1.COVID-19 Death and BCG Vaccination Programs Worldwide
Feras J. JIRJEES ; Yahya H. DALLAL BASHI ; Hala J. AL-OBAIDI
Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 2021;84(1):13-21
Several clinical trials are being conducted worldwide to investigate the protective effect of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against death in healthcare providers who are working directly with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Clinical studies suggested that certain live vaccines, particularly the BCG vaccine, could reduce the mortality due to other diseases caused by non-targeted pathogens, most probably through the nonspecific effects (heterologous effects). By the end of May 2020, the available information on the COVID-19 pandemic indicated the great effect of the BCG vaccine in reducing the number of COVID-19 death cases. The occurrence of death due to COVID-19 was found to be 21-fold lower in countries with a national BCG vaccination policy than in countries without such a policy, based on the medians of COVID-19 death case per 1 million of the population in these two groups of countries (p<0.001, MannWhitney test). Therefore, it can be concluded that the early establishment of a BCG vaccination policy in any country is a key element in reducing the number of COVID-19 and tuberculosis death cases.
2.A Protective Mechanism in Lungs of Rats Experimentally Infected with Aspergillus fumigatus.
Yehia A G MAHMOUD ; Abdulaziz Yahya AL-GHAMDI ; Eman H F ABD EL-ZAHER
Mycobiology 2011;39(1):40-44
Aspergillus fumigatus is associated with invasive disease aspergillosis in immunocompromised individuals. The major aim of this study was to investigate the biochemical and immunological responses of male Wistar rats against A. fumigatus experimentally-induced pulmonary fungal infection. Nostril experimental exposure of male Wistar rats to a high dose of A. fumigatus freeze-dried preparation for only 24 hr resulted in a significant increase in levels of catalase, nitric oxide and lipid peroxide in lung homogenates, compared to those of the control animals. However, the oxidative status of the lungs of rats challenged with killed fungus did not change significantly, except for the stimulation in the level of lipid peroxide. IgG level was significantly elevated only in rats that received two low doses of fungus, compared to unexposed animals (p<0.005). Examining the lung of rats exposed to A. fumigatus revealed no abnormal changes, except for pus in bronchial lumen spaces and per bronchial inflammation. Histologically, large numbers of granuloma cells were evident in the lungs of challenged rats, while no granuloma formation was evident in the lungs of rats exposed to killed fungus.
Animals
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Aspergillosis
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Aspergillus
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Aspergillus fumigatus
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Catalase
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Fungi
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Granuloma
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Humans
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Immunoglobulin G
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Inflammation
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Lung
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Lung Diseases, Fungal
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Male
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Nitric Oxide
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Rats
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Rats, Wistar
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Suppuration
3.Effect of SMS reminders to medication adherence among hypertensives in an outpatient clinic: A 12-week two-arm, parallel group randomized clinical trial.
Penny Joy H. Barbadillo ; Yahya-Mar M. Alip ; Hans Mathew Lua
The Filipino Family Physician 2024;62(1):67-78
BACKGROUND
There has been a growing prevalence of hypertension and its associated diseases. Medication adherence is one of the primary factors of uncontrolled blood pressure in patients and non-adherence to medication can result in morbidity and mortality for the patient and increased financial strain on the healthcare system. With the wide availability of mobile phones, using short messaging system (SMS) reminders as an intervention has shown promising results in improving medication adherence. The present study aims to see if SMS reminders can help improve medication adherence among hypertensive patients seen in the out-patient department.
OBJECTIVETo determine the effect of short messaging system reminders on the medication adherence among hypertensive patients seen in the outpatient department of Cebu South Medical Center (CSMC) in a 12-week trial period.
METHODSThis was a two-arm parallel group, double blind, randomized clinical trial using short text messaging reminder to hypertensive patients conducted last October 4, 2023 to December 27, 2023 at CSMC Outpatient Clinic under Family Medicine Service. A two-part questionnaire composed of baseline clinical variables and the Hill-bone Medication Adherence Scale (HBMAS) (Kim, et al 2000) was utilized pre- and post-intervention. STATA Software was used to analyze the date with intention to treat analysis. Descriptive statistics was computed for dichotomous variables while continuous variables were expressed as means and measured before and after intervention. The mean HB-MAS scores pre intervention and post-intervention per group were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, while scores between intervention and control groups pre- and post-intervention were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with two-sided p values reported and statistical significance set up at p < 0.05.
