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Background & Objective: Viral gastroenteritis is associated with significant cause of morbidity and is a common cause of hospitalization in worldwide. This study was performed to assess the role of rota, adeno and astroviruses in children presenting with acute diarrhea in the main Children's Medical Hospital in Babol-Iran. Materials & Methods: Stool specimens from 208 children suffering from diarrhea were tested for the presence of rota, adeno and astroviruses by ELISA test during Winter 2004 to Autumn 2005. Data were then analyzed by the Chi-square and Fisher exact test with SPSS-10 software. Results: Rota, adeno and astrovirus antigens were detected in 61.1%, 2.9% and 2.4% of patients. Infants between 6 and 12 months of age were most frequently affected with rotavirus (29.8%), (p<0.05). Rotavirus infection was significantly less frequent in summer and spring than winter and autumn (p<0.05). Fever and vomiting were present in 55.1% and 51.7% of children, respectively. There was not significant correlation between rotavirus infection and gender of patients. Conclusion: This study showed that rotavirus can be regarded as a major etiologic agent of winter acute diarrhea in children under 2-years old in Babol. Therefore, it is suggested to provide proper vaccination to immunize the children.

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Background and Objective: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and it is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men after lung cancer. Therefore, this study was done to assess of risk factors for prostate cancer in Mazandaran province, Iran. Materials and Methods: A matched case-control study was conducted on 104 prostate cancer patients and 104 controls in Mazandaran province during 2005. The addresses of the patients were obtained using the cancer registry information existed in Babol research center in Iran. The data were collected using a questionnaire by in-person interview of cases and their controls and were analyzed using STATA (8.0). Results: Univariate condition logistic regression showed that age, prostatitis, drinking alcohol, using chopoghe, family history of prostate cancer, having other cancer, intensity of activity, time of job activity were found to be the risk factors although higher BMI and execreise were protective for prostate cancer (P<0.20). In multivariate analysis, after adjusting for the effect of the confounders, prostatitis, age, alcohol consumption and family history of prostate cancer were found to the most important risk factors. Conclusion: This study identified prostatitis, age, alcohol consumption and family history of prostate as the independent risk factors for prostate cancer. We suggest that men after the age of 60 should be screened for prostate cancer annually.

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Background and Objective: One of the most important routes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission is from asymptomatic carrier mothers to their infants. It has been concluded that over 50% of Iranian carriers have contracted the infection perinatally, making this the most likely route of transmission of HBV in our country. In this study, we assessed the rate of HBV infection in children were born to HBsAg positive mothers that received hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and the first dose of vaccine at birth and the second and third of doses of vaccine at 1 and 6 months of age, respectively. Materials and Methods: In this descreptive study, 123 infants born from HBsAg positive mothers assessed and serum sample of these subjects were tested by ELISA technique for detection of HBsAg, Anti-HBs and Anti-HBc markers. Data were then analyzed by the chi-square and fisher exact tests. Results: From 31241 pregnant women with delivery during this 5-years study about 140 (0.45%) of them were HBsAg positive. Children born to these mothers follow-up and 123 serum samples of them tested for serologic markers of HBV infection. HBsAg was found in 0.8% of the children and 91.9% had one or more serologic markers of HBV infection. Protective rate (Anti-HBs positive) and Anti-HBc positive were 82.1% and 8.9% respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that after having focuced on the vertical transmission route for many years, and implementing strategies such as vaccination and HBIG injection to neonates of HBsAg positive mothers, nowadays it seems that we should pay attention to horizontal route of HBV transmission in this area.