The comparison of IL-17 levels in patients with unstable angina before and after medical treatment.

BACKGROUND: Interleukin (IL)-17 plays a central role in orchestrating the cytokine cascade and accelerates atherosclerosis and plaque vulnerability in animal models. However, epidemiological data evaluating the role of IL-17 levels in unstable angina are lacking. The aim of our study is to evaluate and compare the IL-17 levels in unstable angina (UA) cases before and after treatment. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed from July to October 2018 in Ali Iben-abitaleb heart center, Zahedan, Iran. 48 patients with UA in the age range of below 50 years entered the study. All demographic, past medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG), and transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) data were collected. Serum level of IL-17 was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. In all the tests, P< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. All data analyses were performed using the SPSS 13.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). RESULTS: In this study, 48 UA patients, including 34 women and 16 men with a mean age of 56.60 years were included in the study. The mean serum level of interleukin 17 after treatment (65.13 ± 53.29 pg/dl) was significantly lower than Its level before treatment (94.89 ± 51.25 pg/dL) (P< 0/05). CONCLUSION: Our findings point towards a role of inflammation in the form of increased activity of IL-17 in UA patients and thus suggest that IL-17-driven inflammation may play a role in the promotion of clinical instability in patients with coronary artery disease.

Cohort of Iranian Patients with Congenital Agammaglobulinemia: Mutation Analysis and Novel Gene Defects.

OBJECTIVES: Impairment in early B-cell development can cause a predominantly antibody deficiency with severe depletion of peripheral B-cells. Mutations in the gene encoding for Bruton's-tyrosine-kinase (BTK) and the components of the pre-B-cell receptor complex or downstream signaling molecules have been related to this defect in patients with agammaglobulinemia. METHODS: Iranian patients with congenital agammaglobulinemia were included and the correlation between disease-causing mutations and parameters such as clinical and immunologic phenotypes were evaluated in available patients. RESULTS: Out of 87 patients, a molecular investigation was performed on 51 patients leading to identification of 39 cases with BTK (1 novel mutation), 5 cases of µ-heavy chain (3 novel mutations) and 1 case of Igα-deficiencies. CONCLUSION: Although there is no comprehensive correlation between type of responsible BTK mutation and severity of clinical phenotype, our data suggest that BTK-deficient and autosomal recessive agammaglobulinemia patients differ significantly regarding clinical/immunologic characteristics.

A six-year study on Vibrio cholerae in southeastern Iran.

Cholera continues to be an important public health problem among many poorer communities. In order to determine the epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae in southeastern Iran, 3,594 patients with watery diarrhea, who were referred to the hospitals from Zabol city and 45 neighboring rural populations of Sistan-Blouchestan province, were investigated over a period of 6 years (1997 - 2002). V. cholerae strains were isolated from 362 samples (10.07%). Isolation of V. cholerae in this sample decreased from 22.47% in 1997 to 0% in 2002. Individuals of all ages and social and economic strata were affected. Among the patients with cholera in the present study, only 24 (6.6%) lived in an urban area; 270 (74.6%) of the patients had been referred from rural areas, and the remaining 68 (18.8%) were from neighboring Afghanistan. V. cholerae O1 Ogawa and NAG vibrios were found in 92.8 and 7.2% of patients, respectively. Among the 362 samples, 244 were collected from inpatients and 118 were from outpatients. Twelve of these patients died because of the severity of their disease, severe dehydration and electrolytes imbalance. The priorities for cholera control remain public health interventions through improved water and sanitation, improved surveillance and access to health care facilities, and further development of appropriate vaccines.