Background: Aeroallergens and food allergens play a key role in the pathogenesis of asthma; they are the target for future immunotherapy worldwide. Food allergens have been studied often in Egypt, but data are defective concerning the prevalent Egyptian aeroallergens that can be affected by the climatic conditions in Egypt. So, our study aimed to explore the dominant sensitizing aeroallergens in Egyptian patients with bronchial asthma.Methods: Cross-sectional study performed on 122 Egyptian asthmatic patients. Sera from all patients were examined by enzyme allegro sorbent test (EAST) method for specific IgE to a panel of 18 inhaled allergens.Results: Positive specific IgE to aeroallergens was detected in 43.44% of our patients. German cockroach (18.9%) was the most frequent sensitizing aeroallergen amongst our asthmatic patients, followed by the fungal allergens (15.57%) and house dust mites (HDMs) (13.93%). Conclusion:German cockroach, fungi, and house dust mite are the chief sensitizing aeroallergens in Egyptian asthmatic patients.

Background Thrombosis and embolism are possible complications in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID)‐19‐positive pediatric patients. Although the risk is lesser in children than it is in adults, it does exist during acute infection and multi‐inflammatory syndrome in children. Biomarkers such as d ‐dimer, prothrombin time, and fibrinogen degradation products are ineffective at detecting disease severity. Homocysteine (Hcy) is a prothrombotic factor that has been reported to be higher in adult COVID‐19 patients, leading to speculation that it could be used as a biomarker for disease severity. Purpose To detect the correlation between serum total homocysteine (tHcy) level and the severity of COVID‐19 in pediatrics. Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted on 40 children with COVID‐19 and 40 healthy control subjects. Serum tHcy was measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and correlated with the clinical, laboratory, and radiological parameters of the patients. Results The median serum tHcy level in COVID‐19 patients was 27.5 (interquartile range [IQR]: 23–31.75) μmol/L, while that in the controls was 1.8 (IQR: 1.6–1.875) μmol/L. There was a statistically significant increase in the tHcy level in cases compared to controls ( p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between serum tHcy and d ‐dimer, ferritin, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, blood urea nitrogen, and a highly significant positive correlation between tHcy and COVID‐19 reporting and data system score, pediatric intensive care unit admission, and the disease severity classification. Conclusion Hcy could be a biomarker of importance in predicting the severity of COVID‐19 in pediatrics.

Recently, many researchers are interested in studying asthma COPD overlap (ACO) group features. Sensitization to Aspergillus has been linked to increased severity of asthma; however, limited data is available about fungal sensitization in ACO group. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) sensitization among ACO patients in comparison to asthma patients. This cross-sectional study included 30 patients with ACO, and compared them to 30 asthmatic patients, as regards sensitization to A. fumigatus. Sensitization was diagnosed using skin prick test and specific IgE. Blood eosinophil count, total IgE and pulmonary functions results were also recorded. Thirteen patients with ACO (43.3%) were sensitized to A. fumigatus compared to 8 asthmatic cases (26.7%), P value 0.17. Blood eosinophil count and total IgE were significantly higher among ACO patients compared to asthma group (P values 0.003, 0.007 respectively). Blood eosinophil count was significantly higher among A. fumigatus sensitized ACO patients (400 cells/mL) compared to 320 cells/mL in non-sensitized ACO subgroup (P value 0.01). Otherwise, they were comparable regarding pulmonary functions and total IgE. In conclusion, Sensitization to A. fumigatus is higher among patients with ACO than that in patients with asthma but without a statistical significance. Moreover, Sensitized ACO patients showed significantly higher blood eosinophil count than non-sensitized ones.

Background: Autoimmunity has been proposed in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) since early 1990s. Studies of anti-ovarian antibodies (AOA) that were performed so far yielded conflicting results. Objective: This study aimed at evaluating the association between PCOS and AOA. Patients and method: The study was conducted on 80 Egyptian women who were divided into two groups: cases group of 40 women with PCOS, and a control group of 40 healthy age-matched normally cycling fertile women. For both cases and control groups, serum level of AOA was measured using ELISA.Results: Serum AOA level was significantly higher among cases than controls (p value < 0.05). No significant difference was found between cases and controls regarding their hormonal profile (estrogen, FSH, LH, and testosterone) except for the level of mid luteal progesterone which was significantly lower among cases (p value <0.05). No significant correlation was found between AOA and age, body mass index (BMI), FSH, LH, E2, mid luteal progesterone and testosterone in control group. However, a significant negative correlation between AOA and serum testosterone level was found in PCOS group. Conclusion:Our results suggest that autoimmune ovaritis may be frequently associated with PCOS. Circulating AOA may represent a practical and suitable marker for diagnosis of PCOS.

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