Liquid biopsy as a tool for KRAS/NRAS/BRAF baseline testing in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Background: The absence of KRAS and NRAS gene mutations (RAS wild type) in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), is associated with a good response to targeted therapy with anti-EGFR receptor antibodies. The current gold standard for RAS mutational status identification is genetic testing on tissue biopsy samples.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the relevance of liquid biopsy as a less invasive alternative to tissue biopsy for detecting KRAS/NRAS and BRAF mutations in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Delayed and Attenuated Antibody Responses to Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination With Poor Cross-Variant Neutralization in Solid-Organ Transplant Recipients-A Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Background: Therapeutically immunosuppressed transplant recipients exhibit attenuated responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines. To elucidate the kinetics and variant cross-protection of vaccine-induced antibodies in this population, we conducted a prospective longitudinal study in heart and lung transplant recipients receiving the SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA (mRNA) 3-dose vaccination series.

Methods: We measured longitudinal serum antibody and neutralization responses against the ancestral and major variants of SARS-CoV-2 in SARS-CoV-2-uninfected lung (n = 18) and heart (n = 17) transplant recipients, non-lung-transplanted patients with cystic fibrosis (n = 7), and healthy controls (n = 12) before, during, and after the primary mRNA vaccination series.

Consensus on the management of platinum-sensitive high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer in Lebanon.

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic cancer. The high grade serous epithelial (HGSE) subtype is the most aggressive and it often presents at advanced stages, while screening programs have not proven beneficial. Management of the advanced stages (FIGO III and IV), which constitute the majority of diagnoses, usually consists of platinum-based chemotherapy and cytoreductive surgery (primary or interval) followed by maintenance therapy.

Diagnosis and management of patients with stage III non‑small cell lung cancer: A joint statement by the Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology and the Lebanese Pulmonary Society (Review).

Proper management of stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) might result in a cure or patient long-term survival. Management should therefore be preceded by adequate and accurate diagnosis and staging, which will inform therapeutic decisions. A panel of oncologists, surgeons and pulmonologists in Lebanon convened to establish a set of recommendations to guide and unify clinical practice, in alignment with international standards of care.

Pneumococcal Disease in High-Risk Adults in Lebanon: Expert Opinion.

Pneumococcal disease affects people across all ages but is more prevalent in young children and the elderly. Despite the availability of the pneumococcal vaccine for adults, the disease burden and mortality associated with it remains a challenge. A few studies conducted in Lebanon have reported epidemiology of pneumococcal disease, concurring the high burden among adults and older adults in the region.

Incidence of BRAF V600E Gene Mutation Among Lebanese Population in Melanoma and Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Study Between 2010 and 2019.

Introduction: Cancers arise owing to the accumulation of mutations in critical genes that leads to uncontrolled cell division and the avoidance of apoptosis. Among these oncogenes, BRAF is a potent mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activator known to be somatically mutated by a glutamic acid to valine substitution at codon 600 (V600E). It is a common finding in various types of human cancers, including malignant melanoma and colorectal cancer (CRC), and is considered a poor prognostic factor and a predictive biomarker.

The first Middle East and North Africa expert consensus recommendations for the management of advanced colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is ranked as the third most prevalent and the second deadliest cancer worldwide. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the number of CRC cases increased over the past decades and will nearly double by 2030. The lack of clear MENA guidelines for the management of patients with CRC represents a step backwards in the fight against this burden.

Overcoming Therapy Resistance in Colon Cancer by Drug Repurposing.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world. Despite improvement in standardized screening methods and the development of promising therapies, the 5-year survival rates are as low as 10% in the metastatic setting. The increasing life expectancy of the general population, higher rates of obesity, poor diet, and comorbidities contribute to the increasing trends in incidence.

Topology and Contribution to the Pore Channel Lining of Plasma Membrane-Embedded Shigella flexneri Type 3 Secretion Translocase IpaB.

spp. are human bacterial pathogens that cause bacillary dysentery. Virulence depends on a type 3 secretion system (T3SS), a highly conserved structure present in multiple important human and plant pathogens.

Vaccine serologic responses among transplant patients associate with COVID-19 infection and T peripheral helper cells.

Background: Therapeutically immunosuppressed transplant recipients exhibit attenuated responses to COVID-19 vaccines. To better understand the immune alterations that determined poor vaccine response, we correlated quantities of circulating T and B cell subsets at baseline with longitudinal serologic responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in heart and lung transplant recipients.

Methods: Samples at baseline and at approximately 8 and 30 days after each vaccine dose for 22 heart and lung transplant recipients with no history of COVID-19, four heart and lung transplant recipients with prior COVID-19 infection, and 12 healthy controls undergoing vaccination were analyzed.

Dermatomyositis: A Presenting Clinical Vignette in a Patient With Breast Cancer.

Dermatomyositis (DM) is a rare idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, which is associated with malignancy in 15%-30% of cases. Breast cancer, the most frequent malignancy diagnosed in women, can feature uncommon presentations, such as paraneoplastic syndrome including DM. The aim of this case is to promote awareness regarding any adult patient who presents with DM for early detection and treatment of a possible underlying malignancy.

