Background The ongoing spread coronavirus disease worldwide has caused major disruptions and led to lockdowns. Everyday lifestyle changes and antenatal care inaccessibility during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have variable results that affect pregnancy outcomes. This study aimed to assess the alterations in stillbirth, neonatal-perinatal mortality, preterm birth, and birth weight during the COVID-19 national lockdown. Methods We used the data from the Jordan stillbirths and neonatal death surveillance system to compare pregnancy outcomes (gestational age, birth weight, small for gestational age, stillbirth, neonatal death, and perinatal death) between two studied periods (11 months before the pandemic (May 2019 to March 2020) vs. 9 months during the pandemic (April 2020 to March 1st 2020). Separate multinomial logistic and binary logistic regression models were used to compare the studied outcomes between the two studied periods after adjusting for the effects of mother’s age, income, education, occupation, nationality, health sector, and multiplicity. Results There were 31106 registered babies during the study period; among them, 15311 (49.2%) and 15795 (50.8%) births occurred before and during the COVID-19 lockdown, respectively. We found no significant differences in preterm birth and stillbirth rates, neonatal mortality, or perinatal mortality before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Our findings report a significantly lower incidence of extreme low birth weight (ELBW) infants (<1kg) during the COVID-19 lockdown period than that before the lockdown (adjusted OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.3-0.5: P value <0.001) Conclusions During the COVID-19 lockdown period, the number of infants born with extreme low birth weight (ELBW) decreased significantly. More research is needed to determine the impact of cumulative socio-environmental and maternal behavioral changes that occurred during the pandemic on the factors that contribute to ELBW infants.
Purpose This study focuses on the oncologic influence of BRAF V600E mutations in a cohort of Middle Eastern papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients treated at a single centre. We tested the association of BRAF V600E mutation with papillary thyroid carcinoma at King Hussein Cancer Center. Methods Patients with histologically confirmed PTC who underwent surgical treatment between 2006 and 2015 were included in this study. Oncological outcomes, both short- and long-termed, were collected. Results A total of 128 patients (68% females) were included in this study with a mean age of 38 years (±13.8). The median follow-up period was 50 months. The BRAF V600E mutation was found in 71% of patients. The tumour size for patients with a negative BRAF V600E mutation was significantly larger in comparison to patients who tested positive for the mutation (3.47 cm vs 2.31 cm, respectively, P = 0.009). The two groups showed similar disease-free survival (DFS) rates; positive = 75% (median 43 months (0–168)) compared to 78% for the negative BRAF V600E mutation (median 38 months (3–142)) (P = 0.162, HR = 0.731) Furthermore, both groups showed similar overall survival rates, positive = 94.5% (median 56 months (0–228)) compared to 94.6% for the negative BRAF V600E mutation (median 43 months (3–157)) (P = 0.941, HR = 0.940). Conclusion BRAF V600E mutation had no effect on loco-regional recurrence, distant metastasis, overall survival, or DFS. These findings may be attributed to geographic variations or reflect that BRAF V600E may only serve as an indicator of poor prognosis in high-risk group as such.
Mucormycosis is a rare but serious fungal infection caused by a group of moulds called mucormycetes. More attention has recently been paid to it due to its association with coronavirus disease 2019 . Thus, it is important to review the progress of studies on mucormycosis and highlight the important findings in relation to epidemiology, clinical manifestation, major risk factors, diagnostic strategies and management. An electronic literature search was performed in PubMed using the keywords: Rhizopus, Mucorales, mucormycosis, zygomycosis, zygomycetes, COVID-19, the drugs (azoles, posaconazole, isavuconazole, amphotericin B pharmaceutical preparations and caspofungin), combination therapy, diagnosis and clinical manifestations. Studies written in the English language from January 1960 to 2021 were considered for this review article. All search results were reviewed, and the relevance of each article was determined by the authors independently. The review emphasized the fact that the diagnosis of mucormycosis is difficult, it is necessary to have a high index of suspicion to identify it, surgical debridement should be done prior to the dissemination of infection to improve clinical outcomes and identifying underlying risk factors is important for proper treatment. Moreover, antifungal therapeutic options are few with polyenes and their combinations should be appropriate for empirical therapy while posaconazole and isavuconazole are best reserved for de-escalation, refractory cases or patients intolerant to amphotericin B.
Introduction BRAF V600E is one of the most common mutations in Papillary Thyroid Cancer (PTC). Its clinical correlation has been extensively studied with contradictory results. The aim of this study is to evaluate the oncological impact of BRAF V600E mutation on a cohort of Middle Eastern PTC patients treated at a single institute.Methods Patients with histologically confirmed PTC that were treated surgically between 2006 to 2015 were included in the study. Formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumor blocks were sectioned and tested for BRAF V600E mutation. Short- and long-term oncological outcomes were collected. Results 128 patients (68% females) were included with a mean age of 38 years (±13.8). Median follow-up was 50 months. BRAF V600E mutation was found in 71% of patientsIThe BRAF negative tumors were significantly larger than the BRAF positive (3.47 cm versus 2.31 cm respectively, P = 0.009). All other clinicopathological characteristics were comparable between BRAF V600E mutation positive and negative groups. The two groups showed similar 5-year Disease-free (P= 0.37) and Overall survival rates (P = 0.94).Conclusion BRAF V600E mutation did not affect loco-reginal recurrence, distant metastasis, overall and disease-free survival. These results support the diversity of BRAF V600E significance among various ethnicities.
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