Do genetic factors predispose people to COVID-19: A review article

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a threat to human life and society. Scientists and clinicians are struggling with the intrusive SARS-CoV-2 virus to enhance their knowledge about its pathogenesis and find an effective medicine and vaccine to combat its complications. Till now, they have learned that this SARS-CoV-2 has not infected all people exposed to this virus, and also severe respiratory illnesses have not been observed in all infected patients. Patients over 65 or with underlying diseases are more vulnerable to develop severe disease. Based on this premise, a high challengeable question is why some people are more susceptible to this virus and others are not. The present study was aimed to reviewthe current information which explains the broad spectrum of COVID-19 presentation.Herewe discussed that how genetic background, immune system, underlying disease, smokingstatus as well as age, race, and gender affect COVID-19 susceptibility

The Prevalence of Shiga toxin-1 in non-Shigella dysenteriae isolates collected from diarrhea samples in patients, Ahvaz, Iran

BACKGROUND: Acute diarrhea is a major public health problem particularly in developing countries. Shigellosis is one of the substantial causative agents of microbial dysentery and still has a remarkable prevalence particularly in areas with poor hygienic infrastructures. The probable existence of the deadly Shiga toxin (Stx) protein in some Shigella strains would manifest life-threatening clinical symptoms of the infection. METHODS: The aim of this study was to determine the presence of Shigella toxin 1 (Stx1) in isolated from patients with diarrhea. Totally, 227 Shigella species including 60 S. flexneri, 157 S. sonnei, and 10 S. boydii were collected from diarrheal patients in tropical infectious diseases research center of Ahvaz, Iran, during 2013-2015. The isolates were collected mostly from the intensive care unit, infectious disease, and surgery settings. The isolates were identified and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect the stx gene. RESULTS: The results indicated that none of them encode the stx1 gene. CONCLUSION: Isolates of this study were not capable of stx1 encoding. Future investigations should consider the relations between other Shigella species and Shigella toxin in Iran

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 chemosensitizes pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma through its death receptor

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal human malignancies. Gemcitabine and doxorubicin are commonly used as the chemotherapy agents, but most of PDAC tumors eventually acquired resistance to chemotherapy. Accumulating evidence indicates that Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) plays a key role against tumor growth but its expression has commonly suppressed. The present study was designed to evaluate IGFBP-3 effects in chemotherapy sensitization of PDAC cells. Here, we report that the re-sensitization of chemoresistant PDAC cells was occurred by IGFBP-3 through recruitment of its death receptor (IGFBP-3R). Using gemcitabine, doxorubicin-resistant PDAC cell lines, we found that IGFBP-3 sensitized chemoresistant cells by activating apoptosis (as evaluated by Bax up-regulation, Bcl-2 down-regulation as well as Caspase-3 and Caspase 8 activation). IGFBP-3R was also found to have higher expression level in resistant AsPc-1 and MIA PaCa-2 cells in comparison to parental cells. IGFBP-3R was also highly expressed in PDAC tumor which exposed to chemotherapy in comparison to un-treated PDAC tumors. In addition, we confirmed our finding by using specific siRNA to knocking down of IGFBP-3R which prevents IGFBP-3 Chemosensitization. Taken together, the present study for the first time indicates the clinical relevance for combining IGFBP-3 with chemotherapy to reduce chemoresistance in PDAC

Antimicrobial resistance and genetic analysis of multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

Background: The resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains to antibiotics is an important challenge for human health. The objective of this study was to detect multiple drug resistance in K. pneumoniae isolates multiple drug resistance. Methods: Overall, 70 isolates of K. pneumonia were isolated from teaching hospitals of Tehran, Iran. Disc diffusion used to determine the drug resistance pattern and then resistance genes were investigated by PCR method. Finally, the PFGE method used to type 40 isolates. Results: The result of antibiotic resistance showed that 97.5, 95, 100, 97.5, 100, 90, 100, 100 isolates were resistant to gentamicin, tobramycin, kanamycin, amikacin, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, and imipenem, respectively. The highest frequency was observed for the qnrB gene (92.5) and apha6 (12.5), and the least frequent was IMP (7/5), qnrS (5), aadB (2.5) and aaCc1 (2.5). In the typing of 40 isolates, 29 different patterns of pulsotypes were observed. Of which 21 isolates had its own unique pattern, while the rest of them had 8 pulsotypes. Conclusion: The isolates of the current study were mostly multidrug resistance. The pulsotypes patterns were also unexpectedly different and a significant clonal association between the K. pneumoniae isolates have not been observed

The key role of Akt protein kinase in metabolic-inflammatory pathways cross-talk: TNF-alpha down-regulation and improving of insulin resistance in HepG2 cell line

BACKGROUND: Elevation of plasma free fatty acids as a principal aspect of type 2 diabetes maintains etiologically insulin insensitivity in target cells. TNF-alpha inhibitory effects on key insulin signaling pathway elements remain to be verified in insulin-resistant hepatic cells. Thus, TNF-alpha knockdown effects on the key elements of insulin signaling were investigated in the palmitate-induced insulin-resistant hepatocytes. The Akt serine kinase, a key protein of the insulin signaling pathway, phosphorylation was monitored to understand the TNF-alpha effect on probable enhancing of insulin resistance. METHODS: Insulin-resistant HepG2 cells were produced using 0.5 mM palmitate treatment and shRNA-mediated TNF-alpha gene knockdown and its down-regulation confirmed using ELISA technique. Western blotting analysis used to assess the Akt protein phosphorylation status. RESULTS: Palmitate-induced insulin resistance caused TNF-alpha protein overexpression 1.2-, 2.78, and 2.25- fold as compared to the control cells at post-treatment times of 8 h, 16 h, and 24 h, respectively. In the presence of palmitate, TNF-alpha expression showed around 30 reduction in TNF-alpha knockdown cells as compared to normal cells. In the TNF-alpha down-regulated cell, Akt phosphorylation was approximately 62 more than control cells after treatment with 100 nM insulin in conjugation with 0.5 mM palmitate. CONCLUSIONS: The obtained data demonstrated that TNF-alpha protein expression reduction improved insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation in the HepG2 cells and decreased lipid-induced insulin resistance of the diabetic hepatocytes

