Showing papers by "Hossein Hatami published in 2022"

Bedaquiline-containing regimens and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract: ABSTRACT Objective: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a life-threatening infectious disease. Treatment requires multiple antimicrobial agents used for extended periods of time. The present study sought to evaluate the treatment success rate of bedaquiline-based regimens in MDR-TB patients. Methods: This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published up to March 15, 2021. The pooled treatment success rates and 95% CIs were assessed with the fixed-effect model or the random-effects model. Values of p < 0.05 were considered significant for publication bias. Results: A total of 2,679 articles were retrieved by database searching. Of those, 29 met the inclusion criteria. Of those, 25 were observational studies (including a total of 3,536 patients) and 4 were experimental studies (including a total of 440 patients). The pooled treatment success rate was 74.7% (95% CI, 69.8-79.0) in the observational studies and 86.1% (95% CI, 76.8-92.1; p = 0.00; I2 = 75%) in the experimental studies. There was no evidence of publication bias (p > 0.05). Conclusions: In patients with MDR-TB receiving bedaquiline, culture conversion and treatment success rates are high even in cases of extensive resistance.

An Insight from Nature: Honeycomb Pattern in Advanced Structural Design for Impact Energy Absorption

Abstract: The ability of a vehicle to protect its occupants from serious injuries in the event of a collision is defined as crashworthiness. The proper design of lightweight energy absorption components is a topic of interest because it can enhance the occupant's safety and lead to less fuel consumption and gas emission. Honeycomb structures are known to have excellent mechanical performances, which are mainly due to the configurations of the unit cell. Thus, they have attracted attention in the field of automobiles, railway vehicles, etc. In the present work, the criteria of crashworthiness as well as the nature-bioinspired cellular structures are first introduced. Then, the various classifications of advanced honeycomb design, including graded, hierarchical, and sandwich panel-based honeycomb structures, are established and discussed with a focus on the advantageous effect of various designs on the crashworthiness of honeycomb-based structures. Finally, the importance of potential design to enhance the crashworthy performance of honeycomb structures together with the future challenges is summarized. This work provides a good understanding of architectural design for a new generation of advanced honeycomb-based structures with efficient energy-absorbing properties.

Tele‐medicine and improvement of mental health problems in COVID‐19 pandemic: A systematic review

Abstract: Tele‐medicine services have been developed in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, which disrupts mental health services. The present study investigates the effectiveness of telephone‐delivered services for psychological disorders in the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Vaginal bleeding as a sign of Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever infection: a case report

Abstract: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a severe vector-borne viral hemorrhagic fever with considerable mortality in humans. This disease is endemic in Afghanistan, and its incidence rate has rapidly increased in recent years. This infection can cause a broad range of hemorrhage manifestations including epistaxis, petechial or purpuric rashes, hematemesis, and melena; however, vaginal bleeding is also reported as a rare manifestation.We report the case of a previously healthy 30-year-old Afghan female of shepherding occupation, with a sudden onset of fever, generalized body pain, epistaxis, and vaginal bleeding. She was admitted to the hospital after 7 days of symptom manifestation, with predominant signs being high fever, vaginal bleeding, and elevated liver enzymes. The serological test result for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever was positive. She was treated with oral ribavirin and discharged with normal parameters.People in high-risk professions in endemic areas should be informed that vaginal bleeding is a serious symptom and requires immediate action and, therefore, might be attributed to nongynecologic disorders.

COVID-19: National pandemic management strategies and their efficacies and impacts on the number of secondary cases and prognosis: A systematic review

Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the pathogen responsible for an acute respiratory disease designated COIVD-19, which has spread throughout the world. Despite all the struggles with this virus, still, the majority of societies are affected by COVID-19, which raises many questions such as are these ways of management enough, which is crucial in order to contain the virus spread, and which is not effective. In this systemic review, we tried to summarize the data on different ways of managing COVID-19 outbreaks. Through understanding the efficacy and downsides of different approaches to manage COVID-19, public health officials, governing bodies, and health care administrators may be better equipped with the tools necessary to best manage COVID-19 and pandemics.This systematic review was carried out by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. Articles were selected using several databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, all peer-reviewed and published articles from December 1, 2019 to April 23, 2020 that met the inclusion criteria were selected.The majority of the included articles were mathematical modeling, cohort studies (n = 9), cross-sectional (n = 6), and one case series. Most articles originated from China and then Singapore. The measures that have been practiced in these articles consisted of close contact tracing and case isolation, quarantine, strict surveillance, lockdown, and travel surveillance.The most effective approach is at least the combination of case detection and isolation, and contact tracing or containment measures. In the literature, travel controls seem to be ineffective, personal hygiene should be tough and emphasized.

