Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic, relapsing, itchy, skin condition occurring in patients with a personal or family history of atopy, and there is clinical association among different allergic disease in a way that treating one of them will improve the other. Many studies worldwide showed presence of AD in asthmatic children with different prevalence among countries and showed clinical improvement in asthma control on treatment of atopic dermatitis. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of atopic dermatitis among Libyan asthmatic children. Methods: This is an observational cohort study on asthmatic Libyan children who were treated and followed up at Tripoli children hospital in Tripoli, Libya. It carried out on 300 children suffering from asthma admitted from pediatric outpatient department as well as from emergency department and asthma clinic over a period of 24 months; from December 2017 to December 2019. The parents were asked to complete a questionnaire to collect the needed information after their consent being taken. To assure the accuracy and consistency of the methodology (sampling procedure, measurements, and a collection of the data), a standardized protocol was prepared. Data were entered in SPSS statistical package and consequently were analyzed and presented as descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of atopic dermatitis among asthmatic Libyan children was 16.7% in our study. The results showed significant relationship between address and prevalence of atopic dermatitis. Conclusion. Further studies are required to address the ethnicity, environmental factors, skin type and others attributed to this problem and we recommend all pediatricians to look for AD in asthmatic children and treat it accordingly arabic 7 English 56
Hisham Alrabty, Munera Addala(5-2020)

Mutations in the TAL1 (T-cell acute leukemia 1) gene were recently described in patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) and in those with lymphoblastic T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (T-NHL). The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the prevalence of mutations in TAL1 gene in T-ALL and TNHL. DNA samples from 15 unrelated healthy controls, 20 T-ALL patients, and 10 T-NHL patients were analyzed using DNA-PCR and direct DNA sequencing to identify sequence genetic variations in TAL1 gene (exons 2 and 3). TAL1 exon 2 mutations were identified in 7.7% adult and 12.5% adolescent T-ALL patients analyzed. TAL1 exon 2 mutations were detected in 16.7% of the adult TNHL patients analyzed. Sequencing of TAL1 exon 3 showed no sequence variation for the T-ALL and T-NHL cancer patients analyzed. No sex difference where observed in the incidences of TAL1 exons 2 mutations between T-ALL and T-NHL patients with and without TAL1 mutations. TAL1 exon 2 missense and frame-shift mutations were present in 44.4% (4/9) and 55.6% (5/9) of T-ALL patients, respectively. However, the frame-shift and missense mutations in the T-NHL patients accounted for, where respectively, 60% (3/5) and 40% (4/5) of all TAL1 exon 2 mutations. Comparing the clinical features showed that there are no differences in PLT and WBC counts as well as the average age between T-ALL and T-NHL patients with and without TAL1 mutations. Overall, these findings indicate that TAL1 mutations are too rare to be of clinical relevance, and do not seem to be significantly associated with the increased T-ALL and T-NHL susceptibility, implying different pathways with respect to TAL1 genetic polymorphisms as a risk factor for T-ALL and T-NHL at least in this population of Libyans.
Amal E. Elarifi, Othman A. El-Ansari, Mohamed A. Al-Griw(12-2016)

Introduction: Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), including the AmpC type, are important mechanisms of resistance among Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli isolates. Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the occurrence of AmpC-type β-lactamase producers isolated from two hospitals in Tripoli, Libya. Methods: All clinical isolates (76 K. pneumoniae and 75 E. coli) collected over two years (2013-2014) were evaluated for susceptibility to a panel of antimicrobials and were analyzed phenotypically for the ESBL and AmpC phenotype using E-test and ESBL and AmpC screen disc test. Both ESBL and AmpC-positive isolates were then screened for the presence of genes encoding plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamases by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Of the K. pneumoniae and E. coli tested, 75% and 16% were resistant to gentamicin, 74% and 1.3% to imipenem, 71% and 12% to cefoxitin, 80% and 12% to cefepime, 69% and 22.6% to ciprofloxacin, respectively. None of the E. coli isolates were multidrug resistant compared with K. pneumoniae (65.8%). K. pneumoniae ESBL producers were significantly higher (85.5%) compared with (17.3%) E. coli isolates (P
Abdulaziz Zorgani, Abdulla Bashein(1-2017)