Newly diagnosed type II diabetes mellitus presenting with localized itch

Type II diabetes is caused by insulin resistance resulting in high blood sugar levels. Although the typical symptoms of diabetes are described as polyuria, polydipsia and fatigue as many as 60% of newly diagnosed patients with type II diabetes are asymptomatic. Here authors present a case of a 39-year-old male patient who presented with localized pruritus affecting the medial aspects of his forearms and upper legs as the sole symptom of newly diagnosed type II diabetes mellitus. The itch symptom markedly improved on significantly reducing his dietary intake of sugars and with the use of metformin. Authors hope to alert clinicians to consider the possibility of underlying diabetes in such presentations to enable swift diagnosis and consequent treatment. It is unusual to find patients presenting with localized itch without any corresponding cutaneous manifestations as a presentation of type II diabetes

Effects of low- and high-level pulsed Nd:YAG laser irradiation on red blood cells and platelets indices of albino rats in vitro

Objectives Erythrocyte cell membrane and enclosed haemoglobin content being a target with a consistent wavelength in the laser absorption spectrum. In this study, intension was made to clarify whether irradiation with high energy densities of pulsed laser; Neodymiumdoped yttrium aluminium garnet (Nd:YAG) with different pulse rates can improve the haemorheological parameters of red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets. Methods Pulsed Nd: YAG laser (λ = 532 nm) performance was measured and calibrated to either low (LLLR) or high (HLLR) level laser radiation schemes. Albino rat blood samples were collected and irradiated with low- and high-level energy laser (Fluence = 2.38–47.77 J/cm2). Complete blood picture was done for all samples and blood parameters were assessed and compared for both control and irradiated groups using paired t-test. Results Blood parameters like haemoglobin (HGB) and haematocrit (HCT) increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) by low laser fluence 2.38–4.77 J/cm2. High-level laser irradiation significantly decreased (P ≤ 0.05) RBCs distribution width (RDW) and platelet distribution width (PDW) for fluencies from 11.94/cm2 to 47.77 J/cm2. Stained blood films showed improved rheological properties of both RBCs and platelets irradiated with laser energy as low as 7.16 J/cm2. Both LLLR and HLLR fluencies significantly decreased (P ≤ 0.05) and normalized platelets aggregatory properties. Conclusion High-level laser irradiation reduced RBC deformability, aggregability and platelet aggregation resulting in improvements of cell membrane revitalizing, decreased viscosity and stress adaptation. Laser also enhanced both RBC and platelet life span with high-energy fluencies. HLLR using pulsed Nd:YAG is potentially a useful technique for the clinical intervention of many blood disorders. Keywords Nd:YAG laser, RBCs indices, platelets aggregatio

The Effect of Nandralone Decanoate on Athletes Fertility

عقارالمنشطات الاندروجينية (AAS) واسع الاستخدام لدى الكثير من الرياضيين وذلك لبناء العضلات والمظهر الخارجي من خلال هذه الدراسة التي اجريت على مجموعتيين من الرياضيين من مدينة القاسم وكل مجموعة تضم ستة رياضيين حيث كانت المجموعة الاولى للرياضيين فيها يستخدمون عقار (Nadralone Decanoate) بجرعة 50 ملغم بالحقن في العضلة لفترة ثلاث ايام في الاسبوع ولفترة شهرين متتاليين اما المجموعة الثانية فكانت مجموعة السيطرة وفيها لم يستخدم الرياضين اي عقار خلال هذه الفترة, تبين لنا من خلال  النتائج بان المجموعة الاولى قد انخفض مستوى انزيمات الكبد(GPT,GOT,ALP) لديهم بدون وجود فوارق احصائية معنوية, مع انخفاض بمستوى هرمون (LH ,FSH, Testesterone) مقارنة مع مجموعة السيطرة.Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS)”, (Nandrolone Decanoate) the treatments most widely abused commonly for improving athletic ability, appearance or muscle mass, athletes, coaches, and physicians should be aware of their harmful side effects .liquorice extract consider important medical plant due to  rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, phenolic and alkaloids that Supports the general  health of the body. In this study we compare between two groups of young athletes from Al-Qassam city, each group contains from six athletes, the first group they taken Nandrolone Decanoate with dose 50 mg, I.M.  for three-time weakly and persistence in a period  at least two months, the second group the without any treatment are using as a control group. The result showing that athletes who taken Nandrolone at least two months there have low elevation in liver enzyme but there are no significant differences in GPT ,GOT, ALP, as well as decreased the levels of mean “serum FSH, LH, and testosterone

Dietary and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Dyspepsia among Pre-clinical Medical Students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

Introduction: Dyspepsia is a common gastrointestinal diseases worldwide with a prevalence ranging from 7 to 40%. Dyspepsia, more commonly known as heartburn or indigestion, is defined as one or more of the following symptoms: postprandial fullness, early satiation (the inability to finish a normal size meal), or epigastric pain or burning for at least 3 months in the past year. Dyspepsia has been studied extensively, but little is known of factors associated with dyspepsia among medical students.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of dyspepsia and to evaluate the association between lifestyle and dietary factors associated with dyspepsia among pre-clinical medical students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates.Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among pre-clinical medical students at Gulf Medical University, Ajman and collected basic demographic data, dyspepsia prevalence, dietary factors, and lifestyle factors. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the participant characteristics. Chi-square tests were used to test the association between dietary and lifestyle factors and dyspepsia. Logistic regression was used to measure the association of predictors (dietary and lifestyle factors) on the odds of having dyspepsia, independently. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the full association of predictors on the odds of having dyspepsia.Results: The resulting sample was 176 pre-clinical medical students, with a mean age of 20.67 ± 2.57 years. A total of 77 (43.8%) respondents reported having dyspepsia while 99 (56.2%) did not. There was a significant association between smoking and dyspepsia (p<0.05), as well as a marginally significant association between inadequate sleep and dyspepsia (p<0.10). There was no significant association with alcohol or analgesic use on dyspesia. Dietary habits showed no association with dyspepsia.Conclusion: Dyspepsia was reported by 43.8% of the repondents. These findings emphasize the importance of improving lifestyle and dietary factors associated with dyspepsia and raising awareness of reducing risk factors associated with dyspepsia. Further studies are needed on dyspepsia in a larger cohort of students in order to fully understand the complexity of this problem and be able to generalize the findings to other cohorts

Comparative Study of Using Sea-Water for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs: Effects of Temperature and Aging Time on Oil Recovery

Oil recovery process is an essential element in the oil industry, in this study, a laboratory study to investigate the effect of temperature and aging time on oil recovery and understand some of the mechanisms of seawater in the injection process. In order to do that, the sandstone and carbonate cores were placed in the oven in brine to simulate realistic reservoir conditions. Then, they were aged in crude oil in the oven. After that, they were put in the seawater to recover, and this test is called a spontaneous imbibition test. The spontaneous imbibition test in this study was performed at room temperature to oven temperature 80 oC with different sandstone and carbonate rock with aging time of 1126 hours. The result shows that the impact of seawater on oil recovery in sandstone is higher than carbonate. At higher temperature, the oil recovery is more moderate than low temperature. Likewise, as the aging time increase for both sandstone and carbonate rocks the oil recovery increase.&nbsp

Dietary and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Dyspepsia among Pre-clinical Medical Students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

Introduction: Dyspepsia is a common gastrointestinal diseases worldwide with a prevalence ranging from 7 to 40%. Dyspepsia, more commonly known as heartburn or indigestion, is defined as one or more of the following symptoms: postprandial fullness, early satiation (the inability to finish a normal size meal), or epigastric pain or burning for at least 3 months in the past year. Dyspepsia has been studied extensively, but little is known of factors associated with dyspepsia among medical students. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of dyspepsia and to evaluate the association between lifestyle and dietary factors associated with dyspepsia among pre-clinical medical students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among pre-clinical medical students at Gulf Medical University, Ajman and collected basic demographic data, dyspepsia prevalence, dietary factors, and lifestyle factors. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the participant characteristics. Chi-square tests were used to test the association between dietary and lifestyle factors and dyspepsia. Logistic regression was used to measure the association of predictors (dietary and lifestyle factors) on the odds of having dyspepsia, independently. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the full association of predictors on the odds of having dyspepsia. Results: The resulting sample was 176 pre-clinical medical students, with a mean age of 20.67 ± 2.57 years. A total of 77 (43.8%) respondents reported having dyspepsia while 99 (56.2%) did not. There was a significant association between smoking and dyspepsia (p<0.05), as well as a marginally significant association between inadequate sleep and dyspepsia (p<0.10). There was no significant association with alcohol or analgesic use on dyspesia. Dietary habits showed no association with dyspepsia. Conclusion: Dyspepsia was reported by 43.8% of the repondents. These findings emphasize the importance of improving lifestyle and dietary factors associated with dyspepsia and raising awareness of reducing risk factors associated with dyspepsia. Further studies are needed on dyspepsia in a larger cohort of students in order to fully understand the complexity of this problem and be able to generalize the findings to other cohorts

