In December 2019, the emergence of a novel coronavirus, which rapidly turned into a pandemic that posed a public health threat of global concern and has had a huge impact on the health of millions of people around the world. Existing evidence indicates relatively low incidence and mild severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children compared with adults; although the precise underlying reasons for such disparity remain obscure. The article provides general information about COVID-19 and epidemiological data of the disease in children, its clinical manifestations and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. The main aim of this article is to explore the reasons given for the mildness of the disease in pediatric patients. Several theories related to immunosenescence, vaccination and trained immunity, co-infection, angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 maturation and expression, viral exposure, overall health and smoking have been proposed in recent literature. However, due to the novelty of this virus and the lack of information about it, these reasons are not conclusive; however, these points are considered as possible reasons for the low prevalence and mildness of the disease in pediatric patients.
Background: Recent evidence suggests a connection between celiac disease and dilated cardiomyopathy. Herein, we serologically screened for celiac in dilated cardiomyopathy patients and investigated its correlation with ejection fraction.
Methods: We selected 123 cardiomyopathy patients. Patients were screened for celiac, using anti-tissue transglutaminase (ATA), anti-gliadin (AGA), and anti-endomysial (EMA) immunoglobulin type A (IgA) antibodies. Total IgA levels were also measured.
Results: Of 123 patients, 3 were EMA positive (2.4%), 4 were AGA positive (3.3%) and 5 were ATA positive (4.1%). EMA positive patients had significantly lower EF values compared to EMA negative patients (35±5 vs. 46.52±9.21, p-value: 0.034). Similar results were observed for AGA (32.5±14.34 vs. 46.7±8.8, p-value: 0.002), but not for either ATA positivity (40±10 vs. 46.5±9.21, p-value: 0.126) or IgA deficiency (50±5 vs. 46.14±9.37, p-value: 0.480). No significant difference was observed in the age and gender of seropositive patients compared to seronegative.
Conclusion: We observed a higher prevalence of celiac seropositivity among dilated cardiomyopathy patients compared to the general population. EMA and AGA positive patients had significantly lower ejection fractions compared to their negative counterparts.
Background: Changes in auditory function have been noted in post-menopausal women attributed in part to the lower levels of ovarian hormones. Decreased levels of ovarian hormones may alter auditory neurotransmission time, as evaluated by Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR). Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the mean inter-peak ABR latencies and post-menopausal women compared to non-menopausal women.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, research sample consisted of 60 women as case group in the age range of 45-55 years, who were post-menopausal and had normal hearing. The control group with similar characteristics were non-menopausal. Two groups were estimated by ABR and then the means of the variables that had a normal distribution were compared with each other by independent t-test.
Results: All differences between two groups were not significant, as follows; Mean I-III inter-peak ABR latencies (p-value=0.714), mean III-V inter-peak ABR latencies (p-value=0.691) and mean I-V inter-peak ABR latencies (p-value=0.483).
Conclusion: Menopause does not cause abnormal results in auditory brainstem responses.
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