Prevalence and factors of functional disability in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of functional disability and the possible factors that may be associated with functional disability in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in Sharkia Governorate. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University Hospitals. Forty-eight consecutive patients of JIA aged from 7 to 17 years underwent assessment of socio-economic and demographic characteristics, functional ability using the childhood health assessment questionnaire (CHAQ), disease activity using the Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score based on 27 joints (JADAS-27), psychological symptoms using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) score. Results: Multivariate modeling was applied to determine the factors that associated with functional disability. A total of 80 % of the patients (39 of 48) had functional disability. In multiple regression analyses, high CDIscores (OR 20.78, 95 % CI 1.64 to 262.91, P =.019),JADAS-27 (OR 17.49% CI 2.16 to 141.62, P =.007), low socioeconomic status (OR 10.43, 95 % CI 1.24 to 87.57, P =.031) were strong predictors of functional disability in JIA patients.Conclusion: Our study on patients with JIA provides evidence suggesting that a total of 80 % of the patients had functional disability, that is associated with higher CDI scores, higher JADAS -27 and a low socioeconomic status

Clinical utility of PCA3 assay in patients with suspicious prostate cancer

Background: this study evaluated the clinical utility of the PCA3 assay in guiding initial biopsy decisions in prostate cancer. Subjects and Methods: this study was conducted on fifty patients selected from the Urology Department at Ain Shams University Hospitals and scheduled for prostate biopsy after digital rectal examination first catch urine was collected. PCA3 scores were determined using RT-PCR and compared to biopsy outcome. The diagnostic accuracy of PCA3 was compared to total prostate specific antigen and %free prostate specific antigen. Results: the best cutoff for PCA3 was 4.6 folds (RQ). This cutoff had a diagnostic sensitivity of 94.7%, specificity 95% and area under the curve (AUC) was 0.978. Total PSA at the cutoff 10 ng/mL had a diagnostic sensitivity 68%, specificity 70% and AUC was 0.766. At cut off 19%, f/t PSA ratio had a diagnostic sensitivity 38%, diagnostic specificity 90 %, and AUC was 0.529. Conclusions: the PCA3 assay can aid in guiding biopsy decisions. It is superior to total prostate specific antigen and %free prostate specific antigen in predicting initial biopsy outcome, and may be indicative of prostate cancer aggressiveness