Evaluation of the Persian Transcript of the COPD Assessment Test in the Measurement of COPD Health Status in Iranian COPD Patients.

AIM: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a completely irreversible obstructive airway disease. The COPD assessment test (CAT) is one of the standard methods for the clinical assessment of the disease, which is translated into Persian. This study investigated the reliability of the test and its relationship with the severity of the disease. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 120 patients filled out the Persian transcript of the test. After two weeks, the patients filled out the CAT test again. Obstruction severity was determined for all the patients using spirometry, and the patients were categorized into four groups according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease criteria. The relationship between the test scores and the disease severity wan validated. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 51.5 years. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the Persian transcript of the test was 0.872 in the first time, and 0.885 in the second time. Intragroup reliability, test re-test and intragroup correlations were significant for all the questions (<0.001). The relationship between the test mean score and obstruction severity was significant, and the correlation between disease categorization in accordance with obstruction severity and categorization according to the test score was significant as well. CONCLUSION: The Persian transcript of the assessment test for COPD was reliable and is directly related to the disease severity according to airflow limitation.

Effects of Vitamin D Intake on FEV1 and COPD Exacerbation: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study.

AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of vitamin D intake on COPD exacerbation and FEV1 in the patients with severe and very severe COPD. METHODS: This double blind placebo control randomized clinical trial study was done in the Ashayer university hospital in Khorramabad in 2012. Eighty eight patients with severe and very severe COPD were randomly selected from those who recoursed to the internal medicine clinic of Ashayer hospital. They were randomly allocated to case and placebo group. The patients received routine treatment for COPD. Along with the routine treatment, placebo group received 100,000 IU of oral vitamin D per month, for 6 months. Data was analyzed using SPSS computer software, paired t-test, independent t-test, non parametric t-test and Pearson correlation coefficients. RESULTS: In each group, there were 44 patients. After the intervention, there were significant differences in FEV1 and the number of COPD exacerbation between the case and control group patients. Also, after the study, in the case group, FEV1 was increased and the number of COPD exacerbation was decreased significantly. CONCLUSION: Vitamin D intake decreased COPD exacerbation and improved FEV1 in the patients with severe and very severe COPD. It is suggested that baseline serum vitamin D levels will recorded in similar studies and the effect of vitamin D intake will evaluated regarding the baseline serum vitamin D levels.

Association of KIR3DS1+HLA-B Bw4Ile80 combination with susceptibility to tuberculosis in Lur population of Iran.

BACKGROUND: Natural killer (NK) cells are the effector cells of innate immunity that respond to infection and tumor. Interactions between killer cell immunoglobulin like receptors (KIR) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules regulate NK cells responses to eliminate infected and transformed cells. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of KIR genes, HLA ligand genes, and KIR-HLA combinations on susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB) in Lur population of Iran. METHODS: The genomic DNA of 50 patients with TB from Lorestan province of Iran was genotyped for sixteen KIR genes and their five major HLA class I ligands were determined by a polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) assay. The results were compared with those of 200 healthy unrelated Iranian individuals. RESULTS: In Lur population of Iran, a significant decrease in frequency of KIR3DS1 was found in TB patients compared to control group (24% vs. 44.5%, OR=0.394, CI=0.194-0.798, p=0.013). Also, among the three activating genes that may use HLA class I molecules as their ligands, a significant decrease was shown in frequency of KIR3DS1 with HLA-B Bw4Ile80 ligand in TB patients compared to control group (4% vs. 23%, OR=0.14, CI=0.033-0.596, p=0.004). CONCLUSION: These findings imply a genetic imbalance between activating and inhibitory KIR genes and KIR-HLA combinations in Lur TB patients. Low level of activating KIR3DS1 and its combination with HLA-B Bw4Ile80 ligand might have an influence on the susceptibility to TB in Lur population of Iran.