amir almasi

 Students' learning styles and strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic have been impacted by virtual education, necessitating further investigation to provide more suitable educational content based on them. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the learning styles and learning strategies used by public health students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 This is a cross-sectional analytical study conducted in the form of a census on 81 public health students at Arak University of Medical Sciences who had completed at least one academic semester and were willing to participate in the study during the academic year 2021-2022. The data collection tools included the students' educational status questionnaire, the standard learning style questionnaire (VARK), and a 22-question standard learning strategies questionnaire by Pintrich and de Groot. Data were analyzed using Chi-2 and Mann-Whitney tests.

 The average age of the students was 22.59 ± 4.2 years, and the majority were female (84%). The average academic term of the students was 6 ± 2 semesters. According to the results, 76% of the students had a single style, with the dominant style being the listening style in 40% of boys and 33% of girls. The average score of students' self-regulated learning strategies was 86.27 ± 13.2, with 42% of students using self-regulated learning strategies at the intermediate level and 58% at the high level. A significant relationship was observed between the use of self-regulation learning guides and students' high school grade point average and probationary history (p < 0.05).

 The findings of this study can inform the design of educational content for students, enable adaptation of professors' teaching styles to students' learning preferences, and enhance teaching effectiveness in the post-coronavirus era.

Limitations in the ability to perform manual functions decrease the individual’s participation in activities of daily living (ADLs). Thus, it is required to study the relationship between manual skills and self-care activities in children. This study aims to investigate the relationship between manual ability and self-care in children with spastic cerebral palsy at the ages of 1 to 8 years.

In this cross-sectional study, 125 children aged 1-8 years with spastic cerebral palsy who were chosen by the convenience sampling method from 8 occupational therapy clinics in Tehran City, Iran, in 2022 were studied. The evaluation tools were manual ability classification system (MACS), mini-manual ability classification system (Mini-MACS), pediatric evaluation of disability inventory (PEDI), and cognitive level form designed in the SPARCLE project. After collecting the data, Stata software, version 14 was used to analyze data using chi-square, Spearman correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and regression.

In this research, the mean age of the children was 54.2±15 months and 43.2% had a cognitive level >70. The mean self-care and mobility in children were 49.65±30.60 and 40.78±26.97, respectively. With increasing age, self-care and mobility of children showed a significant increase (P<0.001). No significant difference was observed between boys and girls in self-care and mobility (P<0.05). By changing the education level of the main caregiver, no significant difference was found in self-care and mobility (P<0.05). With the increase in children’s cognitive ability level and MACS level, self-care and mobility improved significantly (P<0.001). Moreover, the level of MACS and mobility with the highest beta values (-0.530 and 0.512, respectively) showed a greater contribution to the prediction of self-care.

The results showed that with increasing age, cognitive ability level, and MACS level, self-care and mobility improve significantly in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Therefore, it is suggested to pay more attention to manual ability to improve self-care and mobility in these children.

Bleeding is a significant complication of cardiac surgeries, leading to increased blood product utilization, higher rates of reoperation, and mortality. Tranexamic acid is one of the main medications used to control postoperative bleeding in these patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effects of intravenous, topical, and oral tranexamic acid in reducing postoperative bleeding after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. This clinical trial was conducted on 96 patients scheduled for CABG surgery. The patients were divided into three groups of 32, receiving oral, intravenous, and topical tranexamic acid. After the surgery and administration of the respective medication, the amount of bleeding within 72 hours postoperatively, as well as the amount of packed red blood cells, platelets, and fresh frozen plasma received within 24 hours postoperatively were assessed. The mean age of the participating patients was 64±5.4 years, and the three groups did not significantly differ in terms of age, gender distribution, number of grafts (P=0.421), and duration of surgery (P=0.624). There was no significant difference in the bleeding score among the three groups, with scores of 3.9±0.88 in the intravenous group, 4.1±1.1 in the oral group, and 4.4±0.98 in the topical group (P=0.221). The average amount of packed red blood cells, platelets, and fresh frozen plasma received during and after surgery was similar in all three groups, with values of 2 (P=0.422), 3.5 (P=0.402), and 2.4 (P=0.412), respectively. In general, the results of this study indicate that the use of tranexamic acid in all three available forms (oral, intravenous, and topical) leads to a reduction in postoperative bleeding with similar outcomes. Therefore, concerning the fewer side effects of the topical and oral forms and their sufficient effectiveness, physicians can utilize these methods for prescribing tranexamic acid.

