Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre
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Although COVID-19 vaccines exhibit diverse side effects, taste and saliva secretory disorders have remained poorly understood despite their negative impact on the overall quality of life. The present study aimed to characterize oral adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination and assess their similarities with oral symptoms in COVID-19 patients. A literature search was conducted in databases, including PubMed, LitCovid, and Google Scholar, to retrieve relevant studies. ⋯ Considering that oral adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination share some characteristics with oral symptoms in COVID-19 patients, it is speculated that the spike protein derived from COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection may be pathophysiologically responsible for taste and saliva secretory disorders. This is because such spike protein has the potential to interact with ACE2 expressed on the relevant cells, produce proinflammatory cytokines, and form antiphospholipid antibodies. Our results do not deny the advantage of COVID-19 vaccination, but attention should be paid to post-vaccination oral effects in addition to COVID-19 oral symptoms.
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We aimed to systematically investigate the associations between racial discrimination and various health outcomes and to evaluate the certainty of evidence from existing meta-analyses of observational studies. ⋯ Despite the complexity of measuring its impact, racial discrimination shows a profound influence across clinical areas, including an unexpected protective association in early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis among Black patients.