Iranian Journal of Public Health
Volume:40 Issue: 1, Spring 2011

Use of genetic doping or gene transfer technology will be the newest and the lethal method of doping in fu­ture and have some unpleasant consequences for sports, athletes, and outcomes of competitions. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) defines genetic doping as "the non-therapeutic use of genes, genetic elements, and/or cells that have the capac­ity to enhance athletic performance". The purpose of this review is to consider genetic doping, health damages and risks of new genes if delivered in athletes. This review, which is carried out by reviewing relevant publications, is primarily based on the journals available in GOOGLE, ELSEVIER, PUBMED in fields of genetic technology, and health using a combination of keywords (e.g., ge­netic doping, genes, exercise, performance, athletes) until July 2010. There are several genes related to sport performance and if they are used, they will have health risks and sever dam­ages such as cancer, autoimmunization, and heart attack.

The purpose of this study was to detect the prevalence of ghost and honorary authors and its determinant factors in bio-medical journals of Iran. The study was done in 2009-10 in Tehran, Kerman, and Iran Medical Universities, Iran. We contacted the first or corresponding authors of the papers had published papers in the recent two issues of Iranian Journal of Public Health, Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, and Tehran University Medical Journal. They explored the role of each coauthor and others who had done mouthing for the paper. Then, according to ICMJE criteria, we counted how many of them are real, honorary or ghost author. For the analysis, we utilized two databases. One included articles as the records and the other included authors as the records. From 124 articles, with 536 authors, 301 (56.1%) were honorary authors. Each article had 4.35 authors on average, while 2.4 of them were honorary authors. The percentage of honorary author in basic science articles was about 6% more than the articles of clinical sciences. Moreover, 89% of articles had at least one honorary author. About 20% of all articles had more than three honorary authors. Besides, 25 (21.43%) authors confessed they had colleague(s) omitted from the authors list, while only one (0.81%) of them met the authorship criteria. The percentage of agreement between the corresponding and the remaining authors on the number of honorary of the authors was about 47.4% (Kappa= 0.27, P= 0.01). It seems that the present data might assist the authorities to make a decisive decision on amending the process of authorship in Iran.

Patient safety within healthcare systems is a central aspect of health policy in most developed countries. From April 2007 to May 2009, the pilot project ExpIR-RO tested a voluntary incident reporting system in a public hospital in Bucharest Romania, in collaboration with two Italian hospitals (in Genoa and Milan). Data were collected anonymously through a form based on the Australian Incident Monitoring System. After appropriate training in reporting adverse events (AEs), staff in the participating Departments voluntarily completed the form. The study lasted 12 months in the Bucharest and Genoa hospitals and 3 months in the Milan hospital. Frequency distributions of replies and AE rates per 1,000 hospitalization days per month were assessed. Overall, 185 AEs were reported (58 in Bucharest, 75 in Genoa and 52 in Milan). The corresponding rates (per 1,000 hospitalization days per month) were 1 in Bucharest, 3 in Genoa and 15 in Milan. Most AEs were related to diagnostic (28%) and surgical (14%) procedures and patient falls (12%) in Bucharest; patient falls (32%), nursing care (20%) and diag­nostic procedures (19%) in Genoa; and nursing care (25%), drug prescription/ administration (21%) and diagnostic procedures (17%) in Milan. Seventy-three per cent of respondents in Bucharest informed the patient of the AE, versus 64% in Genoa and 43% in Milan. Conversely, 75% of respondents in Genoa entered AEs in medical records versus 53% in Bucharest and 36% in Milan. ExpIR-RO experience suggests that incident reporting could be introduced on a larger scale in Romania.

