Introduction: Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic systemic autoinflammatory vasculitis which is handled by the variety of proteins like cytokines. Therefore, cytokines are considered as one of the prototypic factors during inflammatory responses of BD. Consequently, the present study was designed for evaluation of cytokine profiles in Iranian BD cases, including those with and without uveitis. Materials and Method: All cases were divided into three groups based on ophthalmologic exam results: BD with uveitis, BD without uveitis, and recovered uveitis BD. Cases with a history of BD recovery were placed in the group of recovered uveitis. The patients with infectious uveitis as well as other collagen vascular diseases and patients who have used biologics to treat ocular immune-mediated diseases were excluded. Finally, after venous blood sampling, levels of cytokines were quantified and statistical approaches were performed for measurements. Results: Enrolled cases were divided to 26 patients with active uveitis, 25 patients with recovered uveitis and 24 patients without uveitis and interestingly, just IL-2 was the only cytokine that showed statistical difference in patients with BD uveitis in comparison with other groups (p_value = 0.02). The pair wise comparison showed a significant difference between the patients with and without uveitis groups (p_value = 0.004) as well as patients with uveitis and recovered uveitis groups (p_value = 0.002). Discussion: Significant elevation of IL-2 in patients with uveitis (in comparison with recovered or without uveitis cases) demonstrates that it may be one of the main proteins that enroll in the pathophysiology of BD uveitis and may be considered as a new target for refractory disease therapies. Studies with larger samples can help to obtain more accurate conclusions.

In December 2019, a highly pathogenic coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 (formerly identified as2019-nCoV) appeared in Wuhan, China, and has since been spreading rapidly around the world.The most specific manifestation of SARS-CoV-2 patients is pulmonary distress, and several patients admitted to intensive care units were not able to breathe spontaneously.In addition, the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has a significant effect on nervous systems and may even lead to serious neurological damage.The neuroinvasive pathobiology is still not fully elucidated and thus the effect of CoV infections on the nervous system needs to be explored. The spike protein of the virus and the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) lead to the presence of both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 in the cells and, subsequently,decreased ACE2 expression. The therapeutic possibilities of ACE2 antibody, ACE2-derived peptides, and small molecule blockers of ACE2 include a receptor-binding domain blocking approach. Hence,future studies of ACE2 may be very helpful in discovering a therapy for SARS-CoV-2. Here, we review the neurological manifestations of this infection and the potential of ACE2 in the nervous system.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that acts as a stimulant for the central nervous system. It increases alertness and physical activity but can cause cardiac dysrhythmias, hypertension, hallucinations and violent behavior. The excretion rate of methamphetamine by the kidney can be seriously altered by urinary pH. Methamphetamine is a weak base, consequently, the proportion of the excreted amount of unchanged drug can vary from as little as 2% in alkaline (pH ≥8.0) to 76% in acidic urine (pH ≤5.0). Methamphetamine is metabolized by hepatic metabolism and renal excretion via cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6). The effects of methamphetamine on the kidneys can be divided into the following sub-groups: vascular effects, non-traumatic rhabdomyolysis and direct nephrotoxicity. Additionally, methamphetamine directly stimulates the release of ET-1, a potent vasoconstrictor. ET-1 stimulates vasoconstriction, inflammation and fibrosis in kidney, thus promoting hypertension, atherosclerosis and chronic kidney disease.

Collapsing glomerulopathy following COVID-19 infection; possible relationship with APOL1 kidney risk alleles in African-Americans

Objective: To review the reported cases of kidney injury following vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with a focus on renal pathology. Methods: We searched for case reports of kidney complications after COVID-19 vaccine in PubMed. Results: A total of 36 articles including 49 case reports were reported. These included minimal change disease (n=17), IgA nephropathy (IgAN) (n=15), IgA nephritis/vasculitis (n=5), ANCA glomerulonephritis/vasculitis (n=5), anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis (n=2), and 1 case of each granulomatous vasculitis, acute tubulointerstitial nephritis, scleroderma renal crisis, IgG4-related disease nephritis, and primary membranous nephropathy (MN). Conclusion: We give an overview of the reported cases of post-COVID-19 renal complications. Further investigations of the underlying pathogenesis of post-COVID-19 vaccination renal adverse events are required, as prompt workup, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with renal complications may lead to complete remission, prevent kidney failure, and long-term complications such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, these complications are overall extremely rare and the benefit of vaccination outweighs the potential risks.

Introduction: As one of the most common causes of human morbidity and mortality, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects millions around the world. Some evidences have already considered about association between serum levels of vitamin D and COPD. Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of vitamin D supplementation on COPD improvement. Patients and Methods: This study was designed as a randomized controlled trial. Forty COPD patients with vitamin D deficiency were enrolled into two groups; cases group who administered vitamin D and control group who received placebo. The severity of dyspnea and spirometric indices were analyzed in both groups. Values were presented as mean and standard deviation (SD) and differences were considered significant at the level of P0.05). Dyspnea severity was significantly improved after receiving vitamin D supplementation in comparison with placebo consumption (P=0.03). Conclusion: Spirometric indices were not affected during vitamin D supplementation therapy but it showed a significantly positive effect on the curing of dyspnea. Therefore, adjuvant therapy of COPD using vitamin D supplementation is recommended to better handling of dyspnea in COPD cases.