Background The primary goal of the presented cross-sectional observational study was to determine the clinical and demographic risk factors for adverse coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes in the Pakistani population. Methods We examined the individuals (n = 6331) that consulted two private diagnostic centers in Lahore, Pakistan, for COVID-19 testing between May 1, 2020, and November 30, 2020. The attending nurse collected clinical and demographic information. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as having a positive result through real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasopharyngeal swab specimens. Results RT-PCR testing was positive in 1094 cases. Out of which, 5.2% had severe, and 20.8% had mild symptoms. We observed a strong association of COVID-19 severity with the number and type of comorbidities. The severity of the disease intensified as the number of comorbidities increased. The most vulnerable groups for the poor outcome are patients with diabetes and hypertension. Increasing age was also associated with PCR positivity and the severity of the disease. Conclusions Most cases of COVID-19 included in this study developed mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. Risk factors for adverse outcomes included older age and the simultaneous presence of comorbidities.

Lifestyle modifications could prevent almost one-third to one-half of all cancer cases. The awareness of cancer risk factors could motivate people to make such changes in their behaviors and lifestyles. This work aims to investigate the cancer awareness level in the Pakistani population. Telephone interviews of 657 individuals in Pakistan were carried out using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) and Cancer Awareness Measure–MYthical Causes Scale (CAM-MY). We observed that participants scored significantly better on the CAM scale than the CAM-MY scale, and CAM scores were negatively associated with CAM-MY scores. Years of formal education or a biology major at undergraduate or graduate level did not affect our population's cancer awareness levels. Age displayed a weak but statistically significant negative association with CAM scores. Most participants failed to identify modifiable cancer risk factors, e.g., low physical activity. Efforts should be made to improve awareness of modifiable risk factors. We observed that brief training sessions could markedly improve people's understanding of cancer risk factors and myths.

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Genes to Cells | INTRODUCTIONCancer cells are known to modulate their de novo lipid synthesis pathway in response to changes in extracellular lipid availability (Daniëls et al., 2014;Munir et al., 2019). It has been observed that the expression of genes involved in de novo lipid synthesis is differentially modulated in cancer cells under low-lipid environment (Daniëls et al., 2014). We have recently shown that under lipid-deprived environment, the lipidomic profiles of cancer cells are largely altered (Munir et al., 2019). Moreover, cellular lipid load is also significantly reduced under such conditions (Munir et al., 2019). Multiple works have studied the modulation of de novo lipid synthesis in metabolically stressed cancer cells (Munir et al., 2019); however, genes associated with lipid transport are not widely investigated in this regard. Cellular lipid homeostasis is immensely altered under lipiddeprived conditions, and there is possibility that lipid transport proteins (LTPs) also play a role in this phenomenon. Lipids are distributed to different cellular membranes via vesicular or nonvesicular cellular lipid trafficking processes (Levine, 2004).Nonvesicular transport-that constitutes the bulk of lipid traffic-is mediated by LTPs, which transfer a small number of lipids at the same time using hydrophobic cavities that stabilize lipid molecules outside membranes (Wong et al., 2019). In addition, many species of LTPs function as second messengers in key signaling pathways that control cell survival, proliferation, and migration. Previous works have implicated LTPs in cancer-associated signal transduction cascades. Recent works suggest that LTPs play an important role in cancer progression and metastasis (reviewed in (Peretti et al., 2019)). The aim of the presented work was to study the expression of LTP genes under lipid-reduced environment and to identify the common genes that are up-or down-regulated under such conditions in a panel of biologically diverse cancer cell lines. | RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONFor the presented work we selected a biologically diverse panel of cancer cell lines -two prostate cancer cell lines

