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 Background & Objective: Cardiovascular disease is a major global health problem. Countries with low to moderate income contribute significantly to the global burden of cardiovascular disease accounting for 78% of all deaths and 86.3% of all disabilities. This study was an attempt to determine the factors contributing to premature myocardial infarction among young adults in Ardabil city.

 Methods: In this Case-control study 52 subjects, under 45, with myocardial infarction, admitted to Buali hospital in 2003-2004, were compared with 52 age and sex matched population based controls. Odds ratio and confidence interval of 95% were used to evaluate the risk factors such as smoking, physical activity, family history, history of diabetes and similar factors. Analysis of variance was used to compare the means.

 Results: The mean age of the subjects was 37.2 and 96.2% of them were male. The positive family history of cardiovascular disease with odds ratio of 9.4 (95% CI=2.6-34.3) and current smoking with odds ratio of 2.8 (95% CI=1.3-6.2) associated with myocardial infarction. Mean of the body mass index and mean of concentration of FBS, LDL and HDL were different in case and control groups. Physical activity with odds ratio of 0.4 had protective effect. (95% CI= 0.2-0.8). There was no meaningful relationship between passive smoking, total cholesterol, education and job with myocardial infarction risk.

 Conclusion: Family history, smoking, high Fasting Blood Sugar, high LDL, Low HDL and physical inactivity are the most important factors associated with acute myocardial infarction. Proper health interventions should be considered in order to lower the risk factors among young adults especially those under 45 years of age with a positive family history of myocardial infarction.

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Background & objectives: Exercise, with beneficial effects on brain health and cognitive function reduces the destructive effects of some neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of four weeks of aerobic exercise on cognitive function and expression of Sirt1, CREB and BDNF genes in the hippocampus of male Wistar rats with Alzheimer's disease.
Methods: The statistical population included 18 male Wistar rats from the Pasteur Institute. Rats were randomly divided into three groups including Alzheimer's group, Alzheimer's disease-exercise group and a healthy control group. Alzheimer's disease group was induced by injecting Aβ42 into the hippocampus. Seven days after surgery, the rats performed the aerobic exercise for four weeks (five sessions per week at a speed of 10-15 m/min). They underwent behavioral tests 48 hours after the last training session. Twenty four hours later, rat hippocampal tissue was extracted. Sirt1, CREB and BDNF mRNAs were measured using Real time-PCR.
Results: Learning and spatial memory performance decreased in rats of Alzheimer's disease group compared to a healthy control group (p˂0.001). Decreased mRNA expression of Sirt1, CREB and BDNF genes was observed in the hippocampal tissue of Alzheimer's disease group compared with the healthy control group (p˂0.001). Alzheimer's rats with intermittent aerobic exercise had improved learning function, spatial memory and increased mRNA expression levels of Sirt1, CREB and BDNF genes in comparison with Alzheimer's disease group (p˂0.001).
Conclusions: Periodic aerobic exercise in rats with Alzheimer's disease can improve spatial learning and memory by positively regulating the Sirt1/ CREB/ BDNF signaling pathway in hippocampal tissue.