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Background & objectives: cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of mortality around the whole world. However, there is limited information on its economic costs in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the economic costs of coronary heart disease in Iran in 2014.
Methods: The diseases costs were calculated based on the incidence approach using a bottom-up method and a community-oriented perspective.   The drug cost information was obtained from angiographed patients (607 cases) in Shahid Modarres Hospital using simple random sampling method. Other information like disease incidence, distribution of patients, treatment patterns, length of stay and mortality rate was gathered from the literature, interview with patients, consultation with specialists, questionnaire, ministry of health and statistical center of Iran.
Results: Coronary heart diseases impose a significant economic burden in the range of 4,715 and 4,908 billion dollars (210,037,860,000,000-201,778,425,000,000 rials) upon Iran economic system. The medical costs and the costs of lost productivity due to premature death were calculated at USD 3.572 billion (152,863,740,000,000 rials) and USD 933 million (39,927,735,000,000 rials) respectively. The major part of medical costs was related to angioplasty costs (47%) and the minor part was related to drug costs (1.15%).
Conclusion: Coronary heart diseases impose a lot of financial costs to Iran healthcare system which cover more than 16% of whole healthcare financial costs. It is possible to streamline all consequential costs due to coronary heart disease by means of economic and effective use of resources and widespread self-care plan.
 

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Background & objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the bacterial bioaerosols in indoor air of Ardabil universities and to investigate the factors affecting their concentration in Ardabil city.
Methods: Air sampling was performed using Andersen single-stage sampler at a flow rate of 28.3 liters per minute and a respiratory range of 10 min. In this study, trypticase soy agar containing cycloheximide antibiotic was used for bacterial culture. Biochemical tests such as DNase, catalase, oxidase, coagulase, bile esculin hydrolysis test, urease, citrate test, antibiotic resistance to novobiocin, bacitracin and optochin were used for identification and differentiation of isolates.
Result: The mean bacterial concentration in Ardabil university of medical sciences in the open air, outside the college, the halls, the classrooms and the staff rooms  was 18, 88.4, 76.6, 77.4 CFU/m³ , respectively. The concentration of bacteria in Islamic Azad university of Ardabil in the open air, outside the college, the halls, the classrooms and the staff rooms was 103, 97, 124, 132 CFU/m³, respectively. The dominant species of bacteria in indoor air were Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Actinomycetes and Bacillus, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it is found that the concentration of bacterial bioaerosols in indoor air is not more than standard, but the abundance of bacterial species can cause lung, intestinal and other diseases in academic personnel, staff and students in the long-term.

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Background & objectives: Toluene as a systemic toxin and industrial solvents has different effects on vital organs of the body. There is little mechanistic study of the interactions between toluene and human lymphocytes. In this study, the direct toxicity of toluene and the potential of agents with antioxidant, mitochondrial/lysosomal protective effects to reduce its possible toxicity in human lymphocytes were studied.
Methods: Blood lymphocytes were isolated from healthy male volunteer's blood, using Ficoll Paque Plus followed by gradient centrifugation. In this study, cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, lipid peroxidation (LPO), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), lysosomal membrane damage, glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG) levels, were determined in blood lymphocytes after incubation with toluene and antioxidant, mitochondrial and lysosomal protective compounds.
 Results: Results showed that toluene reduced lymphocyte viability, increased ROS levels, LPO content, damage to lysosomal membranes, mitochondrial damages and GSH depletion, which these damages were significantly inhibited by dibutyl hydroxytoluene (BHT) as a synthetic antioxidant, cyclosporine A (Cs. A) as an inhibitor of mitochondrial pores, and chloroquine as a lysosomotropic agent.
Conclusion: Results of our study suggest that using of antioxidants, mitochondrial and lysosomal protective agents can be effective in reducing toluene-induced toxicity in exposed individuals.

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Background & objectives: Urinary tract infection is still one of the most common diseases that affect pregnant women. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of sexual hygiene behaviors on urinary tract infection in pregnant women.
Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 100 pregnant women with urinary tract     infection (case group) and 150 pregnant women without urinary tract infection (control group) in health centers of Ardabil city in 2020. Purposive sampling was done in 6-10 weeks of pregnancy. The information was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. SPSS 21 software was used for statistical analysis of data. The odds ratio (OR) of infection in both groups was estimated by logistic regression.
Results: Sexual health behaviors in the majority of women of the case group (47%) were average (with score of 50.1-66), but in the majority of the control group (49.33%) were good (with score of 66.1-84) (p<0.001). Sexual intercourse 3 or more times in a week in the last 30 days was significantly higher in the case group than in the control group (p=0.001). Spouse bathing before sexual intercourse was less in women in the case group than the control group (p=0.022). Statistically significant differences were observed in Pre-coital voiding (p=0.04), Post coital voiding (p=0.02) and post-coital bathing (p=0.03) in the two groups.
Conclusion: Sexual hygiene behaviors play an important role in preventing or contracting urinary tract infections. Therefore, training and improving hygiene behaviors in women and their spouses is an effective step in reducing urinary tract infections.
 

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Background & objectives: One of the main effective factors in combating gastric cancer is having good health literacy in the community. The aim of this study was to determine the health literacy of gastric cancer in clients and patients admitted to Imam Khomeini Medical Center in Ardabil.
Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study. The sample of this study consisted of clients and patients admitted to Imam Khomeini educational -medical center in Ardabil in the second half of 2019. The sample size was 320 people which were randomly sampled. Researcher-made tools were used after ensuring validity and reliability. The questionnaire had two parts: demographic characteristics and items of health literacy dimensions. Patients' informed consent was obtained before completing the questionnaire. Data were collected by nurses and entered into SPSS-26 software. By using descriptive and analytical statistical parameters such as frequency and frequency percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA analyzed.
Results: The mean and standard deviation of the age of participants was 42.98±14.35. The overall level of health literacy about stomach cancer was calculated as 31.13. The average gastric cancer health literacy in five dimensions in the clients and patients of Imam Khomeini educational-medical center in Ardabil was calculated as follows: access to health information resources was 38.02±10.6, reading health information was 13.47±4.41, understanding health information was 30.37±6.9, evaluation of health information was 16.73±4.58 and decision-making and application of health information was 58.49±10.77. Apart from reading in other dimensions of health literacy, no significant difference was found between clients and inpatients.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the mean score of health literacy of clients and patients admitted to Imam Khomeini medical center in Ardabil from gastric cancer is low and not sufficient. Considering the role of health literacy in energy storage, cost and time management of the individual's disease, it is necessary to plan and perform more efficient interventions to promote health literacy in the community, especially clients and patients admitted to Ardabil educational medical centers on gastric cancer.