Background Recent studies indicate that the population-level SARS-CoV-2 cycle threshold (Ct) values can inform the trajectory of the pandemic. The presented study investigates the potential of Ct values in predicting the future of COVID-19 cases. We also determined whether the presence of symptoms could change the correlation between Ct values and future cases. Methods We examined the individuals (n = 8660) that consulted different sample collection points of a private diagnostic center in Pakistan for COVID-19 testing between June 2020 and December 2021. The medical assistant collected clinical and demographic information. The nasopharyngeal swab specimens were taken from the study participants and real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect SARS-CoV-2 in these samples. Results We observed that median Ct values display significant temporal variations, which show an inverse relationship with future cases. The monthly overall median Ct values negatively correlated with the number of cases occurring one month after specimen collection (r = -0.588, p <0.05). When separately analyzed, Ct values for symptomatic cases displayed a weak negative correlation (r = -0.167, p<0.05), while Ct values from asymptomatic cases displayed a stronger negative correlation (r = -0.598, p<0.05) with the number of cases in the subsequent months. Predictive modeling using these Ct values closely forecasted the increase or decrease in the number of cases of the subsequent month. Conclusions Decreasing population-level median Ct values for asymptomatic COVID-19 cases appear to be a leading indicator for predicting future COVID-19 cases.

Background: The deadly disease, named SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2), which emerged in 2019, immediately spread across the world and killed millions of people. The aim of the current work was to find gender-based disparities in the people of Lahore, Pakistan in terms of COVID-19 severity. Methods: We examined the individuals (n = 1000) that visited two private diagnostic centers in Lahore, Pakistan, for COVID-19 testing between May 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the individuals to confirm the COVID-19 disease by RT-PCR assay using “Sansure Biotech Inc. Nucleic Acid Detection Kit”. Clinical and demographic information of the respective individuals was also obtained. The data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results: We did not find any major difference of COVID-19 positivity rate between men and women. Men's average age was 44.4 years, whereas women's average age was 40.9 years. The severity of the symptoms was remained equal in men and women however, majority of the women as compared to men were showing a greater number of symptoms (2 or 3) simultaneously. We found that some of the symptoms were associated with the specific gender, for example chills, loss of taste or smell, and muscle pain were only found among men. While headache was restricted to women only. We also observed that some of the symptoms were co-occurred frequently in only men, these included shortness of breath with flu and fever with flu, while in women the frequently co-occurred symptoms were sore throat with fever. Conclusion: COVID-19 infection is equally common in men and women of Lahore, Pakistan. Whereas the number and the type of symptoms of COVID-19 could vary across the gender. Understanding these gender disparities in terms of symptomatology may help to guide the local health authorities in allocating the available resources more efficiently.

The present study investigated the clinical and hematological effects of chronic lead exposure in the population residing in Shadi Pura, a small industrial zone in Lahore, Pakistan. A cross-sectional analysis of 149 participants recruited through health camps was conducted to explore the hematological manifestations of environmental lead exposure, focusing on various red blood cell (RBC) indices and morphology. Moreover, the study examined the differences in the impact of lead exposure on RBC indices and morphology between men, women, and children. Participants exhibited symptoms of lead poisoning, including fatigue, muscle pain, and headache, with a significant percentage of women (44%) reporting miscarriages. Iron deficiency anemia was highly prevalent among all sub-groups of the study population, with adult females showing a significantly higher prevalence than adult males. Male children were the most affected subgroup, with 93% displaying anemia. The RBC count in children remained unchanged, while 31% of male and 7% of female participants displayed elevated RBC counts. RBC indices, mainly mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), were below normal levels, with children being more affected than adults and adult males being the least affected group. Furthermore, RBC morphology was severely affected, with a considerable proportion of females and children displaying hypochromic microcytic morphology. Our results highlight variations in the hematological impacts of lead exposure in different gender and age cohorts. Overall our findings underscore the urgency of addressing the issue of environmental lead exposure in similar industrial zones. It is critical to implement appropriate measures to reduce lead exposure and enhance the infrastructure for safe drinking water and waste disposal to protect the health of populations in such areas.