Neurogenic inflammation and allergy

Egypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2009;7(2):45-5

Diagnostic inflammatory markers for bronchial asthma

Egypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2005; 3(1): 2-

Antineuronal antibodies in autistic children: relation to blood mercury

Background: It was recently suggested that autism, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder, may involve an autoimmune pathogenesis. Mercury (Hg) is a potential risk factor for autoimmunity in autistic children. Objective: We sought to investigate the expression of antineuronal antibodies, as an index of autoimmunity to brain, in autistic children. The potential relationship between blood mercury and these antibodies was also investigated. Methods: Forty autistic children (20 with mild to moderate and 20 with severe disease) were studied in comparison to 40 healthy children. After complete clinical and neuropsychiatric evaluation, serum antineuronal antibodies and blood Hg levels were estimated. Results: Autistic children had significantly higher seropositivity for antineuronal antibodies (67.5%) than healthy controls (5%). Similarly, the former group had significantly higher blood Hg levels than the latter (p < 0.0001). In addition, the two markers were positively associated with some parameters such as the family history of autoimmunity, autistic severity and some important clinical manifestations of autism (mental retardation, behavioral abnormalities and autistic regression) as well as EEG abnormalities. Conclusion: Autism may be, in part, one of the pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders. Such autoimmunity may be triggered by environmental Hg exposure. Further studies are warranted to enforce these concepts. If these assumptions could be proved, routine assessment of serum antineuronal antibodies and blood mercury in autistic children would be mandatory. Studies assessing the role of immunotherapy and Hg chelators as new therapeutic modalities for autism are also recommended.Keywords: Antineuronal antibodies; autism; autoimmunity; children; heavy metals; EEG; mercuryEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2007; 5(1): 21-3

Creating Bill of Students Rights and Responsibilities at Helwan University

University is open to all persons who are qualified according to its admission standards unless resource limitations results in the closure of academic programs in which applicants have expressed interest. Students' rights refers to a set of rights, responsibilities, and duties under which a student can seek and receive all educational service, encompass legal and ethical issues in the academic institutions and student relationship, including a student's right to privacy and to equal evaluation. So this study aimed to creating bill of students' rights and responsibilities at Helwan University. Operational design was carried out in the twenty faculties at Helwan University; Quota sampling used a sampling method for gathering representative data from two categories first category was university students consisted of 1200 students enrolled in four levels at academic year 2013 / 2014 representative 60 students from every faculty from twenty faculties studied setting at Helwan University. Second category was academic staff consisted of 40 academic staff 20 were professors and 20 were assistant professors 2 from every faculty study setting at Helwan University. Self-administered questionnaire used for the data collection consisted of two parts; the first part is socio-demographic characteristics served to collect information about age, gender, levels and educational qualification. The second part was 98 items divided into four components about academic, non-academic rights and responsibilities. The researchers developed a bill of students' rights and responsibilities based on students' opinions, and second part is an opinionnaire sheet used for the validity of the created students' bill of rights and responsibilities. The response was 3-point Likert scale from "strongly agree" to" disagree." The results are evident that; Mean Score in total agreements upon students' rights were ''1.57 ± 0.37''. While, Mean Score in total agreement upon students' responsibilities were ''1.53 ± 0.41''. There is a highly statistically significant positive correlation between students' scores of agreement upon rights and responsibilities (p<0.01). In conclusion, there is a highly statistical significant positive correlation between students' score of agreement upon rights and responsibilities. There was negative statistically significant correlations were revealed between students' scores of academic responsibilities and non- academic responsibilities with levels. It is concluded that the proposed students' bill of rights was valid, and effective in almost all items related to academic and non-academic students' rights and responsibilities were highest score; this reflects the importance of increasing students' awareness of their rights as well as their responsibilities and involves the students' rights to be informed about all aspects of the learning process and their involvement in the quality of education. The study recommends disseminating this created bill of rights and responsibilities in all universities at the Ministry of Higher Education in Egypt.Keywords: bill of rights, quota sampling, responsibilities, rights, and students bill of rights