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the colon with brain metastasis: A case report.

Background: Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the colon is rare, and its prognosis is very poor especially when diagnosed at a metastatic stage. Early diagnosis can allow early curative surgery that can increase the survival for more than 5 years.

Case Report: We report a 62-year-old man who presented for neurologic signs and symptoms followed by constipation.

Medial Orbitofrontal De-Activation During Tonic Cold Pain Stimulation: A fMRI Study Examining the Opponent-Process Theory.

Background: While the concomitant administration of painful and rewarding stimuli tends to reduce the perception of one another, recent evidence shows that pleasant pain relief is experience after the interruption of noxious stimuli. On neurobiological grounds, these opponent processes should translate into decreased activity in brain reward regions during nociceptive stimulation and increased activity in these regions after its interruption. While growing evidence supports the latter assumption, evidence is lacking in humans in support of the former.

Health- Related Quality of Life Among Jordanian Adolescent Cancer Patients Receiving Active Treatment.

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life among adolescents diagnosed with malignancies and currently undergoing treatment in the age group of 13-18 years old.

Method: The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design. Participants were recruited from the pediatric oncology department at King Hussein Cancer Center in Jordan.

Limbic Hyperactivity in Response to Emotionally Neutral Stimuli in Schizophrenia: A Neuroimaging Meta-Analysis of the Hypervigilant Mind.

Objective: It has long been assumed that paranoid ideation may stem from an aberrant limbic response to threatening stimuli. However, results from functional neuroimaging studies using negative emotional stimuli have failed to confirm this assumption. One of the potential reasons for the lack of effect is that study participants with psychosis may display aberrant brain responses to neutral material rather than to threatening stimuli.

Management of patients with high-risk and advanced prostate cancer in the Middle East: resource-stratified consensus recommendations.

Purpose: Prostate cancer care in the Middle East is highly variable and access to specialist multidisciplinary management is limited. Academic tertiary referral centers offer cutting-edge diagnosis and treatment; however, in many parts of the region, patients are managed by non-specialists with limited resources. Due to many factors including lack of awareness and lack of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, a high percentage of men present with locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer at diagnosis.

Female oncologists in the Middle East and North Africa: progress towards gender equality.

Background: Female doctors are increasingly choosing oncology as a career while they are still under-represented in leadership positions globally. The European Society of Medical Oncology has recently surveyed its members regarding gender equality in the work place. Limited data are available from the Middle East.

Circulating miR-29c, miR-30c, miR-193a-5p and miR-885-5p: Novel potential biomarkers for HTLV-1 infection diagnosis.

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncoretrovirus that infects 5-10 million people worldwide. Currently, different methods are used to test HTLV-1 infection. However, a biomarker that could enable an early and accurate diagnosis of HTLV-1 infection is still lacking.

On the Coexistence of LTE-LAA in the Unlicensed Band: Modeling and Performance Analysis.

Long term evolution (LTE) technology leveraging the unlicensed band is anticipated to provide a solution for the challenges stemming from the rapid growth of mobile wireless services, the scarcity of available licensed spectrum, and the expected significant increase in mobile data traffic. Ensuring fair operation in terms of spectrum sharing with current unlicensed spectrum incumbents is a key concern relative to the success and viability of Unlicensed LTE (U-LTE). This paper addresses the problem of modeling and evaluating the coexistence of LTE license-assisted-access in the unlicensed band.

Pleasant Pain Relief and Inhibitory Conditioned Pain Modulation: A Psychophysical Study.

Background: Inhibitory conditioned pain modulation (ICPM) is one of the principal endogenous pain inhibition mechanisms and is triggered by strong nociceptive stimuli. Recently, it has been shown that feelings of pleasantness are experienced after the interruption of noxious stimuli. Given that pleasant stimuli have analgesic effects, it is therefore possible that the ICPM effect is explained by the confounding effect of pleasant pain relief.

Loss anticipation and outcome during the : a neuroimaging systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Reward seeking and avoidance of punishment are key motivational processes. Brain-imaging studies often use the (MIDT) to evaluate motivational processes involved in maladaptive behavior. Although the bulk of research has been done on the MIDT reward events, little is known about the neural basis of avoidance of punishment.

Jordan's 2002 to 2012 Fertility Stall and Parallel USAID Investments in Family Planning: Lessons From an Assessment to Guide Future Programming.

Health practitioners, researchers, and donors are stumped about Jordan's stalled fertility rate, which has stagnated between 3.7 and 3.5 children per woman from 2002 to 2012, above the national replacement level of 2.

Prevalence of EGFR and ALK Mutations in Lung Adenocarcinomas in the Levant Area - a Prospective Analysis.

Background: A significant percentage of lung adenocarcinomas have a driver mutation. To date, there has been no assessment of the prevalence of such mutations in a Middle Eastern population. The present multicenter prospective study of formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues from patients diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma was performed to assess the prevalence of EGFR and ALK mutations in the Levant.