Serum Concentrations of Trace Elements in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

Introduction: Nutritional status of patients with inflammatory bowel disease is estimated to be lower than optimal. This study was designed to compare the serum level of some trace elements in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2015-2016, on 60 recently diagnosed UC patients (30 with active UC and 30 with inactive UC) who were recruited from registry of the Golestan Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Gorgan, Iran) through simple random sampling. Thirty healthy individuals were also recruited as controls. Demographic data and disease activity index were recorded through a checklist. Serum levels of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se) and magnesium (Mg) were measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 at significance level of 0.05. Results: Mean serum level of Cu in the patients (0.75±0.25 mg/L) was significantly lower than in the controls (1.11±0.3 mg/L) (P=0001). Similarly, mean serum level of Mg in the patients (15.84±4.3 mg/L) was significantly lower than in the controls (19.48±15.7 mg/L) (P=0.001). Mean serum level of Se was slightly higher among the UC patients, while mean serum level of Zn was slightly lower in the UC patients compared with the controls. Conclusions: Our results show that UC patients have significantly lower Cu and Mg levels compared to healthy individuals. However, serum Zn and Se levels do not differ significantly between the UC patients and the control individuals. Further studies are required to confirm the results of this study

SARS-CoV-2 and Stroke Characteristics: A Report From the Multinational COVID-19 Stroke Study Group

International audienceBackground and Purpose: Stroke is reported as a consequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in several reports. However, data are sparse regarding the details of these patients in a multinational and large scale. Methods: We conducted a multinational observational study on features of consecutive acute ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and cerebral venous or sinus thrombosis among SARS-CoV-2–infected patients. We further investigated the risk of large vessel occlusion, stroke severity as measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and stroke subtype as measured by the TOAST (Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) criteria among patients with acute ischemic stroke. In addition, we explored the neuroimaging findings, features of patients who were asymptomatic for SARS-CoV-2 infection at stroke onset, and the impact of geographic regions and countries’ health expenditure on outcomes. Results: Among the 136 tertiary centers of 32 countries who participated in this study, 71 centers from 17 countries had at least 1 eligible stroke patient. Of 432 patients included, 323 (74.8%) had acute ischemic stroke, 91 (21.1%) intracranial hemorrhage, and 18 (4.2%) cerebral venous or sinus thrombosis. A total of 183 (42.4%) patients were women, 104 (24.1%) patients were <55 years of age, and 105 (24.4%) patients had no identifiable vascular risk factors. Among acute ischemic stroke patients, 44.5% (126 of 283 patients) had large vessel occlusion; 10% had small artery occlusion according to the TOAST criteria. We observed a lower median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (8 [3–17] versus 11 [5–17]; P =0.02) and higher rate of mechanical thrombectomy (12.4% versus 2%; P <0.001) in countries with middle-to-high health expenditure when compared with countries with lower health expenditure. Among 380 patients who had known interval onset of the SARS-CoV-2 and stroke, 144 (37.8%) were asymptomatic at the time of admission for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusions: We observed a considerably higher rate of large vessel occlusions, a much lower rate of small vessel occlusion and lacunar infarction, and a considerable number of young stroke when compared with the population studies before the pandemic. The rate of mechanical thrombectomy was significantly lower in countries with lower health expenditures