Inflammatory osteolysis is regulated by site-specific ISGylation of the scaffold protein NEMO

Inflammatory osteolysis is governed by exacerbated osteoclastogenesis. Ample evidence points to central role of NF-κB in such pathologic responses, yet the precise mechanisms underpinning specificity of these responses remain unclear. We propose that motifs of the scaffold protein IKKγ/NEMO partly facilitate such functions. As proof-of-principle, we used site-specific mutagenesis to examine the role of NEMO in mediating RANKL-induced signaling in mouse bone marrow macrophages, known as osteoclast precursors. We identified lysine (K)270 as a target regulating RANKL signaling as K270A substitution results in exuberant osteoclastogenesis in vitro and murine inflammatory osteolysis in vivo. Mechanistically, we discovered that K270A mutation disrupts autophagy, stabilizes NEMO, and elevates inflammatory burden. Specifically, K270A directly or indirectly hinders binding of NEMO to ISG15, a ubiquitin-like protein, which we show targets the modified proteins to autophagy-mediated lysosomal degradation. Taken together, our findings suggest that NEMO serves as a toolkit to fine-tune specific signals in physiologic and pathologic conditions

Ethnic Inequalities in Mortality: The Case of Arab-Americans

BACKGROUND: Although nearly 112 million residents of the United States belong to a non-white ethnic group, the literature about differences in health indicators across ethnic groups is limited almost exclusively to Hispanics. Features of the social experience of many ethnic groups including immigration, discrimination, and acculturation may plausibly influence mortality risk. We explored life expectancy and age-adjusted mortality risk of Arab-Americans (AAs), relative to non-Arab and non-Hispanic Whites in Michigan, the state with the largest per capita population of AAs in the US. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data were collected about all deaths to AAs and non-Arab and non-Hispanic Whites in Michigan between 1990 and 2007, and year 2000 census data were collected for population denominators. We calculated life expectancy, age-adjusted all-cause, cause-specific, and age-specific mortality rates stratified by ethnicity and gender among AAs and non-Arab and non-Hispanic Whites. Among AAs, life expectancies among men and women were 2.0 and 1.4 years lower than among non-Arab and non-Hispanic White men and women, respectively. AA men had higher mortality than non-Arab and non-Hispanic White men due to infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and homicide. AA women had higher mortality than non-Arab and non-Hispanic White women due to chronic diseases. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite better education and higher income, AAs have higher age-adjusted mortality risk than non-Arab and non-Hispanic Whites, particularly due to chronic diseases. Features specific to AA culture may explain some of these findings

COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients with Inborn Errors of Immunity Reduces Hospitalization and Critical Care Needs Related to COVID-19: a USIDNET Report

Background The CDC and ACIP recommend COVID-19 vaccination for patients with inborn errors of immunity (IEI). Not much is known about vaccine safety in IEI, and whether vaccination attenuates infection severity in IEI. Objective To estimate COVID-19 vaccination safety and examine effect on outcomes in patients with IEI. Methods We built a secure registry database in conjunction with the US Immunodeficiency Network to examine vaccination frequency and indicators of safety and effectiveness in IEI patients. The registry opened on January 1, 2022, and closed on August 19, 2022. Results Physicians entered data on 1245 patients from 24 countries. The most common diagnoses were antibody deficiencies (63.7%). At least one COVID-19 vaccine was administered to 806 patients (64.7%), and 216 patients received vaccination prior to the development of COVID-19. The most common vaccines administered were mRNA-based (84.0%). Seventeen patients were reported to seek outpatient clinic or emergency room care for a vaccine-related complication, and one patient was hospitalized for symptomatic anemia. Eight hundred twenty-three patients (66.1%) experienced COVID-19 infection. Of these, 156 patients required hospitalization (19.0%), 47 required ICU care (5.7%), and 28 died (3.4%). Rates of hospitalization (9.3% versus 24.4%, p &lt; 0.001), ICU admission (2.8% versus 7.6%, p = 0.013), and death (2.3% versus 4.3%, p = 0.202) in patients who had COVID-19 were lower in patients who received vaccination prior to infection. In adjusted logistic regression analysis, not having at least one COVID-19 vaccine significantly increased the odds of hospitalization and ICU admission. Conclusion Vaccination for COVID-19 in the IEI population appears safe and attenuates COVID-19 severity