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After the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increasing demand for remote learning and an expansion in the substitution of traditional practical sessions with lab-based virtual tools. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of virtual labs in practicing biochemical experiments and to examine the student's feedback regarding this tool. Virtual and traditional labs training were compared in teaching qualitative analysis of proteins and carbohydrates experiments for first-year medical students. Students' achievements were assessed, and their satisfaction regarding virtual labs was estimated using a questionnaire. A total of 633 students were enrolled in the study. There was a significant increase in the average scores of students performing the virtual lab of protein analysis compared with those trained in a real lab and those who watched videos explaining the experiment (p < 0.001). The opposite was noticed in the qualitative analysis of carbohydrates with significantly high grades of students trained conventionally compared with those who practiced with virtual labs (p < 0.001). Students' feedback rates on the virtual labs were high (>70% satisfaction rate). Most students believed virtual labs were supported with a clear explanation, yet they thought it did not give a realistic experience. Students accepted virtual labs, but they still prefer using them as preparatory to classic labs. In conclusion, virtual labs can offer good laboratory practice in the Medical Biochemistry course. Their impact on students' learning might be increased if selected cautiously and implemented properly in the curriculum.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence is fast-growing especially in countries highly prevalent with viral hepatitis. Its poor prognosis has driven the research toward the discovery of sensitive markers for early detection. We investigated the usefulness of serum Transforming growth factor- beta1 ( TGF- β1), Glypican- 3 ( GPC3), and Golgi protein- 73 ( GP73) mRNAs as early biomarkers in HCC Egyptian patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in comparison with serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Using semi-quantitative RT-PCR and densitometry analysis, circulating TGF- β1, GPC3, and GP73 mRNAs expressions were estimated in 15 healthy adults, 15 chronic HCV (CHC) patients and 25 HCC patients. Serum GP73 expression percentage in HCC group was significantly higher than controls (100 vs. 40 %, P ≤ 0.001) and when compared to elevated serum AFP levels (100 vs. 36 %, P ≤ 0.001). TGF- β1 and GP73 expression means were also higher in HCC patients than controls and CHC patients ( P < 0.05). GPC3 expression showed higher frequency in CHC patients compared to HCC group (80 vs. 28 %, P = 0.0016). According to the study cutoffs, serum TGF- β1 and GP73 mRNAs showed 60 and 96 % sensitivities for HCC diagnosis with 100 and 95 % specificities, respectively. Furthermore, elevated GP73 mRNA expression levels in early HCC were significantly increased compared to those of TGF- β1 mRNA and to high serum AFP (92.3 vs. 53.8 and 23.1 %; P = 0.03 and 0.0004, respectively). In conclusion, circulating TGF- β1 and GP73 mRNAs could be useful biomarkers for HCV-induced HCC diagnosis. Moreover, serum GP73 mRNA is sensitive for early cancer detection than AFP and TGF- β1 mRNA. However, these results need further validation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is a multifactorial autoimmune disease in which both genetic predisposition and environmental factors participate in its development. Many cellular and epidemiological studies suggest a role for vitamin D in pathogenesis and prevention of T1DM. Polymorphisms of the genes involved in the metabolism of vitamin D may predispose to T1DM. Vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) is the main systemic transporter of vitamin D and is essential for its cellular endocytosis. There are two known polymorphisms in exon 11 of the DBP gene resulting in amino acid variants: GAT→GAG substitution replaces aspartic acid by glutamic acid in codon 416; and ACG→AAG substitution in codon 420 leads to an exchange of threonine for lysine. These DBP variants lead to differences in the affinity for vitamin D. Few published studies, about the correlation between these alleles and TIDM, yielded conflicting results. Therefore, we investigated the association of these polymorphisms with T1DM in Egyptian subjects. Unrelated 59 children with T1DM and 65 healthy controls were included in this study. The sequence of DBP exon 11, which contains both examined variants, was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Alleles and genotypes were determined using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis (RFLP). At codon 416 the frequency of Glu/Asp alleles was 64.4/35.6% in T1DM patients and 55.4/44.6% in controls (P >0.05). At codon 420 the frequency of Thr/Lys alleles were 88.1/11.9% and 87.7/12.3% (P >0.05), respectively. Distributions of genotypes at both loci, and the common haplotypes constructed by them, were also very similar in both groups (P >0.05). It could be concluded that the studied DNA polymorphisms in the DBP gene are not associated with T1DM in Egyptian patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: Proepithelin is a growth factor that may play a critical role in bladder cancer. Its over-expression in urine of bladder cancer patients gave us the impetus to evaluate its potential suitability as a biomarker for bladder cancer diagnosis and/or prognosis., Methods: proepithelin was estimated in 86 voided urine samples, including 59 bladder cancer patients and 27 healthy volunteers using quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique. Urinary proepithelin level was expressed in ng/100 mg creatinine., Results: Urinary proepithelin was significantly higher in bladder cancer patients compared to control subjects (means: 17.5 ± 10 and 8.9 ± 3.5 ng/100 mg creatinine, respectively; p < 0.001), and the test sensitivity and specificity to detect the presence of bladder cancer were 74.6 and 85.2%, respectively. Furthermore, patients with low-grade/non-muscle invasive stages bladder cancer showed significantly lower urinary proepithelin compared to high-grade/non-muscle invasive stages and high-grade/invasive stages ones (means: 11.6 ± 9, 20.2 ± 8.1 and 23.8 ± 11.9 ng/100 mg creatinine, respectively; p= 0.005 and 0.002, respectively)., Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests that urinary proepithelin may be considered as a non-invasive, sensitive, and specific urine-based test for bladder cancer diagnosis and/or prognosis.