عباسعلی کشتکار

The purpose of this study was to adopt and calibrate the fracture risk assessment algorithm FRAX® for the Iranian population and to provide the required guidance on how to apply it in clinical practice. 

The age-specific ten-year probability of major osteoporotic fractures was calculated in women with an average BMI to determine the fracture probability at two potential intervention thresholds. The first threshold was the age-specific fracture probability associated with a femoral neck T-score of -2.5 SD and the other was age-specific fracture probability in women with a history of fracture without BMD. Current Iranian guidelines were used to define these thresholds. The effect of adding BMD values to the assessment of these thresholds was also evaluated separately.

Similar to women with a previous fracture, the 10-year probability of a major osteoporotic fracture increased from 4.9% at the age of 50 years to 17% at the age of 80 years. When using a BMD T-score of ≤−2.5 SD as the intervention threshold, the FRAX probability was twice as high in women aged 50 years as in women of the same age with an average BMD and no risk factor. The FRAX probability increased with age but a T-score of -2.5 SD was actually protective after 80 years or age.

Intervention thresholds based on BMD alone cannot effectively identify high-risk women for fracture, particularly in advanced ages. Using fracture probability based on ‘fracture threshold’ can help to improve the identification of these women.

Osteoporosis is one of the major causes of disability and death in elderly people. The objective of this study was to determine the factors affecting the incidence of osteoporosis and provide a predictive model to accelerate diagnosis and reduce costs.

In this fundamental descriptive study, a new model was proposed to identify the factors affecting osteoporosis. Data related to 4083 women were investigated with Clementine12, the data mining tool, to discover knowledge. Using data mining algorithms, including decision tree and artificial neural network, some rules were extracted that can be used as a model to predict the condition of patients and finally, the accuracy of the proposed models were compared.

This study examined several models on a number of different characteristics and compared the results in terms of accuracy to find the best predictive model. The classification accuracy of the MLP neural network model was 92.14% which was higher than that of the other algorithms used in this study. According to the identification of factors affecting osteoporosis, the risk of developing this disease can be predicted for a new sample.

Healthcare organizations are always gathering a lot of information while this data is not used properly. This study showed that the hidden patterns and relationships in this data can be discovered and used to improve the quality of diagnostic and treatment services.

Osteoporosis is a disease that reduces bone density and loses the quality of bone microstructure leading to an increased risk of fractures. It is one of the major causes of inability and death in elderly people. The current study aims at determining the factors influencing the incidence of osteoporosis and providing a predictive model for the disease diagnosis to increase the diagnostic speed and reduce diagnostic costs.

An Individual's data including personal information, lifestyle, and disease information were reviewed. A new model has been presented based on the Cross-Industry Standard Process CRISP methodology. Besides, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Bayes methods (Tree Augmented Naïve Bayes (TAN)) and Clementine12 have been used as data mining tools.

Some features have been detected to affect this disease. The rules have been extracted that can be used as a pattern for the prediction of the patients' status. Classification precision was calculated to be 88.39% for SVM, and 91.29% for  (TAN) when the precision of  TAN  is higher comparing to other methods.

The most effective factors concerning osteoporosis are detected and can be used for a new sample with defined characteristics to predict the possibility of osteoporosis in a person.

Oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in common signaling pathways and play central role in heart functions and disorders. Factor kappa-B p65 (NF-κBp65), is an important marker of myocardial inflammation. This study investigated the combination of regular exercise (E), vitamin D (VD) and oxidative stress induced on the levels of NF-κBp65 in the myocardium.
60 adult male rats of the Wistar race were randomly divided into 10 groups: control; H2O2; 2H2O2; H2O2吽; 2H2O2吽; H2O2; 2H2O2; H2O2吽; 2H2O2吽 and dimethyl sulfoxide saline that were under the intervention protocol for 8 weeks. An ELISA kit used to measure NF-κBp65 concentration. Data were analyzed three-way ANOVA. Significant level was set at 0.05.
The results showed the Exercise had a decrease effect on NF-κBp65 protein concentration (P=0.049). Also, high concentration of H2O2 increased the NF_κBp65 protein concentration (P=0.013). On the other hand, the interaction of E and VD had decreasing effect on NF-κBp65 protein concentration (P=0.004). However, VD and E interaction with H2O2 were not significant. Coincidence of three interventions E, H2O2 and VD compared to the combined effect of each one, had a decreasing effect on the protein concentration of NF-κBp65 (P=0.038).
It seems that regular exercise activity, VD antioxidant and exogenous induction of oxidative stress can be used to preconditioning and reduce myocardial inflammation in high oxidative stress conditions.

