The Libyan journal of medicine
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Comparative Study
The awareness of water intake and its correlation with BMI among students attending national and international secondary schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dehydration is linked to worse cognitive functions and preference for beverages that are linked to obesity and other health conditions. Saudi Arabia's hot climate can exacerbate these effects and it is important to ensure that children in the region understand the benefits of adequate water intake. To evaluate secondary school student perceptions and practices regarding water intake, investigate how water intake is related to BMI and school performance, and compare international schools to national schools. ⋯ A positive correlation between BMI and water intake was observed only among international school students. Students have inadequate water intake despite understanding the importance of hydration. There are some differences between international school students and national school students that can be attributed to the availability and sources of water, though other factors cannot be excluded.
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Comparative Study
CPMPARISON between COVID-19 and MERS demographic data in Saudi Arabia: a retrospective study.
The outbreak of corona virus disease (COVID-19) caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 began in Wuhan, China, resulting in respiratory disorders. In January of 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic owing to its global spread. Because no studies have investigated COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia, this study investigated similarities and differences between demographic data during the COVID-19 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks in Saudi Arabia. ⋯ Targeted prevention of and interventions against MERS should be allocated populations according to the areas where they inhabit. However, much more information regarding the dynamics and epidemiology of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia is needed. Abbrevation : MERS: Middle East Respiratory syndrome; COVID-19: Corona Virus Disease 2019.
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Zika virus (ZIKV) is a serious public health concern that may lead to neurological disorders in affected individuals. The virus can be transmitted from an infected mother to her fetus, via mosquitoes, or sexually. ZIKV infections are associated with increased risk for Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and congenital microcephaly in newborns infected prenatally. ⋯ In particular, we determined that hsa-mir-431-5p, hsa-mir-3687, hsa-mir-4655-5p, hsa-mir-6071, hsa-mir-762, hsa-mir-5787, and hsa-mir-6825-3p were significantly downregulated, ranging from -5711 to -660-fold whereas, has-mir-4315, hsa-mir-5681b, hsa-mir-6511a-3p, hsa-mir-1264, hsa-mir-4418, hsa-mir-4497, hsa-mir-4485-3p, hsa-mir-4715-3p, hsa-mir-4433-3p, hsa-mir-4708-3p, hsa-mir-1973 and hsa-mir-564 were upregulated, ranging from 20-0.8-fold. We carried out target gene alignment of these miRNAs with the ZIKV genome to predict the function of the differentially expressed miRNAs and their potential impact on ZIKV pathogenesis. These miRNAs might prove useful as novel diagnostic or therapeutic markers and targets for further research on ZIKV infection and neuronal injury resulting from ZIKV infectivity in developing fetal brain neurons.
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Factor V Leiden G1691A (FVL) and Factor II prothrombin G20210A (PGM) mutations are the leading causes of thrombophilia. In this study, we have investigated the prevalence of the FVL G1691A and PGM G20210A single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among Libyan deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and myocardial infarction (MI) patients. SNP genotyping was performed using high-resolution melt analysis (HRM) and DNA sequencing. ⋯ All the heterozygous samples showed 100% concordance between the HRM-PCR and DNA sequence analysis. Our study showed, for the first time, that both the FVL and PGM mutations are present among Libyan DVT and MI patients and that the FVL mutation is significantly associated with DVT but not with MI. However, our results do not support the association of PGM G20210A mutation with DVT or MI.
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Aim: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading cancers in the world. Even though its mortality and pathophysiology are well documented in the US and the European countries, it is seldom studied in North African population. Recent studies have shown link of HER2 overexpression in oesophageal and gastric cancers. ⋯ Our study shows that HER2 overexpression associates with right colon surgeries. Also, the correlation of mRNA and protein expression could warrant the implementation of a nationwide screening program for HER2 positivity in CRC patients. Taken together, stratifying patients according to HER2 expression can help in the diagnosis and prognosis of CRC patients from North African origin.