Ischemic Stroke in Young Tunisian Adults.

INTRODUCTION: Ischemic Stroke in young adults is a real public health problem; it's a major cause of disability, alters quality of life and has a great socio-economic impact. AIM: determine risk factors and specify the etiology of arterial ischemic stroke in young Tunisian adults. METHODS: In this 5 years retrospective study (2015-2020), we included all young adults (18-50 years) admitted for arterial ischemic stroke (AIS). Risk factors were registered and analyzed. All patients were investigated using a standard protocol: biological tests, brain imaging, carotid ultrasound and cardiac assessment. Additional investigations were carried out at the discretion of the treating physician. The cause of ischemic stroke was classified according to the TOAST criteria. RESULTS: We collected 200 patients with AIS. The mean age was 41.37 years ± 6.99. Traditional vascular risk factors were observed in more than 1/4 patients. A definite cause of stroke was identified in 120 patients. Cardio-embolic causes were the most common among our patients (19%) followed by atherosclerosis of the large arteries (11.5%). Other determined etiologies were found in 27.5% of patients. The etiology remained unclear in 40% of cases: undetermined despite complete investigation in 17.5%, undetermined and incompletely investigated 14.5 % and more than one potential pathomechanisms in 8%. CONCLUSION: Through this study, we demonstrated the diversity of etiology of stroke in young Tunisian adults. Changes of lifestyle are responsible for the occurrence of the traditional risk factors at an early age. Rheumatic heart diseases remain a frequent cause of AIS in our area.

Acute-onset chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy following AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine: a case report.

COVID-19 vaccination side effects have been increasingly reported, including new-onset autoimmune diseases such as chronic arthritis, thrombocytopenia, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and more recently chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathies (CIDP). Molecular mimicry and vaccine adjuvants appear to be important contributors to immune-mediated neuropathies. However, whether the link between the COVID-19 vaccine and these autoimmune disorders is coincidental or causal remains uncertain. We describe the ever-reported case of acute-onset CIDP following the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in Tunisia. The patient is a 41-year-old man who presented with acute, worsening weakness of the four limbs. The symptoms appeared 15 days after his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The diagnosis of GBS was initially confirmed according to the clinical features, the albumino-cytological dissociation in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and the electroneuromyography (ENMG) findings. Serum workup for all known infections associated with immune-mediated neuropathy was negative. The patient was treated with plasma exchange without initial improvement followed by aggravation of the symptomatology after an interval of four and a half months. Control ENMG showed signs of CIDP meeting the European Academy of Neurology/Peripheral Nerve Society (EAN/PNS) criteria of 2021. The patient was treated with maintenance intravenous immunoglobulin and oral corticosteroids. Neurological examination 3 months after discharge showed partial improvement. Worldwide, cases of demyelinating polyneuropathies post-COVID-19 vaccination are increasingly reported. The acute onset of CIDP might lead to a misdiagnosis of GBS. Awareness of this complication and distinction from GBS enables early relay with maintenance treatment to prevent relapses and severe complications. Post-COVID neuropathies are found to be more frequently linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, however, temporal association does not confirm causal association.

Gender norms in a context of legal pluralism: Impacts on the health of women and girls in Ethiopia.

To achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5 for gender equality by 2030, it is crucial for health and development professionals and governmental officials to understand how legal systems empower or oppress populations on the basis of gender worldwide, including opportunities and challenges of statutory provisions created by legal pluralism. Using Ethiopia as a case study, this paper examines how local laws applied in Sharia and Customary Dispute Resolution courts impact gender equality and the health of women and girls inspite of the inculcation of human rights statutes into national legislation, including the Constitution. We identify several key issues with the substantive law and its enforcement. First, laws which have been instituted at the national level to improve gender equally have been poorly enforced at the local level. Second, there is a sustained enforcement of laws that oppress women and that protect male perpetrators of gender-based violations. Third, local courts limit female representation and uphold patriarchy. To improve the health of women and girls, stakeholders must take into consideration the ways in which legal systems uphold harmful gender norms and obstruct and/or advance progress towards equal representation, opportunities, and constitutionally-mandated protections for all.

