The Association of Serum Vitamin D Levels and Short Term and 6-month Outcomes among Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Introduction: vitamin D affects the function of most of the cells in the body, including myocytes and endothelial cells, and also affects platelet function. This study aims to evaluate the relation between vitamin D deficiency and in-hospital and 6-month outcomes of patients with the acute coronary syndrome.Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of patients admitted to Mousavi hospital with the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. A venous blood sample obtained from patients at the time of admission and 25-hydroxyvitamin D, lipid profile, and hs-troponin-I levels were measured. After coronary angiography, the severity of the coronary artery stenosis was calculated by the syntax score. Patients also evaluated in-hospital outcomes and even followed up for 6-month results.Results: Totally, 204 patients were included in the study. The mean ± SD of age was 60 ± 11.6-year-old. The overall vitamin D deficiency was 80.9%. There was no association between vitamin D deficiency and in-hospital and 6-month mortality in patients with acute coronary syndrome (P = 0.824). There was a direct and statistically significant association between vitamin D levels and HDL cholesterol (P = 0.011). Twenty-eight percent of patients with negative hs-troponin-I and 14% with positive hs-troponin-I had normal vitamin D levels, which was statistically significant (P = 0.045).Conclusion: This study does not demonstrate an association between vitamin D levels and in-hospital and 6-month outcomes in patients with the acute coronary syndrome

Risk factors associated with heart valve thrombosis in patients with prosthetic heart valve dysfunction

Background: Thrombotic and thromboembolic events are important causes of mortality and morbidity in patients with prosthetic heart valve. The aim of this study is to evaluate the factors that may contribute to prosthetic heart valve thrombosis. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in Rajaie Heart Center on patients with prosthetic heart valve malfunction, within a year. According to the echocardiographic and fluoroscopic findings, the patients were divided into two groups (thrombosis and non-thrombosis groups). The patients' demographic, clinical and laboratory data were recorded and analyzed with SPSS software. Results: A total of 142 patients participated in this study. Ninety-four patients (66.2) were diagnosed with thrombosis. There was a significant relationship between thrombosis and inadequate anti-coagulation (international normalized rati INR <2.5) (odds ratio OR: 4.15, 95% CI: 1.98-9.87, P = 0.003), history of infection (OR: 12.81, 95% CI: 3.52-19.02, P < 0.001), prothrombin time (PT) check interval (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.63-8.47, P = 0.019), atrial fibrillation (AF) rhythm (OR: 3.96, 95% CI: 1.75-8.09, P = 0.019), and plasma fibrinogen level (OR: 6.90, 95% CI: 2.58-14.69). Conclusion: Based on this study, inadequate anti-coagulation, AF rhythm, recent infection and plasma fibrinogen level were the factors most contributing to prosthetic valve thrombosis. As there were many cases of thrombosis in patients with history of infection, this factor can be considered for risk assessment in prosthetic valve. © 2020 The Author(s)

Randomized comparative clinical trial of artemisia sieberi 5&#x0025; lotion and clotrimazole 1&#x0025; lotion for the treatment of pityriasis versicolor

Aims: To compare the therapeutic effects of topical Artremisia sieberi 5&#x0025; lotion with topical clotrimazole 1&#x0025; lotion in the treatment of pityriasis versicolor. Materials and Methods: 100 patients with pityriasis versicolor and microscopic identification of Malassezia furfur were randomly assigned to treatment with either topical Artemisia sieberi 5&#x0025; lotion (group 1) or topical clotrimazole 1&#x0025; lotion (group 2) for 2 weeks. Group 1 and group 2 consisted of 51 and 49 patients respectively. The patients were evaluated both clinically and mycologically at baseline and every 2 weeks for a period of 4 weeks. Results: At the end of the second week, clinical cure rates were 86.3&#x0025; and 65.3&#x0025; for group 1 and group 2 respectively ( P &#60; 0.01), but at the same time mycological cure rate was 92.2&#x0025; for group 1 and 73.5&#x0025; for group 2 ( P &#60; 0.05). At the end of the fourth week, clinical cure rates were 86.3&#x0025; and 59.2&#x0025; for group 1 and group 2 respectively ( P &#60; 0.01), and at the same time mycologic cure rate was 96.1&#x0025; for group 1 and 65.3&#x0025; for group 2 ( P &#60; 0.01). Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that Artemisia sieberi 5&#x0025; lotion was more effective than clotrimazole 1&#x0025; lotion in the treatment of pityriasis versicolor

Circulatory resistin levels in inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), is a chronic relapsing-remitting systemic disease of the gastrointestinal tract with rising incidence. Studies have shown that adipocytes play a crucial role in patients with IBD by actively participating in systemic immune responses. The present study was designed to investigate the correlation between the circulatory levels of resistin, as an adipokine, and active and remission phases of IBD in comparison with healthy controls. Methods Relevant articles were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, the Web of Science, and Scopus from inception until June 2023. Estimation of the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for comparison of plasma/serum resistin levels between IBD patients, patients in remission, and healthy controls were conducted through random-effect meta-analysis. Results A total of 19 studies were included, assessing 1836 cases. Meta-analysis indicated that generally, serum/plasma resistin levels were higher in IBD patients in comparison with healthy controls (SMD 1.33, 95% CI 0.58 to 2.08, p-value < 0.01). This was true for each of the UC and CD separate analyses, as well. Moreover, it was shown that higher serum/plasma resistin levels were detected in the active phase of IBD than in the remission phase (SMD 1.04, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.42, p-value = 0.01). Finally, higher serum/plasma resistin levels were found in the remission phase compared to healthy controls (SMD 0.60, 95% CI 0.15 to 1.06, p-value < 0.01). Conclusion The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis support the conclusion that circulating resistin levels are increased in IBD (both UC and CD). Also, higher resistin levels were recorded in the remission phase of IBD in comparison with healthy controls. This indicates that further studies may provide valuable insights into the role of resistin in the pathogenesis of IBD