Relation of ischemia-modified albumin to disease manifestations and activity in Egyptian patients with Behҫet’s disease

Aim of work To determine level of ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) in patients with Behçet’s disease (BD) and to assess its role in disease manifestations and activity. Patients and methods The study included 48 patients with BD and 38 matched controls. Disease activity was estimated by the BD current activity form. Serum IMA was measured. Results Mean age of the patients was 33.8±7.9 years. There were 42 males and six females, and the disease duration was 52.9±48.8 months. The serum IMA level was significantly increased in the patients with BD (50.9±12.9 U/ml) compared with the control (7.76±1.6 U/ml) (P<0.001). There was a statistically significant association between IMA level and disease activity, with high mean IMA level among active cases (P=0.01). There was no statistically significant association between IMA level and any of other clinical characteristics in patients with BD. Sensitivity and specificity test for IMA level in detection of cases illustrated accuracy of 98.5% with sensitivity 95.8% and specificity 78.9% at cutoff value of 9.4 U/ml. Conclusion There is growing evidence indicating the role of oxidative stress in BD. IMA is accepted as an essential marker of oxidative stress in patients with BD. It has a potential diagnostic value for the detection of the disease. Furthermore, it correlates with the disease activity

Lnc RNA HULC as a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target in preeclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia is a severe pregnancy-related disease mainly in developing countries. Non-coding RNAs are very important factors in regulating the expression of certain genes and are involved in pathogenesis of numerous diseases. Recently, non coding RNA biomarkers are used as diagnostic tools for different disorders such as PE.Methods: lnc RNA HULC expression levels was measured in serum collected from 22 patients with PE and 23 healthy pregnancies, using real-time PCR.Results: HULC expression was elevated reaching significant levels (p &lt; 0.001with 2.16 fold change) in patients compared with control group. HULC was markedly increased in both severe and mild preeclamptic subgroups when compared to healthy controls (p&lt;0.001 with 1.97 fold change and p&lt;0.001 with 2.16 fold change respectively). ROC curve was assessed, the AUC of lnc RNA HULC was 0.952 (95%, CI=0.904 -1.000, P&lt; 0.001).Conclusion: lnc RNA HULC may be involved in PE pathogenesis and may be used as potential non-invasive diagnostic biomarker for this disease.Key words: Preeclampsia; lnc RNA HULC

Expression of serum microRNAs, mir-182-5p, and miR-590-3p and its clinical significance in neonatal sepsis

Abstract Background Neonatal sepsis is one of the life-threatening diseases. MicroRNAs are non-coding RNAs that play vital roles in various diseases. Methods This study included 50 neonates with sepsis and 60 healthy controls. RNA extraction and assessment of mir-182-5p and miR-590-3p using real-time PCR were done. Results Significant downregulation of mir-182-5p and miR-590-3p in neonates with sepsis compared with healthy neonates was observed. Positive correlations were confirmed between the expression levels of miR-182-5p and birth weight (R = 0.355, P = 0.012), RDW (R = 0.476, p =  < 0.0001), I/T Neutrophil (R = 0.362, P = 0.012), and a negative correlations were demonstrated between miR-182-5p and each of lyomphocyte count (R =  − 0.399, P = 0.004), HCO3 (R =  − 0.396, P = 0.004), as well as snap score (R =  − 0.321, P = 0.023). Moreover, positive correlations were verified between the expression level of miR-590-3p and I/T Neutrophil (R = 0.420, P = 0.003), RDW (R = 0.359, p = 0.010), CRP (R = 0.285, P = 0.45), and negative correlations were established between the expression level of miR-590-3p and platelets (R =  − 0.495, P =  < 0.0001), lymphocyte count (R =  − 0.365, P = 0.009), and snap score (R =  − 0.568, P =  < 0.0001). Conclusion mir-182-5p and miR-590-3p may be used as new biomarkers for neonatal sepsis suggesting that they could be used in the treatment of neonatal sepsis. Also, a significant negative correlation was noted between expression levels of mir-182-5p and miR-590-3p and snap score