Background and Objectives. This study aimed to investigate the effect of noise exposure on blood pressure and heart rate of steel industry workers. Materials and Methods. In the present cross-sectional study, 50 workers were selected from a steel company in Fars province, Iran, and exposed to 85, 95, and 105 dB noise levels for 5 minutes. The participants' blood pressure and heart rate were measured using Beurer BC16 pulse meter both before and after the exposure. Results. The study results showed no significant difference in blood pressure and heart rate before and after the exposure. However, the workers' systolic blood pressure had increased compared to before the exposure; of course, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Besides, although the subjects' heart rate had reduced in comparison to before the exposure, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion. No significant change was observed in blood pressure and heart rate after acute exposure to 85, 95, and 105 dB noise levels.
This study was undertaken to describe clinical, mycological and histopathological findings in black neck ostriches affected with severe aspergillosis in a flock including 80 birds, near Tehran, Iran. The signs included anorexia, depression, notable weight loss, diarrhoea, severe respiratory distress and death. Grossly, the lungs showed numerous white to yellow caseous nodules and the walls of the thoracic and abdominal air sacs were thickened with inflammatory exudates containing cellular debris, necrotic masses and green mold colonies. Multiple nodules were observed in the liver, spleen and gastrointestinal tract as well. Histopathologically, there were conidial heads and fungal hyphae in the air sacs and multifocal necrotic and granulomatous lesions with septated and dichotomously branched hyphae in various tissues, which were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and Grocott's methenamine silver nitrate. Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated in various tissues taken from affected ostriches.
PurposeEarly diagnosis and treatment of acute pyelonephritis in children is of special importance in order to prevent serious complications. This study was conducted to determine the diagnostic value of serum interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 in children with acute pyelonephritis.MethodsEighty-seven patients between 1 month to 12 years old with urinary tract infection (UTI) were divided into 2 groups based on the result of 99m-technetium dimercapto-succinic acid renal scan: acute pyelonephritis (n=37) and lower UTI (n=50) groups. White blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil (Neutl) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration, platelet count, and serum IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations of both groups were measured and compared.ResultsThere was a significant difference between two groups regarding WBC count, Neutl count, ESR, and CRP concentration (P<0.05). In addition, the difference between the two groups regarding serum IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations was not significant (IL-6, 60 and 35.4 pg/mL and IL-8, 404 and 617 pg/mL, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of serum IL-6 and IL-8 for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis were 73%, 42% and 78%, 32%, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values of serum IL-6 and IL-8 were less than those of acute phase serum reactants such as CRP.ConclusionThis study showed that there was no significant difference between acute pyelonephritis and lower UTI groups regarding serum IL-6 and IL-8 levels. Therefore, despite confirming results of previous studies, it seems that IL-6 and IL-8 are not suitable markers for differentiating between acute pyelonephritis and lower UTI.
Rapid diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis is important because of its association with long-standing complications. This study was conducted to compare the reliability of serum procalcitonin (PCT) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) with conventional laboratory parameters for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis in children. Seventy nine children with urinary tract infection were divided into two groups based on the result of Tc-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scan: acute pyelonephritis (n=33) and lower UTI (urinary tract infection) (n=46) groups. White blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum C-reactive protein (CRP), PCT and IL-1β concentrations of both groups were measured and compared. WBC count, neutrophil count, ESR, serum CRP, PCT and IL-1β concentrations were higher in acute pyelonephritis patients than in the lower UTI group (P<0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of serum PCT and IL-1β for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis were 31, 84.7% and 27.2, 90% respectively (using a cut-point value of 0.5 ng/ml for PCT and 6.9 pg/ml for IL-1β). The sensitivity of PCT and IL-1β for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis was less than that of conventional markers such as ESR and CRP. This study revealed that serum PCT and IL-1β are not good biologic markers for differentiating acute pyelonephritis from lower UTI. It seems that conventional inflammatory markers such as ESR and CRP besides the clinical findings are more reliable for the diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis in children.
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