The purpose of the present study was to explore further the cross-cultural validity, consistency, and replicability of FAIDSS among students when assessing HIV/AIDS-related stigma and fear of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Lagos metropolis. Using a purposive method, participants in Lagos Metropolis were surveyed using a questionnaire and concep­tualization derived from the work of Ross and Hunter (1992) to measure a variety of HIV-related attitudinal and behavioural items. Quantitative data analyzed employing factor analysis using maximum-likelihood extraction followed by oblique rotation (direct oblimin, delta= 0). On the factor scale measuring having fear of sex with a particular person, younger respondents especially females significantly more likely to report greater fear than for any other groups. Our findings further suggest that levels of fear of outsiders are high among males and need urgent action and intervention at both individual and societal levels. It is argued that messages and interventions must be targeted to promote a positive social environment for those living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, and to be useful in understanding stigma, fear and prejudice more fully and in reducing them. A crosscurrent behavioral change that can transform AIDS from an inevitably fatal pandemic to a chronic and manageable disease is the answer

Molecular epidemiology of measles virus (MV) is important, not only to measure the success of measles vaccination programs but also to monitor the circulation and elimination of the virus worldwide. In this study, we compared MV obtained from patients before the 2003 mass vaccination MR campaign and viruses detected after 2003 until 2008 in Iran. The nucleoprotein (N) gene of 29 MV strains circulating in Iran between 2002 and 2008 were amplified by RT-PCR and subjected to sequence and phylogenetic analysis. Molecular characterization of MV studied here revealed that although the outbreaks in Iran were associated with MV genotype D4, the isolated viruses clearly belonged to several different lineages. Maximum and minimum homology within the 29 Iranian strains in our study was100% and 94.9% within the carboxyl terminus of the N gene, respectively. Using ClustalX program, the alignment of Iranian MV sequences showed nine lineages. This study provides the usefulness of MV sequence analysis for the demonstration of local interruption of indigenous strain transmission as well as providing a valuable means for monitoring the elimination processes of MV control.

To evaluate public perceptions towards the causes of depression and schizophrenia and identifications of fac­tors resulting stigma towards mental ill. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the inhabitants of Pulau-Pinang, Malaysia in March, 2009. A 24-item questionnaire was used to obtain respondent views. A non-probability (i.e convenient sampling method) was used to ap­proach the potential respondents. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 13 ®, non-parametric sta­tistics (Chi-square) was applied to determine the association. Alpha value less than 0.05 were considered significant. One hundred respondents showed their willingness to participate in the study; overall response of the study was 40.0%. Majority 69% of the respondents were Malays, followed by Chinese and Indians. Public re-cognition toward depres­sion was higher than schizophrenia. Lack of social support (X2= 4.832, P= 0.049), chemical imbalance in Brian (X2=6.132, P= 0.013*) and believes in supernatural factors (X2= 6.700, P= 0.050) were the commonly shared reasons for the mental dis­or­ders. Evaluation in terms of stigma revealed that majority 61 (55.0%). Individuals with mental disorders were not friendly (X2= 1.008, P= 0.050). Furthermore, one third of the population believe that they are moody, danger­ous and unpredict­able, it is better to avoid them. Overall findings revealed that Malaysians believe in supernatural reasons for the prevalence of mental disor­ders. Similarly the level of stigma towards mentally ill was higher among the respondents.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of peer education among university students for reproductive health promotion based on researcher's experiences. This interventional study was conducted in Qazvin University of Medical Science during 2002 to 2004 through stakeholder's partnership and selection of 24 volunteer students according to their knowledge, interest, com­munication skills. Capacity building was performed through holding an interactive reproductive health coarse contained marital health, illegal abortion, family planning, STI/AIDS, communication and counseling skills. Trained peer educators have introduced to other student and present education and counseling formally and informally. A post interventional study was conducted after 9 months in order to find its effectiveness. In our experience Stakeholder's partnership in community interventional programs led to the best expected availability of better health through ownership and adopting policies. In present study, the proper determined criteria for selection of peer educators and clear understood expectations of the peer educator's role were very important in health promotional program. Although peer education was acceptable program for university students, more support and supervising for peer groups are needed. The students believed that the power point of peer education and counseling related to same age groups sympathy, confident, well behaved, cheerful, and kind-hearted and peer educators awareness. Universities are appropriate real world for experience a friendly youth program and then disseminate it to other young communities. There seems peer education is effective strategy for reproductive health promotion and reinforce positive behaviors in youth.

