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Background and Objective: Down syndrome is a genetic disorder due to trisomy of 21 chromosome, which mainly is manifested by moderate to severe mental problems, including physical, sensory and motor symptoms. This study was done to determine the related factors associated with the birth of children with Down syndrome. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 913 mothers with children or fetuses of Down syndrome who were referred to genetic counseling clinics in Tehran, Iran during 2011. Diagnosis of Down syndrome confirmed by the chromosomes culture. Maternal age, maternal age at menarche, parents interfamilial marriage, maternal blood group, the number of abortions and children, collected through the questionnaires. Results: Out of 913 affected children and fetuses with Down syndrome, 420 (46%) and 493 (54%) were female and males respectively. 1.17 considered to be The male/female ratio. 32.4% of mothers were in 25-30 years of age and 42% of parants had interfamilial marriages. The abortion in mothers varied from lack of ahortion (96.7%) up to 5 repetitive abortion (0.1%). The number of children in families with affected subject consisted of 1 (15.1%), 4 (16.5%) and 11-13 (1.3%). Conclusion: This study showed that Down syndrome infants are mostly born with the mothers of 25-30 years age.

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Background and Objective: Atorvastatin is a member of the statin family with lipophilic character and anti-hyperlipidemic effect. There is many evidence that atorvastatin has protective effect on cognitive function. This study was done to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on spatial memory in rats following a high-fat diet.
Methods: This experimental study was performed on 35 male Wistar male rats. Animals were randomly allocated into 5 groups including control, control plus atorvastatin and sham (received high-fat diet for 4 weeks) and high-fat diet plus atorvastatin (10 and 50 mg/kg, for 4 weeks). Learning and spatial memory were measured using Morris water maze for a 6-day period including 5 days training and the last day, test day (probe day).
Results: High-fat diet reduced learning and poor memory performance during training and probe compared to the control group, and also on the probe day, the high-fat group spent less time in the target quarter (P<0.05). Administration of atorvastatin after a high-fat diet improvement spatial memory in compared to high-fat group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Short-term treatment (4 weeks) with atorvastatin in high-fat dietary rats can improve spatial memory.