Objective(s): To investigate the role of microRNA-378 (miR-378) in the regulation of mucin gene expression and inflammatory response in human middle ear epithelial cells (HMEEC) during bacterial infection by non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi).
Methods: Human middle ear epithelial cells (HMEEC) were cultured and transfected with miR-378 or control miRNA. Post-transfection, cells were exposed to NTHi lysates.
Drought constitutes a significant abiotic stressor that hinders plant growth and productivity in many countries. Habitat-adapted endophytic fungi offer an environmentally sustainable approach to address this issue by promoting plant development and enhancing resilience against abiotic stresses. In this study, 30 endophytic fungal isolates were recovered from some wild plants in the extreme habitats of Port Said Governorate, Egypt, and evaluated for their drought tolerance using polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Breast cancer (BC) is considered a risk factor for sexual dysfunction, which may be associated with the diagnosis itself or with oncological treatments. However, sexual dysfunction often remains underdiagnosed and unaddressed among BC survivors.
Aim: The study sought to evaluate the sexual function of postmenopausal BC survivors compared with postmenopausal women without BC.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has transformed the treatment landscape for hematological malignancies, showing high efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) disease and otherwise poor prognosis in the pre-CAR-T era. These therapies have been usually administered in the inpatient setting due to the risk of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). However, there is a growing interest in the transition to outpatient administration due to multiple reasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol
February 2024
Objectives: Pediatric cochlear implantation (CI) provides sound perception to children with significant sensorineural hearing loss and, despite its challenging process, early implantation can enhance children's speech/language outcomes and potentially improve parental quality of life (PQoL). This study aims to examine parental perspectives on quality of life and parenting children with CI.
Methods: This study combined retrospective chart review and parent reported outcomes.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol
August 2023
Objectives: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical practice was widespread. Local health restrictions in many communities limited the number and types of patients seen and treated. Our goal is to understand the discrepancies in follow-up for bilateral myringotomy with tubes (BMT) and understand whether the pandemic made it more difficult for certain patient populations to continue routine follow up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreast cancer (BC) stem cells (CSCs) resist treatment and can exist as dormant cells in tissues such as the bone marrow (BM). Years before clinical diagnosis, BC cells (BCCs) could migrate from the primary site where the BM niche cells facilitate dedifferentiation into CSCs. Additionally, dedifferentiation could occur by cell autonomous methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the expulsion and continuation rates of the copper intrauterine device (IUD) inserted in the immediate postpartum period in a Brazilian public university hospital.
Materials And Methods: In the present cohort study, we included women who received immediate postpartum IUD at vaginal delivery or cesarean s March 2018 to December 2019. Clinical data and the findings of transvaginal ultrasound (US) scans performed 6-weeks postpartum were collected.
Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between the presence of BAC and coronary artery disease (CAD) by invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in postmenopausal women.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, postmenopausal women (age ≥ 45 years) with history of CAD, who underwent both ICA and digitized mammography, within six months of each other, were enrolled. Women who underwent prior percutaneous coronary intervention, or exhibited grade D breast density (BI-RADS®) or breast cancer upon mammography were excluded.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol
June 2022
Importance: Research has suggested that early cochlear implantation is associated with improved language outcomes. Select studies demonstrate that this translates into a higher quality of life following implantation. Previous work from our group has shown that underinsurance represents a risk factor for worsened auditory and language outcomes for implantees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer Prev Res (Phila)
September 2021
Immune responses vary in colorectal cancers, which strongly influence prognosis. However, little is known about the variance in immune response within preinvasive lesions. The study aims to investigate how the immune contexture differs by clinicopathologic features (location, histology, dysplasia) associated with progression and recurrence in early carcinogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study presents an analysis of vaping products (VPs) purchased in the USA, Canada, England and Australia and assesses whether differences in regulations were associated with differences in the chemical composition of the VPs.
