Iranian Journal of

---

Background & Objectives: The city of Jask in south east of Iran has been considered an endemic focus of leishmaniasis. PCR-based techniques can detect lower parasite burdens, reducing the number of false negatives and improving the quantification of Leishmania parasites in the sand fly. The aim of this epidemiological study was to detect vector(s) by PCR techniques in the city of Jask located in Hormozgan province.
Methods: Sand flies were captured using CDC miniature light traps and sticky papers during 2007-2008 and identified by their morphology. DNA extraction performed by Proteinase K and Phenol/Chloroform/Isoamyl Alcohol methods. Leishmania kinetoplast minicircle DNA was amplified by two Nested-PCR techniques using species-specific primers (LINR4-LIN17-LIN19) and (CSB1XR-CSB2XF-LiR-13Z).These primers could differentiate among Leishmania species of Iran.
Results: A total of 8123 sand flies were collected. The fauna was identified as eight species (3 Phlebotomus and 5 Sergentomyia). Phlebotomus papatasi, P. salehi and Sergentomyia theodori were the three most dominant species (59.91%, 17.21% and 7.32% respectively). 60, 50 and 40 parous unfed female specimens of P. papatasi, P. salehi and S. theodori were investigated for Leishmania DNA infection. Leishmania major DNA was detected in 3 (5%) specimens of P. papatasi and 2 (4%) specimens of P. salehi. Anthropophilic index of these two species were 29.6 & 18 percent, respectively.
Conclusion: This study was the first molecular study for detection of cutaneous eishmaniasis vectors in Hormozgan province in Iran. According to the findings of the present study P. papatasi and P. salehi are probable vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in this focus.

---

Background & Objectives: Misconceptions of mental models are phenomena that very with accepted scientific models. The assessment of misconception in statistics could (would) be very helpful in learning statistics. The probability is one of the important concept in statistics. The purpose of this study was to assess the misconception about probability in students of Arak University of Medical Sciences in 2011.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 267 medical sciences students enrolled in Arak University of Medical Sciences students during 2011 year. We used a stratified random method in order to collect data and also a standard questionnaire was employed in this study. The data were analyzed by SPSS software with using ANOVA, Chi-Square test, logistic regression, Kruskal-Wallis Test and on proportion test.
Results: The mean score of perception of probability in students was 10.47 with standard deviation 3.47 respectively. The prevalence of probability misconception was 26.2%. There was statistically significance relationship between the prevalence probability misconception and the field of students.
Conclusion: Misconception of (in) probability in teaching biostatistics should be paid more attention in future curriculum development in medical universities.

---

Background and Objectives: Acute gastroenteritis is mainly caused by some viruses and often NoVs. In January 2014, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in Pardis City, in Tehran and that made 5064 patients visit health centers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of the disease in this region.

Methods: This cross sectional study was done to evaluate the outbreak of gastroenteritis in Pardis City in January 2014. In this outbreak, the data of 1150 out of 5064 patient was collected by health centers. The inclusion criterion was residing in the location for at least ten days before its occurrence. The exclusion criterion was incomplete recorded data. A number of 126 human samples underwent laboratory investigation. The data collection tool was was line listings and data analysis was done with Excel 2010 and SPSS21 software.

Results: female and male patients comprised 57.8 and 42.2% of the study population and 59.7% of the subjects were under 27 years of age. The most prominent symptoms were vomiting (94.9%), diarrhea (37.7%), abdominal pain (18.8%), and fever (0.6%). The results showed that bacterial contamination, parasites, serologic tests for hepatitis E (IgM-HEV) and hepatitis A (IgM-HAV) and RT-PCR for hepatitis E and A were negative but 6 out of 9 fecal samples were positive for NoVs using molecular RT-PCR.

Conclusion: The results revealed the role of NoVs in Pardis City in 2014. Moreover, clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the population, season, and the environment of this diagnosis were confirmed.