High-titer rheumatologic markers in serum of veterans with severe pulmonary complications 25-30 years after sulfur mustard exposure.

Sulfur mustard (SM), known as the "king of toxic agents," continues to pose a potential danger due to its ability to cause widespread damage, including ongoing corrosive effects. We aimed to determine the rheumatologic markers in SM veterans suffering from severe pulmonary manifestations. The serologic markers, including ANA, anti-DNA, rheumatoid factor (RF), and CRP, between SM-exposed veterans (n = 229) with severe problems and not-SM-exposed residents with no pulmonary disease history (n = 63), 25-30 years after SM exposure were compared.

Long-term Health Outcomes Among Survivors Exposed to Sulfur Mustard in Iran.

Importance: The prevalence and severity of long-term health complications after exposure to sulfur mustard are unknown.

Objective: To investigate the long-term health outcomes among survivors exposed to sulfur mustard during the Iran-Iraq War.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this retrospective cohort study, late-onset health complications of 64 190 Iranian survivors exposed to sulfur mustard during the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988 were investigated using descriptive statistics.

Tear and serum interleukin-8 and serum CX3CL1, CCL2 and CCL5 in sulfur mustard eye-exposed patients.

Background: The serum and tear levels of four inflammatory chemokines were evaluated in sulfur mustard (SM)-exposed with serious ocular problems.

Materials And Methods: In this study, 128 SM-exposed patients and 31 healthy control participants participated. Tear and serum levels of chemokines were assessed by ELISA method.

Chronic musculoskeletal pain, phantom sensation, phantom and stump pain in veterans with unilateral below-knee amputation.

Background And Aims: Many individuals with lower limb loss report concerns about other musculoskeletal symptoms resulting from amputation. The objective of this study was to assess chronic musculoskeletal pain in Iranian veterans with unilateral below-knee amputation.

Methods: The participants agreed to take part in a health needs assessment and were interviewed face-to-face by trained interviewers.

Altered levels of GST activity, Vit C, TPX and Cu in individuals with long-term sulfur mustard-induced lung complications.

Context: Sulfur mustard (SM) as a cytotoxic and blistering agent can alkylate a variety of cellular components, causing the incidence of ongoing oxidative stress.

Objective: The present study was conducted to assess oxidative stress index (OSI) in SM-exposed veterans with long-term pulmonary complications.

Methods: Participants consisted of 289 SM-exposed individuals with pulmonary complications (classified into three groups: mild, moderate and severe) and 66 healthy individuals as the control group.

Assessment of orthotic needs in Iranian veterans with ankle and foot disorders.

Background: War-related traumas can lead to orthopedic and neurological disorders in victims. However, the scope of such disorders may expand months or even years after the trauma. Orthotic treatment as a rehabilitation process aims to enable people with disabilities to reach and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychological, and social functional levels.

MicroRNA expression in serum samples of sulfur mustard veterans as a diagnostic gateway to improve care.

Sulfur mustard is a vesicant chemical warfare agent, which has been used during Iraq-Iran-war. Many veterans and civilians still suffer from long-term complications of sulfur mustard exposure, especially in their lung. Although the lung lesions of these patients are similar to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), there are some differences due to different etiology and clinical care.

Assistive technologies for pain management in people with amputation: a literature review.

The prevalence of limb amputation is increasing globally as a devastating experience that can physically and psychologically affect the lifestyle of a person. The residual limb pain and phantom limb pain are common disabling sequelae after amputation surgery. Assistive devices/technologies can be used to relieve pain in people with amputation.

DNA damage and repair proteins in cellular response to sulfur mustard in Iranian veterans more than two decades after exposure.

Delayed effects of sulfur mustard (SM) exposure on the levels of five important damage/repair proteins were investigated in 40 SM-exposed veterans of Iran-Iraq war and 35 unexposed controls. A major DNA damage biomarker protein - phosphorylated H2AX - along with four DNA repair proteins in cell response to the genome damage MRE11, NBS1, RAD51, and XPA were evaluated in blood lymphocytes from the veterans and controls using western blotting. Mean levels of XPA, MRE11, RAD51 and NBS1 were lower in SM-exposed patients and the decrease in NBS1 was significant.

