Publications by authors named "Jaafar A"

Article Synopsis
  • New optoelectronic devices are emerging from the use of memristors that can be modulated with light, benefiting fields like computer vision and artificial intelligence.
  • The study features memristors made from a hybrid material of zinc oxide nanorods and PMMA, which do not need a forming step and show effective electronic switching.
  • These devices can switch with UV light and demonstrate notable memory capabilities, enabling applications in neural networks and neuromorphic computing due to their unique photonic synaptic functions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is challenging to treat due to poor prognosis and lack of effective therapies; targeting PD-L1 may offer potential benefits.
  • A study in Malaysia involved 138 advanced TNBC patients, assessing PD-L1 positivity using tissue samples.
  • Results showed 37.7% had positive PD-L1 expression, with a notable association between PD-L1 positivity and resected tumor samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Targeting the SHH pathway with drugs like vismodegib and sonidegib shows promise, but challenges like resistance and side effects complicate treatment.
  • * Advances in CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and the discovery of SHH pathway biomarkers are vital for personalizing therapies, improving patient outcomes, and guiding future research in CNS tumor treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Whole-exome sequencing (WES), a ground-breaking technology, has emerged as a linchpin in neurology and neurosurgery, offering a comprehensive elucidation of the genetic landscape of various neurological disorders. This transformative methodology concentrates on the exonic portions of DNA, which constitute approximately 1% of the human genome, thus facilitating an expedited and efficient sequencing process. WES has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases, neuro-oncology, cerebrovascular disorders, and epilepsy by revealing rare variants and novel mutations and providing intricate insights into their genetic complexities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Founder variants are ancestral variants shared by individuals who are not closely related. The large effect size of some of these variants in the context of Mendelian disorders offers numerous precision medicine opportunities.

Methods: Using one of the largest datasets on Mendelian disorders in the Middle East, we identified 2,908 medically relevant founder variants derived from 18,360 exomes and genomes and investigated their contribution to the clinical annotation of the human genome.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: We aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of endoscopic submucosal dissection for recurrent rectal neoplastic lesions after transanal microsurgery of superficial rectal neoplasms.

Methods: Multicenter retrospective study.

Main Outcomes: recurrence at first endoscopic follow-up, En bloc, R0 and curative resections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Theranostics represents a significant advance in the fields of neurology and neurosurgery, offering innovative approaches that combine the diagnosis and treatment of various neurological disorders. This innovation serves as a cornerstone of personalized medicine, where therapeutic strategies are closely integrated with diagnostic tools to enable precise and targeted interventions. Primary research results emphasize the profound impact of theranostics in Neuro Oncol.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: This study aimed to analyse the impact of sociodemographic factors on dental school candidates' decision to pursue dentistry as their career of choice.

Materials And Methods: Candidates shortlisted by three dental schools were invited to participate in a self-administered questionnaire study, featuring a validated instrument containing sociodemographic questions and 16 motivational items grouped into four domains: economic, professional, vocational and personal background reasons. The variations in motivational item scores across sociodemographic factors were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test (age, sex, ethnicity, having relatives in the dental profession and dentistry as the first choice) and Kruskal-Wallis test (dental school and family income).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Meningiomas are brain tumors that come from special cells in the protective layers of the brain, and they can be tough to treat, especially the more harmful ones.
  • Cancer stem cells play an important role in how these tumors grow and resist treatment, and scientists are looking for ways to identify them better to help patients.
  • New research is exploring different treatment options, including combining medications and using technology to create better models for studying these tumors, which could help create personalized treatments for patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs) include conditions such as stroke, cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), which contribute significantly to global morbidity and healthcare burden. The pathophysiology of CVD is complex, involving inflammatory, cellular and vascular mechanisms. Recently, research has focused on triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2), an immune receptor predominantly found on microglia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The present cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate various caries risk factors in children from low socio-economic groups and to assess if children with broad contacts between one or more primary molars (type I and S) should be categorized as at high caries risk. Clinical examinations were performed on 107, 3- to 10-year-old children from low socio-economic settings. Contact types along with other caries risk factors (insurance, diet, plaque, and fluoride use, and diet habits) were analyzed for effect on presence of caries lesions (prevalence) and caries experience (decayed, missing, filled teeth).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of a novel marker, the combined lactate glucose ratio (CLGR), in identifying cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) bacterial infection (CBI) in neurosurgical patients. Additionally, it seeks to establish cutoff values for CLGR and evaluate the reliability of measurement using blood gas analyzer (BGA).

