Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in thalassemia and haemodialysis patients in north Iran-Rasht.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroprevalence and risk factors in north Iran were investigated in 105 thalassemia sufferers, 93 haemodialysis patients and 5976 blood donors by second generation ELISA. Our study showed that haemodialysis patients and thalassemia sufferers were at higher risk of having HCV infection; the prevalence being 55.9% and 63.8% respectively in comparison to the prevalence of blood donors (0.5%). A confirmatory immunoblotting was employed using HCV-positive cases (54 thalassemia sufferers and 19 blood donors). The result showed that 92.6% of samples of the first group and 10.5% of the latter were positive. Thus, it can be suggested that ELISA in low-risk cases may produce considerable false positives. In HCV-positive patients with thalassemia, the incidence of HCV among different age groups and genders was similar but a strong correlation in respect to the number of blood transfusion (P=0.008) was observed. In HCV-positive haemodialysis patients, it was found that there was no correlation with liver function tests (alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase: ALT and AST), but a significant correlation was observed in respect to the duration of dialysis(P=0.000) and the number of units transfused (P=0.000). Consequently, it still seems blood transfusion is the main factor for increasing the incidence of HCV in thalassemia sufferers and haemodialysis patients.

[Toxoplasmosis in Iran. Results of a seroepidemiological study]. / Toxoplasmose en Iran. Résultats d'une étude séroépidémiologique.

A toxoplasmosis seroepidemiological survey was effected with 13,018 sera collected by stratified cluster random sampling method from 12 provinces in Iran. The samples were studied by indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) for the presence of Toxoplasma. In this study, 52.6% of the subjects were male and the remaining 47.4% were female. Anti-Toxoplasma antibody was detected in a total of 51.8% of the samples with no significant difference between male and female affected subjects. The distribution of the infected samples was also investigated in various age groups, the level of infection to Toxoplasma increasing from childhood, culminating to 30 years of age and gradually declining from there after. Between the various age groups, the 10-19 years old demonstrated a 50% increase in relative risk to the infection with high antibody titer. Within the provinces under study, the highest relative frequency of Toxoplasma antibody titer was indicated in Mazandaran province (20.5%), while the lowest frequency was detected in Hormozgan (2.9%). In general, there was a decrease in the number of infected samples from humid areas in north to dry provinces in south of Iran. In the clinical symptoms study, no significant difference between male and female patients was demonstrated. According to the type of clinical manifestation, lymphadenopathy and central nervous system symptoms (encephalitis) were respectively the most and the least frequent manifestations.

Microbial metabolism of 2-arylpropionic acids: chiral inversion of ibuprofen and 2-phenylpropionic acid.

The metabolism of (R,S)-ibuprofen has been investigated in 24 microbial cultures. Of these Cunninghamella elegans, Mucor hiemalis, and Verticillium lecanii catalyzed the oxidation of the drug to 2-[4-(2-hydroxy-2-methylpropyl)phenyl]propionic acid, a known mammalian metabolite. The extent of metabolism was greatest with V. lecanii, with some 47% of the substrate being consumed over a 7-day incubation period. Enantiomeric analysis indicated stereoselective metabolism of (R)-ibuprofen, the enantiomeric composition of the residual substrate being R/S = 0.25. Following a preparative scale incubation of (R,S)-ibuprofen with V. lecanii, in which the reaction was allowed to go to completion, the metabolite was found to be predominantly of the S-configuration (S/R = 2.1), suggesting that chiral inversion of either the drug and/or the metabolite had taken place. Analysis of extracts following incubation of (R,S)-, (R)-, and (S)-2-phenylpropionic acid with V. lecanii, for 21 days, indicated that chiral inversion of the (R)-enantiomer to its optical antipode had taken place. The results of these investigations indicate that microorganisms, in addition to mammals, are able to mediate the chiral inversion of 2-arylpropionic acids. This observation may have implications for the preparation of optically pure 2-arylpropionic acids.