Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder that has cardinal articular and peri-articular symptoms. Extra-articular manifestations (EAMs) are also reported among RA patients. In the current study, we assessed hearing function in 50 RA patients. An extensive audiological assessment including pure tone audiometry (PTA), extended high-frequency audiometry (EHFA), tympanometry, and acoustic reflex in addition to the oto-acoustic emission (OAEs) were done. Results Our data demonstrates that among the 50 participants with median disease duration of 8 years, about 80% had normal hearing using PTA and EHFA. However, 46% of them had—interestingly—demonstrated absent OAEs, suggesting early stages of cochlear hearing loss. Conclusion We conclude that rheumatoid arthritis can cause hearing impairment that can be early diagnosed by TEOAEs.

Background: Antimalarial drugs including Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine have been demonstrated to be associated with anti-inflammatory actions in different connective tissue diseases (CTD) as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). One of the points of interest was the emergent antiviral effect of these drugs against Covid-19 infection. However, this antiviral effect is still debatable. Objective: The objective was to study HCQ effects on the severity and outcome of COVID-19 infection in patients with RA and SLE. Patients and Methods: A total of 94 cases diagnosed as RA and SLE with COVID-19 infection were comprised in the study and were categorized into 2 groups: the first group included patients who were receiving HCQ treatment before infection, and the second group included patients who were not receiving HCQ before. Clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings as well as the outcome of patients were assessed to compare the severity of COVID-19 infection in both groups. Results: Demographic data showed higher female predominance. Fever, cough, rhinorrhea, and myalgia were observed in both groups with no significant variation except for rhinorrhea. D-dimer was significantly increased in the first group. Decreased oxygen saturation, need for mechanical ventilation, radiological changes suggestive of COVID-19 infection, and acute kidney injury (AKI) were more observed in the HCQ group with statistical significance. Conclusion: HCQ administration was not associated with less severe infection or better outcomes in RA and SLE patients infected with COVID-19.

Purpose: to determine the correlation between the ABO blood groups and Rh factor with non-infectious uveitis.Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted on 175 Egyptian patients diagnosed with non-infectious uveitis. Venous blood sample (2ml) was taken from each patient to recognize the ABO and Rh blood group. Blood grouping results were collected and statistically analyzed.Results: Most of our uveitic patients were found to have blood group O (34.9%), while other ABO blood groups were represented as following: blood group A in 33.1%, blood group B in 22.3% and blood group AB in 9.7%. Rh factor was positive in 92.6% of the study participants. Most common etiologies of uveitis were Behçet's disease, idiopathic, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in the following percentages: 28%, 21.1%, 21.1%, 13.7%, and 11.4%, respectively. Most Behçet's patients had blood type A+ or O+ (33/49, 67.3%), similar to those with idiopathic uveitis with higher preponderance of blood type A and O (26/37, 70.3%). Also, more than half of JIA cases have associated with blood type A+ and O+ (16/24, 66.7%). On the other hand, VKH patients had a higher prevalence of blood type O and B (27/37, 72.9%). AS cases had nearly equal distribution of different blood type A+, B+, AB+ and O+ (30%, 25%, 20% and 25%, respectively). Conclusion:Blood group O and A were most commonly associated with non-infectious uveitis. In addition, positive Rhesus factor was strongly associated with such cases.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) being the commonest subtype of mature B-cell lymphoid neoplasms need to be differentiated correctly from other B-chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (BCLPD). CD200 is being an essential marker for prognosis and diagnosis of CLL. Sixty patients diagnosed with BCLPD were evaluated for CD200 expression with eight-colour flow cytometry. An integration of modified Matutes score and CD200 were applied for CLL diagnosis. The overall immunophenotype of CLL patients in this study showed significant, frequent expression of CD5, CD22, CD23, CD43 and CD200. Atypical versus typical CLL patients’ phenotype comparison revealed significant lower expression of CD5 and CD43 with higher expression of CD79b in atypical CLL patients. CD200 was expressed significantly higher in CLL patients (typical and atypical) than in MCL patients who showed dim CD200 expression in only twenty-five percent of patients. The inclusion of CD200 within the diagnostic markers can empower the modified Matutes score accuracy for CLL.