Isr Med Assoc J
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This year Ramadan occurs during the global coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Data has shown that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are prone to severe disease with COVID-19 and with increased mortality. ⋯ Fasting during Ramadan this year and the COVID-19 pandemic is more challenging, not only for patients with T2DM but also for healthcare providers. We present healthcare providers with important aspects to consider during the COVID-19 pandemic for patients with T2DM who intend to fast during Ramadan and other fasting days.
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This mini review includes two case descriptions. It introduces the use of chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) solutions in the prevention and cure of viral and bacterial infections. Application for the protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), rotavirus, and influenza viruses, as well as for the eradication of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, caries, various enteric bacteria and other pathogens, and toxins have been developed. ⋯ The specific IgY antibodies start to accumulate into egg yolks about 3 weeks after the immunization of the chicken. The product can be collected safely, as the antigen is not found in the eggs. This method for microbial safety uses natural means and commonly used food substances, which have been tested and could be produced for both blocking epidemics and applying personalized medicine.
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Point shear-wave elastography (pSWE) is a new method to assess the degree of liver fibrosis. It has been shown to be effective in detecting stiffness in viral hepatitis. ⋯ pSWE is a reproducible method for assessing liver stiffness and is in a linear relationship with fibrosis degree as seen in pathology. Compared with patients with non-significant fibrosis, healthy controls showed significantly lower values.
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The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) social-distancing strategy, including 7 weeks of strict lockdown, enabled an extraordinary test of stay-at-home regulations, which forced a sedentary lifestyle on all children and adolescents. ⋯ The study was comprised of 229 patients; 117/229 (51.1%) were boys, 60/229 (26.2%) aged under 6 years. Total mean weight-percentile was significantly higher following the lockdown (40.44 vs. 38.82, respectively, P = 0.029). Boys had a significant post-lockdown weight-percentile rise (37.66 vs. 34.42, P = 0.014), whereas girls had higher baseline pre-quarantine weight-percentile of 43.42, which did not change. Patients younger than 6 years had a significant increase in weight-percentiles (39.18 vs. 33.58, P = 0.021). In multivariate analysis these correlations were preserved.
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Evaluation of children's anthropometrics poses challenges due to age-related changes. The main focus is on height and weight. However, since weight is height-dependent, body mass index (BMI) is the best surrogate measurement of adiposity. Israel has not developed national growth tables; therefore, researchers and clinicians utilize either World Health Organization (WHO) or U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tables as benchmarks. ⋯ Israeli children were slightly shorter toward the age of final height, compared to WHO and CDC. However, BMI in Israeli children was significantly higher compared to the CDC and WHO consistently along the age range, which raises an alarm regarding obesity patterns.