Background and Objective: Car accidents are the second leading cause of mortality in Iran. For safe driving, drivers require minimum acceptable visual acuity. In Iran, the accepted routine test to take driving license is Snellen vision chart, which is not adequate for visual acuity determination in real and natural environment. It seems that introducing a more sensitive and specific screening test is necessary. In this survey, we studied whether adding contrast sensitivity test to the present screening protocol is valuable or not. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 200 drivers presenting to the ophthalmologic clinic of Farshchian Hospital in Hamadan, Iran, was performed during 2014-2016. The participants were chosen using the census sampling method. Complete ophthalmologic examination, visual acuity evaluation, and contrast sensitivity test were carried out. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20. Results: The mean age of the participants was 39.6 years. The patients were allocated to a group with normal visual acuity and a normal corrected visual acuity group. The most common refractive errors were concurrent myopia and astigmatism. In normal visual acuity group, the percentages of abnormal contrast sensitivity (in increasing order of frequency) in appropriate lighting condition were 0, 8.

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Background and Objective: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)infected people are at higher risk of opportunistic infections due to immunodeficiency. The current study aimed to evaluate the different levels of CD4 in HIV-infected patients and its relationship with clinical and paraclinical manifestations of the patients. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 94 HIV-infected patients referred to the Counseling Centers for Behavioral Diseases and Sina Hospital in Hamadan, from 2014 to 2015. At the commencement of the study, written consent was obtained from the participants. Thereafter, demographic data, history of underlying diseases, symptoms and clinical syndromes, medical history, and serum CD4 levels were evaluated by flow cytometric recorded in the questionnaire and data were analyzed in SPSS software(version 16). Results: Out of 66 HIV-positive patients, 70.2% (n=38) were male and the mean age of the patients was 40.06±10. 04 years. In terms of classification of the clinical stage of the disease, the patinets in the first, second, and third stages were reported as 11 (11.7%), 36 (38.3%) and 34 (36.2%), respectively. The mean serum CD4 count of the patients at the beginning of antiretroviral therapy was measured at 284.241±284 and 377.19±271.41 cells /μl, respectively. The difference in the mean of serum CD4 count before and after antiretroviral therapy was revealed to be statistically significant (P=0.001). The most common clinical symptoms observed included cough and sputum (29.9%), oral aphthous ulcer (12.7%), weight loss (11.7%), and fever (7.4%). Based on the results of the study, there was a significant difference between the mean of platelet count, hemoglobin and alkaline phosphatase at different levels of CD4 (P<0.05). Conclusion:According to the results of the present study, serum CD4 levels rise with the initiation of antiretroviral therapy in HIV infected patients; therefore, early antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients with any serum CD4 level is of paramount importance.

Background and Objective: Correct and early diagnosis of infections contributes to proper treatment and helps prevent unnecessary antibiotic treatment. Thus, we aimed to compare the predictive values of the absolute neutrophil count, band count, and toxic granulation of neutrophils with the serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in bacterial infections. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we enrolled 200 patients who were admitted to the infectious disease ward of Sina Hospital, Hamadan, Iran, for bacterial infections in the first 6 months of 2016. The participants were chosen using the census sampling method. Before initiating the treatment, to carry out complete blood count (CBC) and quantitative CRP, 5 cc blood was obtained from the patients after obtaining their permission, and the percentages of neutrophils, band cells, and toxic granulation were evaluated in peripheral blood smear. This information and demographic data were collected by a checklist and analyzed by using SPSS, version 16. Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.26 years (range: 12 to 103 years), and 60.5% of the participants were male. The most frequent causes of hospitalization were pneumonia, soft tissue infections, sepsis, urinary tract infection, septic arthritis, and dysentery. The means of serum CRP, absolute neutrophil count, and band-cell count were 61.18 mg/L, 815.86 per mm 3 , and 318.86 per mm 3 , respectively. The correlation coefficients between quantitative CRP and absolute neutrophil count, band count, and toxic granulation severity were 0.43, 0.47, and 0.47, respectively. Conclusion: The results of the present study shows a linear correlation between CRP and the absolute neutrophil count, band count, and toxic granulation, indicating that these variables can replace CRP in the diagnosis of infections. Also, the predictive values of toxic granulation and band count for replacing CRP are equal and higher than that of absolute neutrophil count.

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, due to its high incidence and mortality rates, is a major health problem around the world. Also, the type II diabetes is a type of metabolic disorder characterized by increased blood glucose, which is due to insulin resistance, insulin deficiency, or both. The current study aimed to assess the mean platelet volume (MPV) in type 2 diabetes patients compared to nondiabetics, and determine the correlation between MPV and fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Methods: This case-control study was conducted on all patients (n = 120) diagnosed with diabetes referred to the clinical laboratory of Be'sat Hospital in Hamadan City, Iran, during 2015-2016. The patients were divided into the two groups of case and control (n = 60, each group). The mean platelet volume was measured by an automated blood cell counter. The blood glucose and HbA1c levels were also measured in both groups. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square, t test and Mann-Whitney tests with the SPSS software version 16. The significance level was equal to 0.05. Results: The mean age of the control group was 41.78 years and that of the case group was 41.58 years. The mean platelet volume was 8.42% in the case group and 7.74% in the control group, which showed a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.001). The mean platelet volume in people with HbA1c less than 7 in the case group was less than those who had HbA1c more than 7 and this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The mean platelet volume in diabetic patients was significantly higher than in the nondiabetic group. So, it seems that the elevated MPV can be used as a parameter for the diagnosis of vascular complications of diabetes.