BACKGROUND The fertility experience in Iran suggests that the family planning programs had an effective role in the fertility reduction. This study aimed to specify patterns of marriage in Iran and especially in a northern city of Iran and to investigate the association between patterns of marriage and contraceptive use before first pregnancy and current contraceptive use. METHODS In this cro...

We study the level and severity of asset poverty, the characteristics of asset-poor households, the trends and persistence of asset poverty, and the role of major lifetime events affecting transitions in and out of asset poverty. We find that, contrary to a sharp decline in the official measure of poverty, which is based on income, the asset poverty rate barely changed over the 1984–99 period a...

Demain, A. L. (Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, Rahway, N.J.), I. M. Miller, and D. Hendlin. Production of extracellular guanosine-5'-monophosphate by Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 88:991-995. 1964.-Wild-type Bacillus subtilis colonies were found to feed purineless mutants. A strain with high feeding capacity was selected for study, with a guanineless mutant of B. subtilis used as ...

We report high resolution simultaneous measurements of electrical conductance and force gradient between two sharp gold tips as their separation is varied from the tunneling distance to atomic-size contact. The use of atomically sharp tips minimizes van der Waals interaction, making it possible to identify the short-range metallic adhesion contribution to the total force.

The use of space by predators in relation to their prey is a poorly understood aspect of predator-prey interactions. Classic theory suggests that predators should focus their efforts on areas of abundant prey, that is, prey hotspots, whereas game-theoretical models of predator and prey movement suggest that the distribution of predators should match that of their prey's resources. If, however, ...

Background: Iran has experienced a great variation in women status in recent years. There is a little information on how and why advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women play a role in recent fertility reduction in the country. This study was conducted to gain an insight into the role of gender beliefs and women empowerment in couples’ experiences of fertility in Mashha...