Due to the increasing incidence of overweight and obesity among rural children, despite the high prevalence of underweight, identification of dietary patterns and their association with weight status can provide valuable information about health of children. This study was conducted to detect major dietary patterns and their relationship with weight status in school age children in rural areas of Bijar, Iran
In this cross-sectional study, 255 rural school age children living in the rural areas of Bijar were selected by simple random sampling. Dietary intakes during the past year were examined by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Assessment of anthropometric indicators, physical activity, and socioeconomic information was performed by standard methods. Dietary patterns were determined using factor analysis, and their relation to weight status of children was investigated.
Three major dietary patterns, "traditional", "modern" and "mixed" were identified. There was no significant adjusted relationship between overweight or obese and identified dietary patterns. After adjustment for age and physical activity, individuals in the highest quartile of the traditional dietary pattern score were more likely to be overweight or obese (OR = 4.33, CI 95%: 1.14 -16.46). More adherence to modern dietary pattern resulted in a significant increase in the odds ratio of severe thinness and thinness (P for trend = 0.04).
Modern and mixed dietary patterns next to the traditional dietary pattern can be found among rural children. While following the traditional dietary pattern probably due to higher energy is associated with an increased risk of obesity, modern dietary pattern leads to thinness in rural areas.

Childhood obesity is one of the most important health problems in developed and developing countries that may result from the parents’ overweight. This study aimed to compare the status of obesity and overweight in the children of overweight or obese mothers with the children whose mothers were not overweight or obese.

In this cross-sectional study, 249 elementary-school children from Bijar, Kordestan, Iran were selected using simple random sampling. Children's food intake and physical activities and mother's and children's anthropometric (weight and height) indices were measured by standard method. The relationship between overweight or obesity of the mothers with overweight or obesity of the children was assessed and analyzed by logistic regression.

Body mass index (P value < 0.01) and maternal age (P value<0.01) were significantly higher in the children of overweight or obese mothers compared to children whose mothers were not overweight or obese. No significant differences were found between the two groups of children in regard to energy intake, physical activity, and consumption of the main food groups. Overweight or obesity of the mothers significantly increased the risk of overweight or obesity in the children after adjustment for age, sex, physical activity, energy intake, and maternal age. (Odds ratio: 3.00, P value = 0.04).

According to the results of this study, overweight or obesity of the mother can be associated with the likelihood of overweight and obesity in the school age children in rural areas and this relationship is independent of energy intake, physical activity, and consumption of different food groups.

The identification of major dietary patterns using factor analysis can provide information about health status of children by obtaining an overall picture of the person's diet. The aim of this study was to determine major dietary patterns and to identify socioeconomic factors affecting them in school age children in rural areas of Bijar, Iran. In this cross sectional study, 255 rural school age children living rural areas of Bijar were selected by simple random sampling. Dietary intakes during the past year and assessment of socioeconomic information were examined. Dietary patterns were determined using factor analysis and their relation to socioeconomic factors was investigated. Three major dietary patterns," traditional", "modern" and "mixed", were identified. After adjusting for age, sex, ethnic and energy intake, Age of mother (b= 0.03, CI=0.00_0.05) was positively associated and age of father (b= -0.03, CI=-0.05_-0.01), laboring Job for father (b= -0.24, CI=-0.44_-0.03) and higher education of parents (b= -0.20, CI=-0.35_-0.05) were negatively associated with traditional dietary pattern. In addition, higher education of parents (b= 0.27, CI=0.11_0.44) was positively associated and age of mother (b= -0.03, CI=-0.06_0.00) was negatively associated with mixed dietary pattern. Some socio-economic variables such as maternal age, parental education, parental occupation and economic conditions can have effect on major dietary patterns among rural children.

