Pepsin and bile acid concentrations in sputum of mustard gas exposed patients

Gastro-esophageal reflux has been suggested to be associated with several pulmonary complications such as asthma, and post-transplant bronchiolitis obliterans [BO]. Pepsin or bile salts in the sputum is shown to be an optimal molecular marker of gastric contents macro/micro aspiration. In this study, we investigated sputum pepsin as a marker of micro-aspiration in sulfur mustard [SM] exposed cases compared to healthy controls. In a case controlled study, 26 cases with BO and 12 matched healthy controls were recruited and all cases were symptomatic and their exposure to SM was previously documented during Iran-Iraq conflict. Pepsin levels in sputum and total bile acids were measured using enzymatic assay. The severity of respiratory disorder was categorized based upon the spirometric values. The average concentration of pepsin in sputum was higher in the case group [0.29 +/- 0.23] compared with healthy subjects [0.13 +/- 0.07; P +/- 0.003]. Moreover, the average concentration of bile acids in the sputum cases was not significantly different in comparison to the controls [P = 0.5]. Higher pepsin concentrations in sputum of SM exposed patients compared with healthy control subjects indicate the occurrence of significantly more gastric micro-aspiration in SM exposed patients

Detection of sea, seb, sec, seq genes in staphylococcus aureus isolated from nasal carriers in Tehran province, Iran; by multiplex PCR

Staphylococcus[S.] aureus produces different extra-cellular protein toxins and virulence factors. One of the most important extra-cellular proteins is an enterotoxin which causes staphylococcal food poisoning [SFP] due to their enterotoxins. Different methods have been used to detect this toxin, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. DNA amplification methods, however, can show the presence of enterotoxigenic strains of S. aureus before the expression of enterotoxins on the basis of specific gene sequences. In this study, 150 S. aureus strains isolated from nasal carriers were confirmed by biochemical testing. PCR was used to amplify the staphylococcal enterotoxin A, B, C and Q genes, as well as the staphylococcal nuclease gene. Among the 150 healthy human isolates from the nasal carrier, 95 were confirmed as S. aureus. Only 58.9% of the isolates were diagnosed as sea, b, c, q positive. There were 24 [25.3%] isolates associated with the sea gene, 15.8% isolates associated with the seb gene, 9.5% of the isolates were associated with the sec gene, and 8.4% of the isolates associated with the seq gene. Of these isolates, 41% might be possessing additional se genes but they were not see [178 bp] and sed [319 bp] genes. The nuc gene, which encodes thermo nuclease, was used as a target DNA to identify S. aureus. Additionally, one of these enterotoxigenic isolates carried more than one toxin gene