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To study cardiovascular events and clinical outcomes in patients with elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and/or admission hyperglycemia and those with type 2 diabetes hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.This was a multicenter retrospective study of 1645 patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia required a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction result for SARS-CoV-2, presence of new or worsening pulmonary infiltrates on computed tomography scan or chest x-ray, and at least one of following: (1) new or increased cough, (2) temperature of37.8 °C, or (3) dyspnea. Outcomes included in-hospital cardiovascular events, intensive care unit admission, and mortality. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for association of elevated HbA1c levels and/or admission hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes for individual outcomes.Among 1645 adults hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, 18 with type 1 diabetes were excluded from the analysis. Of 1627 adults, 634 (39%) had known diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, and among 993 patients with no diabetes, 107 (10.8%) patients were identified with elevated HbA1c levels and/or admission hyperglycemia. Patients with elevated HbA1c levels and/or admission hyperglycemia had increased odds of developing acute in-hospital cardiovascular events (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.07-2.80), intensive care unit admissions (OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.10-2.34), and mortality (OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.02-3.07) compared to patients with type 2 diabetes and no diabetes.Patients with elevated HbA1c levels and/or admission hyperglycemia hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia have increased risk of developing acute in-hospital cardiovascular complications and overall poor clinical outcomes compared with patients with type 2 diabetes and no diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the factor behind the development of liver cirrhosis, liver cell failure, and liver transplantation in many cases. However, its relation to atrial fibrillation (AF) could not be cleared up. AIM: The purpose of the study was to evaluate prevalence of AF in the setting of NAFLD; the association between them, and to evaluate risk factors of AF in this category of patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 patients between January 2018 and June 2019. These patients were analyzed for the presence of NAFLD and presence of persistent or chronic AF. RESULTS: There were 138 patients with NAFLD, and 20 patients with persistent or permanent AF. Factors associated with AF were old age, male gender, and high values of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine-aminotransferase, γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, and serum uric acid. The participants with AF had a significantly greater prevalence of NAFLD than those without AF. CONCLUSION: Incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation in NAFLD patients were high. Severity of liver disease was an important predictor of new-onset atrial fibrillation.

Background Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a very common disease that affects 25-30% of the population in western countries. Many studies have observed the importance of H. pylori infection in the development of insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, the evidence from different studies was controversial. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between H. pylori infection and NAFLD in a developing country. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study included all the attending outpatient clinics at four Major University hospitals and two research and clinical institutes in a developing country in the period between June and October 2019. Patients were assessed for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection as detected by H. pylori antigen in stool; they were also assessed for the diagnosis of NAFLD by ultrasound, fibroscan, and CAP. Results The study was conducted on 646 patients; H. pylori infection was found to be present in 538 patients (83.3%). NAFLD (diagnosed by both U/S and Fibroscan with CAP), ALT, AST, hepatomegaly, hypertension, fasting blood sugar were significantly higher in H. pylori +ve group than H. pylori -ve group. After performing Linear regression of independent risk factors of NAFLD to prove or to refute the role of Helicobacter; H. pylori positivity, total cholesterol, degree of fatty liver by ultrasound, fasting blood sugar and diastolic blood pressure were independent risk factors for NAFLD. Conclusion Helicobacter pylori infection was independent risk factors for NAFLD and correlated with increased degree of steatosis.

Additional file 1: Table A1. Sample size, skewness and p-values from a normality test for each of the partitions each corresponding to Table 2. Table A2. Methods used for estimating the lower and upper limits of the reference intervals provided in Table 2, where P, NP and R represent the parametric, non-parametric and robust methods. The methods are selected according to sample size and distributional investigations provided in Table A1. Table A3. Sample size, skewness and p-values from a normality test for each of the partitions each corresponding to Table 3. Table A4. Methods used for estimating the lower and upper limits of the reference intervals provided in Table 3, where P, NP and R represent the parametric, non-parametric and robust methods. The methods are selected according to sample size and distributional investigations provided in Table A3. Table A5. Sample size, skewness and p-values from the test of normality corresponding to partitions used in Table 4. Table A6. Methods used for estimating the lower and upper limits of the reference intervals provided in Table 4, where P, NP and R represent the parametric, non-parametric and robust methods. The methods are selected according to sample size and distributional investigations provided in Table A5. Table A7. Sample size for monthly age partitions for females and males.

Background and Aims. Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have made a revolution in hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment with promising reduction of HCV infection and disease morbidities. However, unfortunately, treatment failure still occurs in about 5–15% of patients treated with DAA‐based combination regimens. The primary aim of the study was to assess the efficacy and safety of a quadruple regimen of (sofosbuvir, daclatasvir, and simeprevir with a weight-based ribavirin) in chronic HCV DAAs-experienced patients. Methods. This observational, open-label prospective study was carried out on 103 genotype 4 hepatitis C virus-infected patients who failed to achieve SVR12 after sofosbuvir-daclatasvir with or without ribavirin. Patients were treated for three months with sofosbuvir (400 mg), daclatasvir (60 mg), and simeprevir (150 mg) with a weight-based ribavirin dosage (1000–1200 mg/d). Response to treatment was determined by quantitative PCR for HCV at 3 months after the end of treatment (SVR12), and adverse events during the treatment were recorded. Results. SVR was achieved in 100 patients (97.1%) at week 12 after treatment. No dangerous or life-threatening adverse events were recorded. Conclusions. Retreatment of HCV genotype 4 patients with quadruple therapy is a good therapeutic option and achieves high response rates with minimal side effects.

Background Using probiotics have become popular. They are considered an alternative to Antibiotic Growth Promoters (AGP). Probiotics are supplemented into animal feed for improving growth performance along with preventing and controlling enteric pathogens. The aim of this work was to study the impact of dietary supplementation of Mannan-oligosaccharide and β-Glucan (Agrimos®) on broiler challenged with Escherichia coli O78 (E. coli O78 - marked with an antibiotic (320 μg ciprofloxacin/ml broth) on growth performance, serum biochemistry, immune organs-histopathology, E-coli colonization, and hepatic transcripts of Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-ϰB). A total of 125 one-day-old chicks were used for conducting the experiment. Five one-day-old chicks were slaughtered for measuring the initial weight of the lymphoid tissue. The remaining chicks (120) were allotted into four groups according to Mannan-oligosaccharide and β-Glucan supplementation, and E. coli infection. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results Results indicated significant alteration of growth performance, serum biochemistry, and selected liver gene expression with pathological lesions, especially in the lymphoid organs due to E. coli infection. These alterations were mitigated by Mannan-oligosaccharide and β-Glucan supplementation. Conclusion It could be concluded, Mannan-oligosaccharide and β-Glucan supplementation in broiler’s diet improved the immune response of broilers and mitigated pathological lesion resulted from E. coli infection.