Background & Objective: Menarche is an important event during developing stages in females. Several factors can affect the determination of the menarche age including socioeconomic situation, family customs and nutritional status. Different researches show that obese girls become menarche earlier than thin ones. Regarding the importance of nutrition in menarche age, the present study was conducted to evaluate nutritional status among girls in Ardabil at menarche age (10-14 years old). The aim of this study was to determine the relationship among anthropometrics (e.g. weight, height, BMI, MAC), nutritional status, economic factors and menarche age.

 Methods: This cross - sectional study was done on 612 primary and secondary school girls at the age of 10-14 during 1999-2000. Height, weight and MAC of these subjects as well as their BMI were calculated. Their nutritional status (24-hour recall and food frequency) and menarche age were studied. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS ver.9 and Food Processor.

 Results: There was a significant relation between height and menarche age (P<0.05). Menarche age reduced with increasing of weight and BMI, and the differences were significant (p<0.05). Menarche age of girls whose MAC was less than 22cm was lower than individuals with MAC≥22 cm and this difference was significant (P<0.01). Girls with≥40% caloric intake from fat had lower menarche age than the other groups but this difference was not significant. Food frequencies showed that the most frequently used foods in each week were two kinds of local bread (Lavash and Barbary), sugar, vegetable oil, chocolate, cheese, apple and rice.

 Conclusions: Menarche is affected by anthropometrical factors and nutritional status (particularly fat intake).

  Background & Objective : Nutritionists have traditionally recognized breakfast as the most important meal of the day. The importance of eating breakfast is for growing and nutritional well being of children. While health habits such as eating breakfast, maintaining weight, and sleeping regularly are related to the longevity of adults, very little is known about the health habits of disadvantaged school-age children. This study set out to evaluate eating breakfast among adolescent girls and its relationship with body mass index, weight and nutrient intake.

  Methods : This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 611 adolescent primary and secondary school girls (10-14 years old) in Ardabil. Anthropometric studies (height, weight, and MAC) and nutritional status (24 hour recall and food frequency) were done, and the students were asked about eating breakfast and other snacks. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 9 and Food Processor.

  Results : About 16.85% of girls had come to school without eating breakfast. BMI and body weight of these students were significantly more than those of girls who ate breakfast (P<0.05). On the other hand snack intake among the girls who did not use to eat breakfast was more than that among breakfast eaters (P<0.05). The amount of calorie, protein, thiamin, niacin, calcium and iron intake in breakfast-eating girls was more than those among non-eaters (P<0.05). The amount of folacin, riboflavin, calcium and zinc intake in non-eaters was less than recommended dietary allowance of WHO. The result of food frequency showed that the consumption of food such as protein different types of bread, potato, and legume among breakfast eaters was more than their consumption among non-eaters.

  Conclusions : This study indicated that eating breakfast can provide adequate calorie and nutrients but its omission can not only lead to lower calorie and nutrients intake but also have an unfavorable effect on food habit and weight of the students.

 Background & Objective: Nutritional status of individuals and community are influenced by different factors. Investigating nutrition and food problems as well as determining dietary pattern play a crucial role in determining nutrition programs and policies, preventing food deficiency, improving nutrition level and preventing malnutrition diseases. The aim of this study was to determine calorie and nutrients intake, food habit and dietary pattern in rural areas of Ardabil.

 Methods: In this cross-sectional study 250 families from 15 rural areas of Ardabil were selected using simple random method. Nutrition status of all the individuals was studied using 24 hour recall and food frequency. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Food processor.

 Results: This study showed that intake of some nutrients (Zinc, Selenium, Folic acid and Vitamin B₂) in the subjects were significantly less than Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of WHO (P<0.001), but intake of protein, iron and calcium was more than the RDA of WHO (P<0.001). Calorie intake of 20% of rural people was less than 75% of RDA(mostly seen among men). The findings of food frequency showed that main foods of rural individuals in Ardabil were local bread (Lavash), potato, egg, milk, biscuit, yogurt, garlic, onion, vegetable fat, butter and tomato.

