Background: Evaluating gender-specific effects of COVID-19 is important to develop effective therapeutic strategies. The aim of this study was to explore gender difference in perceived symptoms and laboratory investigations in suspected and confirmed cases. Methods: This is a retrospective study that included data from suspected COVID-19 patients during the first wave of the pandemic. Participants using the phone triaging system at Kasralainy outpatient clinics were included. The analyzed data included patient history and results of nasopharyngeal swab and laboratory data. Results: Out of 440 COVID-19 suspected cases, 56.36% were females. The perceived COVID-19 symptoms showed no significant gender difference in suspected cases while in confirmed cases females were 4 times more likely to complain of cough [OR (95% CI) 3.92 (1.316–11.68), P-value .014] and 5 times more likely to experience loss of smell or taste [OR (95% CI) 4.84 (1.62–14.43), P-value .005]. Laboratory markers revealed high levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, blood urea, serum creatinine, creatine kinase, and serum ferritin in males and this was statistically significant ( P-value <.001) in suspected and confirmed cases. Females confirmed with COVID-19 were 80%, 97%, and 97% less likely to have high levels of ALT, creatin kinase, and serum ferritin [OR (95% CI) 0.20 (0.07–0.54), 0.07 (0.01–0.38), and 0.07 (0.01–0.90), P-value .002, .002, and .041, respectively]. Conclusion: Gender differences were found in laboratory markers in COVID-19 suspected and confirmed cases and in perceived symptoms in confirmed cases.

Objectives Early detection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is crucial for patients and public health to ensure pandemic control. We aimed to correlate clinical and laboratory data of patients with COVID-19 and their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results and to assess the accuracy of a deep learning model in diagnosing COVID-19. Methods This was a retrospective study using an anonymized dataset of patients with suspected COVID-19. Only patients with a complete dataset were included (n = 440). A deep analytics framework and dual-modal approach for PCR-based classification was used, integrating symptoms and laboratory-based modalities. Results Participants with loss of smell or taste were two times more likely to have positive PCR results (odds ratio [OR] 1.86). Participants with neutropenia, high serum ferritin, or monocytosis were three, four, and five times more likely to have positive PCR results (OR 2.69, 4.18, 5.42, respectively). The rate of accuracy achieved using the deep learning framework was 78%, with sensitivity of 83.9% and specificity of 71.4%. Conclusion Loss of smell or taste, neutropenia, monocytosis, and high serum ferritin should be routinely assessed with suspected COVID-19 infection. The use of deep learning for diagnosis is a promising tool that can be implemented in the primary care setting.

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Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Chronic kidney disease patients. This study tries to identify circulating endothelial microparticles {MPs} [such as Cadherin 5 and Anexin V] in CKD patients with and without IHD as potential new risk factors of atherosclerotic vascular disease. This study was carried out in Theodor Bilharz Research Institute [TBRI] on 60 patients with chronic kidney disease on maintenance hemodialysis. They were 41 male and 19 females selected from hemodialysis unit in TBRI. They were further subclassified into the following two groups according to the Echocardiography and Electrocardiogram (ECG) to 25 patients of chronic kidney disease without cardiac complications (17 males, 8 females and ages were 53.5±9.9 years) and 35 patients of chronic kidney disease with cardiac complications (24 males, 11 females and ages were 57.5±7.4 years). Twenty healthy subjects were selected as healthy control, their age 50±9 years. Cadherin 5 & Annexin V Were done by enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). The mean cadherin 5 levels in CKD with ischemic HD, CKD without ischemic HD and control group were 86.99±21.51, 33.21± 8.65 and 2.63±1.47 respectively which significantly higher in CKD with ischemic HD and CKD without ischemic HD than control group (p<0.01) and significantly higher in CKD with ischemic HD than CKD without ischemic HD (p<0.01). As regard to the mean annexin v levels in CKD with ischemic HD, CKD without ischemic HD and control group were 83.73± 22.64, 28.51±9.73 and 0.47±0.36 respectively which significantly higher in CKD with ischemic HD and CKD without ischemic HD than control group (p<0.01) and significantly higher in CKD with ischemic HD than CKD without ischemic HD (p<0.01). Endothelial dysfunction leading to atherosclerotic vascular disease in patients with CKD can be assessed quantitatively by measurement of plasma levels of endothelial microparticles such as CD144-EMP (Cadherin 5) and Annexin V.