RESULTSA total of 102 patients were enrolled in the study (51 in intervention group and 51 in control group) with no dropouts. There was no significant difference between the baseline and post intervention medication adherence scores in both the intervention and control groups, however, there was a significant difference of the scores between the intervention and control groups post intervention (p = 0.001). There was also noted improvement of the blood pressure among participants in the intervention group, with lower blood pressures post-intervention on average (120/80 mmHg) compared to baseline (130/90 mmHg), while participants in the control group still exhibited high blood pressure (130/90 mmHg) post-intervention.
CONCLUSIONGiven the widespread availability of mobile devices and the increased awareness generated by social media, it may be easier to put interventions in place that improve drug adherence. Through the use of easily accessible technology, this study helps patients remember to take their prescription by offering straightforward reminders that can help them overcome these obstacles to medication adherence.
Medication Adherence
4.Development and Validation of Culinary Nutrition Questionnaire to Assess Chefs’ Culinary Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP)
Maisara Salah ; Hanis Mastura Yahya ; Nik Shanita Safii
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.3):24-29
Introduction: Culinary nutrition is a science that aims to apply nutritional concepts into culinary art to serve healthier
foods. This study aimed to develop and validate a newly developed culinary nutrition questionnaire to assess chefs’
culinary nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP). Methods: The KAP questionnaire was developed to be
consistent with the Malaysian Dietary Guideline (2010) and Malaysian ingredients. It consisted of 31 items and tested
its content validity among four experts using Content Validity Index (CVI), followed by back-to-back-translation process. Finally, 180 chefs answered the questionnaire followed by statistical analysis to evaluate the construct validity
using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and reliability using Cronbach alpha. Results: One item was deleted after
content validity and four items were omitted after testing the construct validity because their lower factor loading
value. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was derived from (EFA) for knowledge section is 0.631 with total variance 34.7%, attitude is 0.665 with total variance 53.1%, and practice section is 0.841 with total variance 54.6%.
The total Cronbach alpha value was 0.712. The Cronbach alpha value for knowledge, attitude, and practice domains
were 0.77, 0.73, and 0.88 respectively. Conclusion: The final draft of the questionnaire consisted of 26 items. The
questionnaire is valid and reliable. This questionnaire is suitable to be used to assess chefs’ culinary nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP).
5.Phylogenomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 from third wave clusters in Malaysia reveals dominant local lineage B.1.524 and persistent spike mutation A701V
Suppiah, J. ; Kamel, K.A. ; Mohd-Zawawi, Z. ; Afizan, M.A. ; Yahya, H. ; Md-Hanif, S.A. ; Thayan, R.
Tropical Biomedicine 2021;38(No.3):289-293
The emergence of a third wave of COVID-19 infection in Malaysia since September 2020 has led to imminent changes in public health prevention and control measures. As high as 96.2% of registered COVID-19 cases and 88.5% of confirmed deaths in Malaysia occurred during this third wave of infection. A phylogenomic study on 258 SARS-CoV-2 full genomes from February 2020-February 2021 has led to the discovery of a novel Malaysian lineage B.1.524. This lineage contains another spike mutation A701V that co-exists with the D614G spike mutation that was predominant in most of the third-wave clusters. The study provides vital genomic insights on the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 variants in Malaysia in conjunction with the presence of a dominant SARS-CoV-2 lineage during the third wave of COVID-19 infection.
