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Background: Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is increasingly recognized as a major global health problem. Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of HCV infection and determine the risk factors associated with HCV among male people who inject drugs (PWID) in Kermanshah, Iran. Methods: In this cross sectional study, the samples were recruited from 2 drop-in centers and related community outreach sites, using snowball sampling. The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections, including demographics, drug use patterns, and risky behaviors. HCV infection was tested in venous blood samples, collected from the participants, using the ABON rapid test kit. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between HCV status and the associated factors, reported as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The mean age of the participants was 36.7 ± 8.5 years (range, 18 - 65 years). Over half of the participants (54.8%) tested positive for HCV antibodies; in other words, they had been exposed to the virus. Adjusted OR for people reporting shared equipments within the past month was 3.36 times higher than the OR of people who reported no shared equipments (P = 0.000). The adjusted OR of positive HCV among those who injected twice or more per day was 4.33 (P = 0.000), compared to those who injected only once a day (or less). With over half the participants having evidence of HCV exposure, there is a need to increase the coverage of harmreduction programs, especially sterile injection equipment programs. Moreover, increasing access to harm-reduction programs and HCV treatment can ultimately reduce the opportunities for HCV transmission.

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common endocrine malignancies and in the last two decades the number of involved people in the world has been increased. Thyroid cancer in Iran is the seventh most common cancer in women and 14thin men. In recent years many achievements regarding to molecular pathogenic factors such as the substantial role of signaling pathways and molecular abnormalities have been made. Nowadays there is no efficient treatment for progressed thyroid cancer that does not respond to radioiodine therapy which are included poorly differentiated, anaplastic and metastatic or recurrent differentiated thyroid cancer. Although the results of some clinical trials in phase II for treatment of progressed thyroid cancer are rewarding but none of the treated patients responded to treatment and only a few of them responded partially to the treatment which indicates that the treatment can only control the condition of patients with advanced disease, therefore it is needed to consider other alternative solutions which would be helpful in controlling the disease. Epigenetic is referred to study of heritable changes in gene expression without changes in primary DNA sequence. The main mechanisms of genetic and epigenetic alterations are including mutations, increasing the gene copy number and aberrant gene methylation. Epigenetic defects are prevalent in different types of cancers. Aberrant methylation of genes that control cell proliferation and invasion (p16INK4A, RASSF1A, PTEN, Rap1GAP, TIMP3, DAPK, RARβ2, E-cadherin, and CITED1), as well as specific genes involved in differentiation of thyroid cancer (Na+/I- symport, TSH receptor, pendrin, SL5A8, and TTF-1) in association with genetic alterations, leads to tumor progression. Growing evidence shows that acquired epigenetic abnormalities participate with genetic alterations to cause altered patterns of gene expression or function. Many of these molecular changes can be used as molecular markers for prognosis, diagnosis and new therapeutic targets for thyroid cancer. This article is about the most common genetic and epigenetic alterations in thyroid cancer which can be complementary together in recognition of new treatments for the disease.

Evidences indicate that angiogenesis is an important process in the development of destructive synovial tissue in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recently, it has been shown that the polymorphism of the integrin-αv subunit encoded by the ITGAV gene plays a role in angiogenesis and is considered as RA susceptibility loci. This study investigated association of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ITGAV with disease activity score (DAS28), serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide(anti-CCP) antibody in 419 RA patients and 398 healthy individuals. Four SNPs in ITGAV gene (rs3911238, rs3738919, rs10174098 and rs3768777) were analyzed. Serum concentrations of anti-CCP antibody and CRP were measured by ELISA. We used the EULAR activity criteria to calculate DAS28-CRP. Among these SNPs, the ITGAV-rs3911238-G/C polymorphism was associated with RA disease activity [remission-to-low and moderate-to-high in codominant model (CC vs.GG: OR=1.53, p=0.041 and allele (C vs. G: OR=1.18, p=0.042)] and presence of anti-CCP (codominant CC vs.GG: OR=2.77, p=0.001, allele C vs. G: OR=1.19,p=0.033). The carriers of CC genotype ITGAV- rs3911238 had higher serum levels of CRP and anti-CCP antibody titer and higher ESR and disease activity score than carriers of GG and CG genotypes. Furthermore, haplotypes analysis showed that ITGAV rs3733891C/rs3768777T/rs3911238C/rs10174098A and ITGAV rs3733891A/rs3768777T/rs3911238G/rs10174098A haplotypes increased severity and anti-CCP antibody in RA patients (OR=5.54, p=0.049 and OR=2.89; p=0.024, respectively) in comparison with ITGAV rs3733891C/rs3768777T/rs3911238G/rs10174098A haplotypes. Thus, the present study demonstrated that the link between systemic inflammatory markers and the ITGAV-rs3911238 polymorphism allele in Iranian RA patients.