Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Acute respiratory tract infections, both bacterial and viral, cause 4.5 million childhood deaths worldwide, most of which occur in developing countries. Parainfluenza viruses, of the paramyxoviridae family, are among the common causes of acute respiratory infections, giving rise to 30% of respiratory infections in children before school age. The four parainfluenza viruses that cause a spectrum of respiratory illness in humans are designated as human para influenza virus-1 through 4. Spreading from the respiratory tract by aerosolized secretions or direct hand contact with secretions, parainfluenza viruses replicate in the respiratory epithelium without evidence of systemic spread. The destruction of cells in the upper airways can lead to secondary bacterial invasion and resultant bacterial tracheitis. Eustachian tube obstruction can lead to secondary bacterial invasion of the middle ear space and acute otitis media. In otherwise healthy children, the majority of illnesses remain in the upper respiratory tract. As with many viruses, three approaches to the diagnosis of parainfluenza virus are currently used: viral culture, detection of viral antigen or nucleic acid, and serologic analysis. The gold standard remains the isolation of virus in tissue culture.

Methods: This descriptive case-series study was conducted from January 2003 to January 2004, and included 96 children five years of age and younger. To determine the relative frequency of parainfluenza respiratory tract infection, the nasopharyngeal secretions were studied by immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) assay. Seasonal incidence, age distribution and clinical signs and symptoms of this infection were also recorded.

Results: Among our study group, the relative frequency of parainfluenza respiratory infection was 26%, most commonly in children aged 25-36 months and in autumn. Cough (84%) and rhinorrhea (96%) were the most common symptoms, with fever (68%) as the most common sign in our patients. Pharyngotonsilitis was the most common (40%) clinical manifestation in our patients.

Conclusions: According to above data, patient age and the frequency of parainfluenza infection were similar to other studies.

Background: The most common cause for acute onset of thrombocytopenia in an otherwise well child is (autoimmune) idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). The incidence of ITP appears to be greater in children than in adult. The incidence of ITP in children is estimated to be approximately 46 new cases per million population per year. Prednisolone, typically given as a single dose of 1-4 mg/kg/day, is indicated for all patients with symptomatic thrombocytopenic purpura and probably for all patients with platelet counts below 30000-50000/μL who may be at increased risk for hemorrhagic complication. An alternative to corticosteroid therapy for ITP is IVIG, but is much more expensive, has significant side effects, and is not significantly superior to steroid therapy to justify the expense and side effects of its use. In acute ITP, 80% of patients respond initially, with more rapid increase in platelet counts compared to steroid treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Iran comparing the efficacy of prednisolone and IVIG in the treatment of ITP.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 202 ITP patients were treated with either prednisolone or IVIG between 1995 and 2005 at the Childrens' Medical Center, Tehran, Iran. We compared the efficacy of prednisolone and IVIG in increasing the platelet counts of ITP patients. In addition, we collected the following patient data: seasonal incidence, age distribution, gender, parental consanguinity, and platelet count on admission.

Results: There were no meaningful differences between IVIG and prednisolone in the treatment of ITP (z test with p<0.05). ITP was more common in males, with the highest incidence in the age range of 2-8 years old.

Conclusion: Because there was no statistical difference between the outcome of the IVIG and prednisolone treatments, we recommend that prednisolone be the drug of choice to treat ITP.

Background: Hypertension is a very common and important disease. There are conflicting reports about mercury, a trace element, in the genesis of hypertension.

Methods: In this study we examined the relationship between blood mercury levels and hypertension prevalence in a population-based sample of hypertensive and normotensive patients at the Shariati Hospital and the Tehran Heart Center in Tehran, Iran. A cross sectional sampling of 224 patients, aged 40-80 years, who participated in physical examinations conducted in 2006 were included in this study. The population that participated in this study were sample of hypertensive (n=112) which had essential hypertension and normotensive (n=112) patients which had no history of essential hypertension at the Shariati Hospital and the Tehran Heart Center in Tehran. The consent of all the patients were taken in the written form before the experiments. After selecting the patients the range of blood mercury levels were measured with Flame atomic absorption.

Results: The range of blood mercury levels was 0 to 39.55 µg/dL. The mean blood mercury level of hypertensive patients (10.75 +1.23 µg/dL) was higher than that of normotensive patients (1.6 +1.02 µg/dL). There was a significant difference in the mean blood mercury level of normotensive men (1.74 +1.56 µg/dL) versus that of hypertensive men (11.9 +1.38 µg/dL). The mean blood mercury level of normotensive women (1.5 µg/dL) was also significantly different from that of hypertensive women (9.65 +0.53 µg/dL) (p<0.001).

Conclusions: In this population, there is a positive relationship between the concentration of blood mercury levels and the presence of hypertension.