The association between vitamin D levels and oxidative stress markers in Egyptian Behcet's disease patients.

Background: Oxidative stress is postulated to have a major role in the pathophysiology of Bechet's Disease (BD). Growing evidence suggests that vitamin D has important roles in enhancing the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines as well as certain antioxidants. However, there is little evidence currently about the antioxidant properties of vitamin D in BD.

Qatar biomedical and cancer publications in PubMed between 2000 and 2012.

Background: The aim of this work was to analyse the past trends of biomedical and cancer publications from Qatar listed on PubMed for the years 2000-2012. These findings were then compared with the corresponding global number of publications.

Methods: PubMed was searched for cancer publications, clinical trials, publications on humans or other species.

Molecular detection of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 polymorphism in spontaneous bacterial peritonitis patients.

Aim: To investigate the association of the functional monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) promoter polymorphism (A-2518G) with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP).

Methods: Fifty patients with post-hepatitis C liver cirrhosis and ascites were categorized into two groups; group I included 25 patients with SBP and group II included 25 patients free from SBP. In addition, a group of 20 healthy volunteers were included.

Association between TNF promoter -308 G>A and LTA 252 A>G polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and lymphotoxin alpha (LTA) are pivotal cytokines in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). To investigate the possible association of the polymorphism of the TNF promoter gene -308 and that of the LTA gene 252 with susceptibility to SLE and with phenotypic disease features in Egyptian patients. A case control study involving 100 SLE patients and 100 unrelated healthy controls.

Clinico-pathological features of breast carcinoma in elderly Egyptian patients: a comparison with the non-elderly using population-based data.

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is a major worldwide health care problem that mostly afflicts the elderly population in the more developed countries. It is not known how common is breast cancer among elderly Egyptian patients and whether this differs from the disease in younger patients.

Aims: To study the clinico-pathological features of BC in elderly Egyptian patients (⩾65years of age) among the population of an Egyptian Governorate, Gharbiah, and to compare these features with those of younger patients (<65years).

Does fasting during Ramadan trigger non-adherence to oral hormonal therapy in breast cancer patients?

Purpose: To estimate the effect of fasting during Ramadan (the ninth lunar month) on adherence to oral hormonal therapies (OHT) among breast cancer (BC) patients.

Patients And Methods: During Ramadan 2010, 139 BC patients were interviewed at the Egyptian National Cancer Institute. They were asked about fasting as well as intake of OHT in Ramadan and in the preceding month.

Past and future trends in cancer and biomedical research: a comparison between Egypt and the world using PubMed-indexed publications.

Background: PubMed is a free web literature search service that contains almost 21 millions of abstracts and publications with almost 5 million user queries daily. The purposes of the study were to compare trends in PubMed-indexed cancer and biomedical publications from Egypt to that of the world and to predict future publication volumes.

Methods: The PubMed was searched for the biomedical publications between 1991 and 2010 (publications dates).