Our aim was to detect the rate of Toxoplasma gondii infections and the coinfections in childbearing age women in Turkey accompanying using seroprevalence data from a multicenter hospital setting. Overal, 17751 childbearing age women through 16-45 years were included to the study between 2004 and 2010. The clinical samples of the patients were collected from 16 hospitals and medical centers mostly from Istanbul and three other cities from Turkey. Enzyme immunoassay tests were performed in our central laboratory in Istanbul to investigate T. gondii with other TORCH infections or Epstein Barr virus, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and Human Immuno­difi­ciency virus as accompanying infections. Among the tested sera 1.34% of the women were IgM and 24.61% were IgG positive for T. gondii. The coinfec­tion rate was 3.36% among the IgM positive patients. CMV, EBV, HCV and rubella were detected as coinfections. IgM seroposi­tivities of those infection agents were accepted as acute infection. CMV and EBV were detected as 1.26% and HCV and rubella were detected as 0.42%. Turkish female population was found infected with T. gondii in high rates. Some of the seropositive patients also had accompanying CMV, EBV, HCV and rubella infections. Our aim was to detect Toxoplasma seropositivity and the accom­panying infections with their rates. While coinfections worsen the situation unless they are detected, it is important to deter­mine exact situation of the patient for the management of the therapy.

Potency test for control of rubella vaccine is a significant factor to qualify production line and vaccination pro­gram. For this reason, WHO recommends to use the microtitration method by both vaccine companies and control laborato­ries. Then the study was done to improve this test. Three rubella virus samples, including an in-house standard, a lot of vaccine and an in- process product, were tit­tered in cell culture tubes. Then micro titration steps were tested on 96-well microplate using cocultivation of standard ru­bella vaccine dilutions and RK- 13 cell line. After 6-7 days, final reading was done and calculated the titer. Two other sam­ples were assayed with the micromethod. Titer reduction less than 0.5 log was acquired for each sample during frequent tests and between two methods. The procedure was profitable and accurate for potency and identity tests of rubella virus vaccine, on the basis of WHO recommendations.

With computers rapidly carving a niche in virtually every nook and crevice of today's fast-paced society, mus­culoskeletal disorders are becoming more prevalent among computer users, which comprise a wide spectrum of the Ma­laysian population, including office workers. While extant literature depicts extensive research on musculoskeletal dis­orders in general, the five dimensions of psychosocial work factors (job demands, job conten-tment, job control, com­puter-related prob­lems and social interaction) attributed to work-related musculoskeletal disorders have been neglected. This study exam­ines the aforementioned elements in detail, pertaining to their relationship with musculoskeletal disor­ders, focusing in particu­lar, on 120 office workers at Malaysian public sector organizations, whose jobs require intensive computer usage. Research was conducted between March and July 2009 in public service organizations in Malaysia. This study was conducted via a survey utilizing self-complete questionnaires and diary. The relationship between psychosocial work fac­tors and musculoskeletal discomfort was ascertained through regression analyses, which revealed that some factors were more important than others were. The results indicate a significant relationship among psychosocial work factors and musculoskeletal discomfort among computer users. Several of these factors such as job control, computer-related problem and social interaction of psychoso­cial work factors are found to be more important than others in musculoskeletal discomfort. With computer usage on the rise among users, the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort could lead to unneces­sary disabilities, hence, the vital need for greater attention to be given on this aspect in the work place, to alleviate to some extent, potential problems in future.

