Background: Brucellosis is one of the most common diseases among humans and livestock. Using contaminated and unpasteurized dairy products, having contact with infected livestock and, in general, inappropriate dietary patterns, as well as lack of hygiene, can be noted as the most common modes of transmission for such a disease. Objectives: Since the establishment of Alborz province in Iran and, accordingly, Alborz university of medical sciences, Karaj, Iran, there has been no study on the epidemiological situation of the disease. Therefore, the present study examines the epidemiology of Brucellosis at Karaj Health center No. 2, Karaj, Iran, during 2011 -2012. Patients and Methods:This research was a cross-sectional descriptive study, on patients with Brucellosis, during 2011 -2012, in the area covered by Karaj health center No. 2, Karaj, Iran. The data about all suspected cases, collected from polyclinic, laboratories and health centers, and confirmed by Wright, combs Wright and 2ME tests were reviewed. After recording the demographic data and laboratory results, they were entered into STATA 11 software and analyzed. Results: The number of patients reported in this study was 67. The incidence of the disease during 2011 -2012 was, respectively, 3.75 and 4.6 per hundred thousand and the average incidence of the disease was 4.2 per hundred thousand. The highest rate of infection, in terms of occupation, was found among ranchers (40.29%). In 100% of the cases, there was a history of consumption of cottage cheese, fresh cow milk or other unpasteurized dairy products. Considering the incidence season, most cases of the disease (38.80%) had occurred in the spring. In terms of gender, 56.71% were male and 43.28% of patients were female. As well, in terms of age, more 50% of the patients were in the age groups of 31 -40 and 41 -50 years old. Conclusions: Given the occurrence of more cases of the disease among individuals with risk factors, such as consumers of unpasteurized dairy products, as well as ranchers, it seems that healthcare education, isolation of the places where animals are kept from humans, livestock vaccination, and, particularly, improvement of dietary patterns are effective in reducing the incidence of the disease.

Background: Illegal use of psychotropic drugs has become a great problem around the world. Change in the traditional pattern of drug abuse to industrial drugs is one of the challenges faced today in Iran. Objectives: The present study was performed to determine the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the amphetamine cessation symptom assessment (ACSA) questionnaire in patients of residential medical center in Alborz province of Iran. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 106 patients accepted to participate from patients enrolled in the residential medical center of Alborz province. After the questionnaire was translated to Persian, face, content, and construct validity was assessed. Exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis were used to assess the construct validity. Content validity index (CVI) was used to assess the content validity of the questionnaire. In order to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, internal consistency method with Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. The face validity step was based on the opinion of experts and patients that had just withdrew from the study and limited changes were inserted in the questionnaire. Results: Content validity for the entire of questionnaire was 86.5% and for questions individually was 80% and higher. In factor analysis 3 acceptable factors with higher than 1 were identified that justified 65.81% of the entire variance. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the entire questionnaire was 84%, and also for the first, second, and third factor this was 91%, 77%, and 96%, respectively. Conclusions: Results of this study showed that the questionnaire had appropriate reliability and validity in the evaluation of amphetamine withdrawal symptoms and could be used in similar activities and studies in Iran.