Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent form of arthritis in the world. Aim of the work: To evaluate the effect of 6-monthly intra-articular injection of platelet rich plasma (PRP) on the functional status of knee joint measured by the International Knee Document Committee scale (IKDC), the visual analogue scale for pain (VAS) on the ultrasonographic findings of OA knee. Assessment of its safety as a new line of treatment was taken into consideration.Patients and methods: The study was carried out on 20 patients with mild to moderate primary knee OA. They were injected intra-articularly with 5 ml PRP for each affected joint, at 1 month intervals for 6 injections. Clinical examination, VAS, IKDC score and diagnostic Doppler ultrasonography were performed before and after PRP treatment.Results: After 6 months of PRP, there was a significant improvement in the duration of inactivity stiffness (8.3 ± 2.4 min), VAS score (3.9 ± 1.1) and IKDC score (74.3 ± 10.2) compared to baseline values (18.7 ± 6.5 min, 5.9 ± 1.3 and 40.9 ± 10.4 respectively; p < 0.001). A significant improvement in Doppler activity (p = 0.04) and synovial thickening (p < 0.001) was found after 6 months of PRP. A significant correlation was found between age of patients, body mass index and disease duration with the VAS (r = 0.55, p < 0.001 and r = 0.29, p = 0.03 and r = 0.71, Please cite this article in press as: Hassan AS et al. Effectiveness of the intra-articular injection of platelet rich plasma in the treatment of patients with primary knee osteoarthritis, The Egyptian Rheumatologist (2014), http://dx.) and a negative correlation with the IKDC score (r = À0.32, p = 0.03, r = À0.96, p < 0.001 and r = À0.79, p < 0.001 respectively). Conclusion: Intra-articular injection of PRP is an effective and safe method for treatment of knee OA. Maximal improvement is obtained in patients with young age and short disease duration.

Our study provides for the first time the evidence of releasing Dkk-1 into the circulation of neonates with HIE with higher level in severe degree.

The aim of the study was to investigate the possible association of AluI and RsaI polymorphisms of estrogen receptor β (ER-β) gene and 23-bp nucleotide repeat polymorphism of estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα) gene with bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal Egyptian women. Two-hundred postmenopausal osteoporotic women as cases and 180 healthy age-matched postmenopausal women as controls were genotyped by PCR fragment length polymorphism for AluI, allele-specific PCR for RsaI, and by sizing of PCR products on agarose gels for ERRα repeats. sRANKL levels were estimated by ELISA. BMD measurements for spine and femoral neck were performed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. A significant difference between women with osteoporosis and controls regarding allele and genotype distributions of AluI G/A (OR 2.37, 95 % CI 1.77-3.18 and p < 0.001 for A allele) and ERRα polymorphisms (for the two repeats allele OR 2.08, 95 % CI 1.09-4.00, and p = 0.02). Osteoporotic women with the AluI AA + GA genotype or with the EERα 2,2 genotype had significantly lower BMD than did women with the other genotypes. Moreover, there was a significant increase of the mean values of sRANKL in carriers of AluI A, RsaI A alleles and in patients having 2,2 genotypes of ERRα (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.02, respectively). We demonstrated an association of ER-β AluI G/A and ERRα 23-repeats polymorphisms with BMD in postmenopausal Egyptian women. A possible effect of ER-β and ERRα polymorphisms on the levels of sRANKL was estimated.

We aimed to evaluate serum vaspin and its gene expression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to assess the association of serum vaspin and its gene expression with susceptibility of ischemic stroke (IS). The prospective case‐control study included 50 healthy individuals in a control group, and 90 patients with and T2DM were stratified into two subgroups: patients with IS and patients without IS. The serum vaspin concentration was measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Real‐time PCR was performed to detect the mRNA expression of vaspin. Serum vaspin and vaspin expression levels were significantly higher in IS compared to the non‐IS group. Interestingly, they were positively correlated with other vascular and metabolic risks. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure, as well as hemoglobin A1c cholesterol (HbA1c), were independently correlated with serum vaspin. After adjusting for the traditional risk factors, the logistic regression analysis test was done to evaluate the predictor of IS among T2DM patients; the vaspin expression level was a statistical significance predictor of IS among T2DM patients. In conclusion, the higher levels of serum vaspin and vaspin expression levels in T2DM emphasizes the pivotal role of vaspin serum level and expression in the progression of metabolic and glucose abnormalities, thus, they could be used as biomarkers of IS.

Background:Calprotectin is a 36 kDa protein present in the cytoplasm of the neutrophil has antimicrobial and apoptosis inducing activities. In vitro studies have shown that calprotectin inhibits the growth of various microorganisms. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), affecting up to 5% of premature infants. Fecal calprotectin is resistant to degradation and has been proposed as a useful marker of gastrointestinal inflammation.Objective:The objective of the present study is to evaluate fecal calprotectin concentrations in NEC.Study Design:Fifteen neonates with a clinical diagnosis of NEC were studied; they admitted at NICU of Zagazig University Hospital. In addition, 20 age sex matched neonates fed all caloric requirement served as the control group. All neonates were subjected to history taking, clinical examination, laboratory investigations (complete blood count, C-reactive protein) and determination of stool calprotectin.Results:There was a highly significant increase in fecal calprotectin in patients than control and there was a highly significant increase in its fecal level in died patients than living one. Also significant increase in fecal calprotectin level with increasing severity of NEC.Conclusion:Fecal calprotectin measurements could be a valuable tool for the investigation of preterm and full term infants suspected of having NEC.

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