Myths, misconceptions, and hesitancy in people residing in Qatar toward mRNA COVID-19 vaccines: An experience exchange from Qatar University health center.

The hesitancy in taking COVID-19 vaccines is a complex process influenced by several factors, including individual, social, and cultural. Health literacy and community awareness around mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are critical for successfully combating the pandemic. Healthcare professionals, including family physicians and nurses, can help increase community awareness and mitigate some misconceptions and hesitancy regarding mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in people's attitudes. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to explore how the interaction between an individual's social identities such as gender, ethnicity, culture, knowledge, and belief impact their hesitancy and attitudes toward mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. We aimed to describe our experience in dealing with people residing in Qatar from the perspective of healthcare practitioners from the Qatar University Health Center during the period when mRNA COVID-19 vaccines was introduced in a time frame of 6 months (April to October, 2021). We identified several factors associated with the reluctance to receive mRNA COVID-19 vaccines once vaccination services were available, affordable, and accessible to everyone in Qatar (Table 1). Most individuals were hesitant and refused to take mRNA COVID-19 vaccines owing to the unjustified myths and fear about potential side effects of vaccines in general and unknown long-term effects of vaccination, especially among women who were uneducated. We believe we have been able to put forth a fair, unbiased, and balanced argument between an individual's right to take or refuse the vaccine and the overall benefits to the public and community health in terms of the overall community immunity when the vast majority of the population will be vaccinated. Our experience could assist in developing culturally sensitive and tailored community outreach programs to increase community awareness as it is the cornerstone on which public health can fight the irrational myths, fear, misconceptions, vaccine hesitancy, and improve vaccination coverages. Moreover, our shared experiences might be able to better prepare future launching of pandemic vaccination campaigns in order to minimize vaccine hesitancy.

Kawasaki disease in association with urinary tract infection.

We report a 2-month-old infant with E. coli urinary tract infection, who did not respond to antibiotic therapy. She later developed clinical features fulfilling criteria of Kawasaki disease (KD), and was treated with intravenous immunolglobulin and aspirin. KD should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients who present with infection and do not respond to antibiotic therapy.

Enhancement of DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor-induced apoptosis by ursodeoxycholic acid.

Certain hydrophobic bile acids, including deoxycholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid, exert toxic effects not only in the liver but also in the intestine. Moreover, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which has protective actions against apoptosis in the liver, may have both protective and toxic effects in the intestine. The goal of the present study was to clarify the mechanisms responsible for the toxic effect of UDCA in intestinal HT-29 cells. Here, we show that UDCA potentiated both phosphatidylserine externalization and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation induced by SN-38, the most potent metabolite of the DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor, CPT-11. Furthermore, the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential as well as mitochondrial membrane permeability transition induced by SN-38 was enhanced in the presence of UDCA, resulting in an increased lethality determined by colony-forming assay. This UDCA-induced increased apoptosis was not due to alteration of either intracellular accumulation of SN-38 or cell cycle arrest by SN-38. The increased apoptosis was best observed when UDCA was present after SN-38 stimulation and was independent of caspase-8 but dependent on caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation. Furthermore, UDCA enhanced SN-38-induced c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase activation. In conclusion, UDCA increases the apoptotic effects while decreasing the necrotic effects of SN-38 when added after the topoisomerase I inhibitor, showing potential clinical relevance as far as targeted cell death and improved wound healing are concerned. However, the use of this bile acid as an enhancer in antitumor chemotherapy should be further evaluated clinically.