The Cost Analysis of Patients with Traffic Traumatic Injuries Presenting to Emergency Department; a Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Road traffic traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death especially among young men who are mostly vulnerable victims. This catastrophe is more complicated in low to middle income countries. Objective: This study assessed the financial costs of traffic casualties in Iran. Method: One thousand trauma patients presenting to the emergency department of Shohaday-e-Tajrish Hospital were included in the study. The prehospital and hospital costs as well as the expenses of physiotherapy, rehabilitation, outpatient visits and further surgical interventions were considered as direct expenses. The costs of productivity loss were estimated as indirect expenses. Results: The direct and indirect costs were assessed 27.4% and 72.6% of total, respectively. The mean age of permanent disability was 43 years old. The average expenses of temporary and permanent disabilities were 2934.4 million rials (nearly 4.2 million rials per patient) and 23.9 billion rials (1.1 billion rials per person), respectively. Conclusion: The national burden of traffic injuries in Iran is significantly destructive as it consists of 2.19 % of Gross Domestic Product annually. Besides, young men are involved in most of the traffic accidents representing the need to establish rigorous preventive instructions and reduce human, and financial costs

High Frequency of Class 2 and 3 Integrons Related to Drug-Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Diarrheagenic E. coli in Iran

Background: Integrons are mobile genetic elements able to obtain the antibiotic resistance gene cassettes. The prevalence of integrons in the Enterobacteriaceae family has been varied and played an important role in the development of the drug resistant bacteria. The present study aimed to investigate the contribution of class 2 and 3 integrons in drug resistant Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli strains.Materials and Methods: The 164 Diarrheagenic E. coli collected from feces samples of children in the Yasuj –Iran and all isolates were identified by standard biochemical tests. The antimicrobial susceptibility for 14 antibiotics, which are used conventionally was determined by disk diffusion. The presence of class 2 and 3 integrons in all isolates was investigated by PCR.Results: Of 164 E. coli isolates from children, 80.49% carried class 2 integron and the length of the amplicons ranged from 800 bp to 2 kb. Class 3 integrons were identified among 24 E. coli isolates. All the E.coli isolates were susceptible to imipenem and the greatest resistance was correspondent to nalidixic acid. A significant correlation was revealed between Class 2 integron and resistance to kanamycin, amikacin, gentamicin, ceftazidime, chloramphenicol and cephalexin. The presence of class 3 integron was significantly associated with resistance to ampicillin, gentamicin, streptomycin, kanamycin, tetracycline and trimetoprime-sulfametoxazol.Conclusion: The results indicated that integrons are widespread in Diarrheagenic E. coli and its carriage contributed significantly to the emergence of resistance among Diarrheagenic E. coli. However, factors leading to the wide spread of integrons are still to be determined.

The Cost Analysis of Patients with Traffic Traumatic Injuries Presenting to Emergency Department; a Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Road traffic traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death especially among young men who are mostly vulnerable victims. This catastrophe is more complicated in low to middle income countries. Objective: This study assessed the financial costs of traffic casualties in Iran. Method: One thousand trauma patients presenting to the emergency department of Shohaday-e-Tajrish Hospital were included in the study. The prehospital and hospital costs as well as the expenses of physiotherapy, rehabilitation, outpatient visits and further surgical interventions were considered as direct expenses. The costs of productivity loss were estimated as indirect expenses. Results: The direct and indirect costs were assessed 27.4% and 72.6% of total, respectively. The mean age of permanent disability was 43 years old. The average expenses of temporary and permanent disabilities were 2934.4 million rials (nearly 4.2 million rials per patient) and 23.9 billion rials (1.1 billion rials per person), respectively. Conclusion: The national burden of traffic injuries in Iran is significantly destructive as it consists of 2.19 % of Gross Domestic Product annually. Besides, young men are involved in most of the traffic accidents representing the need to establish rigorous preventive instructions and reduce human, and financial costs

Caffeine as A Catalyst for A Four-Component Synthesis of Dihydropyrano [2, 3-C]Pyrazoles in Water

