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Background: Provision, maintaining and improving health status of one year old and younger children as a vulnerable group has been considered as an important issue pertaining to healthcare/medical services. Index of mortality of under one year old children is among most important healthcare indices and is known as the most important index of healthcare status of any society as well as the quality of life in any region. The present study aims for examining causes of mortality amongst one year old and younger children who were covered by health centers in Yazd city during 2011 to 2013 period. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted using control-test group method. All recorded cases of mortality for children in Yazd city during the first year of their life were included in statistical population, while for each case of mortality two cases of living children were examined as control group. The data were collected by direct visits on healthcare centers in the city and examining case files for children. Obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 20 software package. Results: 116 mortality cases were examined in total which included 41.4% boys and 58.6% girls. Some variables such as type of marriage between parents, mother and father’s education level, type of labor and number of previous pregnancies were significantly related to children’s mortality rate. Conclusion: suggest that paying specific attention to infants at the time of birth, improving knowledge level amongst mothers and families, providing standard level healthcare prior to pregnancy and after that, and also developing programs which aim for improving economic-social and cultural status amongst women and men would be effective on reducing children mortality rates.

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Abstract Introduction: The most prevalent type of arthritis is osteoarthritis which is known with the degenerative knee disease. Limited pieces of evidence have indicated that satureja with special phenol compounds is effective in inflammation reduction and pain alleviation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Satureja Hortensis powder supplement on pain improvement and serum TNF-α in patients with knee osteoarthritis(OA). Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted as a placebo-controlled double-blind randomized clinical trial. 39 patients with OA with medium pain were randomly divided into two groups which received Satureja Hortensis powder(SG) and placebo(PG) These groups consumed three 200 mg capsules with the same size and form for two months which contained Satureja Hortensis powder and starch, respectively. Pain intensity was determined using visual analogue scale(VAS) at the beginning and end of the trial. Response to the treatment was defined as pain reduction by more than 1.5 scores. The concentration of TNF-α were measured with ELISA kit. Results: To distribute pain intensity before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Before the intervention, all people had a pain score between 4 and 7. After the intervention, 95% of the SG and 84% of the PG were in this scope. These changes were not statistically different(p=0.12). There was no significant difference between the two groups in concentration of TNF-α before and after the intervention. Conclusion: Results of this study showed that Satureja Hortensis powder supplement with dose of 600 mg per day for 60 days was not effective on pain alleviation and concentration of TNF-α in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

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Abstract

Introduction: Death is defined as the permanent loss of all signs of life at any time after birth (Irrevocable disappearance of all vital signs after birth). Unnatural deaths seem to be either suspicious or  unexpected. Deaths that occur suddenly and their causes need to be investigated, are termed unnatural deaths. According to the death certificate contents of Ministry of Health and Forensics, if the cause of death is unnatural, the corpse will be submitted to the forensic medicine departments in 19 cases in order to determine the death cause and to issue the burial permit.  

Material & Methods: In this descriptive study, the data were extracted from unnatural death cases in the province of Yazd during 2003 to 2013 recorded by Yazd Forensic Medicine. 

Results: During 2003 -2013, 5552 cases of unnatural deaths were recorded by the Forensic Medicine of Yazd, out of which 4373 cases of unnatural deaths were caused by road traffic accidents (outside and inside the city), 89 deaths from electrocution, 439 deaths from poisoning, 72 deaths from drowning, 129 deaths from asphyxia (by carbon monoxide), 56 deaths from work incidents, and 394 deaths from burns. The group of males aged 20-29 years allocated the highest number of unnatural deaths to themselves.

Conclusion: Road traffic accidents are the second leading cause of unnatural deaths in Iran. The number of unnatural death incidents in men is more than women indicating that men are more exposed to risk factors than women, though regarding the deaths due to the burns, women are exposed to the high risk factors.