Genetic Variability of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Strains Isolated from Burns Patients

Mehdi Goudarzi,Nobumichi Kobayashi,Maryam Fazeli,Masoumeh Navidinia,Ali Hashemi 질병관리본부 2019 Osong Public Health and Research Persptectives Vol.10 No.3

Objectives: Staphylococcus aureus is a nosocomial pathogen that provides a major challenge in the healthcare environment, especially in burns units where patients are particularly susceptible to infections. In this study, we sought to determine molecular types of S. aureus isolates collected from burns patients, based on staphylococcal protein A and coagulase gene polymorphisms. Methods: Antibiotic susceptibility testing of 89 S. aureus strains isolated from burn wounds of patients was assessed using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Strains were characterized by spa typing, coa typing, and resistance and toxin gene profiling. Results: A total of 12 different spa types were identified with the majority being t790 (18%). Panton- Valentine leucocidin encoding genes were identified in spa types t044 (5.6%), t852 (2.2%) and t008 (2.2%). The most commonly detected antibiotic resistance gene was ant (4΄)-Ia (60.7%). Ten different coa types were detected and the majority of the tested isolates belonged to coa III (47.2%). All the high-level mupirocin-resistant and low-level mupirocin resistant strains belonged to coa type III. Conclusion: The present study illustrated that despite the high frequency of coa III and spa t790 types, the genetic background of S. aureus strains in Iranian burns patients was diverse. The findings obtained are valuable in creating awareness of S. aureus infections within burns units.

Genotyping of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma in Iranian Patients with Helicobacter pylori Infection

Goudarzi, Hossein,Seyedjavadi, Sima Sadat,Fazeli, Maryam,Azad, Mehdi,Goudarzi, Mehdi Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.13

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection as a serious problem in both adults and children can induce chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and possibly gastric cancer. The aim of the current study was to survey antibiotic resistance and also to determine influence of PPAR$\gamma$ polymorphism in patients with H. pylori infection. During an 11-month-period, 98 H. pylori isolates were collected from 104 biopsy specimens. In vitro susceptibility of H. pylori isolates to 4 antimicrobial agents metronidazole, clarithromycin, amoxicillin and tetracycline were assessed by quantitative method according to European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guideline. PPAR$\gamma$ polymorphism was determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. The frequency of H. pylori infection in our study was 94.2%. In vitro susceptibility data showed that highest level of resistance was related to metronidazole (66.3%), and the majority of H. pylori isolates were highly susceptible to amoxicillin and tetracycline (94.9% and 96.9%, respectively). Genotypic frequencies were 25.5% for CC (Pro12Pro), 40.8% for GC (Pro12Ala) and 33.7% for GG (Ala12Ala). In our study, CG genotype had highest distributions among infected patients with H. pylori. The study suggests that the PPAR-$\gamma$ Pro12Ala polymorphism could be evaluated as a potential genetic marker for susceptibility to gastric cancer in the presence of H. pylori infection.

Identification of a Novel Cassette Array in Integron-bearing Helicobacter Pylori Strains Isolated from Iranian Patients

Goudarzi, Mehdi,Seyedjavadi, Sima Sadat,Fazeli, Maryam,Roshani, Maryam,Azad, Mehdi,Heidary, Mohsen,Navidinia, Masoumeh,Goudarzi, Hossein Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.7

