Isolated psoas abscess caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A rare case report

Psoas tuberculosis abscess is very rarely detected primarily without an adjacent vertebral cold abscess. Early diagnosis prevents unnecessary operations and life‐threatening complications.     

Worldwide prevalence of human papillomavirus among pregnant women: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causative agent of cervical cancer and a suspected agent for ovarian and endometrial cancers in women. It is associated with adverse outcomes during pregnancy. To date, there is no estimate of the prevalence of HPV infection in pregnant women at the regional and global levels. This study evaluated the global prevalence of HPV infection based on all observational studies that had reported the prevalence of HPV among pregnant women between January 1980 and December 2021 in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and SciELO databases. We utilised a random-effect model to determine the global prevalence and related risk factors of HPV infection. Between-studies heterogeneity was assessed using I² statistic. Moreover, subgroup and meta-regression analyses were employed to assess the source of heterogeneity and the relationship between HPV prevalence and socio-demographic factors, respectively. Among 144 eligible studies comprising 189 datasets, the overall prevalence rates of HPV at the 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated as 30.38% (26.88%–33.99%), 17.81% (9.81%–27.46%), 32.1% (25.09%–39.67%), 2.26% (0.1%–8.08%) and 25.5% (23.3%–27.8%) in cervico-vaginal, placenta, serum, amniotic fluid and urine samples, respectively. The highest prevalence rates were estimated for countries in the African region, while countries in the European and Eastern Mediterranean regions showed the lowest prevalence rates. HPV-16 and -18 were the most prevalent isolated strains. The pregnant women living with HIV and those with pregnancy disorders had significantly higher prevalence rates than general pregnant women (p < 0.05). The younger ages for first intercourse and pregnancy, multiple lifetime sexual partners, and lower education levels were primary risk factors for HPV infection. In conclusion, although the overall HPV prevalence varied markedly based on sampling sites and geographical locations, the highest prevalence rates were observed in less-developed countries. Our findings imply that implementing behavioural and therapeutic interventions as well as vaccination programs are crucial to prevent and reduce the current burden of HPV infection among pregnant women.     

Evaluating the effect of tranexamic acid as mesotherapy on persistent post-acne erythema: A before and after study

Background

Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease that is more common in young population and it can be associated with some sequels after resolving the lesions. Post-inflammatory erythema is one of these complications that can be disturbing for patients and does not have any definite treatment. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid (TA) as mesotherapy in treatment of post-acne erythema (PAE) treatment.

Method

This clinical trial study was performed in the dermatology clinic on 17 patients with persistent PAE (3 months after acne recovery). Two sessions of treatment were performed by a physician with 2-week intervals; TA was injected as mesotherapy into the right side of each patient's face as the case group, while the opposite side was used as the control group. A Visioface device was used to compare before and after treatment photographs of each side of the face in color mode with quantitative measures such as lesions count, area, and area percent.

Results

Finally, 15 patients completed treatment sessions. There were statistically significant differences in right side lesions before and after treatment with p-values of 0.047, 0.002, and 0.035 for count, area, and area percent, respectively. There was no significant difference before and after treatment in terms of count, area. and area-percent on the left side.

Conclusion

According to the results of this study, TA injection as mesotherapy for resolving PAE can be effective. However, due to small sample size, further studies are needed.