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Background and Objectives: The outbreak of COVID-19 has been challenging the global health systems. As one of the major associated concerns, microbial co-infections and antimicrobial resistance play critical roles in the prognosis of the disease. This study aims to evaluate co-infections in COVID-19 patients regarding drug resistance. Materials and Methods: A total number of 5530 Real Time PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases, who were admitted to two major educational Hospitals in Zanjan, Iran, from February 2019 to February 2020 were included. Respiratory, blood and urine specimens were collected and cultured on selective media. Subsequently, isolates identification, disc diffusion susceptibility tests, and data analysis were carried out. Results: Bacterial and fungal co-infections were confirmed in 423 patients (8.1%). Co-infections were more prevalent among females (53.2%) than males (46.8%). Coinfected patients had a significantly higher mortality rate compared to those without co-infections (54.8% vs. 12.2%, P<0.001). Acinetobacter baumannii was the most prevalent bacteria isolated from respiratory tract (15.4%) and blood (2.1%). Escherichia coli (12.5%) was the most frequent bacteria in urine. Fungal co-infection was confirmed in 174 (3.36%) patients. Gram-negative bacteria were highly sensitive to colistin (97.85%) and widely resistant to cefixime (91.79%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (89.64%). Gram-positive bacteria were considerably sensitive to vancomycin (68%) and nitrofurantoin (66%). Tetracycline and ampicillin were the least effective antibiotics for Gram-positive bacteria with respective resistance rates of 90.91% and 83.33%. Conclusion: Given the high incidence of bacterial co-infections in COVID-19 patients, it is important to develop rapid and efficient diagnostic, therapeutic and disinfection guidelines to control these infections in the hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, characterized by abnormal B-cell growth within the germinal center. Research has shown the role of genes and molecular pathways in the pathogenesis of FL. However, the main factor of pathogenesis has not been determined. Therefore, in this study, the genes and molecular pathways related to the pathogenesis of FL were evaluated using a systems biology approach. Materials and Methods: In this study (bioinformatics analysis), the GSE32018 database was used for data analysis. This database was extracted from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The sample of this database was 36, which included normal and FL samples. For this purpose, 23 cases were FL and 13 were healthy samples. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) is performed to show the interaction between DEGs. STRING software is used for this purpose. Associations between the hub genes, transcription factors, and microRNAs were assessed using the miRTarBase and TRRUST databases. The criteria used for data analysis included log fold change greater than one and p < 0.05. Results: After evaluating and analyzing the data, the results showed that 866 DEGs were identified between the control and FL samples. Of this population, 231 cases of UP regulation and 635 cases of downregulation were in FL samples compared to control samples. PPI network and hub gene analyses identified 7 hub genes, including RPL37A, MRPS7, RPS14, RPS28, RPL34, RPS20, and RPS3. According to the results, hsa-miR-191-5p has the highest interactions with hub genes among miRNAs, and KDM5A has the most interactions among TFs. Conclusion: Identifying genes and molecular pathways can be effective in designing therapeutic strategies and preventing the proliferation of FL cells, thereby increasing patients' survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an opportunistic bacterium, which is globally recognized for its high prevalence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The presence of colistin-resistant representative mcr- 1, 2 genes in multi-drug resistant (MDR) clinically isolated E. coli is the main goal of this survey. After biochemically and molecular confirmation tests, susceptibility testing, biofilm formation, and minimum inhibitory concentration to colistin were performed on 100 E. coli isolates. Subsequently, taking advantage of uniplex-PCR, the presence of some responsible genes (mcr- 1, mcr- 2) to colistin-resistant phenotypes in mentioned bacterium was assessed. Results: Disc diffusion methods indicated that the highest resistance rate was against ampicillin (80.0%), and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (63%). Among the E. coli isolates, 72 (72.0%) was determined as MDR, respectively. Moreover, 47 (47%) strains were determined as extreme beta-lactamase (ESBL) phenotypes. Among 41 slime-producing E. coli strains, 7 (17.07%), 14 (34.14%), and 20 (48.78%) strains exhibited high, moderate, and weak levels of biofilm formation, respectively. Fifty-nine (81.94%), and 1(100%) of MDR isolates were assessed as colistin resistant (MIC > 2) and susceptible (MIC ≤ 2) as well. In 26(36.11%) of colistin-resistant isolates and 1(1.38%) of colistin, susceptible isolate mcr-1 gene was found. There is no mcr- 2 gene was detected in isolates. Conclusion: The diversity of high antibiotic-resistant rates could be avoided by developing appropriate healthcare policies and community awareness. Alarming resistance rates were observed in colistin and ampicillin, which should be taken into account in therapy guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]