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Background: Clostridium difficile (C.difficile) is known as a cause of diarrhea through antibiotic usage and life threatening pseudo-membranous colitis. The meat products such as hamburger are one of possible resources for C. difficile transmission to human. The present study was conducted to examine the frequency of C. difficile in the processing steps of hamburger by culture method and biochemical test. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 211 samples including raw material and final product of hamburger were collected from 3 and 4 hamburger manufacturing companies certified with and without HACCP, respectively during June 2012 to January 2013. The sampling by swab was done from production facilities. The samples were cultured in Clostridium difficile moxalactam norofloxacin (CDMN) broth. Then it was streaked on the CDMN agar in anaerobic condition. The suspicious colonies were an aerobically sub cultured on the blood agar. Bacteriological examinations were performed by some biochemical tests. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS . Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used with p-value ≤ 0.05. Findings: The frequency of C.difficile was 5.5% and 14% in hamburger manufacturing companies certified with and without HACCP, respectively. There was no difference in C.difficle prevalence according to the season (p= 0.34). But the difference was observed in the results based on HACCP certification (p= 0.03). Conclusion: These results indicate the hamburger may serve as a vehicle for C.difficle transmission to human. Furthermore, HACCP implementation can reduce the C.difficle prevalence.

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Background: antibiotics are an important class of drugs which are commonly used in veterinary for therapeutic, prophylactic and growth promotion purposes. Antibiotic consumption may leave some residues in livestock food products leading to human health problems as well as failure in fermentation processing. The objective of this study was to investigate the antibiotic consumption pattern in animal farms in Iran. Method: A cross sectional study was designed in charmahal- bakhtiary province of Iran in 2011, a questioner has been developed by naming 112 antibiotics. Nine veterinary clinicians, 13 pharmacists and 3 livestock pharmaceutical distributor companies were included in the study. Subjects were asked to score each indicated antibiotic in to 1-5, based on their consumption order. The veterinary organization of Iran was asked on the total amounts of different forms of antibiotic drugs, used in 2010. The data on the livestock production in 2010 including meat, milk and egg was taken from the official web site belonging to agriculture ministry of Iran. In order to obtain the same information from other countries, related official websites as well as scientific literature were used. The data was analyzed by SPSS software. Findings: The antibiotic consumption factor (CF) of animal foods was obtained as 107.4 mg/kg for both milk and meat and 249.5 mg/kg for chicken and egg respectively. It was estimated that 133 mg antibiotic substances was used per kg of milk, meat and egg produced in 2010in Iran which is quiet higher than that of the compared countries. Conclusion: the findings of the present study would be informative for the legislative authorities in food security and safety. More detailed evolution should be carried out as well as implementation of national monitoring inspective programs in order to provide the larger margin of safety for animal originated foods. 

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Background: Kyphosis is the abnormally of high levels of thoracic back arches associated with the stretching of spinal extensor muscles, weakening of middle and lower trapezoid muscles, and brief abduction of short pectoral and intercostal muscles. Therefore, the necessity and importance of researches on kyphosis, especially among the youth, is quite noticeable; because of the flexible bones and growth of the body at this age, corrective exercise can be used to remove action anomalies with appropriate solutions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of 8 weeks of selected corrective exercises on the angle of kyphosis in boy students with kyphosis.Methods: 24 boy students in a gym in Isfahan City, Iran, aged 15-18 years participated in this study. The angle of kyphosis was measured by a flexible ruler. Stretching, resistance, and self-mobility exercises were performed for 8 weeks. Analysis of covariance and pared-t tests was used to analysis the data.Findings: In boy students with kyphosis, the mean angle of kyphosis was 48.8 ± 0.9 degrees before the intervention (F = 0.275, P = 0.604). After using selected corrective exercises, mean angle of kyphosis decreased significantly to 46.9 ± 0.8 degrees (F = 1680.068, P = 0.001).Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that corrective exercises, alone and for three days a week for eight consecutive weeks, had a positive impact on improving the angle of kyphosis.

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