Podoplanin expression in salivary gland carcinomas and its clinical significance. An immunohistochemical study.

Podoplanin (D2-40) is a lymphatic endothelial marker that is considered as a specific marker for lymphatic endothelial cells and lymphangiogenesis in salivary gland carcinomas (SGCs). Aim: the present study aimed to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of podoplanin in SGCs and to correlate its expression with the clinicopathological parameters and patients' survival. Forty-nine SGC cases were electronically selected. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and survival data were reviewed and tabulated. Immunohistochemistry was performed using antipodoplanin. Cases were divided into low and high expression based on a scoring system. A score of 0 and 1 was considered low expression, while > 1 was considered high expression. Podoplanin high expression was seen in 46.9% of cases, and 53.1% of cases showed low expression. Significant statistical associations were seen between podoplanin expression and tumour grade ( p ≤ 0.001), tumour-nodal- metastasis (TNM) stage (p ≤ 0.001), tumour size (p ≤ 0.001), nodal metastasis (p ≤ 0.001), tumour type (p = 0.03), prognosis (p ≤ 0.001), and mortality (p ≤ 0.001). The overall survival and progression-free survival differed significantly in cases with high and low expression (p ≤ 0.001). Podoplanin overexpression might be a significant prognostic indicator for patients with SGCs, implicating that it is a potential therapeutic target to improve survival in these cancer patients.

Break the Silence: Knowledge and Attitude Towards Sexual and Reproductive Health Among Egyptian Youth.

Sexual health and education are rarely investigated in the Middle East countries, including Egypt. We performed the current study to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors towards sexual health practices among Egyptian youth. A self-administered questionnaire was translated from English to Arabic. After pilot-testing, the eligible population was invited to fill it online. Nine-hundred and fifty-five participants filled the questionnaire (53% males and 88.5% single). Around 61% of the participants were of the opinion that sexual education is necessary and rejected the notion that sexual education is religiously prohibited. Only 26% discussed sex-related matters with a parent. Although over 80% think that masturbation is either prohibited, wrong or medically harmful, 62% have masturbated before. Living with parents was not associated with less masturbation (p = 0.23). Moreover, although 85% of the participants think that watching pornography is either wrong or prohibited, 74% have watched porn clips before (significantly more frequent among males: p < 0.0001). A quarter of the responders indicated that they have been touched by a stranger/relative against their will. In conclusion, the majority of surveyed Egyptian youth expressed unfavorable attitudes towards masturbation and watching pornography -despite being quite common- and supported the importance of sexual education.

Insects associated with hospital environment in Egypt with special reference to the medically important species.

A study was planned to examine the insect fauna associated with two hospitals: urban (A) in Cairo and rural (B) in Banha, Egypt with varying hygienic levels and their adjacent residential areas (AC) and (BC), respectively and to investigate the effect of hygienic level on species composition and relative abundance. A total of 22 species belonging to 7 orders and 15 families were reported in the four study areas of which, Dipterous flies were the most common (8/22, 36.36% species). A total of 5257 adults were collected of which Dipterous flies were the abundant (3800, 72.28% insect) and Musca domestica was the most abundant species (3535, 67.24% insect) which was present in all areas where it was more common / predominant species (21.94%-90.91% insect). Moreover, higher densities of M domestica were in (B) and BC than in (A) or (AC). The heavily infested area was AC (54.55% species) followed by (A), (BC) and (B) however, the total number of the collected insects was higher in (BC) and (B) than in (AC) and (A). This was confirmed by finding maximum diversity indices in (AC) and minimum ones in B. In all areas, means of M domestica was more common during summer/autumn and spring than in the winter. Periplaneta americana collected oily during autumn in AC and was more common in autumn in (BC) while Blatella germanica collected only during summer in (AC) and was more common in autumn in (B). The prevalence and higher abundance of the medically important species mainly M domestica, P. americana and B. germanica in rural hospital than in urban one attribute mainly to the lower hygienic level of rural hospital This require a control program based mainly on sanitation supplemented by other measures to overcome the risk of disease transmission by such insects