Periprocedural Changes of Serum Biomarkers in Predicting Complications Following Bariatric Surgery for Obesity: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for severe obesity, but complications and peri-operative monitoring are important considerations. We conducted a comprehensive review of studies assessing pre-operative biomarkers and complications in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. A total of 14 studies were included. Gastric leak, infections, bleeding, obstruction or stenosis, hypoglycemia, and hypoalbuminemia were the most common complications observed. Our analysis showed a significant association between lower pre-operative albumin levels and complications (SMD [95%CI] = - 0.21 [- 0.38; - 0.04]). However, other biomarkers did not have a significant impact on complication occurrence. Changes in C-reactive protein, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, and white blood cell levels were observed in certain peri-operative time points and complication subgroups. These findings suggest the potential use of pre-operative biomarkers and peri-operative changes of biomarker's levels for predicting complications.

Neurointerventional Radiology: History, Present and Future.

Neurointerventional Radiology (NIR), encompassing neuroendovascular surgery, endovascular neurosurgery, and interventional neurology, is an innovative and rapidly evolving multidisciplinary specialty focused on minimally invasive therapies for a wide range of neurological disorders. This review provides a comprehensive overview of NIR, discussing the three routes into the field, highlighting their distinct training paradigms, and emphasizing the importance of unified approaches through organizations like the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery (SNIS). The paper explores the benefits of co-managed care and its potential to improve patient outcomes, as well as the role of interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-disciplinary integration in advancing the field. We discuss the various contributions of neurosurgery, radiology, and neurology to cerebrovascular surgery, aiming to inform and educate those interested in pursuing a career in neurointervention. Additionally, the review examines the adoption of innovative technologies such as robotic-assisted techniques and artificial intelligence in NIR, and their implications for patient care and the future of the specialty. By presenting a comprehensive analysis of the field of neurointervention, we hope to inspire those considering a career in this exciting and rapidly advancing specialty, and underscore the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in shaping its future.

Potential Effects of Adropin in Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) typically, occurs in patients over 55 years of age and can cause a significant loss of productivity. SAH also has a high mortality rate and those who survive often suffer from early and secondary brain injuries that can result from the condition. By gaining a better understanding of the pathophysiology of SAH, it may be possible to identify therapeutic agents to improve outcomes. Adropin is a novel peptide that is primarily secreted in the liver and brain. Research has shown that adropin can activate endothelial NO synthase through post-transcriptional mechanisms. Studies in animal models have demonstrated that therapies using synthetic adropin peptide or adropin overexpression can have positive effects on reducing infarct dimensions and enhancing neurological functioning. In this review, we aim to discuss the potential effect of Adropin on SAH and its potential as a therapeutic agent.

miR-495-3p as a promising tumor suppressor in human cancers.

Noncoding RNAs are a type of cellular RNA not having the ability to translate into proteins. As an important type of ncRNA with a length of about 22 nucleotides (nt), microRNAs were revealed to contribute to regulating the various cellular functions via regulating the protein translation of target genes. Among them, available studies proposed that miR-495-3p is a pivotal player in cancer pathogenesis. These studies showed that the expression level of miR-495-3p decreased in various cancer cells, suggesting its tumor suppressor role in cancer pathogenesis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) are the important regulators of miR-495-3p via sponging it, leading to increased expression levels of its target genes. Moreover, miR-495-3p was shown to have a promising potential to be a prognostic and diagnostic biomarker in cancer. MiR-495-3p also could affect the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy agents. Here, we discussed the molecular mechanisms of miR-495-3p in various cancer including breast cancer. In addition, we discussed the miR-495-3p potential as a prognostic and diagnostic biomarker as well as its activity in cancer chemotherapy. Finally, we discussed the current limitations regarding the use of microRNAs in clinics and the future prospects of microRNAs.

MicroRNAs' Role in Diagnosis and Treatment of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is most commonly seen in patients over 55 years of age and often results in a loss of many productive years. SAH has a high mortality rate, and survivors often suffer from early and secondary brain injuries. Understanding the pathophysiology of the SAH is crucial in identifying potential therapeutic agents. One promising target for the diagnosis and prognosis of SAH is circulating microRNAs, which regulate gene expression and are involved in various physiological and pathological processes. In this review, we discuss the potential of microRNAs as a target for diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in SAH.