Accidents are one of the most important causes of death and disabilities in children. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of first aid training based on the health belief model on improving the performance of mothers with children under 6 years old at the time of an accident in Azna city.

This research was a quasi-experimental study that was conducted on 100 mothers with children under 6 years of age who referred to health centers in Azna city from 2021 till 2022. Random sampling was taken from health centers and divided into two groups of case and control (50 people each). The case group underwent four training sessions based on the health belief model, and the control group underwent routine training at health centers. The tool for collecting information through a questionnaire was reliable and valid, and after three months of follow-up, data from both groups were collected and with Chi-Square, T-Test, Man-Wheytni, Wilcoxon, and ANCOVA analysed.

There was no significant difference in the mean scores of the health belief model constructs and mothers' performance in the test and control groups before the intervention (p>0.05), but there was a significant difference after the intervention (p<0.001). In this study, the average performance score of mothers in the test group before and after the intervention was 52.3±10.08 and 69.53±11.66, respectively, which were significantly different from each other (p<0.001).

Based on the results of this study, the educational intervention based on the initial needs assessment based on the health belief model was effective in improving the performance of mothers in performing first aid during accidents and incidents in children and can be useful for designing educational programs.

Multiple sclerosis is the most common neurological disease in the world and third cause of disability in chronic disease. One of the dimension to treatment of MS is adherence drugs that need development of an instrument.  This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of treatment adherence drugs tool in patient with multiple sclerosis (MS) based on the theory of planned behavior.

This cross-sectional study in 2021-2022 that was carried out on 269 patients with MS were referred to Sina Hospital in Tehran city with a random sample.  Through quantitative and qualitative face validity, content validity index, with a 10-member panel of experts examined to judge the quality and reliability by determining the internal agreement (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) and was approved estimates.

The mean age of patients was 35.04±9.63 years and mean age of morbidity was 32.48±9.6 years. After reviewing the results validity, content validity index less than limit the questions to be revised and the necessary changes were made in the narrative process is repeated until the desired amount of content validity index of more than 0.62 reliability content was more than 0.79. Test-retest and reliability with more than 0.7 was confirmed. The mean of Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87.

The results of this study provided good evidence of valid and reliable tools to assess treatment adherence drugs in patients with MS based on the theory of planned behavior.

Chronic renal failure is a progressive and irreversible disease in which the kidneys lose their function. This disease affects the quality of life of patients. The study of the dimensions of quality of life in patients undergoing dialysis is necessary to design educational interventions. This study was performed with the aim of determining the factors affecting the quality of life in hemodialysis patients.

The study was a cross-sectional study that examined the quality of life of all patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis (80 people) in two hospitals of Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Boroujerdi, Boroujerd city in 2021. Data collection was the standard quality of life questionnaire for kidney patients (KDQOL-SF). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and mean as well as independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient.

The mean of the total quality of life score was 47.86± 6.22. Also, there was a significant relationship between the patient's perception of health status and the quality of life level (p = 0.005); so that the more a person considered his health status weaker the quality of life score also decreases. Also, Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant negative correlation between age and quality of life (p=0.001, r=0.390).

The results of this study showed a low level of quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Despite our awareness of the significant effect of Social Determinant of Health (SDoH) such as Socio Economic Status (SES), income and education on breast cancer survival, there was a serious lack of in-formation about the effect of different level of these factors on breast cancer survival. So far, no meta-analysis has been conducted with this aim, but this gap was addressed by this meta-analysis. Main electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were investigated up to Jan-uary 2019. Epidemiological studies focusing on the association between SDoH and breast cancer were singled out. Q-test and I2 statistic were used to study the heterogeneity across studies. Begg's and Egger's tests were applied to explore the likelihood of the publication bias. The results were reported as hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) through a random-effects model. We identified 7,653 references and included 25 studies involving 1,497,881 participants. The HR esti-mate of breast cancer survival was 0.82 (0.67, 0.98) among high level of SES, 0.82 (0.70, 0.94) among high level of income and 0.72 (0.66, 0.78) among academic level of education. The SES, income, and education were associated with breast cancer survival, although the associa-tion was not very strong. However, there was a significant association between the levels of these factors and breast cancer survival.

