Publications by authors named "Al-Ali H"

The term chondrosarcoma refers to a rare and heterogeneous group of malignant cartilaginous tumors that are typically resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Metastatic chondrosarcoma has a poor prognosis, and effective systemic therapies are lacking. Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations represent a potential therapeutic target, but IDH inhibitors alone have shown limited clinical efficacy to date.

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Anemia is a common and progressive clinical manifestation of myelofibrosis that may occur as part of the disease pathogenesis as well as due to the myelosuppressive effects of some treatments, with a substantial impact on quality of life, prognosis, and healthcare resource utilization. Despite these burdens, anemia management has traditionally been a secondary priority to spleen and symptom control, due in part to the limitations of available therapeutic approaches. With the initial regulatory approvals of momelotinib, a Janus kinase 1 (JAK1), JAK2, and activin A receptor type 1 inhibitor that provides anemia-related benefits in addition to addressing splenomegaly and symptoms, re-evaluation of anemia as an early and prominent treatment consideration is warranted.

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We have used multiple sequencing approaches to sequence the genome of a volunteer from Saudi Arabia. We use the resulting data to generate a de novo assembly of the genome, and use different computational approaches to refine the assembly. As a consequence, we provide a contiguous assembly of the complete genome of an individual from Saudi Arabia for all chromosomes except chromosome Y, and label this assembly KSA001.

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Background: Snakebite envenomation remains a significant public health concern in Asir Province of Saudi Arabia.

Aim: To characterize snake species and the clinical presentation, outcome and management of snakebite cases admitted to 4 major hospitals in Asir Province, Saudi Arabia .

Methods: This retrospective study reviewed medical records of paediatric and adult snakebite cases admitted to 4 regional hospitals in Saudi Arabia between January 2000 and December 2021 using search terms "snakebite", "cobra", "polyvalent antivenin", "antivenom", "compartment syndrome", and "fasciotomy".

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Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma and the most frequently diagnosed hematologic malignancy in the United States. DLBCL exhibits significant molecular and clinical heterogeneity, and at least a third of patients are left uncured with standard frontline chemoimmunotherapy. As such, there is a critical need to identify novel targeted therapies to improve outcomes.

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Septins are a family of cytokinesis-related proteins involved in regulating cytoskeletal design, cell morphology, and tissue morphogenesis. Apart from cytokinesis, as a fourth component of cytoskeleton, septins aid in forming scaffolds, vesicle sorting and membrane stability. They are also known to be involved in the regulation of intracellular calcium (Ca) via the STIM/Orai complex.

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  • A study was conducted to evaluate the quality of cancer care in Sub-Saharan Africa by examining how well diagnostic and treatment practices align with NCCN guidelines in 10 countries.
  • Researchers analyzed data from adult cancer patients and identified a low rate of guideline adherence, especially for cancers like cervical and colorectal cancer, which had the poorest compliance.
  • The findings highlighted significant gaps in diagnostic and treatment services, especially in lower HDI countries, indicating a need for improvements to increase curable cancer cases across the region.
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  • Most patients with myelofibrosis who are treated with ruxolitinib eventually develop intolerance or relapse, leading to poor survival rates after stopping the drug; hence, the study evaluates fedratinib against best available therapy (BAT).
  • The FREEDOM2 trial was a phase 3, open-label study involving 201 patients with myelofibrosis who were either intolerant or had relapsed during ruxolitinib treatment, comparing fedratinib to BAT, with the main goal being the rate of spleen volume reduction after 6 cycles.
  • At the data cutoff, 36% of patients treated with fedratinib achieved a significant spleen volume reduction by the end of cycle
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  • Myeloid sarcomas (MS) are rare tumors associated with poor outcomes, and this study highlights the limited understanding of their tumor microenvironment (TME) compared to other malignancies.
  • Researchers examined HLA-I antigen expression and TME composition in 45 MS samples, finding reduced levels of HLA-I heavy chain and beta-2 microglobulin, along with an immune cell-excluded TME with fewer tissue infiltrating lymphocytes.
  • The findings suggest that immune evasion plays a significant role in MS development, indicating a need for personalized therapies targeting these immune escape mechanisms.
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Given the selection of elderly patients with AML in first complete remission (CR1) the advantage of consolidation with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) over chemotherapy is still unclear. Newly diagnosed AML patients in CR1 aged 60-75 years were registered and a donor search initiated. After one consolidation cycle, patients with a matched donor were randomized to HCT with fludarabine/low-dose total body irradiation and cyclosporine/mycophenolate mofetil immunosuppression or conventional non-HCT.

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Objective: To assess the perceptions of novice and experienced undergraduate dental students of virtual learning with two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) vision.

Materials And Methods: This qualitative study involved 21 students from the second and fourth years of a 5-year BDS program. They first performed three operative tasks in virtual reality (VR) training sessions using both 2D and 3D vision.

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  • Momelotinib, a newly approved JAK1/2 inhibitor, shows promise in treating myelofibrosis (MF) patients, particularly those with anemia, improving hemoglobin and platelet levels over a median treatment duration of 12 weeks.
  • In a study of 60 MF patients, 39% of transfusion-dependent individuals experienced reduced transfusion needs, with 21% achieving transfusion independence in about 4 weeks.
  • While momelotinib is effective, it also presented safety concerns, with 17% of patients experiencing creatinine increases, and some patients discontinued treatment due to side effects or worsening symptoms.
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Background: Pacritinib is a JAK2/IRAK1/ACVR1 inhibitor that is approved in the United States for the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis who have a platelet count < 50 × 109/L. Phase 3 clinical studies of pacritinib included patients across a wide range of baseline platelet and hemoglobin levels.