Methods: CSF samples were collected from 2 neurosurgical centers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between January 2022 and October 2023.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to determine the expression pattern of autoantibody proteins from the serum of grade IV glioblastoma patients. We performed high throughput antibody profiling via the Sengenics i-Ome Protein Array to determine the differentially expressed autoantibodies. The results portrayed that anti-COL4A3BP and anti-HSP90AA1 were among the upregulated autoantibodies in glioblastoma sera.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Locked posterior shoulder dislocations are dislocations that remain unreduced for more than three weeks. In most cases, they are associated with other injuries. We report the case of a 38-year-old male who presented with pain and total functional impotence due to a complex injury, including posterior glenohumeral dislocation, a reverse Hill-Sachs lesion, and a clavicle fracture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * These devices exhibit a mixed-mode switching capability, enabling them to operate in both short-term and long-term memory states, which can be influenced by the voltage applied.
  • * The short-term mode can replicate various synaptic functions, while the long-term mode supports features for plasticity applications, highlighting their potential for adaptive neuromorphic computing systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Primary malignant bone tumors and metastases can arise in the proximal femur, requiring surgical treatment for either palliative or curative purposes.
  • Curative treatment involves two main stages: removing the tumor through wide excision with sufficient margins and reconstructing the affected bone and soft tissue to restore function.
  • Reconstruction methods vary, including composite or massive prostheses and options for joint reconstruction like hemiarthroplasty, intermediate prosthetics, or total hip replacement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Interest in naturally occurring phytochemicals has been on the increase, they are believed to reduce the risk of brain disorders. Hispidulin (HN) is a phenolic flavonoid compound with various pharmacological and biological effects on the central nervous system. It belongs to the flavone class of flavonoids.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Isokinetic knee extensor strength is poorly evaluated in geriatric day hospitals (GDHs), despite its potential functional significance compared to grip strength. This study aimed to investigate age-related effects on absolute and relative isokinetic knee extensor peak torque (KEPT) data in community-dwelling older GDH patients.

Methods: A total of 472 French GDH patients (179 men and 293 women, aged 75-94 years) participated in this study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A mid-infrared (mid-IR) porous silicon (PSi) waveguide gas sensor was fabricated. PSi guiding and confinement layers were prepared by electrochemical anodization. Ridge waveguides were patterned using standard i-line photolithography and reactive ion etching.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), a remarkable technological advancement in neurology and neurosurgery, mark a significant leap since the inception of electroencephalography in 1924. These interfaces effectively convert central nervous system signals into commands for external devices, offering revolutionary benefits to patients with severe communication and motor impairments due to a myriad of neurological conditions like stroke, spinal cord injuries, and neurodegenerative disorders. BCIs enable these individuals to communicate and interact with their environment, using their brain signals to operate interfaces for communication and environmental control.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In response to the growing need for efficient processing of temporal information, neuromorphic computing systems are placing increased emphasis on the switching dynamics of memristors. While the switching dynamics can be regulated by the properties of input signals, the ability of controlling it via electrolyte properties of a memristor is essential to further enrich the switching states and improve data processing capability. This study presents the synthesis of mesoporous silica (mSiO) films using a sol-gel process, which enables the creation of films with controllable porosities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Falls and frailty status are often associated with a decline in physical capacity and multifactorial assessment is highly recommended. Based on the functional and biomechanical parameters measured during clinical tests with an accelerometer integrated into smart eyeglasses, the purpose was to characterize a population of older adults through an unsupervised analysis into different physical performance groups. A total of 84 participants (25 men and 59 women) over the age of sixty-five (age: 74.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Colostomy is one of the common surgical procedures performed in pediatric surgical practice. The aim of this study was to retrospectively review our experience with colostomy and closure (reversal) in children.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review of the data of all children aged 15 years and below who had colostomy and colostomy closure in the past 5 years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute inflammation may develop into chronic, life-threatening inflammation-related diseases if left untreated or if there are persistent triggering factors. Cancer, diabetes mellitus, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders are some of the inflammation-related diseases affecting millions of people worldwide. Despite that, conventional medical therapy such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with serious adverse effects; hence, there is an urgent need for a newer and safer therapeutic alternative from natural sources.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

ALDH1L2, a mitochondrial enzyme in folate metabolism, converts 10-formyl-THF (10-formyltetrahydrofolate) to THF (tetrahydrofolate) and CO. At the cellular level, deficiency of this NADP-dependent reaction results in marked reduction in NADPH/NADP ratio and reduced mitochondrial ATP. Thus far, a single patient with biallelic ALDH1L2 variants and the phenotype of a neurodevelopmental disorder has been reported.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF