Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medicine

Background: IL-18 gene polymorphism is shown to be involved in various diseases. This study examines the influence of IL-18 gene polymorphism on the natural course of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection together with the impact of serum levels in Iraqi population for the first time.
Methods: A total of 55 patients and similar numbers of healthy controls were recruited in this study. Gene polymorphisms at positions -607C/A and -137G/C of IL-18 were examined using the allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serum levels of IL-18 were determined by an ELISA kit.
Results: Three genotypes of IL-18-607C/A (rs1946518) of were distributed variably in both patients and controls: CC, CA, and AA with frequencies 41 (82%), 3 (6%), and 6 (12%), in patients while were 44 (88%), 5 (10%), and 1 (2%) in the controls, respectively. The homozygous AA mutant genotype, A and C allele frequencies were significantly higher (P=0.043) in patients than the healthy control group (A: 15% and 7%, P=0.04 and C: 85% and 93%, P=0.04, respectively) (OR=2.3445, 95%CI=0.9121-6.0269). The effect of treatment against HBV on genotype and allele frequencies compared with untreated patients revealed that CC and AA genotypes were significantly higher (P=0.04) in treated than untreated patients mirrored results obtained in patients and controls. Three genotypes of IL-18-317G/C, rs187238 were observed in both patients and healthy controls: GG, GC, and CC that appeared in 30 (60%), 18 (36%), and 2 (4%) of HBV infected patients and in 32 (64%), 16 (32%), and 2 (4%) of the control group, respectively. No significant genotype and alleles (G and C) distribution between patients and controls. No significant differences of the allele frequencies of both G and C alleles between patients and controls (OR=0.863, 95%CI=0.4485-1.7516). A serum level of IL-18 was found to be significantly higher in HBV-infected patients compared to the control group. IL- 18 levels decreased significantly by different genotypes of both SNPs but were consistently associated with mutant genotypes of -137 SNP.
Conclusion: IL-18-607AA mutant genotype and C and A alleles were significantly associated with a high risk to HBV infection in Iraqi population, however, the -307 genotypes had no clear impact on the disease and its role as a protective factor needs further investigation. In contrast, the down regulation of the circulating levels of IL-18 in patients was associated with the -317 and -607 genotypes.

Introduction: Diseases and their pertained treatments are of the major cases led to suffering from anxiety. Anxiety, in fact, is an informing process and influences the quality of life of patients and their families and endangers their improvement in case of being continued. Tracheostomy is one of the methods creating artificial air passage and it will be superior over other techniques and performed for a long time in case of needing the artificial air passage. Caring patients with Tracheostomy is very important and stressful; the anxiety of families can deeply influence their ability in decision making and causes the decrease of care skills and their performance in caring patients. Considering the importance of the issue, the purpose of the present study has been to evaluate the changes resulted by the components of educational program provided for patients’ families to improve their performance and decrease their anxiety after discharge in 2012-2013.

Materials and methods: As a quasi-experimental study, 31 patients in hospitals of Gilan Province have been investigated. The sample has been selected using judgmental sampling method. To gather required data, questionnaire (to evaluate demographic characteristics and Spill Berger anxiety scale) and checklist of families’ skill and performance in caring patients have been employed. The results obtained from performing educational program were recorded and compared with before the education. The obtained data was analysed through SPSS software.

Results: As the research findings revealed, the mean and standard deviation of total anxiety were 112.35 ± 16.18 and 95.8 ± 13.07 before and after performing educational program, respectively. In other words, there is a significant relation between total anxiety before and after the educational program, the mean of total anxiety was significantly decreased (P=0.0001; t=16.29) and the mean and standard deviation of care skill and total performance of the sample was significantly increased from 93.7 ± 6.57 to 119.8 ± 7.2, indicating that the performance and care skill of the sample was significantly improved (P=0.0001).

Conclusion: Finally, the research results showed that implementing educational program causes the decrease of anxiety and the increase of the skill of families of the patients with Tracheostomy.

Until of the recent, the use of molecular tools in diagnostic mycology laboratories supersedes the old conventional methods. The diagnostics laboratories consider two important parameters; sensitivity and specificity, and the use of PCR and it is related have it all. This review went through the timeline of how fungal pathogen detection techniques have developed and still in the progress. The most recent other review articles and research papers were selected at random and critical analyses are made on the previous studies and papers. It is ascertain that molecular tools are more sensitive and specific and hence accurate results are achieved. It is clear that even though molecular techniques are reliable enough, the methods and the purity of DNA extraction and the amount respectively determines the fingerprint that gives identity to the respective pathogens.

Antiretroviral therapy and its major scaling up over the past decade has contributed to improving the quality of life of people living with HIV, but the mortality associated with this pandemic remains a concern in our environment and opportunistic infections are the major causes of death in most patients. The objective is to determine the causes of patients’ deaths living with HIV at the Lubumbashi University Center of Excellence. A documentary review of patients was conducted from May 2011 to December 2015. Death is considered HIV-related if it is the result of an opportunistic infection in any patient with CD4 less than 200/mm3. 1717 patients were recruited to the center of excellence between May 2011 and December 2015, the mortality rate was 24.1% patient year, 67.95% women and 32.05% male 76.63% of patients had CD4 less than 200 mm3. 86% of the causes were directly related to HIV, Cryptococcal neuromeningitis comes first with 16.6%, while tuberculosis follows with 15.3%; 8% of the causes were not directly related to HIV, it is notably hepatopathies with 2.6%.