Risks of khat chewing on the cardiovascular, nervous, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary systems: A narrative review.

Khat is an evergreen plant and its fresh green leaves and buds are chewed for several hours a day for its psychostimulant response. This study aimed to review the effects of khat chewing on the body. PubMed was searched for literature on the different aspects of khat chewing to summarize its effects on different body systems. The major effects of khat chewing are those on the cardiovascular system including increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, and increased risk of myocardial infarction. It causes insomnia, stress, depression, hallucination, and increased risk of brain stroke. It causes dental caries, bad oral hygiene, periodontitis, increased oral mucosal ulcers, and increased gingival bleeding and recession. Khat chewing causes loss of appetite, gastritis, constipation, and hemorrhoids, and increased risk of hepatotoxicity and liver cirrhosis. Ultimately, it causes weak micturition, decreased sperm motility and count, and low birth-weight offspring in khat chewing mothers. The published articles about khat chewing in journals indexed in the PubMed was reviewed. Inclusion criteria involved each article available with English language and have a reported new effect of khat chewing.

A rare phenotype of breast hydatid cyst causing misdiagnosis and unnecessary intervention: a case report.

Hydatid cyst (cystic echinococcosis) is a chronic parasitic infection by the larval stage of the cestode that is called Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus) resulting in the development of cystic lesions in animals and humans. In this report, we describe a rare phenotype of hydatid cyst in the breast of a 23-year-old female presented with breast mass in the left upper outer quadrant for 3 months with palpable left axillary lymph nodes. Both US and mammography provided a picture of complex suspicious cystosolid lesion with amorphous micro-calcification (BIRAD-4A). Surgical consultation was performed and Tru-Cut biopsy was recommended. Histopathology results revealed multiple viable protoscolices of E. granulosus and suggested the final diagnosis of breast hydatid cyst. The patient returned with ruptured and infected hydatid cyst of the breast and started treatment with Albendazole 400 mg twice daily in addition to antibiotics. Following-up after two months of Albendazole treatment showed a dramatic shrinkage in the size of the cystic lesion. In conclusion, hydatid cyst should be considered as a differential diagnosis of any cystic or cystosolid lesion in the breast and any organ in the body from head to toe apart from the hair and nails. Radiologists should be aware to the benign lesions that may mimic breast cancer to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary invasive procedures and consequent complications.

Frequent clinical and radiological manifestations of the Novel SARS-CoV-2: A review article.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease caused by the novel "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2" (SARS-CoV-2) and is rapidly spreading worldwide. This review is designed to highlight the most common clinical features and computed tomography (CT) signs of patients with COVID-19 and to elaborate the most significant signs indicative of COVID-19 diagnosis. This review involved five original articles with both clinical and radiological features of COVID-19 published during Jan and Mar 2020. In this review, the most frequent symptoms of COVID-19 were fever and cough. Myalgia, fatigue, sore throat, headache, diarrhea, and dyspnea were less common manifestations. Nausea and vomiting were rare. Ground-glass opacity (GGO) was the most common radiological finding on CT, and mixed GGO with consolidation was reported in some cases. In addition, elevated C-reactive protein and lymphopenia are the pertinent laboratory findings of COVID-19. CT is an effective and important imaging tool for both diagnosis and follow-up COVID-19 patients with varied features, duration, and course of the disease. Bilateral GGOs, especially in the periphery of the lungs with or without consolidation, are the hallmark of COVID-19.

Diagnosis and risk stratification of coronary artery disease in Yemeni patients using treadmill test.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a common medical problem that remains a great cause of morbidity and mortality. Based on clinical manifestation, CAD span from chronic stable angina to acute coronary syndrome (ACS), which encompasses (1) unstable angina (UA), (2) non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and (3) ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to describe the risk stratification and prognosis of CAD in Yemeni patients undergoing an exercise stress test. METHOD: A retrospective descriptive study involved the records of 302 patients who undergoing exercise stress testing by the Bruce protocol of Treadmill (TMT). RESULTS: Out of 302 patients, the mean age was 43.29 years, (range, 22-70 years), and 79.80% were males. The majority of patients (86.75%) were normal. Most of the affected patients (82.50%) were males. All of the affected peoples were more than 30 years old with predominance in more than 50 years old. Results showed that 45% of the positive (+ve) patients were in high-risk group, and 55% were in intermediate and low-risk groups. CONCLUSIONS: CAD affects males more than females. It affects patients older than 30 years and predominates in elderly patients. Most of the affected patients were in the high, intermediate, and low-risk groups and rarely were in the very high-risk group.

Descriptive study of knee lesions using magnetic resonance imaging and correlation between medical imaging diagnosis and suspected clinical diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the meniscus and cruciate ligament lesions of the knee using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to investigate the correlation between clinical and MRI diagnoses. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Herein, we reviewed the electronic medical records of 240 patients who underwent knee MRI. The images were evaluated and then the clinical and MRI diagnoses were compared. RESULTS: Of the 240 patients, 66% were male and the mean age was 40.6 ± 15.5 years (range, 2-79 years). Knee pain alone was the most common presenting symptom (50.64%) followed by pain after trauma (47.92%). Majority of the knee lesions were medial meniscus (MM) lesions (63%) followed by osteoarthritis (48%) and ACL lesions (35%). The majority of the MM and ACL lesions were tears (54.6% and 69.41%, respectively) followed by degeneration (33.55% and 17.65%, respectively). However, the MM lesions were predominantly observed in the posterior horn (Odds ratio [OR], 152; 95% confidence interval (CI), 21.550-1072.113; P < 0.001). The ACL lesions were significantly more common in men than in women (OR, 0.355; 95% CI, 0.191-0.661; P = 0.001), and altered signal intensity on T2- and proton density-weighted images was the most common sign (P < 0.001). A strong compatibility was observed between the clinical and MRI diagnoses (Kappa = 0.141; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: MM and ACL lesions are the most common injuries of the knee, which can be diagnosed by physical examination in most cases. Further confirmation by MRI should be reserved for doubtful cases only.