BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare the utility of plain radiographs to multislice computed tomography (MCT) for cervical spine (c-spine) evaluation. We hypothesized that plain radiographs add no clinically relevant diagnostic information to MCT in the screening evaluation of the c-spine of trauma patients. METHODS This was a prospective, unblinded, consecutive series of inj...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to explore in-depth the response of young women smokers (18-35 years) to using dark brown 'plain' cigarette packs in naturalistic settings. METHODS Participants were recruited in six towns and cities in Scotland to take part in a naturalistic study, where they used plain cigarette packs for a week. Participants completed a number of questionnaires during t...

desertification could be traced back to one or many factors. thus, to cope with such a phenomenon, there exists a need for a profound understanding of the processes and the causes. the study area of the current paper is the extent of shahrekord’s marghzar as an important case amongst the important ones of the province. in order to evaluate the roots of desertification in the area, the iranian m...

analyzing the process of land use and cover changes during long periods of time and predicting the future changes is highly important and useful for the land use managers. in this study, the land use maps in the ardabil plain in north-west part of iran for four periods (1989, 1998, 2009 and 2013) are extracted and analyzed through remote sensing technique, using the land-sat satellite images. t...

BACKGROUND Asymptomatic malaria infection provides a reservoir of parasites, causing the persistence of malaria transmission. It accounts an important challenge for successful management of the control, elimination, and eradication programmes in any malaria-endemic region. This investigation was designed to assess the presence and the prevalence of asymptomatic carriers in Iranshahr district of...

On the basis of comprehensive RFLP analysis, it has been inferred that approximately 97% of Native American mtDNAs belong to one of four major founding mtDNA lineages, designated haplogroups "A"-"D." It has been proposed that a fifth mtDNA haplogroup (haplogroup X) represents a minor founding lineage in Native Americans. Unlike haplogroups A-D, haplogroup X is also found at low frequencies in m...