Unidentified Object in the Mediastinum: A Case Report of Severe Aortic Calcification in a Patient With Rheumatoid Arthritis.

We present a case of an 80-year-old female with a past medical history of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who was incidentally found to have severe circumferential thoracic aortic calcification detected on chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest. This case highlights the chronic inflammatory state and immunological vascular damage as key mechanisms for the accumulation of dystrophic calcification in the blood vessels and soft tissues of patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It also emphasizes the importance of coordinated multidisciplinary care and management between different specialties including primary care physician (PCP), cardiology, and rheumatology to address all the challenges related to disease control and optimize cardiovascular risk factors in this patient population.

Neurological problems in the context of COVID-19 infection in Egypt. A multicenter retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 infection has spread so fast in both low- and high-income countries. In December 2019, an outbreak of a respiratory disease occurred in China, and later, it involved different countries. Acute neurological insults are more likely to occur in severely infected patients. METHODS: We tried to evaluate patients with selective criteria including, the age of participants 18 and older with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, and developed neurological complications post COVID-19 infection. An overall data of 1500 patients were collected from neurological and primary health care departments. About 970 of them had neurological problems. Patients-related data were gathered and assembled from the patients' records at participating hospitals from the Ministry of Health and university hospitals. RESULTS: We presented the results according to several variables including, regional distribution, reasons of presentation, neurological complications, follow-ups, and survival outcome. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, we conducted the first retrospective analysis for neurological problems related to COVID-19 infection in Egypt. COVID-19 patients present with a variety of central and peripheral neurological symptoms, the pathogenic mechanisms of which have not been explained. Robust investigations of the neurological presentations of COVID-19 infection should be recruited for better understanding of the possible association. Moreover, further explaining the pathophysiologic mechanisms will help in designing proper treatment plans.