One of the most important issues in medical sciences is wound healing and repair. Application of natural ingredients and herbs for treating ulcers has been in the history of human life. Nowadays, due to the lack of side effects of medicinal plants and a variety of effective compounds in plants, as well as numerous disadvantages of synthetic drugs there has been tendency to use medicinal plants in clinic. Aloe vera is an herbal drug used for treatment of dermal diseases. In this study we evaluated, effects of aloe vera on the wound healing through the microscopic techniques and cell counting.

In this experimental study, sixty Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g were placed under general anesthesia and sterile conditions. Then a square shape wound with 1.5´1.5 mm dimension was made on the back of the neck. Rats were randomly divided to control and experimental group’s. Each group was divided to three subgroups with 4, 7, and 14 study days. In 1st experimental group aloe vera was used twice on the wound surface and in 2nd experimental group was used once daily and the positive control group were applied phenytoin cream 1% from the zero days of surgery. The control group did not get any treatment on the wound surface. For histological studies, during the fourth, seventh and fourteenth day’s rats were sacrificed and samples were taken from the wound area and adjacent skin. After histological staining with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson's trichrome stains, the cells were counted, wound surface and wound healing were investigated.

The macroscopic and microscopic evaluation showed that wound healing increased because the fibroblast numbers in two experimental groups improved compared with control group. The percentage of wound healing on different days in the experimental and control groups were significant. Data were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA test and P< 0.05 was significant.

Present study showed that the twice application of topical aloe vera mucilage can result in rapid wound healing in rats.

There are various reporting on the relationship between socio-economic status, SES, and bone density. However, since most of bone fractures occur among low-income social groups, SES appears to be an important factor determining the status of individual bone health. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the individual and household levels of SES with osteoporosis. Data from the third stage of IMOS (Iranian Multi-center Osteoporosis Study) including 2617 subjects aged 20 years and older, from the cities of Sanandaj and Arak was collected in the form of one-stage cluster sampling. To build the individual-and family-levels of SES index, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) model was employed. Individual-and family-levels of SES were addressed as independent variables in univariate and multivariate logistic regression models to investigate their role in the prevalence of osteoporosis as the dependent variable. Both individual and household levels of SES, independently and with controlling the main risk factors showed a significant effect on osteoporosis. At the individual level, the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the SES in "low", "lower-middle", and "upper-middle" levels, compared with "high" level, were: 3.2 (2.96-3.46), 6.08 (5.65-6.55), 4.95 (4.60-5.32), respectively. At the household level, the same valuables were: 1.88(1.80-1.95), 1.38 (1.33-1.44), 1.98 (1.90-2.06), respectively. The results showed that in addition to individual-level of SES, household-level is also important to be considered for intervening and preventing care.

Evidences exist that abdominal obesity is a difference in terms of body mass index (BMI) and these two factors have different effects on bone density. This study examined the association between body mass index, obesity, the history of fracture and bone mineral density in Iranian population. There exist evidences on the effects of body mass index (BMI) and abdominal obesity, and the role of this two factor on bone density. This study examined the association between body mass index, abdominal obesity, and the frequency of fracture with bone mineral density in Iranian population. The Study was done as a cross-sectional, population-based retrospective study. People over 18 years were included in the third part of the IMOS project (National comprehensive plan for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis). Abdominal obesity was calculated based on waist to hip ratio that was considered positive > 0.95 in men and 0.85 in women. The linear regression test was used to examine the relationship between BMI and abdominal obesity with bone densitometry. A total 2019 cases (717 men, 1302 women) with 41.85 ± 13.95 years enrolled in this study. Almost, 36% of men and women were obese based on waist circumference. Correlation coefficients of BMI with bone density were equal 0.236 for Hip, 0.133 for femoral neck, 0.138 for lumbar spine. Waist to hip ratio was inversely associated with bone density. Bone densities in the hip and lumbar spine, in individuals with a positive history of wrist fracture were significantly lower than those with a negative history of fracture. contrary to the total body fat, abdominal obesity based on waist to hip ratio is inversely associated with bone density. In other words, abdominal obesity increases the risk of fractures by reducing the bone density without creating protective shield of adipose tissue in vulnerable areas.

