Initial study on TMPRSS2 p.Val160Met genetic variant in COVID-19 patients.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health problem that causes millions of deaths worldwide. The clinical manifestation of COVID-19 widely varies from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia and systemic inflammatory disease. It is thought that host genetic variability may affect the host's response to the virus infection and thus cause severity of the disease.

The levels of pro-fibrotic cytokines in pulmonary tuberculosis with minimal and extensive lesions.

Background: There are very few studies about the mechanism of fibrosis in tuberculosis (TB). This study aimed to determine the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in pulmonary TB patients with minimal and extensive lesions.

Materials And Methods: Cross-sectional observational study design was used to observe the pulmonary TB patients with minimal and extensive lesions, and also healthy controls, each consisting of ten patients.