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  Background and Objectives: The remarkable increase in the number of chronic diseases and failing in the definite treatment of these illnesses in order to meet the needs of these patients as well as the high costs of control and management of these diseases require special attention to the promotion of health in them. The first step in planning for this promotion is a study of the factors inflouencing health promotion in order to use them in planning to control and manage chronic diseases.

  Methods: Granded theory is a powerful research method to study social structures and processes. This method was employed in the present research to collect and analyze the data in chronic patients. Semi-Structured interviews were used to collect the data which were analyzed using continuous comparison method.

  Results: Six main themes including the meaning of health, life style, individual factors, spiritual beliefs, support and education emerged, all of which were effective in the process of health promotion in these patients.

  Conclusion: The findings indicated the concepts found in the research were interactively influencing each other to promote health in chronic patients. Support and education overshadowed other factors and had them under its influence. So, it is necessary to emphasise the role of these two factors in health-promoting activities in chronic patients and leading the patients towards health promotion through increasing self-reliance and creating a supportive environment.

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 Background & Objectives: Toxoplasmosis is an important zoonosis parasitical disease. Infection with Toxoplasma gondii in transmission of parasite to fetus or its reactivation among immune-compromised persons can lead to server clinical symptoms. The aim of study was to determine immune level of Toxoplasmosis among women who were to get married and have referred to Health Center of Ardabil.

  Methods: In this study 272 blood samples of women who had referred to health center of Ardabil in 2007 were collected. Samples were tested with ELISA method to detect Anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG Antibodies.

  Results: The tests showed that 42.3% of women were IgG Positive, 57.2% were IgG negative and 2.6% women were IgM positive and also IgG positive. They have ( IgG positive women) 11.3% family history of abortion, 96.5% eating raw vegetables, 92.2% eating half cooked meat, 89.6% not washing the vegetables with disinfectants, 29.6% animal contact, 57.4% contact with raw meat and 94.8% used piped water.

  Conclusion: Since 57.7% of women who were to marry in Ardabil city were negative from the view point of Toxoplasmosis, health education for elimination of risk factors especially within pregnancy period seems mandatory.

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  Background & Objectives : Due to rapid population growth, many activities performed to find ways to prevent pregnancy around the world. Vasectomy is one of the most effective contraceptive methods but despite the benefits, it's using incidence is very low. It is important to involve men in order to population control. This study was aimed to describe the experiences of a group of men who had vasectomy and their sexual satisfaction after Vasectomy.

  Methods: A combination of qualitative and quantitative study (Triangulation method) was used on forty men who had been vasectomized in the city of Ardabil before 2006. The method the thematic oral history was used. Questionnaire about sexual satisfaction after vasectomy was prepared and completed by sample subjects (101 people). The results were analyzed by SPSS software.

  Results: The following three descriptive categories were developed from the men's experiences: influencing factors for doing vasectomy outcomes of vasectomy vasectomized men as advisers of the procedure for other men.

  Frequency of intercourses in 65.4%, sexual desire in 64.4%, sexual pleasure in 59.4%, duration of sexual intercourse in 66.3% and sexual ability in 68.3% of subjects did not change after sterilization.

  Conclusion: Family planning programmes must consider the clients sociocultural background. During explanations about vasectomy, the dissemination of the experiences of vasectomised men could improve the confidence and interest of the men to the method and may promote men’s involvement in reproductive health.

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  Background &Objectives :�Hyphema which commonly caused by the blunt trauma, is defined as blood accumulation in the anterior chamber of the eye. It is associated with several complications from which secondary hemorrhage is more important. This study was aimed to determine Tranexamic acid effect on reduction of the secondary hemorrhage in traumatic hyphema.

  Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial in 54 patients with traumatic hyphema referred to ophthalmology clinic of Alavi Hospital in Ardabil during 2006-2008. The patients were divided into two groups. Half of the patients received Tranexamic acid and the rest used placebo. After examination of the eyes, the data were analyzed by using Chi-square^�and Student-t tests.

  Results : In this study 79.6% of patients were men and the rest were women. They had 19.8 ± 9.44 years old as mean. The vision for 33.3% of the individuals showed light perception, 29.6% hand motion and 35.2% of them indicated finger count. 1.9% of patients had grade I, 11.1% grade II, 38.9% grade III and 48.1% grade IV hyphema. The patients who received Tranexamic acid did not show secondary hemorrhage but five untreated individuals were undergone bleeding.

  Conclousion : Tranexamic acid reduced secondary hemorrhage in patients with blunt trauma-related hyphema. We suggest further studies of relationship between intra-ocular pressure and secondary hemorrhage rate.