The main goal was to address the prevalence of enteric protozoan parasites in rural areas of Bandar- Abbas, southern Iran and to compare the results with the only conducted study in 1978. This descriptive study was performed from 2009 through 2010 on the 565 fecal samples. Formalin-ether concentration technique was performed and the analysis was carried out using Chi-square test in SPSS software version 13.5. Finally, the comparison of our results with the only previous study which was accomplished by Sheiban and Rezaeian in 1978 was done. The overall prevalence of the protozoan parasites was 48.8%. However, the prevalence of pathogen parasites was 23%. Previous research in 1978 showed 80.4% infectivity. The most protozoan parasites were Blas­tocystis hominis (25.53%), Giardia lamblia (17.2%) and Entamoeba coli (15.95%). Previous study in 1978 found Entamoeba coli as the most common protozoa. Our finding revealed that the rate of single infectivity was much higher compared to previous research. The most frequency of infection was in children. The remarkable decrease of protozoan parasites is mainly due to progress in health care in the villages; however more effort should be done with the goal of eradicating infectious agents.

Physical activity has shown to prevent type diabetes 2. However, the type, intensity and amount of effective physi­cal activity as well as individual's needs according to level of their risk for type 2 diabetes have not been clarified comprehen­sively. This study investigated a relation between moderate aerobic physical activity ≥150 minuets/week with de­creased risk of type 2 diabetes among obese and non-obese residents of south of Tehran, Iran. This study, which was a part of the Cardiovascular Risk Factors Survey in Tehran population Lab region, was de­signed and conducted based on MONICA/WHO project. Totally, 1552 adult inhabitants of 17th district of Tehran were en­rolled in this cross-sectional study. Physical activity was assessed by MONICA Optional Study of Physical Activity question­naire. Diabetes was defined as a history of a prior diagnosis of diabetes or fasting serum glucose ≥126 mg/dl. All data analyses were conducted using SPSS 17 software for Windows. In a multivariate model, moderate aerobic physical activity ≥150 minuets/week was significantly associated with de­creased risk of type 2 diabetes in all and non-obese subjects [OR= 0.56; 95%CI: 0.35-0.91 and OR= 0.50; 95%CI: 0.26-0.94, respectively]. There was no significant relation between the physical activity and type 2 diabetes risk in obese subjects [OR=0.64; 95%CI: 0.30-1.39]. Moderate aerobic physical activity ≥150 minuets/week was significantly associated with decreased risk of type 2 diabetes in non-obese people and could be an acceptable exercise goal for these individuals. However, obese people should be investigated more to produce a tailored exercise guideline to this population at high risk of type 2 diabetes.

Fairness in financial contribution for health was determined by WHO (World Health Report, 2000) as the third goal of health systems which is measured by fairness in financial contribution index (FFCI). The aim of this study was to estimate FFCI and quantify extent of catastrophic household heath expenditures. We conducted a descriptive study during May 2008. Subjects were chosen by "Systematic Random sampling" among residents of Maskan's population- based research center (Maskan Center) in Kermanshah, Iran. After complet­ing in­formed consent form, we collected data using a questionnaire by interview with head of family. In order to describing data and estimating FFCI, we used descriptive statistics and WHO methodology, respectively. Households with catastrophic expendi­tures and impoverished households were defined as those with health expenditures over 40% and 50% of their abil­ity to pay, respectively. The mean age of head of families was 48.96±12.86 years. From 189; 12.7% of household's heads were female. 75.1% of households were covered by at least one health insurance scheme. FFCI was 0.57. The proportion of house­holds fac­ing catastrophic health expenditures was 22.2% (95% CI=16.3%-28.1%). The rate of FFCI among participants implied an inequality in health financing contribution. In addition, many of households (22.2%) faced catastrophic health expenditures while according to WHO estimation, the figure in the whole coun­try was 2% in 1999. Our study revealed the importance of protecting households against the costs of ill-health.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is still the most common form of tuberculosis in HIV infected patients having differ­ent presentations according to the degree of immunosuppression. This study appraised the impact of HIV infection on clini­cal, laboratory and radiological presentations of tuberculosis. The clinical, laboratory and radiological presentations of pulmonary TB in 56 HIV-infected patients were com­pared with 56 individually sex and age matched HIV-seronegative ones, admitted to Imam Hospital in Tehran (1999-2006) us­ing paired t-test in a case control study. All cases and the controls were male. Fever was found in 83.9% of the HIV positive patients compared to 80% of the HIV negative ones. Cough was the most common clinical finding in the HIV negative group (89.3% vs. 82.1% in HIV posi­tive group). Among radiological features, cavitary lesions, upper lobe and bilateral pulmonary involvement were ob­served significantly less often in the HIV-infected group. On the contrary, lymphadenopathy was just present in the HIV posi­tive group in this series of patients (12%) and primary pattern tuberculosis was more common, as well (71% vs. 39%, P= 0.02). The Tuberculin test was reactive in 29% of the HIV/TB patients. The coexistence of both infections alters the picture of tuberculosis in many aspects and should be taken into ac­count when considering a diagnosis of HIV infection and its potential for TB co-infection, and vice-versa.