Case series of four pregnant women with COVID-19 in Ilam, Iran

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has quickly become the most important health burden globally as a result of the pandemic. Pregnant women are considered to be in a high-risk group because COVID-19 infection in this group may result in extensive damage. We aimed to describe COVID-19 infections in four pregnant women in Ilam, Iran. All had positive results first by real-time PCR, then by computed tomographic scan. All of these patients were hospitalized, and all of them were treated successfully. This study showed that although pregnant women are at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection, they can be treated successfully. It also demonstrated that receiving care and treatment at the hospital can be a good experience for pregnant women

Report of five nurses infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 during patient care: case series

The high prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has received much attention all over the world. Nurses are in the first line of defence against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and are placed in a high-risk situation. This study aimed to report on infection with SARS-CoV-2 during patient care among nures in the Mostafa Khomini Hospital, Ilam, Iran. In this hospital 125 nurses were enrolled in the COVID-19 centre. Five out of 125 nurses (4) who enrolled in the COVID-19 infection centre, developed COVID-19. They were first positive by real-time PCR but the CT scan was positive for only one of them. None of the infected nurses were hospitalized and all of them preferred to quarantine at home and receive the necessary care and treatment (oseltamivir, azithromycin and lopinavir/ritonavir). This study showed that, regardless of self caring, the nurses were exposed to the virus, because at the start of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Iran, there was no special protection against this infection, so the nurses were placed at risk. This study also reported that receiving the necessary care and treatment at home was a good experience for nurses and can be used in some cases. © 2020 The Author(s

ThecagAEPIYA Motifs andvacAGenotypes in Upper Gastrointestinal Diseases

Background:Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) is the causative agent for upper gastrointestinal diseases. The presence of thecagA, at least with one repeat of EPIYA-C, and thevacAwith s1-i1 polymorphisms are likely to be associated with increased gastric cancer risk.Aim:The aim of study was to determine the genotype ofcagAandvacAand their usefulness as a predictive factor in upper gastrointestinal patients in Ilam, Iran.Methods:In this study, out of 168 biopsies, 109H. pyloriwere isolated from different upper gastrointestinal patients and confirmed with molecular and biochemical tests. Chromosomal DNA bacteria was extracted and used as PCR templete to determine both thecagAEPIYA motifs andvacApolymorphism (s, i and m).Results:Our data showed that the prevalence ofcagAgene is high in patients with gastrointestinal diseases (76.1). The prevalence ofvacAs1 was the highest with the percentage frequency of 85.3, followed by i (71.5) and m (68.8). We demonstrated that the percentage of A, B, AB, AC, ABC and ABCC were 28.9 (24/83), 3.6 (3/83), 28.9 (24/83), 12.04 (10/83), 16.8 (14/83) and 9.6 (8/83), respectively. Interestingly, there was an important difference of the presence of EPIYA-C motif between PUD and gastritis groups (P< 0.001). There was a significant relationship between the presence ofvacAi and EPIYA-C, at least with one repeat (P= 0.002).Conclusions:We performed the firstcagA-EPIYA andvacAgenotyping ofH. pylorifrom Western Iran in relation to gasteroduodenal diseases. The present study showed that the presence ofvacAi1 withcagA-EPIYA-C could be assumed as a predictive factor for PUD in our area

Association between ABCC8 Ala1369Ser Polymorphism (rs757110 T/G) and Type 2 Diabetes risk in an Iranian population: A Case-Control Study

OBJECTIVE: Glucose metabolism increases ATP/ADP ratio within the beta-cells and causes ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channel closure and consequently insulin secretion. The enhanced activity of the channel may be a mechanism contributing to the reduced first-phase of insulin secretion observed in T2DM. There is no study to date in the Kurdish ethnic group regarding the relationship between SNP Ala1369Ser (rs757110 T/G) of SUR1 gene and T2DM, and additionally, the results of this association in other populations are inconsistent. Therefore, our aim in this study was to explore the possible association between SNP Ala1369Ser and type 2 diabetes in an Iranian Kurdish ethnic group. METHODS: In this study, we checked out the frequency of alleles and genotypes of SNP Ala1369Ser in T2DM individuals (207 patients; men/women: 106/101) and non-T2DM subjects (201 controls; men/women: 97/104), and their effects on anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical parameters. Genomic DNA was extracted from the leukocytes of blood specimens using a standard method. We amplified the ABCC8 rs757110 polymorphic site (T/G) using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and a designed primer pair. To perform the PCR-RFLP method, the amplicons were subjected to restriction enzymes and the resulting fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: The frequency of the G-allele of Ala1369Ser polymorphism was significantly (0.01) higher in the case group than the control group (19 vs. 9, respectively). In the dominant model (TT vs. TG+GG), there was a significant relationship between this SNP and an increased risk of T2DM (P = 0.00). T2DM patients with TG+GG genotypes had significantly higher fasting plasma insulin and HOMA-IR than those who had the TT genotype (P = 0.02 and 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first study to investigate the association between Ala1369Ser ABCC8 genetic variation and T2DM in the Kurdish population of western Iran. The obtained results clearly show that Ala1369Ser polymorphism of ABCC8 is associated with an increased risk of T2DM in this population