Evaluation of Interleukin17and Interleukin 23 expression in patients with active and latent tuberculosis infection.

Objectives: Tuberculosis is one of the most important infectious diseases with high mortality rates worldwide, especially in developing countries. Interleukin17 (IL-17) is an important acquired immunity cytokine, which is mainly produced by CD4TH17 cells. It can recruit neutrophils and macrophages to the infected site in the lungs.

Approach to Patients with Severe Asthma: a Consensus Statement from the Respiratory Care Experts' Input Forum (RC-EIF), Iran.

Challenges in the assessment, diagnosis and management of severe, difficult-to-control asthma are increasingly regarded as clinical needs yet unmet. The assessments required to determine asthma severity, comorbidities and confounding factors, disease phenotypes and optimal treatment are among the controversial issues in the field. The respiratory care experts' input forum (RC-EIF), comprised of an Iranian panel of experts, reviewed the definition, appraised the available guidelines and provided a consensus for evaluation and treatment of severe asthma in adults.

Evaluation of CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ Regulatory T cells and FoxP3 and CTLA-4 gene Expression in Patients wwith Newly Diagnosed Tuberculosis in Northeast of Iran.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is the world's second most common infectious disease after Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AID) and the most frequent cause of mortality especially in developing countries. T regulatory (Treg) cells, which have suppressive activity and express forkhead winged-helix family transcriptional repressor p3 (FoxP3), suppress the immune responses against pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There are controversial results regarding the role of FoxP3 expressing cells in the blood of patients with TB.

Invasive candidiasis in critical care setting, updated recommendations from "Invasive Fungal Infections-Clinical Forum", Iran.

Invasive candidiasis (IC) bears a high risk of morbidity and mortality in the intensive care units (ICU). With the current advances in critical care and the use of wide-spectrum antibiotics, invasive fungal infections (IFIs) and IC in particular, have turned into a growing concern in the ICU. Further to blood cultures, some auxiliary laboratory tests and biomarkers are developed to enable an earlier detection of infection, however these test are neither consistently available nor validated in our setting.

Esophageal duplication cyst.

Esophageal duplication cyst is a rare congenital mediastinal cyst. Most of these cysts become symptomatic in childhood and only rare cases remain asymptomatic until adolescence. They may produce symptoms due to esophageal and respiratory system compression, rupture, and infection.

The role of thoracoscopic debridement in the treatment of parapneumonic empyema.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of early video-assisted thoracoscopic debridement in patients with the fibropurulent phase of parapneumonic empyema.

Patients And Methods: 40 patients with parapneumonic empyema resistant to 2 weeks of antibiotic therapy, were randomly divided into 2 groups. In group 1 (20 patients), antibiotic therapy and irrigation was continued, and in group 2 (20 patients), video-assisted thoracoscopic debridement was performed.

Bronchial anthracosis: a new diagnosis for benign mass lesions of the lung.

Background: This study aimed to identify the most important new radiological presentations of anthracosis and anthracofibrosis and evaluate the risk ratio for accurate diagnosis of these conditions using computed tomography instead of bronchoscopy.

Materials And Methods: This prospective, case-control study evaluated three groups of 70 patients with a bronchoscopic diagnosis of simple anthracosis and anthracofibrosis and 40 patients with a non-anthracotic diagnosis (control group). Bronchoscopy, chest radiographs and computed tomography (CT) (parenchymal and mediastinal windows) were reviewed.

The effect of asthma on phonation: a controlled study of 34 patients.

The effect of upper respiratory tract diseases on phonation has been reviewed, but little is known about the influence of lower respiratory tract diseases. In particular, the effect of asthma as a reversible obstructive small-airway disease on phonatory variables is not yet clear. We conducted a cross-sectional controlled study to evaluate the quality of phonation in a group of 34 adults with untreated mild to severe persistent asthma who were seen at the Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, Iran.

Evaluation of psychological status in patients with asthma and COPD.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are major public health problems, which seems to have close association with psychiatric disorders. The present study was conducted to compare the psychological status between asthmatic and COPD patients and clarify the relationship with severity of pulmonary obstruction. This cross-sectional study was planned to compare the psychological status in 67 stable obstructive lung patients (17 asthma, 24 asthmatic bronchitis and 26 COPD) referred to respiratory clinic of Ghaem hospital and 33 healthy controls, in Mashhad city, north east of Iran.

The effect of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy on airway colonization and postoperative respiratory complications in patients undergoing oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer.

Respiratory complication is one of the important postoperative complications of oesophageal cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery is effective for postoperative respiratory complications. In this study, patients with oesophageal cancer were divided into two group: one with neoadjuvant therapy and the other without neoadjuvant therapy.

Pattern of pulmonary function test abnormalities in anthracofibrosis of the lungs.

Background: The objective of this study was to discuss the spirometric characteristics of anthracofibrosis which is a from of bronchial anthracosis associated with deformity.

Materials And Methods: Forty anthracofibrosis subjects who were diagnosed with bronchoscopy were enrolled in this prospective study. Static and dynamic spirometry plus lung volumes and diffusion capacity were measured in this group and compared to a healthy control group.

Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of "tuberculous pleurisy".

Background: Differential diagnosis between tuberculous pleurisy (TBP) and non- tuberculosis pleural effusion represents a critically important clinical problem. In recent years, several noninvasive methods have been found for diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. This study aimed to evaluate the value of detection of the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy and compare the results with those of conventional methods.

Highly sensitive C-reactive protein levels in Iranian patients with pulmonary complication of sulfur mustard poisoning and its correlation with severity of airway diseases.

Background: Sulfur mustard (SM) is a chemical warfare agent that can cause serious pulmonary complications. This study was designed to determine serum highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and evaluate its correlation with lung function parameters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to SM poisoning.

Methods: Fifty consecutive SM patients with stable COPD and a mean age 46.