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 Background and Objectives: Iodine deficiency disorders have been one of the main health-nutritional problems in Iran for many years. Prior to the iodine-supplementation program, Ardabil province was one of the regions with endemic goiter in Iran. The program of control and prevention of iodine deficiency has been performed here since 1989 through production, distribution and consumption of iodized salt. This study was performed in 2001 on 7-10 years-old pupils of Ardabil as a part of national monitoring survey of iodine deficiency control.

 Methods: In a cross sectional- descriptive study, 1200 students (equal number of boys and girls) were selected randomly. The prevalence of goiter was determined by clinical examination and according to WHO classification. Urinary iodine content was determined in one tenth of the cases using digestion method.

 Results: Total goiter rate was 9.3 in all the subjects (10.7% in girls and 7.9% in boys). Median urinary iodine was 18.8µg/dl. In 80.7% of the cases urinary iodine was above 10µg/dl and was less than 5µg/dl in 4.2%. Urinary iodine below 2µg/dl was not observed.

 Conclusion: The results showed that the rate of goiter among pupils has significantly decreased since 1996 and urinary iodine levels in schoolchildren of Ardabil complied with WHO index. So, Ardabil province can be considered as an “iodine deficiency free” zone.

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  Gastrointestinal (GI) anthrax is a rare disease that occurs 2 to 5 days after the ingestion of undercooked meat contaminated with anthrax spores. The signs and symptoms of classic form include severe abdominal pain, hematemesis, melena, sudden and progressive ascites and severe diarrhea. The disease usually progresses to toxemia, shock, and eventually death in more than 50% of patients. Treatment-failure with penicillin is common.

  We report two cases of GI anthrax with review of literature. During 1988-1994 a total of 38 cases of human anthrax had been admitted in Sina hospital of Kermanshah (west of Iran). There were two cases of GI anthrax (5.3%) with positive culture of ascitic fluid. One of patients unexpectedly was diagnosed with vomiting and ascites and the other had only ascites. There were not any other signs and symptoms including abdominal pain or tenderness, diarrhea, hematemesis and melena. In contrast to available reports, these cases had atypical presentations. Both of them died although they had received sufficient dose of penicillin.

We conclud that the GI anthrax is not as rare as reported but it may be misdiagnosed due to atypical presentation . Therefore, GI anthrax should be considered as a differential diagnosis in the case of progressive ascites and other GI presentations in endemic areas. This could help to diagnose more patients particularly in an early stage which may lead to better management of disease.

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  Background and objectives: Rubella is a mild viral infectious disease usually occurs sub-clinically without a serious complication, but if occur during pregnancy, specially the first trimester, its etiologic agent can transmit and invade to fetus causing congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) or fetal death. In order to prevent disease and its congenital complications, Rubella immunization is currently done in many countries. Nearly 20 % of girls at marriage were susceptible to rubella in 2003. That is why early all Iranians at the age of 5-25 years old were vaccinated against rubella and the vaccine was included in the compulsary immunization, MMR afterwards.

  Methods: This cross-sectional and analitical study was carried out on 140 girls who attended at a marriage consultancy center in Kermanshah city. Annually, about 10000 girls attend Rafattieh Health Center for pre-marriage laboratory tests in Kermanshah. It was expected that rate of sero-positive Rubella increase from 80 % in 1999 to above 90 % at the study time after mass and national vaccination. So considering 95 % of confidence. All Samples were tested using ELISA serologic method.

  Results: Antibody positivity and immunity against rubella was seen in 99.3 % (139 out of 140 vaccinated girls), while it was 80 % according to the similar study conducted on 240 unvaccinated girls at the same place in 1999. Comparing these two studies showed that attack rate (sero-negativity) has been decreased from 17.08 % in unvaccinated to 0.71 % in vaccinated ones with a confidence interval of 0.01- 0.30 (p < 0.01). The vaccine efficacy is estimated 96 %.

  Conclusion: Relationship between immunity, age, education and history of rubella-like illness, could not be assessed because only 1 (< 0.1%) of 140 vaccinated girls was not immune. In our previous studey in 1999 we had recommended to screen for susceptibility to rubella before marriage, which is no longer required since more than 99 % of vaccinated girls showed immuninty at the time of marriage. However, as sustainability of immunity after rubella vaccination is usually less than immunity due to illness, we recommend screening for rubella protective antibody every few years.

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  Background & Objectives: Pain is one of the most common problems for which human have always been looking for efficient treatment. Several different factors may cause pain, but one of the most widespread reason is the application of some treatments and nursing measures such as intramuscular injection. The present study was designed to compare between the intensity of pain due to intramuscular injection by two different methods: Z- track and Air lock method.

  Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 60 volunteer female nursing students were included. The subject was injected with one milliliter of sterilized water two times within 24 hours: the first injection by Z method and the second one by the Air lock method. The intensity of pain was measured two times by a scale graded from zero to ten. The results were compared by using descriptive statistics and independent t-test by SPSS 12 software.

  Results: Our findings showed that the mean of pain intensity in Z method was 1.80 ± 1.90, and raised to 3.13 ± 2.33 in Air lock method. Moreover, the intensity of pain in these two different methods had significant difference (p<0.01).

  Conclusion: These results indicated that the pain caused by Z method is less than the pain felt through Air lock method. With respecting to these results the Z method is proposed as preferred method for intramuscular injections.

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  Background & Objectives: Stem cells are fundamental supporter of multicellular tissue. They allow blood, bone, gametes, epithelia, nervous system, muscle, and other tissues to be replaced by fresh cells throughout life. In recent years human Wharton’s jelly stem cells (WJSCs) have gained attention. They express a number of surface markers characteristic of mesenchymal stem cells. In this study, human Wharton’s jelly stem cells were isolated using explant method. To show the stemness property of these cells, three CD markers including CD105, CD44 and CD34 were tested.

  Methods: The umbilical cord samples were collected by Caesarian section at Arta Hospital in Ardabil. Cords were transferred in sterile conditions and stem cells were isolated using explant method. After log phase, cells were passaged then growth characteristics and CD105, CD44 and CD34 markers investigated by RT-PCR.

  Results: Separation of human Wharton’s jelly stem cells were started after 7 days. WJSCs in culture revealed two distinct cell population named Type 1 and Type 2. RT-PCR results showed that WJSCs were CD105⁺, CD44⁺ and CD34^-.

  Conclusion: Human umbilical cord stem cells could be an alternative source instead bone marrow stem cells for cell therapy and tissue engineering. These cells have a fibroblastic appearance. Following the lag phase and into log phase respectively, cells grow easily in culture and retain stemness properties in higher passages.

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Background & aim: Nowadays because of difficulty in the supply and injection of insulin and blood sugar reducing drugs and considering the side effects of chemical drugs, researcher’s attention is drawn to using herbal medicines. Liver is one of the organs affected by diabetes in different functional aspects. The purpose of this research was studying the effect of Rosa canina extract on reducing the adverse effects and improving diabetes symptoms related to histophysiology, amount of biochemical serum factors and liver enzymes in male rats.

Methods: 32 male Wistar rats, weighed 200-220 gr, were divided into 4 groups. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of STZ (60mg/kg). The period of experiments was 4 weeks. At the end of experiments, the rats were sacrificed and their serums were collected for measurement of liver enzymes. Also, histological sampling of liver was done. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA).

Results: The results of this study showed that treatment with ethanol extract of Rosa canina led to significant reduction of liver enzymes in the Rosa extract-treated groups in comparison with the diabetic group, indicating the protective effect of alcoholic extract of Rosa canina on liver tissue against diabetes-induced damages. In liver histopathology, a distinct fat change in the lobular center areas was created in the diabetic group. Pathological changes were not significant in the liver of the Rosa extract-treated groups; liver in this group was relatively healthier than in diabetic group.

Conclusions: Rosa extract improved this organ's function in STZ-induced diabetic rats by reducing serum biomarkers of liver pathology and reducing histological damages.

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Background & objectives: Considering the importance of professional commitment in medical services, it is necessary to provide an appropriate questionnaire to measure professional commitment and behavior. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the psychometric properties of the questionnaire "Patients' views regarding the observance of professional behavior by specialist doctors".
Methods: The present study is a psychometric research that was conducted in four phases. The first phase of this study was based on a professional behavior tool guide, review of texts and collection of experts' opinions. in  the second phase , determining the validity of items in the form of the face and content validity, in the third phase , the pilot study, and in the fourth phase,instrument reliability was conducted in two ways: internal consistency and instrument stability.
Results: A pool of 50 items was formed to design the questionnaire. After interviewing the study population and removing overlapping items, the number of items was reduced to 31 items. The results of CVR calculation showed that out of the total of 31 items, 13 items had a cutoff point less than 0.42, which were removed, and 18 items with a CVR score > 0.62 remained according to the opinion of the research team. In the face validity stage, the Impact factor < 1.5 was used as the basis for exclusion, and all the items had a high impact factor, and finally, the draft of the questionnairewas approved with the same 18 items. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.88 and the internal correlation coefficient of the questionnairewas 0.93, which indicated the appropriate reliability of the questionnaire.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, the questionnaire on "Patients' views regarding the observance of professional behavior by a specialist physician" in Iranian society has the necessary content and face validity and adequate reliability. By using this questionnaire, hospital officials can check the status of professional ethics of their specialist physician from the patients' point of view and take effective measures to eliminate the shortcomings.