Evaluation of serum levels of essential trace elements in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis before and after treatment by age and gender.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of Zinc, Copper, Iron and Copper/Zinc ratio in the serum of adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Iran. Serum levels of Zinc and Copper were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer and scrum iron concentration was measured by using an Auto Analyzer. The study group consisted of 50 pulmonary tuberculosis patients before treatment and after 6 months of anti-tubercular therapy. Levels of scrum Zn (p < 0.001) and Fe (p < 0.001) in TB patients were significantly increased after 6 months of anti-tubercular therapy. However, serum Cu concentration (p < 0.01) and Cu/Zn ratio (p < 0.05) were decreased after 6 months of anti-tubercular therapy. Some studies indicated a strong association of Zn, Cu, Fe and the Cu/Zn ratio with TB. In this study, we found remarkable change in Cu/Zn ratio. Some researchers mentioned that serum Cu/Zn ratio could be used as an important laboratory marker for diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. They also mentioned that trace element levels must be closely monitored during the process of disease.

Early detection of immunization: a study based on an animal model using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Vaccines require a period of at least three months for clinical trials, hence a method that can identify elicitation of immune response a few days after the first dose is a necessity. Evolutionary variable selections are modeling approaches for proper manipulation of available data which were used to set up an animal model for classification of time dependent 1HNMR metabolomic profiles and pattern recognition of fluctuations of metabolites in two groups of male rabbits. One group of rabbits was immunized with human red blood cells and the other used as control. Blood was obtained every 48 h from each rabbit for a period of six weeks and the serum monitored for antibodies and metabolites by 1HNMR spectra. Evaluation of data was carried out using orthogonal signal correction followed by principal component analysis and partial least square. A neural network was also set up to predict immunization profiles. A distinct separation in patterns of significant metabolites was obtained between the two groups, just a few days after the first and the second dose. These metabolites were used as targets of neural networks where each sample was used as test, validation and training and their quantitative influence predicted by regression. This model could be used for prediction of immunization in rabbits a few days after the first dose with 96% accuracy. Similar animals and human vaccine trials would assist greatly in reaching early conclusions in advance of the usual two month immunization schedule; resulting in an appreciable saving of cost and time.

Evaluation of serum levels of zinc, copper, iron, and zinc/copper ratio in cutaneous leishmaniasis.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and zinc/ copper ratio in the serum of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis in Qom Province, center of Iran. METHODS: Serum levels of zinc and copper were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer and serum iron concentration was measured by using an Auto Analyzer. The study group consisted of 60 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis and the control group of 100 healthy volunteers from the same area who were not exposed to cutaneous leishmaniasis. RESULT: There were no statistically significant differences in age and body mass index between the two groups. Serum Zn (P< 0.001) and Fe (P< 0.05) levels were lower in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis than the control group. We also found serum Cu concentration (P< 0.05) in the patient group was significantly higher than that of the control group. However, zinc/ copper ratio (P< 0.001) was lower in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis than in the control group. CONCLUSION: Our data indicated that Zn/Cu ratio was significantly lower in patients with CL as compared to the controls. Earlier reports suggest that, this ratio imbalance could be a useful marker for immune dysfunction in leishmaniasis. There was also strong association of Zn, Cu and Fe with CL. It suggests the use of blood zinc, copper, iron concentration and the copper/zinc ratio (Zn/Cu), as a means for estimating the prognosis of CL.

Seven novel point mutations in the F11 gene in Iranian FXI-deficient patients.

Factor XI (FXI) deficiency disorder is caused by defects in the F11 gene. The affected patients may suffer unexpected and major bleeding after trauma. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify the mutations underlying FXI deficiency in Iranian patients. The genetic basis of FXI deficiency was investigated in nine Iranian patients from unrelated families using conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis (CSGE) and direct sequencing. Nine different mutations were detected among which seven changes were not previously reported. Among the novel mutations, one was a point mutation that interfered with normal splicing of the mRNA; the other six changes were missense mutations that resulted in amino acid substitutions. Five mutations out of nine were heterozygous and were found in moderately affected patients, whereas the other four changes were homozygous among severely affected patients.