We describe a one-pot four component synthesis of pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles from hydrazine hydrate or phenyl hydrazine, ethyl acetoacetate, an aldehyde, and malononitrile in the presence of catalytic amounts of a caffeine as a green catalyst in water at 50 ºC. The present protocol offers the advantages of a clean reaction, a short reaction time, a high product yield, and an environmentally-friendly, easily-purified, and economically-available catalyst

GENERATION OF DIVALENT DNA VACCINE BASED ON p39 AND shiga-like toxin 2 (stx2) GENES

The virulence factors such as shiga-like toxin (Stx) and immunogenic P39 protein in Escherichia coli and Brucella melitensis are related to disease of digestive system in human worldwide. In the present study the stx2 and p39 genes were cloned into expression plasmid pEEF1D-FLAG (pcDNA 3.1(+)) as a divalent DNA vaccine candidate. The Enterohemorrhagic E. coli ATCC 3081 and smooth virulent B. melitensis strain M5 were obtained and cultured on specific media. Bacterial DNA was extracted from colonies and was used for p39 and stx2 genes amplification by PCR. The amplified products on 2% agarose gel electrophoresis were revealed 285 and 1220 bp fragments for stx2 and p39 genes, respectively. Each amplified genes were T/A cloned into pGEMT easy vector and pGEM-T-stx2 and pGEM-T-p39 were produced. The stx2 and p39 genes were sub-cloned in linearized expression vector (pcDNA 3.1(+)) using HindIII, XhoI and XbaI restriction enzymes and pCDNA3-stx2-p39 was generated. This final construct was confirmed by PCR and enzymes digestion. The results were showed stx2 and p39 genes were sub-cloned, successfully into pcDNA 3.1(+) to generate pcDNA 3.1(+)-stx2-p39 recombinant vector. According to these findings novel recombinant pcDNA 3.1(+)-stx2-p39 construct that was produced in this study could be useful as DNA vaccine candidate in animal models against shiga-like toxin producing E. coli and virulence B. melitensis strains in future studies

The effects of pBudCE4.1-azurin-MAM-A recombinant vector on IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, and IL-10 expressions in laboratory mice

Background and aims: Breast cancer is one of the most common types of malignancy in women with morbidity and mortality (15.0%) in the world. The antitumor activity of azurin protein produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been described before. Mammaglobin-A (MAM-A) protein is especially expressed in 40%-80% of breast cancer types and this protein is a very specific molecular marker for stimulating the immune system. Accordingly, this study investigated the effects of pBudCE4.1-azurin-MAM-A recombinant vector on the induction of the immune system in laboratory mice by the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Methods: The pBudCE4.1-azurin-MAM-A recombinant and empty vectors were purchased and then separately transformed into Escherichia coli for multiplying. Next, each plasmid was extracted and the accuracy of transformation was confirmed by the PCR. These recombinant and empty (control) vectors were separately infused into the thigh muscle of the animals and the healthy group was infused with phosphatebuffered saline. The infusion sites, blood specimens, as well as the serum of the animals were collected and examined by serological and molecular tests. Results: Molecular and serological studies showed that the serum and expression levels of IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, and IL-10 in infused mice with pBudCE4.1-azurin-MAM-A recombinant vector significantly increased compared to healthy animals and injected mice with an empty vector (P<0.05). Conclusion: In general, the findings revealed that the pBudCE4.1-azurin-MAM-A recombinant vector can stimulate the immune system of the mouse by an increase in the expression levels of IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, and IL-10. Thus, it would be better to examine the effects of this recombinant vector as a DNA vaccine on the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Keywords: Azurin, MAM-A, Recombinant vector, Breast cance

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii from Native Cattle in Southwest of Iran