FTO genotype was associated with breast cancer in HER2 negative patients.

Abstract: The fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene may influence the risk of breast cancer (BC). The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FTO gene may exert different impacts on different types of BC. In this study, we investigated the association between FTO SNP rs9939609 and the status of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), P53, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) in BC patients.Our case-control study was included 540 Iranian participants aged 35 to 70 (180 women with BC as the case group and 360 healthy controls). After genotyping for risk allele rs9939609 of the FTO gene, a logistic regression was applied to elucidate the association between FTO SNP rs9939609 and BC risk based on the receptor status.The number of HER-2 negative patients was significantly higher in FTO rs9939609 risk allele carrier group (61.5% vs. 41.4%, P < 0.05). A significant association was found between BC and rs9939609 FTO gene polymorphism only in HER2 negative BC patients (OR = 1.79, CI95%: 1.2-3.56, P = 0.03). No association was identified between FTO rs9939609 polymorphism and the status of ER, PR, and P53.We indicated that FTO SNP rs9939609 can be a potential therapeutic target particularly in HER-2 negative BC cases. The importance of this risk allele in BC pathogenesis needs to be further highlighted.

COVID-19: National Pandemic Management Strategies and their Efficacies and Impacts on the Number of Secondary Cases and Prognosis: A Systematic Review

Abstract: Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the pathogen responsible for an acute respiratory disease designated COIVD-19, which has spread throughout the world. Despite all the struggles with this virus, still, the majority of societies are affected by COVID-19, which raises many questions such as are these ways of management enough, which is crucial in order to contain the virus spread, and which is not effective. In this systemic review, we tried to summarize the data on different ways of managing COVID-19 outbreaks. Through understanding the efficacy and downsides of different approaches to manage COVID-19, public health officials, governing bodies, and health care administrators may be better equipped with the tools necessary to best manage COVID-19 and pandemics. Methods: This systematic review was carried out by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. Articles were selected using several databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, all peer-reviewed and published articles from December 1, 2019 to April 23, 2020 that met the inclusion criteria were selected. Results: The majority of the included articles were mathematical modeling, cohort studies (n = 9), cross-sectional (n = 6), and one case series. Most articles originated from China and then Singapore. The measures that have been practiced in these articles consisted of close contact tracing and case isolation, quarantine, strict surveillance, lockdown, and travel surveillance. Conclusions: The most effective approach is at least the combination of case detection and isolation, and contact tracing or containment measures. In the literature, travel controls seem to be ineffective, personal hygiene should be tough and emphasized.

Epidemiological Study of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the Population Covered by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Iran from 2011 to 2021

Abstract: Background: The World Health Organization has introduced leishmaniosis as one of the eight major tropical parasitic diseases in the world, which is reported in 98 countries, including Iran. According to available reports, 2 million people develop the disease on an annual basis. Objectives: The present descriptive-analytical study aimed to examine the patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis referring to health centers from 2011 to 2021 in order to improve prevention and treatment methods for high-risk individuals and provide appropriate health services for reducing the incidences of disease in high-risk areas. Methods: A total of 2119 patients afflicted with cutaneous leishmaniosis due to skin lesions were examined. The data were analyzed after entering the data into SPSS software, vol 26. Tables and graphs were used for displaying the qualitative variables; central indicators and dispersion were used for indicating quantitative variables, and chi-square test was used for analyzing the data. The level of P ≤ 0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Results: The mean age of 2119 patients was 28.32 ± 20.38 years. Furthermore, 65.2% of male patients and 34.8% of female ones were infected with the disease. As for the nationality of the patients, 81.8% of them were Iranians and 18.1% of them were Afghans, and 88.9% of them had a history of traveling to other areas. More than 51% of the cases occurred in the young age group, the age group of 21 to 30 years had the highest incidence (18.4%), and the incidence rate of the disease did not decrease. There was a statistically significant relationship between patients’ nationality and travel history, gender, and occupation (P = 0.0001). There was no statistically significant relationship between the incidence season and travel history (P = 0.221). Conclusions: Due to the patients’ travel to endemic areas, providing them with training on effective methods for preventing mosquito bites may have had a great impact on reducing the incidences of cutaneous leishmaniosis.

