Ahmad Reza Bahrmand

Publications (3)9.98 Total impact

• Source

  Available from: Edward A Graviss

  Article: Portable, battery-operated, low-cost, bright field and fluorescence microscope.

  Andrew R Miller, Gregory L Davis, Z Maria Oden, Mohamad Reza Razavi, Abolfazl Fateh, Morteza Ghazanfari, Farid Abdolrahimi, Shahin Poorazar, Fatemeh Sakhaie, Randall J Olsen, Ahmad Reza Bahrmand, Mark C Pierce, Edward A Graviss, Rebecca Richards-Kortum
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  ABSTRACT: This study describes the design and evaluation of a portable bright-field and fluorescence microscope that can be manufactured for $240 USD. The microscope uses a battery-operated LED-based flashlight as the light source and achieves a resolution of 0.8 microm at 1000x magnification in fluorescence mode. We tested the diagnostic capability of this new instrument to identify infections caused by the human pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Sixty-four direct, decontaminated, and serially diluted smears were prepared from sputa obtained from 19 patients suspected to have M. tuberculosis infection. Slides were stained with auramine orange and evaluated as being positive or negative for M. tuberculosis with both the new portable fluorescence microscope and a laboratory grade fluorescence microscope. Concordant results were obtained in 98.4% of cases. This highly portable, low cost, fluorescence microscope may be a useful diagnostic tool to expand the availability of M. tuberculosis testing at the point-of-care in low resource settings.
  PLoS ONE 01/2010; 5(8):e11890. · 4.09 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Edward A Graviss

  Article: High-level rifampin resistance correlates with multiple mutations in the rpoB gene of pulmonary tuberculosis isolates from the Afghanistan border of Iran.

  Ahmad Reza Bahrmand, Leonid P Titov, Alireza Hadizadeh Tasbiti, Shamsi Yari, Edward A Graviss
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to investigate the significance of multiple mutations in the rpoB gene as well as predominant nucleotide changes and their correlation with high levels of resistance to rifampin (rifampicin) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates that were randomly collected from the sputa of 46 patients with primary and secondary cases of active pulmonary tuberculosis from the southern region (Afghanistan border) of Iran where tuberculosis is endemic. Drug susceptibility testing was performed using the CDC standard conventional proportional method. DNA extraction, rpoB gene amplification, and DNA sequencing analysis were performed. Thirty-five (76.09%) isolates were found to have multiple mutations (two to four) in the rpoB (beta-subunit) gene. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the combination of mutations with more prevalent nucleotide changes were observed in codons 523, 526, and 531, indicating higher frequencies of mutations among patients with secondary infection. In this study, 76.08% (n = 35) of all isolates found to have mutation combinations involving nucleotide changes in codons 523 (GGG-->GCG), 531 (TCG-->TTG or TTC), and 526 (CAC-->CGC, TTC, AAC, or CAA) demonstrated an association with higher levels of resistance to rifampin (MIC, >or=100 microg/ml).
  Journal of clinical microbiology 09/2009; 47(9):2744-50. · 4.16 Impact Factor
• Article: Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA is more frequent in advanced than in mild atherosclerosis lesions.

  Ahmad Reza Bahrmand, Moslem Bahadori, Abdolmajid Hossaini, Ali Akbar Velayati, Sohrab Aghabozorgy, Abbass Shakoor, Valery Vladimir Bakayev
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  ABSTRACT: There is growing evidence of an association between Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and atherosclerosis. By using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we detected the presence of C. pneumoniae DNA in 16 of 92 (17%) arterial specimens with severe atherosclerotic lesions, and in 3 of 109 (3%) such specimens with mild atherosclerotic lesions (p < 0.01) from 49 cases with an autopsy diagnosis of cardiac death and 5 patients who underwent vascular reconstructive surgery. 14 of the 54 cases (28%) were C. pneumoniae-positive in at least 1 vascular sample. 12 of the 14 (86%) PCR positive cases were aged 60 y or older. Normal pulmonary artery specimens from 24 autopsy cases, used as a methodological control, tested negative. The levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly lower in the PCR-positive cases than in the PCR-negative cases (p < 0.05). Importantly, 11 of the 14 PCR-positive cases had only 1 risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, whereas all PCR-negative cases had multiple risk factors (p < 0.05). Our data support the idea that C. pneumoniae may be involved in the development of atherosclerosis in humans, especially in cases where classic risk factors are not identified to explain the incidence of atherosclerotic vascular disease.
  Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 01/2004; 36(2):119-23. · 1.72 Impact Factor