Iranian Journal of Public Health
Volume:34 Issue: 3, Autumn 2005

Abstract: There is no doubt that breast-feeding is the best and safest way of feeding infants. Physiological weight loss occurs in the first two or three days of life, and the achievement of birth weight is expected towards the end of the first week. Hypernatremic dehydration may occur in exclusively breast-fed infants if milk supply is low during these first few days. It is not because of the high sodium content in breast milk; it is because of insufficient lactation. That is, the main cause of hypernatremic dehydration is water deprivation. There are many causes for low milk intake. Since most causes are preventable or able to be improved, mothers, particularly first time mothers, should receive more reassurance and practical advice in the technique of breast-feeding. Before their discharge from the hospital, they should be educated about the associated features of unsuccessful breast-feeding, such as going to the breast infrequently or for short times, infrequent passage of urine and stool, jaundice, lethargy, irritability and fever. Late diagnosis may cause catastrophic outcomes, such as a variety of palsies, apnea, bradycardia, seizures, hypertension, disseminated intravascular coagulation, necrotising enterocolitis after establishing full oral feeds, amputation of an extremity secondary to arterial thrombus, multiple cerebral infarctions, intracranial hemorrhages, massive intra ventricular hemorrhage, multiple dural thromboses. If babies are weighed on the day of the Guthrie test, those in the early onset of a disease and those who could not achieve their birth weight can be easily identified. The latter should be closely followed.

Abstract: Identification of host blood meal in haematophagous arthropods is an important element in their rule in transmission of vector borne diseases. The effects of post ingestion and physical conditions that killed mosquitoes are stored on the success of detecting blood meal DNA of Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasiatus was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification at the human mitochondrial DNA cytochromeB (CytB) gene. Host DNA extracted from the blood meal up to 33 h post ingestion in both species acts as an efficient template for PCR amplification. However more DNA concentration needs for meals digested longer time. Successful PCR amplification among meals digested for 36 h dropping to a faint band. There were no differences between PCR success rate for sampled stored at +4° C or -20° C, but less successful products were observed in samples kept at 4° C for periods longer than 30 h digestion. The results of this study is important in malaria epidemiological studies to provide valuable information about the degree of contact between human hosts and mosquito vectors, impact of vectors controls such bed nets and repellents, and the transmission dynamics of human malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

Abstract: Prostate cancer is the second common form of cancer in men. Detection of circulating Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) transcripts has effectively been used for early diagnosis of prostate cancer cells. This investigation employed a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique to distinguish the patients with either localized or metastatic prostate cancer (CaP) vs. Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) and control subjects, as compared with clinical and pathological records. With reservation of ethical issues, blood samples were collected from 60 cases. Based on pathological and clinical findings, 25 patients (20 with localized cancer, 5 with metastatic), 22 with BPH, and 13 healthy (including 3 females) subjects as negative controls, were selected from Shariati, Mehrad, Sina,, Khatam and Atie Hospitals in Tehran, Iran. RT-PCR for a 260 bp PSA transcript was then performed. Clinical and pathological records were used for the assessment and comparison of PSA RT-PCR results. None of the control subjects and BPH (with 7 exceptions) were found positive by RT-PCR (Relative specificity= 72.7%). In patients with prostate cancer, 21 out of 25 were found PSA positive (Relative sensitivity=83.4%) and the remaining 3 have been shown to be PSA negative (Positive predictive value= 83.4%). All of 5 metastatic patients (100%) revealed PSA positive results. Our data reflects the clinical relevance and significance of RT-PCR results as assessed with clinical and pathological examinations. PSA RT-PCR might be used as a powerful means for diagnosis, even when either pathological or clinical findings are negative, and could be employed for further molecular epidemiology surveys.

