nader mohammadzadeh

The objective of this research is to analyze influenza-induced complications, symptoms, and the interaction of morbidity and mortality rates in hospitalized influenza cases based on age-sex dispersion, influenza virus subtype, prescribed medications, and underlying conditions.
We performed this retrospective study using a dataset of 10,517 hospitalized individuals, including 3,101 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases from patients of all ages who had attended hospitals in the Northwest of Iran due to respiratory complications.
The most prevalent strain which circulated annually was influenza A/H3N2. In contrast to previous studies, our findings suggested that influenza A/H1N1 has the highest mortality rate and the most severe complications.
Regardless of virus type/subtype, the most susceptible age group for influenza was 0-9 years old in both males and females. Meanwhile the high-risk age group among males was 50-59 years old and among females were over 80 age group (mortality rate ≈ 20%). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (32%) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) (30%) were the most prevalent active underlying diseases among the patients who died, with the latter being more prevalent in males over the age of 70. Patients with a history of chemotherapy had the highest mortality rate. Patients who were prescribed a combination of antibiotics and antivirals had better outcomes with lowest mortality rate.
Our findings demonstrated that annual influenza seasons are often marked by changes in influenza types and subtypes, with variations in the severity. Development of a standardized set of arrays that best correspond with infections, can be useful in guiding diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.

 Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent and life-threatening tumor with high morbidity and mortality. Proper prediction and prognosis are incredibly stressed to diagnose HCC and increase patient survival.

 This research aims to evaluate gene expression levels of pre-differentiated transcripts for those suffering from chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and HCC.

 To examine the previously analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) transcriptomic array data, we selected seven differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in normal versus CHB and CHB versus HCC (CD44, SP3, USP8, E2F2, UFM1, IFN regulative factor binding protein 2 (IRF2BP2), and T-cell intracellular antigen 1 (TIA1)). The study included individuals with treatment-naïve CHB (n = 30) and primary HCC (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 15). Subsequently, the expression of genes was assayed using qRT-PCR. A phylogenetic evaluation was performed using direct sequencing of HBsAg.

 In HCC patients, 60% (n = 15) were HBeAg-positive. HBeAg was negative in all CHB patients, but all were anti-HBe-positive. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) load of HCC patients was more than that of CHB subjects. All patients were of the Iranian race and HBV D genotype. The expression of five transcriptional markers (CD44, SP3, USP8, E2F2, and UFM1) was higher in HCC patients than in CHB and healthy subjects, which was similar to the initial microarray data analysis.

 Transcriptional signatures may be related to the pathogenesis of HCC and used as diagnostic biological markers for the initial monitoring and prediction of HCC.

The present study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) compared to the real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) in the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iranian children. 

Materials and Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, 90 children under 15 years of age were randomly selected from suspects of COVID-19 referred to the Tabriz Children Hospital, the main pediatric COVID-19 diagnostic center of Tabriz, from May 21, 2020 to June 21, 2020. Blood and nasopharyngeal samples were taken simultaneously at the referring time. The diagnostic accuracy of ELISA-based IgM and IgG antibody tests for COVID-19 were compared with the rRT-PCR.

The calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, overall diagnostic accuracy, and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.5745, 0.9767, 0.9643, 0.6774, 24.66, 0.4357, 0.7667, and 56.60 for IgM; and 0.6170, 0.9302, 0.9355, 0.6897, 8.84, 0.4117, 0.7667, and 21.47 for IgG, respectively.

Due to the lower sensitivity of antibody detection-based serological tests compared to rRT-PCR, they cannot be considered as initial and reliable tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. It can be suggested that the serological tests be only used as complementary tests to rRT-PCR or for monitoring the immune response of children with COVID-19.

This study investigated the presence of specific antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii infection among people with diabetes (type I and II) in comparison with control group. Overall 300 serum samples were collected equally from three groups including patients with type I and type II diabetes and non-diabetic healthy control that referred to Tabriz Central Laboratory in northwest Iran during July to Sep 2015. The level of specific IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii were measured using the chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) method. Chi-square and One-Way ANCOVA were used for data analysis. Overall, 300 samples from diabetic patients (type I and type II) and control group were examined and results showed 3, 8 and 2 cases were seropositive for anti- T. gondii IgM respectively. Anti- T. gondii IgG seropositivity in type I and type II diabetes and control groups were 69%, 63% and 59% respectively. We did not observe any statistical differences among all studied groups in terms of toxoplasmosis. There was no statistically significant relationship between all variables and seropositivity for anti-T. gondii antibodies in type I and II diabetes and non-diabetic groups. Although there was no statistically significant relationship between diabetes and toxoplasmosis further investigations especially experimental studies using animal models are needed. Furthermore, these findings would not be contrary to the need for healthcare in order to the prevention of infectious disease in diabetic patients.