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Background&Objective: Low back pain (LBP) is common in youth, although `associated with chronic pain in adults. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of LBP in school children age 11-14. Materials&Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out on school children aged 11-14 in north of Iran. Using random multistage sampling 5000 children were selected. Demographic, mechanical and lifestyle data as well as the prevalence and LBP characteristics were collected by a questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS (version11) software. Results: Of the original sample, 4813 (96.2%) children returned the questionnaire. Point, last month, last 6 months and annual prevalence were 15%, 14.4%, 15.6%, and 17.4%, respectively. LBP was significantly correlated with age (p<0.05), lifting (p<0.05), position and duration of watching TV, doing homework and duration of exercise (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results indicated that the prevalence of LBP in school children is relatively high. Further studies evaluating the effect of different preventive strategies to reduce the prevalence of LBP in school children is strongly recommended.

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Background & Objective: Burning is a general health problem and is also a global injury as well as a very serious sanitary issue in industrial and developing countries. In its severe form, burning can claim lives. It seems essential in every society to analyze burning, to study the causes of burning, treatment outcomes and the death rates, etc. to find proper preventive measures. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the medical records of all patients who were hospitalized and finally deceased during the years 2002 and 2004 in Zare' teaching hospital, Sari, were examined. Some variables including the age span average, the degree and percentage of burning, patients' residence, gender, the cause of burning (i.e. boiling water, fire, acids and explosives), average hospitalization period, surgery and also the abundance of self – burning attempts were examined. Results: This study indicate that during these 3 years the total number of those who died from burns was 506 (23.4%). The residential places were in Mazanderan province (41.7%), Golestan province (41.4%), and Gilan province (10.2%). The abundance of burning ranges as below: The 2 and 3 degree of burning at 91.8%. Regarding the percentage of burns, 31.7% of abundance pertains to burning at 90% and more. The greatest external causes leading to burns are petrol, gas, and gas oil at 57.9%. Also, the percentage of burns does not have much influence on death rate among 50 – year – olds and older people. Conclusion: This study indicated that the importance of death between burned patient in special sex and age. To establish hospitals, some issues must be considered as: distance, transportation, route dangers, characteristics of area, existing epidemiological survey, and finally the epidemics and event statistics.

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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: Muscle size is considered to be a good indicator of muscle function. Previous studies demonstrated a major role for longus colli muscle in cervical spine stabilization. This study was designed to compare muscle size and shape of cervical longus colli muscle between patients with bilateral chronic neck pain and healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: In this case – control study, bilateral ultrasound images of longus colli muscle, 2 centimeters below the thyroid cartilage were taken in 20 subjects (10 males and 10 females) with bilateral chronic neck pain and in 20 healthy subjects during 2008. Cross sectional area (cm2) and muscle shape ratio (ratio between lateral and anterior posterior dimensions) were measured. T- test was used for comparison of cross sectional area and shape ratio of right and left sides between the two groups. Results: In healthy subjects the cross sectional area of longus colli muscle in right and left sides were 0.85±0.11 and 0.86±0.12 respectively which was greater than that of neck pain patients: 0.76±0.11 and 0.68±0.07 respectively (P<0.05). In addition, longus colli muscle shape ratio of healthy subjects in right and left sides was 1.18±0.17 and 1.16±0.19 respectively which was smaller than that of neck pain patients: 1.50±0.25 and 1.50±0.27 respectively (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showd that patients with bilateral chronic neck pain had generally smaller cross sectional area and larger shape ratio of longus colli compared to controls.

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Background and Objective: Passive smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of pregnancy complications. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between self-reported exposure to passive smoking and urinary cotinine level of the pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 108 non-smoker pregnant women referred to Arash hospital in Tehran, Iran for delivery during 2010. A questionnaire including smoke exposure during pregnancy was completed for all the participants. Urine samples were collected from the mothers in the delivery room. The urinary cotinine levels was measured by ELISA method. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16, Student t-test, Chi-Square and one-way ANOVA tests. The Kappa test was used to evaluate the variability of mothers which report exposure to passive smoking with maternal urinary cotinine level. Results: The geometric mean cotinine of the maternal urine in the exposed group (27.4±29.96 ng/ml) was significantly higher than the non-exposed group (0.75±2.29 ng/ml) (P<0.05). There was a significant association between maternal reports of cigarette smoke exposure and urinary cotinine (Kappa=96%) (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study indicated that there is a relationship between maternal self-reporting and urinary cotinine level during pregnancy.