Abstract: The determination of Toxoplasma gondii prevalence in a variety of domestic birds is thought as a good indicator of distribution of T.gondii ooccyts in the environment. To verify the potential role of domestic birds in circulating toxoplasmosis in Iran, the present study was conducted in Mazandaran Provinces, northern Iran. Latex agglutination test (LA) antibodies were found in 25 of 58 free-ranging chickens (Gallus domesticus) and ducks (Anas sp.). Also, viable T. gondii was isolated from 7 of 25 seropositive chickens and ducks by bioassay of their brains and hearts into mice. Most of the isolated strains were avirulant to mice. Genotyping of T.gondii isolates using Multiplex PCR for 5 microsatellite markers indicated that 7 isolates were type III. In this study type II and III isolates and mixed genotypes were not found. This study showed that domestic birds could have a potential role in transmitting toxoplasmosis to humans in Iran.

Abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the sequestration of various leukocyte subpopulations within both the developing pannus and synovial space. This study was undertaken to examine the therapeutic potency of tindurin in experimental rheumatoid arthritis. Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was induced by intradermally immunization of Lewis rats at the base of the tail. The paws and knees were then removed for histopathology and radiography analysis. Using fibrosarcoma cell line the apoptosis process was measured by Terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) method. Our data showed that the i.p. injection of tindurin to arthritic rats induced a significant reduction in paw edema. Histopathological assessment showed reduced inflammatory cells infiltrate, tissue edema and bone erosion in joints of treated rats. Moreover, our results in radiography were in line with histological findings as well as tindurin was found to induce apoptosis of treated cells in comparison with positive, negative and non-treated ones. Our findings revealed the therapeutic effect of tindurin in experimental model of rheumatoid arthritis in comparison with methotrexate as a choice drug.

Abstract: Experimental and epidemiological evidences implicate the involvement of oxygen derived radicals in the pathogenesis of cancer development. Oxygen derived radicals are able to cause damage to membranes, mitochondria and macromolecules including proteins, lipids and DNA. Accumulation of DNA damages has been suggested to contribute to carcinogenesis. It would, therefore, be advantageous to pinpoint the effects of oxygen derived radicals in cancer development. We investigated superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT) activities in the whole blood of 50 breast cancer (BC) patients and 50 healthy and age matched women. The rate of SOD and CAT activities in BC patients was significantly lower (P<0.001) than controls. No effect of stage on SOD and CAT activities was observed. The results of our study have shown a higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and decreased SOD and CAT activities, which support the oxidative stress hypothesis in carcinogenesis. The relative lower SOD and CAT activities may not be adequate to detoxify high levels of H2O2 into H2O leading to the formation of the most dangerous 0OH radical. Therefore, administration of antioxidants may be helpful in the management of BC patients. However, elaborate clinical studies are required to evaluate the role of such antioxidant enzymes (AOE) in BC management.

Abstract: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV, CMV) is a major infectious complication of renal transplantation. The objective of this survey was to optimize and establish a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for rapid and early detection of CMV disease in renal transplant recipients. In a cross sectional study, a total of eighty-one EDTA-blood samples were collected as simple nonrandomized (sequential) weekly from thirty-seven renal transplant recipients during a 1-6 months period after their transplantation in Kidney Transplant Center of Shaheed Labbafinejad Hospital of Tehran. Peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) were isolated and DNA was extracted. HCMV DNA in PBLs was detected by PCR using a conserved set of primers. Amplified fragment was confirmed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequencing. Correlation between PCR results and patients’ data was analyzed. Twelve patients from thirty-seven renal transplant recipients had positive samples containing HCMV DNA in PBLs (32.4%), whereas, five of them showed symptomatic CMV disease (13.5%) and seven of them did not show symptomatic CMV disease, but had some signs of pre-symptomatic CMV disease. Twenty-five patients had negative PCR results, and all of them did not have symptomatic CMV disease. Considering type one error (α = 0.05), a nonparametric Fisher’s exact test showed a good correlation between two variables of positive PCR results and symptomatic CMV disease in renal transplant recipients (P=0.002). In conclusion, establishing methods for early detection of HCMV DNA, even prior to showing symptomatic CMV disease, has been shown to be an effective way for starting antiviral therapy, prior to patients’ experience of symptomatic CMV disease.

