Esophageal lichen planus stricture

Lichen planus is a dermatologic chronic inflammatory disease that usually involved the skin and mucosa. Esophageal lichen planus with stricture is rare presentation of this disease. It is usually associated with oral mucosal involvement and commonly presenting in middle-age female. In present case, we describe a 48-year-old woman with history of oral lichen planus who referred to us for progressive dysphagia for solid food .She had not history of other causes of dysphagia. Upper endoscopy revealed a benign stricture located in proximal of esophagus that comparable with lichen planus features. The patient underwent three sessions of wireguided bougie dilation that improved her symptoms totally. Lichen planus has to be considered in differential diagnosis in patients with dysphagia

Association of Helicobacter pylori with central serous chorioretinopathy in Iranian patients

Aim: This study was conducted to investigate a possible association between H. pylori infection and CSR

Background: Helicobacter pylori infection is one of the most common infections worldwide. Central Serous Chorioretinopathy [CSR] is a serious macular detachment that usually affects young people. The etiopathogenesis of the disease is still not completely understood

Patients and Methods: A prospective study was performed and we evaluated a total of 35 CSR patients and control group of138 patients who referred to gastroenterology research center of Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Central serous chorioretinopathy was diagnosed on the basis of findings in ophthalmic examinations and confirmed by fluoresce in angiogram. All patients underwent a 13C-urea breath test [UBT] to detect H. pylori infection. Patients were defined as H. pylori infected, if breath test was positive

Results: The mean duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 8.3 +/- 2.5 days. Overall, no statistically significant difference was found between left and right eyes, bilateral CSR was observed in 5 patients [14.2%].The incidence of H. pylori infection was 85.7% in CSR patients and 55.1% in control subjects [p=0.001]. Odd's ratio was 4.895

Conclusion: These results indicate that the prevalence of H. pylori infection is significantly higher in patients with CSR than in controls. No effect of age or sex was seen on H.pylori test results. Further multiple centers, randomized, case control trials are necessary to confirm the potential contributory role of the H. pylori infection in the pathogenesis of CSR as a possible association between infectious agents and endothelial dysfunction

[Association of D19H polymorphism of ABCG8 gene with gallstone susceptibility]

Increased level of cholesterol may be saturated in the gall bladder resulting in gall stone. Product of ABCG8 gene is responsible for evacuation of cholesterol from cells and made dissolved cholesterol in bile. It appears that genetic changes of this gene can alter its function and make gall stone. This study was designed to evaluate association of D19H polymorphism of ABCG8 gene with gallstone susceptibility. This was a case-control research that was conducted on 100 gallstone patients and 106 healthy controls without any family history of gallstone. For DNA extraction, salting out method has been used and for detection of alleles in polymorphic region, PCR-RFLP has been used. Heterozygote genotype in this polymorphic region [G/C] had association with gallstone formation [OR=7.14; 95%CI=3.47-14.66; P<0.001]. We found that people with heterozygote genotype had more than 7 times susceptibility to gall stone compared to healthy controls. This study confirms previous studies about D19H polymorphism on ABCG8 gene and shows importance of this SNP in different populations. For this reason, we can use analysis of this region to predict susceptibility to gall stone formation

Evaluation of four DNA extraction methods for the detection of Echinococcus granulosus genotype 1

The aim of this survey was to compare four DNA extraction methods from Iranian sheep stain E.granulosus isolates. Cystic echinococcosis [CE] caused by the metacestode of the dog tapeworm Echinococcus spp., is a global zoonotic infection which is economically important and constitutes a major threat to public health in many countries. Strains characterization is essential for the establishment of a preventive and control strategy in every endemic area. Forty five infected organs from cattle, sheep and goat were collected from different abattoirs of Iran. All cysts were examined by microscopic observation of protoscoleces. For each cyst, protoscoleces were aspirated and DNA of each cyst was extracted with 4 different methods including tissue Kit extraction, modified Cinnagen extraction kit, Phenol-chloroform [Sambrook 1999] and modified Phenol chloroform methods. Efficiency of the DNA was determined by degree of success in PCR amplification. Cinnagen modified extraction and modified Phenol chloroform methods were equally effective and superior to other methods after DNA electrophoresis and PCR reaction. Inhibition was observed in PCR with DNA isolated from protoscoleces, and a 1/100 dilution was able to alleviate this problem with DNA extracted. The result of this study show that the quality of extracted DNA using modified Cinnagen extraction kit and modified phenol-chloroform are very high and gave identical results after RCR reaction using 12S rRNA gene. Further evaluation is required for its utilization in other clinical specimens

Correlation between creatinine clearance and Helicobacter pylori infection eradication with sequential and triple therapeutic regimens: a randomised clinical trial

Uraemic patients show susceptibility to gastrointestinal mucosal lesions and colonisation by Helicobacter pylori [HP]. Antibiotic resistance constitutes a problem in treatment and bismuth preparations are toxic in uraemic patients. This study aimed to assess the correlation between creatinine clearance [CrCl] and eradication of HP infection with new sequential and standard triple therapeutic regimens. A total of 120 HP-positive patients with renal function impairment and 60 control patients with HP infection were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into four groups on the basis of CrCl and were randomly assigned to one of the two different regimens: A 14-day standard triple therapy with 20 mg omeprazole bid, 1000 mg amoxicillin bid and 500 mg clarithromycin bid and a new sequential regimen with 20 mg omeprazole bid and 1000 mg amoxicillin bid both for 14 days, 500 mg ciprofloxacin bid for the first 7 days and 200 mg furazolidone bid for the last 7 days. Doses of amoxicillin, clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin were reduced to 50% in the cases of CrCl <30 mg dl[-1] One hundred and sixty two out of 180 HP-positive patients [54.3% male, 51.6 +/- 12.1 years] completed treatment in the four groups and were studied. According to renal function they were classified into group A [n = 39], haemodialysis [HD] patients; group B [n = 37], CrCl <30 mg dl[-1] without HD; group C [n = 36], CrCl between 30 and 60 mg dl[-1]; and group D [n = 50], control subjects with CrCl >90 mg dl[-1]. HP was successfully eradicated in 77.7% of patients with standard triple therapy and in 81.4% of patients with the sequential therapy. There was no significant difference among the study groups in the rate of HP-infection eradication with both regimens. HP eradication rates did not differ with both sequential and standard therapeutic regimens in uraemic and non-uraemic patients. We, therefore, prefer the standard triple therapy due to its simplicity and reported