Background In pandemic COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the prognosis of patients has been determined using clinical data and CT (computed tomography) scans, but it is still unclear whether chest ...CT characteristics are correlated to COVID-19 severity. Aim To explore the potential association between clinical data and 25-point CT score and investigate their predictive significance in COVID-19-positive patients at Fayoum University Hospital in Egypt. Methods This study was conducted on 252 Egyptian COVID-19 patients at Fayoum University Hospital in Egypt. The patients were classified into two groups: a mild group (174 patients) and a severe group (78 patients). The results of clinical laboratory data, and CT scans of severe and mild patients, were collected, analyzed, and compared. Results The severe group show high significance levels of CRP, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinine, urea, ferritin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), neutrophil percent, and heart rate (HR) than the mild group. Lymphopenia, hypoalbuminemia, hypocalcemia, and decreased oxygen saturation (SpO2) were the most observed abnormalities in severe COVID-19 patients. Lymphopenia, low SpO2 and albumin levels, elevated serum LDH, ferritin, urea, and CRP levels were found to be significantly correlated with severity CT score (P<0.0001). Conclusion The clinical severity of COVID-19 and the CT score are highly correlated. Our findings indicate that the CT scoring system can help to predict COVID-19 disease outcomes and has a strong correlation with clinical laboratory testing.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and in severe cases associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome ...(ARDS).
To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with ARDS-COVID-19.
This study involved 197 male Egyptian participants, among them111 COVID-19 patients presented with ARDS, 60 COVID-19 patients presented with non-ARDS, and 26 Non-COVID-19 patients. We reported the analysis results of clinical and laboratory information, including blood routine tests, blood biochemistry parameters aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine and C-reactive protein (CRP), thrombotic activity (D-dimer) and serum ferritin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).
The levels of hemoglobin, AST, creatinine, monocyte count, monocyte %, RBC count, TLC, and platelet count were not significantly different among the groups. The lymphopenia and increased CRP, ALT, D-dimer, ferritin, and LDH were observed in patients with ARDS-COVID-19.
COVID-19 patients with ARDS presented with lymphopenia, increased thrombotic activity, increased CRP, LDH, and ferritin levels. The results revealed that CRP, D-dimer, LDH levels, and lymphopenia have a significant association with the COVID-19 severity and can be used as biomarkers to predict the disease severity.
Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative coccobacillus responsible for severe hospital-acquired infections, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs). The current study was designed to ...characterize the virulence traits of biofilm-forming carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii causing pneumonia in ICU patients using a Galleria mellonella model. Two hundred and thirty patients with hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated pneumonia were included in our study. Among the total isolates, A. baumannii was the most frequently isolated etiological agent in ICU patients with pneumonia (54/165, 32.7%). All A. baumannii isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing by the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method, while the minimum inhibitory concentrations of imipenem and colistin were estimated using the broth microdilution technique. The biofilm formation activity of the isolates was tested using the microtiter plate technique. Biofilm quantification showed that 61.1% (33/54) of the isolates were strong biofilm producers, while 27.7% (15/54) and 11.1% (6/54) showed moderate or weak biofilm production. By studying the prevalence of carbapenemases-encoding genes among isolates, blaOXA-23-like was positive in 88.9% of the isolates (48/54). The BlaNDM gene was found in 27.7% of the isolates (15/54 isolates). BlaOXA-23-like and blaNDM genes coexisted in 25.9% (14/54 isolates). Bap and blaPER-1 genes, the biofilm-associated genes, coexisted in 5.6% (3/54) of the isolates. For in vivo assessment of A. baumannii pathogenicity, a Galleria mellonella survival assay was used. G. mellonella survival was statistically different between moderate and poor biofilm producers (p < 0.0001). The killing effect of the strong biofilm-producing group was significantly higher than that of the moderate and poor biofilm producers (p < 0.0001 for each comparison). These findings highlight the role of biofilm formation as a powerful virulence factor for carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii that causes pneumonia in the ICU.
Antipathogenic drugs are a potential source of therapeutics, particularly following the emergence of multiple drug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms in the last decade. The inhibition of quorum ...sensing (QS) is an advanced antipathogenic approach for suppression of bacterial virulence and dissemination. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of some Egyptian medicinal plants on the QS signaling system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Among the tested plants, Mangifera indica exhibited the highest quorum sensing inhibition (QSI) activity against Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472. Four pure compounds were extracted and identified; of these, methyl gallate (MG) showed the most potent QSI. MG had a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 512 g/mL against P. aeruginosa strains PAO1, PA14, Pa21, Pa22, Pa23, Pa24, and PAO-JP2. The virulence factors of PAO1, PA14, Pa21, Pa22, Pa23, and Pa24 were significantly inhibited by MG at 1/4 and 1/2 sub-MICs without affecting bacterial viability. Computational insights were performed by docking the MG compound on the LasR receptor, and the QSI behavior of MG was found to be mediated by three hydrogen bonds: Trp60, Arg61, and Thr75. This study indicates the importance of M. indica and MG in the inhibition and modulation of QS and QS-related virulence factors in P. aeruginosa.
