Comparative study of SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers between male and female COVID-19 patients living in Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Recently, there is increasing evidence that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes men to experience more serious symptoms and have a higher mortality rate than women, but the association between sex and immune response stays unknown till now, and weather patient's prognosis associated with sex or not is another vague in COVID-19. In this study, the SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody titer test was performed for 727 patients who were a positive RT-PCR result for COVID-19 and we determined the difference in immune response in both genders. Patients were divided into two groups based on their genders, which were 383 males and 344 females. Plasma was collected from the patients after 17 days of diagnosis with COVID-19, and the concentrations of specific antibodies (IgG and IgM) was measured by multiparametric immunoassay system (VIDAS). Results demonstrated that there was no significant difference in both IgM and IgG production in male participants compared to women. Moreover, despite there was a weak significant positive association between age and IgM in male patients, while there was no significant correlation between IgG and age for the same gender. On the other hand, a slight positive correlation between IgM and IgG with age was observed in female participants. Finally, it concluded that there was no sex biases in patients with COVID-19 in Erbil, Iraq. So, these findings are crucial to treat and care male and female's patients infected with COVID-19 at hospitals.

The role of oxidative stress and haematological parameters in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in Kurdish population.

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS), as a neurodegenerative disorder, exhibits inflammation and oxidative stress hallmarks. OBJECTIVE: The research aims to know any disturbances in haematological parameters and antioxidant system of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients in the Kurdish population. METHODS: A case-control research meeting following the McDonald criterion was conducted on 100 RRMS patients and 100 controls. RESULTS: Lipid peroxidation products of malondialdehyde (MDA), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and total leucocyte counts (TLCs) were increased significantly, but copper (Cu+2) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were decreased significantly while nitric oxide metabolites (NOx) and lymphocyte were not changed significantly if compared with that of controls. CONCLUSION: Findings from our study revealed that some defects were detected in haematological profiles in the Kurdish population and disturbance of immunological parameters. In addition, the utilization of Cu+2 supplement as an effective modality for RRMS patients may be beneficial.

The impact of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

AIMS: To estimate the current burden of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used data from pre-existing datasets and the literature. We identified seven major noncommunicable diseases for which data were available: coronary heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes mellitus, breast cancer, colon cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma. We estimated the per unit cost (the annual cost of treating each illness for one person) of each disease, multiplied per unit cost by disease prevalence counts to generate disease-specific costs, and then summed across diseases. We calculated the cost of absenteeism and presenteeism by multiplying the gross domestic product per person in the labor force by the loss in productivity from each disease due to absenteeism and presenteeism, respectively, and the prevalence in the labor force of each disease. RESULTS: We estimate that the direct medical costs of seven major noncommunicable diseases in Gulf Cooperation Council countries are $16.7 billion (2019 International $), equal to 0.6% of gross domestic product. We estimate that absenteeism and presenteeism due to these seven noncommunicable diseases cost 0.5 and 2.2% of gross domestic product, respectively. LIMITATIONS: Our study does not capture all noncommunicable diseases and does not capture all types of indirect costs. Our cost estimates are particularly sensitive to our assumptions regarding type-2 diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION: The economic burden of noncommunicable diseases in Gulf Cooperation Council countries is substantial, suggesting that successful preventive interventions have the potential to improve both population health and reduce costs. Further research is needed to capture a broader array of noncommunicable diseases and to develop more precise estimates.