Novelty in Biomedicine

Based on previous studies, some comorbidities influence the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 disease. Among these factors, opportunistic fungal infections could have a major impact on the mortality of COVID-19 patients.

Background and Aim: Dermatophytosis refers to superficial fungal infection of keratinised tissues that increase remarkable costs several plants were used as traditional medicine to treat fungal diseases. The current review aimed to provide an update on several plants used as antidermatophytosis agents and investigate the action mechanism of each plant.

Materials and Methods: This systematic review was conducted on the literatures available in databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Science Direct using the search engine Google Scholar, and the following search terms: Dermatophytosis and Herbal/Herbal Medicine and Dermatophytosis treatment.

Results: Forty plants were identified and information on their scientific and common name, family, parts, preparation, extraction method, fractions, solvents, phytochemical categories, compounds, dermatophyte species and inhibitory concentrations was provided from multiple in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies

Conclusion: Herbals are the most effective agents on dermatophytosis which have antidermatophytosis effects due to their essential compounds.

Background: Severe symptoms of COVID-19 could be actually life-threatening and fatal. No effective treatment
has been proposed yet. Plasma from COVID19 recovered patients may be effective according to past similar
studies of some other viral infections.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at the infectious disease ward of Shahid Labbafi Nejad
Hospital (Tehran, Iran) from 3rd of April 2020 up until 3rd of May 2020. Clinical information for the 12 patients,
before and after receiving convalescent plasma transfusion was obtained from a review of the hospital computer
medical system retrospectively and analyzed.
Results: Out of 12 patients with Covid-19 who received convalescent plasma, 7 patients were male (58.3%)
and 5 were female (41.7%). The mean age of the patients was 52 years. Among them, 50% (n=6), improved
and discharged and the rest of them died. Mean O2 saturation of patients with final outcome of death and
discharged before plasma therapy were 67 (33%) and 77 (83%), respectively, an improvement, defining partial
resolution of lesions of chest CT scan or stop in progression of infiltrations was detected in all of 6 discharged
patients.
Conclusion: Convalescent plasma may have effective role in improving O2 saturation, lymphopenia and CT scan
lesions and also decreasing inflammatory factors of cases with severe manifestations but could not change
prognosis for critically ill patients. Therefore, an early administration of convalescent plasma may be helpful.

Background: Multiple risk factors are supposed to progress oral cavity carcinoma and among them, the role of
neither bacterial nor viral infections should be underestimated. Despite relentless efforts, the accelerating effects
of human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), and Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) on
oral cancer has not yet been recognized successfully. Taking advantage of these facts, in this study we evaluated
the prevalence of HPV, EBV, and P. gingivalis in oral cavity carcinoma.
Materials and Methods: A total of 43 oral cavity cancerous tissues and 29 healthy oral ones were collected from
Loghman Hospital, Tehran, Iran, between 2016 and 2018. After DNA extraction, the prevalence of HPV, EBV,
and P. gingivalis was evaluated by PCR.
Results: There were 53.5 well-differentiated (15 male, 9 female), 41.8% moderate (10 male, 5 female), and
4.7% poor (1 male, 3 female) adenocarcinoma paraffin-embedded tissue samples. PCR analysis has shown
that there were 1 HPV (age: 46; moderate adenocarcinoma) and 1 EBV (age: 62; moderate adenocarcinoma)
positive in different samples. No P. gingivalis was found and there was not any infected tissue with both EBV
and HPV. In 31% of control tissues, blisters were observed and in 51.7% there was no mucus. We did not find
any association between age, sex, and HPV, EBV positive samples.
Conclusion: As sample size can affect the results of epidemiological and clinical study, and due to the low
number of positive samples in this study, we concluded that HPV, EBV, and P. gingivalis may not have a
detrimental effect on the progression of oral cancer, but further studies are needed.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one the most important nosocomial pathogens, especially in immunocompromised patients. Identifying the source of contamination in health centers plays an important role in the control of hospital infections. The aim of this study was to determine antibiotic susceptibility and genetic patterns of P. aeruginosa isolated from patients hospitalized in intensive care unit of Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

Materials and Methods: Antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates was examined through 10 antibiotics recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, 2018) guidelines using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis with the short primer of 272 was used to evaluate genetic relationship among the isolates and the results were analyzed by Gelcompar II software.

Results: Of the antibiotics used, the most sensitive was found in colistin (96.4%) and the highest resistance rates were observed in cefotaxime (94.6%), chloramphenicol (83.9%) and imipenem (71.4%). DNA fingerprinting was able to identify 12 genetic patterns by RAPD-PCR technique.

Conclusion: Antibiotic resistance in isolates of P. aeruginosa is rising and there is possibility of occurring outbreaks in the medical centers. Different sources of strains show their constant exchange via intra- and extra-hospital transmission routes. Thus, according to the data of this study, there is a serious need to control sources of infections by physicians and staff when they are working in several sectors to control and prevent the transmission of the bacterium.

Background: Self-medication with antibiotic is a widely prevalent practice all over the world especially among medical students. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence and the pattern of self-medication among medical students in Tehran, Iran.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among the undergraduate medical students from a referral university in Tehran, Iran. All data obtained were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences program (SPSS) version 20.

Results: A total of 201 students were enrolled in the current study. According to the analysis, 129 (64.1%) of the study population reported that they have self-medicated with antibiotics at least once in their student life. The principal morbidities for seeking self-medication include cough and common cold (23.4%) followed by fever (14.9%). The most frequent antibiotics used to self-medicate the mentioned morbidities were: amoxicillin (62%), co-amoxiclav (19.4%), penicillin (17%), cefixime (16%), azithromycin (14%) and tetracycline (9%). The majority of the participants stated cost saving, convenience and lack of confidence as their reasons for self-medication. The drug selection was mostly based on opinion of family members (31.8%), their own experience (27.4%) and the least commonly reported was selection based on recommendation by net citizens (0.5%).

Conclusion: Our study indicates that self-medication is widely practiced among students of the college. In this situation, the health care system should create as effective awareness and educate their students regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication.

Background: Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is an important predictor of outcomes in patients with heart failure
but the prognostic value of BNP elevation in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) is not completely defined.
This study aims to identify the prognostic value of BNP in patients with MI.
Materials and Methods: We studied patients with MI who were hospitalized in the Coronary Care Unit of Imam
Hossein Hospital. Patients' demographic data, past medical and drug history besides echocardiography report and
BNP levels were documented during the hospital stay and echocardiography was repeated after 3 months.
Results: This prospective observational cross-section study was done between January 2018 through January
2019. During the study period, 124 patients were recruited. There was significant negative correlation between
BNP levels and ejection fraction (P=0.001), systolic blood pressure (P=0.012), diastolic blood pressure
(P=0.003) and ratio between early mitral inflow velocity and early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E/e')
(P=0.03) and EF in follow up (P=0.001). The correlation between BNP levels with infarction location (P=0.40),
arterial involvement in the left main coronary artery (P=0.15), left anterior descending artery (P=0.53), left
circumflex artery (P= 0.97), right coronary artery (P=0.50) and hospital stay (P=0.66) were not significant.
Conclusion: BNP is a valuable marker for predicting prognosis in patients with the acute coronary syndrome.
Also, it could be considered as a prognostic long-term marker for predicting the EF of patients with AMI.