background: the prevalence of toxoplasma gondii infection in the blood donors has been poorly studied. the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in blood products. methods: a total of 250 blood products (112 fresh frozen plasma and 138 packed cells) in the blood transfusion institute, shiraz, iran were tested for spe-cific t. gondii antibodies (igg an...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease. Early diagnosis, early and aggressive treatment are the best means of avoiding joint destruction, organ damage and disability. This prospective study was carried out to determine the relationship between RA and laboratory tests used in the diagnosis of RA. 199 patients (20 males, 179 females; mean age: 50.6 years) that were suspec...

The aim of this work was to assess the diagnostic value of anti-CCP-3 and anti-CCP-2 for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and determine whether anti-CCP-3 more accurately identifies patients with rheumatoid arthritis than anti-CCP-2. PubMed and CNKI databases were searched for studies published in English and Chinese that examined the use of anti-CCP-3 and anti-CCP-2 in the diagnosis ...

BACKGROUND Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) are often tested as a screening tool in patients with suspected systemic lupus erythematosus or connective tissue diseases. ANA can be seen in healthy controls (HC) and patients with multiple medical problems (MMP). OBJECTIVE To determine the sensitivity and specificity of ANA and anti-dsDNA in SLE patients, usi...

BACKGROUND Periodontitis (PD) has been reported to be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is a gram-negative anaerobic bacterium that is recognized as one of the major pathogenic organisms in PD and is the only bacterium known to express peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD). Antibody against human α-enolase (ENO1) is one of the autoantibodies in RA. E...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is transmitted by organ transplantation. Consequently, several organ procurement organizations have imposed a moratorium on use of organs from anti-HCV positive donors. Because of the inadequate supply of cadaver kidneys for transplantation, we adopted a policy to transplant kidneys from anti-HCV donors into anti-HCV positive recipients. During the period between March 1...

Background: Recurrent blood transfusion is a common treatment in patients with thalassemia. The development of antibodies against red blood cell (RBC) antigens complicates RBC cross-matching, enhances the in vivo destruction of transfused cells, accelerates tissue iron overloading, delays the provision of safe transfusion, and reduces health-related quality of life. Materials and Methods: In t...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-nociceptive effects of a low, sub-effective dose of amitriptyline, in combination with the different doses of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Crocus sativus following sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rats. Amitriptyline (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) and the extracts (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, i.p.), were separately administered at the ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-nociceptive effects of a low, sub-effective dose of amitriptyline, in combination with the different doses of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Crocus sativus following sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rats. Amitriptyline (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) and the extracts (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, i.p.), were separately administered at the ...