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Purpose Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection is an increasing problem worldwide whose clinical significance is still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of NTM infection from respiratory samples and to determine their clinical significance. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study was performed on 7,825 clinical samples from December 2015 to December 2017. Detection was conducted using phenotypic and genotypic ( hsp65 PCR-RFLP, rpoB , and 16S rRNA genes sequencing) methods. All clinical information including symptoms and radiological findings was extracted from patients’ records. Results A total of 478 were confirmed to have respiratory samples which were culture positive for mycobacteria, with the prevalence of NTM infection obtained as 53 (11.1%). Overall, Mycobacterium (M.) fortuitum was the most frequent NTM isolate, followed by M. simiae, M. kansasii, M. gordonae , and M. conceptionense . There was a relationship between NTM isolates and gender ( P =0.039), symptoms ( P =0.048), and radiographic findings ( P =0.013). Bronchiectasis, infiltration, and cavitary lesion were the most frequent radiological findings in M. fortuitum, M. simiae , and M. kansasii , respectively, with cough being the most frequent symptom. Conclusion We reported five different NTM isolates in respiratory samples with a high frequency of M. fortuitum . NTM infections may play an important role in causing pulmonary disease and in tuberculosis management in endemic settings. Nevertheless, more studies are required to further examine the clinical significance of NTM isolates.

Background: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease of the tooth-supporting structures that can lead to periodontal destruction and tooth loss. It is also a common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) and tobacco smoking. In this regard, this study aimed to assess the effect of smoking on periodontal disease in diabetic patients. Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 80 diabetic patients who were referred to the clinics of the Department of Periodontics of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences from October 2015 to April 2016. Participants were enrolled in this study in four groups (n=20). Groups 1 and 2 included smoker diabetic patients and 20 non-smoker diabetics, respectively. In addition, groups 3 and 4 served as the control groups and included healthy smoker and non-smoker individuals, respectively. The plaque index (PI), clinical probing depth (CPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing (BOP) were measured in the four groups. Results: The four groups were significantly different regarding the PI and CPD (P<0.05). The mean PI was higher in group 1 compared to groups 2 and 3. The highest mean CAL was recorded in group 1. Finally, non-diabetic smokers experienced the lowest mean BOP compared with other groups. Conclusion: DM and tobacco smoking are the known major risk factors for periodontal disease, and the interaction effect of the two factors can aggravate the periodontal status in diabetic patients. Thus, dentists can take an important step in the healthcare system by encouraging their patients to control their DM and quit smoking.

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Background: Quality of life is one of the pivotal notions of the World Health Organization’s perspective. Regarding the complications of Phenylketonuria (PKU) disease in children, it seems that this disease affects the quality of life of these mothers. Objectives: Investigating the quality of life of mothers with PKU children and to compare it with that of mothers of normal children. Materials & Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 65 mothers with PKU children and 122 mothers with normal children in Hamadan City, Iran, in 2018 (selected randomly from the general population). For data collection, mothers filled a demographic profile questionnaire and the Iranian version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief. The obtained data were analyzed using the independent t test and univariate analysis of variance (α=0.05) in SPSS V. 16. Results: The Mean±SD total scores of quality of life of mothers with PKU children and mothers with normal children were 11.74±1.91 and 14.37±1.58, respectively and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.001). There was also a significant relationship between the quality of life of mothers with PKU children and the age of the child at the onset of treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the current study results that indicated the low quality of life of the mothers of PKU children, it is recommended that rehabilitation and psychological interventions be included in pediatric treatment programs to improve the quality of life of mothers.