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  Background & Objectives: Myocardial infarction is one of the most common causes of mortality throughout the world. Utilization of thrombolytic drugs at the first hours upon MI leads to decrease in the rate of mortality. Streptokinase (SK) is commonly used because of its cost and availability. The golden time for maximum effect of SK appeared to be first hours after MI. The drug efficiency diminishes after 3 hours and it will be ineffective after 12 hours.

  This study was aimed to investigate interval between onset of the clinical symptoms and streptokinase receiving in patients with acute myocardial infarction�admitted for drug reception.

  Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 150 patients with STEMI (ST elevation Myocardial Infarction ) who were attended to emergency room of Imam Khomeini hospital and fulfilled a questionnaire containing the data about age, sex, educational level, onset of symptoms, referring time to emergency room, SK utilization, past medical history of cardiac diseases, type and location of AMI, contraindications and side effects of SK.

  Results: In 111 men (74%) and 39 women (26%), the mean for interval between onset of symptoms and drug injection was 8 hour and 27 minutes ± 8 hour and 18 minutes .Only 41% of patients received streptokinase in less than 3 hours after chest pain. The main reasons for delaying in drug consumption were delayed decision to come to hospital in 61% of persons, long distance to hospital for 22% of individuals, delayed admission tor CCU for 13% of cases and delay in physician diagnosis for 0.043% of patients. To have a male sex and residency in city where the hospital was establilished were associated with less-delayed treatment start. However, the educational level, age and history of MI were not correlated with onset of treatment.

  Conclusions: Our results clearly show that the majority of patients receipt streptokinase more than 3 hours after chest pain. With considering the factors associated with delay to receive SK, teaching the patients with ischemic heart disease and giving information about golden time for thrombolytic therapy and its effect in prognosis as well as extending cardiac disease treatment centers in suburbs are recommended.

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  Background & Objectives: Coronary artery disease is the main cause of mortality in developing and industrial countries. Recently the involvement of infectious agents as a risk factor for Acute Coronary syndrome is drafted. So this study was designed to investigate the probable association between Acute Coronary syndrome and Helicobacter pylori infection.

  Methods: This case-control study was carried out on 300 hospitalized patients with the diagnosis of Acute Coronary syndrome (UA and MI) and 300 hospitalized patients without the history of coronary heart disease. Anti Helicobacter pylori Antibody level was determined by as an indicator of infection history. Using chi-square and t- test the results were analyzed in SPSS software.

  Results: Results showed that 79 patients (26.3%) in control group and 122 patients (40.6%) in case group were seropositive and the difference was significant. Relationship between cronory diseases risk factors and levels of IgG was not significant. Also the results showed that the rate of hypertension in seropositive patients in case group was significantly upper than control group.

  Conclusion: Regarding the findings of this study we can conclude that Helicobacter pylori infection probably is a risk factor for Acute Coronary Syndrome. Thus, further studies are needed to elucidate the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and Acute Coronary Syndrome.

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  Background & Objectives: Urinary stone disease is one of the common urinary tract complications that can lead to renal failure. It occurs usually in middle-aged and older men The aim of this study was to determine the association between types of urinary stones and risk factors for urinary stone formation in patients referred to Ardabil therapeutic centers.

  Methods : In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 150 patients with urinary stone were followed from March 2008 to July 2009 in therapeutic centers of Ardabil.

  Data were collected by a questionnaire include demographic factors such as age, gender, body mass index (BMI), Job and Habitation place. Data were analyzed by chi-square test and ANOVA in SPSS 16 software. The level of significance was p<0.05.

  Results: 116 of patients (77.3%) had calcium oxalate stone, 15 of patients (10%) had phosphate calcium stone, 10 of patients (6.7%) had acid uric and 9 of patients (6%) had phosphate ammonium stone. The mean age of patients was 41.90 + 14.41 years (48% of patients were 30-50 years old) and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 25.81+3.66. 91 of patients (60.66%) were male and 59 (39.4%) of them were female. There was no significant difference between types of urinary stones and factors including BMI the job of patient, (p=0.252), habitation place (p=0.173), history of previous illness (p=0.207) and history of drug use (p=0.247).

  Conclusion: The most common type of urinary stones was calcium oxalate (77.3%) in both men and women however ammonium phosphate (6%) is much less common.

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  Background & objectives: Heart failure is considered as a major cause of hospitalization. Many studies have shown association between sleep-related breathing disorders and heart failure. It has been shown that the relationship between nocturnal hypoxia and left ventricular dysfunction can cause significant morbidity and mortality in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF ). Accordingly, treatment of sleep related breathing disorders (SRBD) can give rise to improvement in CHF treatment too. This study surveys the prevalence of sleep disorder in stable heart failure patients regardless of ejection fraction.

  Methods : This study was a descriptive-analytical study. One hundred and eight patients with heart failure disease were studied. A questionnaire consisting of two parts (part I consistent of demographic information and part II consistent of sleep disorders) and clinical examination (pulse oximetery and echocardiography) were used for collection of data. The data were analyzed with SPSS statistical software using descriptive and analytical tests including the chi-square, Pearson correlation and ANOVA.

  Results: Fifty six persons (51.9%) of patients were female and 52 persons (48.1%) were male with mean age of 65.42 ± 11 years. In total sleep duration, 95 patients (88%) had nocturnal hypoxemia . There was correlation between arterial oxygen desaturation at night and ejection fraction .

  Conclusion : This study confirmed strong associations between nocturnal hypoxia and left ventricular dysfunction and SRBD should be considered in clinical treatment of systolic heart failure.

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  Background & objectives: Addiction is one of the problems in world threating the social, economic and culture factors. It is essential to have an accurate knowledge about the characteristics of drug users in order to diminish the high-risk behaviors of intravenous drug addicts. This research has been done to assess relationship between individual characteristics and high risk behavior in intravenous drug addicts.

  Method: In this descriptive-analytic research, 360 drug users were selected from different places in Ardabil city and interviewed by a prepared questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests including t-test, Pearson correlation and ANOVA with SPSS statistical software.

  Results: The results showed that the age, gender, material status, job position, age of addiction start, age of injection start, injection frequency, injection frequency per day, syringe supply place and the partner’s gender during recent few months had no significant difference compared to drug users with needle sharing and without needle sharing. The educational level of drug users with needle sharing was lower (P=0.037) and the number of new syringe usage per month was also lesser (P=0.001). They predicted to be more likely infected with AIDS (P=0.001) and had a less argument with their partner about using condom, also mostly have not used condom at their last sexual relationship (P=0.001). The average number of their partners during last three months was high (P=0.003) and there was a meaningful relationship between true sense of peril and using condom in drug users with needle sharing group (p=0.001).

  Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between the true sense of danger and the using condom. It is necessary to have an appropriate advertising to increase using condoms among injecting drug users.

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� Background &objectives: Celiac disease is a gastrointestinal disorder that genetic factors have a role on its pathogenesis. The aim of the present study was to determine HLA alleles encoding HLA DQ2 and HLA DQ8 in patients with celiac disease.

� Methods: This descriptive analytical study was conducted on 105 patients with IBS whom referred to the gastroenterology unit in Ardabil, Iran. The patients with positive celiac serology of IgA anti-tTG test were done an endoscopic duodenal biopsy. HLA DQ2 and DQ8 testings were performed on patients. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics together with Mann-Whitney U and Fisher&rsquos exact tests by SPSS-16.

� Results: 14 patients were found positive for IgA antibodies against tTG. From these 14 patients 2 (14.3%) were male and 12 (85.71%) female. All of 14 patients (100% of case) had also abnormal intestinal pathology according to the modified Marsh classification and 10 patients had type IIIC. 11 patients had only HLA DQ2, 2 patients had only HLADQ8, and one patient had both HLADQ2 andDQ8.

� Conclusion: Most of patients had positive HLA D Q2. The present study emphasizes that HLA genotypes are an important background to CD development.

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Background & objectives: The liver is one of the most important organs in the body and plays an essential role in the metabolism of drugs and toxins. Therefore, any damage to the liver can disrupt its function and cause various diseases. On the other hand, due to the increasing use of the medicinal herbs, in this study, the effects of hepatic protection of aqueous extracts of Humulus lupulus on liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride in rats were investigated.
Methods: In this experimental study, 36 male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups (n=6). Group 1 (normal control) and Group 2 (control CCl₄): administered with distilled water orally for 14 days. Groups 3, 4, and 5 received 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of Humulus lupulus extract for 14 days respectively. Group 6: administered with silymarin (as standard drug) 100 mg/kg orally for 14 days. All of the groups except group 1 received 1 ml CCl₄ (1:1 v/v dissolved in olive oil) on 14^th day. All animals were sacrificed and blood samples were collected to determine the biochemical parameters.
Results: Pretreatment with a Humulus lupulus extract significantly reduced the serum levels of ALT, AST, ALP, TG, and increased the serum HDL levels, but did not have a significant effect on GGT and LDL levels.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the Humulus lupulus extract can protect the liver from damage caused by carbon tetrachloride and have beneficial effects on lipid profile.