Abstract: Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in Iran and human brucellosis is endemic in all parts of the country. Growth of Brucella is slow and blood culture of these bacteria by use of classical methods is time-consuming. Furthermore, in endemic area culture is required for definitive diagnosis. In the present study, direct urease test and acridine orange staining were tried on the BACTEC blood culture broths for early presumptive identification of Brucella growth. Blood cultures were attempted in 102 seropositive patients. In the forty one blood cultures positive for Brucella, coccobacilli were seen in broth smears stained with acridine orange stain, and also were urease test positive, thus providing presumptive identification of Brucella growth. Urease test was negative and bacteria were not seen in the broth smears of the remaining 61 broths negative for Brucella growth. Because of simplicity, reliability and reproducibility, these tests can be routinely incorporated in the laboratory for diagnosis of brucellosis.

Abstract: The study of patterns of fingerprints is important in anthropology and medical genetics, chiefly because of their diagnostic usefulness. In the present work, we studied the frequencies of various types of skin ridges of the first phalanx in patients with sever oligospermia or azospermia. In a double-blind case-control study, we determined the frequencies of fingerprints in 880 first phalanxes belonging to 48 men with sever oligospermia and 40 men with azospermia. We determined the types of fingerprints based on Galton classification. Also their FRC, TFRC and AFRC were calculated. Then the results were compared with each other and general population as control group. The most frequent type of fingerprint in both case groups was "Loop". Frequencies of different types among two groups of cases were statistically different (P<0.005). Also they were statistically different with general population (P<0.005). The largest mean of FRC in men with oligospermia was belonging to the left ring fingers (23.1) and the second to the right thumbs (21.91). The largest mean of FRC in men with azospermia was belonging to the right thumbs (23.6) and the second to the right ring fingers (22.6). The mean of TFRCs in men with oligosoermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respectively, and the mean of AFRCs in those two groups were 14 and 11, respectively; their differences were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that qualitative feathers of the fingerprints of men with oligospermia and azospermia were different with each other and with general population. And quantitative feathers of the fingerprints in those two case groups were statistically different as well.

Abstract: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is considered as one of the important bacterial infections seen among renal transplant recipients. In the present study, bacterial urinary tract infections in renal transplant recipients were investigated. Eighty-seven renal transplant recipients (57 males and 30 females) were included to study the bacterial UTIs. Clean- catch midstream urine specimens were obtained from patients and studied using microscopic analysis and culturing on appropriate bacteriologic media. Bacterial isolates were identified by standard biochemical and serological tests. UTIs were diagnosed in 29 percent of patients (18 males and 11 females). The most common causative bacterial strains were coagulase negative Staphylococci (31%) and Entrobacter spp (20.7%). The results showed that all of Proteus spp, Pseudomonas spp, Klebsiella spp, and Enterococcus spp were resistant to most of tested antibiotics, so this research reflects that these multiple resistant bacteria can be accounted as the most cause of UTI in renal transplant recipients.

Abstract: There are some arboviral and parasitic diseases which are transmitted by culicine mosquitoes in Iran. Three genera and eleven species of the subfamily Culicinae (Diptera: Culicidae) were collected by dipping method and identified in Kahnooj district, Kerman province, south-eastern Iran, during October and November, 2003 including; Culex (Culex) bitaeniorhynchus, Cx. (Maillotia) deserticola, Cx. (Cux.) laticinctus, Cx. (Cux.) perexiguus, Cx. (Cux.) pipiens, Cx.(Cux.) quin- quefasciatus, Cx.(Cux.) sinaiticus, Cx.(Cux.) theileri, Cx.(Cux.) tritaeniorhynchus, Culiseta (Allotheobaldia) longiareolata, and Uranotaenia (Pseudoficalbia) unguiculata. In this study, Ur.unguiculata was identified in Kerman province for the first time. Fauna and ecology of Culicinae need more investigations in this province.