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Drug addicts, especially those practicing injection, are regarded as a major high-risk group for HIV infection. This study was performed to determine the burden of infection in 1061 drug addicts residing in the rehabilitational camp of Shiraz. In 1998, a survey in 1061 randomly selected drug abuse residing in the rehabilitational camp of Shiraz were performed in which demographic and other required data were collected using a questionnaire and samples from each subject were tested for anti-HIV by ELISA-II and then western blot. Overall, 0.76% of subjects were positive for anti-HIV detected by ELISA-II, 1.2% among intravenous and 0.33% among non-intravenous drug abusers, which, being several hundred times more than the prevalence in the general population. Points to the fact that drug addicts must be regarded very high-risk irrespective of their principle method of drug use. The high prevalence among non-intravenous addicts also may be indicative of the possibility that they have practiced high-risk injection sometimes during the period of addiction or imprisonment. Due to the low number of positive cases, no relation could be established between the age, duration and method of drug abuse, history of imprisonment, job, tattooing, marital status and HIV infection. Authors recommend widespread education of the community and drug abuser population in order to reduce the prevalence and spread of infection in addicts an the society, active case-finding among drug abusers, particularly before their referral to rehabilitational centers and developing control measures along with educational program to prevent the residents of these centers from access to drugs and practice of high-risk methods such as needle-sharing.

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Background and Objective: Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is recognized as a etiological base in lung injury. Therefore this study was performed to determine plasma level of alpha-1 antitrypsin in war victims exposed to sulfur mustard gas. Materials and Methods: This historical cohort study was done on 100 incident was survivors from Sardasht, West of Iran who were exposed to sulfur mustard gas in 1987. Fifty non exposed civilians subjects were selected as control. Phonotype and of alpha-1 antitrypsin and trypsin inhibitory capacity (TIC) were measured. Results: Phonotype of alpha-1 antitrypsin in patients and control group were normal (MM) and the mean of trypsin inhibitory capacity in patients group was 3.4±0.3 μmol/min/ml which lower than control group 4.2±0.1 μmol/min/ml (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that activity of alpha-1 antitrypsin in patients with lung injuries reduced due to sulfur mustard gas.

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Background and Objective: The elderly population is rising rapidly in the world and one of the criteria for assessing the needs and health of the elderly is life quality. Mindfulness is a kind of consciousness, and it comes about when we encounter our experiences with a more precise and detailed in the present and without judgment. This study was done to determine the effect of mindfulness training on personal well-being and mental health in elderly women.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was done on 46 elderly women over 60 years of age who displaced in the only daily nursing home in Gorgan, northern Iran .The subjects were non-randomly divided into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group participated in eight sessions of two-hour mental education training. Personal information questionnaire, general health questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and personal well-being index – adult (PWI-A). PWI-A and mental health questionnaires were completed by the elderly at the beginning and the end of the study.
Results: In the intervention group, mindfulness education significantly increased the subscale of personal well-being in the post-test (57.4±3.5) compared to the pre-test (43.2±10.6), and the subscale of mental health and its components in the post-test (13.47±5.5) compared to the pre-test (35.6±10.9) (P<0.05). In the control group, the subscales of personal well-being and mental health and its components at the prior and the end of the study was not different.
Conclusion: Mental education improves subscales of personal well-being and mental health in elderly women.