Utilizing machine learning to classify persistent organic pollutants in the serum of pregnant women: a predictive modeling approach.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that remain detrimental to critical subpopulations, namely pregnant women. Required tests for biomonitoring are quite expensive. Moreover, statistical models aiming to discover the relationships between pollutants levels and human characteristics have their limitations.

Estimates of the incidence, prevalence, and factors associated with common sexually transmitted infections among Lebanese women.

Background: We analyzed the prevalence of active infection with common curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including N. gonorrhea, C. trachomatis, T.

Maternal Serum, Cord and Human Milk Levels of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), Association with Predictors and Effect on Newborn Anthropometry.

Background: The understanding of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) health effects is rapidly advancing among critical populations. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess PFAS serum levels among Lebanese pregnant women, cord serum and human milk levels, their determinants, and effects on newborn anthropometry.

Methods: We measured concentrations of six PFAS (PFHpA, PFOA, PFHxS, PFOS, PFNA and PFDA) using liquid chromatography MS/MS for 419 participants, of which 269 had sociodemographic, anthropometric, environmental and dietary information.

Genetic diversity of human papillomavirus (HPV) as specified by the detection method, gender, and year of sampling: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Purpose: This study assesses HPV prevalence and genotype distribution in Lebanon, and identifies differentials in HPV infection, infection with multiple genotypes, and with high-risk genotypes, by sex, age, and year of data collection.

Methods: Study participants comprised 1042 female and 160 male participants between 2006 and 2018. HPV genotyping was done by PCR and hybridization (2006-2013) or real-time PCR (2013 onwards).

The rate of cesarean delivery changes after internal audit based on the Robson Ten Group Classification System in Lebanon.

Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of the Robson classification as an internal clinical audit and feedback of the high rate of cesarean delivery at Hotel Dieu de France, a tertiary referral hospital.

Methods: A pre-post study was conducted, with a retrospective approach in 2018 and 2019, identified as the pre-period (before the implementation of the Robson classification), and with a prospective approach in 2020 and 2021, labeled the post-period.

Results: The total number of deliveries during the study period was 2560; 1305 patients were included in the pre-period and 1255 patients delivered in the post-period.

Prenatal care in the era of economic collapse.

Objectives: To describe the effect of economic collapse on prenatal care.

Methods: This is an observational study aiming to depict the changes that occur in prenatal care in the case of an economic collapse. Biochemical screening and ultrasound examinations, as well as medical emigration and private-public sector activity, are discussed.

ADIPOQ gene polymorphisms and haplotypes linked to altered susceptibility to PCOS: a case-control study.

Research Question: What role do ADIPOQ variants play in controlling adiponectin concentrations and altered risk of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?

Design: Study subjects comprised 583 women with PCOS and 713 age-matched controls. Genotyping of rs182052, rs822393, rs822396, rs7649121, rs3774271, rs266729, rs3774261 and rs6773957 ADIPOQ polymorphisms was done by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results: Of the 16 ADIPOQ variants, the minor allele frequencies of rs182052, rs822393, rs822396, rs7649121, rs3774261 and rs6773957 were significantly different between PCOS cases and controls.

HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1 and -DQB1 allele and haplotype frequencies in Lebanese and their relatedness to neighboring and distant populations.

Background: This study examined the origin of present-day Lebanese using high-resolution HLA class I and class II allele and haplotype distributions. The study subjects comprised 152 unrelated individuals, and their HLA class I and class II alleles and two-locus and five-locus haplotypes were compared with those of neighboring and distant communities using genetic distances, neighbor-joining dendrograms, correspondence, and haplotype analyses. HLA class I (A, B, C) and class II (DRB1, DQB1) were genotyped at a high-resolution level by PCR-SSP.

Human forkhead box protein 3 gene variants associated with altered susceptibility to idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss: A retrospective case-control study.

Background: The pathogenesis of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is multifactorial and not completely elucidated. Dysregulated immunity was implicated with RPL, in which regulatory T cells (Tregs) are key. As Tregs development and function are regulated by forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) transcription factor, and as FOXP3 expression is genetically determined, a role for FOXP3 polymorphisms in RPL pathogenesis was suggested.

Cesarean section rates in a tertiary referral hospital in Beirut from 2018 to 2020: Our experience using the Robson Classification.

Objective: To evaluate the cesarean section rate using the Robson Classification for the first time in Lebanon, at Hôtel-Dieu de France University Hospital, a tertiary referral center in Beirut.

Methods: Routine medical record data that included all live births from January 1, 2018 to September 30, 2020 was investigated. The overall cesarean section rate was recorded, and the size, cesarean section rate, and absolute and relative contributions were calculated within each group.

Maternal and cord serum levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) among Lebanese pregnant women and predictors of exposure.

In this study, the six indicator non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls NDL-PCBs (PCB28, PCB52, PCB101, PCB138, PCB153, PCB180), as well as four organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and dichlorodiphenyldichlorethylene (DDE) were measured in 98 maternal and 49 cord sera samples of a group of Lebanese women who gave birth in three hospitals in Greater Beirut, between March and July 2018. Results showed that the levels of these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in maternal serum were below critical limits as well as those in other countries (Tunisia, France, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Greenland, Canada, Brazil, and China). The ratios of cord serum concentrations to maternal serum concentrations of analyzed POPs were higher than 1.

Contrasting association of Leptin receptor polymorphisms and haplotypes with polycystic ovary syndrome in Bahraini and Tunisian women: a case-control study.