Exosomal non-coding RNAs: Emerging therapeutic targets in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is an LDL-driven and inflammatory disorder of the sub-endothelial space. Available data have proposed that various factors could affect atherosclerosis pathogenesis, including inflammation, oxidation of LDL particles, endothelial dysfunction, foam cell formation, proliferation, and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). In addition, other research indicated that the crosstalk among atherosclerosis-induced cells is a crucial factor in modulating atherosclerosis. Extracellular vesicles arenanoparticleswith sizes ranging from 30 to 150 nm, playing an important role in various pathophysiological situations. Exosomes, asa form of extracellular vesicles, could affect the crosstalk between sub-endothelial cells. They can transport bioactive components like proteins, lipids, RNA, and DNA. As an important cargo in exosomes, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) including microRNAs, long noncoding RNAs, and circular RNAs could modulate cellular functions by regulating the transcription, epigenetic alteration, and translation. The current work aimed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of exosomal ncRNA as well as their potential as a diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target in atherosclerosis.

CDKN2B-AS1 as a novel therapeutic target in cancer: Mechanism and clinical perspective.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) have been identified as essential components having considerable modulatory impactson biological activities through altering gene transcription, epigenetic changes, and protein translation. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B antisense RNA 1 (CDKN2B-AS1), a recently discovered lncRNA, was shown to be substantially elevated in various cancers.Furthermore, via modulation ofvarious signalingaxes, it is effectively connected to the control of critical cancer-associatedbiological pathways likecell proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT), invasion, and migration. Considering the crucial functions ofCDKN2B-AS1in cancer onset and development, this lncRNA offers immense therapeutic implications for usage as a new diagnostic or treatment approach. In this article, we evaluate the most recent discoveries made into the functions of the lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 in cancer, in addition to its prospect asbeneficial properties,prognostic anddiagnostic biomarkersin the cancer-related treatment, emphasizingits participation in a broad network of signalingaxes whichcould affectvariouscancers and investigating its promising therapeutic possibility.

Circ_0067934 as a novel therapeutic target in cancer: From mechanistic to clinical perspectives.

Circular RNAs, as a type of non-coding RNAs, are identified in a various cell. Circular RNAs have stable structures, conserved sequence, and tissue and cell-specific level. High throughput technologies have proposed that circular RNAs act via various mechanisms like sponging microRNAs and proteins, regulating transcription factors, and scaffolding mediators. Cancer is one of the major threat for human health. Emerging data have proposed that circular RNAs are dysregulated in cancers as well as are associated with aggressive behaviors of cancer -related behaviors like cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Among them, circ_0067934 was shown to act as an oncogene in cancers to enhance migration, invasion, proliferation, cell cycle, EMT, and inhibit cell apoptosis. In addition, these studies have proposed that it could be a promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in cancer. This study aimed to review the expression and molecular mechanism of circ_0067934 in modulating the malignant behaviors of cancers as well as to explore its potential as a target in cancer chemotherapy, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

Investigation of biological activities of two cultivars of Cicer arietinum proteins mass associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly, with some known classical factors. Cicer arietinum (Leguminosae) is a source of protein for humans and contains albumin, globulin, glutelin, and prolamin. The protein content of two cultivars of C. arietinum, Hashem and Mansour, was isolated to evaluate their inhibition activity against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholine esterase (BChE), and ß-amyloid peptide (ßA) aggregation. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and molecular docking were also applied to evaluate the content and determine the potential of each chickpea protein to interact with AChE, respectively. Obtained data showed that proteins from both cultivars could inhibit AChE with IC50 of 17.73 (0.03) and 22.20 (0.06) µg/mL, respectively, with no activity on BChE. The 50 µg/mL protein concentration of each cultivar suppressed ßA accumulation (Mansour: 25.66% and Hashem: 21.69%) and showed biometal chelating activity. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed relatively different protein patterns, though the Mansour cultivar contained some protein bands with molecular weights of 18, 24, and 70 kDa were estimated to belong to vicilin and legumin, which were absent in the Hashem protein mass. Molecular docking showed that legumin and especially vicilin have good potential to interact with AChE. The chickpea proteins showed inhibitory activity against AChE, which might be due to the vicilin and legumin fractions. The characterization of the inhibitory effect of each protein band could be promising in finding new therapeutic peptide candidates to treat Alzheimer's in the future, although more experimental work is needed in this issue.