Unintended pregnancy, as one of the main issues in reproductive health, is defined as a mistimed or unwanted pregnancy all over the worlds. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of unintended pregnancy among Iranian women. As part of a survey on twin or multiple pregnancies in Tehran, Iran, this cross-sectional study considered a total of 5152 deliveries in 103 hospitals during 2015. The required data were gathered at the time of delivery or within the next 2-3 days from physically unstable women. The sampling was carried out within two weeks. All women, regardless of method of delivery, being primiparous or multiparous, and pregnancy outcome were included in the study. According to the results, the prevalence of unintended pregnancy in Iran was estimated 19.81%. Based on univariate analysis, the mean age of mothers, the mean age of fathers, number of pregnancies, and number of deliveries in unintended pregnancies were significantly higher than those in intended pregnancies. In addition, the prevalence of unintended pregnancy among housewives, as well as women with low levels of education and income was high. According to multiple logistic regression analysis, economic status and number of deliveries were the main predicting factors of unintended pregnancy. In general, the prevalence of unintended pregnancy in Iran is lower than that in other countries. However, preventive actions and health education programs still should be undertaken for mothers in order to minimize the prevalence of unintended pregnancies, thereby reducing the consequences for mother and baby

Child abuse is a serious global problem and can be in the form of physical, sexual, emotional or neglect by not providing for the child's needs. Functional constipation (FC) is a common functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder in children. This study was aimed to assess the relationship between child abuse and functional constipation in children. Materials and Methods In this age frequency-matched case-control study, 100 children with FC were compared with 100 healthy children as control. The diagnosis of FC was based on history and physical examination. Child abuse in three sub-groups (physical, emotional and neglect) were assessed by ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool Children's Version (ICAST-C). The data were analyzed by Stata software (version 13.0). The results of this study revealed that the frequency of any kind of child abuse in case (children with functional constipation), and control group (children without functional constipation) is 93% and 84%, respectively, OR: 2.53 (95% CI: 1.00-6.45), P=0.052. The most frequent abuse in both groups was emotional abuse (91% vs. 81%) followed by physical (61% vs. 47%), and neglect (19% vs. 8%). There was a significant association between frequency of emotional (OR: 2.37, P=0.046), physical (OR: 1.76, P=0.048) and neglect abuse (OR: 2.70, P=0.027) among case and control groups. However, after controlling the confounding variables, the association between child abuse and FC remained clinically important but was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion Notwithstanding emotional abuse, physical abuse and child neglect rate were more frequent among children with FC, this study demonstrates that child abuse is not associated with FC occurrence.

Background Rectal biopsy and its histopathological study with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) is the gold standard for Hirschsprung's disease (HD) diagnosis. However, there are some limitations in the diagnosis of ganglion cells in HE approach. Recently, it was reported that the utility of Calretinin is a reliable ancillary immunohistochemistry (IHC) test for HD diagnosis. We aimed to investigated Calretinin and S100 IHC staining as ancillary methods to diagnose HD. In this cross sectional study, 36 rectal biopsies taken from suspected HD patients were evaluated in pathology department of Mofid children’s Hospital. Patients ranged from 1 day to 60 months. Data were collected in a 2-year period from 2014 to 2016 in Mofid Children Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The histological study was done observing HE stained tissue sections by two pathologists and diagnoses were: twenty-four HD (aganglionic), and twelve non-Hirschsprung's (NHD) (normoganglionic) patients. Then Calretinin and S100 IHC were performed on the slides. The IHC slides were evaluated by two pathologists and the diagnostic value of Calretinin and S100 was determined in comparison with gold standard which is the presence or absence of ganglion cells in serial HE stained sections of rectal biopsies. Results The results in this study demonstrated that sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive value (PPV) for S100 were 61.9%, 93%, 93%, and 62%, respectively. Also, sensitivity, specificity, NPV, and PPV for Calretinin were all 100%. Conclusion Based on the findings it may be concluded that Calretinin Immunohistochemistry had good diagnostic value and S100 Immunohistochemistry had intermediate level diagnostic value for Hirschsprung's disease.