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an important negative regulator of T-cell responses. The49AG polymorphism of the CTLA-4 gene may be associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) risk، but the results from previous published studies have been inconsistent. We carried out a meta-analysis search to assess this association more precisely. A systematic search of six electronic databases (Pubmed، Science direct، OVID، Iran doc، Iran medex and SID: Scientefic Information Database) was performed for relevant articles published between 1978 and 2011. The odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to assess the strength of the association. We evaluated both fixed and random effect models، depending on the presence of between-study heterogeneity. The data were analyzed using STATA software. A total of 15 independent studies on the CTLA-4 gene 49AG polymorphism and SLE، including 1705 cases and 2299 controls were used in the meta-analysis. No significant association was found between 49AG polymorphism and SLE risk in the overall or subgroup analyses. This meta-analysis showed no significant association between 49AG polymorphism and SLE susceptibility. Large-scale and well-designed case-control studies are suggested.

Discordance (the presence of different categories of T scores in two skeletal sites of a single patient) can affect the physician’s decision to start medication or not. The present study was therefore conducted to assess the prevalence of T-score discordance between spine and femoral neck as well as its risk factors in a group of postmenopausal Iranian women. The present analytical cross sectional research was conducted based on the results of IROSTEOPs study on 8146 postmenopausal women referred to the bone mineral density (BMD) center of Shariati Hospital affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences between 2000 and 2011. Based on their BMD results, the patients were categorized into three groups: Concordance and Minor and Major discordance. The factors affecting the risk of developing discordance was then studied through uni/and multivariate logistic regression. Discordance between spine and femoral neck was reported in 3741 (45.9%) of the participants. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that older age, higher number of pregnancies and higher body mass index (BMI) are the main risk factors for T-score discordance at the studied sites. The use of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) on the other hand played a protective role. It could be concluded that performing BMD at two different sites is necessary for the Iranian population, particularly postmenopausal women.

Backgrounds and Under-ascertainment is a common phenomenon in surveillance systems and health related events registry systems. One of the methods which has been applied to determine the sensitivity of surveillance or registry systems is capture-recapture method. This study was aimed to estimate the cancer cases in the province of Golestan in Iran using available data in two cancer registry centers. The Capture-Recapture (CR) method was employed to estimate cancer cases in the province of Golestan. All cancer cases registered within the boundaries of Golestan province during the study period from 2004 to 2006 constitutes the population size of this study. The population was derived from the two cancer registry centers and entered into Microsoft Excel software. After removing duplicate cases by finding the common cases، the data was analyzed in Capture-Recapture 1. 4 (CARE 1. 4) software. Estimations were calculated by Chapman and Petersen methods at the 95% confidence interval (CI). Overall، the estimated number of all cancer cases was 5436 (CI 95%: 5386-5495) over the period of three years from 2004 to 2006. The sensitivity rate of Golestan center for all cancer cases was 88. 9% while it was 47% in the Babol center. The sensitivity rate of the two sources، in combination was 94. 1%. The results of this study indicate that better estimation of cancers cases can be achieved by using two registry lists and applying CR method than using a single source.

Trauma is the most common cause of death in all individuals between 1 and 44 years and the third most common cause of death regardless of age. The abdomen is the third most commonly injured region of the body. Some intra abdominal organ injured more than others, related to mechanism of injury, size and location of organ in abdominal cavity. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of intra abdominal injuries due to penetrating trauma.

This retrospective descriptive study was done on 114 patients admitted to 5 Azar hospital in Gorgan, Iran due to penetrating abdominal trauma during 2002-07. Gender, age, type of injury causes of trauma and hospitlalization period were obtained form patients files.

92.1% of patients were male. The mean age of subjects was 24.8 years (9-70 years) with highest frequency between 20-24 years. Two (1.8%) deaths directly related to abdominal stab wounds related to hemorrhagic shock. The most common cause of penetrating abdominal injury was knife wound (78.9%). The mean time spent in hospital was 4.6±2.8 days. In 53 patients, cause of trauma were either related to pentration into peritoneum or passing through in. Small intestine injuries (14 %), rupture of diaphragm and concurrent lung injuries (7%) were the common damage organs.

This study showed that the knife was the main cause of abdominal penetrate trauma and peritoneum was the most common damage tissue.