Traumatic Optic Neuropathy: Update on Management.

Traumatic optic neuropathy is one of the causes of visual loss caused by blunt or penetrating head trauma and is classified as both direct and indirect. Clinical history and examination findings usually allow for the diagnosis of traumatic optic neuropathy. There is still controversy surrounding the management of traumatic optic neuropathy; some physicians advocate observation alone, while others recommend steroid therapy, surgery, or both. In this entry, we tried to highlight traumatic optic neuropathy's main pathophysiologic mechanisms with the most available updated treatment. Recent research suggests future therapies that may be helpful in traumatic optic neuropathy cases.

Focused Delivery of Chemotherapy to Augment Surgical Management of Brain Tumors.

Chemotherapy as an adjuvant therapy that has largely failed to significantly improve outcomes for aggressive brain tumors; some reasons include a weak blood brain barrier penetration and tumor heterogeneity. Recently, there has been interest in designing effective ways to deliver chemotherapy to the tumor. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of focused chemotherapies that are currently under investigation. Nanoparticle delivery demonstrates both a superior permeability and retention. However, thus far, it has not demonstrated a therapeutic efficacy for brain tumors. Convection-enhanced delivery is an invasive, yet versatile method, which appears to have the greatest potential. Other vehicles, such as angiopep-2 decorated gold nanoparticles, polyamidoamine dendrimers, and lipid nanostructures have demonstrated efficacy through sustained release of focused chemotherapy and have either improved cell death or survival in humans or animal models. Finally, focused ultrasound is a safe and effective way to disrupt the blood brain barrier and augment other delivery methods. Clinical trials are currently underway to study the safety and efficacy of these methods in combination with standard of care.

Primary pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma: A case report.

Primary pulmonary lymphoma (PPL) is a rare entity with the most common presentation as mediastinal lymphadenopathy. The most common form of PPL is Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma (MALToma) which is an extranodal B-cell lymphoma originating from the mucosal layers involving different organs such as the gastrointestinal tract as well as the lung. Herein, we present a case of a 51-year-old woman with progressive dyspnea for 6 months and no prior medical history. The computed tomography (CT scan) revealed bilateral multifocal consolidation and ground-glass opacities as well as interlobular septal thickening. Bronchoscopy was normal and CT-guided biopsy of lung consolidations was conclusive of MALToma. Complete extrapulmonary evaluations inducing bone marrow aspiration were unremarkable. The primary pulmonary MALToma is an extremely rare entity that presents with non-specific symptoms and a wide variety of CT findings such as mediastinal, hilar lymphadenopathy, and single or multiple lung nodules ranging from 2 to 8 cm. the disease has a favorable prognosis, so prompt diagnosis is essential.

Contrast allergies for neurological imaging: When to proceed.

Contrast-enhanced neuroimaging is often necessary for the diagnosis and care of patients with diseases of the central nervous system. Although contrast is generally well tolerated and allergy to contrast is rare, allergic reactions can be severe and life threatening. Therefore, physicians should take care to prevent severe contrast allergy. In this review, we will discuss contrast allergy as well as potential strategies to reduce the risk of severe reactions in patients who require neuroimaging techniques with contrast. First, we discuss the clinical presentation and pathogenesis of contrast allergy and the risk factors associated with reactions. We then review methods to reduce the risk of future contrast reactions through improved patient education and documentation strategies, use of alternate imaging modalities or contrast media, premedication, and desensitization.

