The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel RNA coronavirus responsible for the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are variable, ranging from asymptomatic cases to severe respiratory affection, and were found to cause thyroid dysfunction in some cases. Our case series aim to shed the light on the effect of SARS-COV-2 infection on thyroid function, thyroid gland size, and treatment of thyroid dysfunction. We demonstrated three cases indicating that COVID-19 infection can accentuate thyrotoxic state and Graves' ophthalmopathy, aggravate hypothyroidism, increase thyroid gland volume, and in euthyroid individuals can induce some sort of thyroiditis, characterized by hyperthyroidism followed by hypothyroidism which is eventually followed by euthyroidism. Furthermore, treatment of thyroid disease was found to be affected by COVID-19 infection.The novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) was first discovered at the end of the year 2019 in Wuhan, China. After which, it rapidly spread, causing an epidemic throughout China, which then spread across the entire world, resulting in coronavirus pandemic. In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the disease COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019. 1 SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and cell-mediated responses are induced following infection. Preliminary evidence suggests that some of these responses are protective, but this remains to be definitively verified. Moreover, it is unknown whether all infected patients develop a protective immune response and how long a protective effect might last. 2 Data about the effect of SARS-COV-2 on the thyroid function are scarce; however, one study addressed this effect and demonstrated that, out of 287 patients with confirmed SARS-COV-2, 58 patients had hyperthyroidism and 15 patients had hypothyroidism. 3 Our case series aim to shed the light on the effect of SARS-COV-2 infection on thyroid function, which will ultimately influence thyroid disease sequelae and management in patients with COVID-19.

No abstract

Several epidemiological studies have shown that chronic inflammation plays a central role in the pathogenesis of diabetes and its various complications. Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a novel potential marker in determining inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between diabetic microvascular complications, namely diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in type 2 diabetic patients. The study took place in the Unit of Diabetes & Metabolism at the Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, and included a total of 280 subjects, 200 male patients with type 2 diabetes, 108 of them having one or more microvascular complication, and a control group including 80 healthy age and sex-matched subjects. Results of our study showed that neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values were significantly higher in diabetic patients with retinopathy (p<0.001), neuropathy (p=0.025) and nephropathy (p<0.001) than those of diabetic patients without any microvascular complications and healthy control subjects. NLR levels correlated positively with body mass index (BMI) (r=0.436, p<0.001), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (r=0.526, p=0.001) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (r=0.396, p=0.017). Based on the results of this study, we can conclude that neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which is an efficient, simple and stable marker of inflammation, can serve as an important predictor for the presence of microvascular complications in Egyptian patients with type 2 diabetes.

Remdesivir can precipitate fatal acute necrotizing pancreatitis especially in patients who previously suffer from hypertriglyceridemia.

Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutations could be the cause of infertility in hypothyroid patients. Hence, it is worthy to screen for MTHFR gene mutations in infertile hypothyroid females and their partners if infertility persists after optimizing thyroid function.

Risk of coronary heart disease and other forms of atherosclerotic vascular diseases, rises with plasma cholesterol concentration and in particular with the rise of ratio of total cholesterol to high density lipoprotein (HDL-C) cholesterol. A much weaker correlation also exists with plasma triglyceride concentration. Extensive large-scale randomized trials have shown that lowering total cholesterol and LDL-C concentrations reduces the risk of cardiovascular events including death, myocardial infarction and stroke and reduces the need for revascularisation.This cross-sectional analytical study was designed to observe association between lipid profile level with chronic ischaemic heart disease and the study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from July 2010 to June 2011. A total of 50 cases were selected purposively according to the selection criteria from the patients admitted in the Department of Cardiology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital with chronic ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Diagnosed IHD patients were taken as cases and 50 age- & sex- matched healthy subjects were taken as controls. Serum TC, TG, LDL-C & HDL-C were measured in all study subjects.The mean±SD of serum TC, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C concentration in cases were 314.54±73.72 mg/dl, 288.04±60.45 mg/dl, 36.02±4.12 mg/dl, and 178.62±22.7 mg/dl respectively and in controls were 174.64±18.97 mg/dl, 119.42±12.47 mg/dl, 43.04±2.58 mg/dl & 126.28±11.45 mg/dl respectively. Serum Total Cholesterol, TG & LDL-C were found to be significantly higher in cases than that of controls. Serum HDL-C was found to be significantly lower in cases than that of controls. The present study reveals that the patients with chronic ischemic heart disease is accociated with significantly higher levels of serum TC, TG and LDL-C whereas HDL-C was found to be lower in IHD patients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmb.v7i1.18574 Bangladesh J Med Biochem 2014; 7(1): 14-16

No abstract

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive marker of inflammation, and elevated levels have been associated with future risk of myocardial infarction (MI). Even elevated CRP in healthy men and women can predict the future coronary events. This cross-sectional analytical study was undertaken to observe association between high hsCRP level with chronic ischaemic heart disease and was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from July 2010 to June 2011. A total 50 cases were selected purposively according to the selection criteria form the patients admitted in the Department of Cardiology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital with chronic ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Diagnosed IHD patients were taken as cases; age-and sex-matched 50 healthy subjects were taken as controls. Serum hsCRP and serum TC, TAG, LDL-C and HDL-C were measured in all study subjects. The mean serum hsCRP concentration in cases and controls were 11.22±7.64 mg/dl and 1.72±0.98 mg/dl respectively. Serum hsCRP, Total Cholesterol, TAG and LDL-C were significantly higher in cases than control subjects. Serum HDL-C was significantly lower in cases than control subjects. The present study reveals that the patients of chronic ischemic heart disease have been found to have close association of increased level of hsCRP.