Prevalence of hepatitis A virus infection in a HIV positive community

Hepatitis A is acute and usually self-limiting disease, but sometimes it can be dangerous such as in immunosuppressed patients. Purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis A serology in HIV/AIDS Patients. 247 HIV positive patients from March 2005 to September 2006 were entered in this study. Participants completed questionnaires to elicit demographic, drug and sex risk information, and were (tested for hepatitis A. They were all referred to Counseling center for behavioral diseases in Imam Khomeini Hospital. Cases were chosen from volunteers with no history of jaundice or acute hepatitis. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 13 and results were compared between seropositive and seronegative groups using T test and chi square. Statistical significance was accepted at a level of P < 0.05.200 (80.98%) were male and 47 (19.02) were female. The mean age was 36 +/- 9.3. 238 (96.3%) of patients were seropositive. One hundred percent and 96% who were born in rural and urban areas were seropositive, respectively. Also, 85.7% and 96.6% who reside in rural and urban areas were seropositive, respectively. Iran is an endemic country for hepatitis A in which most people has asymptomatic infectious during childhood. According to high prevalence of hepatitis A positive serology in HIV/AIDS patients, routine vaccination seems to be unnecessary. But special sub populations like HIV infected infants should be evaluated more precisely and different approaches may be needed for them.     

Effects of Satureja khuzestanica on Serum Glucose, Lipids and Markers of Oxidative Stress in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Satureja khuzestanica is an endemic plant of Iran that is widely distributed in the Southern part of the country. It has antioxidant properties and thus it seems to be useful in diseases related to oxidative stress such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. The present study investigates the effect of S. khuzestanica supplement in metabolic parameters of hyperlipidemic patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Twenty-one hyperlipidemic patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were randomized in a double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial to receive either S. khuzestanica (tablets contain 250 mg dried leaves) or placebo once a day for 60 days. Blood samples were obtained at baseline and at the end of the study. Samples were analyzed for levels of glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as marker of lipid peroxidation and ferric reducing ability (total antioxidant power, TAP). Treatment of patients by S. khuzestanica for 60 days induced significant decrease in total cholesterol (P = 0.008) and LDL-cholesterol (P = 0.03) while increased HDL-cholesterol (P = 0.02) and TAP (P = 0.007) in comparison with the baseline values. S. khuzestanica did not alter blood glucose, triglyceride, creatinin and TBARS levels. In comparison with baseline values, no significant change was observed in blood glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, TBARS and TAP in placebo-treated group. Usage of S. khuzestanica as a supplement to drug regimen of diabetic type 2 patients with hyperlipidemia is recommended.     

Haptic signals of texture while eating a food. Multisensory cognition as interacting discriminations from norm

This study started to characterise the cognitive processes by which physical effects on the senses are transformed into quantitative judgments about conceptualised aspects of a food. Using words provided by assessors, discriminations of a shortbread biscuit's fracturing patterns during eating from each assessor's internal norm were measured for the initial steps of denting, biting and crushing the material. The haptic concept of dentability (lack of crispness) often discriminated cracks in the biscuit that were the lowest in force, but was also sensitive to high-force cracks and frequency of cracks. How hard it was to bite through the sample was most often sensitive to the force of snapping the biscuit and to high-force cracks. Frequency of cracks usually dominated how "crunchy" the biscuits were rated to be. Interactions among the normed discrimination functions accounted for judgments of overall distance from the personal norm for the complex overall texture of the biscuit and revealed each assessor's cognitive strategies in reaching those integrative judgments. Use of the haptic concepts tended to shift mentation from control of the integrative texture ratings directly by sensory stimulation to the relating of those concepts to the sensed patterns, i.e., to describing texture.     

Maple syrup urine disease mutation spectrum in a cohort of 40 consanguineous patients and insilico analysis of novel mutations

Metabolic Brain Disease - Maple syrup urine disease is the primary aminoacidopathy affecting branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) metabolism. The disease is mainly caused by the deficiency of an enzyme...     

Prognostic implications of calculated Apo‐lipoprotein B in patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention: Outcome is tied to lower cut‐points

BackgroundDebates still surround using lipoproteins including Apo‐B in risk assessment, management, and prognosis of patients with coronary artery disease. During an acute ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction, Apo‐B might help to achieve incremental prognostic information.ObjectiveWe sought to determine the potential prognostic utility of calculated Apo‐B in a cohort of patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted enrolling 2,259 patients with a diagnosis of acute STEMI who underwent primary PCI. Apo‐B was obtained using a valid equation based on initial lipid measurements. High Apo‐B was defined as a level of 65 or higher. Primary endpoint of the study was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).ResultsMean age of the participants was 59.54 years and 77.9% of them were male. After a Median follow up of 15 (6.2) months, high Apo‐B was associated with MACE and the OR (95% CI) was 3.02 (1.07–8.47), p = .036. Odds ratios for prediction of MACE pertaining to LVEF, and smoking were 0.97 (p = .044), and 1.07 (p = .033), respectively. However, High Apo‐B was not able to predict suboptimal TIMI flow. Accordingly, the Odds ratio was 0.56 (0.17–1.87), p = 0.349. The power of High LDL‐C and Non‐HDLC for prediction of MACE were assessed in distinct models. Attained odds ratios were [2.40 (0.90–6.36), p = .077] and [1.80 (0.75–4.35), p = 0.191], respectively.ConclusionCalculated Apo‐B appears to be a simple tool applicable for prediction of cardiovascular events in patients with STEMI superior to both Non‐HDLC and LDL‐C.     