This study is performed to reveal most common species and subspecies of leptospires that are main causes of hu­man leptospirosis in Guilan, Northern Province of Iran. We performed IgM-ELISA and MAT on 282 blood samples from patients who attended to 3 hospitals in the flat area of Guilan Province with clinical symptoms consisted with leptospirosis. All specimens with titers ≥ 160 against at least one pathogenic strain in MAT and with titers ≥160 in IgM-ELISA were regarded confirmed positive cases indicative acute dis­ease. For any confirmed positive cases, we determined the strains, which had the highest titer to determine the frequency of most common serovars and serogroups. Seventy of 282 sera had titers ≥160 against at least one pathogenic strain in MAT and titers ≥ 160 in IgM-ELISA. We determined frequency of common causative serogroups which had highest titers in 70 positive cases and only cases which had high titers in MAT and in IgM-ELISA were selected which is a reliable criterion to detect acute disease and to deter­mine causative serogroup. Nine serogroups including sejroe, grippotyphosa, mini, ictero haemorrhagiae, celledoni, autumnalis, cynopteri, pomona, and javanica were more responsible of acute leptospirosis in Guilan.

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the metabolite of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and is found in milk when lactating animals are fed with contaminated feedstuff. The presence of AFM1 in milk, pose a major risk for humans especially kids as it can have immunosuppressive, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects. The present study is aimed to investigate the oc­currence of AFM1 in subsidized pasteurized milk in Babol, Mazandaran Province, Iran. Some 72 pasteurized milk packages were collected from supermarkets in various districts of city during January to March 2006. Milk samples were centrifuged and amounts of 100 µl of skimmed milk were tested for AFM1 contamina­tion by competitive ELISA. All the samples (100%) exhibited contamination with AFM1. The contamination levels means in January, Febru­ary, and March were 227.85, 229.64, and 233.1ng/l, respectively. The amount of AFM1 in all the samples were above 50ng/l, the threshold set by the European community regulations. Monitoring of AFM1 level should be part of quality control procedures in dairy factories, particularly the ones pro­viding infant's milk. Production of safer and healthier milk and other dairy products with minimum AFM1 level can be achieved by adopting prophylactic measures including control of humidity and water content of feedstuff, which favors mould production.

The main goal of this study was to conduct a comparative population genetic study of Turkish speaking Iranian Azeries as being the biggest ethno-linguistic community, based on the polymorph markers on Y chromosome. One hundred Turkish-speaking Azeri males from north-west Iran (Tabriz, 2008-2009) were selected based on living 3 generations paternally in the same region and not having any relationship with each other. Samples were collected by mouth swabs, DNA extracted and multiplex PCR done, then 12 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and 6 Microsatellites (MS) were sequenced. Obtained data were statistically analyzed by Arlequin software. SNPs and Microsatellites typing were compared with neighboring Turkish-speaking populations (from Turkey and Azerbaijan) and Turkmens representing a possible source group who imposed the Turkish language during 11-15th centuries AD. Azeris demonstrated high level of gene diversity compatible with patterns registered in the neighboring Turkish-speaking populations, whereas the Turkmens displayed significantly lower level of genetic variation. This rate of genetic affiliation depends primarily on the geographic proximity. The imposition of Turkish language to this region was realized predominantly by the process of elite dominance, i.e. by the limited number of invaders who left only weak patrilineal genetic trace in modern populations of the region.