International Journal of Preventive Medicine
Volume:5 Issue: 10, Oct 2014

The recent studies show that Rotavirus is important cause of the acute gastroenteritis. The aim of this review is to estimate the number of Rotavirus infection among Iranian children by performing a systematic review and estimating a pooled data. We performed a systematic literature review in relevant databases including PUBMED, MEDLINE, OVID, SID, MAGIRAN, and IRANMEDEX. Search in databases was done in October 10, 2013. Meta‑analysis was performed using the STATA statistical package version 11. We assessed heterogeneity by Q‑test and used random model for pooling measures of proportion of Rotavirus infection among Iranian children with diarrhea (and 95% confidence intervals [CI]). Sub group analysis between in‑patient and outpatient group were done and publication bias was assessed by Egger and Begg tests. A total of 154 records were identified in our searching. There were 36 studies including a total of 15,368 children with diarrhea. Out of 15,368 children, 6,338 were positive for Rotavirus gastroenteritis. Overall pooled estimate of infection with Rotavirus among cases of gastroenteritis was 0.35 (95% CI, 0.28-0.41). Pooled estimates for hospitalized children and outpatient subgroups were 0.39 (95% CI, 0.30-0.48), and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.38), respectively. This study supports the importance of Rotavirus in the Iranian population such as common cause of diarrhea among children. Therefore, decision to adopt immunization programs to prevent Rotavirus infection might be helpful in Iran.

ackground: This study aims to assess the frequency, causes, and places of injuries in a nationally representative sample of Iranian children and adolescents, as well as the referral, places allocated for injured individuals. This nationwide study was conducted in 2011-2012 among 13486 elementary, secondary and high‑school students who were selected by random cluster stratified multistage sampling from 30 provinces in Iran. The Global School‑based Health Survey questionnaire of the World Health Organization was used. The study participants consisted of 50.8% boys, 75.6% urban resident with a mean age of 12.5 years. Overall, 20.25% of participants reported that they were minimally injured once in the last 12 months; this prevalence was higher in boys than in girls (25.74% vs. 14.58%, respectively, P < 0.001), without significant difference in urban (20.11%) and rural (20.69%) areas. Most of them (39.92%) were injured at homes or house yards with higher prevalence in girls than in boys (48.61% vs. 35.17%, respectively, P < 0.001) and in rural than in urban areas (27.30% vs. 20.89%, respectively, P < 0.001). Schools were reported as the second prevalent site of injury occurrence (22.50%). Emergency departments and physician offices were the most prevalent referral places for injured individuals (32.31% and 22.38%, respectively). Most of the school injuries occurred during play or sport activities (45.92%). Prevention of unintentional injuries should be considered as a health priority. Appropriate preventive strategies should be enhanced at homes and schools.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and viral load of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and Human herpesvirus‑6 (HHV‑6) in different histopathologic grades of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Forty‑five formalin‑fixed paraffin‑embedded tissue section of OSCC patients were analyzed by quantitative real‑time polymerase chain reaction for detection of EBV and HHV‑6. The mean age of the patients was 58. 6 years، 69% of whom were female، and 31% were male. Overall، the positive rate for EBV and HHV‑6 were 16. 7% and 27. 1%، respectively; and the mean viral load EBV was 27. 9 × 103 and 38. 5 × 103 for HHV‑6. No correlation was demonstrated between the viral load of EBV DNA (P = 0. 35) and HHV‑6 (P = 0. 38) at the different OSCC histopathologic grades. These findings neither lend support to the hypothesis that EBV and HHV‑6 are directly involved in OSCC nor rule out the possibility that these viruses play an indirect role in carcinogenesis in this area.

Prediabetes is a high‑risk condition for type 2 diabetes mellitus. The growing prevalence of diabetes emphasizes on the necessity of concentrating on various strategies to prediabetes prevention and management. Probiotics as a group of functional foods might exert antidiabetic effects. This study aimed to assess the effects of probiotic administration on blood lipid profile and blood pressure in patients with prediabetes. This randomized controlled trial consisted of 60 prediabetic patients, aged 25-65 years old, that were randomly assigned to the intervention (receiving 500 mg probiotic capsules, n = 30) or control group (receiving placebo, n = 30) for 8‑week period. Demographic and anthropometric data were collected at baseline. Blood samples were collected at baseline and after 8 weeks for biochemical measurements. Blood pressure was measured at the baseline an after 8 weeks of intervention. Data regarding dietary intakes and physical activity were also collected during the study. We used SPSS software version 16 (SPSS Inc. Chicago, USA) for data analyzing. Probiotic supplementation did not contribute to significant changes in total cholesterol, low‑density lipoprotein (LDL)‑cholesterol, high‑density lipoprotein (HDL)‑cholesterol, Triglycerides (TG), TG/LDL and LDL/HDL ratios, after 8 weeks. After adjusting for potential confounders, HDL‑cholesterol reduced significantly in the placebo group compared with probiotic group. Percent change in systolic blood pressure was significantly different in the probiotic group in comparison with a placebo group (−3.10 ± 2.22 vs. 3.24 ± 1.96, P = 0.01), although this significance did not exist anymore after adjusting for confounders (P > 0.05). Our study showed that probiotics did not have significant effects on lipid markers although they had positive effects on systolic blood pressure.

