Novel insight into mitochondrial dynamin-related protein-1 as a new chemo-sensitizing target in resistant cancer cells.

Mitochondrial dynamics have pillar roles in several diseases including cancer. Cancer cell survival is monitored by mitochondria which impacts several cellular functions such as cell metabolism, calcium signaling, and ROS production. The equilibrium of death and survival rate of mitochondria is important for healthy cellular processes.

A nested cohort 5-year Canadian surveillance of Gram-negative antimicrobial resistance for optimized antimicrobial therapy.

We analyzed 5 years (2016-2020) of nested Canadian data from the Study for Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance Trends (SMART) to identify pathogen predominance and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of adult Gram-negative infections in Canadian health care and to complement other public surveillance programs and studies in Canada. A total of 6853 isolates were analyzed from medical (44%), surgical (18%), intensive care (22%) and emergency units (15%) and from respiratory tract (36%), intra-abdominal (25%), urinary tract (24%) and bloodstream (15%) infections. Overall, E.

Cooling potential for hot climates by utilizing thermal management of compressed air energy storage systems.

This work presents findings on utilizing the expansion stage of compressed air energy storage systems for air conditioning purposes. The proposed setup is an ancillary installation to an existing compressed air energy storage setup and is used to produce chilled water at temperatures as low as 5 °C. An experimental setup for the ancillary system has been built with appropriate telemetric devices to measure the temporal temperature variation, which consequently can be used to calculate the heat transfer and available cooling capacity.

Cardiovascular effects of waterpipe smoking: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Waterpipe smoking has developed into a major and rapidly growing global tobacco epidemic affecting more than 100 million people worldwide. This study identifies and analyzes comprehensively all available data on the cardiovascular effects of waterpipe smoking. Databases PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for studies published until December 2019 assessing cardiovascular effects of waterpipe smoking.

Reduction of Outflow Tract Obstruction After PCI to Proximal LAD in a Patient With HOCM.

We present a patient with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and accompanying aortic valve stenosis who had a myocardial infarction with a significant proximal left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis. The primary percutaneous coronary intervention resulted in a notable improvement in the left ventricular outflow tract gradient and global longitudinal strain. ().

Screening for posttraumatic stress disorder in young adult refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Introduction: In January 2016, 2057 refugees from civil war-torn Syria and Iraq, aged 18.0 to 24.9 years, were first-time entrants into the German unemployment register and thus potentially eligible for the labor market.

Building Evidence-Based Tobacco Treatment in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Lessons Learned by the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies.

The tobacco epidemic in Syria is characterized by high rates of cigarettes smoking in men and dramatic reemergence of waterpipe smoking, especially among youths and women. The Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (SCTS), an NIH-funded pioneer research and capacity building institution, has developed a research infrastructure and conducted three randomized clinical trials to develop and rigorously test culturally-appropriate tobacco treatment programs integrated into primary healthcare (PHC) centers. This review aimed to discuss challenges and lessons learned from the Syrian experience.

Contrasting cardiovascular mortality trends in Eastern Mediterranean populations: Contributions from risk factor changes and treatments.

Background: Middle income countries are facing an epidemic of non-communicable diseases, especially coronary heart disease (CHD). We used a validated CHD mortality model (IMPACT) to explain recent trends in Tunisia, Syria, the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and Turkey.

Methods: Data on populations, mortality, patient numbers, treatments and risk factor trends from national and local surveys in each country were collated over two time points (1995-97; 2006-09); integrated and analysed using the IMPACT model.

The relationship between waterpipe smoking and body weight: population-based findings from Syria.

Introduction: Cigarette smoking has well known effects on body weight, with current smokers weighing less than never-smokers, and cessation producing weight gain. Use of waterpipe (or "hookah") is increasing in many parts of the world but its effects on body weight are not known.

Methods: We compared body mass index (BMI) among 2,536 adults (age ≥ 18 years old), who were never, former, current nondaily, or current daily waterpipe smokers, drawn from 2 representative, population-based household surveys of adults in Aleppo, Syria.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of salt reduction policies to reduce coronary heart disease in Syria, 2010-2020.

Objectives: This study presents a cost-effectiveness analysis of salt reduction policies to lower coronary heart disease in Syria.

Methods: Costs and benefits of a health promotion campaign about salt reduction (HP); labeling of salt content on packaged foods (L); reformulation of salt content within packaged foods (R); and combinations of the three were estimated over a 10-year time frame. Policies were deemed cost-effective if their cost-effectiveness ratios were below the region's established threshold of $38,997 purchasing power parity (PPP).

Priority setting for the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases: multi-criteria decision analysis in four eastern Mediterranean countries.

Objectives: To explore the feasibility of using a simple multi-criteria decision analysis method with policy makers/key stakeholders to prioritize cardiovascular disease (CVD) policies in four Mediterranean countries: Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

Methods: A simple multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method was piloted. A mixed methods study was used to identify a preliminary list of policy options in each country.

Behavioral cessation treatment of waterpipe smoking: The first pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Waterpipe use has increased dramatically in the Middle East and other parts of the world. Many users exhibit signs of dependence, including withdrawal and difficulty quitting, but there is no evidence base to guide cessation efforts.

