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Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the most important risk factors for liver failure which can lead to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Approximately 170-200 million (almost 3% of the world's population) people have been reported to have HCV infection worldwide. HCV has six genotypes and multiple subtypes. HCV genotyping and identification of subtypes are critical steps for HCV vaccine development. Materials and Methods: In this community-based study, we aimed to investigate the HCV genotypes in infected patients referring to the laboratory of Hajar Hospital of Shahrekord city (the capital of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province) in Iran from November 21, 2016, to October 21, 2017. During 2016-2017, the sera were obtained from 2377 individuals referring to the laboratory of Hajar Hospital of Shahrekord, Iran. The anti-HCV antibody was tested for all sera by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test. Following HCV RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis, HCV genotype detection was performed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results: Genotypes 3, 1a, and 1b were found in 28.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 17.0%-40.0%), 9.5% (95% CI: 2.1%-17.0%), and 3.2% (95% CI: 0.0%-7.6%) of the patients, respectively. In 5 patients (7.9%, 95% CI: 1.1%-14.8%), however, we did not observe any genotypes. We could not find any significant difference between the plasma viral load of infected patients and different genotypes. There was no significant difference either between age groups and genotypes (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The findings of the present study determined that HCV genotype 3 was the predominant genotype followed by the genotypes 1a and 1b in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is rare study on the association between FimH and kidney stone formation in our country. Objectives: Here we studied on stones and identified the bacteria in stones isolated from kidney stone disease and/or UTI patients attending to Hashemi-Nejad hospital (Tehran, Iran) to find out a possible correlation between stone composition and the diseases. We also measure the frequency of fimH gene and its related protein in Escherichia coli isolated from the patients to clarify the effect of this gene in kidney stone formation. Patients and Methods: In This observational-descriptive study, 40 kidney stone samples were gathered and the composition of each sample was determined. The frequency of fimH gene and its related protein was measured using PCR and protein extraction from separated E. coli bacteria. Results: The most prevalence of stones belonged to calcium oxalate stones and the most frequent bacterium in kidney stones was E. coli. The frequency of fimH gene in isolated E. coli was 57.14%. Conclusions: Our data indicated that almost all chemical types of kidney stones may involve in UTI and kidney stone formation.We also realized that although E. coli is a non-urea splitting bacteria, it is the most causative microorganism found in urine and stones. Finally we recognized that fimH gene is seen in the majority of kidney stone samples so it may have a role in formation of kidney stone, although it should be more clarified in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]