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Several studies have discovered a relationship between specific blood types, genetic variations of the ABO gene, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the association between ABO rs657152 polymorphisms and ABO blood groups with COVID-19 mortality. The tetraprimer amplification refractory mutation system, polymerase chain reaction method, was used for ABO rs657152 polymorphism genotyping in 1,211 dead and 1,442 improved patients. In the current study, the frequency of ABO rs657152 AA than CC genotypes was significantly higher in dead patients than in improved patients. Our findings indicated that blood type A was associated with the highest risk of COVID-19 mortality compared to other blood groups, and patients with blood type O have a lower risk of infection, suggesting that blood type O may be a protective factor against COVID-19 mortality. Multivariate logistic regression test indicated that higher COVID-19 mortality rates were linked with alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, high density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, fasting blood glucose, uric acid, creatinine, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, real-time PCR Ct values, ABO blood groups, and ABO rs657152 AA genotype. In conclusion, the AA genotype of ABO rs657152 and blood type A were associated with a considerably increased frequency of COVID-19 mortality. Further research is necessary to validate the obtained results., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Fahimeh Mirzaei Gheinari et al.)

Host genetic factors may be correlated with the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) plays a vital role in viral cell entrance. The current study aimed to evaluate the association of ACE2 rs2285666 polymorphism and clinical parameters with COVID-19 mortality. The ACE2 rs2285666 polymorphism was genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in 556 recovered and 522 dead patients. In this study, the frequency of ACE2 rs2285666 CC was significantly higher than TT genotype in dead patients. The multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that the higher levels of alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein and the low levels of uric acid, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, real-time PCR Ct values, and ACE2 rs2285666 CC genotype were associated with increased mortality rates after COVID-19. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated a possible link between COVID-19 mortality, clinical parameters, and ACE2 rs2285666 CC. Further research is required to confirm these results., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Early diagnosis is appropriate and important for developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. In many less developed countries, unfortunately, diagnosis of this disorder is delayed. The aim of the present study is to determine whether this disorder can be screened using simple strategies such as comparison of the age of acquisition of motor skills. For this purpose, 124 children with autism were chosen to enter the study, and their parents were asked to retrospectively specify the age of achieving milestones of sitting without support, standing alone and walking alone. Information obtained from the parents was compared with World Health Organization standards. Results indicate that participants (male and female) have significantly delayed age of acquisition of all three skills. Based on this result, it can be suggested that existing standards, as a simple means with low cost and easy availability, can be used for early screening of the disease at a younger age so that treatment can be provided more quickly., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)