Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Hepatitis type C virus (HCV) is one of the important threatened infectious blood born viruses in different populations. More than 300 million people were suffered form different HCV clinical complications all around the world. It is estimated that only 20% of HCV infected individuals will recover from this viral infection, while the rest become chronically infected. The majority of chronically infected individuals never exhibit symptoms, but approximately 10-/30% of these patients will eventually develop severe liver complications. In this research the prevalence of HCV Ab and the role of some demographic data in HCV incidence and clinical outcomes were determined.

Methods: In this retrospective study 11472 blood samples from, Iranian blood donors, Shahrekord city were collected for one year. The frequency of HCV Ab was analyzed with a third generation EIA method. The statistical relationships of different possible risk factors of HCV infection were analyzed by Instat software.

Results: The HCV Ab was diagnosed in 69 of 11472 (0.6%) serum samples. Significant correlations were detected between the history of HCV infection with marriage, tattooing, and doubtful sexual contact. Significant relationships were not defined between HCV infection with age, history of liver disease, and record of travel to abroad.

Conclusions: Significant relationships were find between HCV infection with marital status, history of tattooing and sexual contact, but significant correlations were not find between HCV infections with sex, history of liver disease and traveling to other countries.

Background: Since high plasma level for C-reactive protein (CRP) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, thereby decrease in the level of high- sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients through anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce mortality and the incidence of heart failure. Accordingly, this research aims to investigate the effect of hs-CRP on ACS patients before and after treatment with astatines.

Methods: This cross-sectional and cohort study was performed for the population of 90 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) martyrs at the Mustafa Khomeini University Hospital in the Ilam city, Iran, From July to September, 2014. Blood samples were collected at admission and demographic and clinical symptoms, echocardiography and electrocardiography were recorded. At admission, the questionnaire including demographic information and medical history of patients was filled by the researchers and echocardiography and physical examination was carried out by cardiologist. The obtained data are further explored and analyzed via SPSS software, ver. 19 (Chicago, IL, USA).

Results: The sample under study was 52.2% and 48.8% men and women, respectively. Phi correlation coefficient of 73% and positive Cramer's V of 0.879 was observed between re-admission and arrhythmia admission for the group received 40 mg atorvastatin. It means that we have more re-admission when arrhythmia increases. Only 4% correlation coefficient and very low positive Cramer's V of 0.293 was seen for the group who receive 80 mg atorvastatin. It indicates that no significant correlation exists between eject fraction of admission and re-admission (P=0.18). The results showed that hs-CRP of the group that received 80 mg atorvastatin was 0.179 which is lower than 0.37 for the group who received 40 mg atorvastatin.

Conclusion: By increasing the astatine dose, the amount of hs-CRP and consequently the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events were reduced. Hence, high starting dose of atorvastatin at preliminary stages of hospitalizing can reduce re-admission and cardiovascular consequents.