Guardian Knowledge in Primary Congenital Glaucoma: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Prcis: Guardian education level and frequency of surgical interventions are key determinants of knowledge in primary congenital glaucoma, highlighting the need for targeted educational strategies.

Background: Management of congenital glaucoma poses unique challenges, particularly concerning the patient guardians' understanding of the condition, which is crucial for treatment adherence and follow-up compliance. This study aimed to assess guardians' knowledge levels and identify the influencing factors.

Nonchromosomal birth defects and risk of childhood acute leukemia: An assessment in 15 000 leukemia cases and 46 000 controls from the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium.

Although recent studies have demonstrated associations between nonchromosomal birth defects and several pediatric cancers, less is known about their role on childhood leukemia susceptibility. Using data from the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium, we evaluated associations between nonchromosomal birth defects and childhood leukemia. Pooling consortium data from 18 questionnaire-based and three registry-based case-control studies across 13 countries, we used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between a spectrum of birth defects and leukemia.

Impacts of the Egyptian national screening and treatment programme for viral hepatitis C: A cost-effectiveness model.

Background & Aims: Egypt used to have one of the highest prevalences of HCV infection worldwide. The Egyptian Ministry of Health launched a national campaign for the detection and management of HCV to reduce its burden. This study aims to carry out a cost-effectiveness analysis to evaluate the costs and benefits of the Egyptian national screening and treatment programme.

IgY antibodies: The promising potential to overcome antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a growing threat to global health security. Whilst the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a natural phenomenon, it is also driven by antibiotic exposure in health care, agriculture, and the environment. Antibiotic pressure and inappropriate use of antibiotics are important factors which drive resistance.

Biobanking in LMIC settings for infectious diseases: Challenges and enablers.

Biobanking facilities are well established in high-income settings, where substantial funding has been invested in infrastructure. In contrast, such facilities are much less developed in resource-restricted settings. However, low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) still face a disproportionately high infectious diseases burden.

Sofosbuvir/ledipasvir in combination or nitazoxanide alone are safe and efficient treatments for COVID-19 infection: A randomized controlled trial for repurposing antivirals.

Background And Study Aims: Currently, there is no therapy approved for COVID-19. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of sofosbuvir/ledipasvir and nitazoxanide for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 infection.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter, open-label randomized controlled trial included one hundred and ninety patients with non-severe COVID-19 infection.

Infant feeding practices and childhood acute leukemia: Findings from the Childhood Cancer & Leukemia International Consortium.

Increasing evidence suggests that breastfeeding may protect from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, most studies have limited their analyses to any breastfeeding, and only a few data have examined exclusive breastfeeding, or other exposures such as formula milk. We performed pooled analyses and individual participant data metaanalyses of data from 16 studies (N = 17 189 controls; N = 10 782 ALL and N = 1690 AML cases) from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC) to characterize the associations of breastfeeding duration with ALL and AML, as well as exclusive breastfeeding duration and age at introduction to formula with ALL.

The pill of recovery; Molnupiravir for treatment of COVID-19 patients; a systematic review.

Background: Throughout the time of the global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 virus, there has been a compelling necessity for the development of effective antiviral agents and prophylactic vaccines to limit the virus spread, disease burden, hospitalization, and mortality. Until mid of 2021, the NIH treatment guideline declared no single oral therapy was proven to treat mild to moderate cases. A new hope arose when a repurposed direct acting oral anti-viral agent "Molnupiravir" was shown to be effective in decreasing mortality and need for hospitalization in mild to moderate cases with relatively good safety profile; exhibiting a significant reduction in virus titers only after two days from administration.

Safety and efficacy of sofosbuvir/ledipasvir and sofosbuvir/daclatasvir in the treatment of hepatitis C in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related decompensated cirrhosis is a severe life-threatening illness. The safety of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has opened a gate of hope for that subgroup of patients who were previously contraindicated for interferon therapy.

Objective: We aimed at the investigation of the safety and efficacy of different DAAs regimens in the treatment of HCV-related decompensated cirrhosis patients, to determine sustained virological response (SVR)12 rates and to analyze the factors associated with response.

Decreased Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Directly Acting Antiviral Therapy in Patients with Hepatitis C-Related Advanced Fibrosis and Cirrhosis.

Background And Aim: Existing data are controversial regarding the incidence of hepatitis C (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following directly acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. This prospective study aimed to assess incidence, and risk factorss of HCC following DAA therapy in patients with HCV-related advanced fibrosis (F3) and cirrhosis (F4).

Methods: Incidence of HCC was calculated in 1,630 patients with HCV-related F3 and F4 treated with DAA prospectively followed for up to 43 months in a single tertiary referral center and compared to historical controls.

Effect of disease stage and treatment outcomes on the dynamics of liver functions during and after treatment of hepatitis C with directly acting antivirals.

Background: Virus C infection is recently treated successfully with plenty of direct antiviral agents (DAAs). We aimed to evaluate the effect of disease stage and treatment outcome on the dynamics of liver functions during treatment of hepatitis C with DAAs.

Methods: We reported the liver function in 2354 subjects diagnosed as chronic hepatitis C before, during and after treatment with different DAAs regimens.

MET canonical transcript expression is a predictive biomarker for chemo-sensitivity to MET-inhibitors in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.