Methods: We developed a behavioral cessation program for willing-to-quit waterpipe users, and evaluated its feasibility and efficacy in a pilot, two arm, parallel group, randomized, open label trial in Aleppo, Syria.

A cost effectiveness analysis of salt reduction policies to reduce coronary heart disease in four Eastern Mediterranean countries.

Background: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is rising in middle income countries. Population based strategies to reduce specific CHD risk factors have an important role to play in reducing overall CHD mortality. Reducing dietary salt consumption is a potentially cost-effective way to reduce CHD events.

A comparative study of systemic carcinogen exposure in waterpipe smokers, cigarette smokers and non-smokers.

Background: In the past decade, waterpipe smoking-also known as hookah, shisha, narghileh-has increased among youth. The scarcity of rigorous studies linking waterpipe smoking to smoking-related diseases has hindered policy and regulatory efforts to confront the waterpipe epidemic. This study compares systemic carcinogen exposure between independent groups of exclusive waterpipe smokers, cigarette smokers and non-smokers.

Forecasting future prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Syria.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasingly becoming a major public health problem worldwide. Estimating the future burden of diabetes is instrumental to guide the public health response to the epidemic. This study aims to project the prevalence of T2DM among adults in Syria over the period 2003-2022 by applying a modelling approach to the country's own data.

Explaining the increase in coronary heart disease mortality in Syria between 1996 and 2006.

Background: Despite advances made in treating coronary heart disease (CHD), mortality due to CHD in Syria has been increasing for the past two decades. This study aims to assess CHD mortality trends in Syria between 1996 and 2006 and to investigate the main factors associated with them.

Methods: The IMPACT model was used to analyze CHD mortality trends in Syria based on numbers of CHD patients, utilization of specific treatments, trends in major cardiovascular risk factors in apparently healthy persons and CHD patients.

Randomized trial of the effectiveness of combined behavioral/pharmacological smoking cessation treatment in Syrian primary care clinics.

Aims: Effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for smoking cessation has not been evaluated in low income countries, such as Syria, where it is expensive and not widely available. We evaluated whether nicotine patch boosts smoking cessation rates when used in conjunction with behavioral support in primary care clinics in Aleppo, Syria.

Design: Two arm, parallel group, randomized, placebo controlled, double-blinded multi-site trial.

Patterns of water-pipe and cigarette smoking initiation in schoolchildren: Irbid longitudinal smoking study.

Introduction: Tobacco use remains a major public health problem worldwide. Water-pipe smoking is spreading rapidly and threatening to undermine the successes achieved in tobacco control.

Methods: A school-based longitudinal study in the city of Irbid, Jordan, was performed from 2008 to 2010.

Modifiable cardiovascular risk factors among adults in Aleppo, Syria.

Objectives: This report provides the first comprehensive and standardized assessment of the distribution of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Syria, where such data are still scarce.

Methods: A population-based household survey was conducted in Aleppo (population >2.5 million), involving 1,168 subjects ≥25 years old (47.

Are primary health care providers prepared to implement an anti-smoking program in Syria?

Objective: To document primary health care (PHC) providers' tobacco use, and how this influences their smoking cessation practices and attitudes towards tobacco-control policies.

Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to PHC providers in 7 randomly selected PHC centers in Aleppo, Syria.

Results: All PHC providers completed the questionnaires (100% response rate).

Association between smoking and chronic kidney disease: a case control study.

Background: The progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains one of the main challenges in clinical nephrology. Therefore, identifying the pathophysiological mechanisms and the independent preventable risk factors helps in decreasing the number of patients suffering end stage renal disease and slowing its progression.

Methods: Smoking data was analyzed in patients with CKD throughout 2005-2009.

Epidemiology of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Aleppo, Syria.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is considerable public health problem, but data on the prevalence and correlates of T2DM in Syria are scarce. The aim of the present study was to establish reliable estimates of the prevalence of T2DM in Syria.

Methods: A cross-sectional, population-based survey was conducted in Aleppo, Syria (population 2.

The Kamil Crater in Egypt.

We report on the detection in southern Egypt of an impact crater 45 meters in diameter with a pristine rayed structure. Such pristine structures are typically observed on atmosphereless rocky or icy planetary bodies in the solar system. This feature and the association with an iron meteorite impactor and shock metamorphism provides a unique picture of small-scale hypervelocity impacts on Earth's crust.

Hepatitis B vaccination status and needlestick injuries among healthcare workers in syria.

Background: Although a majority of countries in the Middle East show intermediate or high endemicity of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which clearly poses a serious public health problem in the region, the situation in the Republic of Syria remains unclear. The aim of this study is to determine the hepatitis B vaccination status, to assess the number of vaccinations administered, and to estimate the annual incidence of needlestick injuries (NSIs) among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Aleppo University hospitals.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional design with a survey questionnaire was used for exploring details of NSIs during 2008, hepatitis B vaccination status, and HBV infection among a random stratified sample of HCWs in three tertiary hospitals in Aleppo (n = 321).