Many species of tea (Camellia sinensis) and cowslip (Echium amoenum) are used in Iranian traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to conduct the survey on the ability of Iranian black tea and cowslip extracts on secretion of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) by non-infected and infected mouse macrophages. A macrophage infection model with Legionella pneumophila and enzyme linked im...

Background and Aims: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is usually a self-limited viral disease that causes acute hepatitis and may progress to chronic hepatitis in immunosuppressed individuals. It seems that hemodialysis patients and HIV infected people are more exposed to HEV infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of HEV infection in hemodialysis and HIV infected patients ...

Background & Aims: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is associated with peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Polymorphisms of the genes coding Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may influence the innate and adaptive immune responses and affect the susceptibility to H. pylori or the disease outcomes. But the details and association to different polymorphis...

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is associated with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Only a limited percentage of infected individuals develop disease in response to the virus while the majority remain asymptomatic and HAM/TSP is the most common clinical manifestation of the virus. HAM/TSP is an inflamma...

Background& Objectives: Inspite of intensive worldwide efforts to reduce its transmission, malaria remains the most serious and widespread protozoal infection of humans. It is a protozoan disease transmitted by the bite of infected female anopheles mosquito. Malaria has long featured prominently in the grey area between parasitology and hematology. This study has been...