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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In β thalassemia major that begins in the first year of life, iron deposition after blood transfusion is undesired event that must be removed with iron chelators such as desferal. On the other hand, it is not collected information about the hearing impairment in the patients who received desferal therapy The aim of this study was to assess the presence and absence of hearing impairment in β thalassemia major patients and its correlation with desferal and ferritin level.
METHODS: This analytical study was performed on 100 thalassemic patients in Amirkola thalassemic center. Fifty patients had received regular desferal therapy (case group) and fifty patients had received irregular desferal therapy (control group). Age, sex, ferritin level, route of desferal therapy and educational level had been recorded for both groups. They have been evaluated for auditory quality with tympanometer and audiometer.
FINDINGS: In the case group four patients (8%) and in control group eight patients (16%) had conductive hearing loss. It was not meaningful difference. Also in the two groups there were no meaningful correlation between ferritin level and hearing loss. Tympanometry had shown some disturbance in both groups seven patients (14%) and fifteen patients (30%) in case and control groups, respectively (p=0.029).
CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that adequate regular desferal therapy in β thalassemia major patients is not associated with hearing impairment.

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Nursing is one of the stressful jobs and its employees have high ranking in visit the doctor because of psychological problems. On the other hand stress causes reduced level of serum zinc and complications related to its deficiency. So the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of zinc supplement on ICU nurses under job stress in educational hospital, Sari-Iran in 2011.
METHODS: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial (RCT), 90 female ICU nurses who completed Osipow job stress questionnaire and had job stress and had been qualified for study entry, randomly allocated in two equal intervention and control groups. At the beginning of the study, five milliliter blood was sampled from antecubital vein for measuring of serum Zinc. Intervention group received one capsule zinc sulfate 220 mg per 72 hours for four weeks and control group received one capsule placebo in the same way. Again at the end of the 4th week, job stress and serum Zinc level was measured in both groups and compared.
FINDINGS: In intervention group serum zinc level at the end of the study (88.25±13.2 mcg/dl) was significantly increased in comparison to before the study (56.63±15.8 mcg/dl) (p<0.05). But in control group the difference between serum zinc level before (54.72±15.1 mcg/dl) and after the study (59.35±14.7 mcg/dl) was not significant. There was no significant change in overall value of job stress before (208.39±31) and after the intervention (206.65±29) in both study groups. In intervention group, in three dimensions of job stress (role overload, role ambiguity and responsibility) significant reduction was seen (p<0.05) but in control group there was no significant change in any dimensions of job stress.
CONCLUSION: Considering to the finding of the present study, to reduce some dimensions of job stress in ICU nurses, zinc supplement usage seems logical.

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ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Vitiligo is an auto immune disease in which immune system with unknown reasons attacks self melanocytes which are pigment producing cells determining the color of the skin. In patient with Vitiligo, due to the absent of melonocytes the skin has a white color in some part of the body. In this article we try to point out to some important research and treatment hints that could be inferred from holy Quran.
METHODS: In this review article by referring to verse 49 of Surah Al Omran and verse 101 of Surah Al Maidah from the Holy Quran and also by bringing up some experimental evidence, the problems in the field of autoimmunity are discussed. Moreover, some new research hints (in this field) are suggested.
FINDINGS: These hints include: 1-Vitiligo is a prevalent and well popularly known disease at least from 2000 years earlier. 2-Research and treatment of autoimmune diseases should be a tough achievement so that God considered it as a miracle equal to giving life and curing the congenitally blindness in holy Quran. Furthermore despite the outstanding progresses in science and technology, human were not able to cure successfully autoimmune diseases in general and Vitiligo specifically. 3-The risk factors for this disease should be existed since long time and not just originated from the industrial life style and climate or environmental changes which happened in human modern life. Our research activity should be focused on the ubiquitous and evolutionary conserved factors such as heat shock proteins that accompany human being for a long time of his history.
CONCLUSION: The treatment and research in the field of autoimmunity are tough area but accessible if we insist and patients are inspired by hope to God helps as also mentioned by the verse 269 of Bagharat Surah to achieve indications of Verse 18 of Al-Omran Surah in which God, angels and scientists are introduced as proofs of uniqueness of God.

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Incorrect nutrition is one of the risk factors for heart disease, and any change in dietary habits can be useful in preventing and controlling heart disease. However, before any nutritional intervention, we need to have an outlook of the dietary habits of the people. This study aims to determine the adherence to correct nutrition plan and some of its effective factors in people living in northern Iran.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study conducted among 550 individuals with cardiovascular risk factors referring to Heshmat Hospital in Rasht. Risk factors and indicators were collected using designed questionnaires, medical records review and assessment of dietary adherence with Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MDAS) questionnaire, which was localized according to the Persian culture. The score of the nutrition questionnaire is zero–14. Zero – five is inappropriate adherence; 6–9 is moderate adherence and 10 and above is high dietary adherence (healthy food patterns).
FINDINGS: The mean age of subjects was 58±0.38 years. 71.4% of subjects suffered from overweight and obesity. Mean dietary adherence was 5.76±0.07. Forty three percent of subjects had inappropriate adherence, 55% had moderate adherence and only 2% had high dietary adherence. The dietary adherence in men was significantly higher than women (p=0.001). People living in rural areas and those with higher education had more inappropriate dietary adherence insignificantly.
CONCLUSION: Despite having access to appropriate and healthy food in northern Iran, people's food pattern was estimated to be inappropriate. Therefore, education about modified food program and a trend toward following the Mediterranean dietary pattern, which is similar to the dietary culture of the people in northern Iran, is suggested.

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