The possible link between the elevated serum levels of neurokinin A and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies in children with autism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neurogenic inflammation is orchestrated by a large number of neuropeptides. Tachykinins (substance P, neurokinin A and neurokinin B) are pro-inflammatory neuropeptides that may play an important role in some autoimmune neuroinflammatory diseases. Autoimmunity may have a role in the pathogenesis of autism in some patients. We are the first to measure serum neurokinin A levels in autistic children. The relationship between serum levels of neurokinin A and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies was also studied.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serum neurokinin A and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies were measured in 70 autistic children in comparison to 48 healthy-matched children.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Autistic children had significantly higher serum neurokinin A levels than healthy controls (P < 0.001). Children with severe autism had significantly higher serum neurokinin A levels than patients with mild to moderate autism (P < 0.001). Increased serum levels of neurokinin A and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies were found in 57.1% and 44.3%, respectively of autistic children. There was significant positive correlations between serum levels of neurokinin A and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies (P = 0.004).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Serum neurokinin A levels were elevated in some autistic children and they were significantly correlated to the severity of autism and to serum levels of anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies. However, this is an initial report that warrants further research to determine the pathogenic role of neurokinin A and its possible link to autoimmunity in autism. The therapeutic role of tachykinin receptor antagonists, a potential new class of anti-inflammatory medications, should also be studied in autism.</p

Developing and Validating of a Managerial Procedures Manual for Head Nurses

The managerial skills are a set of behaviors based on knowledge that can be learned through procedure. Procedures are descriptions of how to carry out an activity. Procedures manual is essential to ensure consistency and quality in products and services. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a managerial procedure manual for head nurses at Ain-shams University Hospital. The study was conducted in Ain Shams University Hospital using operational design. It included a group of 78 head nurses for assessment and a jury group consisting of 16 faculty members of Nursing Administration and 8 nursing directors and assistants. Data were collected using a head nurses' self-administered questionnaire and opinionnaire form for the jury group. The researchers discussed the idea of the study with representatives of the hospital administration to reach to an agreement regarding the importance of the proposed manual and its content, then assessed head nurses’ view of the importance of a managerial manual. The results showed that 25.6% of the head nurses did not know about the presence of a manual for managerial nursing procedures, 96.2% expressed the need for such manual, and 70.7% reported having faced problems due to lack of such manual. Based on analysis of the data the researchers developed the manual that was validated by the jury group, and distributed to head nurses after approval of the hospital administration. The hospital administration participated in all steps of the development of the manual, and adopted its use in the setting. The effectiveness of the manual in reducing head nurses' stress related to managerial problems needs to be assessed after a few months of implementation. Key words: Head nurse, Manual, Managerial skills and Managerial procedure

Intra-articular dexmedetomidine with bupivacaine versus bupivacaine alone for postoperative analgesia after knee arthroscopy

Background: Optimal relief of pain after knee arthroscopy is essential for early rehabilitation and mobilisation and to minimise postoperative morbidity. This study’s aim was to assess dexmedetomidine as an additive to intra-articular (IA) bupivacaine in terms of analgesic duration and postoperative rescue analgesic consumption following arthroscopic knee surgery.Methods: A total of 70 patients, ASA physical status I and II, undergoing knee arthroscopy under general anaesthesia were enrolled in this double-blinded randomised controlled study, after Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR201507001048242) approval was obtained. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups; the bupivacaine group (B) received IA 19 ml bupivacaine 0.5% + 1 ml normal saline, bupivacaine dexmedetomidine group (BD) received IA injection of 19 ml bupivacaine 0.5% + dexmedetomidine 100 μg (1 ml). Postoperative visual analogue pain score (VAS), duration of analgesia and postoperative analgesic requirement were assessed.Results: VAS scores at rest and on mobilisation were significantly lower in the BD group at 4 h, 6 h and 8 h postoperatively in comparison with group B (p &lt; 0.05). VAS scores were comparable between studied groups during the first 2 h, and at 12 h and 24 h postoperatively. Duration of analgesia was significantly longer in group BD (458.9 ± 93.5 min) than in the B group (229.1 ± 83.7 min) (p &lt; 0.05). Postoperative analgesic consumption was lowered in the BD group compared with the B group (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusions: Adding dexmedetomidine to IA bupivacaine after knee arthroscopy prolongs analgesic duration and decreases postoperative analgesic requirement.Keywords: arthroscopy, dexmedetomidine, intra-articular, postoperative pai