Isfahan Province Of Iran Research Articles

Effectiveness Of Council Operations And Particiaption Of Inhabitants In Council Activities In Rural Mirabad, Isfahan Province Of Iran

This paper discusses council operation, public expectations of people from councils, public participation and coordination of people with councils also factors which affect this kind of participation. Public participation and coordination has been studied in Mirabad village of Tiran and Krun, 2 cities of Esfahan from Iran. This village is located 43 kilometers far from the west of Isfahan, Iran. Its population is more than 70 thousand persons and its climate is cold. The major occupation of its people is agriculture and animal husbandry in this region. The village\'s council members belong to the average class of community their educational range varies between having elementary school certificate to having licentiate\'s degree. Data gathered via questionnaire, interview and observation. 30 questionnaires were distributed among Mirabad\'s people and filled out. Most of the time, along with filling out the questionnaire, an interview was also accomplished and some observation were also made, The results show that council operations such as communicating with people, unanimity, sympathy and getting public trust were effective in receiving public participation and cooperation and also help the councils to do their tasks well. People have good participation in many fields like security maintenance, providing environmental hygiene and maintenance of public installations. The council\'s members also have good participation in agricultural affairs, providing security and hygiene and pursuing constructional plans. Keywords: participation, participation factors, councils operationJournal of Agriculture and Social Research Vol. 8 (1) 2008: pp. 106-113

Knowledge and attitude toward Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever in occupationally at-risk Iranian healthcare workers

We assessed the knowledge and attitude (K&A) toward Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) of occupationally at-risk healthcare workers (HCWs). A cross-sectional survey was performed in three referral hospitals in the Systan-Baluchestan and Isfahan provinces of Iran where CCHF is highly endemic. In all, 191/209 eligible HCWs were enrolled (response rate: 93%). All but 11 (5.8%) had heard of CCHF. The mean K&A scores of the respondents were 50.34% and 79.25%, respectively. The correlation between K&A was significant (correlation coefficient: 0.542; P<0.001). Being a physician, working in Isfahan (versus the relatively deprived Systan-Baluchestan) and relying on academic material rather than local media were independent factors significantly associated with more knowledge; higher education and laboratory staff with better attitude were also significant factors. Although HCWs showed the best K&A for preventive measures, only 44% wore gloves and masks for contact with CCHF patients and 22% failed to observe any safety measure. Those with a history of percutaneous contact (6.3%) had significantly lower knowledge scores (P=0.047). There is a need to establish professional education campaigns in highly endemic deprived areas in order to improve physicians' attitudes, encourage nurses' use of academic materials and increase the knowledge of less-educated HCWs.

Comparison of Holstein bull semen sources on milk traits in Isfahan province in Iran

Abstract. This research provides a comparison of productivity of daughters in Iran sired by bulls from Canada, Europe, Iran, and the United States. Data were collected by the Animal Breeding Center of Iran on pedigree and first lactation performances of 10,192 Holsteins sired by 186 imported (including: 39 European, 73 American, 74 Canadian) and 133 Iranian bulls, which had their first calving in 35 dairy herds in Isfahan province. The results showed that American and European daughters had the highest performances for milk yield. The highest mean for fat yield was related to European daughters. American sires on average had the highest genetic potential for yield traits; however, they had the lowest fat percentage among compared sire groups. Canadian sire group was intermediate relative to American, European and Iranian groups. Higher intercepts and regression coefficients of conversion equations for American sires showed that more returns will be achieved from one genetic point superiority of American sires relative to Canadian sires in the environments of Isfahan province. The Iranian sire group had the lowest predicted transmitting ability means for both milk and fat yields and a negative predicted transmitting ability mean for fat percentage. This study showed that due to low to intermediate predicted transmitting ability correlations between foreign evaluations and the evaluations made by this study, direct selection based on foreign national evaluations would not lead to optimal results for the traits concerned. So, the genetic potential/expression of imported genetic materials needs to be reevaluated by the Animal Breeding Centers of Iran.

Efficacy of local heat therapy by radiofrequency in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, compared with intralesional injection of meglumine antimoniate

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a serious public health problem in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Treatment of CL can prevent disfiguring scars. The efficacy of local heat therapy by radiofrequency (RF) was compared with intralesional injection of meglumine antimoniate in the treatment of CL. This was a randomized clinical trial. Patients with antroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) in the Isfahan province of Iran were enrolled in the study if the examination of a smear from a suspected CL lesion was confirmed positive for Leishmania. Patients were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups. Group A was treated by heat therapy by RF at 50 degrees C for 30 s once weekly for 4 weeks, and group B was treated with intralesional injection of meglumine antimoniate once weekly for 4 weeks. Follow-up lasted 6 months. Response to treatment was classified as complete (lesions flattened, no induration, and epidermal creases had appeared), partial (reduction in lesion size, but without the appearance of epidermal creases) and poor (no reduction in lesion size). Of 117 participants, 57 patients with 83 lesions in group A and 60 patients with 94 lesions in group B completed the study and were followed up for 6 months. Complete, partial and poor response to treatment were 80.7%, 12% and 7.3% in group A, and 55.3%, 21.27% and 23.40% in group B, respectively (P = 0.001). In both groups, there was no relapse in patients with complete response after 6 months of follow-up. Heat therapy with thermogenerator RF can be used as an efficacious treatment in the lesions of CL. It is more effective than the conventional treatment with intralesional meglumine antimoniate injection.

