Increasing evidence suggests that AnxA2 contributes to invasion and metastasis of breast cancer. However, the clinical significance of AnxA2 expression in breast cancer has not been reported. The expression of AnxA2 in cell lines, tumor tissues, and serum samples of breast cancer patients were analyzed by immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. We found that AnxA2 was significantly upregulated in tumor tissues and serum samples of breast cancer patients compared with normal controls. The high expression of serum AnxA2 was significantly associated with tumor grades and poor survival of the breast cancer patients. Based on molecular subtypes, AnxA2 expression was significantly elevated in tumor tissues and serum samples of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients compared with other breast cancer subtypes. Our analyses on breast cancer cell lines demonstrated that secretion of AnxA2 is associated with its tyrosine 23 (Tyr23) phosphorylation in cells. The expression of non-phosphomimetic mutant of AnxA2 in HCC1395 cells inhibits its secretion from cells compared to wild-type AnxA2, which further suggest that Tyr23 phosphorylation is a critical step for AnxA2 secretion from TNBC cells. Our analysis of AnxA2 phosphorylation in clinical samples further confirmed that the phosphorylation of AnxA2 at Tyr23 was high in tumor tissues of TNBC patients compared to matched adjacent non-tumorigenic breast tissues. Furthermore, we observed that the diagnostic value of serum AnxA2 was significantly high in TNBC compared with other breast cancer subtypes. These findings suggest that serum AnxA2 concentration could be a potential diagnostic biomarker for TNBC patients.

Arboviruses such as Chikungunya (CHIKV), Dengue (DENV), and Zika virus (ZIKV) have emerged as a significant public health concern in Mexico. The existing literature lacks evidence regarding the dispersion of arboviruses, thereby limiting public health policy’s ability to integrate the diagnosis, management, and prevention. This study seeks to reveal the clinical symptoms of CHIK, DENV, and ZIKV by age group, region, sex, and time across Mexico. The confirmed cases of CHIKV, DENV, and ZIKV were compiled from January 2012 to March 2020. Demographic characteristics analyzed significant clinical symptoms of confirmed cases. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the association between clinical symptoms and geographical regions. Females and individuals aged 15 and older had higher rates of reported significant symptoms across all three arboviruses. DENV showed a temporal variation of symptoms by regions 3 and 5, whereas ZIKV presented temporal variables in regions 2 and 4. This study revealed unique and overlapping symptoms between CHIKV, DENV, and ZIKV. However, the differentiation of CHIKV, DENV, and ZIKV is difficult, and diagnostic facilities are not available in rural areas. There is a need for adequately trained healthcare staff alongside well-equipped lab facilities, including hematological tests and imaging facilities.

Dengue fever is one of the most important viral infections transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Accurate identification of cases and treatment of dengue patients at the early stages can reduce medical complications and dengue mortality rate. This survey aims to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) among physicians in dengue diagnosis and treatment. This study was conducted among physicians in Turkey as one nonendemic country and Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia as three dengue-endemic countries. The dosing frequencies, maximum doses, and contraindications in dengue fever were examined. The results found that physicians from Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia have higher KAP scores in dengue diagnosis and treatment compared to physicians in Turkey. This may be due to a lack of physician’s exposure to a dengue patient as Turkey is considered a nonendemic country. This assessment may help establish a guideline for intervention strategies among physicians to have successful treatment outcomes and reduce dengue mortality.

In this study, we aim to evaluate the significance of AnxA2 in BLCA and establish its metastatic role in bladder cancer cells. Analysis of TCGA data showed that AnxA2 mRNA expression was significantly higher in BLCA tumors than in normal bladder tissues. High mRNA expression of AnxA2 in BLCA was significantly associated with high pathological grades and stages, non-papillary tumor histology, and poor overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and diseases specific survival (DSS). Similarly, we found that AnxA2 expression was higher in bladder cancer cells derived from high-grade metastatic carcinoma than in cells derived from low-grade urothelial carcinoma. AnxA2 expression significantly mobilized to the surface of highly metastatic bladder cancer cells compared to cells derived from low-grade tumors and associated with high plasmin generation and AnxA2 secretion. In addition, the downregulation of AnxA2 cells significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion in bladder cancer along with the reduction in proangiogenic factors and cytokines such as PDGF-BB, ANGPT1, ANGPT2, Tie-2, bFGF, GRO, IL-6, IL-8, and MMP-9. These findings suggest that AnxA2 could be a promising biomarker and therapeutic target for high-grade BLCA.

: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect all countries across the globe, this study seeks to investigate the relationship between nations’ governance, COVID-19 national data, and nation-level COVID-19 vaccination coverage. National-level governance indicators (corruption index, voice and accountability, political stability, and absence of violence/terrorism), officially reported COVID-19 national data (cases, death, and tests per one million population), and COVID-19 vaccination coverage was considered for this study to predict COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Results indicate a strong relationship between nations’ governance and officially reported COVID-19 data. Countries were grouped into three clusters using only the governance data: politically stable countries, average countries or “less corrupt countries,” and corrupt countries or “more corrupt countries.” The clusters were then tested for significant differences in reporting various aspects of the COVID-19 data. According to multinomial regression, countries in the cluster of politically stable nations reported significantly more deaths, tests per one million, total cases per one million, and higher vaccination coverage compared with nations both in the clusters of corrupt countries and average countries. The countries in the cluster of average nations reported more tests per one million and higher vaccination coverage than countries in the cluster of corrupt nations. Countries included in the corrupt cluster reported a lower death rate and morbidity, particularly compared with the politically stable nations cluster, a trend that can be attributed to poor governance and inaccurate COVID-19 data reporting. The epidemic evaluation indices of the COVID-19 cases demonstrate that the pandemic is still evolving on a global level.