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Background: Asthma is a common inflammatory disease of the airways which is characterized by variable and recurrent symptomes. The disease causes airway inflamtion and hyperresponsiveness, reversible airway obstruction and airway deformity, and accomponied with symptoms including shortness of breath, cough and wheezing in patients. Environmental and genetic factor ssuch as gene polymorphisms are involved in the development of asthma. Gene polymorphisms alter the function of genes, hence they involve in disease progression. Studies have shown genetic polymorphism in ADAM33 and TBX21 genes are associated with the risk of asthma. Materials and Methods: In present study, the polymorphism rs2787094 of ADAM33 and rs11650354 of TBX21 genes was assessed for the first time in Iranian patients with asthma and healthy individuals. For this purpose, 30 blood samples from patients with asthma and 30 samples from healthy donors were collected. Then their DNA was extracted, and subsequently ARMS-PCR technique was used, applying specific designed primers for normal and mutant allels for each polymorphism of candidate genes. Then the results were analysed. Results: The results indicated rs2787094 polymorphism in ADAM33 was significantly associated with the risk of asthma, while there was no significant relationship between rs11650354 in TBX21 and asthma risk. Conclusion: It appears that rs2787094 polymorphism in ADAM33 and different genotypes in this locus play a siginificant role in asthma risk in Iranian patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Influenza is one of the leading causes of respiratory illness in children and adults with underlying disease and the elderly. The virus kills large numbers of people annually, and dangerous types of the virus are associated with pneumonia and complications. Muscle pain is one of the most common findings in this disease, which is associated with myoglobinuria and increased levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK). Patients with high CPK levels are associated with more complications and a higher risk of hospitalization. There has been a lot of research on the high levels of CPK in these patients, but the association of this enzyme in the blood of hospitalized patients with influenza has not been done and it is important to pay attention to the levels of this enzyme in hospitalized people. Serum CPK levels in the flu can be used as a diagnostic marker and predict the effects of the flu. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the level of CPK in patients with influenza and its differences in different ages. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 264 patients with influenza resulting in hospitalization with an age range of one month to 90 years who were referred to Hazrat Ali Asghar and Hazrat Rasoul Akram Hospital in Tehran in autumn and winter of 1398, were Were examined. The clinical signs of influenza were evaluated in these patients and the frequency of lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, myoglobinuria, positive blood culture and blood CPK level were measured in vitro. The relationship between influential variables such as myalgia and myoglobinuria and platelet status with high CPK levels was investigated. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software version 23. Results: The mean age of patients was 24.99 years. 54.2% were male. Prevalence of clinical symptoms of patients based on age groups showed that 176 (66.7%) had chills, 179 (67.8%) had myalgia, 115 (43.5%) had pharyngitis, 242 (98.4%) Cough, 119 patients (45%) had sputum, 58 patients (22%) had headache, 66 patients (25%) had shortness of breath and 68 patients (25.6%) had diarrhea. Among these, the highest and lowest prevalence of myalgia were in the age group of 21-40 years and children under 5 years, respectively, which was statistically significant (P = 0.027). There was also a significant difference in the prevalence of pharyngitis (P ˂0.001), sputum (P = 0.004) and shortness of breath (P ˂0.001) in patients. CPK levels were about 50% higher than normal and did not differ between age groups and sexes. Lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia had a prevalence of 41%, 25% and 20%, respectively. Myoglobinuria had a prevalence of 82%, which was more common in the under-5 age group. In the group with normal CPK, the prevalence of myoglobinuria was nearly 30% higher. Also, the prevalence of high CPK in the group with myoglobinuria was almost 35% higher than the group without it, which indicates the relationship between the prevalence of high CPK and myoglobinuria (P = 0.02). There was a significant relationship between patients' blood platelet status and high or normal CPK (P = 0.01). The prevalence of myalgia in the group with high CPK was 52% higher than the group without myalgia and in the group with myalgia, the prevalence of high CPK was 16% higher and the prevalence of myalgia symptom was statistically significant (P = 0.004). Positive blood cultures were higher in adults and the elderly than in youth and children, and among the clinical signs, CPK was associated only with myalgia. Conclusion: High levels of CPK were observed in half of the patients and our findings showed that high levels of CPK were significantly associated with myalgia and myoglobinuria and platelet status. This indicates that the increase and decrease of this enzyme can affect the fate of the disease. It is suggested that future studies investigate the association of CPK levels with lymphopenia and leukopenia and immune cells. Examination of CPK levels in future patients can be effective in identifying the risk factor for disease severity and help in better treatment and reduction of disease complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Considering the high prevalence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the medical resource constraints, a better understanding of the characteristics of the disease and identifying the factors indicating the severity of the disease can help decide on the allocation of important and limited resources. The current study aimed to investigate the demographic, clinical, laboratory characteristics, and imaging features of critically-ill patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit )ICU) of 3 hospitals in Rash City, Iran. Objective This retrospective study was performed on 138 patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to the ICU. The study patients’ data, including demographic characteristics, underlying disease, laboratory, imaging findings, and disease outcome were extracted from their records. Methods This retrospective study was performed on 138 patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to ICU. Patient data, including demographic characteristics, underlying disease, laboratory and imaging findings, and disease outcomes, were extracted from patient records. Results In this study, the majority of patients were male and in the age range of 55-69 years. Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic heart disease were the most common underlying diseases; shortness of breath, fever, and cough were the most common symptoms. Ground glass opacities were the most common sign in lung Computer Tomography (CT) scan and an increase in the level of LDH, ESR, CRP, neutrophil percentage, and lymphopenia were the most common laboratory findings in the study subjects. The mortality rate was equal to 90.58%. Conclusion This study revealed that most patients with severe manifestations of the disease were older, had a history of underlying disease, symptoms of shortness of breath, cough, and fever, and extensive lung involvement in imaging and changes in laboratory results. Mortality remained high despite medical therapy and mechanical ventilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]