Enhanced IgG immune response to COVID-19 vaccination in patients with sickle cell disease

Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) are considered to be immunocompromised, yet data on the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in SCD is limited. We investigated anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG titres and overall neutralizing activity in 201 adults with SCD and demographically matched non-SCD controls. Unexpectedly, patients with SCD generate a more robust and durable COVID-19 vaccine IgG response compared to matched controls, though the neutralizing activity remained similar across both cohorts. These findings suggest that patients with SCD achieve a similar antibody response following COVID-19 vaccination compared to the general population, with implications for optimal vaccination strategies for patients with SCD.     

Prostromelysin and procollagenase genes are differentially UP-regulated in chondrocytes from the knees of rabbits with experimental osteoarthritis

Objective. To determine the relative expressions of matrix metalloprotease (MMP) genes pro-MMP1 and pro-MMP3 in the cartilage of rabbits with experimentally induced osteoarthritis (OA), and to assess the role of the chondrocyte in this process. Methods. OA was induced in rabbits after partial medial meniscectomy. Rabbits were killed at 4 weeks or 8 weeks, and total cellular RNA was prepared from cartilage and probed by Northern blotting with pro-MMP ³²P-labeled complementary DNA. Monolayer chondrocytes were used to assess MMP-inducing activity of chondrocyte factor(s). Results. Pro-MMP messenger RNAs (mRNAs) were up-regulated in experimental OA cartilage; pro-MMP3 mRNA expression exceeded that of pro-MMP1. Conditioned medium from OA-derived chondrocytes up-regulated pro-MMP mRNAs in normal chondrocytes. Conclusion. Up-regulation of MMP genes in this OA model may contribute to cartilage degradation. Chondrocytes up-regulate MMP genes via an autocrine pathway.     

Deep-Stacked Convolutional Neural Networks for Brain Abnormality Classification Based on MRI Images

Journal of Digital Imaging - An automated diagnosis system is crucial for helping radiologists identify brain abnormalities efficiently. The convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm of deep...     

Undiagnosed and missed active pulmonary tuberculosis during mass gatherings: a prospective cross-sectional study from the Hajj pilgrimage

European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases - Mass gatherings increase the risk of infectious diseases transmission including tuberculosis (TB). The Hajj pilgrimage to...     

The effect of nursing interventions on urinary,bowel and sexual dysfunction among post-radical prostatectomy patients

Prostate cancer is one of the commonest types of cancer in men worldwide. The primary treatment option for localized prostate cancer is radical prostatectomy. Unfortunately, a considerable proportion of men may experience long-term post-surgical sequelae is to determine the effect of nursing interventions on urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction among post-radical prostatectomy patients. A quasi-experimental (one group, pre-test–post-test) research design. We included 30 post-radical prostatectomy patients in this study. Each patient was interviewed in five sessions. During these sessions, the information about the complications of RP, pelvic floor exercise training and sexual rehabilitation was given. International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence-Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF), The Revised Faecal Incontinence Scale (RFIS) and Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) were used to evaluate the effect of nursing interventions. The study results demonstrate that the incidence of urinary and sexual dysfunction is high among patients post-radical prostatectomy patients. Fortunately, urinary and sexual dysfunctions were improved post-implementation of nursing intervention with statistically significant differences (p-value <0.05). The incidence of faecal incontinence was 16.7% while it was 13.3% post-nursing implementation with no statistically significant differences. Nursing intervention is effective in the management of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy within a short period time while the improvement in sexual dysfunction may need more time.     

The rate of secondary genomic findings in the Saudi population

Secondary findings (SF) are defined as genetic conditions discovered unintentionally during an evaluation of raw data for another disease. We aimed to identify the rate of secondary genetic findings in the Saudi population in the 59 genes of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) list. In our study, the raw data of 1254 individuals, generated from exome sequencing for clinical purposes, were studied. Variants detected in the 59 genes on the ACMG list of secondary findings were investigated. Pathogenicity classifications were assigned to those variants based on the ACMG scoring system. We identified 2409 variants in the 59 gene list, 45 variants were classified as pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants according to the ACMG classification. The LDLR gene had the greatest number of pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants 12%. Cardiovascular genetic diseases had the highest frequency of disorders detected as secondary findings. In this study, the overall rate of positive cases identified with secondary findings in the Saudi population was 8%. The different in our current study and the previous studies in Saudi Arabia can be explained by the differences between the sequencing method, the criteria used for variant classification, the availability of newer evidence at the time of the publication, and the fact that we identified Saudi novel variants never reported in other populations.