Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide In Iran, it ranks first among cancers diagnosed in women and is the fifth most common cause of death. The aim of this study was to present the mortality trends from breast cancer for Iranian women during a period of almost a decade, in order to provide update information regarding the likely future. Methods: We analyzed National death Statistic reported by the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education from 1995 to 2004 to generate annual mortality rates/100,000, overall, by age group (<15, 15-49 and ≥50 years of age) and age standardized rate (ASR). Results: The age standardized mortality rate of breast cancer increased dramatically during these years from 1.40 to 3.52 per 100,000 and its mortality was increasing 151.4% for Iranian women, although it seemed that the rate leveled off from 2002 to 2004. Moreover the increasing rate was higher for those aged between 15-49 compared to age >50 years old. Conclusion: There is an increasing trend for breast cancer mortality in Iran. Thus, health education programs to rectify the lack of women awareness about breast cancer signs and effective screening are urgently needed.

Background/Aim:To study the prevalence and risk factors of functional bowel disorders (FBD) in Iranian community using Rome III criteria.Materials and Methods:This study was a cross-sectional household survey conducted from May 2006 to December 2007 in Tehran province, Iran, including 18,180 participants who were selected randomly and interviewed face-to-face by a validated questionnaire based on Rome III criteria.Results:In all, 1.1% met the Rome III criteria for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), 2.4% for functional constipation (FC), and 10.9% of the participants had any type of FBD. Among participants with functional dyspepsia, 83.8% had FBD; the majority cases were unspecified functional bowel disorder (U-FBD). Of the subjects fulfilling the IBS criteria, IBS with constipation (52%) was the most frequent subtype. In the multivariate analysis, women had a higher risk of any FBDs than men, except for functional diarrhea (FD). The prevalence of FBD, FC and FD increased and IBS decreased with increasing age. Marital status was only associated with a decrease in the risk of FBD and FD, respectively. IBS subtypes compared with FC and FD. There was no significant difference between FC and IBS with constipation (IBS-C), except for self-reported constipation; while, IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D) had more symptoms than FD.Conclusion:This study revealed a low rate of FBDs among the urban population of Tehran province. The ROME III criteria itself, and the problems with interpretation of the data collection tool may have contributed in underestimating the prevalence of FBD. In addition the reliability of recall over 6 months in Rome III criteria is questionable for our population.

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Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a new coronavirus, was diagnosed in China in December 2019. Around the globe, a total of 71429 were infected up to February 17, 2020, with 98.9% of cases in China. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the COVID-19 as ‘pandemic’. Rapid positive worldwide incidence was the motivation behind this study to investigate the incidence and mortality globally. Methods: We used the data published by the WHO until March 9, 2020. Non-parametric tests and change point analysis were used for inferences. Results: Change point analysis for Iran and China and the world excluding China for the first 20 days revealed around 78, 195 and 2 further new cases per day, respectively. Italy had a big jump in incidence on the 36th day. Similarly, a sharp rise of positive cases was reported for the world on the 35th day. China successfully controlled the ascending reports of incidence on the 23rd day. Mortality in China and the world were almost similar for the first 20 days. There was an ascending incidence trend with two change points in Italy (30th and 36th days) and one change point in Iran on the 17th day. Mortality in the world jumped remarkably after day 42 with an estimation of almost more than 25 deaths per day. Conclusion: The incidence of COVID-19 varied by regions; however, after March 11, it became ‘pandemic’. It was observed that after about 6 days with an emergence of sharp increase in incidences, there would be a mutation in mortality rate. On the other hand, the importance of ‘on-time’ quarantine programs in controlling this virus was confirmed.