Mahdi Afshari

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) co-occurrence in a clinical population of women with endometriosis and to

Background: Endometriosis is one of the most common chronic diseases in women, with a prevalence of up to 10%. The disease particularly affects women of reproductive age. Endometriosis has a significant impact on the patient's quality of life (QoL). In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the role of early diagnosis of endometriosis on patients’ QoL. Methods: In this longitudinal prospective study, 205 women with endometriosis who were referred to the gynecology department of Amir al-Mominin Hospital (Zabol-Iran) in 2021 were evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups based on the time of diagnosis, including early diagnosis and late diagnosis. An Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP) questionnaire was used to collect information about QoL before and 18 months after treatment. Data were analyzed using SPSSv.26 software and significance level was considered less than 0.05. Results: In both groups with early and late diagnosis, the QoL scores improved without significant difference (p = 0.303). There was a significant difference between lower stages (1 and 2) and higher stages (3 and 4) in terms of treatment effects on patients’ QoL, and higher stages of endometriosis affected patients’ QoL before and after treatment more than lower stages (P values < 0.05). Conclusion: Early or late diagnosis of endometriosis doesn’t affect patients’ QoL and patients benefit from treatment regardless of the time of diagnosis.

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex metabolic disease that occurs as a result of insulin resistance and low insulin production. T2DM involves many organ systems that include macro-vascular and micro-vascular complications. Several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and candidate gene studies have suggested a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on several genes such as HHEX that were associated with T2DM susceptibility. The current study aims to look at the relationship between the risk of T2DM and the HHEX gene variant rs7923837. Methods In this case-control study genotyping of rs7923837 of the HHEX gene was performed using the PCR-RFLP and Sanger sequencing method. Results Frequencies of GG genotype of rs7923837 polymorphism of HHEX among subjects with and without diabetes mellitus were 33.77% and 25.47% respectively. Corresponding prevalence for the AG genotype was 51.08% and 64.15% among subjects with and without diabetes mellitus respectively. The differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.08). Conclusion Our study revealed that polymorphisms rs7923837 of HHEX were not associated with T2DM.

Objective. Hepatitis is a systemic viral infection that mainly affects the liver. Transmission of hepatitis C virus through dialysis units is increasing worldwide, ranging from 5% in Western countries to 70% in some developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis B (HBV) infections among hemodialysis (HD) patients in the Sistan region. Patients and methods. In a descriptive cross-sectional study, 130 hemodialysis patients in the hemodialysis ward of the Sistan region were studied by census method. Sample information including name, sex, mortality rate, surgery, renal transplantation, underlying disease, and duration of dialysis was collected through a questionnaire. Blood samples were taken for hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C virus antibodies (Anti HCVAb) and analyzed by third-generation ELISA. Repeated positive ELISA test results of HCV, were evaluated by PCR test method. Results. Among 125 dialysis patients ranging from the age of 15 to 84 years, 15 patients (11/1%) were HBSAg positive, and 6 patients (4.4%) were HCVAb positive. All patients underwent dialysis for a minimum of two and a maximum of three sessions per week. In the year 2021, the mortality rate among dialysis patients was five. Сonclusion. The results of this study indicate the low prevalence and mortality rate of HBSAg and HCVAb among HD patients. However, the duration of dialysis can be a potential risk factor for the transmission of infectious viruses in dialysis centers. Key words: epidemiology, hemodialysis, HBV infection, HCV

Introduction: COVID-19 is an epidemic viral infection that has especially caused great concern for those with chronic diseases. Few studies have been conducted in Asian countries on the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 complications among celiac patients. This study aimed to determine the frequency, severity, and prevalence of COVID-19 complications among celiac patients in Sistan region. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 200 patients including 40 celiac patients and 160 matched controls were studied from September to October 2021. All celiac patients in our registry were contacted and a detailed questionnaire was administered to collect required data. In addition, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on patients to detect COVID-19. Recorded variables were compared between celiac patients and controls using t-test and Chi-square test. Statistical analysis was carried out using Stata 14 software. Results: Out of 200 patients, 25% of celiac patients and 18.13% of controls were infected with COVID-19. Additionally, 60% of COVID-19 infected celiac patients had severe gastrointestinal symptoms and none were hospitalized, while 31% of COVID-19 infected controls had gastrointestinal symptoms and 3.45% were hospitalized. The frequency of Marsh score above 2 was significantly lower among COVID-19 infected celiac patients compared with uninfected celiac patients. Conclusion: The presence of celiac disease posed no additional risk for COVID-19 infection in terms of prevalence and frequency. However, in comparison to the general population, celiac patients experienced more severe gastrointestinal complications when infected with COVID-19.