Down-regulation of TGF-b1, TGF-b receptor 2, and TGF-b-associated microRNAs, miR-20a and miR-21, in skin lesions of sulfur mustard-exposed Iranian war veterans.

Sulfur mustard (SM) affects divergent cellular pathways including cell cycle, apoptosis, necrosis, and inflammatory responses. SM-induced lesions in skin include late-onset hyper-pigmentation, xerosis, and atrophy. It seems that TGF-b signaling pathway is a major player for SM pathogenesis.

Identification of Reliable Reference Genes for Quantification of MicroRNAs in Serum Samples of Sulfur Mustard-Exposed Veterans.

Objective: In spite of accumulating information about pathological aspects of sulfur mustard (SM), the precise mechanism responsible for its effects is not well understood. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are promising biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis. Accurate normalization using appropriate reference genes, is a critical step in miRNA expression studies.

Epidemiological Study of Child Casualties of Landmines and Unexploded Ordnances: A National Study from Iran.

Background: Despite landmine-risk education programs and extensive demining activities on the Western border of Iran, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) still cause civilian and child casualties three decades after the Iraq-Iran war (1980-1988). The objective of this study was to understand the epidemiological patterns and risk factors of injury in child casualties of landmines and UXOs in Western and Southwestern Iran.

Methods: Children who were 18 years old or younger at the time of study and who sustained injuries from landmines and UXOs were identified through a search at the Iranian National Veterans Registry.

Long-term effects of sulfur mustard on civilians' mental health 20 years after exposure (The Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study).

Background: Sulfur mustard (SM) is an alkylating agent that induces short and long term toxicity on various organs. The aim of this study was to assess the long-term psychological symptoms among samples of exposed to sulfur mustard gas compared with unexposed civilians 20 years after exposure.

Methods: This historical cohort study was conducted on 495 civilians of Sardasht and Rabat in two age matched groups, including 367 sulfur mustard exposed participants from Sardasht and 128 unexposed subjects from Rabat.

Long term impact of sulfur mustard exposure on peripheral blood mononuclear subpopulations--Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study (SICS).

The most important long-term morbidity problem of sulfur mustard (SM) toxicity is pulmonary complications but the pathogenesis of these complications is not clearly understood. This study evaluates the peripheral blood mononuclear sub-sets and their correlation with pulmonary function in SM exposed civilian cases 20 years post-exposure as gathered in the context of the Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study (SICS). Samples were randomly selected from two groups, SM-exposed (n=372) and control (n=128), with the same ethnicity, culture, and demography.

Are serum levels of immunoglobulin classes and IgG subclasses involved in delayed pulmonary complications induced by sulfur mustard? Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study.

Respiratory complications are the foremost long term debilitating effects after sulfur mustard toxicity. The underlying immunological mechanisms of sulfur mustard induced lung damage are still poorly understood. The question of the involvement of immunoglobulin classes and subclasses in delayed pulmonary complications induced by SM was addressed in this study as a part of Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study (SICS).

Incidence of cancer in Iranian sulfur mustard exposed veterans: a long-term follow-up cohort study.

Introduction: It is estimated that during the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, over 100,000 Iranians (military or civilian) were exposed to sulfur mustard (SM), and a considerable proportion of them are still suffering with long-term consequences of exposure. The aim of the present article is to address carcinogenesis of SM following these acute exposures.

Methods: Using a cohort study, we estimated and compared the incidence rates of malignant disorders in 7,570 veterans exposed to SM and 7,595 unexposed comrades in a 25-year follow-up period.

Sézary syndrome, Kaposi sarcoma and generalized dermatophytosis 15 years after sulfur mustard gas exposure.

