COVID-19 in the Arab countries: Three-year study.

Background: Twenty-two Arab countries share a common language, history, and culture. Nevertheless, governmental policies, healthcare systems, and resources differ from one Arab country to another. We have been following Coronavirus (COVID-19) from the beginning in each Arab country. In the present study, we aimed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 in the Arab world and to compare these findings with other significantly affected countries. Methods: Websites of the World Health Organization, World COVID-vaccinations tracker, Worldometer, and Ministries of Health were used to extract COVID-19 data in all Arab countries between the period January 2020 to December 2022. Results: All Arab countries had 14,218,042 total confirmed COVID-19 cases, 13,384,924 total recovered cases and 173,544 total related deaths. The trend demonstrated that the third quarter of 2021 recorded the highest death toll and the first quarter of 2022 recorded the highest number of confirmed and recovered cases. Compared to the top 15 affected countries, the Arab world ranked last as it had the lowest overall incidence per million population (PMP) of 31,609. The data on total deaths PMP showed that India had the lowest number of deaths with only 377 cases followed by the Arab world with 386 cases. Conclusions: Although the number of confirmed, death, and recovered cases of COVID-19 have greatly reduced in the last quarter of 2022 in most Arab countries, many Arab countries still need to re-campaign about COVID-19 vaccines and raise awareness programs about boosters. COVID-19 has had a relatively smaller impact on Arab countries than on other countries that have been significantly affected.

One-year Review of COVID-19 in the Arab World.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected almost every country worldwide, including all 22 Arab countries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to follow the prevalence of COVID-19 in all Arab countries. In this review, we aimed to assess the 12-month prevalence of COVID-19 in Arab countries and to compare these findings with other significantly affected countries. World Health Organization, Worldometer, and Ministries of Health websites were used to search for COVID-19 data in all Arab countries. The period covered started from February 2020 to February 2021. In all Arab countries, the median age of the population was 26.25 years. As of March 01, 2021, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in all Arab countries was 4,259,756. Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates had the highest reported number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per million population. The total number of COVID-19 deaths was 72,950, with predominance in Lebanon, followed by Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq. In comparison with the topmost affected countries, and based on both the highest number of confirmed and deaths per million population, Arab countries ranked second last before India, with 9,646 and 165 cases, respectively. Among the Arab countries, Qatar, Bahrain, and Lebanon showed the highest number of recovered, confirmed, and death cases per million populations, respectively. The number of confirmed and death cases among all Arab countries triggered significant worries about morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, respectively. However, the younger population in Arab countries may have contributed to fewer COVID-19 deaths in comparison with the topmost affected countries.

A review of the prevalence of COVID-19 in the Arab world.

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly spreading disease worldwide. It is a real test for all health authorities including Arab countries. In this review, we aimed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 in the Arab world. In addition, to compare the findings of this study with other top affected countries. METHODOLOGY: We searched for official websites from the Ministries of Health and other official sources in all 22 Arab countries. Medline, Science Direct and Google Scholar websites were also used to search for COVID-19, 2019 novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and coronavirus. The time period was from 1 January 2020 to 31 May 2020. RESULTS: As of May 31, 2020, COVID-19 has caused 290,428 confirmed cases, 3,696 deaths and 157,886 cured cases in all Arab countries. In terms of confirmed cases, Saudi Arabia followed by Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Egypt have the highest reported cases. However, the total number of deaths was dominant in Egypt, followed by Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and UAE. In comparison to other non-Arab countries and confirmed cases, Arab countries come fourth after USA, Brazil and Russia. In terms of death, the Arab world is not listed as the top ten affected countries as only scored eight deaths per million have been recorded. CONCLUSIONS: Most Arab countries took some serious early steps to minimize the outbreak of COVID-19. At the moment, controlling the source of infection, the route of transmission and taking care of infected patients are the main challenges for health authorities in all Arab countries.

A dichotomy of gene regulatory associations during the activated B-cell to plasmablast transition.

The activated B-cell (ABC) to plasmablast transition encompasses the cusp of antibody-secreting cell (ASC) differentiation. We explore this transition with integrated analysis in human cells, focusing on changes that follow removal from CD40-mediated signals. Within hours of input signal loss, cell growth programs shift toward enhanced proliferation, accompanied by ER-stress response, and up-regulation of ASC features. Clustering of genomic occupancy for IRF4, BLIMP1, XBP1, and CTCF with histone marks identifies a dichotomy: XBP1 and IRF4 link to induced but not repressed gene modules in plasmablasts, whereas BLIMP1 links to modules of ABC genes that are repressed, but not to activated genes. Between ABC and plasmablast states, IRF4 shifts away from AP1/IRF composite elements while maintaining occupancy at IRF and ETS/IRF elements. This parallels the loss of BATF expression, which is identified as a potential BLIMP1 target. In plasmablasts, IRF4 acquires an association with CTCF, a feature maintained in plasma cell myeloma lines. Thus, shifting occupancy links IRF4 to both ABC and ASC gene expression, whereas BLIMP1 occupancy links to repression of the activation state.

Site-1 protease function is essential for the generation of antibody secreting cells and reprogramming for secretory activity.

The unfolded protein response (UPR) and activation of XBP1 is necessary for high secretory efficiency and functional differentiation of antibody secreting cells (ASCs). The UPR additionally includes a branch in which membrane-bound transcription factors, exemplified by ATF6, undergo intramembrane-proteolysis by the sequential action of site-1 (MBTPS1/S1P) and site-2 proteases (MBTPS2/S2P) and release of the cytoplasmic domain as an active transcription factor. Such regulation is shared with a family of CREB3-related transcription factors and sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs). Of these, we identify that the CREB3 family member CREB3L2 is strongly induced and activated during the transition from B-cell to plasma cell state. Inhibition of site-1 protease leads to a profound reduction in plasmablast number linked to induction of autophagy. Plasmablasts generated in the presence of site-1 protease inhibitor segregated into CD38high and CD38low populations, the latter characterized by a marked reduction in the capacity to secrete IgG. Site-1 protease inhibition is accompanied by a distinctive change in gene expression associated with amino acid, steroid and fatty acid synthesis pathways. These results demonstrate that transcriptional control of metabolic programs necessary for secretory activity can be targeted via site-1 protease inhibition during ASC differentiation.