial issue in nephrology.In this study we compare some DEMOGRAPHIC and epidemiological CHARACTERISTICS of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients in an attempt to analyze this issue.Methods: The results of the research protocol “A survey of the epidemiological CHARACTERISTICS of chronic dialyzed patients in Khorassan province”, was used to compare some DEMOGRAPHIC and epidemiological aspects of chronic hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients in search of any statistically significant difference.Results: A total of 836 chronic dialysis patients entered this study, 802 (95.9%) of which were under chronic hemodialysis, and 34 (4.1%) patients were undergoing peritoneal dialysis, with 339 (42.3%) and 12 (35.3%) being female, respectively. The mean age for each group was 47.57 and 46.75 years, respectively. The causes of endstage renal disease in hemodialzed patients were most commonly hypertension (32.2%), followed by diabetes mellitus (22.3%), unknown causes (19.6%) and chronic glomerulonephritis (10.2%). In the peritoneal dialysis group, chronic glomerulonephritis (32.4%) was the most common reason for dialysis, followed by diabetes mellitus (26.5%) and unknown causes (11.8%). The mean serum hemoglobin creatinine, calcium, and phosphorus levels for hemodialysis patients were 10.42, 8.5, 8.93, and 6.03 mg/dL, respectively, and those for peritoneal dialysis patients were 11.28, 8.52, 9.41 and 5.40 mg/dL. There were no statistical differences between the median age, sexual distribution and mean levels of Hgb, Ca, phosphorus, creatinine, HCV antibody and HbsAg of the hemodialysis patients and those of the peritoneal dialysis patients.Conclusions: The results of our study show that hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are similarly effective treatments.

Background: Infertility about half of the men. Some factors affecting infertility is related to genetic and environmental factors. This study examined DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS of men with infertility were referred to the Shariati Hospital Infertility Clinic.Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study.200 eligible patients were enrolled with written consent Face-to-face interviews were based on a questionnaire that included variables on socio-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS and Sperm analysis test performed by all individuals.Their height and weight measurements were recorded.Results: The mean age was 5.7±34.1. The average years after marriage number was 1.3±3.6 years. BMI was 5.7±24.1 indicating obesity among men was studied.The greatest number of people who were self-employed, the majority of people in their jobs were dealing with chemicals. However, this study found that the risk of diabetes disease, mumps, varicocele among workers who were worker. The sperm analysis showed that The most common Problem related to decreased sperm motility in infertile men. So that more than 162 participants in the study were 40% lower sperm motility.Conclusion: In this study the relationship between of factors such as obesity, smoking, BMI, occupational status and previous disease and sperm parameters in infertile men was not significant.

Introduction: The first occurrence of menstruation (or periods) is called menarche and it is a vital event during puberty in girls. Various studies show a downward trend in menarcheal age over the last hundred years. Many factors can influence age at menarche. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between menarcheal age and certain DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, in female residents of district 13, Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Materials and Methods: In this longitudinal descriptive, conducted within the framework of the Tehran lipid and glucose study, subjects were 402 girls, aged 12 and 18 years, whose menarche had not begun at the initiation of the study, but it did during their follow-up. In order to collect data, questionnaires previously completed in the TLGS were used. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire confirmed in previous studies. Various factors including maternal age at menarche, maternal education, maternal occupation, body mass index, physical activity, energy expenditure and exposure to tobacco smoke were examined.Results: Findings showed that the mean age at menarche was 13.06±1.24 years in this study. There were significant statistical associations between body mass index (P=0.002, r=-0.04), mother's age at menarche (P<0.001, r=0.66) and maternal education (P=0.027, r=0.25) and the subjects age at menarche. However there was no significant association between age at menarche, with mother's occupation, passive smoking, physical activity and energy expenditure.Conclusion: It seems that BMI, mother’s menarcheal age and maternal education are factors that influence the age at menarche.

The research purpose is to compare the DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS of schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals. Therefore, a sample of 93 schizophrenic patients was purposefully selected from the hospitals of Tehran City and was then matched with non-schizophrenic individuals. Results indicated that there exists a between-group difference in terms of marital status, parental education, number of siblings and family atmosphere, in a way that, healthy individuals' family environment is three times more liberal and schizophrenic individuals' family environment is five times more disorganized.

The purpose of this study is investigating the degree of impact of psychological CHARACTERISTICS (motivations) and DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS (sex, age, and income) on the consumer's attitude toward luxurious products. Statistical Population is composed of all customers attending selected fancy and luxurious restaurants in Tehran, the sample size was determined to include 385 subjects and simple random sampling method was applied. This study was conducted from clients have been referred to a luxury restaurant with a survey approach. Primary Tools for Data Collection was Likert's 5-scale questionnaire. In order to analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics and the structural equation modeling were employed with SPSS and Lisrel software programs. Research results suggest that the psychological CHARACTERISTICS affect the consumer's attitude toward luxurious products and quality of the service provided by fancy, luxurious restaurants. As far as the variable of DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS is concerned, only age has an effect on the consumer's attitude toward luxurious products, and sex and income variables have no impact on the consumer's attitude toward luxurious products and the variable of DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS has no impact on the quality of the service offered by fancy and luxurious restaurants. The variables of consumer attitude toward luxurious products, quality of the service provided by fancy and luxurious restaurants, perception of brand and social effect affect the purchase intention, while the variables of store image (restaurant) and vanity bring about no impact on the purchase intention. In addition, the variable of vanity does not exert any moderating effect on the relation between perception of luxurious brand and purchase intention and between the social effect and purchase intention.