Protective effectiveness of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against Omicron infection and severe disease: a systematic review and meta-regression

BackgroundWe aimed to systematically review the magnitude and duration of the protective effectiveness of prior infection (PE) and hybrid immunity (HE) against Omicron infection and severe disease. MethodsWe searched pre-print and peer-reviewed electronic databases for controlled studies from January 1, 2020, to June 1, 2022. Risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the Risk of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I)-Tool. We used random-effects meta-regression to estimate the magnitude of protection at 1-month intervals and the average change in protection since the last vaccine dose or infection from 3 months to 6 or 12 months. We compared our estimates of PE and HE to previously published estimates of the magnitude and durability of vaccine effectiveness (VE) against Omicron. FindingsEleven studies of prior infection and 15 studies of hybrid immunity were included. For prior infection, there were 97 estimates (27 at moderate RoB and 70 at serious RoB), with the longest follow up at 15 months. PE against hospitalization or severe disease was 82{middle dot}5% [71{middle dot}8-89{middle dot}7%] at 3 months, and 74{middle dot}6% [63{middle dot}1-83{middle dot}5%] at 12 months. PE against reinfection was 65{middle dot}2% [52{middle dot}9-75{middle dot}9%] at 3 months, and 24{middle dot}7% [16{middle dot}4-35{middle dot}5%] at 12 months. For HE, there were 153 estimates (78 at moderate RoB and 75 at serious RoB), with the longest follow up at 11 months for primary series vaccination and 4 months for first booster vaccination. Against hospitalization or severe disease, HE involving either primary series vaccination or first booster vaccination was consistently >95% for the available follow up. Against reinfection, HE involving primary series vaccination was 69{middle dot}0% [58{middle dot}9-77{middle dot}5%] at 3 months after the most recent infection or vaccination, and 41{middle dot}8% [31{middle dot}5-52{middle dot}8%] at 12 months, while HE involving first booster vaccination was 68{middle dot}6% [58{middle dot}8-76{middle dot}9%] at 3 months, and 46{middle dot}5% [36{middle dot}0-57{middle dot}3%] at 6 months. Against hospitalization or severe disease at 6 months, hybrid immunity with first booster vaccination (effectiveness 95{middle dot}3% [81{middle dot}9-98{middle dot}9%]) or with primary series alone (96{middle dot}5% [90{middle dot}2-98{middle dot}8%]) provided significantly greater protection than prior infection alone (80{middle dot}1% [70{middle dot}3-87{middle dot}2%]), first booster vaccination alone (76{middle dot}7% [72{middle dot}5-80{middle dot}4%]), or primary series alone (64{middle dot}6% [54{middle dot}5-73{middle dot}6%]). Results for protection against reinfection were similar. InterpretationPrior infection and hybrid immunity both provided greater and more sustained protection against Omicron than vaccination alone. All protection estimates waned quickly against infection but remained high for hospitalisation or severe disease. Individuals with hybrid immunity had the highest magnitude and durability of protection against all outcomes, reinforcing the global imperative for vaccination. FundingWHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Research in contextO_ST_ABSEvidence before this studyC_ST_ABSThe global emergence and rapid spread of Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern, characterized by their ability to escape immunity, has required scientists and policymakers to reassess the population protection against Omicron infection and severe disease. So far, few systematic reviews have incorporated data on Omicron, and none have examined the protection against Omicron conferred by hybrid immunity (i.e. the immunity gained from the combination of vaccination and prior infection) which is now widespread globally. While one preprint has recently reported protection from prior infection over time, no systematic review has systematically compared the magnitude and duration of vaccination, prior infection, and hybrid immunity. A large single-country study has reported that protection from either infection or hybrid immunity against Omicron infection wanes to low levels at 15 months, but is relatively stable against severe disease. Added value of this studyPrior infection and hybrid immunity both provided greater and more sustained protection against Omicron than vaccination alone. Individuals with hybrid immunity had the highest magnitude and durability of protection against all outcomes; protection against severe disease remained above 95% until the end of available follow-up at 11 months after hybrid immunity with primary series and 4 months after hybrid immunity with booster vaccination, and was sustained at these high levels of protection in projections to 12 months and 6 months, respectively. Implications of all the available evidenceThese results may serve to tailor guidance on the optimal number and timing of vaccinations. At the public health level, these findings can be combined with data on local infection prevalence, vaccination rates, and their timing. In settings with high seroprevalence, limited resources, and competing health priorities, it may be reasonable to focus on achieving high coverage rates with primary series among individuals who are at higher risk of poor outcome, as this will provide a high level of protection against severe disease for at least one year among those with prior infection. Furthermore, given the waning protection for both infection-and vaccine induced immunity against infection or reinfection, mass vaccination could be timed for roll-out prior to periods of expected increased incidence, such as the winter season. At the individual level, these results can be combined with knowledge of a persons infection and vaccination history. A six-month delay in booster may be justified after the last infection or vaccination for individuals with a known prior infection and full primary series vaccination. Further follow-up of the protective effectiveness of hybrid immunity against hospitalization or severe disease for all vaccines is needed to clarify how much waning of protection might occur with longer duration since the last infection or vaccination. Producing estimates of protection for new variant-containing vaccines will be crucial for COVID-19 vaccine policy and decision-making bodies. Policy makers considering the use and timing of vaccinations should include the local extent of past infection, the protection conferred by prior infection or hybrid immunity, and the duration of this protection as key considerations to inform their decision-making.

