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Background: Malignant pleural effusions continue to be a common problem in patients with metastatic disease, leading to a significant reduction in quality of life with progressive dyspnea, dry cough, chest pain and reduced physical activity. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy, safety, and outcome of Talc Powder Pleurodesis (TPP) with Povidone-iodine Pleurodesis (PIP) through a chest drain as a palliative preventive treatment of recurrent malignant pleural effusion. Methods: A total of 39 neoplastic patients with recurrent malignant pleural effusion were enrolled in a prospective randomized trial. Twenty-one patients received Talc pleurodesis (group A), and eighteen patients (group B) received Povidone-iodine pleurodesis. The continuous variables were expressed as mean values ± standard deviation (SD) and compared using the unpaired t-test. The discrete variables were expressed as percentage and compared using the chi-square test (Χ2) test. p-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Our study included 11 males and 28 females, the mean age was (71.0 ± 5.0) years for group A and (70.9 ± 5.1) years for group B (non-significant). Post-procedure analgesic requirements were recorded in both groups. Four patients in each group had fever (>38°C) within 48 hours of the procedure. Both groups achieved good symptomatic relief. There were no in-hospital deaths. The mean post-procedure hospital stay was (4.7 ± 1.2) days for group A and (4.2 ± 1.0) for group B (non-significant). At follow-up recurrence of significant pleural effusion requiring intervention was noted in four and five patients in group A and group B, respectively (non-significant difference). Conclusion: Povidone-iodine pleurodesis can be considered as a good alternative to Talc pleurodesis for recurrent malignant pleural effusion. The drug is available, cost effective, safe and can be administered through an intercostal drain and repeated if necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phlebotomus papatasi is a widely distributed sand fly species in different tropical and sub-tropical regions including the Middle East and North Africa. It is considered an important vector that transmits Leishmania major parasites, the causative agents of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The development of microsatellite markers for this sand fly vector is of high interest to understand its population structure and to monitor its geographic dispersal. Results: Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed with simple di-, tri- and tetra-nucleotide repeats. The F statistics calculated for the 14 markers revealed high genetic diversity; expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.407 to 0.767, while observed heterozygosity (Ho) was lower and ranged from 0.083 to 0.514. The number of alleles sampled fall in the range of 9–29. Three out of 14 markers deviated from Hardy-Weinberg expectations, no significant linkage disequilibrium was detected and high values for inbreeding coefficient (FIS) were likely due to inbreeding. Conclusions: The development of these functional microsatellites enable a high resolution of P. papatasi populations. It opens a path for researchers to perform multi locus-based population genetic structure analyses, and comparative mapping, a part of the efforts to uncover the population dynamics of this vector, which is an important global strategy for understanding the epidemiology and control of leishmaniasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]