Journal of School of Public Health and

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This survey was done to investigate the geographical distribution of ticks (Hard and Soft) in the towns of Amol, Babol and Noor in Mazandaran province, north of Iran. The study, conducted from January 2000 to October 2001, covered mostly rural districts and a total of 15 operational fields. Ticks were collected from domestic fowl nests, stables (animal shelters, floors and other places), animal bodies and rodent holes. A total number of 3897 ticks from two families (Argasidae and Ixodidae) were collected. Ticks from the Argasidae Family totaled 2049 and belonged to 2 genera: Argas and Ornithodorus). The proportions of different species were as follows: Argas persicus 35.95%, A. reflexus 0.97% and O.lahorensis 15.65%. Hard ticks collected in the area belonged to 6 genera and included 8 species: Boophilus (B. annulatus 8.34%) Haemaphysalis (Hae. Sulcata 5%), Hyaloma (Hy. marginatum 1.66%), Dermacentor genus and Hyschulza (0.75%). Hy. anatolicum (1.33%) De. marginatus (1.72%), the genus Rhipicephalus (Rh. Sanginues 1.18%) were collected from animal bodies (cow, sheep, goat) and animal shelters.

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Background and Aim: Domestic violence against women is a major public health problem throughout the world. Feelings of shame, guilt and fear on the part of women, together with an unresponsive health care system continue to silence and isolate women who suffer abuse and negligence- with major effects on their physical and mental health. Mental health consequences include depression, anxiety, stress disorders, and somatization. This study estimates the prevalence of domestic violence and its associated effects on the victims' mental health.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from 1189 married women over the age of 15, selected randomly among the residents of Tehran.
Results: The overall prevalence of domestic violence was 35.7%. Thirty percent of the subjects had experienced physical violence, 29% suffered mental violence and 10% had been victims of sexual violence many of these women had suffered all the three types. The most frequent types of physical violence included beating in the form of kicks, punches, and slaps (91%) common types of mental abuse included humiliation, verbal abuse and insults (93%), and threats of violence (83%). Data on mental health status indicate that overall, as many as 34.1% of women could be suffering from disorders such as depression and anxiety. The risk of psychiatric disease was 3.5 times higher in victims of violence compared to other women (OR = 3.5, CI 95% = 2.72 - 4.58). Major factors contributing to domestic violence were husband addiction, low economic status, and the number of children (P<0.001). These results are consistent with the current literature on domestic violence and illustrate the high prevalence of this phenomenon. Victims are commonly depressed and have a higher rate of anxiety.
Conclusion: Violence is an important indicator of women’s health. Screening programs for domestic violence could be effective, along with community support and referral to health care and legal facilities. It is also crucial to promote knowledge and awareness of violence among health care providers. This study shows that a community-wide effort to establish links between health care settings and community services may be important in addressing the needs of victims.

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  Background and Aim: Xylanases are widely used in various food industries, including livestock and poultry feed industries, the pulp and paper industry, as well as the pharmaceutical industry. Several strains of microorganisms are capable of producing this enzyme by different mechanisms, Bacilliaceae being one of its important sources at the commercial scale. The culture medium for xylan is expensive and, therefore, it is not economical to use in producing xylanase by Bacillus subtilis S7e. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of using industrial-agricultural wastes as a source of carbon and nitrogen in submerged fermentation, for producing xylanase in amounts higher than that which can be produced by xylan culture (10048 U/).

  Materials and methods: The indigenous strain of Bacillus subtilis S7e was cultured in the xylan medium, followed by incubation at 30°, 37° and 40° C. Then the nitrogen sources (rapeseed meal, soybean meal, tomato seeds, tea seeds, peptone, Vinas alcohol, casein, and ammonium sulfate) and carbon sources (molasses, wheat bran, rice bran, rice industry waste, gluten waste, malt waste, whey powder, and bagasse) were substituted for the meat and yeast extracts and the xylan culture medium, respectively.

  Results : The maximum enzyme activity was observed at 30° C after 48 hours of incubation (6183U/l). Rapeseed meal with an enzyme activity of 10048U/l and molasses with an enzyme activity of 3759U/l were found to be the best nitrogen and carbon sources for Bacillus subtilis S7e , respectively.

  Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, f rom an economic point of view, agricultural-industrial wastes (rapeseed meal and molasses) are an excellent substitute for the more expensive culture media currently in use for producing the enzyme xylanase.

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Background and Aim: The objective of this study was to design and examine the effectiveness of a parent-child relationship improvement program in reducing the externalized problems in children with Down's syndrome. A parent-child relationship improvement program was designed, followed by assessing its effectiveness in a random sample of pupils using a quasi-experimental research design with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up.
Materials and Methods: The study population was all the pupils with Down’s syndrome in the schools for exceptional student in Tehran and their parents in the academic year 2016-2017. The parents and their children were divided into two experimental and control groups.
Thirty-six out of 56 mothers were screened based on a diagnostic interview and inclusion and exclusion criteria and completed the CBCL and parent-child relationship questionnaires in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. Data analysis was performed using the multivariate covariance analysis with repeated measurements.
Results: The results showed that the mean post-test scores were statistically significantly different between the control and experimental groups, the mean scores of the experimental group being lower than those of the control group, which indicates a positive effect of the family-centered intervention.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, it is concluded that the parent-child relationship improvement program can reduce the subscales of conflict and dependence and increase the subscale of intimacy in the parent-child relationships. Moreover, it can also reduce behavioral problems in children with Down’s syndrome.