Evaluation of a Novel SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigenic Test Diagnostic Value in Respiratory Samples; is the Reported Test Accuracy Similar to Values in Real-World?

Abstract: Introduction: Last identified coronavirus in the current century led to COVID-19 pandemic with numerous socioeconomic issues in the whole world. While infected participants had different presentations, many symptoms were nonspecific, so the demand for effective testing was emerged. Although reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was introduced as the gold-standard to detect SARS-CoV-2, the method was known time-consuming besides requirement for equipped laboratory. Therefore antigen tests have developed to overcome these limitations. Aim: This survey aims to investigate a novel SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test as a diagnostic tool in COVID-19 patients in addition to evaluating COVID-19 population characteristics. Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out during the first semester of 2021 and about 1070 nasopharyngeal samples were collected to compare E-Health Barakat Company SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test results with RT-PCR reports as the reference method. Main outcome features. The novel antigen rapid test sensitivity considered 21.09% in real-world though it has been mentioned 81% in manufacture’s instruction. Result: Totally 537 participants were included in this study for employing RT-PCR and the antigen test sequentially. The gold standard method reported 128 positive individuals while the other assay just detected 32 of them. Moreover the most revealed manifestations found respiratory symptoms and fatigue sensation. Conclusion: This research is the first one on the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 antigen test in our country, Iran. Albeit the novel antigen assay was found quick and easy to perform, the test performance was too disappointing. The large false negative results made it inappropriate candidate for mass screening.

The Evaluation of Diagnostic Values of Clinical Symptoms for COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients in Northern Iran: The Syndromic Surveillance System Data

Abstract: Background: A novel coronavirus led to a rapidly spreading outbreak of COVID-19, which caused morbidity and mortality worldwide. Appropriate case definitions can help diagnose COVID-19. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 clinical symptoms and their potential patterns using latent class analysis (LCA) for identifying confirmed COVID-19 cases among hospitalized patients in northern Iran according to the syndromic surveillance system data. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Mazandaran Province, Iran. Respiratory specimens were collected by nasopharyngeal swabs from the patients and tested for COVID-¬19 using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Latent class analysis was used to identify patterns of the symptoms. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of each symptom pattern were compared and plotted. Also, multiple logistic regression was used to determine the odds ratio for each symptom pattern for predicting COVID-19 infection by adjusting for gender and age groups. Results: Among 13,724 hospitalized patients tested for COVID-19 and included in the analyses, 4,836 (35, 2%) had RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19. The symptoms of fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, myalgia, sore throat, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, headache, and arthralgia were significantly more common in patients positive for COVID-19 than in other patients and were used in LCA. Latent class analysis suggested six classes (patterns) of clinical symptoms. The AUC of symptom patterns was poor, being 0.43 for class 5, comprising patients without any symptoms, and 0.53 for class 3, comprising patients with fever, chills, and cough. Also, multiple logistic regression showed that class 1, comprising patients with fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, and arthralgia, had an odds ratio of 2.87 (1.39, 3.43) relative to class 5 (patients without any symptoms) for positive COVID-19. Conclusions: This study showed that the clinical symptoms might help diagnose COVID-19. However, the defined clinical symptoms suggested in the surveillance system of COVID-19 in Iran during this time were not appropriate for identifying COVID-19 cases.