To evaluate eating breakfast among primary school children and some demographic factors relationship with it in whole of Golestan province (north of Iran) in 2009. This cross-sectional study was performed on 7426 students (3786=male and 3640=female) from 112 schools in urban and city area that were chosen by two steps’ cluster and stratify sampling. A questioner was completed for all samples by interview. The consumption of breakfast and some factors effect on such as ethnicity, residential area, literacy and type of school computed in this study. Data analysis was carried out using the spss.win 16.Validity and reliability of questionnaire was confirmed. Consumption of breakfast was shown among 91.7% of students (female= 90.1% and male=93.3%). Consumption of breakfast was 8.7% in public school more than in private school children and in Turkman ethnic groups (94.0%) is significantly more than other ethnic groups such as Fars (90.4%) and Sisstani (91.6%) (P=0.001). There is a statistical significant differences between gender and type of school, separately (P=0.001). The most reasons for lack of breakfast eating are low appetite (70.1%) and non-flavorful foods (11.8%). Lack of breakfast eating is one to eleven of students and social-demographic factors such as ethnicity and social level based on type of school effects on it. With regard to roll of breakfast eating in educational promotion, recognition and solving the obstacle factors for eating breakfast in students were recommended.

In pathogenesis of beta major thalassemia, tissue damage is occurring due to oxidative stress. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of vitamin E supplementation on serum Paraoxonase, SOD, GPX enzyme activity and lipid profiles in beta major thalassemia patients. In this clinical tiral study, Sixty (25 males, 35 females) beta major thalassemia patients with age≥18 years who had criterias to enter the study, were selected randomely in two groups. The patients in interventional group, vitamin E at a dose of 400 mg/day were given for three months, with no supplementations in control group. The enzyme activities of paraoxonase, SOD, GPX and lipid profiles (LDL-c, HDL-c, triglyceride, total Antixidant Capacity) were measured prior and after 3 months in both case and control groups. Data analyzed by using paired t-test. Significant increases in serum levels of vitamin E, Paraoxonase activity, HDL cholesterol (P<0.001), BMI (P≤0.001) and a significant reduction in GPX activity (P<0.05) were observed in cases compared to controls. The vitamin E supplementation may be useful in reducing oxidative stress and lipid profiles in beta major thalassemic patients.

Tea consumption is common throughout the world, especially in Iran and it was known as the most common beverages. Several studies evaluated negative effect of coffee and relationship between its caffeine content with bone density. But relationship between tea drinking and bone mineral density is less observed. Considering high amount of tea consumption and prevalence of osteoporosis in Iran, it is important to investigate this relationship.

Population study includes 1125 subjects (aged 20- 72 years) randomly selected by cluster sampling in Bushehr, who participated in general project of prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The participants were categorized based on degree of tea consumption: high tea drinkers (more than 4 cups of tea per day) and low tea drinkers (equal or less than 4 cups of tea per day).

In high tea drinkers, mean score for bone density was significantly higher in neck and total femur. But this difference in isolated groups (according to sex, age and both of them) was not seen.

The result of this study indicates on a direct relationship between tea drinking and increasing of bone mineral density. Moreover, it shows the prevalence of osteoporosis is lower in people who have a regular daily habit of tea consumption.

Celiac is a hereditary disease presented with chronic inflammation of small intestine. Several studies supposed a relationship between Celiac disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Tissue trans-glutaminase antibody is one of the best serological markers in Celiac disease. This study was designed to evaluate the association of Celiac and IBD using tissue trans-glutaminase antibody.

In this descriptive study 127 confirmed IBD patients who were referred by gastroentrologists 2005-08 enrolled into the study. A questionnaire was completed and tissue trans-glutaminase antibody was evaluated with ELISA method with a Cut-off=12 U/ml.

Among 127 referred patients, serum samples of 102 patients were collected. Mean±SD of age was 36.17±15.2 years and 48% were males. Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and other colitis were observed in 76 (74.5%), 7 (6.9%) and 19 (18.6%) of patients, respectively. Tissue trans-glutaminase antibody was positive (19.8 U/L) in one 46-years-old male patient with ulcerative colitis.

Tissue trans-glutaminase antibody titer was not significantly different between IBD patients and controls, thus it seems not appropriate to suggest as one of the routine tests in IBD patients.