Hypercholesterolemic Effect of Drug-Type Cannabis sativa L. Seed (Marijuana Seed) in Guinea Pig

Cannabis sativa L. has two drug and nondrug varieties. Nondrug varieties of Cannabis are hemp but drug varieties commonly referred to as marijuana. Marijuana is considered nutritional and narcotic plant. Marijuana has not been studied extensively for its nutritional potential in recent years but whole hempseed typically contains over 30% oil (3%saturated, 28% unsaturated fatty acids) and about 25% protein. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of whole marijuana seed on lipid profile of guinea pig. This study was experienced on fourteen guinea pigs as case and control groups. In control group, guinea pigs were fed with normal diet while case group had free access to normal diet and marijuana seed for 60 days. At the end of experiment the feeding of animal stopped and after 12hr fasting, the animal anesthetized by ketamine/xylazine combination and 5 ml of blood of heart was taken. The blood parameters were measured by automated biochemical analyzer. Marijuana seed significantly increased total cholesterol and LDL-c levels (p=0.00) while HDL-c and triglyceride levels didn't significantly change. In spite of omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids that highly incorporated in hempseed, short term feeding of marijuana seed has not improved blood lipid profile. It may be due to hidden orexigenic phytocannabinoids that found in drug-type seed. In the light of this research, it is recommended that individuals who are affected to cardiovascular diseases and atherosclerosis, they should not use unclean marijuana seed that cultivated in Isfahan province of Iran in their food preparation on regular basis.

Human Dietary Exposure to Fumonisin B1 from Iranian Maize Harvested During 1998–2000

Fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) is the most abundant of the fumonisin mycotoxins, mainly produced in maize by F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum. A previous study on the FB1 contamination of maize harvested in Mazandaran and Isfahan Provinces of Iran in 1998 and 1999 demonstrated contamination in both provinces. This present study was undertaken to further investigate the variation in levels of contamination and to estimate possible levels of human exposure to fumonisins in Iran. The mean level of FB(1) in 49 visually healthy maize samples collected from Mazandaran Province during 2000 was 6.14 mg/kg, which is higher than that found during 1998 and 1999 (2.27 and 3.18 mg/kg, respectively). Although these levels are higher than the Iranian legislative limits for fumonisins in maize intended for humans, the relatively low estimated consumption of maize in Iran (3.3 g/person/day) implies that average exposures (0.011 and 0.215 microg/kg body weight/day in Isfahan and Mazandaran, respectively) are within the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake of 2 microg/kg body weight/day set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Nevertheless, certain sections of the population who may consume higher amounts of maize or who may replace all or some of their consumption of other cereals with maize, could well exceed this limit.

New Species of Aphanius (Teleostei, Cyprinodontidae) from Isfahan Province of Iran and a Reanalysis of Other Iranian Species

Abstract A new killifish species, Aphanius isfahanensis, is described from the Isfahan basin of Iran. It is distinguished from the other Iranian species of Aphanius by adult color pattern, molecular character states of mitochondrial DNA sequence data, and in multivariate morphometric and meristic space. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of molecular sequence data, the new species is hypothesized to be sister taxon to A. sophiae plus A. persicus, which also occur in Iran.

Development of a Master Plan for Water Pollution Control Using MCDM Techniques: A Case Study

Excessive demand for water due to a growing population, agricultural, and industrial development, along with climate change and depletion of nonrenewable resources have intensified the need for integrated water resources management and water pollution control. This paper presents different aspects of a master plan for water pollution control and the results of a case study for developing a master plan for water resources pollution control in Isfahan Province in Iran. Different components of the water resources system and pollution sources in the study area were identified and the effects of each of the pollution sources on surface and groundwater resources contamination were investigated. Two Multiple Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) techniques, namely Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method and Analytical Hierarchy Structure (AHP) were used in order to determine the share of agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors in polluting the water resources. In the application of MCDM techniques, engineering judgments and the information gathered from brain storming sessions with engineering experts and the agencies' officials have also been incorporated in order to overcome the data deficiency in this region for this type of analysis. Based on this study, several specific major categories of water pollution reduction projects were defined and in each category, several projects were identified. The total cost of implementation of the projects was also estimated and the projects were prioritized based on their potential impact on water pollution control.

Natural occurrence of fumonisins in corn from Iran.

Corn collected in the Mazandaran and Isfahan Provinces of Iran was analyzed for fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)), fumonisin B(2) (FB(2)), and fumonisin B(3) (FB(3)). The samples from Mazandaran Province, situated on the Caspian littoral of Iran, were random samples from farmers' corn lots collected in September 1998, whereas those from Isfahan Province, situated further south in the center of Iran, were bought as corn cobs in the local retail market during October 1998. All 11 samples from Mazandaran showed high levels of fumonisin contamination with FB(1) levels between 1.270 and 3.980 microg/g, FB(2) levels between 0.190 and 1.175 microg/g, and FB(3) levels between 0.155 and 0.960 microg/g. Samples from Isfahan showed lower levels of contamination with eight of eight samples having detectable FB(1) (0.010-0.590 microg/g), two of eight samples having detectable FB(2) (0.050-0.075 microg/g), and two of eight samples having detectable FB(3) (0.050-0.075 microg/g). This is the first report of fumonisin contamination of corn from Iran, in which samples from the area of high esophageal cancer on the Caspian littoral have been shown to contain high levels of fumonisins.

Epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Isfahan province of Iran: III. The vector

17 species of sandflies have been found in the endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Isfahan area. 4 species have been found infected with leptomonads, all of which are abundant in burrows of Rhombomys, and are regarded as the vectors to man. The leptomonads were infective on subcutaneous injection into mice.

The epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Isfahan province of Iran: I. The reservoir II. The human disease

Human cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in the Isfahan area and is of the rural (moist) zoonotic type. Active disease is usually found in childhood; older people usually have scars of old lesions. Parasites from patients were infective to laboratory animals, producing typical sores.