RESUMO
Objective: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus [DM]
Subjects and Methods: We included 556 consecutive patients with confirmed type 2 DM attending the Diabetic Clinic of the Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and 733 nondiabetic subjects as controls. Serum levels of fasting blood sugar [FBS], alanine transaminase [ALT], aspartate transaminase [AST], total cholesterol [TCH], and triglycerides [TG] were measured by enzymatic colorimetric methods, and the presence of anti-HCV antibodies was determined by enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay. Semi-nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR] followed by sequencing was performed on all anti-HCV-seropositive samples. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 17, and descriptive statistics, ÷2 test, Fisher exact test, and the Student t test were used for analysis
Results: The seroprevalence of HCV in the diabetic patients was 1.98% [11/556], which was higher than HCV prevalence among the nondiabetic controls [4/733, 0.54%] [p = 0.032]. No significant differences in ALT, AST, FBS, TG, and TCH levels were found between the HCV-seropositive and HCV-seronegative diabetic patients, although HCV-seropositive diabetic patients tended to have higher ALT, AST, and TCH levels, but lower TG and FBS levels than HCV-seronegative patients. In logistic regression analysis, only AST levels were significantly associated with HCV seropositivity among diabetic patients. The AST level of 4180 IU/L was the only significant predictive variable for HCV seropositivity in the diabetic patients [odds ratio, 4.89; 95% CI: 1.0622.49; p = 0.041]. Of the 11 HCV-seropositive diabetic patients, 10 [91%] had HCV viremia with genotype 3a
Conclusion: Patients with type 2 DM had a higher prevalence of HCV infection than controls, and HCV seropositivity was independent of biochemical parameters
RESUMO
Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease in humans, which is the greatest cause of physical disability among the elderly in developed countries. Homeopathy is a specific therapy that treats patients based on precise stimulation of the immune and vital systems by certain homeopathy medications. Given the widespread use of this technology, in this article, we compared homeopathy Health Technology with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of osteoarthritis
Methods: In this study, Health Technology Assessment [HTA] was employed to compare homeopathy treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs], by reviewing clinical trials. The study population included patients with knee osteoarthritis; the intervention group included homeopathy, and the control group comprised routine medical treatment [NSAID] and outcomes measured included efficacy, safety, and cost effectiveness. The most important electronic medical databases were searched for relevant articles published from 2000 to 2016, including The Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [CENTRAL]; Center for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York [CRD; NHS EED], Trip; PubMed; EMBASE and Google Scholar
Results: Effectiveness was measured by indicators of pain and motor function. Total changes in VAS index revealed about 34 units decrease in the intervention group, while there was 12 units reduction in the control group. Reducing the consequences of pain and knee function problems were 10 points more in the intervention group in comparison to the control group. Safety outcomes were measured via skin reactions [and sensitivity] which were lower in the intervention group. In terms of cost-effectiveness, the results revealed that for each unit of pain relief, more cost was spent in homeopathy method
Conclusion: Given that the overall costs of both treatments were low, even with the higher effectiveness and safety of homeopathy treatment, compared with NSAIDs, homeopathy is preferable