The rise of the highly lethal severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-2) as corona virus 2019 (COVID-19) reminded us of the history of other pandemics that happened in the last century (Spanish ...flu) and stayed in the current century, which include Severe-Acute-Respiratory-Syndrome (SARS), Middle-East-Respiratory-Syndrome (MERS), Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19). We review in this report the newest findings and data on the origin of pandemic respiratory viral diseases, reservoirs, and transmission modes. We analyzed viral adaption needed for host switch and determinants of pathogenicity, causative factors of pandemic viruses, and symptoms and clinical manifestations. After that, we concluded the host factors associated with pandemics morbidity and mortality (immune responses and immunopathology, ages, and effect of pandemics on pregnancy). Additionally, we focused on the burdens of COVID-19, non-pharmaceutical interventions (quarantine, mass gatherings, facemasks, and hygiene), and medical interventions (antiviral therapies and vaccines). Finally, we investigated the nanotechnology between COVID-19 analysis and immune system boosting (Nanoparticles (NPs), antimicrobial NPs as antivirals and immune cytokines). This review presents insights about using nanomaterials to treat COVID-19, improve the bioavailability of the abused drugs, diminish their toxicity, and improve their performance.
Wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) seem certain to play a major part in the world’s energy future due to their known high power capacity. The maximum power tracking is unavoidable due to the wind ...velocity variation and the non-linear relation with the turbine mechanical power. Commercial wind turbines are commonly coupled to either doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs), wound rotor synchronous generators (WRSG) or permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs). The DFIG-based WECS has several advantages over others. One of which is the power converter in such systems only deals with rotor power, hence the converter rating can run at reduced power rating. However, DFIG has the famous disadvantage of the presence of slip rings which leads to increased maintenance costs and outage times. Hence, brushless doublyfed induction machines (BDFIMs) can be considered as a viable alternative at the penalty of complicated controller requirement and limited decoupling control capability due to the machine’s non-linearity. In this paper, an enhanced performance indirect vector controller is proposed for WECS based on brushless doubly-fed twin-stator induction generator (BDFTSIG). The presented controller offers (i) simplified implementation, (ii) decoupled active-reactive power control, and (iii) a wide range of operation. The proposed controller performance is investigated under various loading conditions showing enhanced transient and minimal steady-state oscillations in addition to complete active/reactive power decoupling. The rigorous simulation and experimental results verify the claimed controller effectiveness under all possible operating conditions for sub- and super-synchronous speed range.
Photovoltaic (PV) energy systems rapidly penetrate global renewable energy market recently due to their direct energy conversion, environmental friendly and modularity features. Partial shading and ...irradiance mismatch create one of the major challenges that face commercial PV converters. Software based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms show limited performance as only the global peak power of the attached PV string can be captured. On the contrary, modified PV string converters can achieve true MPP acquisition, hence maximizing the system power yield and enhance the overall performance. In this article, a partial-shading-tolerant PV string system is proposed that feature (i) a multi-input multi-output (MISO) PV string converter and (ii) true MPP seeking event-driven based MPPT technique as well. The presented converter feature a single inductor buck configuration with multi-input ports attached to N number of PV panels offering reduced passive components and extended modularity feature in addition to single digital controller implementation. The presented MPPT technique exhibits decoupled tracking of the true power of each connected PV panel independently irrespective of the other attached panels even under extreme inhomogeneous irradiance distribution. Rigorous simulation results accompanying matched experimental validation assure the proposed system applicability. Dynamic modelling, in addition to various operating conditions assessments, verify the claimed effectiveness of the proposed system.
Infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a high incidence of spread. On January 30, 2020, the World Health ...Organization proclaimed a public health emergency of worldwide concern. More than 6.9 million deaths and more than 768 million confirmed cases had been reported worldwide as of June 18, 2023. This study included 51 patients and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. The present study aimed to identify the expression levels of lncRNA CASC2 and miRNA-21-5p (also known as miRNA-21) in COVID-19 patients and their relation to the clinicopathological characteristics of the disease. The expression levels of noncoding RNAs were measured by RT-PCR technique. Results detected that CASC2 was significantly downregulated while miRNA-21-5p was significantly upregulated in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy subjects. A significant negative correlation was found between CASC2 and miRNA-21-5p. ROC curve analysis used to distinguish COVID-19 patients from controls. MiRNA-21-p serum expression level had a significant positive association with temperature and PO2 (p = 0.04 for each). These findings indicate that CASC2 and miRNA-21-p might be used as potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in COVID-19.
Background
Following COVID-19 pandemic, clinical description focused on the clinical presentation of patients in the acute stage of the disease. More recently, data have emerged that some patients ...continue to experience symptoms related to COVID-19 after the acute phase of infection has subsided (post-COVID syndrome). Although characteristics of post-COVID syndrome have been well described, less is known about the possible invitations during acute illnesses that can predict such syndrome. Our study is a prospective study aiming at assessment of CT severity scoring in the acute phase of COVID-19 pneumonia as a predictor for development of post-COVID syndrome in recovering patients.
Results
A total of 192 symptomatic COVID-19 patients between April 2020 and October 2020 were enrolled in this single-center study, and high-resolution chest CT examinations were evaluated for CT severity scoring. Data were matched with the long-term clinical outcome. CT severity score was significantly higher in patients who developed post-COVID symptoms (
p
< 0.001). A CT score of > 7 was associated with an increased risk and was found to be predictive of condition development with sensitivity (95.9%), specificity (96%), positive predictive value (95.92%), negative predictive value (96%), and accuracy (95.96%).
Conclusions
CT severity scoring can help in predicting the long-term outcome of COVID-19 patients with cutoff value of CT-SSS > 7 showing highest sensitivity and specificity for predicting development of post-COVID syndrome.
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