Journal of Disease and Diagnosis
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Jul 2022

Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of diseases in children that remains a serious threat. This study aimed to investigate the laboratory and inflammatory markers in children with pneumonia and their relationship with the severity of the disease.

This retrospective descriptive-cross-sectional study included 400 children with pneumonia patients, aged 1 month to 12 years, who were referred to Bandar Abbass Children’s Hospital. In this study, the severity of the disease was compared with variables such as age, gender, white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil percentage, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Of the 400 people who participated in the survey, 57.5% and 42.5% of cases were males and females, respectively. The mean age of the studied patients was 16.53±21.57 months. There was no significant relationship between the severity of pneumonia and leukocyte count, neutrophil count, and inflammatory markers (P>0.05).

Based on the findings, the severity of the disease was mild to moderate in 90% of patients. ESR, C-reactive protein (CRP), leukocyte count, and neutrophil count were not significantly associated with the severity of pneumonia in children (P>0.05).

Biofilms are a major challenge in treating infections. Clinically, biofilms are often associated with chronic infections, so rapid and accurate methods of investigating the antibiotic susceptibility of biofilm bacteria are very important for faster diagnosis and treatment. In this study, a new modified microplate method was proposed to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of alive bacteria in the biofilm.

The study was conducted on clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and standard strain over a period of one year. The susceptibility test was conducted according to a modified version of the Calgary biofilm device method. In the last step, to study the living bacteria in the biofilm, oxidative-fermentative (OF) medium was used to measure the acid production following the use of glucose by the bacteria. The biofilm-growing bacteria was determined by observing the color changing and also measuring optical density (OD) at 427 nm of OF medium.

The method in this study could evaluate the effect of antibiotics on biofilm bacteria based on glucose metabolism. The results indicated that this method can quickly and easily identify alive bacteria in biofilm at a low cost and without the need for any special devices.

Although biofilms are involved in most incurable clinical cases, there is currently no guideline to assist physicians in treating biofilm-related infections. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a specific sensitivity test for biofilm or to approve a new method for routine use in diagnostic laboratories.

Epigenetics has been playing an increasingly important role in the study of the origin and development of bladder cancer (BC). This study aimed to investigate the correlation between promoter hypomethylation of the heparanase (HPSE) gene and clinicopathologic characteristics of bladder cancer (BC).

The promoter hypomethylation profile was evaluated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using 27 BC tissue specimens and 15 normal control specimens. The aim was to help decipher the underlying relationship between the clinicopathologic characteristics and the hypomethylation status.

Experimental results showed that 16 (59.26%) BC specimens demonstrated the promoter hypomethylation of HPSE, including 2 cases with complete demethylation. For normal control groups, only 3 specimens (20%) indicated hypomethylation (P<0.05). In addition, the occurrence of hypomethylation increased with the metastasis of positive lymph nodes (P<0.05). Importantly, no significant correlation was found between the hypomethylation of HPSE and the profile of patients including gender, age, tumor size, cancer stage, or histologic grade (P>0.05).

The promoter hypomethylation of HPSE gene is a common epigenetic event occurring in BC and is positively correlated with a poor prognosis. This study suggested that the promoter hypomethylation could be used as a potential biological marker for the early screening of BC.

Alterations in hematological and renal parameters have been reported with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). This study aimed to evaluate the effects of lamotrigine (LTG) and levetiracetam (LEV) on these parameters in children with epilepsy.

This randomized clinical trial included children with a first-time diagnosis of epilepsy referred to Bandar Abbas Children’s Hospital, Bandar Abbas, Iran, from 2017 to 2018. Participants’ age, gender, and family history of epilepsy were recorded at the time of admission. Patients in the LTG group received 0.6 mg/kg of oral LTG in two divided doses for two weeks which continued with 1.2 mg/kg for another two weeks and then with a maintenance dose of 5-15 mg/kg daily. Patients in the LEV group received 10 mg/kg of oral LEV twice a day. When necessary, the dosage was increased to a maximum of 30 mg/kg twice a day. Treatment continued until seizures were controlled. Hematological and renal parameters were measured at baseline and 3 months after treatment. The total duration of treatment with each drug was noted as well.

Of the 66 children evaluated in this study with a mean age of 8.51±2.11 years, 31 (47%) were males. Age, gender, family history of epilepsy, treatment duration, and baseline hematological and renal parameters did not differ between the LTG (n=26) and LEV (n=40) groups. Patients in both groups were comparable regarding all the parameters after treatment. Finally, no significant change was observed after treatment compared to baseline in either group.

Overall, LTG and LEV appear to have no significant effect on the hematological and renal parameters of children with epilepsy.

Although today, transfusion therapy has turned from a hazardous condition to a relatively safe method with the improvement of technology, the highest risk for the patient is a complication of blood transfusions. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and pattern of transfusion-related adverse events.

This study is a retrospective review which examined data of all those who received blood transfusions at Kashani and Imam Khomeini hospitals of the south of Kerman province from 2014 to 2018 years.

Of the total 16081 blood transfusions, 148 (0.92%) cases of blood complications were observed. Most cases occurred in males aged 31-40 and over 50 years, O blood group, injection packed red blood cell (PRBC) product, and within 20-60 minutes. Most of the transfusion-related complications were related to the surgery ward and in patients without underlying disease, and most complications included fever and chills.

The results of our study showed that the highest transfusion-related complications were fever and chills. Therefore, fever and chills in the early hours of transfusion should be considered as the most common transfusion-related complications.

Dyslipidemia is one of the main risk factors for coronary artery disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of incremental pump body training on some atherogenic factors in obese women with dyslipidemia.

In this quasi-experimental study, 40 obese female subjects in the age range of 30-50 years suffering from dyslipidemia were randomly divided into two groups of body pump training (n=20) and control (n=20). The body pump training program consisted of eight weeks with a frequency of 3 sessions per week for 45 minutes with overload and 48 hours of rest. Data were analyzed using independent samples t test and paired samples t test.

The results showed that eight weeks of body pump training significantly decreased triglyceride, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and atherogenic index (AI) in obese women with dyslipidemia, while there was a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (P˂0.001).

The results of this study show that body pump training can properly prevent the progression of dyslipidemia in people suffering this complication.

The new coronavirus was first identified in China in December 2019 and then, it created a widespread pandemic around the world. There is currently no definitive cure for it and it will not be possible to make a vaccine soon. Pathogenic mechanism of the virus includes virus entry, binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors on the surface of host cells, proliferation, membrane fusion, assembly, subsequent infection, cytokine secretion, and the host immune response to the virus. By identifying at what stage the patient is, possible effective drugs can be used to control each stage. Therefore, identifying the mechanism of action of the virus in different stages of the disease makes it possible to use the appropriate drug for each stage of the disease and control the disease.

Proliferating trichilemmal tumor (PTT) is a scarce tumor of exterior root sheath that appears to grow within the wall of a pre-existing pilar cyst in most cases. This report presents a case of malignant PTT in the posterior sacrum of a 33-year-old man presenting with limited mobility and a history of paraplegia.