Patients And Methods: In order to assess the impact of baseline blood counts on pacritinib efficacy, an analysis of efficacy outcomes by baseline platelet and hemoglobin levels was performed using data pooled from 2 Phase 3 studies of pacritinib in patients with MF (PERSIST-1 and PERSIST-2).

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Development of Janus-kinase (JAK) inhibitors has revolutionized the therapeutic landscape for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasia (MPN). Following approval of the first JAK1/2-inhibitor Ruxolitinib, symptoms of this inflammatory disease, characterized by splenomegaly, release of inflammatory cytokines and appearance of thrombosis, could be effectively reduced for the first time. However, JAK-inhibitor treatment is limited in several aspects: 1) duration of response: 3 years after initiation of therapy more than 50% of patients have discontinued JAK-inhibitor treatment due to lack of efficacy or resistance; 2) reduction of disease burden: while effective in reducing inflammation and constitutional symptoms, JAK-inhibitors fail to reduce the malignant clone in the majority of patients and therefore lack long-term efficacy.

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Purpose/objectives: The aim of this study was to quantitatively investigate the impact of stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) vision on students' performance when compared with that of two-dimensional (2D) vision in a 3D virtual reality (VR) simulator.

Methods: Twenty-four dental students (second- and fourth-year BDS) were assigned to perform three operative tasks under 3D and 2D viewing conditions on a Virteasy (HRV) simulator. Groups were crossed over and all students performed the same tasks under the alternate viewing conditions.

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Genetic aberrations and immune escape are fundamental in MDS and CMML initiation and progression to sAML. Therefore, quantitative and spatial immune cell organization, expression of immune checkpoints (ICP), classical human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) and the non-classical HLA-Ib antigens were analyzed in 274 neoplastic and 50 non-neoplastic bone marrow (BM) biopsies using conventional and multiplex immunohistochemistry and correlated to publicly available dataset. Higher numbers of tissue infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were found in MDS/CMML (8.

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  • Interferon-based therapies like ropeginterferon alfa-2b are showing promise as potential treatments for essential thrombocythemia (ET), which current therapies don't modify or improve disease progression.
  • Ropeginterferon alfa-2b has been effective in treating polycythemia vera (PV) and could similarly benefit ET patients who can't tolerate or are resistant to existing treatments.
  • The ongoing ROP-ET trial aims to evaluate its effectiveness over three years, focusing on patient responses, quality of life, and safety, providing crucial data for treatment options in this underserved group.
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In this study we conducted the first investigation to assess the efficacy of a novel therapeutic antibody developed to target annexin-A1 (ANXA1). ANXA1 is an immunomodulatory protein which has been shown to be overexpressed in, and promote the development and progression of, several cancer types. In particular, high ANXA1 expression levels correlate with poorer overall survival in pancreatic and triple-negative breast cancers, two cancers with considerable unmet clinical need.

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After spinal cord injury (SCI), infiltrating macrophages undergo excessive phagocytosis of myelin and cellular debris, forming lipid-laden foamy macrophages. To understand their role in the cellular pathology of SCI, investigation of the foamy macrophage phenotype in vitro revealed a pro-inflammatory profile, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Bioinformatic analysis identified PI3K as a regulator of inflammation in foamy macrophages, and inhibition of this pathway decreased their lipid content, inflammatory cytokines, and ROS production.

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Introduction: Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) ultrasound (US) is a valuable medical examination used in trauma settings, particularly for rapid responses to events such as natural disasters. Although the efficacy and benefits of FAST in patient care have been extensively studied, there is limited research on training medical students in FAST. Previous studies have found that medical students can proficiently perform a FAST US after two days of training.

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The approved dose of bosutinib in chronic phase CML is 400 mg QD in first-line and 500 mg QD in later-line treatment. However, given that gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity typically occurs early after treatment initiation, physicians often tend to start therapy with lower doses although this has never been tested systematically in prospective trials in the Western world. The Bosutinib Dose Optimization (BODO) Study, a multicenter phase II study, investigated the tolerability and efficacy of a step-in dosing concept of bosutinib (starting at 300 mg QD) in chronic phase CML patients in 2 or 3 line who were intolerant and/or refractory to previous TKI treatment.

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Background: Exercise therapy during cancer treatment reduces symptom burden and improves quality of life (QoL). Polycythemia vera (PV) is a myeloproliferative neoplasia associated with good overall survival (up to decades) but a significant symptom burden, including thromboembolic events and dysesthesias. There are no specific exercise recommendations for patients with PV.

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  • - The MOMENTUM study successfully showed that momelotinib, compared to danazol, provided significant improvements in symptoms, spleen size, and anemia in myelofibrosis patients at the 24-week mark, and this analysis focuses on outcomes from 24 to 48 weeks.
  • - The study involved 107 international sites with adult patients who had a history of myelofibrosis and were treated with a Janus kinase inhibitor, with participants randomly assigned to receive either momelotinib or danazol for 24 weeks.
  • - After 24 weeks, all patients transitioned to open-label momelotinib, and this updated analysis reports on the duration of responses and additional patient results through week 48
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Increased economization in the German health care system may have an impact on medical decisions. A selective literature search presents an overview of the current evidence on the influence of financial incentives on inpatient healthcare in Germany. Due to the current economic pressure, physicians increasingly feel subjected to financial constraints concerning indication and treatment decisions.

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