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Background and Objective: The child mortality is a index of development and plays an important role in determination of population growth. This study was done to determine the effect of sociol-economical conditions on mortality rate of under 5 years children, Khuzestan- Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was done on 372 women aged. 20-48 years with at least one child under 5 years whome were admitted to the health centers in urban and rural area of gotvand town in Khuzestan province, Iran during 2004. Individuals questionnaires included variables such as mortality, demographic, economic and social index were completed for each subject. Data were analyzed using SPSS-17, ANOVA, Chi-Square and Pearson’s correlation coefficient tests. Results: Providing maternal health care during pregnancy and up-grading occupational status of parents significantly reduced child mortality rate (P<0.05). Child mortality rate increased in mothers of <18 and >35 years (P<0.05) and parents desire to have male infant (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that up-grading occupational status of parents, maternal health care and maternal age and desire to have male infant play important role on the child mortality rate in Khuzestan province in south west of Iran.

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Low back pain (LBP) is a common and complicated disorder which is influenced by a number of factors, among them is the lack of spinal stability provided by muscle contraction. One of the most important muscles which has a role in spinal stability is musculus transversus abdominis. A literature search for the period of 2000-11 was performed in PubMed, ProQuest, Science Direct, Thomson, EMBASE, OVID, CINAHL and MEDLINE databases using musculus Transversus Abdominis, ultrasonography, chronic nonspecific low back pain as keywords. Nineteen articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria of the study. Evidences demonstrated that thickness of transversus abdominis reduces in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP) and ultrasonography seemed to be a valid and highly reliable instrument for measuring thickness of transversus abdominis in patients with LBP and healthy subjects on different positions and states. Studies demonstrated that there are adequate evidences to confirm the merit of ultrasonography in the assessment of musculus transversus abdominis in patients with chronic LBP and healthy subjects.

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Background and Objective: Lower back pain is one of the common discomforts of the occupational-musculoskeletal system, and the scope of motion measurement is important for assessing the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. This study was carried out to evaluate the reproducibility of the modified-modified Shober's technique (MMST) in measuring the range of motion of lumbar in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, the range of motion of lumbar (flexion and extension) of 15 patients with non-specific chronic low back pain was measured in three times with modified – modified Shober's technique by two physiotherapists. To achieve this, the correlation coefficient (ICC) was used. Two measurements with an interval of one hour and one week were run to evaluate the reproducibility within-days and between-day, respectively.
Results: Flexion and extension were measured by the first assessor in within-day that showed a high reproducibility for flexion (ICC=0.88) and extension (ICC=0.71), findings also revealed an acceptable ICC for flexion (ICC=0.85) and extension (ICC=0.68) in between-days. The second assessor measurements of flexion and extension in whiten-day also presented high reproducibility for flexion (ICC=0.85) and extension (ICC=0.76); moreover, in between-days evaluation, correlation was found for flexion (ICC=0.81) and for extension (ICC=0.71).
Conclusion: This study showed that the modified-modified Shober's technique is applicable for measuring the reproducibility of range of lumbar motion in patients with non-specific chronic lumbar pain.

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Background and Objective: Environmental hazards are one of the most important threats to human health. The dramatic increase in population and new lifestyles has led to a variety of environmental problems and outbreaks of illness. This study was conducted to determine the attitude and knowledge in environmental behavior of citizens of Gorgan city, north of Iran.
Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was carried out on 400 people (209 men and 191 women) in Gorgan citizens in northern Iran during 2017. A multi-stage sampling method was used to select the samples. The city of Gorgan was divided into 3 categories according to urban divisions, and the neighborhoods within the classes were considered as clusters. 40% of the neighborhoods were randomly assigned to each study. The instruments used for collecting data were demographic questionnaire and knowledge, attitude and environmental behavior questionnaires.
Results: The level of environmental attitudes and environmental knowledge of the citizens was poor and their Pro-environment behavior was highly valued. Persons with higher age, higher education and level of employment had better environmental behaviors (P<0.05). There was a significant and inverse relationship between environmental attitude and environmental behavior (P<0.05). Increasing
bio-environmental knowledge led to an increase in bio-environmental behavior (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The level of knowledge and environmental attitude of Gorgan citizens was weak and their pro-environmental behaviors were strong.