Nowadays, there has been a growing trend of caesarean sections in Iran. One reason would be the mother’s desire. Increased maternal self‑efficacy can be an important step to reduce percentage of cesarean. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of training‑based strategies to increase the self‑efficacy for choosing delivery method among pregnant women in Shahrekord city. This quasi‑experimental study was conducted on 130 pregnant women who attended urban health centers in Shahrekord city in 2013. Intervention was applied in the experimental group in three sessions in about 60-90 min while control group did not receive any intervention. Fear of childbirth and self‑efficacy questionnaire was completed before and after training. While mean scores of the fear of childbirth, expectations and childbirth self‑efficacy before the intervention between the two groups were not significantly different (P > 0.05), mean scores of childbirth in intervention group was reduced and expectation and childbirth self‑efficacy had a significant increase after intervention (P < 0.05). In this study, 71.4% of mothers in intervention group and 53.8% of control mothers naturally delivered their children. Most of intervention group mothers desired to deliver through cesarean and had more fear (P < 0.001) but lower childbirth expectation (P > 0.05) and self‑efficacy (P < 0.001) than those who chose normal method. Our findings showed that training‑based self‑efficacy procedure has been effective in encouraging mothers to choose natural childbirth. Therefore, the design and implementation of curriculum‑based strategies for increasing self‑efficacy is suggested for pregnant women.

Antispasmodic and vasorelaxant effects of Teucrium polium L. (TP) were mentioned in former studies, so we attempted to evaluate the eventual preventive effect of TP in an acute experimental model of hypertension induced by angiotensin II (Ang II). Forty‑eight male Wistar rats were divided randomly into six groups (n = 8); control Group (C), which received only saline, group Ang II; which received Ang II (300 ng/min, IV), group losartan (Los); which received Los (10 mg/kg, IV) before Ang II injection, three groups of TP 100, TP 200, and TP 400; which received different doses of TP extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, IP, respectively) before Ang II application. After cannulation of the femoral artery, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) was continuously measured and recorded during the experiments. Comparisons were performed using t‑test with SPSS software, version 16 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). MAP and HR in Ang group were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.001), MAP in group Los significantly was lower than Ang group (P < 0.001) and pretreatment with three doses of TP extract also inhibited increasing of MAP after Ang II injection (P < 0.001). Los also inhibited the increase of HR due to Ang II (P < 0.001), but none of three doses of TP extract had a protective effect on tachycardia induced by Ang II. It seems TP extract could be effective in preventing of high blood pressure induced by Ang II pathway activation but could not have remarkable efficacy for improving the created tachycardia.

A lot of remedies، mostly plant based، were mentioned in the Persian old pharmacopoeias for promoting of burn and wound healing and tissue repairing. The efficacy of most of these old remedies is unexplored till now. Adiantum capillus‑veneris from Adiantaceae family is one of them that was used to treating of some kinds of chronic wounds. Methanol extract was fractionated to four different partitions that is، hexane، ethyl acetate، n‑butanol، and aqueous. The potential of A. capillus‑veneris fractions in wound healing or prevention of chronic wounds were evaluated through angiogenesis and fibroblast proliferation، in addition to in vitro tests for protection against damage to fibroblasts by oxygen free radicals. The aqueous part of A. capillus‑veneris promoted significant angiogenesis (P < 0. 05) through both capillary‑like tubular formations and proliferation of endothelial cells in vitro. In addition، in the tests for protection against damage to fibroblasts by oxygen free radicals، aqueous and butanol fractions showed significant protective effects in the concentrations 50، and 500 μg/ml (P < 0. 05) in comparison with a control group. In the toxicity testing، it showed weak irritation in the Hen’s egg test chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) bioassay at the vascular level on the CAM of the chicken and no significant cytotoxicity in the MTT assays on normal human dermal fibroblasts. Angiogenic effects and protective effects against oxygen free radicals suggested aqueous partition of A. capillus‑veneris local application for prevention of late‑radiation-induced injuries after radiation therapy and healing of external wounds similar to bedsores and burns.