Prevalence of Bell’s palsy in Qena Governorate,Egypt

Background and purpose: There have been few studies to estimate the prevalence of Bell’s palsy (BP) in Arab countries. A community-based study was conducted to estimate the prevalence, incidence rates, precipitating factors, and outcome of BP in Qena Governorate, Egypt.

Subjects and methods: A door-to-door survey was carried out, with random sampling of 10 districts, involving 9303 inhabitants, 51.1% males and 48.9% females. Seventeen subjects were positive in screening questionnaire and referred to Qena University hospital and were subjected to a full clinical examination, House Brackmann’s Facial grading system.

Results: In a total population of 9303 individuals, 15 cases were confirmed as having BP giving a prevalence rate (PR) 161/10⁵ for all ages 95%CI (80–243). It was slightly but not significantly higher among women and the rural community. The incidence rate of BP was 107/10⁵. The highest age-specific rate was 40–49 years age. The most frequent precipitating factors for an episode of BP were exposure to air draft in 40%, physical stress (13.3%), and upper respiratory tract infection (13.3%). Moreover, 46.7% had predisposing risk factors, DM and hypertension in 33.3%. Sixty percent of cases had complication and poor outcome.

Conclusion: The overall prevalence and incidence rates of BP in Qena governorate were high. This could be related to the variation in day and night temperature in our community and the susceptibility to air draft exposure during the night. The high frequency of poor outcome among studied cases suggests that better local guidelines should be implemented to recognize and treat BP.     

Correction: Pharmacophore-based approaches in the rational repurposing technique for FDA approved drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2 Mpro

Correction for ‘Pharmacophore-based approaches in the rational repurposing technique for FDA approved drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2 M^pro’ by Vishal M. Balaramnavar et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 40264–40275, DOI: 10.1039/D0RA06038K.

The authors regret that the name of one of the authors (Talha Jawaid) was shown incorrectly in the original article. The corrected author list is as shown above.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis during the COVID-19 third wave in 2021: an Egyptian preliminary report from a single tertiary hospital

Neurological Sciences - COVID-19 is a pandemic disease which predominantly affects the respiratory system with high critical care mortality and morbidity; however, it also causes multi-organ...     

Being an identity-release donor: a qualitative study exploring the motivations,experiences and future expectations of current UK egg donors

The objective of this study was to examine the motivations, experiences and future expectations of identity-release egg donors in the UK following the removal of donor anonymity and the increase in financial compensation for egg donation. This exploratory, in-depth qualitative study comprised semi-structured interviews with 11 women who had attended an egg donation screening appointment at a UK clinic during a four-month period in 2014. Interviews were conducted two to six weeks after the woman had donated or had withdrawn/been rejected from the donation process. Participants’ primary motivation for donating was to help infertile women have their ‘own child’, and the recent increase in financial compensation did not seem to play a significant role in their decision. All were happy to be identifiable and contacted by children born as a result of their donation. However, some were hesitant about providing non-identifying information about themselves for these offspring and wished for further information about the recipient(s) of their eggs and the outcome of their donation. Whilst this study was limited due to the small sample size, it is the first study of UK egg donors following the rise in donor compensation and suggests that other strategies may be more effective in increasing donor numbers.     

Synthesis,biological evaluation and in silico molecular docking of novel 1-hydroxy-naphthyl substituted heterocycles

The versatile precursor 2-acetyl-4-allyl-1-hydroxy naphthalene was synthesized efficiently via Claisen rearrangement 2-acetyl-1-allyloxynaphthalene. The Claisen-Schmidt condensation of latter precursor afforded the corresponding chalcones which were exploited to synthesize a series of potential heterocycles such as pyrazoline, isoxazoline, benzocoumarin and benzoflavone. The synthesized products showed potent antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Chalcone 3c, naphthyl pyrazoline 6b and hydroxycoumarin 13 exhibited the highest activity as antioxidants. Their binding mode showed specialized recognition of hydroxycoumarin 13 with the triad key amino acids at the active site of the oxidoreductase enzyme (PDB code 1DXO). 1-Hydroxynaphth-2-yl pyrazoline (6b) revealed the highest efficacy against both Gram positive and negative bacterial species. In silico molecular docking of pyrazoline 6b endorsed its proper binding at the active site of the 2EX6 enzyme which explains its potent antibacterial activity in comparison with standard ampicillin.     

Higher rate of hyperglycemia than hypoglycemia during Ramadan fasting in patients with uncontrolled type 1 diabetes: Insight from continuous glucose monitoring system

Background

Patients with uncontrolled type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) are at a high risk for Ramadan fasting and are exempt from fasting; however, most still insist on fasting. The aim of this study was to examine glucose level fluctuations in those patients during Ramadan fasting using a real-time continuous glucose monitoring system (RT-CGMS).