Helicobacter pylori as the second most common cause of gastric cancer in the world infects approximately half of the developed countries population and 80% of the population living in developing countries. Integrons as genetic reservoirs play major roles in dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report carriage of class 1 and 2 integrons and associated gene cassettes in H. pylori isolates from Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Tehran among 110 patients with H. pylori infection. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) for H. pylori strains were assessed by the micro broth dilution method. Class 1 and 2 integrons were detected using PCR. In order to determine gene cassettes, amplified fragments were subjected to DNA sequencing of both amplicon strands. The prevalence of resistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole, clarithromycin, tetracycline, amoxicillin, rifampin, and levofloxacin were 68.2% (n=75), 25.5% (n=28), 24.5% (n=27), 19.1% (n=21), 18.2% (n=20) and 16.4% (n=18), respectively. Frequency of multidrug resistance among H. pylori isolates was 12.7%. Class 2 integron was detected in 50 (45.5%) and class 1 integron in 10 (9.1%) H. pylori isolates. The most predominant gene cassette arrays in class 2 integron-bearing H. pylori were included sat-era-aadA1, dfrA1-sat2-aadA1, blaoxa2 and, aadB whereas common gene cassette arrays in class 1 integron were aadB-aadA1-cmlA6, aacA4, blaoxa2, and catB3. The high frequency of class 2 integron and multidrug resistance in the present study should be considered as a warning for clinicians that continuous surveillance is necessary to prevent the further spread of resistant isolates.

Natural Infection with Rabies Virus: A Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Study of Human Brains

Firouzeh Farahtaj,Amir Ghaemi,Alireza Gholami,Alireza Tahamtan,Sadegh Shirian,Maryam Fazeli,Amir Sasan Mozaffari Nejad,Ali Gorji,Hamid Mahmoudzadeh-Niknam,Leila Alizadeh 질병관리본부 2019 Osong Public Health and Research Persptectives Vol.10 No.1

Objectives: Despite all the efforts and increased knowledge of rabies, the exact mechanisms of infection and mortality from the rabies virus are not well understood. To understand the mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity of rabies virus infection, it is crucial to study the tissue that the rabies virus naturally infects in humans. Methods: Cerebellum brain tissue from 9 human post mortem cases from Iran, who had been infected with rabies virus, were examined histopathologically and immunohistochemically to evaluate the innate immune responses against the rabies virus. Results: Histopathological examination revealed inflammation of the infected cerebellum and immunohistochemical analyses showed an increased immunoreactivity of heat shock protein 70, interleukin-6, interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, caspase-3, caspase-9, toll-like receptor3 and toll-like receptor4 in the infected brain tissue. Conclusion: These results indicated the involvement of innate immunity in rabies infected human brain tissue, which may aggravate the progression of this deadly disease.

Investigating the prevalence of and predictive and risk factors for pulmonary embolism in patients with COVID-19 in Nemazee Teaching Hospital

Mahnaz Yadollahi,Hessam Hosseinalipour,Mehrdad Karajizadeh,Muhammad Alinaqi,Pooria Fazeli,Mehrdad Jowkar,Kazem Jamali,Maryam Yadollahi 대한혈액학회 2023 Blood Research Vol.58 No.3

Background Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a significant contributing factor to vascular diseases. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of pulmonary thromboembolism and its predisposing factors in patients with COVID-19. Methods This cross-sectional study included 284 patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to Nemazee Teaching Hospital (Shiraz, Iran) between June and August 2021. All patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 by a physician based on clinical symptoms or positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results. The collected data included demographic data and laboratory findings. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software. P ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results There was a significant difference in the mean age between the PTE group and non-PTE group (P =0.037). Moreover, the PTE group had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (36.7% vs. 21.8%, P =0.019), myocardial infarction (4.5% vs. 0%, P =0.006), and stroke (23.9% vs. 4.9%, P =0.0001). Direct bilirubin (P =0.03) and albumin (P =0.04) levels significantly differed between the PTE and non-PTE groups. Notably, there was a significant difference in the partial thromboplastin time (P =0.04) between the PTE and non-PTE groups. A regression analysis indicated that age (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00‒1.004; P =0.005), blood pressure (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.12‒3.85; P =0.02), heart attack (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.28‒6.06; P =0.009), and albumin level (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.16‒0.97; P =0.04) were all independent predictors of PTE development. Conclusion Regression analysis revealed that age, blood pressure, heart attack, and albumin levels were independent predictors of PTE.