Risk of stroke in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 infected patients : A multinational study

Background: There is an increased attention to stroke following SARS-CoV-2. The goal of this study was to better depict the short-term risk of stroke and its associated factors among SARS-CoV-2 hospitalized patients. Methods: This multicentre, multinational observational study includes hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from North and South America (United States, Canada, and Brazil), Europe (Greece, Italy, Finland, and Turkey), Asia (Lebanon, Iran, and India), and Oceania (New Zealand). The outcome was the risk of subsequent stroke. Centres were included by non-probability sampling. The counts and clinical characteristics including laboratory findings and imaging of the patients with and without a subsequent stroke were recorded according to a predefined protocol. Quality, risk of bias, and heterogeneity assessments were conducted according to ROBINS-E and Cochrane Q-test. The risk of subsequent stroke was estimated through meta-analyses with random effect models. Bivariate logistic regression was used to determine the parameters with predictive outcome value. The study was reported according to the STROBE, MOOSE, and EQUATOR guidelines. Findings: We received data from 26,175 hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from 99 tertiary centres in 65 regions of 11 countries until May 1st, 2020. A total of 17,799 patients were included in meta-analyses. Among them, 156(0.9%) patients had a stroke-123(79%) ischaemic stroke, 27(17%) intracerebral/subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 6(4%) cerebral sinus thrombosis. Subsequent stroke risks calculated with meta-analyses, under low to moderate heterogeneity, were 0.5% among all centres in all countries, and 0.7% among countries with higher health expenditures. The need for mechanical ventilation (OR: 1.9, 95% CI:1.1-3.5, p = 0.03) and the presence of ischaemic heart disease (OR: 2.5, 95% CI:1.4-4.7, p = 0.006) were predictive of stroke. Interpretation: The results of this multi-national study on hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection indicated an overall stroke risk of 0.5%(pooled risk: 0.9%). The need for mechanical ventilation and the history of ischaemic heart disease are the independent predictors of stroke among SARS-CoV-2 patients. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

The prevalence of smears positive pulmonary tuberculosis in a prison

Background: With regard to existence of all conditions for spreading tuberculosis(TB) in prison including overcrowding, HIV, Injection Drug Users (IDU), malnutrition and poverty, and on the other hand as TB is the most important cause of mortality / morbidity in HIV patients and prisoners, so prisons are one of the main sources of transmission of Multi Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) to community. Thus an exhaustive investigation about it seems necessary. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study carried out on all of the volunteer prisoners of Kermanshah city central prison in the first 4 months of 2008.We scored clinical symptoms and sings according to WHO guideline and for the symptoms which were not in the guideline, were separately scored under the title of &quot;total score&quot;. Then the prisoners who had WHO score 5 or total score&ge;8 or BMI<20 or a past history of TB treatment, were evaluated for TB. Finally prisoners with diagnosis of TB were tested for HIV and data was statistically analyzed. Results: 2030 (92.27%) from 2200 prisoners have been visited that 469 (23.1%) of them had WHO score (W&ge;5) 287 (14.3%) total score (T&ge;8) 159 (7/83%) BMI (B<20) and 14 prisoners had a past history of TB treatment. Total acquisition of score cut-off points was915 but after deleting overleaps, the net numbers of patients that could enter into the second stage were 612 (30.14%) and among them, 470 (76.8%) chest X-ray and from 198 (32.35%) smears were taken. Finally 5 smears positive pulmonary TB had diagnosed all cases had w&ge;5,but 4(80%)T&ge;8 and 2(20%) had BMI<20 and non of them had no past history of TB treatment. Conclusion: According to these results in addition to traditional methods, periodic active screening of TB should be accomplish accompanying with culture and chest X-ray to control the spread of TB in Prisons and its transmission to community as well as to save milliards of dollars

Comparing the Diagnostic Power of Chest CT Scan and RT-PCR in Diagnosis of COVID-19

Background and purpose: Proper diagnosis of patients with COVID-19 is one of the challenges in medical centers. RT-PCR is the standard and reference test in diagnosis of patients with COVID-19. This study aimed at accelerating the correct diagnosis of COVID-19 and the diagnostic power of chest CT scan and RT-PCR. Materials and methods: This study was performed in 569 patients with COVID-19 admitted to Golestan-Kermanshah Hospital based on diagnostic chest CT scan. The RT-PCR test was considered as the standard and reference test in diagnosis of COVID-19. Relevant information was extracted from patients' records using a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was performed in STATA V14. Results: The mean age of patients was 52.53±16.88 years. Men included 432 (75.9%) patients. In this study, 84% had positive chest CT scan and 84.9% had positive RT-PCR results. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of chest CT scan were 88.7%, 64.8%, and 80.1%, respectively. The sensitivity of chest CT scan was 89.9% in people under 60 years of age and 82.8% in patients over 60 years old. The accuracy of chest CT scan was 84.7% in women and 78.7% in men. Conclusion: The accuracy of chest CT scan is high in patients with COVID-19 while it cannot definitively detect or rule out COVID-19. Nevertheless, it can be used as a quick tool to classify patients into positive and negative groups

Toxoplasma gondii and human immunodeficiency virus co-infection in western Iran: A cross sectional study

Objective: To determine Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) as a cause of morbidity and mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients by ELISA method and to investigate toxoplasmosis-associated risk factors. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted with 385 patients with HIV/AIDS referred to the behavior disease consultation center in Kermanshah, Iran between May 2012 and June 2013. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies were measured by using the ELISA method. Also, the relationship between the infection and age, gender, education, occupation, antiretroviral status, CD4+ cell counts and some other factors of the patients were assessed. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Among the HIV-positive patients, 40.8% (157/358) and 2.6% (10/358) patients were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies, respectively. The mean CD4+ count in the patients with HIV was 327 cells/μL. A significant correlation was observed between the toxoplasmosis infections with the age group (P<0.05). Nevertheless, no statistically significant difference was found between gender, living area, educational level, occupational, marital status, antiretroviral status, prophylaxis, CD4+ cell count and toxoplasmosis. Conclusions: This study revealed that the patients with HIV infection were at the high risk of developing toxoplasmosis disease especially those patients who do not receive antiretroviral therapy and prophylaxis. The development and use of the effectiveness-based guidelines for controlling and the prevention reactivation of the latent T. gondii infection is required

Septic arthritis of both knees following intra-articulari njection of petrol

Abstract: A 70 years old man was referred to our center with bilateral knee arthritis following intra-articular petrol injection. Because of previous antibiotics use gram stain and culture were negative. Septic arthritis was diagnosed and antibiotics and drainage were started. After 2 years he improved eventually and was able to walk. But, some movement limitation remained

Efficacy of valganciclovir and ganciclovir for cytomegalovirus disease in solid organ transplants: A meta-analysis

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a problematic virus in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) such as liver, can worsen overall mortality and transplant outcome, so its prevention and treatment is a key of success in such patients. This study is aimed to compare the efficacy of ganciclovir (GCV) and valganciclovir (VGC) for prevention and treatment of infection with CMV. Materials and Methods: After sensitive and systematic search in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane and other available databases, both prospective and retrospective studies on effect of VGC and GCV in prevention and treatment of CMV disease among SOTR, which had our study criteria, were included. The pooled risk estimates were calculated using random-effects models. Results: Among 1324 title, 19 studies were included. In 11 prophylactic studies (2368 patients), the pooled risk of CMV disease (VGC relative to GCV) was 1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.91-1.49 and in studies of liver transplant recipients, 1.53, 95% CI: 0.86-2.70. Rate of viremia eradication in VGC to GCV was 1.05, 95% CI: 0.97-1.13. In 3 treatment studies (422 patients), rate of successful treatment in VGC to GCV was 0.98, 95% CI: 0.91-1.06 and viremia eradication 0.95, CI 95% 0.77-1.16. All these values did not show statistically significantly differences between GCV and VGC. Conclusion: It can be concluded that VGC as an alternative to GCV can be used with equal efficacy in prevention and treatment of CMV disease in SOTR

A Comprehensive Review on HIV-Associated Dermatologic Manifestations: From Epidemiology to Clinical Management

