BACKGROUND:Intestinal fatty acid binding proteins (I-FABPs) are mainly expressed in the intestinal villi, which are the initial site of destruction in viral gastroenteritis.AIM:This study was designed to assess serum I-FABPs as a predictor of gut wall integrity loss in viral gastroenteritis.PATIENTS AND METHODS:This case-control cross-sectional study was conducted on 93 cases of acute viral gastroenteritis. Twenty-eight healthy children matching in age were recruited as control group. Serum I-FABPs were measured using ELISA technique. Viral detection and typing were done by PCR for adenovirus, and by Reverse transcriptase PCR for rotavirus, astrovirus and norovirus.RESULTS:Serum I-FABPs level was significantly higher in the cases compared to the controls and was also higher in the 46 rotavirus gastroenteritis cases compared to other viral gastroenteritis cases. Serum I- FABPs level was significantly higher in severely dehydrated cases as compared to mildly dehydrated ones (P=0.037).CONCLUSION:Serum I-FABPs could be used as an early and sensitive predictor marker of gut wall integrity loss in children with viral gastroenteritis and its level can indicate case severity.

Background: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an auto inflammatory genetic disease resulted from the mutation of pyrin, which contributes to the formation of inflamma some complex. Therefore, activation of cytokines is one of the hallmarks of FMF pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the role of miRNAs as regulatory biomarkers for inflammation in patients with FMF. Methods: 50 FMF patients and 25 healthy subjects were included in this study. Q RT-PCR was used to determine plasma expressions of miR-181a and miR-125a, while IFN-γ and IL-17 were estimated using ELISA technique. Results: Our results indicated that, the expression of miR-181a was significantly decreased (p = 0.006) while miR-125a expression was insignificantly reduced (p = 0.101) also IL-17 levels were significantly higher(p = 0.003) and plasma IFN-γ levels were insignificantly increased (p = 0.322) in FMF patients than control group. Correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between miR-181a expression and lymphocyte percentages (p = 0.048),while a significant negative association was observed between miR-125a and C-reactive protein (CRP) (p = 0.005) in FMF patients. However, there were no associations between miR-125a and miR-181a with IFN-γ and IL-17 in FMF patients. Conclusion: miR-181a and miR-125a could be used as regulatory biomarkers for inflammation in FMF patients.

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Objective The aim of the study was to determine the prognostic ability of urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) and to further characterize its sensitivity and specificity as a biomarker of acute kidney injury (AKI).Patients and methods This case-control study was carried out on 42 septic neonates who developed AKI of the 60 critically ill neonates admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Al-Zahraa Hospital. Urine L-FABP at the time of ICU admission was quantitated to be compared with serum creatinine at admission and after 48 h.Results AKI patients showed significantly higher level of urinary L-FABP than non-AKI patients. The diagnostic performance, assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, was 0.743 for L-FABP, demonstrating its usefulness in diagnosing AKI.Conclusion Urinary L-FABP seems to be promising both for the diagnosis of AKI and for the prediction of prognosis in heterogeneous ICU patients. It needs to be further validated for clinical utility. Med Res J 13:21-26 c