Pathological and immunohistochemical examination could be used to characterize ductal and acinar adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Ductal adenocarcinoma of the prostate is a rare subtype of prostate carcinoma and is be more likely to present with advanced grade cancer suggesting that timely detection of the disease is vital.

Aim:The diagnostic value of inflammatory markers to determine the severity of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is postulated in some recent studies, but conclusions were inconsistent. Hence, we intend to examine the utility of presepsin, procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in predicting the severity of COVID-19 infection.Methods: Single-center cross-sectional study was undertaken at the Intensive care unit of a university hospital. Eighty consecutive cases diagnosed with Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus-2 RNA between October 2020 and July 2021 were classified according to the severity of the disease. Laboratory data related to Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein was retrieved from investigations coinciding with the day of admission. The stored plasma was subjected to an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine plasma presepsin levels. Statistical test for measures of screening was employed and a receiver operator curve was generated. Results:We have determined that presepsin is the most sensitive prognostic indicator (93.3%) with a strong statistical association (p<0.001) for COVID-19. 15.99 ng/L could be used as a reference level to predict the progressive clinical course. Relatively lower sensitivity (88%) and positive statistical correlation (p=0.049) of C-reactive protein with high-risk infection were also observed. Procalcitonin showed limited diagnostic and prognostic value in our series. Conclusion:Our findings seem to demonstrate the role of presepsin in providing prognostic information in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we suggest that early monitoring of presepsin with routine marker profile might help in identifying patients suffering from a more severe disease.

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Background: Health care workers are respected in every society and have a strong influence on the behaviour of the community. In order to reduce the shisha dependence in the Pakistani population, it is necessary to evaluate the perspective of future doctors and pharmacists regarding this addiction as they become role models for the future generations. Objective: The aim is to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of shisha use among medical students and pharmacy students in order to assess their support in the anti-shisha campaigns of Pakistan. Methodology: Cross sectional study was performed in four major medical universities of Karachi, Pakistan through a modification of the WHO global health survey questionnaire. Result: 398 medical students and 470 pharmacy students were included in the study which showed that currently 9.6% pharmacy students and 4.8% medical students used shisha daily (p = 0.000). Pharmacy students started shisha use in less than 15 years of age while this number was 29.5% among medical students (P = 0.000). Moreover, 44.6% pharmacy students and 50% medical students were not planning to quit this addiction within the next six months. 14% of pharmacy students and 20.4% in medical students (P = 0.002) were unaware that passive smoking caused lung cancer, while 23.4% pharmacy students and 33.5% medical students rejected it as cause of heart diseases (p = 0.006). Conclusion: A significant number of medical and pharmacy students were unaware about some of the serious consequences of shisha smoking. Therefore, both groups of students need to be educated about the health hazards of shisha use, in order to control this growing menace.

Objective: Xenotropic murine leukemia virus related virus (XMRV), is the first gammaretrovirus identified a decade ago, in human tissue bearing adenocarcinoma of prostate, followed by several researches documenting little or no prevalence of XMRV in prostate cancer samples. However, the status of XMRV within subtype of prostate adenocarcinoma has not been investigated yet. In this study, we investigated the relationship between XMRV and broad spectrum morphological entities of prostate adenocarcinoma, including acinar, ductal and other rare subtypes. Material and methods:The prevalence of XMRV DNA in different histological subtypes of prostate adenocarcinoma was examined after characterizing the tumors into groups, using formalin-fixed, paraffinembedded tissue samples from newly diagnosed prostate adenocarcinomas and archival prostate cancer tissue from our XMRV case control analysis. Broad-spectrum XMRV DNA amplification was performed by end-point polymerase chain reaction, using commercially available primer set. Results:The study included 100 patients with prostate cancer. XMRV DNA was detected in 4 of 8 (50%) ductal adenocarcinomas, exhibiting papillary and cribriform histological features. XMRV DNA was not detected in any other variant of adenocarcinoma including acinar (0/91) and mucinous carcinomas (0/1). Majority of XMRV positive cases were biologically aggressive and present cancer at an early age upon diagnosis.Conclusion: Ductal adenocarcinomas demonstrate a significant association of XMRV DNA while other histological variants of prostate adenocarcinoma seem unrelated to XMRV infection.