Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: With increasing immunocompromised patients, fungal infections especially lung infection, have also increased. In this study, fungal contamination of the respiratory system in immunocompromised patients was evaluated.
Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in immunocompromised patients suspicious of pulmonary infections referring to specialized lung clinic of Amir-Al-Momenin University Hospital in Arak City, Iran, from April 2017 to June 2018. Of these 64 patients, including 35 women and 29 men, were selected. After recording the demographic information, a bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) sample was prepared by the physician from these patients and was immediately sent to the medical mycology laboratory, school of medicine. Bronchoalveolar lavage specimens were investigated by Grocott-Gomori's methenamine silver (GMS) staining and culture method. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 16 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA).
Results: Of 64 patients, 9 (14%) were infected with pulmonary fungal infections. Among the patients infected with fungal infection, 9 (100%) were positive in the culture examine and 8 (72%) by GMS staining. Among infected people, 7 (77.8%) were female and 2 (22.2%) were male. The most common isolated fungi were Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Mucor species (2 cases). The highest infection was seen in the age group of less than 60 (33.3%). 66.7% of infections were among the unemployed persons and 33.3% of other cases of infection were seen in people with free jobs, workers and employees. The most important factors in the development of pulmonary fungal infections in the patients were: 5 cases of malignancy (33.3%), corticosteroid use in 2 cases (33.3%), tuberculosis in 1 case (22.2%) and diabetes mellitus in 1 case (11.2%). There was no significant relationship between fungal contamination with sex, age, occupation, marriage and type of disease.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that immunocompromised patients are prone to fungal infections, especially Candidiasis and Aspergillosis. Therefore, the use of control methods to reduce the probability of such patients to fungal infections should be considered.

Background: Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune inflammatory disease, which manifests itself as an acute motor weakness of the organs, diagnosed as affecting the motor spinal nerve roots generally and causing muscle and motor weakness, the cause of this disease is the presence of active antibodies against the myelin sheath around the spinal nerve roots. Guillain-Barré syndrome is the most common and most severe unpleasant neuropathy that affects about 100,000 people worldwide annually.
Methods: This is a descriptive analytical study, the data of 354 admitted patients were reviewed and 262 cases, which matched the criteria for entering the study, was included. The criterion for entering the study was clinical diagnosis.Required information were included age, sex, complaints of disease, and visitation period. Data was analyzed by using Microsoft Excel 2013 (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, USA) and study was performed on Imam Reza and Farabi Hospitals of Kermanshah in Iran, from March 1993 to February 2013.
Results: 59.5% were male and 40.5% female, and the mean age of the patients was 44.6±22.9. The most affected individuals were at the age of 30-50 and the highest prevalence was observed in spring. Acute inflammatory demyelinating poly-radiculoneuropathy with 53.4% was the most common backward disorder in patients and 5.7% among deaths among patients.
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that Acute inflammatory demyelinating poly-radiculoneuropathy had the highest prevalence in patients and decreased with increasing age, and this syndrome was more prevalent in the spring.

Background: Acute pancreatitis is a common and challenging disease that can develop local and systemic complications. It is divided into biliary and non-biliary pancreatitis, based on ultrasonographic findings. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and paraclinical findings of patients with acute pancreatitis and related factor.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included all patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis in Besat and Towhid hospitals of Sanandaj from March 2016 to March 2018. All patients admitted with a confirmed diagnosis of acute pancreatitis during the mentioned period were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were a definitive diagnosis of acute pancreatitis based on clinical features (characteristic abdominal pain), laboratory findings (serum amylase or lipase elevated more than three times the normal level), and/or imaging evidence. Patients with chronic underlying conditions such as diabetes, chronic renal or hepatic failure, advanced cardiac disease, or neoplasms were excluded to reduce confounding effects.
Results: Of the 150 patients, 89 were female (59.33%), and 61 were male (40.67%). The mean age of the patients was 53.11 years old. 62% of patients had biliary pancreatitis, and 38% had non-biliary. The prevalence of alcoholic pancreatitis in the population was 5.33%. The age of people with biliary pancreatitis was more than non-biliary. According to Ranson's criteria, 6% of patients had severe acute pancreatitis, all of whom were over 60.
Conclusion: Acute pancreatitis was more prevalent among women, particularly in the fifth decade of life, with gallstones being the leading cause. Patients with biliary pancreatitis were significantly older, and advanced age was associated with increased disease severity. Moreover, blood glucose, AST, and LDH were significantly higher in severe cases. These findings highlight the importance of early diagnosis, accurate severity assessment, and special attention to elderly patients and those with biliary pancreatitis to reduce complications and improve clinical outcomes.