Clinical characteristics of depression among adolescent females: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adolescents rarely seek psychiatric help; they even hesitate to disclose their feelings to their parents. However; the adolescents especially the females experience depressive symptoms more frequently than general population. Do they experience classic depressive symptoms? Are there symptoms specific to this subpopulation?</p> <p>Aim of the study</p> <p>Through this study, the authors aimed to estimate the prevalence of depressive disorders in Egyptian adolescent female students. They also expected a characteristic profile of symptoms for the adolescent females. However available literature provides no guidance in the description of this profile of symptoms.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A number of 602 adolescent females were interviewed, and subjected to General Health Questionnaire (GHQ); Children Depression Inventory (CDI), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis-I Disorders (SCID-I), then Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D). Results were analyzed by the use of SPSS-15.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study revealed the prevalence of depression in the sample of the study to be 15.3% (measured by CDI), and 13.3% (measured by SCID-I). Fatigue was the most common presenting depressive symptom (81.3%), in addition to other emotional, cognitive and physiological symptoms. Suicidal ideations were the most common suicidal symptoms in depressed adolescent females (20%), with 2.5% serious suicidal attempts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The somatic symptoms were by far the most common presenting symptom for female adolescents suffering from depressive disorders. Depressive phenomena including unexplained fatigue, decreased energy, psychomotor changes, lack of concentration, weight changes and suicidal ideations may be the presenting complaints instead of the classic sad mood.</p

Blood zinc levels in children hospitalized with pneumonia: A cross sectional study

Background: Recent works have provided conflicting evidence on the role of zinc in acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI). Objective: We aimed to study the relation between blood zinc levels and severity of pneumonia. Patients and methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Cairo University Pediatric Hospital, to assess serum zinc levels in 40 Egyptian children, aged 3–144 months, admitted with the diagnosis of pneumonia. Half of them were admitted in the general ward and the other half were admitted in the pediatric ICU. Results: Males (67.5%) were more affected by ALRI than females. The mean serum zinc in patients was normal (80.33 + 25.3 μg/dL) yet, the mean serum zinc level in PICU patients was lower than that of general ward patients (p = 0.001). Conclusion: We concluded that the lower the serum zinc level, the higher the grade of respiratory distress among children with pneumonia

Selenium and Vitamin E as antioxidants in chronic hemolytic anemia: Are they deficient? A case-control study in a group of Egyptian children

Accelerated oxidative damage is one of the hallmarks in both sickle cell disease (SCD) and thalassemia major (TM). A decreased antioxidant level is found in both diseases. Our study was carried out to evaluate the variation in serum levels of Selenium and Vitamin E among a group of transfusion dependant Egyptian SCD and TM patients, further more to correlate these levels with iron overload status or transfusion requirements. A case-control study was conducted at the Cairo University Pediatric Hospital to assess the serum levels of Selenium using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer and Vitamin E using commercially available ELISA Kit in transfusion dependent children, 30 with beta thalassemia and 30 with SCD in a steady state aged from 6 to 18 years, these findings were compared to 30 age/sex matched healthy controls. Our results revealed a depleted antioxidants level in the studied group of Egyptian children with TM and SCD relative to healthy controls (P < 0.05). A significant positive correlation was found between Vitamin E levels and ferritin (r = 0.26, p = 0.047) in SCD and TM patients. Nonsignificant correlation was detected between serum Selenium and Vitamin E. Moreover, values of these antioxidants did not correlate with indices of hemolysis nor with those of inflammation in chronically transfused TM and SCD patients

Preoperative Diagnosis Failure for a Rare Gastric Collision Tumor: A Case Report

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), usually occur as a solitary neoplasm. Inflammatory florid polyp (IFP) is a solitary rare benign lesion of the gastrointestinal tract, mainly occur in the gastric antrum, whose atypical presentation can mimic GISTs or other malignant tumors, therefore the synchronous occurrence of GISTs and IFP is extremely rare. We had a case of a 58-year-old man that was presented with recurrent epigastric pain and recurrent melena. Upper endoscopic examination revealed a large polypoid antrum polyp measured 7 cm at greatest dimension with focal ulceration. Clinical and radiological features did not reach the definite diagnosis until histopathological evaluation with immunohistochemical analysis was performed. Surgical intervention is recommended and partial gastrectomy was done with wide resection margins. Histological examination revealed two distinct GISTs and IFP parts presenting a collision tumor that showed spindle and epitheloid cells consistent with GISTs with histological features of florid polyp showed a characteristic perivascular onion-skin arrangement of spindle cells with dense chronic inflammatory infiltrate including eosinophils and lymphocytes. Immunohistochemical studies have been done and revealed an association between GISTs and IFP. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of a collision tumor consisting of a GIST and an IFP arising in the stomach. In conclusion, the gastrointestinal stromal tumor is the comments mesenchymal tumor of GIT and IFP is a rare benign lesion of GIT therefore association between GIST and IFP as a collision tumor is extremely rare

