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Background: Quality of life (QoL) is an important tool for evaluating the effect of a disease as well as effects of treatment interventions. The present study is aimed to investigate QoL of the patients with various prevalent chronic diseases in Iran. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 625 patients with one of the prevalent chronic diseases were assessed. Participants were recruited via convenient sampling method in special clinics of chronic diseases in three educational hospitals in Qazvin, Iran, from May to December 2016. Data were collected using WHOQOL-BREF and demographic questionnaire through interview. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression method. Results: Significant difference in QoL scores was found in different chronic disease; patients with diabetes and hypertension had higher scores and patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had the lowest scores. Multivariate analysis showed that age, economic status, and type of disease were among the significant variables in predicting the QoL of the patients with chronic diseases. Conclusions: Some patients, such as those with asthma and COPD, had less QoL than other patients and should be prioritized while planning for the promotion of healthcare services. Due to the negative effects of economic status on QoL, the financial support programs should be among the major priorities of the patients' QoL improvement programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Hydatidosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases and surgery is still the main treatment for this problem. One of the side effects of hydatid cyst surgery is recurrence, thus, searching and assessment of some new agents such as medicinal plant extracts are very important. In the present study, the scolicidal effect of ethanolic extract of Ziziphora tenuior (Z. tenuior) was investigated. Materials and Methods: Protoscolices were aseptically collected from sheep livers containing hydatid cyst and used in the experiments. Z. tenuior extract was used at concentration of 3-100 mg/ml for 10-60 min. Viability of protoscolices was determined by 0.1% eosin staining. Results: Based on our results, Z. tenuior extract at concentration of 10 mg/ml killed all protoscolices after 20 min. However, this medicinal plant at concentration of 25 mg/ml destroyed all protoscolices in a shorter exposure time (10 min). Therefore, the scolicidal activity of the extract at 10 and 25 mg/ml concentrations was considerably effective in lower concentrations and shorter exposure times. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the ethanolic extract of Z. tenuior produces high scolicidal activity; it may be used as an appropriate and effective scolicidal agent in hydatidosis surgery. This is the first report on the protoscolicidal activity of Z. tenuior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is an important tool for evaluating the effect of a disease as well as effects of treatment interventions. The present study is aimed to investigate QoL of the patients with various prevalent chronic diseases in Iran., Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 625 patients with one of the prevalent chronic diseases were assessed. Participants were recruited via convenient sampling method in special clinics of chronic diseases in three educational hospitals in Qazvin, Iran, from May to December 2016. Data were collected using WHOQOL-BREF and demographic questionnaire through interview. Data were analyzed using independent t -test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression method., Results: Significant difference in QoL scores was found in different chronic disease; patients with diabetes and hypertension had higher scores and patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had the lowest scores. Multivariate analysis showed that age, economic status, and type of disease were among the significant variables in predicting the QoL of the patients with chronic diseases., Conclusions: Some patients, such as those with asthma and COPD, had less QoL than other patients and should be prioritized while planning for the promotion of healthcare services. Due to the negative effects of economic status on QoL, the financial support programs should be among the major priorities of the patients' QoL improvement programs., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Objective: Food handlers play an important role in the production and distribution of parasitic contaminations in these societies. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among the food handlers in Qazvin, Iran., Methods: Totally, 1530 stool samples were collected from food handlers in Qazvin, Iran. Direct feces examination and formalinethyl acetate concentration method followed by Trichrome staining were performed to detect the parasites., Results: The prevalence of intestinal parasites was 82 (5.4%) among food handlers. The species of protozoan parasites found were Blastocystis hominis, Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba coli , and Endolimax nana . The outbreaks of Blastocystis hominis (2.9%), and Endolimax nana (0.3%) were the most and the least protozoan infections observed among the specimens, respectively. Also, there was no helminthic infection detected among the samples. The prevalence of intestinal parasites among the food handlers, based on variables including sex, age, job, and education, did not differ, whereas the prevalence of intestinal symptoms was shown to be higher in infected food handlers (p<0.05)., Conclusions: Despite a decrease in the incidence of intestinal parasites, the protozoan infections are still among the health concerns in these areas. Therefore, continuous monitoring and training of food handlers by local health authorities should be performed on a regular basis.