Thresholds for the value judgement of health technologies in the United Arab Emirates: a consensus approach through voting sessions.

Background: In the evolving healthcare landscape of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), establishing cost-effectiveness thresholds (CETs) is pivotal to informing decision-makers about the value of health technologies.

Objective: This study aimed to establish CETs for the UAE that harmonise with international standards while reflecting the nation's unique healthcare needs and economic context.

Setting: United Arab Emirates.

Effect of impaction on third molar development and age estimation-A study in a Lebanese population.

Background: The effect of impaction on third molar development is disputable as the scientific literature is not uniform. In parallel, population-specific studies have been encouraged in dental age estimation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of impaction on third molar formation in a sample of Lebanese individuals.

Long term follow-up after minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a benign condition that can adversely affect women's quality of life. Minimally invasive mesh sacrocolpopexy is an effective surgical treatment for POP. This study aims to assess the perioperative, postoperative, and long term (10 years) outcome of a single institution cohort undergoing minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy.

Third molar maturity index (I) assessment according to different geographical zones: a large multi-ethnic study sample.

Identification of living undocumented individuals highlights the need for accurate, precise, and reproducible age estimation methods, especially in those cases involving minors. However, when their country of origin is unknown, or it can be only roughly estimated, it is extremely difficult to apply assessment policies, procedures, and practices that are accurate and child-sensitive. The main aim of this research is to optimize the correct classification of adults and minors by establishing new cut-off values for four different continents (Africa, America, Asia, and Europe).

Pure Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy: A Single Institution Experience From a Middle Eastern Country.

Background: Laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy (LLDN) is the most adopted technique for kidney transplantation. Several obstacles preclude brain-dead organ transplantation in the Middle East, going from social and cultural barriers to economical and structural difficulties. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report Lebanese experience with pure LLDN, and kidney transplantation.

Impact of Multidisciplinary Team Escalating Approach on Antibiotic Stewardship in the United Arab Emirates.

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) are an essential strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to measure the impact of an ASP multidisciplinary team (MDT) escalating intervention on improvement of clinical, microbiological, and other measured outcomes in hospitalised adult patients from medical, intensive care, and burns units. The escalating intervention reviewed the patients' cases in the intervention group through the clinical pharmacists in the wards and escalated complex cases to ID clinical pharmacist and ID physicians when needed, while only special cases required direct infectious disease (ID) physicians review.

Comparison of the third molar maturity index (I) between left and right lower third molars to assess the age of majority: a multi-ethnic study sample.

The diagnostic accuracy of the I to assess the legal age of 18 years has already been tested in several specific-population samples. The left lower third molar has been extensively used for discriminating between minors and adults. This research aimed to compare the usefulness of lower third molar maturity indexes, from both left and right side (IL and IR), in samples originating from four distinct continents in order to examine possible differences in their accuracy values.

The therapeutic role of motor imagery during the chronic phase after total knee arthroplasty: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: There is now ample evidence that motor imagery contributes to enhance motor learning and promote motor recovery in patients with motor disorders. Whether motor imagery practice is likely to facilitate mobility in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis, at 6-months after total knee arthroplasty, remains unknown.

Aim: This trial was designed to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of implementing motor imagery into the classical course of physical therapy at 6-months after total knee arthroplasty.

Comparing laparoscopic and percutaneous renal biopsy for diagnosing native kidney disease: A matched pair analysis.

Background: Percutaneous renal biopsy is a well-established diagnostic procedure in patients with underlying medical renal disease. Aim of this study is to compare the adequacy of the biopsy material, the diagnostic yield, and the complication rates of the trans-peritoneal laparoscopic approach and the image-guided percutaneous approach to renal biopsy in the diagnosis of native kidney disease.

Methods: We performed a matched-pair analysis matching 1:3 40 patients who underwent trans-peritoneal laparoscopic renal biopsy to 120 patients who underwent percutaneous renal biopsy in the same years.

Experience with Renal Autotransplantation: Typical and Atypical Indications.

Introduction And Objectives: Renal autotransplantation is a kidney-saving surgical procedure used in selected patients. The purpose of this report is to review nine typical and atypical indications for kidney autotransplantation and evaluate its effectiveness in maintaining kidney function and avoiding cancer recurrence.

