METHODS: A total of 648 women screened for cervicitis, intraepithelial neoplasia or CC were included in the study. All participants underwent ThinPrep cytology testing, single-step HPV DNA detection and allele-specific reverse hybridization assays. Moreover, a total of 96 specimens previously tested positive for single infection with HPV16 or 18 were included for variant analysis. HPV16/18 lineages and sublineages were determined by PCR assays followed by sequencing the E6 gene and the construction of neighbor-joining phylogenetic trees.
RESULTS: Overall, HPV DNA was detected in 62.19% of all the screened subjects. The detection rates of HPV DNA among individuals with normal, ASC-US, ASC-H, LSIL, and HSIL cervical cytology were 48.9%, 93.6%, 100%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. Low-risk HPVs were detected more frequently (46.9%) than high-risk (38.9%) and possible high-risk types (11.1%). Of 403 HPV-positive subjects, 172 (42.7%) had single HPV infections while the remaining 231 (57.3%) were infected with multiple types of HPV. Our results indicated a remarkable growth of high-risk HPV66 and 68 and low-risk HPV81 which have rarely been reported in Iran and HPV90 and 87 that are reported for the first time in the country. In addition, 3 lineages (A, D, and C) and 6 sublineages (A1, A2, A4, C1, D1, and D2) of HPV16, and one lineage and 4 sublineages (A1, A3, A4, and A5) of HPV18 were identified. The studied HPV16 and 18 variants mainly belonged to the D1 and A4 sublineages, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that the prevalence of HPV infection in women of all age groups with or without premalignant lesions in the southwestern Iran is high and the predominant HPV types in the southwest of Iran may differ from those detected in other parts of the country. This study also highlights the necessity of not only initiating HPV vaccination for the general population but also developing new vaccines that confer immunity against the prevalent HPV types in the area and national cervical screening programs using a combination of thinPrep cytology test and HPV detection assays in order to improve the accuracy of the screening.
METHODS: The proximal tibia was resected as a single osteochondral unit during total knee replacement from patients (N = 10). The osteoarthritic chondrocytes were isolated from the osteochondral units, and characterized using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The isolated osteoarthritic chondrocytes were cultured and embedded in agarose, and then subjected to 10% and 20% uniaxial dynamic compression up to 8-days using a bioreactor. The morphological features and changes in the osteoarthritic chondrocytes upon compression were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy. Safranin O was used to detect the presence of cartilage matrix proteoglycan expression while quantitative analysis was conducted by measuring type VI collagen using an immunohistochemistry and fluorescence intensity assay.
FINDINGS: Gene expression analysis indicated that the isolated osteoarthritic chondrocytes expressed chondrocyte-specific markers, including BGN, CD90 and HSPG-2. Moreover, the compressed osteoarthritic chondrocytes showed a more intense and broader deposition of proteoglycan and type VI collagen than control. The expression of type VI collagen was directly proportional to the duration of compression in which 8-days compression was significantly higher than 4-days compression. The 20% compression showed significantly higher intensity compared to 10% compression in 4- and 8-days.
INTERPRETATION: The biosynthetic activity of human chondrocytes from osteoarthritic joints can be enhanced using selected compression regimes.
METHODS: DNA samples from 92 patients and 156 healthy controls collected from two medical centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were analyzed for four regions located at X-chromosome using the Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit.
RESULTS: The results demonstrated that microvariant alleles of (DXS7132, DXS10146, HPRTB, DXS10134, and DXS10135) are overrepresented in the BPH group (p < 0.00001). Allele 28 of DXS10135 and allele 15 of DXS7423 could have a protective effect, OR 0.229 (95%CI, 0.066-0.79); and OR 0.439 (95%CI, 0.208-0.925). On the other hand, patients carrying allele 23 of DXS10079 and allele 26 of DXS10148 presented an increased risk to PrCa OR 4.714 (95%CI, 3.604-6.166).
CONCLUSION: The results are in concordance with the involvement of the X chromosome in PrCa and BPH development. STR allele studies may add further information from the definition of a genetic profile of PrCa resistance or susceptibility. As TBL1, AR, LDOC1, and RPL10 genes are located at regions Xp22.31, Xq11.2-12, Xq26.2, and Xq28, respectively, these genes could play an essential role in PrCa or BPH.
METHODS: The forehead and tympanic temperatures of 615 subjects were measured simultaneously in three exposed SARS-COV-2 groups at one hospital in Iran, during April 2020. These comparisons were evaluated by Bland-Altman Plot, repeatability, Passing-Bablok regression and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was done to describe the discrimination accuracy of a diagnostic test. The study adhered to STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies.
RESULTS: A Bland-Altman plot indicated that the limits of agreement between the forehead and tympanic temperature were -0.259 to +0.19°C. Passing-Bablok regression analysis illustrated that the infrared forehead was not linearly related to tympanic temperatures (reference method), with a slope estimate that was significantly different from 1.00. The infrared forehead thermometer showed poor precision and lower accuracy than the tympanic. The forehead temperature readings had 60.0% sensitivity and 44.4% specificity (p > .05) to predict disease.
CONCLUSION: According to the results of study, there is no evidence that the assessment of temperature by infrared forehead thermometer could discriminate between the two groups (positive and negative).