Golestan province, located in north of Iran has been known as a high risk area for esophageal cancer. The relationship between esophageal cancer and Selenium (Se) has been assessed in previous studies. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between Soil selenium levels and development of esophageal cancer in Golestan province of Iran. In this ecologic study, Golestan province in northern Iran was divided into 135 blocks based on geographical altitude and longitude on the map. One Soil sample was collected from the center of each block. Selenium level in Soil samples was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Statistical analysis was performed by Pearson correlation andT-Student tests. The mean±SD of Soil Selenium level in Golestan province was 3.7±1.61 mg/kg. There was a positive correlation between Soil level of Selenium and esophageal cancer rates in this area (P=0.03), (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.19). The Soil Selenium level for high risk and low risk area for esophageal cancer were (4.13 mg/kg) and (3.39 mg/kg) respectively (P=0.01). This study showed that there is high Soil Selenium level in Golestan province in north of Iran. Also it is found to be a significant positive relationship between Soil Selenium level and esophageal cancer rate in this area.

Quality of medical articles is effective at improvement of medical science. This study was done for determining of published medical articles quality in approved Medical Journals. This cross- sectional study was done on 690 medial articles, which published between 1983-2005 in scientific journals, approved by special Medical Journal committee of Ministry of health and medical Education (MOHME) in Iran, during 2007. Source of data was indexed medical journal in the Iranmedex database. Type of study in 52% of articles was descriptive, 21.2% was interventional and 5.8% of them were analytical. In recent years the number of analytic and interventional articles have been increased significantly in comparison to other types (P<0.05). There was no qualitative type article in published papers. The percentages of original, case report and review articles were 44.9%, 36.9% and 14.1%, respectively. In recent years the rate of original articles has increased in comparison to case report and review articles (P<0.05). In 80% of articles, at least one statistical test was applied. 60% of articles were clinical and 82% of them have been written in Persian language. Findings showed an increasing trend in quality indexes of published articles. It seems in recent years, the changes of MOHME policies in evaluation of the research deputy of medical science universities implementation of research and scientific writing workshops ratting protocol of approved medical journals and academic members promotion guidelines, resulted in improvement qualitative index of articles.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the main causative factors of liver disease which can lead to chronic hepatitis C infection in 80% of cases. HCV genotypes have a special worldwide geographic distribution. The goal of the present study was to detect HCV genotypes in patients with anti-HCV positive titers in Golestan Province, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 95 positive HCV samples as detected by RIBA were evaluated. Viral RNA was extracted with a Roche extraction kit and the Fermentase cDNA kit Random hexamer primers was used for viral genomic cDNA synthesis. PCR was performed on all samples by a general pair of primers. Second-step PCR was done with specic primers, and the results were obtained following electrophoresis in 1.5% agarose gel and ethidium bromide staining in documentation gel. General primer PCR revealed 91 positive samples. Assessment of 77 samples determined that the following genotypes were present: 1 and 3 [1a (19.5%), 1b (19.5%), 3a (15.6%), 3b (24.7%)], 2a (2.6%), 4 (7.8%). The remaining samples were a mixture of genotypes 1 and 3 (6.5%). The ingmost prevalent genotypes found were types 1 and 3 in Golestan Province. This distribution pattern differed from other areas in Iran, however genotype 4 was in accordance with other studies. Genotype 2 was only reported in this study and a study in Tehran. Thus, additional, larger studies of HCV genotypes should be performed for further analysis of genotypic distribution patterns.

In spite of prominent growth in scientific publications in Iran in the past two decades, studies performed in Iran shows that we have a big gap between knowledge production and knowledge transfer. Thus, the present study was performed to evaluate the rate of knowledge transfer in Golestan University of Medical Sciences.

The samples were all Research projects of Golestan University of Medical Sciences during 2005- 2007 which had been finished by the time of this study (the second half of 2009) and their reports had been present. Data gathering form consisted of checklists of projects and a questionnaire for the researchers.

Review of 102 research proposals showed that the total cost of the projects was a little more than 3 billion Iranian Rials. Among these projects, only 6 cases (5.8%) had considered costs for research-based knowledge transfer. Clinical sciences’ and health system research’s researchers stated their passive activities of knowledge transfer to be more in the field of publishing articles, but in the basic sciences it was more in the field of presentations in congresses or seminars. The mean score of the researcher's performance in 'active' activities was 9% of the total score attainable.

Results of this study show that costs considered for knowledge transfer activity was low, which means that researcher in this field need motivation and education in the field of knowledge transfer.