May position of hemodialysis catheter tip have a direct effect on its patency? Positive results of a preliminary study on its rotation.

Renal transplant therapy is essential in patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). It is used in patients awaiting a kidney transplant or those who cannot be a transplant candidate. Central venous catheter is one of the most used access routes worldwide but has been recorded as the one with highest mortality and morbidity rate. Thromboembolic events have played a major part for that. This is a descriptive-analytical study, which conducted in a university treatment center in Tehran, Iran. A total of 225 patients were selected for this study that 108 were excluded because of our criteria. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS v19 and a total of 117 patients were included in this study. The average age of the patients was 51.62±11.26. 79 (67.5%) and 38 (32.5%) patients had medial and lateral tip direction, respectively. The catheter of 85(72.6%) and 32(27.4%) patients was patent and occluded, respectively. The average catheter tip occlusion time in both groups was 22.5 and 7.5 months. Three-month, six-month, twelve-month, and twenty-four-month patency rate were 99%, 94%, 88%, and 30%, respectively. our findings suggest that medial direction of the tip of the catheter reduces complications caused in CVS. Because our study has been conducted in a small scale and there is lack of similar studies, our team suggests extension to a larger scale to confirm or not our results.

Utilization of EEG for Monitoring in Subarachnoid hemorrhage Recovery.

Seizures and delayed cerebral ischemia following subarachnoid hemorrhage are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In this article, we briefly review subarachnoid hemorrhage, its complications, and the current literature on information gained from EEG monitoring in subarachnoid hemorrhage. We review when EEG should be used implemented in the multi-modal monitoring of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Finally, we discuss the recent advances and future directions in the field.

Management of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head injury. The common presenting neuropsychiatric manifestations and diagnostic strategies for early diagnosis and subsequent treatment will be reviewed. This article discusses methods for injury prevention, risk assessment, and methods for supportive symptom management including lifestyle modifications, physical, occupational, and neurorehabilitation, and pharmaceutical management. Lastly, we propose the use of assessment tools validated for other neurodegenerative disorders in CTE to establish a baseline, track outcomes, and measure improvement in this population.

Neuropsychological test validation of speech markers of cognitive impairment in the Framingham Cognitive Aging Cohort.

