Colchicine versus cimetidine: the better choice for Periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, adenitis (PFAPA) syndrome prophylaxis, and the role of MEFV gene mutations.

BACKGROUND: During childhood, the most common periodic fever is periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and cervical adenitis (PFAPA) syndrome. The effective treatment and prevention of febrile attacks improve these patients' and their families' quality of life. However, there is no single strategy or evidence-based guideline to manage this syndrome, and most of them are based on consensus treatment plans. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial was carried out on 67 PFAPA patients referred to three tertiary centers of pediatric rheumatology. The patients were divided into two groups, including group 1 (n = 36) receiving prednisolone plus colchicine and group 2 (n = 31) receiving prednisolone plus cimetidine. Demographic characteristics and the number of febrile episodes were compared between the two groups before and after the intervention. RESULTS: In both groups, the number of febrile episodes after the treatment decreased (P ≤ 0.001). Statistical Analysis showed no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.88). Moreover, 44 patients from both groups were checked for the MEFV gene. There were no statistical differences between MEFV positive and negative subgroups in response to colchicine (P = 1). CONCLUSION: This study showed that both drug regimens are significantly effective in preventing febrile attacks in PFAPA syndrome, and the presence of a MEFV gene mutation might not be the only significant risk factor for a response to colchicine. TRIAL REGISTRATION: IRCT, IRCT20191222045847N1. Registered 23 October 2019, https://fa.irct.ir/search/result?query=IRCT20191222045847N1.

Novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak: A comprehensive review of the current literature.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The spread of the virus was rapid and currently COVID-19 cases are present worldwide in 213 countries, area or territories. Researchers worldwide are working and sharing their contribution regarding epidemiology, prevention, treatment, clinical and diagnostic patterns of the COVID-19. Current review is another contribution to the current knowledge, presenting the data in organized and systematic format about the current pandemic of COVID-19. The epidemiological information presented in the paper is subject to change as new cases are diagnosed and status of active cases is updated on daily basis.

La enfermedad por coronavirus de 2019 (COVID-19) es una pandemia causada por un nuevo coronavirus, el coronavirus causante del síndrome respiratorio agudo severo 2 (SARS-CoV-2). La difusión del virus fue rápida y, actualmente, existen casos de COVID-19 a nivel mundial en 213 países, áreas o territorios. Los investigadores internacionales trabajan y comparten sus contribuciones en cuanto a epidemiología, prevención, tratamiento, patrones clínicos y diagnósticos de COVID-19. La presente revisión es otra contribución al conocimiento actual, que presenta los datos sobre la pandemia de COVID-19 en formato organizado y sistemático. La información epidemiológica presentada en el documento está sujeta a cambios, a medida que se diagnostiquen nuevos datos y se actualice el estatus de los casos activos, de manera diaria.

KIR3DL1+HLA-B Bw4Ile80 and KIR2DS1+HLA-C2 combinations are both associated with ankylosing spondylitis in the Iranian population.

Contribution of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and their human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class I ligands in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases has been shown in several studies. In this study, the possible association of KIR genes, their known HLA ligands and compound KIR/HLA genotypes with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was assessed. Combined KIR/HLA ligand genotyping was performed by a polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers assay in 35 Iranian patients with AS, and genotypes were compared to those in 200 healthy individuals. The frequencies of telomeric cluster genes KIR2DL5A, KIR2DS1 and KIR3DS1 were significantly increased in AS patient group (P(c) = 0.0082, P(c) = 0.0195 and P(c) = 0.0328, respectively). Conversely, HLA-Bw4 ligand (the presence of one or more -B Bw4(Ile80) , -B Bw4(Thr80) and -A Bw4 epitopes) (P(c) = 0.0004) and HLA-B Bw4(Ile80) (P(c) = 0.053) were less frequent in these patients. Meanwhile, compound KIR/HLA genotype analyses revealed lower frequency of KIR3DL1+HLA-B Bw4(Ile80) (P(c) = 0.0343) and higher frequency of KIR2DS1+HLA-C2 (P(c) = 0.0308) combinations in patients with AS than in controls. In addition, the genotypes iKIR+HLA > aKIR+HLA (P(c) = .0308) and iKIR+HLA > aKIR (P(c) = 0.0258) were statistically less common, and genotypes iKIR+HLA = aKIR+HLA (P(c) = 0.0081) and iKIR+HLA < aKIR (P(c) = 0.077) were more common in patient group. Our findings suggest a role for excessive or inappropriate NK cell activation through 'KIR/HLA' system in AS disease.

