Publications by authors named "Hallak M"

Background: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO) is a treatment modality that exposes patients to 100% oxygen at higher atmospheric pressures. Recently, HBO has emerged as a potential therapeutic option for various liver diseases, offering advantages such as improved tissue oxygenation, anti-inflammatory effects, enhanced wound healing, and potential hepatoprotective properties. Understanding the benefits of HBO in liver diseases can pave the way for novel therapeutic strategies and improved patient outcomes.

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Ureteral stenosis is a frequent complication after kidney transplantation, causing significant morbidity and potential graft function impairment. Treatment options include conservative management, endourological procedures, surgical interventions and percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN). While PCN effectively relieves obstruction, it comes with its own complications.

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Lebanon, plagued by political and economic crises, experienced a government collapse in early 2020, leading to an electrical nationwide blackout by 2023. Diesel generators were used to compensate for the absence of power production from the national provider, Electricité du Liban (EDL). To investigate the effect of the crisis on the levels of 16 EPA particle bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAHs), an annual comparative analysis of three locations within Beirut started in 2022 and ended in 2023.

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Background: Cannabis (CAN) use has risen significantly over the last few decades. CAN has potent immunosuppressive properties, which could antagonize the effect of immunotherapy (IO). The impact of CAN use on clinical cancer outcomes remains unclear.

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Objective:  This study aimed to evaluate the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in women with flat response in the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) performed during pregnancy in a large cohort of women with up to 5 years of follow-up.

Study Design:  A retrospective analysis of women with documented OGTT during pregnancy and T2DM data up to 5 years after pregnancy. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) screening was done by a two-step strategy.

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Article Synopsis
  • The IGF system is crucial in regulating growth and invasiveness in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and is considered a potential target for therapy, although its role in the immune response within the EOC microenvironment is not well understood.
  • The study tested the hypothesis that inhibiting the IGF1 receptor (IGF1R) alongside PD-1 would impact dendritic cell maturation and the EOC environment.
  • Results showed that the combined treatment reduced tumor weight and increased immune responses, suggesting that targeting IGF1R and PD-1 together could be an effective strategy for treating certain EOC patients.
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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal malignancy, with limited therapeutic options. Here, we evaluated the role of regulator of chromosome condensation 1 (RCC1) in PDAC. RCC1 functions as a guanine exchange factor for GTP-binding nuclear protein Ran (Ran) GTPase and is involved in nucleocytoplasmic transport.

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Health disparities present a barrier to successful oncology treatment. The potential for precision oncology to reduce health disparities has not previously been analyzed. We performed a retrospective analysis of 12,627 patients from six major cancer centers whose tumors underwent molecular testing at Caris Life Sciences between 2010 and 2020.

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Aim: To evaluate and compare the risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes (T2DM) based on the timing of gestational diabetes (GDM) diagnosis during pregnancy.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of pregnant individuals with gestational diabetes and post-pregnancy follow up. Data sourced from Meuhedet HMO's computerized laboratory system, cross-tabulated with the Israeli National Diabetes Registry.

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: To evaluate the risk of progression to type 2 diabetes (T2D) following reactive hypoglycemia in 100 g oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT): A retrospective analysis of parturients with up to 5-year follow-up postpartum. Data were extracted from the computerized laboratory system of Meuhedet, an Israeli HMO and cross-linked with the Israeli National Registry of Diabetes. Included were parturients with no prior diabetesand available oGTT values during pregnancy.

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In this study, we wanted to investigate the effectiveness of combining disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in reducing inflammation in a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) model using rats. We divided 56 male Sprague-Dawley rats into seven groups and induced RA using complete Freund's adjuvant. Some groups received HBOT, whereas others were given etanercept or leflunomide.

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Background: To clinically evaluate how dry eye symptoms in preoperatively diagnosed dry eye patients change with the use of sodium hyaluronate- and dexpanthenol-containing eye drops (HYLO CARE (HC), URSAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH, Saarbruecken, Germany) after cataract surgery. The aim of the study was not to compare different eye drops but to implement standard treatment in patients with dry eye undergoing cataract surgery. The impact of treatment was evaluated using Symptom Assessment Tools for Dry Eye.

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Background: The prevalence of pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) in women of reproductive age has surged globally, contributing to increased rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is a crucial marker for diagnosing and monitoring PGDM, with periconceptional levels influencing the risk of congenital anomalies and complications.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between periconceptional HbA1c levels and perinatal complications in pregnant women with poorly controlled PGDM.

