[Evaluation of relation between IL-4 and IFN-gamma polymorphisms and type 2 diabetes]

Although Type 2 diabetes is the most frequent among different types of diabetes, the cause of it is yet to be clarified. Several environmental and genetic factors are said to be involved in diabetes and it has been established that cytokines play key roles in pathogenesis of diabetes. Expression of cytokins is different from person and in different societies. Studies showed that polymorphisms of +874 of IFN-gamma and -590 of IL-4 regions are related to the expression of these genes. In this study, we aimed to find polymorphisms of these regions in Type 2 diabetes patients. In this study peripheral blood samples were collected from 51 type 2 diabetes patients and 50 healthy controls. DNA was isolated by salting out method, using ARMS-PCR, RFLP-PCR polymorphisms of = 874 of IFN-gamma and -590 of IL-4, were analyzed, respectively. Our findings showed that TT genotype of IFN- gamma was increased in type 2 diabetic patients as comford with control group but difference was not significant. Our results also have not shown any significant difference between IL-4 genotype in diabetic and healthy controls. Our results suggested that TT genotype of IFN- gamma can be related to diabetes. This relation can be described by this known Todgment judyunt that over expression of IFN- gamma shifted immune system to Th1, therefore, pancreas cells were miscarried by immune cells

[Occult HBV infection in Rafsanjanese blood donors]

Occult hepatitis B infection is a form of hepatitis in which despite of absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is present in peripheral blood of patients. This clinical form of B hepatitis creates some problems for the Iranian blood transfusion services. Therefore, the aim of this study was the evaluation of status of occult hepatitis B infection in the Rafsanjanese blood donors. In this cross-sectional study, total of 3700 blood donor samples were collected and tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs using ELISA. The HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples were selected and screened for HBV-DNA using PCR. Results of current study indicated that 352 [9.5%] of 3700 blood samples were HBsAg- and anti-HBc+. HBV-DNA was detected in 57 [16.1% of HBsAg- and anti-HBc+ and 1.54% of total samples] samples. Results of this study are in agreement with our previous studies in the prevalence of OBI. Therefore, it seems that occult hepatitis B infection rate is high in the Iranian blood donors and probably is one of the main causes of post-transfusion hepatitis