Cerebral venous thrombosis after first Methotrexate administration by lumbar puncture in a patient with large B cell lymphoma.

Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare consequence of lumbar punctures for intrathecal therapy. We report a patient treated for diffuse large B cell lymphoma with cerebral venous thrombosis after intrathecal Methotrexate administration. In this patient, intrathecal treatment was discontinued and he was successfully treated with high-dose low-molecular-weight heparin subcutaneously. Haematologist must be aware about neurological symptoms of cerebral venous thrombosis as a complication of lumbar puncture especially among patients with high coagulopathy state. If neurological symptom occurs, patient should be referred early to neurologist to avoid fatal outcome and neurological deficit.

Guillain-Barré syndrome following the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine: case report and review of reported cases.

BACKGROUND: Since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has started in December 2019, millions of people have been infected all over the world. Vaccination is the most efficient tool to end this pandemic, but vaccine surveillance is necessary to identify side effects. Some studies have shown that neurological complications after COVID-19 vaccination are rare and dominated by demyelinating disease. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of a 67-year-old man who presented 7 days following his first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine a rapidly progressive ascending muscle weakness. The diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) was confirmed according to the clinical features, the albumino-cytological dissociation in the cerebrospinal fluid, and the electroneuromyography findings. The workup for all known infections associated with immune-mediated GBS was negative. The patient received treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin. Neurological examination 1 month after discharge showed full recovery and he regained his baseline functional status. CONCLUSIONS: As far as we know, this is the first reported case in Tunisia. Although extremely rare, neurologists should remain vigilant for acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy after COVID-19 vaccination.

[Prognostic factors for mortality due to acute arterial stroke in a North African population]. / Facteurs pronostiques de mortalité par accident vasculaire cérébral artériel à la phase aiguë dans une population nord-africaine.

INTRODUCTION: cerebrovascular accident (stroke) constitutes a major public health problem due to the number of people affected and to its medical social and economic consequences. This study aims to identify poor vital prognostic factors for survival in patients with acute arterial stroke. METHODS: we conducted a prospective study of patients with symptoms suggestive of stroke at the two University Hospitals of Sfax, Tunisia over a period of 4 months. Patients were followed-up for a period of 1 month. RESULTS: we collected data from 200 patients. After one month of follow-up, mortality was 19.9%. Poor prognostic factors were: male sex, consumption of tobacco, a history of stroke, low Glasgow score, high NIHSS, headaches, acute symptomatic epileptic seizures, Babinski's sign, mydriasis, aphasia, combined deviation of the head and the eyes, high PAS, PAD and PAM, hyperthermia, hyperglycaemia, leukocytosis, high concentration of CRP, creatinine, urea and troponin T, haemorrhagic stroke, perilesional oedema, a mass effect, commitment, total middle cerebral artery topography of ischemia, early signs of ischemia, meningeal hemorrhage, ventricular flood, hydrocephalus, the recourse to respiratory support, to anti-edematous treatment and to antihypertensive therapy, hemorrhagic transformation, vascular epilepsy, infectious, metabolic complications, complications of bed sores. CONCLUSION: the identification of the predictive factors for survival allows for optimisation of therapeutic procedures and better implementation of patient' management. A comparative study will be considered to measure the impact of the corrective measures.

Gendered empowerment and HIV prevention: policy and programmatic pathways to success in the MENA region.

Although HIV in the Middle East and North Africa is currently characterized as a low seroprevalence epidemic, there are numerous factors that are present in the region that could prevent-or exacerbate-the epidemic. The time to invest substantially in prevention-and gender-specific prevention in particular-is now. Given that most policy makers do not make gender-specific plans as epidemics progress, our research team-which draws upon expertise from both within and outside the region-worked together to make programmatic and policy suggestions in the Middle East and North Africa region in 5 key areas: (1) gender-specific and gender transformative HIV prevention interventions; (2) access to quality education and improvements in life skills and sex education; (3) economic empowerment; (4) property rights; and (5) antiviolence. In short, this work builds upon many ongoing efforts in the region and elucidates some of the links between gendered empowerment and health outcomes around the world, particularly HIV and AIDS.