Prediction of Arterial Blood Gas Factors from Venous Blood Gas Factors in Intensive Care Unit Admitted Patients.

Background: Blood gas analysis is very important in the patients with respiratory problems. Arterial puncture may cause complications such as pain, local hematoma, infection and nerve injury. The procedure itself can be technically difficult.

Ecological study and risk mapping of visceral leishmaniasis in an endemic area of Iran based on a geographical information systems approach.

Between 1998 and 2001, a total of 1,062 human cases of visceral leishmaniasis were reported from the rural district of Meshkin-Shahr in the mountainous, north-western Iranian province of Ardabil. In the summer of 2008, a cross-sectional study of dogs was conducted in this endemic area by randomly selecting 384 animals from 21 villages and testing them serologically for leishmaniasis. Villages, in which more than 10% of investigated dogs showed anti- Leishmania titres ≥ 1/320, were considered to be high-risk environments.