The aim of this study is to evaluate hepatitis B vaccine protection in those adults who have taken one or two does of vaccine before. It was a retrospective cross sectional study was conducted on fifty-six military personnel in Tehran, Iran in the spring 2007. Demographic data such as age, marital status, education level, number of vaccine doses injected and, type of vaccine and date of last vaccination was collected. Their serum was tested for HBs Ab, HBc Ab and HBs Ag and finally the results were analyzed by SPSS software. All individuals were male with the mean age of 33.9+/-8.9 years. Twelve individuals who had only received one dose of injected vaccine had no antibody against HBsAg and no protection against hepatitis B virus. Of forty-four individuals that had received two doses of injected vaccine, 27 persons (61.4%) were protected and had serum HBsAb more than 10 MIU mL(-1). In conclusion one dose of HBV vaccine cannot produce immunity for five years but two doses of HBV vaccine can produce immunity for five years. However, HBsAb should be tested to make sure of immunity.

This study showed that some of the blood donors had isolated HbcAb positive therefore we recommend HbcAb screening for blood donation.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is one of the most common causes of acute hepatitis and it is a serious health problem worldwide. HAV infection is a vaccine preventable disease that can produce the lifelong immunity seen in many developed countries with the vaccination schedule administered to children; however this vaccine is not used in developing countries at the present time. Improvements in food and water hygiene have caused a displacement of hepatitis A infection from children to adults which has increased mortality rates. Therefore evaluation of HAV immunity levels can help health authorities develop polices for prophylaxis especially in developing countries.

Background:Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious complication in immunosuppressive patients that has adverse effects.Objectives:The aim of this study was to define the characteristics, outcomes, and correlating factors of mortality in renal transplant recipients.Patients and Methods:Infective endocarditis was diagnosed in 22 patients from three renal transplant centers in Iran between 2000 and 2010. Modified Duke criteria were applied to confirm the diagnosis.Results:Twenty-two renal transplant patients with IE were evaluated. Blood culture results were positive in 81%. Enteroccous and group D non-enterococcal were the causative microorganisms in 31% and 25% of patients, respectively. In-hospital and 12-month mortality was 41% and the mortality rate was higher in older patients in comparison to younger patients. Overall, the rates of one-year disease-free patient and graft survival were 49% and 88%, respectively.Conclusions:Despite the availability of different and potent antibiotics, the mortality caused by IE remains considerably high. These patients are significantly prone to endovascular infections that affect the mortality and survival.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive and destructive inflammatory disease of the joints. They had increased mortality depend to use of immunosuppressive drugs. Hepatitis B virus infection is also a health problem in the world. Iran is moderate prevalence endemic area for Hepatitis B virus and it is come too reduced recently by children vaccination. Aim of this study is determined prevalence and screening of Hepatitis B virus infection in rheumatoid arthritis patients. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional which all patients with rheumatic arthritis recruited to study in Tehran in 2012. Then HbsAg and HbcAb assayed for each subjects. In 268 rheumatoid arthritis patients which (82.2%) were female and the average age is 46 +/- 14 years old. HbsAg and HbcAb were positive in 4 (1.49%) and 9 (3.35%), respectively. Only between duration of rheumatoid arthritis and HbcAb had significant association (p < 0.014). The present study highlights Rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs are at increased risk to reactivation of hepatitis B virus, so screening for Hepatitis B virus infection should be performed prior to immunosuppressive therapy.

Introduction: The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one health problem in Iran. Occult hepatitis B (OBI) is diagnosed by the detection of HBV DNA in the serum or liver tissue of patients for whom other serology, especially HBsAg and HBcAg, are negative. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of OBI in patients who refer for chemotherapy. Methods: All patients referring for chemotherapy to the oncology clinic of Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran, Iran from 2012 to 2013 were selected as the population of this cross-sectional study. Samples of 5 mL of blood were taken from each subject and assayed for HBsAg and HBcAb. If HBV markers were negative, a qualitative HBV DNA PCR was done to detect OBI. The data was analyzed using SPSS 17 software, and the frequency test was used to determine prevalence. Results: In this study, 251 candidates for chemotherapy were recruited. Of this number, 114 (45%) patients were women. Mean patient age was 52.6 years. A total of 149 (59%) study subjects were employed, and the others were housekeepers or self-employed. About 67 (26.6%) patients had a history of one dose and 40 (15.9%) patients had a history of complete HBV vaccination. HBsAg was positive in 6 (2.4%) and HBcAb was positive in 33 (13.1%) patients; qualatative HBV DNA PCR was positive in 2 (0.8%) patients. Conclusion: This study revealed that OBI infection has a low prevalence, but patients referring for chemotherapy are at risk for its reactivation. On the other hand, isolated HBcAb is also a risk factor; therefore, in addition to HBsAg, it is recommended that HBcAb be evaluated before chemotherapy.

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Aim: This study examined the frequency of secondary amyloidosis in Iranian patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in order to determine its clinical significance.Methods: A total of 220 RA patients (167 female, 53 male), with minimum disease duration of 5 years, were included in this prospective study over a period of about 2 years. Abdominal subcutaneous fat-pad aspiration (ASFA) method was used in obtaining specimens from all subjects. All of the specimens were examined for apple-green birefringence under polarized light microscope. Amyloid deposits were graded from 1+ to 3+. Clinical, radiological, and laboratory characteristics of the patients were assessed and recorded.Results: Amyloid deposition was detected in 11 (5%) of the fat smears stained with Congo red stain. All of the samples had minimal (1+) amyloid deposits. In this study, amyloid-positive cases showed clinically significant symptoms; six of the patients (55%) presented with proteinuria, and seven other cases (64%) presented with severe constipation. Conclusion:Abdominal fat amyloid deposition was found to be uncommon in adult Iranian RA patients. In up to half of the patients the deposits were subclinical. A longer follow-up and larger multicentric collaborative study is needed to determine the significance of subclinical amyloid deposits.