We evaluated the effect of socio-economic status (SES) inequality on metastasis, recurrence, stage, grade, and self-rated health (SRH) in patients with gastrointestinal cancers (GIC). This cohort study was conducted on 409 patients suffering from GIC (April to October, 2018), who were referred to one of the hospitals of Arak University of Medical Sciences (Arak, Iran). They were entered to the study, using non-random sampling (accessible sampling). The SES was calculated by an asset-based questionnaire. The principle component analysis (PCA) was performed to estimate the household SES. The concentration index (C) was used to measure the SES inequality, and the binary logistic regression was employed to investigate the association of recurrence and metastasis with other variables. The variance analysis was also used to investigate the relationship between SES and other variables. The data were analyzed with Stata (V. 13) software. The total C index for metastasis, recurrence, stage, grade, SRH, and SRH-age was obtained as 0.089 (0.053, 0.121), -0.106 (-0.118, -0.065), 0.073 (0.069, 0.078), 0.035 (0.001, 0.051), 0.018 (0.010, 0.026), and 0.097 (0.063, 0.112), respectively. Moreover, the results of variance analysis showed a significant statistical association between SES and age, marital status, education, job, supplementary insurance, SRH-age, chemotherapy, and surgery (P < 0.05). Regarding the level of SES, the results of this study did not show the inequality in metastasis, recurrence, and stage. However, there was an inequality in grade and SRH by the SES levels in patients with GIC.

Over the last few decades, Cesarean section (CS) rates have increased significantly worldwide particularly in Iran. Classification methods including logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used to identify factors related to CS among primipars. This cross-sectional study included 2120 primipars who gave singleton birth in Tehran, Iran between 6 and 21 July 2015. To identify factor associated with CS, the classification methods were compared in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. The CS rate was 72.1%. Mother’s age, SES, BMI, baby’s head circumference and infant weight were the most important determinant variables for CS as identified by the ANN method which had the highest accuracy (0.70). The association of RF predictions and observed values was 0.36 (kappa). The ANN method had the best performance that classified CS delivery compared to the RF and LR methods. The ANN method might be used as an appropriate method for such data.

BackgroundSeveral studies have examined the relationship between Human Development Index (HDI) and various health outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between HDI, and infant mortality rate, mortality rate of children under one year and under 5 years, maternal mortality rate, and total fertility rate.
Materials and MethodsIn this ecologic study, data on HDI, total fertility rate (TFR), maternal mortality rate (MMR), neonatal mortality rate (NMR), infant mortality rate (IMR) and mortality rate in children under 5 years of age (ResultsIn this study, a negative significant correlation was observed between HDI and IMR (r = -0.878, P = 0.001), NMR (r = -0.870, 95% CI: -0.902, -0.828, P = 0.001), IMR, children under one year old and under 5 years, and MMR mostly occur in developing countries. There was a correlation between HDI and its components, and the neonatal, infants, children under 5 years, maternal mortality rate and total fertility. The average annual percentage change of HDI also had a correlation with neonatal, infants, children under 5- year mortality rate, total fertility and maternal deaths.

Few studies have been conducted on the infertility problems in Iran. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of infertility problems and related factors in Iranian infertile patients.
In this cross sectional study, 405 infertile patients referred to Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran, between 2014 and 2015, were selected by simple random sampling. Participants completed the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) including 46 questions in five domains (social concern, sexual concern, relationship concern, rejection of parenthood, and need for parenthood). Mean difference between male and female was verified using independent-samples Student’s t test. A generalized linear model (GLM) was also used for testing the effect of variables on the fertility problems. Data was analyzed using Stata software version 13.
The mean age (SD) of participants was 31.28 (5.42). Our results showed that 160 infertile men (95.23%) were classified as very high prevalence of infertility problems. Among infertile women, 83 patients (35.02%) were as very high prevalence of infertility problems, and 154 patients (64.98%) were as high prevalence. Age (P Bases on the results of current study, an younger male with lower education level, history of abortion and history of previous treatments failure experienced more infertility problems.

