Background: Central obesity has been recognized as a main risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) events. Three popular central obesity indices are waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio; abdominal volume index and conicity index are 2 recent novel obesity indices. The main aim of this study is to determine the performance of these indices to best predict 10-year CV events. Hypothesis: Some obesity indices can be used to predict cardiovascular risk. Methods: In total, 3199 subjects (age range, 40-79 years) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association and Framingham risk score tools were used to estimate the 10-year CV events. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the optimal discriminator(s) among the central obesity measures in the estimation of a 10-year risk of CV events ≥7.5%, ≥10%, and ≥20% separately. Results: Among the 5 central obesity indices, conicity index showed the most discriminatory power in estimation of a 10-year CV risk. In men, based on the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association tool, the areas under the curve (AUCs) were from 0.671 to 0.682 based on the 3 above thresholds, whereas with the Framingham tool, AUCs were from 0.651 to 0.659. In women, all AUCs were >0.7. Our results also showed WHR to be an almost comparable discriminator of CV disease risk in the Iranian study population. Conclusion: Conicity index and WHR had a more discriminatory accuracy for 10-year CV events compared with the other obesity indices.

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Background:Viral hepatitis is a major health problem worldwide. Change in transmission patterns of hepatitis B makes it necessary to re-evaluate its prevalence and risk factors.Objectives:We aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV infection and its related risk factors in Amol city, Northern Iran.Patients and Methods:As a population based study, a cluster sampling approach was used and 6146 individuals from the general population of urban and rural areas of Amol, Iran, from both genders and different ages were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were willingness to participate in the study, being a lifelong resident in Amol city or its surrounding areas with Iranian nationality. Ten milliliters (10 mL) of blood was taken from each study subject and checked regarding hepatitis B markers including HbsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb using a third generation ELISA. The prevalence of HBV infections and its potential risk factors were recorded.Results:The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb were estimated as 0.9%, 30.7% and 10.5%, respectively. The mean age of all participants was 43.9 (95% CI: 43.4, 44.3) in females and 55.6 in (n = 3472) males. In our study, there was a significant association between family history of hepatitis, rural residency and presence of HBsAg. There was also a positive correlation between HBcAb and family history of hepatitis, history of other types of hepatic diseases, history of tattooing, traditional phlebotomy, male gender and age. In backward logistic regression, a significant association was found between history of hepatitis in first-degree family members (OR = 13.35; 95% CI: 6.26, 28.47) and place of residence (OR = 2.32; 95% CI: 1.27, 4.22) with presence of HBsAg. There was also a positive correlation between history of hepatitis among first-degree family members (OR = 2.49; 95% CI: 1.52, 4.08), history of tattooing (OR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.33, 3.42), history of previous hepatitis (OR = 1.87; 95% CI: 1.06, 3.28), male sex (OR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.66) and age (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.04) with presence of HBcAb.Conclusions:The prevalence of hepatitis B in Amol City and its surrounding areas was about one percent, a lower rate than other reports from Iran.

Generally, 15-25% of general population experience urticaria during their life. The prevalence of chronic urticaria is about 0.1-0.3% in children and most often occurs between ages of 6-11 years. There are several causes for development of chronic urticaria. Known etiologies of chronic urticaria in children vary from 21% to 83%. Chronic urticaria caused by infections is more common in children than adults. Diagnosis of chronic urticaria is based on clinical history and physical examination and routine laboratory testing in the absence of a clinical history is rarely helpful. Similar to adults, antihistamines are the first line of treatment. Omalizumab as a biological engineering molecule is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody, which targets the CH3 domain of the ε chain of the free IgE. Omalizumab has been used in patients with H1-antihistamine-refractory chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). Here in we made a review about possible mechanisms by which omalizumab may be effective in children above 12 years with chronic urticaria, and also focused on its therapeutic effects, onset criteria and possible side effects.

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