Obesity is regarded as one of the most prominent health threats worldwide and a serious risk factor for non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and some types of cancer. Given the role that societal development-as reflected by the Human Development Index (HDI)-may play in the prevalence of obesity and overweight, this study aimed to investigate the degree to which the prevalence of obesity and overweight is affected by HDI and its components. In this ecological study, the required data on HDI and its components were gathered from the latest report of the United Nations Development Program, and data on obesity and overweight were acquired from the latest reports published on the World Health Organization website. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS version 24.0. The prevalence of obesity was determined to be significantly higher among females than males, and the gross national index per capita was found to be significantly higher for males than females (p<0.05). Significant positive correlations were found between HDI and its components and sex, as well as indices of obesity and overweight. A significant positive correlation exists between HDI and obesity. As policy-makers attempt to improve the general welfare of the people, they should be aware of potential unwanted effects of development on the risk of obesity and overweight among the population.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an important parasitic disease which is endemic in different parts of Iran; and domestic and wild canines are principal reservoir hosts of the disease. The objective of this study was to review the spatial distribution of canine VL (CVL) caused by Leishmania infantum in domestic and wild canines in different geographical areas of Iran. An extensive literature search was conducted in different international and national databases, including Cochrane, MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Iran Medex to find articles with the words “visceral leishmaniasis in Iran” in their titles and “canine visceral leishmaniasis in Iran” or “feline visceral leishmaniasis in Iran” or “accidental reservoir hosts of visceral leishmaniasis in Iran” in their subtitles, irrespective of the type and duration of study. Screening of the irrelevant articles from total 36,342, yielded 61 eligible articles. More than 93% of the studies were carried out on domestic dogs (Canis familiaris, n = 57) and the remaining were on other carnivores such as wild canines including foxes (Vulpes vulpes, n = 4), jackals (C. aureus, n = 6) and wolves (C. lupus, n = 6); while studies on domestic cats (Felis catus, n = 3) as well as desert rodents (n = 2) were rare. The average rate of L. infantum infections reported among domestic dogs using direct agglutination test (DAT) in Iran was 12.5%. The highest prevalence rate (14%) was reported from the northwest regions of the country where VL is endemic. The review indicates that CVL is endemic in various parts of Iran and domestic dogs are the main and potential reservoir hosts of the disease. Other carnivores, such as domestic cats and some species of desert rodents (Cricetulus migratorius, Mesocricetus auratus and Meriones persicus) seem to be playing a role in the maintenance of transmission cycle of L. infantum in the endemic areas of the disease.

Sand flies of Phlebotomus papatasi and P. sergenti are the main vectors of cutaneous leishmanisis (CL) in the old world. We aimed to screen Iranian P. papatasi and P. sergenti for their natural infections with Wolbachia and to determine their phylogenetic association with other species. Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene was PCR amplified from DNA extracted from Phlebotomus species, sequenced, and were analysed in combination with wsp sequences related to Phelebtominae and other insects. All Wolbachia-infecting Iranian sand flies of P. papatasi and P. sergenti were classified in the Supergroup A., Wolbachia isolated from P. sergenti were clustered in a new subgroup within Supergroup A so-called wSreg. The Wolbachia strains identified from the P. papatasi clustered mainly in the subgroup wPap and partly in wSerg. Multiple Wholbachia infection within a single population of P.papatasi warrants investigation on existence and intensity of cytoplasmic incompatibility between the wPap and wSerg subgroups.

Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is highly fatal to humans and an acute viral disease. The CCHF disease has been reported in occupations such as butchers, slaughterhouse butchers and workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of CCHF related high risk behaviors among butchers and determine the effects of perceived self-efficacy of the participants on their membership in latent classes. Methods: The participants of this cross-sectional study were recruited from all the meat distribution centers in Ardabil Province in 2019–2020. The LCA approach was used to observe the CCFH related high risk behaviors patterns. Results: The statistical significance level was assigned at P-value < 0.05 in all the analyses. Three latent classes were identified; namely, 1) low risk (16.1%), 2) high risk (53.6%), and 3) very high risk (30.2%). After adjusting for other possible confounders higher score of perceived self-efficacy significantly decrease the odds of membership in high risk class (OR = 0.74) and very high risk class (OR = 0.62) compared to the low risk class. Also, age (OR = 1.07) and experience (OR = 0.91) associate with very high risk class. Conclusions: This study revealed the co-occurrence of CCHF related high risk behaviors in the majority of workers in the livestock and meat industry. It is necessary to provide butchers and slaughterhouse workers with general education, force them to use protective equipment and investigate the rate of tick bites in risky occupations.

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis is one of the most important vector borne diseases in the world, transmitted by sand flies. Despite efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, cases continue worldwide. In Iran, the disease usually occurs in children under 10 years. In the absence of timely diagnosis and treatment, the mortality rate is 95-100%. The main objective of this study was to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of visceral leishmaniasis as well as its correlation with climatic factors for determining high-risk areas in an endemic focus in northwestern Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data on VL cases were collected from local health centers in Ardabil Province, Iran during 2001-2015 to establish a geodatabase using ArcGIS10.3. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS23 and ArcMap Spatial Analyst. MaxEnt model was used to determine ecologically suitable nichesfor the disease. Results: Two hotspots were found in Meshkinshahr and Germi counties with 59% and 23% of total cases, respectively. There was an increase in the incidence rate of VL in Ardabil County from 2.9 in 2009 to 9.2/ 100,000 population in 2015. There was no spatial autocorrelation between county and total number of cases (P> 0.05). Higher NDVI, lower altitude and southern aspects had positive effects on the presence probability of VL. Conclusion: The number of cases of this disease have been rising since 2013 and doubled in 2015. According to the derived distribution maps, the disease is spreading to new locations such as Ardabil and Namin counties.

Background: Coronavirus disease highly contagious, is prevalent in all age and sex groups infecting the respiratory system. The present study seeks to investigate the epidemiology and effective factors in mortality of patients with COVID-19 in Ardabil province, northwestern Iran.Methods: In a retrospective study, the hospitalized patients with laboratory-diagnosed COVID-19 between February to August 2020 were enrolled. The data registration portal was designated according to Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education guidelines. In this portal, demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory and imaging data were registered for patients in all hospitals in the same format. The Hosmer-Lemeshow strategy was used for variable selection in a multiple model.Results: Of the patients involved 2812(50.3%) were male and 150 (2.7%) had contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the last 14 days. Pre-existing comorbidity was reported in 1310 (23.4%) patients. Of all patients, 477(8.5%) died due to COVID-19. the result of the multiple logistic regression model indicated that after adjusting for other factors, higher age (OR = 3.11), fever or chills (OR = 1.61), shortness of breath (OR = 1.82), fatigue (OR = 0.71), headache (OR = 0.64), runny nose (OR = 1.54), Skeletal muscle pain (OR = 1.53), hospitalization (OR = 5.66), and hospitalization in ICU (OR = 5.12) were associated with death.Conclusions: Hospitalization had the strongest effect on mortality followed by hospitalization in ICU, and higher age. This study showed that having some extra-pulmonary symptoms in contrast with pulmonary symptoms can predict as good prognostic factors.