Expression of micro RNA-9 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and its impact on treatment strategy

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia [AML] is a malignant disorder of hematopoietic tissue. It is one of the most common malignancies in adults. It is characterized by its heterogeneous and complex nature that includes chromosomal, genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. MicroRNAs have been described to be one of the epigenetic regulators in AML

Objective: The present study focused on measuring expression levels of miR-9 in de novo AML patients. 30 bone marrow samples were collected from patients attending at Hematology and Oncology Unit of Aldemerdash Hospitals. MiR-9 expression levels were measured using real time PCR. These expression levels were compared to 30 adult healthy volunteers

Patients and Methods: The present study was carried out in medical oncology and Clinical Pathology Departments of Ain Shams University and National Research Centre, Egypt during the period between September 2017 and April 2018

Results: Statistical analysis of the results showed that miR-9 was significantly down regulated in AML patients in comparison to controls. It is also significantly correlated to platelet count. Regarding diagnostic performance, this study showed that miR-9 has weak diagnostic performance but regarding screening function, it has perfect sensitivity but weak specificity so it can be used as an excluding test

Conclusion: This study showed reduction of miR-9 in bone marrow of AML patients and opened the horizon for future studies on diagnostic and screening performance of miR-9 to be performed on larger scale and different ethnic groups

Study of structural changes in diabetic macular edema by spectral domain optical coherent tomography after intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide

Purpose: is to study the morphological changes in Diabetic Macular Edema [DME] before and after intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide using the spectral domain-optical coherence tomography [SD-OCT] parameters

Patient and methods: The study was held at Al-Zahraa University Hospital. It included 49 eyes of 40 patients with clinically significant diabetic macular edema [CSDME]. A single intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide [IVTA] at the dose of 4 mg in 0.1 ml was administered. Best corrected visual acuity [BCVA], intraocular pressure [IOP] and OCT scanning of the macula were done before and 3 months after IVTA. The OCT study parameters included central foveal thickness [CFT], OCT pattern of DME, vitreomacular interface [VMI], presence or absence of serous macular detachment [SMD], hard exudates [HEs], hyper-reflective spots [HRS] and IS/OS junction [Foveal ellipsoid zone] and ELM integrity

Results: Mean BCVA +/- SD were [0.23 +/- 0.13] and [0.39 +/- 0.22] pre and 3 months after IVTA respectively. The initial mean CFT +/- SD was [424 +/- 127.1 um] while 3 months after IVTAit was [283.1 +/- 70.2 um]. Eighteen eyes showed SMD which was completely absent 3 months after a single IVTA. There was insignificant statistical difference of the VMI state before and 3 months after IVTA. Out of thirty-four eyes that showed the presence of HEs in this study, twenty-seven eyes showed diminution of these HEs size 3 months after injection. Forty-one eyes and forty-three eyes showed the presence of HRS before and after IVTA respectively. There was insignificant statistical difference in foveal ellipsoid zone and ELM integrity before and 3 months after IVTA. Complications were reported in 16 eyes [32.6%]. Cataract progression was noted in 6 eyes [12.2 %]. Steroid induced IOP elevation was reported in 10 eyes [20.4%]

Conclusions: The data collected from OCT macular B scan are effective in the prognosis and follow up of diabetic macular edema. IVTA remains a promising primary therapy for DME at least in short terms. It seems relatively safe, but not without complications

Detection of group A Rota virus and characterization of G type among Egyptian children with diarrhea

Group A rotaviruses are the most important cause of acute diarrhea in children throughout the world. It is the cause of more than 450,000 deaths per year. There are few data available about rotavirus type circulating in Egypt. Serotyping by ELISA with anti-VP7 serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies and genotyping by reverse transcription-PCR [RT-PCR] have been widely used for typing. The materials of this study comprised 100 stool specimens collected from children less than 5 years old suffering from acute diarrhea, attending Alexandria University Children's Hospital at El-Shatby during the period from January to December 2006. These specimens were subjected to RT-PCR. Rotavirus was detected by RT PCR in 33 [33%] of patients. In the present study, a total of 30 [90.9%] of the 33 rotavirus positive samples were found to be G typable and the remaining 3 [9.1%] were untypable. Out of the 33 rotavirus positive cases, G4 was the main genotype detected being responsible for 12 cases [36.4%] of rotavirus infections. G1 was the second most common cause and was responsible for 9 cases [27.3%] of the infections. Our study identified G9 in 6 [18.1%] of the positive cases. Mixed G types reflecting dual infections G1+G9 were detected in 3 [3%] of the samples. G2, G3, and G8 were not detected among our cases. These results underline the importance of continued detailed epidemiological and virological studies to identify rotavirus serotypes responsible for severe diarrhea, including characterization of less common and or unusual strains. Knowledge of rotavirus prevalence and strains circulating in the Egyptian community will add in assessing the suitability of candidate vaccines, in order to protect against all currently circulating rotavirus strains