BACKGROUND This study compares different risk factors in patients visiting a hospital during five rainfall-associated bronchospasm epidemics in Ahvaz and those visiting on other occasions. METHODS This case-control study was conducted on 5307 patients with bronchospasm admitted to the Emergency Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ahvaz (Iran) from late October to December (as the epidemic...

Particulate matters have detrimental effects on human health, environment and economic. This pollutant may emit from anthropogenic or natural sources. On global scale, main proportion of natural particulate matter release to the atmosphere because of wind erosion from arid and semi-arid regions. Recently, the amount of dust coming from Arabian countries has dramatically increased, especially du...

Background: Increasing nurses' motivation is among the most important and complex nursing duties. Performance evaluation system could be used as a means to improve the quantity and quality of the human resources. Therefore, current research objected to evaluate the effect of final evaluation on job motivation from the perspective of nurses in Ahvaz hospitals according to Herzberg scheme. Method...

canine parainfluenza virus (cpiv) is one of the most common organisms isolated from dogs with signs of infectious tracheobronchitis (itb). distribution is apparently worldwide. although cpiv may cause mild clinical infections, clinical diseases is expected to be more severe in dogs co-infected with bordetella bronchiseptica than with any these agents alone. the present study was conducted to de...

canine ehrlichiosis is a zoonotic rickettsial disease transmitted by ticks. in the present study, 198 companion dogs of different ages were examined for serum antibody detection against ehrlichia canis by means of immunochromatography assay. the dogs were selected among referred cases to veterinary hospital of shahid chamran university of ahvaz, southwestern iran from november 2008 to march 201...

Feces of stray cat are potential sources of gastrointestinal parasites and play a crucial role in spreading and transmitting parasite eggs, larvae, and oocysts through contamination of soil, food, or water. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of Toxocara spp. infection in stray cats in Ahvaz city, southwest Iran. Eggs of Toxocara spp. in feces of stray cats were detected by the sucros...

BACKGROUND Social support is emotional and instrumental assistance from family, friends or neighbors, and has an important but different impact on individuals, mainly depending on contextual factors. OBJECTIVE To determine the status of perceived social support and related personal and family characteristics of medical sciences students in Ahvaz, Iran. METHODS In this cross-sectional study,...

Background Antibiotics are among those drugs prescribed abundantly in hospitals due to their high efficiency. However, excessive, non-logical and unnecessary use of antibiotics regardless of physicians' recommendations is considered as a challenge. Objectives The aim of this study was to explain family physicians' beliefs about antibiotic prescription in Ahvaz. Methods This study is part of...

Objective: To investigate the drug susceptibility patterns among TB isolates from patients in Ahvaz, Iran. Study: Descriptive study. Place and duration of study: TB reference laboratory, PHLS, Ahvaz, Iran from May 2001 to December 2001. Patients and methods: A total of 100 sputum samples from patients suspected of having tuberculosis were collected for detection of M. tuberculosis (MTB). For id...

OBJECTIVE Chronic periodontitis is the most common form of periodontal disease. Chang- es in biomarkers seem to be associated with the disease progression. Procalcitonin (PCT) is one of these biomarkers that are altered during infection. This study was established to investigate the relationship between periodontitis as an infectious disease and salivary PCT. MATERIALS AND METHODS This case-c...