AIM: Although clinicians primarily diagnose dementia based on a combination of metrics such as medical history and formal neuropsychological tests, recent work using linguistic analysis of narrative speech to identify dementia has shown promising results. We aim to build upon research by Thomas JA & Burkardt HA et al. (J Alzheimers Dis. 2020;76:905-22) and Alhanai et al. (arXiv:1710.07551v1. 2020) on the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Cognitive Aging Cohort by 1) demonstrating the predictive capability of linguistic analysis in differentiating cognitively normal from cognitively impaired participants and 2) comparing the performance of the original linguistic features with the performance of expanded features. METHODS: Data were derived from a subset of the FHS Cognitive Aging Cohort. We analyzed a sub-selection of 98 participants, which provided 127 unique audio files and clinical observations (n = 127, female = 47%, cognitively impaired = 43%). We built on previous work which extracted original linguistic features from transcribed audio files by extracting expanded features. We used both feature sets to train logistic regression classifiers to distinguish cognitively normal from cognitively impaired participants and compared the predictive power of the original and expanded linguistic feature sets, and participants' Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. RESULTS: Based on the area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC) of the models, both the original (AUC = 0.882) and expanded (AUC = 0.883) feature sets outperformed MMSE (AUC = 0.870) in classifying cognitively impaired and cognitively normal participants. Although the original and expanded feature sets had similar AUC, the expanded feature set showed better positive and negative predictive value [expanded: positive predictive value (PPV) = 0.738, negative predictive value (NPV) = 0.889; original: PPV = 0.701, NPV = 0.869]. CONCLUSIONS: Linguistic analysis has been shown to be a potentially powerful tool for clinical use in classifying cognitive impairment. This study expands the work of several others, but further studies into the plausibility of speech analysis in clinical use are vital to ensure the validity of speech analysis for clinical classification of cognitive impairment.

Community Behavioral and Perceived Responses in the COVID-19 Outbreak in Afghanistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: Community responses are important for the management of early-phase outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Perceived susceptibility and severity are considered key elements that motivate people to adopt nonpharmaceutical interventions. This study aimed to (i) explore perceived susceptibility and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) examine the practice of nonpharmaceutical interventions, and (iii) assess the potential association of perceived COVID-19 susceptibility and severity with the practice of nonpharmaceutical interventions among people living in Afghanistan. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used, using online surveys disseminated from April to May 2020. Convenience sampling was used to recruit the participants of this study. The previously developed scales were used to assess the participants' demographic information, perceived risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and perceived severity of COVID-19. Multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the potential association of perceived COVID-19 susceptibility and severity with the practice of nonpharmaceutical interventions. RESULTS: The Internet was the main source for obtaining COVID-19 information among participants in this study. While 45.8% of the participants believed it was "very unlikely" for them to get infected with COVID-19, 76.7% perceived COVID-19 as a severe disease. Similarly, 37.5% believed the chance of being cured if infected with COVID-19 is "unlikely/very unlikely." The majority of participants (95.6%) perceived their health to be in "good" and "very good" status. Overall, 74.2% mentioned that they stopped visiting public places, 49.7% started using gloves, and 70.4% started wearing a mask. Participants who believed they have a low probability of survival if infected with COVID-19 were more likely to wear masks and practice hand washing. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that communities' psychological and behavioral responses were affected by the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan, especially among young Internet users. The findings gained from a timely behavioral assessment of the community might be useful to develop interventions and risk communication strategies in epidemics within and beyond COVID-19.

Age-specific reference ranges of prostate-specific antigen in the elderly of Amirkola: A population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the age-specific reference ranges of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the older men in the city of Amirkola. METHODS: This cross-sectional study is a part of Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP) which has been conducted as a cohort study since 2011 in Amirkola, a city in northern Iran. The demographic information of all men aged 60 and older were collected through questionnaires and interviews and the PSA measurements were performed using ELISA and Diametra kit. The acquired data were analyzed afterwards. RESULTS: A number of 837 elderly men with a mean age of 69.99±7.72 years participated in this study. The serum PSA level (95th percentile) was determined to be 0.9 (0-4.89) ng/mL in the age group of 60-64 years, 1.1 (0-4.88) ng/mL in the age group of 65-69 years, 0.93 (0-9.01) ng/mL in the age group of 70-74 years, 1.3 (0-7.95) ng/mL in the age group of 75-79 years, 1.9 (0-11.98 ng/mL) in the age group of 80-84 years, and 1.45 (0-33.17) ng/mL in the 85 and older group. The serum PSA level was significantly correlated with age (p=0.000). CONCLUSION: This study indicated that there is a direct correlation between the age and serum PSA levels. The use of age-specific reference range could guide clinicians on the incidence of prostate cancer in this population and perhaps reduce the number of unnecessary tests in this population group.