6.Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cerebral Venous Thrombosis and Mortality
Thanh N. NGUYEN ; Muhammad M. QURESHI ; Piers KLEIN ; Hiroshi YAMAGAMI ; Mohamad ABDALKADER ; Robert MIKULIK ; Anvitha SATHYA ; Ossama Yassin MANSOUR ; Anna CZLONKOWSKA ; Hannah LO ; Thalia S. FIELD ; Andreas CHARIDIMOU ; Soma BANERJEE ; Shadi YAGHI ; James E. SIEGLER ; Petra SEDOVA ; Joseph KWAN ; Diana Aguiar DE SOUSA ; Jelle DEMEESTERE ; Violiza INOA ; Setareh Salehi OMRAN ; Liqun ZHANG ; Patrik MICHEL ; Davide STRAMBO ; João Pedro MARTO ; Raul G. NOGUEIRA ; ; Espen Saxhaug KRISTOFFERSEN ; Georgios TSIVGOULIS ; Virginia Pujol LEREIS ; Alice MA ; Christian ENZINGER ; Thomas GATTRINGER ; Aminur RAHMAN ; Thomas BONNET ; Noémie LIGOT ; Sylvie DE RAEDT ; Robin LEMMENS ; Peter VANACKER ; Fenne VANDERVORST ; Adriana Bastos CONFORTO ; Raquel C.T. HIDALGO ; Daissy Liliana MORA CUERVO ; Luciana DE OLIVEIRA NEVES ; Isabelle LAMEIRINHAS DA SILVA ; Rodrigo Targa MARTÍNS ; Letícia C. REBELLO ; Igor Bessa SANTIAGO ; Teodora SADELAROVA ; Rosen KALPACHKI ; Filip ALEXIEV ; Elena Adela CORA ; Michael E. KELLY ; Lissa PEELING ; Aleksandra PIKULA ; Hui-Sheng CHEN ; Yimin CHEN ; Shuiquan YANG ; Marina ROJE BEDEKOVIC ; Martin ČABAL ; Dusan TENORA ; Petr FIBRICH ; Pavel DUŠEK ; Helena HLAVÁČOVÁ ; Emanuela HRABANOVSKA ; Lubomír JURÁK ; Jana KADLČÍKOVÁ ; Igor KARPOWICZ ; Lukáš KLEČKA ; Martin KOVÁŘ ; Jiří NEUMANN ; Hana PALOUŠKOVÁ ; Martin REISER ; Vladimir ROHAN ; Libor ŠIMŮNEK ; Ondreij SKODA ; Miroslav ŠKORŇA ; Martin ŠRÁMEK ; Nicolas DRENCK ; Khalid SOBH ; Emilie LESAINE ; Candice SABBEN ; Peggy REINER ; Francois ROUANET ; Daniel STRBIAN ; Stefan BOSKAMP ; Joshua MBROH ; Simon NAGEL ; Michael ROSENKRANZ ; Sven POLI ; Götz THOMALLA ; Theodoros KARAPANAYIOTIDES ; Ioanna KOUTROULOU ; Odysseas KARGIOTIS ; Lina PALAIODIMOU ; José Dominguo BARRIENTOS GUERRA ; Vikram HUDED ; Shashank NAGENDRA ; Chintan PRAJAPATI ; P.N. SYLAJA ; Achmad Firdaus SANI ; Abdoreza GHOREISHI ; Mehdi FARHOUDI ; Elyar SADEGHI HOKMABADI ; Mazyar HASHEMILAR ; Sergiu Ionut SABETAY ; Fadi RAHAL ; Maurizio ACAMPA ; Alessandro ADAMI ; Marco LONGONI ; Raffaele ORNELLO ; Leonardo RENIERI ; Michele ROMOLI ; Simona SACCO ; Andrea SALMAGGI ; Davide SANGALLI ; Andrea ZINI ; Kenichiro SAKAI ; Hiroki FUKUDA ; Kyohei FUJITA ; Hirotoshi IMAMURA ; Miyake KOSUKE ; Manabu SAKAGUCHI ; Kazutaka SONODA ; Yuji MATSUMARU ; Nobuyuki OHARA ; Seigo SHINDO ; Yohei TAKENOBU ; Takeshi YOSHIMOTO ; Kazunori TOYODA ; Takeshi UWATOKO ; Nobuyuki SAKAI ; Nobuaki YAMAMOTO ; Ryoo YAMAMOTO ; Yukako YAZAWA ; Yuri SUGIURA ; Jang-Hyun BAEK ; Si Baek LEE ; Kwon-Duk SEO ; Sung-Il SOHN ; Jin Soo LEE ; Anita Ante ARSOVSKA ; Chan Yong CHIEH ; Wan Asyraf WAN ZAIDI ; Wan Nur Nafisah WAN YAHYA ; Fernando GONGORA-RIVERA ; Manuel MARTINEZ-MARINO ; Adrian INFANTE-VALENZUELA ; Diederik DIPPEL ; Dianne H.K. VAN DAM-NOLEN ; Teddy Y. WU ; Martin PUNTER ; Tajudeen Temitayo ADEBAYO ; Abiodun H. BELLO ; Taofiki Ajao SUNMONU ; Kolawole Wasiu WAHAB ; Antje SUNDSETH ; Amal M. AL HASHMI ; Saima AHMAD ; Umair RASHID ; Liliana RODRIGUEZ-KADOTA ; Miguel Ángel VENCES ; Patrick Matic YALUNG ; Jon Stewart Hao DY ; Waldemar BROLA ; Aleksander DĘBIEC ; Malgorzata DOROBEK ; Michal Adam KARLINSKI ; Beata M. LABUZ-ROSZAK ; Anetta LASEK-BAL ; Halina SIENKIEWICZ-JAROSZ ; Jacek STASZEWSKI ; Piotr SOBOLEWSKI ; Marcin WIĄCEK ; Justyna ZIELINSKA-TUREK ; André Pinho ARAÚJO ; Mariana ROCHA ; Pedro CASTRO ; Patricia FERREIRA ; Ana Paiva NUNES ; Luísa FONSECA ; Teresa PINHO E MELO ; Miguel RODRIGUES ; M Luis SILVA ; Bogdan CIOPLEIAS ; Adela DIMITRIADE ; Cristian FALUP-PECURARIU ; May Adel HAMID ; Narayanaswamy VENKETASUBRAMANIAN ; Georgi KRASTEV ; Jozef HARING ; Oscar AYO-MARTIN ; Francisco HERNANDEZ-FERNANDEZ ; Jordi BLASCO ; Alejandro RODRÍGUEZ-VÁZQUEZ ; Antonio CRUZ-CULEBRAS ; Francisco MONICHE ; Joan MONTANER ; Soledad PEREZ-SANCHEZ ; María Jesús GARCÍA SÁNCHEZ ; Marta GUILLÁN RODRÍGUEZ ; Gianmarco BERNAVA ; Manuel BOLOGNESE ; Emmanuel CARRERA ; Anchalee CHUROJANA ; Ozlem AYKAC ; Atilla Özcan ÖZDEMIR ; Arsida BAJRAMI ; Songul SENADIM ; Syed I. HUSSAIN ; Seby JOHN ; Kailash KRISHNAN ; Robert LENTHALL ; Kaiz S. ASIF ; Kristine BELOW ; Jose BILLER ; Michael CHEN ; Alex CHEBL ; Marco COLASURDO ; Alexandra CZAP ; Adam H. DE HAVENON ; Sushrut DHARMADHIKARI ; Clifford J. ESKEY ; Mudassir FAROOQUI ; Steven K. FESKE ; Nitin GOYAL ; Kasey B. GRIMMETT ; Amy K. GUZIK ; Diogo C. HAUSSEN ; Majesta HOVINGH ; Dinesh JILLELA ; Peter T. KAN ; Rakesh KHATRI ; Naim N. KHOURY ; Nicole L. KILEY ; Murali K. KOLIKONDA ; Stephanie LARA ; Grace LI ; Italo LINFANTE ; Aaron I. LOOCHTAN ; Carlos D. LOPEZ ; Sarah LYCAN ; Shailesh S. MALE ; Fadi NAHAB ; Laith MAALI ; Hesham E. MASOUD ; Jiangyong MIN ; Santiago ORGETA-GUTIERREZ ; Ghada A. MOHAMED ; Mahmoud MOHAMMADEN ; Krishna NALLEBALLE ; Yazan RADAIDEH ; Pankajavalli RAMAKRISHNAN ; Bliss RAYO-TARANTO ; Diana M. ROJAS-SOTO ; Sean RULAND ; Alexis N. SIMPKINS ; Sunil A. SHETH ; Amy K. STAROSCIAK ; Nicholas E. TARLOV ; Robert A. TAYLOR ; Barbara VOETSCH ; Linda ZHANG ; Hai Quang DUONG ; Viet-Phuong DAO ; Huynh Vu LE ; Thong Nhu PHAM ; Mai Duy TON ; Anh Duc TRAN ; Osama O. ZAIDAT ; Paolo MACHI ; Elisabeth DIRREN ; Claudio RODRÍGUEZ FERNÁNDEZ ; Jorge ESCARTÍN LÓPEZ ; Jose Carlos FERNÁNDEZ FERRO ; Niloofar MOHAMMADZADEH ; Neil C. SURYADEVARA, MD ; Beatriz DE LA CRUZ FERNÁNDEZ ; Filipe BESSA ; Nina JANCAR ; Megan BRADY ; Dawn SCOZZARI
Journal of Stroke 2022;24(2):256-265
Background:
and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020).
Results:
There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths.
Conclusions
During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.