The aim of this study is to evaluate the serological levels of zinc, copper and iron in Giardia lamblia-infected children and to study the effect of giardiasis on their weight compared to controls. We studied 30 children, 1-10 years old, who attended the outpatient clinics of Cairo University Pediatric Hospital, with gastrointestinal complaints and diagnosed as having giardiasis by stools examination, they were enrolled as a study group. The control group consisted of 30 age- and sex-matched healthy children, free of gastrointestinal complaints and free of giardiasis. Serological levels of zinc, copper, and iron were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The infected group had significantly lower weight, serum iron, and zinc than controls (P = 0.035, <0.001, and <0.001 respectively) and 63.3% of patients infected with giardiasis were 1-5 years old. In the infected cases, 60% suffered from of abdominal pain, 50% from weight loss, and 40% had intermittent diarrhea. Infected cases with weight percentiles below the fifth had significantly lower serum iron than those with normal percentiles (>5th). In conclusion, most giardiasis-infected children were between 1 and 5 years, with significant affection of weight, abdominal pain, and/or intermittent diarrhea. Serum zinc and iron levels were significantly decreased in the infected group compared to control (P < 0.001).

Schistosomiasis is one of the most prevalent parasitic infections worldwide. Praziquantel is the drug of choice for treatment of schistosomiasis for its high efficacy. The present work was carried out on 160 mice to evaluate the therapeutic effect of mefloquine on experimental schistosomiasis mansoni. Mice were classified into 3 groups; group I (20 infected non-treated mice), group II included 60 infected mice which were further divided into group IIm (20 mice treated with 400 mg/kg mefloquine), group IIp (20 mice treated with 1,000 mg/kg/2 days praziquantel) and group IIpm (20 mice treated with 200 mg/kg mefloquine and 500 mg/kg praziquantel), group III included 80 non-infected mice subdivided into group IIIn (20 non-treated mice), group IIIm (20 mice treated with 400 mg/kg mefloquine), group IIIp (20 mice treated with 1,000 mg/kg/2 days praziquantel), group IIIpm (20 mice treated with 200 mg mefloquine and 500 mg praziquantel). Mefloquine significantly reduced worm burden, tissue egg load, number of liver granulomas and increased the percent of dead ova within granulomas. Combination of mefloquine and praziquantel gave better curative effects than praziquantel or mefloquine given alone.

Background:The pandemic of corona virus disease [COVID]-19 had its great impacts on global health due to the increasing both morbidity and mortality. In addition, being quarantined is linked with high stress levels, insomnia, irritability and trauma-related disorders particularly in vulnerable populations. Therefore, there is a need to assess accurately and timely the magnitude of psychological health outcomes in those having exposure to COVID-19 pandemic.The Aim: The current work aimed to assess the perceived stress level among a group of Egyptian women and to explore the potential contributing factors for that during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: A cross-sectional survey targeted educated women from different Egyptian governorates, and of different socioeconomic standards. The total sample was 286 women who were recruited by non-probability snowball sampling and through a semi-structured, online questionnaire comprising socio-demographic data, the validated Arabic version of Cohen Perceived Stress Scale 10 [PSS]. Possible contributing factors of the perceived stress due to COVID-19 were also inquired.Results: total females who responded to the questionnaire were 286 with mean age of 46.5± 11.0 years. During the quarantine period, the total score of the perceived stress scale was 17.1±5.37, and both high and moderate levels of stress were recorded among 73.4% of the studied sample. Stress level was significantly influenced by disruptions of social communication with friends and families, "getting basic needs for health and safety are unmet then ", conflicts between mother and her children represented as a load", being younger women [below 50 years], and "feel stressed due to inability for social gatherings". Conclusion:COVID -19 pandemic has its obvious psychological impact on females, and many factors were contributing to such situation, which put the spotlight on the importance of taking these impacts into consideration when designing policies to slow the spread of the pandemic.

Schistosomiasis is a chronic disease that infects over 200 million people worldwide. The treatment and control of schistosomiasis largely depends on a single drug, praziquantel that might result in emergence of drug resistant parasites. Consequently, developing new drugs is a true need. The anti-malarial drug mefloquine has shown schistosomicidal activity. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of mefloquine against adult S. mansoni using in vitro approach. Ten laboratory bred mice were infected with S. mansoni cercariae. After 56 days, mice were sacrificed and adult Schistosoma were collected by perfusion. The in vitro approach consisted of placing adult Schistosoma worms in culture plates containing 100, 10 and 1 µg mLG 1 mefloquine and incubating the plates at 37°C for 24 h. The length and maximum width of adult Schistosoma were measured and LC 50 and LC 90 of mefloquine and praziquantel were calculated. The results showed that the LC 50 for mefloquine and praziquantel were 3.961 and 6.675 µg mLG 1 , respectively. The LC 90 for mefloquine was 7.332 µg mLG 1 while that of praziquantel was 8.695 µg mLG 1 . A statistically significant reduction in length and maximum width in adult worms treated with mefloquine was observed. Mefloquine exerted promising in vitro effects on adult S. mansoni worms.