Distribution of KIR genes in the Iranian population.

Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) are a family of inhibitory and activating receptors that are expressed mainly by natural killer cells. The KIR gene family is highly polymorphic, and its genomic diversity is achieved through differences in gene content as well as allelic polymorphism. The number of KIR loci has been reported to be various among individuals and therefore resulting in different KIR haplotypes. This study represents the first report on the distribution of 17 presently defined KIR genes and pseudogenes in the Iranian population. In our study, 200 unrelated healthy individuals were KIR typed by a novel polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers genotyping assay, and Iranian KIR genes distribution was compared with other ethnic groups. Over all, twenty-six different genotype profiles were found in our population and all KIR genes were observed. The most frequent non-framework KIR genes detected in our population were KIR2DL1 (96.5%), KIR3DL1 (91.5%), KIR2DS4 (91.5%) and the pseudogene KIR2DP1 (96.5%). The most commonly observed KIR genotype in Iranian population with a frequency of 27.5% consisted of KIR2DL1, KIR2DL3, KIR2DL4, KIR3DL1, KIR3DL2, KIR3DL3 and KIR2DS4 genes and the pseudogenes KIR2DP1 and KIR3DP1, which was compatible with a homozygote group-A haplotype. In addition, we found a new genotype (KIR2DL2, KIR2DL4, KIR2DL5, KIR3DL2, KIR3DL3, KIR2DS2, KIR2DS3, KIR2DS5, KIR3DS1 and KIR3DP1) in our samples. The results show that distribution of KIR genes in the Iranian population has common general features with the Caucasian populations studied before but still with unique, decreased or increased frequencies of several loci.

Effect of feed restriction early in life on humoral and cellular immunity of two commercial broiler strains under heat stress conditions.

1. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of early feed restriction (FR) on immunocompetence of Ross and Arian chickens with separated sexes under heat stress (HS) conditions. 2. Chickens consumed feed ad libitum (AL) or were restricted on alternate days from 11 to 20 d of age. From 35 to 41 d of age, the HS groups were exposed to a high ambient temperature of 39 +/- 1 degreesC for 7 h each day, while the thermoneutral groups (TN) were at 33 degrees C. 3. At 21 and 42d of age, the percentage of CD4+ (helper T cells) and CD8+ (cytotoxic T cells) were determined by flow cytometry. Antibody response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio were determined on d 21 and 42. 4. On d 21, FR elevated the CD4+, antibody titre and H/L ratio, but it decreased the CD8+ T cells. On d 42, HS decreased CD4+, CD8+, and antibody titre, but it increased H/L ratio. Under TN conditions, FR chickens had higher CD4+ than AL chickens. On d 42, FR/HS chickens had higher CD4+ and antibody titre, but they had lower CD8+ and H/L ratio than AL/HS chickens. 5. On d 42, the TN-Ross strain had lower CD4+, but they had higher CD8+ and antibody titres than the TN-Arian strain. On d 42, the HS-Arian strain had higher antibody titres and a lower H/L ratio than the HS-Ross strain. 6. Male chickens had higher CD4+, CD8+, antibody titres and H/L ratios 25 in all treatment groups. 7. In conclusion, FR early in life reduced some of the negative effects of the heat stress on the immune system of broiler chickens when exposed to high environmental temperatures later in life.