Polymorphisms of interleukin-1R receptor antagonist genes in patients with chronic hepatitis B in Iran

AIM： To investigate the relationships between polymorphisms of interleukin-1R receptor antagonist genes and susceptibility to chronic hepatitis B in Iran population. METHODS： Genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of 80 patients with chronic hepatitis B （57 males, 23 females） aged 12-77 years （mean 36.1 ± 13.8 years） and 147 normal controls （96 males, 51 females） aged 6-75 years （mean 41 ± 18.7 years） who referred to a liver clinic of Tehran and then subjected to polymerase chain reaction （PCR） amplification. PCR products were resolved on a 3% agarose gel and stained with ethidium bromide. RESULTS： Only three of the five kinds of polymorphism （2/2, 2/4, and 4/4） were found in this study. The frequencies of 2/2, 2/4, and 4/4 were 12.5%, 17.5%, 70% respectively in chronic hepatitis B patients and 6.8%, 24.5%, and 68.7% respectively in controls. IL-1 R allele 2 was detected in 30% of chronic hepatitis B patients and in 31.3% of controls, while IL-1 R allele 4 was detected in 87.5% of chronic hepatitis B patients and in 93.2% of controls. The frequency of IL-1R alleles 2 and 4 was detected in 21.25% and 78.75% of the patients and 19.04% and 80.96% of the controls, respectively. CONCLUSION： Our results suggest that the carriage of IL-1R receptor antagonist alleles 2, 4, 6 may not play any role in the development of HBV infection. Large population-based studies are needed to investigate the role of IL-1 polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of developing chronic hepatitis B.

Variation of XCO_(2) anomaly patterns in the Middle East from OCO-2 satellite data

The anthropogenic CO_(2) emission is contributed to the rapid increase in CO_(2) concentration.In the current study the anthropogenic CO_(2) emission in the Middle East(ME)is investigated using 6 years columnaveraged CO_(2) dry air mole fraction(XCO_(2))observation from Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2(OCO-2)satellite.In this way,the XCO_(2) anomaly(DXCO_(2))as the detrended and deseasonalized term of OCO-2XCO_(2) product,was computed and compared to provide the direct spacebased anthropogenic CO_(2) emission monitoring.As a result,the high positive and negative DXCO_(2) values have corresponded to the major sources such as oil and gas industries,and growing seasons over ME,respectively.Consequently,the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO_(2)(ODIAC)emission and the gross primary productivity(GPP)were utilized in exploring the DXCO_(2) relation with human and natural driving factors.The results showed the capability of DXCO_(2) maps in detecting CO_(2) emission fluctuations in defined periods were detectible in daily to annual periods.The simplicity and accuracy of the method in detecting the man-made and natural driving factors including the main industrial areas,megacities,or local changes due to COVID-19 pandemic or geopolitical situations as well as the vegetation absorption and biomass burning is the key point that provides the environmental managers and policymakers with valuable and accessible information to control and ultimately reduce the CO_(2) emission over critical regions.