Evaluation of a novel SARS‐CoV‐2 rapid antigenic test diagnostic value in respiratory samples; is the reported test accuracy similar to values in the real‐world? A cross‐sectional study

Abstract: Although reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) assay was introduced as the gold standard to detect SARS‐CoV‐2, the method was known to be time‐consuming besides the requirement for an equipped laboratory. This survey aims to investigate a novel SARS‐CoV‐2 antigen test as a diagnostic tool in COVID‐19 patients to overcome these limitations in addition to evaluating COVID‐19 population characteristics.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices About COVID-19 Among Healthcare Workers in Iran During the First Wave of the Pandemic

Abstract: Background and Objective Investigating the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among healthcare workers (HCWs) could be an early step toward identifying their potential educational needs and possible factors involved in misinformation. The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Iran during the first wave of the pandemic. Materials and Methods The current descriptive-correlational study was conducted during the 1st days of the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran from March 24th to April 3rd, 2020. Participants included all healthcare workers at hospitals, including physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, laboratory and radiology assistants, and other hospital professionals during the study period. Data were collected through an online self-administrative questionnaire. Results The responses of 1,310 participants were analyzed, of which 900 (68.7%) were female. The mean (SD) knowledge score was 25.4 (3.3), 84.7% out of 30. More than 90% of participants correctly recognized the main symptoms, transmission route, and preventive measures for COVID-19. The mean (SD) attitude score was 16.9 (1.1), 93.9% out of 18. Most participants agreed with keeping safe physical distancing, self-isolation upon symptom onset, and city lockdowns. The mean (SD) score for general practices about COVID-19 was 20.8 (2.0), 86.7% of 24. Conclusion The knowledge and practice of HCWs were appropriate, and their attitudes were mainly positive. However, there is still room for improvement regarding concerning misinformation and quackeries about COVID-19.

Evaluation of Culture-Positive Shigellosis Patients during Bloody Diarrhea Epidemics in Isfahan Province during 2015-2021

Abstract: Introduction: As one of the diseases transmitted through water and food, shigellosis is one of the health problems in developing countries. This study was conducted in order to investigate the outbreaks of bloody diarrhea caused by Shigella in patients with positive cultures in Isfahan province during 2014-2016. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. Information of 280 infected patients with positive Shigella cultures based on demographic information, age, sex, place of residence, clinical symptoms, history of food consumption, and the date of illness and referral to medical centers were analyzed using SPSS16 software, checking percentages and frequencies, chi-square and t-tests were investigated. Results: The percentage of female patients of this study was 51.1% and male was 48.9% with a mean age of 25.53± 21.36; 27.1% of patients were housewives and 94.3% were Iranians. 97.1% of patients, in addition to positive cultures, red blood cells were also reported in microscopic examination of their stool samples. . 23.26% of patients had fever, 19.86% had nausea and 16.99% had obvious bloody diarrhea. 26.88% of patients had a history of consuming vegetables and 94.1% of them referred to medical centers in the first three days to receive medical services. Furthermore, 45.5% of these patients were hospitalized and 54.5% were treated as outpatients and finally 100% of patients recovered. Conclusion: Community education for food hygiene is one of the essential educational needs and also the development of vegetable preparation centers in the form of packaging and having a health code is one of the essential needs in terms of health and food security.

Assessing Structural and Non-structural Safety and Readiness of Healthcare Centers in Bojnord in Dealing with Functional, Non-structural and Structural Dimensions of Disasters in 1400

Abstract: Introduction: Natural and man-made disasters will have harmful impacts. Given the important role of healthcare centers in time of crisis, they need to be regularly assessed in terms of structural and non-structural readiness. Methods: This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted on 22 urban and rural healthcare centers in Bojnord, a city in North Khorasan province, Iran. The relevant forms and checklists were completed through interviews with doctors, experts, and direct observation regarding functional, structural and non-structural documentation. After collecting data and completing the desired forms and checklists, the information obtained in all the centers was generally compared and evaluated. Results: Based on the results obtained from comprehensive urban and rural health service centers of Bojnoord Health Center, the level of functional readiness is 52.56, the safety of structural elements is 60%, the safety of non-structural elements is 57.32%, and the total safety is 57.71%. The disaster safety index is also 6 out of 10. Conclusion: According to the current research, the readiness of healthcare centers for disasters is far from the desired level. This situation could be due to the lack of an integrated disaster risk management, insufficient budget and knowledge on this issue. In the field of disaster risk management, it is necessary to plan to increase the understanding of disaster risk at the level of officials and society.