Right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in asthmatic patients

Asthmatic patients develop right heart affection from early stages through different mechanisms. The current study was performed aiming to assess the right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in different asthmatic stages. The study population was fifty persons subdivided into 30 asthmatic adults and 20 healthy control subjects. Results showed that the prevalence of right ventricular dilatation was statistically higher among asthmatic adults [66%] than controls [0%]. Also, there was a significant elevation of the mean value of ESPAP among asthmatic adults [24 +/- 7.18] than the control group [17.8 +/- 4.98] [P < 0.05]. In addition the mean value of RVEDD was significantly higher among asthmatic adults [17.47 +/- 4.51 cm] compared to control subjects [14.54 +/- 3.15 cm] [P < 0.05]. Also, a more deleterious effect was found that severe asthmatic cases suffered more impairment in diastolic functions of the right ventricle than mild and moderate cases, which means that patients with bronchial asthma have right ventricular diastolic dysfunction and the degree of this dysfunction is related to the severity of the disease

Prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C and Hepatitis B viral infections in haemodialysed patients in southern Saudi Arabia

Haemodialysed patients are prone to contract hepatitis and this poses an additional health problem to both patients and dialysis units. This study was undertaken to study the prevalence of and the risk factors for hepatitis B and C infections in 2 dialysis units in southern Saudi Arabia. Serum samples were tested for HbsAg, HCV Ab and HIV Ab from 159 patients receiving maintenance haemodialysis in the two units. There were 83 males and the mean age was 46 years [range 10 - 90]. The prevalence of HCV Ab, HBsAg and HIV Ab were 36.5%, 5.7% and 0.6% respectively. This was not affected by age or gender, but blood transfusion and duration of dialysis were associated with a higher prevalence. Overall, these values are lower than those from the rest of Saudi Arabia probably due to the strict prophylactic measures in our dialysis centres