Maternal urinary cell free fetal DNA in relation to gestational age

Objectives: To evaluate the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in the maternal urine in relation to gestational age as a potential source for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. Material and methods: One hundred and sixty normal pregnant women were included in the study; 80 women pregnant with male fetuses and 80 women pregnant with female fetuses. Maternal urine of all patients was examined at 12, 16 and 20 wks’ gestation for the SRY gene (sex-determining region Y) as a cffDNA (cell free fetal DNA) marker and Ribonuclease P RNA component H1 (RPPH1) as a total cfDNA (cell free DNA) marker using a quantitative real-time PCR assay. Results: SRY gene was detected in maternal urine of those pregnant with male fetuses starting from 16 weeks in 25% (20/80) of cases only and in 80% of cases (64/80) at 20 weeks, but it was not detected at 12 weeks. All women female fetuses were negative for SRY gene. Conclusions: Cell free fetal DNA in maternal urine was not detected in early gestational age using SRY gene alone despite the use of extraction kit specific for extraction of Free-circulating nucleic acids and highly sensitive reported PCR technique. Further studies should be done to evaluate whether cell free fetal DNA in maternal urine can be detected after reaching a certain threshold in blood

Aberrant p16INK4A methylation: Relation to viral related chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is currently the fifth most common solid tumor worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer related deaths. Several studies have shown that the tumor suppressor gene p16INK4A is frequently downregulated by aberrant methylation of the 5′-cytosine-phosphoguanine island within the promoter region. Aim: To find out the frequency of methylated p16INK4A in the peripheral blood of HCC and cirrhotic patients and to evaluate its role in hepatocarcinogenesis. Patients and Methods: This study was performed on 58 subjects: 30 HCC patients, 20 cirrhotic patients, and eight healthy volunteers. Methylation of p16INK4A was examined using methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (MSP). Comparison of quantitative variables between the study groups was done using Mann-Whitney U test for independent samples when not normally distributed. For comparing categorical data, Chi-square (χ2 ) test was performed. Exact test was used instead when the expected frequency was less than 5. Results: Methylation of p16INK4A was found in 6.7% of HCC patients, 5% of liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, and none of the healthy volunteers; 66.67% of the p16INK4A-methylated cases (2/3) were positive for anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies (one of them had HCC). All HCC cases with aberrant p16INK4A methylation show very high serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP) level (9,080; 30,000 μg/mL). There were no significant associations between the status of p16INK4A methylation and tumor size. Conclusion: Hypermethylation of p16INK4A was found to be infrequent among Egyptian patients with HCC

Fungal infection profile in critically ill COVID-19 patients: a prospective study at a large teaching hospital in a middle-income country

Abstract Background Critically ill COVID-19 patients are highly susceptible to opportunistic fungal infection due to many factors, including virus-induced immune dysregulation, host-related comorbidities, overuse and misuse of antibiotics or corticosteroids, immune modulator drugs, and the emergencies caused by the pandemic. This study aimed to assess the incidence, identify the potential risk factors, and examine the impact of fungal coinfection on the outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods A prospective cohort study including 253 critically ill COVID-19 patients aged 18 years or older admitted to the isolation ICU of Zagazig University Hospitals over a 4-month period from May 2021 to August 2021 was conducted. The detection of a fungal infection was carried out. Results Eighty-three (83) patients (32.8%) were diagnosed with a fungal coinfection. Candida was the most frequently isolated fungus in 61 (24.1%) of 253 critically ill COVID-19 patients, followed by molds, which included Aspergillus 11 (4.3%) and mucormycosis in five patients (1.97%), and six patients (2.4%) diagnosed with other rare fungi. Poor diabetic control, prolonged or high-dose steroids, and multiple comorbidities were all possible risk factors for fungal coinfection [OR (95% CI) = 10.21 (3.43–30.39), 14.1 (5.67–35.10), 14.57 (5.83–33.78), and 4.57 (1.83–14.88), respectively]. Conclusion Fungal coinfection is a common complication of critically ill COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. Candidiasis, aspergillosis, and mucormycosis are the most common COVID-19-associated fungal infections and have a great impact on mortality rates