Twenty-first century progress-the nationalistic movements of the Kurds towards independence

Ethno-nationalism is nationalism connected to ethnicity. Nationalism can be based on geographical boundaries, or a community. An ethno-nationalism is based on connecting a community to their common origins as one ethnic group, and includes a common language, race, faith and cultural inheritance. Ethnicity combines tribe, occupation, ideology, class and region. An inclination towards tribal supremacy is a classic feature of ethno-nationalism. Twenty-first century nationalisms and ethno-nationalisms are present in many continents. One political movement in the Middle East is Kurdish nationalism, a nation deserving of a sovereign homeland and the largest ethnic stateless group. This could be why though many Kurdish national parties agenda is bringing forth a land of Kurds -Kurdistan -tribal thinking, and internal squabbles are limiting factors. This article explores political aspects of Kurds for autonomy in the twenty-first century

Performance of Wayne assay for detection of pyrazinamide resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a meta-analysis study

Conventional culture-based drug susceptibility testing (DST) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to pyrazinamide (PZA) is time-consuming and difficult to perform. The current systematic review and meta-analysis was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Wayne assay against culture-based DSTs as the reference standard. We searched the MEDLINE/Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for the relevant records. The QUADAS-2 tool was used to assess the quality of the studies. Diagnostic accuracy measures (i.e., sensitivity and specificity) were pooled with a random-effects model. Statistical analyses were performed with STATA (version 14, Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA), RevMan (version 5.3; The Nordic Cochrane Centre, the Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark), and Meta-DiSc (version 1.4, Cochrane Colloquium, Barcelona, Spain). A total of 31 articles comprising data for 2457 isolates of M. tuberculosis were included in the final analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of the Wayne assay against all reference tests (the combination of BACTEC MGIT 960, BACTEC 460, and proportion method) were 86.6% (95% CI: 84.3-88.7) and 96.0% (95% CI: 94.8-97). The positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and the area under the curve (AUC) estimates were found to be 17.6 (95% CI: 10.5-29.3), 0.11 (95% CI: 0.06-0.20), 164 (95% CI: 83-320) and 97%, respectively. Deek's test result indicated no evidence for publication bias (P > 0.05).Although the current study shows that the Wayne test is sensitive and specific for detecting PZA resistance, it may be used in combination with conventional DSTs to diagnose PZA resistance accurately

Colonic mucosal infiltration of igg4 plasma cells and ulcerative colitis: Determinant of presence, activity, extension, and duration of disease

BACKGROUND Infiltration of IgG4 positive plasma cells has been detected in the colonic mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of the study was to investigate the association between colonic mucosal infiltration of IgG4 plasma cells and the presence, activity, extension, and duration of UC. METHODS In this case-control study (2009-2014), 102 subjects (84 with UC/18 controls) were enrolled. Clinical records and rectosigmoid biopsies of UC patients were selected, and biopsies were stained with IgG4 monoclonal antibodies. IgG4 positive plasma cells were counted by a single pathologist. RESULTS Amongst 84 patients with UC, 73.8 had UC without primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and 26.2 had UC with PSC. IgG4 plasma cells were seen in 35 (41.7) patients with UC and 0 of controls (p = 0.001). The mean amount of IgG4 containing plasma cells was significantly different between active and inactive patients with UC, although it was not significantly different between UC patients with and without PSC. The presence of IgG4 infiltration was significantly associated with the extension and duration of the disease. Furthermore, IgG4 count had a sensitivity/specificity of 78.6/83.3 for the diagnosis of UC. CONCLUSION Our study revealed the diagnostic role of IgG4 plasma cells in the colonic mucosa of patients with UC and its association with activity, extension, and duration of disease. © 2021 The Author(s)

Prevalence and Mechanisms of Carbapenem Resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies from Iran

Introduction: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) represents an urgent threat worldwide. We aimed to investigate the frequency of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in Iran. Materials and Methods: PubMed/Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and Iranian databases were searched to find potentially relevant articles. Statistical analyses were performed using STATA version 14. Results: Forty-nine studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The pooled rates of resistance to carbapenem in K. pneumoniae and E. coli were 24.0 (95 confidence interval CI 18.0-31.0) and 5.0% (95% CI 2.0-8.0), respectively. blaOXA-48 gene was the most common cause of carbapenem resistance in K. pneumoniae and E. coli. Conclusions: CRE is prevalent in Iran, which confers the importance of strength prevention and control measures. © 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2020