Background & Objective : Promoting health has always been considered as one of the basic priorities in international, national, regional and local policies. Moreover, retention and promotion of individual health requires a good knowledge of essentials and priorities of the future. Consequently, determining heslth priorities and devising public health programs and policies is just one of the crucial issues to be considered and implemented by the organizations involved. So a fundamental revising of the health care services based on health promotion indices seems to be necessary in order to increase the influence of health interference programs, extend the quality of health care services and improve activities concerning public health.

  Methods: This project started in 2001 and was defined by precise planning of its organization chart. Its two basic concerns included the current status of health and determining its priorities. The first point, that is the current status of health was performed through investigating the previous researches as well as qualitative and field studies. In this phase of research 1000 urban and 1000 rural families were interviewed about different aspects of health including population characteristics, nutrition, risk factors, treatment habits and so forth. To measure the parameters such as hemoglobin, hematocrite, sugar and lipids, blood samples were taken from members of 200 families who were above 15. Weight, height and blood pressure of all the subjects who were above 15 years of age and weight, height and Mid Arm Circumference (MAC) of the children aged below 6 were measured. The data were collected and scored based on scientific indices and finally the research priorities in the field of health were determined. It should be noted that many people and organizations participated in this research.

  Results : The findings indicated that mortality of children under 5 years of age, casualties, accidents, etc. were among 34 most essential health priorities.

  Conclusions : Regarding the great experience of determining health priorities which was conducted through need assessment and wide cooperation of the public and organizations, it seems important to conduct such researches once in some years and transfer their findings to other sectors in order to prevent wastage of costs, time and labor. This will also lead the researches towards the real needs and necessary interference in order to promote public health.

 Background& Objective: Animal bites are considered to be an important threat to human health. Ardabil province in north-western Iran has the highest incidence rate of animal bites in Iran. This study was an attempt to investigate the epidemiological features of animal bites in Ardabil province during a one-year period from April 1999 to April 2000.

 Methods: In this descriptive study a special questionnaire was filled for all cases of animal bites reported during a one year period in Ardabil province. The questionnaire included questions regarding rabies, age, sex, job, etc. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (release 9). Descriptive statistics was used in the form of frequency tables and graph in order to summarize the data.

 Results: The total number of exposed persons to animal bites were 4331. Males comprised 75% of cases (3259) and 1072 persons (25%) were females. The highest incidence rate was seen among 30-50 year-olds. Animal bites were more common in summer. In 3078 cases (17%), legs were the main site of bite. Dog bite was the most common type (95%).

 Conclusions: This study confirms that animal bite such as dog bite is an important public health problem in Ardabil province. Regarding the importance of this issue it is necessary to take serious measures in order to control and prevent this health thereat.

  Background & Objectives: Regarding the high prevalence of hyperlipidemia in the world especially in Iran, finding suitable and effective treatment seems justified. Metronidazole is the only drug that is used as an antiparasital and antiprotozoal agent. Researchers have found that oral dose of 750 mg/day has a suitable absorption, is widely distributed in the tissues and reaches to a blood level of 4-6 mg/ml. Despite its suitable efficiency, a few clinical trial have been conducted in this regard. This study was designed as such to examine the effect of metronidazole on lowering blood lipids.

  Methods: The present research was performed as a clinical trial without control, on 50 patients. All the patients filled out a special form (to show their satisfaction) as well as a questionnaire. Metronidazole was given with a daily dose of 750 mg for a week. 20 patients with no complaint continued their drug consumption for another seven days. Lipid parameters such as plasma total lipid, total cholesterol, and triglyceride were measured in both groups. The data were collected and analyzed with SPSS software using t-test.

  Results: Measuring the serum level of lipids indicated that the mean total plasma lipid and total cholesterol decreased significantly compared to their level before taking the drug (p<0.01). The findings also showed a similar decrease in plasma TG level (p<0.001). In the patients who continued the drug consumption in the second week, the serum level of lipids under study showed more decrease compared to their levels in the first week which was statistically significant (p<0.01). Liver tests indicated that the functioning of liver has not changed during drug consumption.

  Conclusion: Using 750 mg of metronidazole per day exerts a significant decrease in lipids fractions in a short time. Most cases of hyperlipidemia require a long-term treatment, hence metronidazole can be effectively used in the treatment of short-term hyperlipidemia.

 Background & Objectives: Authorities and scholars believe that determining cigarette smoking status of individuals and groups and finding reasons of smoking plays an important role in manipulating and facing with this dirty habit. The present study is an attempt to determine the rate of prevalence and the causes inducing smoking among students of Ardabil university of medical sciences.

 Methods:�This survey was a descriptive and cross-sectional study. Of 1300 medical sciences students, 1106 ones volunteered to participate in this study. The data were collected using a questionnaire and were analyzed in SPSS.

 Results: 154 students (13.9%) had experienced cigarette smoking previously and 82 students (7.2%) were already a smoker. Intimacy with smokers, self-gratification and acquiring enjoyment, educational failures, vague future career and smoking for entertainment were the most important factors inducing smoking.

 Conclusion: Cigarette smoking prevalence rate in this study was relatively low in comparison with similar studies. However, regarding the critical social status of these students, some serious measures should be taken to inform them about the dangers of smoking and at the some time some facilities should be provided for students, which can be of great help in this regard.

  Background & Objectives: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with a history of only three decades, has turned into a threatening pandemic disease world wide giving rise to 3.1 million deaths in 2005. Since there is no distinctive treatment or effective vaccine for AIDS, its epidemiology is similar to non-communicable and behavioral diseases. Since accurate knowledge and attitude is necessary for a healthy behavior, we conducted this study on high school students of Ardabil to determine their sources of acquiring information on AIDS as well as to find out their attitude and knowledge about this disease.

  Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 800 students in Ardabil high schools during the year 2002 using cluster random sampling method. A questionnaire with 4 groups of questions including demographic information, source of information used for AIDS and the amount each source is used as well as attitude and knowledge of the participants regarding AIDS was distributed in the school. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS.

  Results : 378 (47.2%) out of 800 students were girls and the rest of them were boys. The media used for getting informed about AIDS was determined to be: 84.5% TV, 51.4% newspapers and magazines, 49.6% papers and books and 30.6% radio. 89% of the girls and 67% of the boys used TV. The difference was statistically significant(p<0.001). Sources of information in interview form were found to be health care workers with 17.7%, teachers with 10.2%, friends with 9.5%, religious authorities with 8.6%, family members with 8% and other relatives with 5.6%. A combition of the above-mentioned methods plus other souces formed 41.3% of the information source of the students about AIDS. Only 46.3% of the students had a proper insight in their interaction with role-playing patients of AIDS. 44% of the participants had weak and 56% had moderate knowledge about transmission ways of HIV and no one had good knowledge in this regard. There was no significant difference between age, sex and knowledge. The highest percentage of moderate knowledge score was seen in student studying experimental sciences. Only TV had a significant correlation with knowledge (p=0.001).

  Conclusion: This study entails that more attention must be paid to education through effective use of TV broadcasting. Films, pictures, teachers, clergymen, radio, books and papers had not an effective educational role among high school students regarding AIDS.