Background: The presence of autoantibodies is a prerequisite for the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). However, most autoantibodies are not disease-specific, and serological overlap between AIH and other chronic liver diseases is common. Since the prognostic parameters of AIH are limited, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between histopathological findings on liver biopsy with different types of autoantibodies associated with AIH and how autoantibodies can predict the severity and extent of disease. Methods: The present study was performed on 30 patients with a definite diagnosis of AIH according to the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (IAIHG) criteria. Pediatric AIH patients underwent liver tissue examinations at the time of diagnosis at accession, which confirmed characteristic histological changes. AIH-related serologic major and minor autoantibodies were measured using indirect immunofluorescence assays and ELISA kit (EUROIMMUN, Germany), respectively, and were compared within all patients, and the results were recorded. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS V25 software. Results: Out of 30 patients, 17 (56.66%) were female, and the age range of patients was 17-11 years (8.46±6.95). Anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) (73.3%), smooth muscle antibody (SMA)-anti-smooth muscle actin antibody (ASMA) (70%), perinuclear anti-neutrophilic cytoplasmic antibodies (p-ANCA) (63%), and liver kidney microsomal (LKM) (43.3%) were the most common autoantibodies found in children with AIH. There was a significant relation between the severity of histological findings and the presence of LKM antibodies (P<0.05). The highest sensitivity for predicting severe AIH based on histopathological findings was ANA autoantibody positivity and the presence of at least two primary autoantibodies (LKM and SMA-ASMA). On the other hand, positive LKM antibodies had the highest specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) in AIH severity prediction. Conclusion: The results of the present study suggested that there might be a significant correlation between the presence of primary LKM autoantibodies and biopsy results, so it can possibly act as an accurate autoantibody for predicting the severity of AIH, while other AIH-related autoantibodies did not seem to have a significant correlation with biochemical and histological findings.

The situation of Covid-19 patients with opium consumption has not been comprehensively investigated especially in Iran. This study is aimed to investigate the effect of current opium addiction on the severity and outcome of the Covid-19 infection. During a retrospective cohort study, clinical, demographic and all variables related to the severity and death due to the Corona virus infection were collected from the medical records of patients hospitalized from February 2020 to June 2021 in the study area. The role of current addiction in the severity and outcome of the disease was investigated using Cox, logistic and linear regression models. Of 939 confirmed Covid-19 cases admitted during the study period, 70 (7.5%) patients were currently addicted. Multivariate reg­ression models showed that current opium addiction significantly increased the chance of endotracheal intubation (OR=2.96, p=0.005) and reduced the mean length of stay in hospital (beta coefficient =-0.42, p0.99). Opium addiction can be associated with the severity of Covid-19 infection, but does not play a considerable role in the mortality of the patients.

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province, is a global health problem affecting about 212 countries around the world, highlighting the importance of the global recruitment of scientists to find a way for managing this burden. So far, many studies have been conducted to find a treatment for COVID-19, some of which indicated promising results. In this situation, gathering the previously published evidence may provide new hypotheses/ solutions in this regard. Based on the role of inflammation in COVID-19-related deaths, we attempted to find a rational relationship between Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling and COVID-19 and inform JAK/STAT signaling inhibitors as candidates to manage or even prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Therefore, it is hoped that the present study provides new clues about the relationship between JAK/STAT signaling and the SARS-CoV-2 infection to highlight the role of JAK/STAT inhibitors as a possible treatment for managing inflammatory situations observed in the SARS-CoV-2 infection.