The Molecular Analysis of β-Thalassemia Mutations in Lorestan Province,Iran

β-Thalassemia (thal) is one of the most common genetic disorders in Iran and other countries. Getting information on the distribution of mutations in different ethnic groups of Iran is of fundamental importance for the purpose of health planning and prenatal diagnosis programs. One hundred and thirty chromosomes from 65 unrelated homozygous β-thal patients were investigated for β‐globin gene mutations by amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR). The most common mutations of the Mediterranean region were examined in this study. Our results showed that the frameshift codons (FSC) 36/37 (–T) mutation, with a frequency of 33.8%, is the most common mutation in Lorestan Province. The other most frequent mutations were of the Mediterranean type and consisted of IVS-II-1 (G?→A), IVS-I-110 (G?→A), FSC 8/9 (+G) and IVS-I-5 (G?→C) with frequencies of 27.7, 11.5, 10.8 and 4.5%, respectively. The less frequent alleles, IVS-II-745 (C?→G), FSC 5 (–CT), IVS-I (25 bp deletion) and FSC 44 (–C) accounted for only 3.9% of the mutations. The unknown alleles comprised 7.7% of the mutations. These data showed that the spectrum of mutations found in Lorestan Province was different from those reported from other thalassemic regions of Iran and also of some neighboring countries.     

Missense mutations in the human beta fibrinogen gene cause congenital afibrinogenemia by impairing fibrinogen secretion

Congenital afibrinogenemia is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by bleeding that varies from mild to severe and by complete absence or extremely low levels of plasma and platelet fibrinogen. Although several mutations in the fibrinogen genes associated with dysfibrinogenemia and hypofibrinogenemia have been described, the genetic defects of congenital afibrinogenemia are largely unknown, except for a recently reported 11-kb deletion of the fibrinogen Aalpha-chain gene. Nevertheless, mutation mechanisms other than the deletion of a fibrinogen gene are likely to exist because patients with afibrinogenemia showing no gross alteration within the fibrinogen cluster have been reported. We tested this hypothesis by studying the affected members of two families, one Italian and one Iranian, who had no evidence of large deletions in the fibrinogen genes. Sequencing of the fibrinogen genes in the 2 probands detected 2 different homozygous missense mutations in exons 7 and 8 of the Bbeta-chain gene, leading to amino acid substitutions Leu353Arg and Gly400Asp, respectively. Transient transfection experiments with plasmids expressing wild-type and mutant fibrinogens demonstrated that the presence of either mutation was sufficient to abolish fibrinogen secretion. These findings demonstrated that missense mutations in the Bbeta fibrinogen gene could cause congenital afibrinogenemia by impairing fibrinogen secretion. (Blood. 2000;95:1336-1341)     

Protective effects of chrysin on sub-acute diazinon-induced biochemical,hematological, histopathological alterations,and genotoxicity indices in male BALB/c mice

Chrysin (CH) is a natural flavone which possesses antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of CH on biochemical parameters, histopathological changes, and genotoxicity and hematological indices in diazinon (DZN)-induced toxicity in BALB/c mice. We induced sub-acute toxicity in mice using DZN (20?mg/kg/day) and treated them with CH at the 12.5, 25, and 50?mg/kg/day five times/week in 28?days. In our study, DZN increased lipid profile and liver function tests (LFTs) and creatinine (Cr) but decreased the red blood cell acetylcholinesterase (RBC-AChE) activity and glucose level. Also, CH when co-treated with DZN changed the LFTs, lipid profile, creatine phosphokinase (CPK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and bilirubin total (Bili-T). Moreover, a significant decrease in RBCs, hemoglobin (Hgb), hematocrit (HCT) level, and platelet counts were seen in DZN group but WBCs, lymphocytes, and neutrophils count increased. CH 25 and 50?mg/kg significantly improved alterations of WBCs, RBCs, Hgb, HCT, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and reticulocytes count when co-treated with DZN. Moreover, the co-administration of CH plus DZN recovered histopathological alterations in liver and kidney, as well as, improved the absolute and relative weight of kidney and liver. DZN induced the formation of bone marrow micronuclei (MN) but CH 50?mg/kg decreased the MN formation when co-treated with DZN. These results suggest that CH not only restores renal and hepatic markers, and histopathological alterations but also improves hematological and genotoxicity indices induced by DZN in mice.