 Conclusions: This study showed unsuitable intake of some nutrients. In order to improve the nutritional status of these people, regular intake of different groups of foods should be instructed.

  Background & Objectives: Infection with Toxoplasma gondii can cause severe illness when transmitting to fetus or when it is reactivated in immune-suppressed persons. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibodies against toxoplasma gondii in women referring to laboratory of health center for medical examinations before marriage.

  Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 504 samples collected from women in Arabil, Iran, in 2002. The samples were studied by indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) for determination of IgG and IgM antibodies to toxoplasma.

  Results: The seroprevalence of IgG antibody at a titer of ³ 1:20 was 34.7%. The highest antibody titer frequency was observed in 1:20 titer (11.7%) and the lowest belonged to 1:3200 (0.4%) and 1:6400 (0.4%) titers. 20 persons (4%) showed IgM antibody against Toxoplama gondii. No statistically significant differences were observed between the prevalence of antibodies on the one hand and age and history of contact with cat or domestic animals on the other.

  Conclusion: since 65.3% of these women in Ardabil were seronegative, health education is required to omit the risk factors, especially during the pregnancy.

 Background & Objectives: Considering the high prevalance of congenital obstruction of nasolacrimal ducts in infants and the importance of timely intervention and due to the lack of previous similar researches in Ardebil province, and regarding the discrepancies in the reports about the degree of successful accomplishment of the first probing, the researchers set out to design and perform the present research among the patients referring to ophthalmology ward.

  Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 84 children suffering from congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction who had undergone pobing surgery in Alavi hospitaly between 2000 and 2002.

  Results: 70 eyes of 50 patients were examined. 27 (54%) were male and 23 (46%) were female. 20 of them (40%) had bilateral involvement and 30 (60%) had unilateral one. Involvement of right eye (60%) was more than left eye (40%) and was expected in first child (56%) more than subsequent offsprings. Clinical manifestation was epiphora in 44%, prulent discharge in 12% and epiphora with prulent discharge in 44%. 90% of the subjects were operated for the first time while 10% had had 2-3 operations before complete recovery was observed in 48% of the patients 46% of them had relative improvement and no recovery was witnessed in 6% of them.

 Conclusion: This study showed that the male infants were affected more than females, and the rate of involvement in right eye as well as in first children was relarively high. Also the rate of recovery among unilateral groups and infants under 1 year of age was considerably high, so it is recommended that the patients of this age group undertake a therapy with topical antibiotic and lacrimal sac massage and because of the low success of the surgery above 2 years of age, probing is recommended from 6 month to 18 months of age if medical treatment was unsuccessful.

  Background &Objectives: Stem cells are a class of undifferentiated cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types. The discovery of such cells in the adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS), an organ traditionally thought to have little or no regenerative capacity, opened the door to treatment of degenerative diseases of CNS like Stroke, Parkinson, Alzheimer and Spinal Cord Injury. Thus, here we described the isolation of neural stem cells from the adult mouse brain using the neurosphere assay (NSA) and differentiation of these cells to neural adult cells in details.

  Methods: The rostral part of the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles in the adult mice was dissociated into single cell suspension and cultured using NSA. Primary neurospheres were counted seven days after plating and then the mean number of neurospheres was recorded. The differentiation of neural stem cells into adult neural cells was accomplished by plating the neurosphere-derived cells in differentiating media. Immunocytochemistry and specific markers were used for the identification of the adult neural stem cells.

  Results : The cell suspension obtained from the rostral part of the SVZ of the lateral ventricles generated multipotential colonies, called neurospheres, 7 to 10 days post- incubation. The mean number of neurospheres generated from SVZ was 505±62. The multipotentiality of the neurospheres was shown by palting them in differentiating media and generating adult neural cells including neuron, astrocyte and oligodendrocyte .

  Conclusion: Owing to their rarity and paucity of neural stem cell specific markers, the NSA is a common and selective method for isolating and understanding the biology of embryonic and adult neural stem cells.