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Background: The risk factors, disease characteristics, severity, and mortality of COVID-19 are unclear, particularly in Egypt. Objective: The objective was to analyze the patients' characteristics, hematological, biochemical, and chest imaging findings among the cohort of patients with COVID-19 in Egypt and also to shed light on the predictors of COVID-19 severity. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 66 patients with COVID-19 in Egypt. Medical history, imaging data (CT chest findings), and measured hematological and biochemical parameters at diagnosis were recorded in the form of complete blood counts and differential counts; CRP, ESR, serum ferritin, creatinine, and liver function tests. Results of realtime reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA at diagnosis and during follow up of these patients were also recorded. Results: The study included 36 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 and 30 patients with severe/critical infection. There was a significant older age among severe (62.6 years old ±10.1SD) than mild to moderate infection (55.5 ± 10.1) (p˂0.05). Fever, dry cough, dyspnea, and sore throat malaise were highly frequent among COVID-19 patients, while headache and diarrhea were the least frequently occurring manifestations. All included cases (30 patients, 100%) with severe COVID-19 showed crazy-paving appearance (in the form of reticular and/or interlobular septal thickening) with or without GGO. There were significantly lower mean values of WBCs, lymphocytic count, total protein, and albumin among the severely infected than those who had mild to moderate COVID-19 infection, p˂0.05 for all. Additionally, there were significantly higher mean values of CRP, ESR, ferritin, ALT, and AST among patients with severe/critical COVID-19 when compared with those having mild to moderate COVID-19, p˂0.05 for all. Conclusion: Among the studied demographic, clinical, hematological, biochemical, and imaging data, dyspnea, diabetes mellitus, lymphopenia, raised CRP, ESR, ferritin, ALT, AST, low albumin, and presence of CT chest findings could be considered as predictors for COVID-19 severity using binary logistic regression analysis.

COVID-19 is an emerging disease all over the world and spreading at an unpredicted rate, resulting in significant influences on global economies and public health. Clinical, laboratory, and imaging characteristics have been partially described in some observational studies. Not enough systematic reviews on predictors of critical illness and mortality in COVID 19 have been published to date. In this review, we had illustrated the prognostic predictors of COVID-19 by gathering published information on the risk factors related to the outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

CRP could be a helpful prognostic marker in late onset neonatal sepsis. hsCRP and PCT have higher diagnostic accuracy in neonatal sepsis in comparison to other studied markers. Both IL-6 and presepsin have equal diagnostic utility in neonatal sepsis, but presepsin could be helpful diagnostic marker in early onset neonatal sepsis.

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Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein family, has an important role in cell cycle regulation. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a polypeptide hormone with wide range of biologic effects including stimulation of lipogenesis in sebaceous glands. Their overexpression in some fibrotic disorders suggests a possible implication of both IGF-I and survivin in the pathogenesis of acne and/or acne scars. The current study aimed to assess and correlate serum levels of IGF-I and survivin in patients with active acne vulgaris and postinflammatory acne scars and to evaluate their lesional expressions in comparison to healthy controls. Serum IGF-I and survivin were estimated using commercially available ELISA kits and their tissues expressions were investigated using Western blotting. Our findings suggest that IGF-I and survivin could play potential roles in the pathogenesis of active acne vulgaris and more importantly in postinflammatory acne scars with significant positive correlation coefficient between serum levels of IGF-I and survivin which support IGF-I-/PI3K-/AKT-mediated downregulation of nuclear expression of FoxO transcription factors resulting in enhanced survivin expression.

Purpose: We aimed to examine the possible association role of vitamin D and vitamin D receptor (VDR) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) development, glycemic control and complications among a cohort of Egyptian children. Subjects and methods: A prospective case-control study has been conducted on 50 Egyptian children with T1DM who were comparable with 50 controls. Vitamin D and HbA1c were measured. VDR-SNPs [ Apa I (rs7975232), Taq I (rs731236) and Bsm I (rs1544410)] detection was done by polymerase chain reaction through restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. Vitamin D supplements were given to the included T1DM children with low vitamin D and reassessments of both HbA1c% and 25(OH)D serum levels were performed in those children three months later. Results: Eighty percent of the included diabetic patients have poor glycemic control. Vitamin D was deficient in 68% and insufficient in 16% of diabetic patients. Significant improvements in both vitamin D and glycemic status among T1DM children, who have low vitamin D and received vitamin D supplementations. There were significantly negative correlations between serum levels of vitamin D with both HbA1c % (r= –0.358, P ˂0.05) and daily insulin dose (r=−0.473, P ˂0.05). Compared with controls, T1DM children presented more commonly with Apa I a allele (OR: 2.87; 95%CI: 1.39–5.91, P ˂0.05) and Bsm I b allele (OR: 4.38; 95%CI: 2.30–8.33, P ˂0.05). Taq I t allele wasn’t significantly differing among patients and controls ( P ˃0.05). Aa+aa and Bb+bb genotypes were significantly higher among T1DM vs the controls (OR: 3.08;, 95%CI: 1.33–7.15, P ˂0.05 and OR: 9.33; 95%CI: 3.61–24.17, P ˂0.05respectively). Conclusion: Apa I and Bsm I were associated with risk of T1DM development among Egyptian children. Low vitamin D status was frequently occurring among T1DM with significant improvement in the glycemic control of such children when adding vitamin D supplements to the standard insulin therapy.

Quality characteristics of coffee-like beverage from roasted date seeds (Phoenix dactylifera, L.) were determined and compared with those of traditional Arabic coffee. The date seed beverage was found to have lower amount of total phenolic compounds and to be a less powerful antioxidant than Arabic coffee. Phytochemical screening showed that date seed extracts contained steroids, tannins, and coumarins, while caffeine, terponoids, saponins, alkaloids, anthraquinones, and anthocyanins were not detected. The levels of trace elements in the date seed extracts were within the ranges reported for Arabic coffee with the exception of cadmium (0.16-0.42 compared to <0.1 in Arabic coffee). The sensory evaluation revealed that the date seed extracts were acceptable but were slightly lower in quality compared to Arabic coffee. The date seed extracts were lighter in color, less cloudy, less bitter, and have less coffee flavor compared to the reference Arabic coffee. Before roasted date seed extracts will be approved for human consumption, their possible estrogenic effects need to be evaluated.