BackgroundElectronic cigarettes are promoted as safer products than traditional cigarettes and as smoking cessation devices. Awareness and perception are key elements for the adoption of new habits. Little is known about electronic cigarettes and public opinions towards it. This study aims to identify the prevalence of knowledge about electronic cigarettes, its perception, and use among Egyptian population.MethodsAn observational cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaire in Arabic language was conducted between March and April 2015 among a sample of Egyptian population aged 15–75 years (N = 1239). We compared between respondent’s who know e-cigarettes and those who do not know it.ResultsMore than half (57.5 %) of the respondents had heard about e-cigarettes, 51.8 % were non-smokers and nobody of them reported use of e-cigarettes. There were statistically significant differences between those who know and those who do not know e-cigarettes regarding age, educational levels and history of smoking. Among those who know e-cigarettes, 41.6 % believed that e-cigarettes help smoking cessation and 31.9 % believed it is less harmful than traditional cigarettes.ConclusionsA considerable level of knowledge about e-cigarettes is found among young people aged 15–39 years. E-cigarettes were perceived as less harmful than traditional cigarettes or a smoking cessation aid. None of the respondents reported use of e-cigarettes.

Thoracic-ultrasound has a significant complementary role to computed tomography in diagnosis and staging of bronchogenic carcinoma. Thoracic-ultrasound-guided biopsy revealed good positive yield (78%), its yield was negatively affected by mass size and necrosis. It is a simple, practical and accurate procedure without significant patients' risks.

Background: Renal diseases are increasingly common causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. Some of these diseases, if undetected and not treated early lead to debilitating chronic disease. Urinary tract infection are common in childhood ,may be subclinical or present with non specific symptoms and signs and have the potential for long term complication. Objective: to assess the urine examination findings among a group of apparently healthy primary school aged Egyptian children between 5 and 12 years old and to ascertain the magnitude of renal diseases among them. Methodology: a cross-sectional study carried out on 706 (333boys & 373 girls) school aged children at primary school at El-Gharbiya governorate Egypt. A stratified random sample was selected from the students. All students enrolled in this study were subjected to complete clinical examination and a urine sample was taken and tested by using a urine dipstick test for protein, blood, glucose, nitrite and leukocyte in urine. Those students with persistent abnormal results with the 2 nd urine dipstick test (after 15 days from 1 st one) were examined by complete microscopic analysis, urine culture with antibiotic sensitivity for those with positive pus cells. Results: with the initial urine dipstick test, we found 116 students (16.4%) of 706 (53 boys & 63 girls) they had abnormal urinary findings. Second dipstick test done for students with positive findings and revealed that 55 (7.8%) of 706 (26 boys & 29 girls) had abnormal urinary findings, followed by microscopic urine analysis that revealed that 35 (4.96%) students had abnormal urinary findings .Urine culture was done for 24 (3.4%) students that had urinary tract infection, 13 students were positive for E-coli and 3 were positive for staphylococci while 8 showed no growth. Abdominal ultrasound was done for the 35 students with urinary abnormalities by microscopic urine analysis ,it showed 3 (0.42%) students of 706 had a positive findings (2 of them had cystitis and another case had bilateral renal gravels). Conclusion: Urine abnormalities are a common finding among apparently healthy school aged children with pyouria and heamaturia[ were the most prevailing abnormalities]. Recommendation: Urine analysis must be done for school children as a part of routine medical examination at the point of school entry and repeated as a screening for renal diseases at a Screening of renal diseases by urine analysis…. 25 relatively low cost providing a framework for further follow up that may help in the prevention and timely diagnosis of those with underlying renal diseases.

Early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis is challenging. Moreover, for patients with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-negative HCC, this challenge is augmented. MicroRNAs (miRs) profiles may serve as potential HCC molecular markers. We aimed to assess plasma homo sapiens—(hsa)-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-155-5p, hsa-miR-192-5p, and hsa-miR-199a-5p—expression levels as a panel of biomarkers for HCC in chronic hepatitis C virus (CHCV) patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), especially AFP-negative HCC cases, as a step toward non-protein coding (nc) RNA precision medicine. Subjects and methods: 79 patients enrolled with CHCV infection with LC, subclassified into an LC group without HCC (n = 40) and LC with HCC (n = 39). Real-time quantitative PCR was used to measure plasma hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-155-5p, hsa-miR-192-5p, and hsa-miR-199a-5p. Results: Plasma hsa-miR-21-5p and hsa-miR-155-5p demonstrated significant upregulation, while hsa-miR-199a-5p demonstrated significant downregulation in the HCC group (n = 39) when compared to the LC group (n = 40). hsa-miR-21-5p expression was positively correlated with serum AFP, insulin, and insulin resistance (r = 0.5, p < 0.001, r = 0.334, p = 0.01, and r = 0.303, p = 0.02, respectively). According to the ROC curves, for differentiating HCC from LC, combining AFP with each of hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-155-5p, and miR199a-5p improved the diagnostic sensitivity to 87%, 82%, and 84%, respectively, vs. 69% for AFP alone, with acceptable specificities of 77.5%, 77.5%, and 80%, respectively, and AUC = 0.89, 0.85, and 0.90, respectively vs. 0.85 for AFP alone. hsa-miR-21-5p/hsa-miR-199a-5p and hsa-miR-155-5p/hsa-miR-199a-5p ratios discriminated HCC from LC at AUC = 0.76 and 0.71, respectively, with sensitivities = 94% and 92% and specificities = 48% and 53%, respectively. Upregulation of plasma hsa-miR-21-5p was considered as an independent risk factor for HCC development [OR = 1.198(1.063–1.329), p = 0.002]. Conclusions: Combining each of hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-155-5p, and hsa-miR-199a-5p with AFP made it possible to identify HCC development in the LC patients’ cohort with higher sensitivity than using AFP alone. hsa-miR-21-5p/hsa-miR-199a-5p and hsa-miR-155-5p/hsa-miR-199a-5p ratios are potential HCC molecular markers for AFP-negative HCC patients. hsa-miR-21-5p was linked, clinically and via in silico proof, to insulin metabolism, inflammation, dyslipidemia, and tumorigenesis in the HCC patients’ group as well as for an upregulated independent risk factor for the emergence of HCC from LC in the CHCV patients.

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