Background: The relationship between compromised immune system and the development of malignancy, generalized dermatitis, and infection after sulfur mustard gas exposure has been established.

Main Observation: We introduce a 58-year-old man with an abrupt, de novo and erythrodermic eruption in 2002 that was previously exposed to sulfur mustard during the Iran - Iraq war in 1987. Six weeks after the onset of diffuse eruption, he developed papules on the glans penis and generalized dermatophytosis.

Conjunctival microbial florae in patients with seriously sulfur mustard induced eye injuries.

Introduction: Ocular surface disorders and infections in sulfur mustard (SM) exposed patients are of particular clinical importance. The aim of the present study is to detect the conjunctival bacterial florae in patients with seriously SM induced eye injuries.

Materials And Methods: Conjunctival bacterial florae of 143 seriously eye injured subjects as the study group was detected.

Impact of psychological problems in chemical warfare survivors with severe ophthalmologic complication, a cross sectional study.

Background: Sulfur mustard (SM) has been used as a chemical warfare agent since the early twentieth century. Despite the large number of studies that have investigated SM induced ocular injuries, few of those studies have also focused on the psychological health status of victims. This study has evaluated the most prominent influences on the psychological health status of patients with severe SM induced ocular injuries.

Lamellar keratoplasty and keratolimbal allograft for mustard gas keratitis.

Purpose: To report the clinical outcomes of lamellar keratoplasty (LKP) in patients with delayed-onset mustard gas keratitis and to compare visual acuity and graft survival rates between subgroups with simultaneous or sequential keratolimbal allograft and LKP.

Design: Retrospective, comparative, interventional case series.

Methods: Fifty-two eyes of 37 male survivors of chemical warfare with mustard gas keratitis who underwent LKP were included.

The effect of electrical passive cycling on spasticity in war veterans with spinal cord injury.

Introduction: Muscle atrophy, spasticity, and deformity are among long term complication of spinal cord injury (SCI) veterans. There are numerous studies evaluating effect of functional electrical stimulation on muscle properties of SCI people, but less research has focused on the benefits of passive cycling in the management of spasticity and improving ROM of lower limbs in individuals with SCI.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of electrical passive cycling on passive range of movement spasticity and electrodiagnostic parameters in SCI veterans.

Sulfur mustard-induced poikiloderma: a case report.

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a potent chemical warfare agent that was widely used during the First World War and the Iran-Iraq conflict. This vesicant agent causes several acute and chronic effects on the skin, eye, and respiratory system. We report the case of a 41-year-old man who was injured with SM in Iraq chemical attack in 1988.

Childhood physical abnormalities following paternal exposure to sulfur mustard gas in Iran: a case-control study.

Background: Mustard gas, a known chemical weapon, was used during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. We aimed to determine if exposure to mustard gas among men was significantly associated with abnormalities and disorders among progenies.

Methods: Using a case-control design, we identified all progenies of Sardasht men (exposed group, n = 498), who were born at least nine months after the exposure, compared to age-matched controls in Rabat, a nearby city (non-exposed group, n = 689).

Civilian casualties of Iranian cities by ballistic missile attacks during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-1988).

Objective: To determine the nature and extent of Iranian casualties by ballistic missile attacks during the eight years of the Iraq-Iran war.

Methods: The data collected about Iraqi missile strikes on Iranian cities included the following: date and time, number and type of missiles, cities targeted, and injuries and deaths resulting from impacts of missiles in civilian areas. The data were extracted from a database that was constructed by the army staff headquarters based on daily reports of Iranian army units during the war.

Phantom pain in bilateral upper limb amputation.

Purpose: To alert health professionals on presence and extent of phantom pain and sensation following bilateral upper limb amputation.

Methods: Of a total of 140 war-related bilateral upper limb amputees in Iran, 103 subjects were thoroughly examined in this cross-sectional study by a physical medicine specialist. The patients were questioned for the presence of phantom pain and sensations, and frequency and intensity of the feeling were recorded.