Abstract: Infections by protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii are prevalent worldwide in animals and human. T. gondii is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, one of the most prevalent parasitic infections to humans and domestic animals. If first be during pregnancy, T. gondii may be transferred vertically by tachyzoites that are passed to the embryo via the placenta. T. gondii may be transmitted horizontally in three phases of the life cycle, ingesting infectious oocysts from the environment or tissue cysts or tachyzoites which are contained in gastrointestinal of many different animals. Transmission may also occur via tachyzoites contained in blood products, texture transplants or non-pasteurized milk. Like rest of the world toxoplasmosis is prevalent in Iran. The present study aimed to determine T. gondii isolates from native cattle in Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari province located in south west of Iran by molecular methods. In this study, 155 blood samples were collected from native cattle. Genomic DNA was extracted using DNA extraction Kit (Cinna Gen, Iran) according to the manufacturer protocol and PCR was performed using specific primers (ITS-F and ITS-R). Sixteen (6.95%) cattle were positive to T. gondii infection. The positive control samples showed the excepted amplification product specific for T. gondii (171 bp). Although the present results showed relatively low prevalence of T.gondii infection in Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari native cattle, control and eradication programs seem to be still necessary to prevent the prevalence of this infection factor and economic losses

Prevalence of aadA1, aadA2, aadB, strA and strB genes and their associations with multidrug resistance phenotype in Salmonella Typhimurium isolated from poultry carcasses

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance genes in S. Typhimurium isolated from poultry carcasses in Iran, and to reveal the most prevalent patterns of antimicrobial resistance. A total number of 300 samples of poultry carcasses were analyzed. Salmonella was isolated from 245 samples (81.66%). Multiplex PCR showed that 56.3% of the samples belonged to serovar S. Typhimurium and the remainder (43.6%) contained the rest of serovars. The highest rate of drug resistance was observed for tetracycline (97.0%), nalidixic acid (87.0%) and amoxicillinclavulanic acid (67.4%). These serovars, however, were sensitive to cefotaxime (84.8%), sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim (77.6%) and gentamicin (71.0%). aadA1 gene was detected in 63 isolates (45.6%), aadA2 in 48 isolates (34.7%), aadB in 43 isolates (31.1%), strA in 52 isolates (37.6%) and strB in 31 isolates (22.4%). High prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance genes in S. Typhimurium was shown. Furthermore, there was a significant association (P < 0.02) between the presence of aadA1, aadA2, strA and strB genes and resistance to streptomycin. Also, there was a significant association (P < 0.001) between the presence of aadB gene and resistance to kanamycin and gentamicin

Genetic analysis of cagA and vacA genes in helicobacter pylori isolates and their relationship with gastroduodenal diseases in the west of Iran

Background: Helicobacter pylori have different virulence factors which are associated with several gastroduodenal diseases; however, this association is variable in different geographical regions. Data of genotypes of Iranian H. pylori isolates are few. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to investigate the cagA/vacA genotypes of Helicobacter pylori isolates and determine the relationship between these genotypes with respect to different gastric disorders in patients of Chaharmahalo Bakhtiarian. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, gastric biopsies were taken from 200 patients with gastrodoudenal diseases. Histopathological features were recognized by specialist. The samples were subjected to PCR for detection and identification of ureC, cagA and vacA genes. Results: The frequency of the vacA genotypes, sa1/m1, s1a/m1b, s1a/m2, s1b/m1a, s1b/m1b, s1b/m2, s1c/m1a, s1c/m1b, s1c/m2, s2/m1a, s2/m1b and s2/ m2 were 27(6.6%), 8(4.3%), 45(28.04%), 7(3.7%), 5(2.5%), 10 (6.1%), 12 (7.4%), 4 (2.5%), 18(11%), 6(3.7%), 0 and 22(13.5%) respectively. The cagA gene was detected in 92% of strains. Based on our findings, it seemed that cagPAI and vacA s1 genotypes were associated with some gastric disorders in patients with H. pylori. In this region, the isolates carrying s1a/m2 were the most prevalent. Conclusions: We found considerable relationship between s1a/m1a, s1a/m2, s2/m2 and s1c/m1a and some gastric disorders. Further studies about the role of H. pylori virulence factors and gastric disorders were recommended. © 2013, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal