J Res Med Sci
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The monitoring of reproduction number over time provides feedback on the effectiveness of interventions and on the need to intensify control efforts. Hence, we aimed to compute basic (R0) and real-time (Rt) reproduction number and predict the trend and the size of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the center of Iran. ⋯ Based on the real-time data extracted from the center of Iran, Rt has been decreasing substantially since the beginning of the epidemic, and it is expected to remain almost constant or continue to decline slightly in the next 30 days, which is consequence of the schools and universities shutting down, reduction of working hours, mass screening, and social distancing.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a deadly malignancy of the liver, is considered the third leading reason behind cancer deaths. It is more frequent in men than in women of ages above 50. Liver disease, leading to liver cirrhosis (LC), is mostly caused by alcoholism abuse, reaction diseases of the liver, or viral hepatitis B or C infection. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is considered an effective pro-inflammatory cytokine, which plays a crucial role in the host defense mechanism. Its level is higher in HCC patients than in LC cases, indicating that tumor cells increase the production of cytokines. The X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) gene is a major DNA repair gene. It acts as a scaffold of various activities that are concerned in the repairing method by interacting with components of base excision repair. This study aims to measure the serum concentrations of IL6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) and investigate whether XRCC1 Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln polymorphisms are related to HCC disease. ⋯ Arg/Gln, Arg/Trp, Gln/Gln, and Trp/Trp genotypes are associated with higher risk HCC than the Arg/Arg genotype.
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Drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is a global health problem since its ability to acquire new resistance mechanisms. Here, we aimed to determine the association of common types of A. baumannii and assess their drug resistance of A. baumannii and contribution of integrons (Ints) and oxacillinase genes in Zanjan, Iran. ⋯ The studied A. baumannii strains had several resistance genes, and the colistin resistance showed an extraordinary ascending tendency that could be a severe issue in nosocomial infections, and the presence of high genetic diversity indicated a variation in A. baumannii strains and possibly a variety of sources of contamination or infection.
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Identification of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection is important in kidney transplant candidates. Due to the absence of a gold standard, both tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are used to screen patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement of these two tests in patients undergoing renal transplantation. ⋯ TST or IGRA can be used to screen TB in kidney transplant candidates with a moderate agreement. However, we suggest using both TST and QFT-G in diabetics, re-transplant candidates, and those on dialysis for >1 year.
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The current study was performed to compare susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods of T2-weighted (T2W) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging in multiple sclerosis (MS) plaque assessment. ⋯ The results of the present study indicated that SWI and conventional MRI sequences have similar efficiency for plaque assessment in MS patients.