Purpose: Long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1 or L1) is a dominant non-long terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposon in the human genome that has been implicated in the overexpression of MET. Both the canonical MET and L1-MET transcripts are considered to play a role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of canonical MET, L1-MET, and MET protein expressions as predictive biomarkers for chemo-sensitivity to MET-inhibitors in HCC cell lines in vitro.

HBVsvp-Pulsed Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy Induces Th1 Polarization and Hepatitis B Virus-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes Production.

Background: In chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) patients, both dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells are functionally impaired and consequently the HBV-specific cellular immune responses are downregulated. The present study aims to investigate whether monocyte-derived DC (MoDCs)-pulsed-HBV subviral particles (HBVsvp) can polarize Th1 cells to induce HBV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) responses in CHB patients.

Methods And Materials: To this end, the human hepatoma HepG2.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) in Egypt: A comprehensive overview.

Background: Worldwide, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a universal problem and its epidemiological data showed variation from place to place. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth and fourth common cancer in worldwide and Egypt, respectively. Egypt ranks the third and 15 most populous country in Africa and worldwide, respectively.

Retreatment of chronic hepatitis C patients who failed previous therapy with directly acting antivirals: A multicenter study.

Aim Of The Study: The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of different DAAs regimens in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) Egyptian patients who failed to achieve SVR after their treatment with SOF-based regimens.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational multicenter study that included CHC patients that failed to achieve cure on SOF-based regimens who were re-treated using different DAAs regimen and were allocated according to national guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C. Primary outcome was to assess the SVR12 rate among prior non-responders after retreatment with a second course of DAAs.

Transcriptionally Active Androgen Receptor Splice Variants Promote Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression.

Owing to the marked sexual dimorphism of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), sex hormone receptor signaling has been implicated in numerous aspects of liver cancer pathogenesis. We sought to reconcile the clear contribution of androgen receptor (AR) activity that has been established in preclinical models of HCC with the clinical failure of antagonists in patients with advanced HCC by evaluating potential resistance mechanisms to AR-targeted therapy. The locus was interrogated for resistance-causing genomic modifications using publicly available primary HCC datasets (1,019 samples).

A significant upsurge of body mass index in patients with chronic hepatitis C successfully treated with direct-acting antiviral regimens.

Background/aims: There is less data regarding the changes in body mass index (BMI) after treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients with new direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs). This study aimed to assess the changes in BMI in chronic HCV patients treated with DAAs in Egypt and to explore other factors influencing this change.

Materials And Methods: The data of chronic HCV patients who received antiviral therapy with new DAAs in one of Egypt's specialized viral hepatitis treatment centers were retrospectively analyzed.

Egyptian liver library: An indexed database for liver disease evidence in Egypt.

Liver diseases are among the most challenging health care problems worldwide. In Egypt, we established different care programs to combat liver diseases including schistosomiasis and viral hepatitides. A lot of research work addressing liver diseases in Egypt have been published with special focus on these two major fields.

Real-world results of direct-acting antivirals use for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in old patients.

Background And Aim: Old people with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) were considered a difficult-to-treat category with more frequent adverse events until recently. Interferon-free direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) improved treatment adherence and quality of life of old patients. In this study, we aimed at reporting the real-world efficacy and safety of DAAs, in addition to predictors of sustained virological response (SVR) in old chronic HCV population.

Advanced parental age as risk factor for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: results from studies of the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.

Advanced parental age has been associated with adverse health effects in the offspring including childhood (0-14 years) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), as reported in our meta-analysis of published studies. We aimed to further explore the association using primary data from 16 studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium. Data were contributed by 11 case-control (CC) studies (7919 cases and 12,942 controls recruited via interviews) and five nested case-control (NCC) studies (8801 cases and 29,690 controls identified through record linkage of population-based health registries) with variable enrollment periods (1968-2015).

An account of the real-life hepatitis C management in a single specialized viral hepatitis treatment centre in Egypt: results of treating 7042 patients with 7 different direct acting antiviral regimens.

Background: A large Egyptian treatment program for HCV was launched in2014 after the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs). This program depended mainly on establishing specialized independent centres for HCV treatment. These centres represent the major strengths in the Egyptian model of care, as they provide integrated care for HCV patients and have enabled Egypt to treat more than one million patients in 3 years.

Spur-of-the-Moment Modification in National Treatment Policies Leads to a Surprising HCV Viral Suppression in All Treated Patients: Real-Life Egyptian Experience.

The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the outcome of an unscheduled change in national Egyptian policies for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV), which was transpired as a result of a reduction in interferon supplies, and to manage patients who already started interferon-based therapy. After completing a priming 4-weeks course of sofosbuvir/pegylated interferon/ribavirin (SOF/PEG IFN/RBV), a 12-weeks course of sofosbuvir/daclatasvir (SOF/DCV) combination was initiated. We evaluated the sustained virologic response at 12 weeks posttreatment (SVR12) for 2 groups of patients; Group 1, which included patients who had the previous regimen with IFN priming, and group 2, which included the first consecutive group of patients who received SOF/DCV for 12 weeks from the start without IFN priming.

Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) Gene Promotor Polymorphism Is Associated with Increased Fibrosis in Biliary Atresia Patients, but Not with Disease Susceptibility.

Two polymorphisms, rs755622 and rs5844572, in the promoter region of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) gene influence the basal and/or induced transcriptional activity and have been linked to several inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between these two polymorphisms and disease susceptibility in patients with biliary atresia (BA). Allele frequencies of rs755622 and rs5844572 were assessed in 60 Egyptian infants with a confirmed diagnosis of BA.