Dermatological disorders are among the most prevalent manifestations of HIV infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In this review, we aimed to characterize the various dermatologic presentations among HIV-infected patients with a detailed categorization of the mucocutaneous signs and symptoms, their etiopathogenic factors, and clinical management. In fact, cutaneous manifestations of HIV are quite various, ranging from AIDS-specific skin eruptions (xerosis, pruritic papular eruptions, eosinophilic folliculitis, and acne), opportunistic infections (herpes simplex, molluscum contagiosum, cutaneous leishmaniasis, bacillary angiomatosis, disseminated histoplasmosis, disseminated cryptococcosis, and zoster) to AIDS-related malignancies (Kaposi’s sarcoma, lymphoma, and nonmelanoma skin cancers) and antiretroviral therapy (ART)-associated drug eruptions. We tried to classify HIV-related cutaneous presentations which can help clinicians for a better understanding of the various specific and nonspecific features of AIDS-associated cutaneous manifestations and management of the condition

Effectiveness of oral levamisole as an adjuvant to hepatitis B vaccination in healthcare workers non-responsive to previous vaccination: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Healthcare workers are at risk for HBV infection through percutaneous or mucosal contact with infected blood, body secretions, or blood products or via sharps injury. Hepatitis B vaccination, despite immunogenicity, may not induce a proper immune response in 5–10% of the general adult population. Increased immune response in healthcare providers that do not respond properly to conventional hepatitis B vaccination is an important health challenge. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of hepatitis B vaccination plus oral levamisole as adjuvant in healthcare providers non-responsive to routine vaccination. Materials and methods: The healthcare workers that were non-responsive to previous hepatitis B vaccination were enrolled in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. The participants were then randomized to two groups including hepatitis B vaccination (as a three-dose series on a 0, 1, and 2-month schedule in the deltoid muscle) plus levamisole (levamisole group) and hepatitis B vaccination plus placebo (placebo group) at a 1:1 ratio. The outcome measure was the HBs antibody titer one month after receiving each dose as well as the seroprotection ratio. The side effects were also evaluated in all participants. Results: In total, 22 subjects finished the trial (11 individual in per group). The median antibody titer one month after receiving the first and third doses increased more in the levamisole group compared to the placebo group but the difference was not significant (p ​= ​0.34, p ​= ​0.66, respectively).The seroprotection ratio after three doses was similarly high in both groups (90.9% in per group). Furthermore, the seroprotection ratio and median antibody titer had no significant correlation with age, sex, BMI, and history of smoking in intervention and control groups (p>0.05). No serious side effects were noted in both groups. Conclusions: Re-vaccination can boost the immune response in healthcare professionals that were non-responsive to previous vaccination although the mean antibody titer was higher in the levamisole group

Serological response to one intradermal or intramuscular hepatitis B virus vaccine booster dose in human immunodeficiency virus-infected nonresponders to standard vaccination

Purpose : Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination is recommended for all human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients without HBV immunity. However, serological response to standard HBV vaccination is frequently suboptimal in this population and the appropriate strategy for revaccination of HIV-infected nonresponders remained controversial. We aimed to determine the serological response to one booster dose of HBV vaccine given by intradermal (ID) or intramuscular (IM) route in HIV-positive nonresponders to standard HBV vaccination. Materials and Methods : In this study, 42 HIV-infected nonresponders were enrolled. We randomized them to receive either 10 μg (0.5 mL) for ID (20 cases) or 20 μg (1 mL) for IM (22 cases) administration of HBV vaccine as a one booster dose. After 1 month, anti-HBs titer was checked in all cases. A protective antibody response (seroconversion) defined as an anti-HBs titer ≥10 IU/L. Results: Seroconversion was observed in 47.6% of subjects after 1 ID dose. A total of 30% showed antibody titers above 100 IU/L. Except one case, all responders had CD4 + >200 cells/mm 3 . Mean anti-HBs titer was 146.5 ± 246 IU/L. After the one IM booster dose, seroconversion was observed in 50% of cases. A total of 36.3% of subjects had anti-HBs ≥100 IU/L. All responders had CD4 + >200 cells/mm 3 , except one case. Mean anti-HBs titer was 416.4 ± 765.6 IU/L. Responders showed significantly higher CD4 + cell counts, in comparison to nonresponders (P < 0.001). Conclusions: One booster dose administered IM or ID to HIV-infected nonresponders resulted in similar rates of seroconversion, overall response rate 50%. However, higher anti-HBs titers observed more frequently in IM group