Materials And Methods: From 1999 till 2014, nine renal autotransplantations were performed in our center.

The therapeutic role of motor imagery during the acute phase after total knee arthroplasty: a pilot study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to measure physical and functional outcomes during the acute postoperative recovery in patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. Motor imagery has been shown to decrease pain and promote functional recovery after both neurological and peripheral injuries. Yet, whether motor imagery can be included as an adjunct effective method into physical therapy programs following total knee arthroplasty remains a working hypothesis that we aim to test in a pilot study.

Current management of liposarcoma of the spermatic cord: A case report and review of the literature.

Liposarcomas of the spermatic cord, a rare cause of an inguinal mass, may closely mimic inguinal hernias on clinical examination. However, these tumors require a different surgical approach and treatment plan; therefore, intraoperative diagnosis might complicate patient management. We report the case of a 63-year-old man who presented with a mobile mass in the inguinal canal consistent with an inguinal hernia.

CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION POST KIDNEY TRANSPLANT: What Should We Know Now?

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) remains one of the most important pathogen responsible for the morbidity and mortality of transplantation patients. The impact on recipients depends on the form of CMV infection knowing that 10% to 50% develop symptomatic disease while solid organ involvement if presumed (e.g.

DONOR SPECIFIC ANTI-HLA ANTIBODIES DETECTION AND IMPACT IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION.

Kidney transplantation is now accepted to be the best treatment for end-stage renal disease. Despite the improvement of immunosuppressive therapy, there is still actually substantial loss of allografts, in part due to uncontrolled humoral immunity. For many years, the primary technique for the detection of anti-HLA antibodies was the CDC (complement dependent cytotoxicity).

[Immunosuppressive protocols in kidney transplantation: with or without induction?].

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice of end stage kidney disease. Over the years, kidney transplantation progressed tremendously, mainly by the improvement of immunosuppressive drugs used in the prevention of acute rejection. Since the introduction of cyclosporine in the 80s, many immunosuppressive protocols have been established.

[Infertility and kidney transplantation].

Renal failure impairs the endocrine system, especially in women, due to hyperprolactinemia, altering fertility, ovulatory cycles, libido and growth in adolescents. Renal transplantation is considered the best solution to the problems of renal failure and and of dialysis, as evidenced by comparing the rate of hyperprolactinemia (100% in chronic renal failure, 60% in patients on dialysis and 35% in post-transplantation). Kidney transplant is less efficient for restoring perfect function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis due in part to the immunosuppressant regimens prescribed.

PREGNANCY AND RENAL TRANSPLANTATION.

Pregnancy is common nowadays in kidney transplant female patients because of medical and surgical advances. However, pregnancy is a high risk one in these patients. Fertility is rapidly restored after the transplantation; thus, contraception is a good option in the first year.

Milestones and Basic Principles.

Current shortage in organ donors led to the expansion of criteria for organ donation placing organ preservation as one cornerstone for successful transplant, graft function and survival. The historical work of Belzer and Collins paved the way for key descriptions of physiopathology of cell ischemia and protection (cytokines roles, oxidative stress, energy shift to lactic acidosis and perfusion pressure changes). Good preservation means immediate recovery of function and prevention of chronic rejection.

[Successful familial kidney transplant in an infant weighing less than 10 kg: case report and review of the literature].

We report the case of a Lebanese infant born by normal delivery at 40 weeks of gestation. Weight and height at birth were 3200 grams and 49 cm respectively. Serum creatinine in the first week of life was 323 mmol/l (normal value for age is less than 20 mmol/l).

[Kidney transplantation in pediatric patients: 18-year experience at Hôtel-Dieu de France].

Introduction: During the period from September 1993 to March 2011, 79 kidney transplants in children and adolescents less than 18 years old were performed in our department; fifty-six in the familial group and 13 in the cadaveric group. We report in this study: immunosuppression protocols, medical and surgical complications (including rejection episodes), graft and patient survival.

Material And Methods: Immunosuppression protocol has been modified throughout those eighteen years.