Various factors such as maternal weight gain during pregnancy are important in the occurrence of preterm birth. Among these, the role of maternal weight gain during pregnancy is less studied. The present study was performed with aim to determine the relationship between maternal pre-pregnancy weight, body mass index and gestational age at birth.
In this cross-sectional study which was conducted in Tehran in July 2015, a total of 5170 deliveries were examined of which 77 cases were twin pregnancy and excluded from the study and finally, 5093 were analyzed. The data related to pregnancy and delivery in 103 hospitals was collected by 103 trained midwives by using a designed questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by Stata software (version 13), and descriptive statistics methods and linear simple regression. P Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that weight gain during pregnancy was significantly associated with gestational age at birth (P=0.001), so that for every one unit increase in weight gain during pregnancy, gestational age at birth increases 0.052 weeks (95% CI: 0.036-0.068 weeks) (P=0.001) and the chance of preterm labor decreases, but maternal weight (P=0.818), height (P=0.894) and body mass index (P=0.991) were not significantly associated with gestational age.
Weight gain during pregnancy is of the important factor in gestational age at birth, so that appropriate weight gain during pregnancy leads to reduced preterm birth in pregnant women.

Context: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major global public health issue. The Eastern Mediterranean regional office (EMRO) of the world health organization (WHO) seems to have one of the highest prevalence rates worldwide, with at least 21.3 million HCV-infected patients.
The aim of the present study was to review systematically all epidemiological data related to the prevalence of HCV genotypes in infected patients in EMRO countries.
Data Sources: A systematic search was conducted of peer-reviewed journals indexed in electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, ISI, PakMediNet, and IMEMR, and Persian-specific databases including SID, Iran Medex, and MagIran).
Study Selection: A systematic search was performed with temporal limits (papers published between January 2000 up to June 2015), regarding the prevalence and distribution of HCV genotypes in EMRO countries.
Data Extraction: The prevalence rates of HCV genotypes were pooled by metan command in Stata 14. Statistical heterogeneity was explored using the I-square at the 5% significance level. Publication bias was assessed, graphically and statistically, by funnel plot and Begg and Egger tests.
A total of 563 records were identified through the electronic search. Of these records, 134 studies comprising 67681 HCV-infected individuals were included in the meta-analysis. In Iran, subtype 1a was the predominant subtype with a rate of 42% (95% CI, 39 - 46), followed by subtype 3a, 35% (95% CI, 31 - 38). In Pakistan, Subtype 3a was the most common subtype with a rate of 56% (95% CI, 49 - 62), followed by subtype 3b, 10% (95% CI, 7 - 12). In Saudi Arabia and Egypt, genotype 4 was the most prevalent genotype with a rate of 65% (95% CI, 59 - 72) and 69% (95% CI, 36 - 100) respectively. In Tunisia and Morocco, subtype 1b was the most common subtype with a rate of 69% (95% CI, 50 - 88) and 32% (95% CI, 7 - 56) respectively.
The genotype distribution of HCV takes diverse patterns in EMRO countries. Genotypes 1 and 3 were predominant in Iran and Pakistan, while genotype 4 and 1 were the most common genotypes in the Middle East Arab countries and North African Arab countries. Understanding the genotypes of HCV can help policy makers in designing good strategies for treatment.

Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer and is a major public health problem in many countries. The aim of this study was to conduct a survival analysis among leukemia patients and determine the factors affecting survival rate in patients referring to Amir Kabir Hospital in Arak Province from 2006 to 2011. This survival analysis study included 72 leukemia patients. Then, necessary variables were collected and we assessed the survival status of the patients during follow up visits.Using stata software, data analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank and Cox proportional hazard model were used to analyze the data. The mean follow-up time was 14.54 months (range: 1 to 53 months). Mortality rate due to leukemia among children was 11.1 cases (95% CI 6.16-20.08) per 1000 person-months. Survival rates at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years were 87, 79, 70 and 70 percent respectively. Only age had a significant effect on the survival rate in the Cox proportional hazard model. 4-year survival rate of leukemia was 70% and age was identified as one of the most important predictors of survival in leukemia patients.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men, that is increasing in incidence and mortality. Considering the epidemiologic trend of prostate cancer, the aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of prostate cancer in the years 2005-2010 in Markazi Province. In this analytical study, which data was derived from the Cancer Registry of Markazi Province, crude incidence per 100 thousand persons and age-standardized incidence in the method of direct standardization using the world standard population were calculated. Data Analysis was conducted using the Cochran-Armitage and winpepi software version 2.1. In this study among 182 patients with prostate cancer in 2005–2010, 144 patients (%79) inhabited in city and others in rural. Regarding age, 16 persons (%8.8) were between 50-60 and majority 84(%46) were 70-80 years old. In the 6- year study, 182 cases of prostate cancer were recorded. Age-standardized incidence rate during the years 2005 to 2010 was respectively: 3.24, 3,3.44,5.05,5.75, 5.61 cases per hundred thousand people which shows an increase in the disease. The highest observed incidence in the age group was above 70. The standardized incidence rate of prostate cancer in Markazi province in comparison with the world, particularly developed countries, is much less that can be due to lack of screening programs or the incomplete records.

Neurotologic signs and symptoms, especially vestibular symptoms are common in migrainous patients. Involvement of the visual system in migrainures has received a great deal of attention in recent years, but the oculomotor part of the visual system has been largely ignored. The goal of this study was to investigate some parts of the central vestibular system using the oculomotor part of videonystagmographic evaluation, including spontaneous nystagmus, gaze-evoked nystagmus, smooth pursuit, saccade and optokinetic ystagmus interictally in migrainous patients. In this case–control study, 30 patients with migraine and 38 healthy volunteers within the age range of 18-48 years old were included spontaneous nystagmus; gaze-evoked nystagmus in right, left and up sides, smooth pursuit, optokinetic nystagmus using three different velocities and saccade test performed in both groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 18.0. Some parameters of gain and phase and also morphology of the smooth pursuit, velocity of the saccade and slow phase velocity of optokinetic were significantly different in migrainures, although the statistical differences of these parameters were not clinically important as they were in the normal range of a defined device. These results may suggest the presence of subtle otoneurologic abnormalities in migrainous patients that is probably due to the efficiency of oculomotor function with vestibulocerebellar origin.

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness and it is one of the main causes of irreversible blindness. Multi-drug regimens usually recommended in reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma. This study was aimed to compare the effect of combination therapy with Timolol and Latanoprost vs. Timolol and Dorzolamide in reducing IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma. In this blind randomized clinical trial study, 60 eyes with glaucoma were randomly assigned to two treatment groups including Timolol and Latanoprost vs. Timolol and Dorzolamide. Required variables were measured before and 6 weeks after the intervention. The data was analyzed by running the Stata software (version 12) at a significance level of 0.05. The mean age in groups of Timolol-Latanoprost and Timolol and Dorzolamide was 72.6 and 67.6 years old, respectively. Analysis of the data revealed that there was no significant difference between groups in terms of intraocular pressure (IOP), visual acuity and cup to disc ratio. According to our findings, there were no statistical significant differences in the IOP lowering effect between both treatments in open angle glaucoma patients.

Introduction and Cancer is the third leading cause of death after Coronary Artery Disease and accidents in Iran. This Research has been carried out to Study the epidemiology of gastrointestinal cancers (Stomach, esophageal, colorectal) in Markazi province during 2005-2010. This is an analytical cross-sectional study that was carried out on cancer registry data collected from Markazi province between 2005-2010 years. Cancer incidence adjusted based on the age structure and agespecific incidence rates were calculated. Most statistics on the Morbidity of gastric cancers in the study was 642 patients (51.2) that associated with gastric cancer and after which the CRC 444(35.4%) patients and esophageal numbers of 169 (13.5%) patients. in this study 61.8 % (801 patients) of cases in the age group 80-70 years,male, 387 cases (30.8%) and the highest 77.1% living in urban areas has been observed in terms of location. mean age at estimated time of diagnosis was 69 years. Rates age standardized incidence of digestive cancers in males and female was 141.04 and 73.39 respectively. Identification of risk factors and prevention of gastrointestinal cancers in Markazi province is required. Training programs related to the prevention of cancer in people at high risk should be presented.