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Objective: Impaired fasting glucose is a prediabetic condition defined as glucose levels of 100-125 mg/dL and is considered a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, this definition does not confer to pregnancy. The significance of first-trimester fasting glucose and future progression to diabetes is not well defined.

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Background: Misoprostol treatment for early pregnancy loss has varied success demonstrated in previous studies. Incorporating predictors in a single clinical scoring system would be highly beneficial in clinical practice.

Objective: To develop and evaluate the accuracy of a scoring system to predict misoprostol treatment outcomes for managing early pregnancy loss.

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Objectives: To evaluate the risk of type 2 diabetes(T2D) following one abnormal value(OAbV) in an oral glucose tolerance test(oGTT) performed during pregnancy.

Study Design: A retrospective analysis of parturients between 01.01.

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Background: The relationship between gestational diabetes mellitus and adverse outcomes in multifetal pregnancies is complex and controversial. Moreover, limited research has focused on the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus progression to type 2 diabetes mellitus specifically in multifetal pregnancies, resulting in conflicting results from existing studies.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus progression to type 2 diabetes mellitus between singleton and multifetal pregnancies in a large cohort of parturients with a 5-year follow-up.

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Neuregulin 1 () fusions are oncogenic drivers that have been detected in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and other solid tumors. fusions are rare, occurring in less than 1% of solid tumors. Patients with fusion positive (NRG1+) cancer have limited therapeutic options.

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Background: Arginyltransferase (Ate1) orchestrates posttranslational protein arginylation, a pivotal regulator of cellular proteolytic processes. In eukaryotic cells, two interconnected systems-the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) and macroautophagy-mediate proteolysis and cooperate to maintain quality protein control and cellular homeostasis. Previous studies have shown that N-terminal arginylation facilitates protein degradation through the UPS.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Here we for the first time evaluated the role of regulator of chromosome condensation 1 (RCC1) in PDAC subsistence and drug resistance. RCC1 expression was found to be elevated in PDAC tissues in comparison with normal pancreatic tissues and was linked to poor prognosis.

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Purpose: Gastric cancer is the 5th most common malignancy worldwide. As early detection increases and treatments for gastric cancer improve, the number of gastric cancer survivors grows.

Methods: Here, we review the diagnosis and management of gastric cancer and discuss important considerations for gastric cancer survivorship including cancer surveillance, weight loss, malnutrition, fatigue, specific complications related to surgery and radiation, quality of life in gastric cancer survivorship, health behavior, and models of survivorship.

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Background: The majority of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients experience disease progression while on treatment with gemcitabine and nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel (GemPac) necessitating the need for a more effective treatment strategy for this refractory disease. Previously, we have demonstrated that nuclear exporter protein exportin 1 (XPO1) is a valid therapeutic target in PDAC, and the selective inhibitor of nuclear export selinexor (Sel) synergistically enhances the efficacy of GemPac in pancreatic cancer cells, spheroids and patient-derived tumours, and had promising activity in a phase I study.

Methods: Here, we investigated the impact of selinexor-gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel (Sel-GemPac) combination on LSL-Kras ; LSL-Trp53 ; Pdx1-Cre (KPC) mouse model utilising digital spatial profiling (DSP) and single nuclear RNA sequencing (snRNAseq).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study assessed factors linked to the progression of mild hypertensive disorders in pregnancy to severe preeclampsia at a medical center from 2018 to 2020.
  • Among 359 women studied, only 5% developed severe features, with earlier presentation and superimposed preeclampsia being significant predictors of this progression.
  • The findings suggest that recognizing these factors early can help manage and potentially prevent severe outcomes in women with mild hypertension during pregnancy.
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Primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the liver is quite rare, and to our knowledge, very few cases have been reported in the literature. The exact pathogenesis of the disease is unestablished; however, it is mostly reported to be associated with hepatic cyst, Caroli's disease, hepatolithiasis, hepatic cirrhosis, and hepatic teratoma. We report a case of a 50-year-old woman with no prior medical history initially, who presented with postprandial epigastric and right upper quadrant pain that continued to worsen and was associated with early satiety, nausea, and weight loss of 25 pounds over 2 months, which prompted further evaluation by her primary care physician.

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Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes of cataract surgery with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in patients who underwent intrastromal femtosecond laser treatment of presbyopia (INTRACOR).

Methods: This was an interventional case series of 8 patients (10 eyes) who presented for cataract surgery 6.1 ± 3.

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