The study concluded that there was increased expression of mcroiRNA-122 in Egyptian chronic hepatitis C virus (CHCV) infected patients. MicroRNA 122 has a strong potential to serve as one of the novel noninvasive markers of early liver fibrosis.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and learning disabilities are neurodevelopmental disabilities characterized by dramatically increasing incidence rates, yet the exact etiology for these disabilities is not identified. Impairment in tryptophan metabolism has been suggested to participate in the pathogenesis of ASD, however, further validation of its involvement is required. Additionally, its role in learning disabilities is still uninvestigated. Our objective was to evaluate some aspects of tryptophan metabolism in ASD children (N = 45) compared to children with learning disabilities (N = 44) and healthy controls (N = 40) by measuring the expression levels of the MAOA, HAAO and AADAT genes using real-time RT-qPCR. We also aimed to correlate the expression patterns of these genes with parental ages at the time of childbirth, levels of serum iron, and vitamin D3 and zinc/copper ratio, as possible risk factors for ASD. Results demonstrated a significant decrease in the expression of the selected genes within ASD children (p < 0.001) relative to children with learning disabilities and healthy controls, which significantly associated with the levels of our targeted risk factors (p < 0.05) and negatively correlated to ASD scoring (p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study suggests that the expression of the MAOA, HAAO and AADAT genes may underpin the pathophysiology of ASD.

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Neonates with perinatal asphyxia have significantly higher levels of serum zinc and copper and lower serum magnesium, calcium, and potassium levels compared to healthy non asphyxiated neonates. Copper, zinc, and magnesium may play an important role in the development of neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy; however, further studies are needed to support our findings.

Purpose: To assess the relation between serum creatinine level in pregnant women and correlation between its value and occurrence of preeclampsia. Methods: An 80 pregnant female were involved in the study. They were divided into 40 case group; pregnant females with risk factors of preeclampsia and 40 apparently healthy pregnant women as a control group. Serum creatinine was tested using auto-analyzer, using the commercially available kits. Results: Serum creatinine was significantly higher in women who developed preeclampsia later. Conclusion: In summary we found an association of serum creatinine and preeclampsia. we recommend to use serum creatinine test in screening in women who are at risk of having preeclampsia later in pregnancy.

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