Toxoplasma gondii is an important pathogen protozoa for human and animals. This parasite can cause severe infection and abortion. The relationship between cholesterol and other lipids in the blood of infected persons has been considered by researchers. There is evidence that host lipids are involved in the pathogenesis of Toxoplasma. Therefore this study measured and compared lipid and testosterone levels of serum in men infected with toxoplasmosis and non- infected men. This case – control study was conducted on 200 men، 20 to 29 years old referred to the Arak post marriage center. After completing the questionnaire، 5 ml blood sample was taken and serum was separated. Then diagnosis test for toxoplasmosis and measured of testosterone was conducted on samples. Results showed that testosterone levels were normal in case and control groups but the hormone level in the case group was significantly lower than the control group. The study of relationship between testosterone level and serum lipids in case and control groups showed there is a significant negative correlation between testosterone level and triglyceride level. Also there is a significant positive correlation between testosterone level and HDL levels.

The prevalence and incidence of cancer in different parts of the world have different patterns. Known of The frequency of malignancies in different social groups according to climatic conditions is considered as the primary component of prevention programs at different levels. This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiology، survival rates and geographical epidemiology of breast cancer in Markazi province.

In this epidemiological study، needed data were obtained from cancer registration program and death registration data. The data were analyzed by using SPSS software version 16 and Winpepi and significant level was 0. 05. And to draw a map to show the breast cancer incidence rate in Markazi district، Arc view software was used.

Out of the 400 cases recorded during the 5-year، 8. 5% died due to breast cancer. 5-year survival rate was 87 percent and a there was a significant correlation between survival rate and age. Most records related to the age group 49-40 years and the highest incidence rate was in Arak. The trends of incidence rate was not significant.

The results showed that 5-year breast cancer survival rate is more than some other places which could be due to new and improved methods of treatment and methods of screening and early detection of disease. Other aspects of the epidemiology of the disease is similar to other parts of Iran.

Vitamin A has essentiall role in growth، reproduction، and maintenace of epithelial cells. Vitamin A، especially retinoic acid acts like a hormone، for gene expression، Vitamin A is necessary for growth of bones and immune system. The role of vitamin A in reducing mortality rates of neonates is well recognised. In this cross-sectional study، 90 pregnant mothers were selected from private and public hospitals in Arak. Data gathered through the questionnaire included general information concerning pregnat mothers and also their nutritional diet. The analysis of dietary intake done with nutritionist II software. The measurements of serum and cord blood retinol samples carried with reverse phase HPLC. Our results indicted that a positive and significant correlation between cord blood retinol of mothers and birth weigh of neonates (r=0. 22)، (p≥0. 05). There was no significant correlation between serum retinol of mothers and birth weigh of neonates. Also، There was no significant correlation between retinol intakes of mothers and birth weigh of neonates. Improvement retinol status of mothers has efficient role in normal birth weigh of neonates.

Nutritional status assessment is a method for nutritional care which aims to determine nutritional needs and to meet nutritional requirements. Pregnant and lactating mothers are considered vulnerable groups. The use of this method، especially for determination of calorie and protein intake has positive effects on growth of neonates. Thus، the purpose of this study is to assess the nutritional status of pregnant women. In this cross-sectional study، 80 pregnant mothers were selected from private and public hospitals in Arak. Data were gathered through a questionnaire including general information concerning pregnant mothers and their nutritional diet. The analysis of dietary intake was done by nutritionist IV software. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The average weight gain for pregnant mothers at the end of pregnancy was 10. 1kg. The mean of body mass index for the mothers was 22. 2 kg/m2، and the average weight for neonates was 2. 5 kg. The average energy intakes in mothers were equal compared with RDA، and the average protein intake was greater compared with RDA. There was a significant positive correlation between weight gain during and total body weight at the end of pregnancy (r=0. 93) (P<0. 01). Also، there was a significant negative correlation between weight of pre pregnancy and percent of weight gain at the end of pregnancy (r=-0. 39) (P<0. 01). A significant positive correlation was found between total body weight at the end of pregnancy and birth weight of neonates (r=0. 34) (P<0. 01). Adequate nutritional status of mothers influenced normal body weight in neonates.