Background: The present study examined the contribution of ethnicity to the association of leptin receptor gene (LEPR) gene variants with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in Tunisian and Bahraini Arabic-speaking women.

Methods: Subjects consisted of 320 women with PCOS, and 446 eumenorrhic women from Tunisia, and 242 women with PCOS and 238 controls from Bahrain. Genotyping of (exonic) rs1137100 and rs1137101 and (intronic) rs2025804 LEPR variants was done by allelic exclusion.

Age-dependent changes in anti-Müllerian hormone levels in Lebanese females: correlation with basal FSH and LH levels and LH/FSH ratio: a cross-sectional study.

Background: To investigate the age-dependent changes in circulating anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels in healthy Arabic-speaking Lebanese women, and to correlate changes in serum AMH levels with serum FSH and LH values, and LH/FSH ratio.

Methods: Cross-sectional study, involving 1190 healthy females, age 17-54 years, with regular menses and both ovaries. Serum AMH levels (ng/ml) were measured by ELISA.

Maternal HLA-DR, HLA-DQ, and HLA-DP loci are linked with altered risk of recurrent pregnancy loss in Lebanese women: A case-control study.

Problem: We investigated the association between idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and HLA-DPB1, HLA-DQB1, and HLA-DRB1 alleles and DPB1-DQB1-DRB1 haplotypes.

Method Of Study: Case-control retrospective study involved 93 Lebanese women with unexplained RPL, and 113 multiparous Lebanese women with two or more successful pregnancies, and no miscarriages who served as controls. DPB1, DQB1, and DRB1 genotyping was performed by PCR-SSP.

Circulating leptin concentration, LEP gene variants and haplotypes, and polycystic ovary syndrome in Bahraini and Tunisian Arab women.

Background And Aim: Epidemiological studies suggested that ethnic/racial background influences the associations of altered leptin secretion and leptin gene (LEP) polymorphisms with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We investigated the association between LEP variants and plasma leptin levels with PCOS in Tunisian and Bahraini Arab women.

Subjects And Methods: Retrospective case-control study, involving 255 PCOS cases and 253 control subjects from Bahrain, and 320 women PCOS cases and 447 controls from Tunisia.

Association of adiponectin gene variants with idiopathic recurrent miscarriage according to obesity status: a case-control study.

Background: This study addresses whether the association of adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) variants with idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is influenced by obesity.

Methods: Retrospective case-control study performed in outpatient obstetrics/gynecology clinics. Study subjects comprised 308 women with RPL, defined as ≥ 3 consecutive miscarriages of unknown etiology, and 310 control women.

Soluble glycoprotein VI, a specific marker of platelet activation is increased in the plasma of subjects with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) have been shown to cause platelet activation in vitro, through the low-affinity immunoglobulin G (IgG) receptor (FcγRIIa) on platelets. Platelet activation via engagement of FcγRIIa results in proteolytic cleavage and shedding of platelet specific glycoprotein VI (GPVI) which can be detected in the plasma as soluble GPVI (sGPVI). We hypothesized that plasma levels of sGPVI would be increased among patients with seropositive RA as a consequence of antibody-induced platelet activation and GPVI shedding.

Genetic variation in the progesterone receptor gene and susceptibility to recurrent pregnancy loss: a case-control study.

Objective: To investigate the association of progesterone receptor (PGR) gene variants with susceptibility to recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL).

Design: Retrospective case-control study.

Setting: Outpatient obstetrics and gynaecology clinics.

Primary Enterolith in a Patient with Intestinal Tuberculosis: A Case Report.

Primary enterolithiasis is a rare surgical ailment. The underlying cause is intestinal stasis. Numerous anatomical and micro environmental factors such as enteritis, incarcerated hernia, malignancy, diverticula, blind loops, and enteroenterostomy predispose to clinically significant concretions.

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene variants and haplotypes associated with an increased risk of idiopathic recurrent miscarriage.

We investigated the association of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) polymorphisms rs2070744 (-786T> C), 27-bp repeat 4b/4a, rs1799983 (Glu298Asp), rs3918188 (-734C> A), and rs743507 (113G> A) with idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (IRM). This was a case-control study involving women with confirmed IRM (n = 296), and 305 age- and ethnically matched control women. NOS3 rs2070744, rs1799983, rs3918188, and rs743507 genotyping was done by TaqMan assays; NOS3 4b/4a genotyping was done by PCR-ASA.

Protein Z variants associated with protein Z plasma levels and with risk of idiopathic recurrent miscarriage.

Protein Z (PZ) deficiency due to anti-PZ autoantibodies and/or mutations in PZgene was linked with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (IRM). We investigated the association of rs3024718, rs3024719, rs3024731, rs3024778, rs3024772, and rs3024735 (G79A) PZ variants and changes in PZ levels in 287 women with IRM, and 308 control women. Of the 6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) analyzed, higher minor allele frequency of rs3024735 (G79A) and rs3024731 were seen in IRM cases than in control women.

Anti-phosphatidylserine, anti-cardiolipin, anti-β2 glycoprotein I and anti-prothrombin antibodies in recurrent miscarriage at 8-12 gestational weeks.

Objective: To investigate the association of antibodies to β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI), cardiolipin (ACA), phosphatidylserine (anti-PS) and prothrombin (anti-PT) with recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (RSM).

Study Design: Case-control study involving 277 RSM cases and 288 controls: autoantibody levels were measured by ELISA. Differences between cases and controls were analyzed by nonparametric Mann-Whitney test, and logistic regression was used in analyzing the association of autoantibodies with RSM.