Methods: April-September 2017, a total of 234 VP refill liquids and prefilled cartridges were purchased in convenience samples of retail locations in each country. Products were chosen from brands and styles most commonly reported by current VP users in the 2016 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.
Background: Tympanostomy tube placement is one of the most common surgical procedures performed across the globe. Controversies exist regarding what to do when a tube is considered to be retained in the tympanic membrane for too long.
Materials And Methods: Review of the PubMed medical literature starting in 1990, focusing on English language studies reporting on the definition, complications, and management of retained tympanostomy tubes.
Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells (CAR-T) have shown dramatic efficacy in treating refractory aggressive B cell Lymphomas leading to FDA approval of axicabtagene ciloleucel and tisagenlecleucel. While long-term remission rate for both is higher than 33%, this treatment is associated with life-threatening complications including cytokine-release syndrome, encephalopathy, and lethal cerebral edema. Here we describe a case series of bone marrow failure syndromes with or without co-existing clonal myelodysplastic syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Although pelvic floor muscle (PFM) weakness can be associated with pelvic floor dysfunctions, knowledge about the relationship with sexual dysfunction is limited.
Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between PFM strength and sexual function in postmenopausal women.
Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 226 sexually active heterosexual women aged 45-65 years with amenorrhea >12 months and without pelvic floor disorders.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells represent a medical and scientific breakthrough that may represent a paradigm for the future of personalized medicine in the age of cancer immunotherapy. As with many new cancer agents, such novel and incredible results come with a high price. At the time of the writing of this article, there are two CAR T cells available, Kymriah, produced by Novrtis with a price tag of US$475,000 and Yescarta produced by Gilead Pharmaceuticals with a price tag of US$373,000, neither price including the required hospital admission in order to administer the agent in addition to potential treatment of side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The demand for alternative nicotine/tobacco products is not well established. This paper uses a behavioral economic approach to test whether smokers have differential demand for conventional factory-made, electronic, and very low nicotine content cigarettes (FMCs/ECs/VLNCs) and uses the prospective cohort design to test the predictive validity of demand indices on subsequent use of commercially available FMCs and ECs.
Methods: Daily smokers (≥16 years) from the Netherlands completed an online survey in April 2014 (N = 1215).
Immunotherapy for cancer has been a focus 50 years ago. At the time, this treatment was developed prior to cloning of the cytokines, no knowledge of regulatory T-cells, and very little information that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) (originally colony forming unit-fibroblasts [CFU-F]) could be licensed by the inflammatory microenvironment to suppress an immune response. Given the information available at that time, mononuclear cells from the peripheral blood were activated ex vivo and then replaced in the patients with tumor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubstance P and its truncated receptor exert oncogenic effects. The high production of substance P in breast cancer cells (BCCs) is caused by the enhancement of tachykinin (TAC)1 translation by cytosolic factor. In vitro translational studies and mRNA stabilization analyses indicate that BCCs contain the factor needed to increase TAC1 translation and to stabilize the mRNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently, animal models are used to test the efficacy of tumor treatment. A significant reduction of tumor mass is lauded as great improvement. As we begin the 21st century, one wonders if this is sufficient and acceptable for cancer treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite ongoing research efforts and attempts to bring new drugs into trial, the prognosis for brain tumors remains poor. Patients with the most common and lethal intracranial neoplasia, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), have an average survival of one year with combination of surgical resection, radiotherapy and temozolomide. One of the main problems in the treatment of GBM is getting drugs across the blood brain barrier (BBB) efficiently.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer remains a devastating disease as existing therapies are too often ineffective and toxicities remain unacceptably high. Immunotherapies for cancer offer the promise of the specificity and memory of the immune system against malignant cells to achieve durable cure with minimal toxicity. Beginning with the success of bone marrow transplantation for blood-borne cancers, and the more recent development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics for a variety of tumors, immunotherapies are already among the most successful class of treatments for cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe conducted a study of the acceptability and feasibility of a web application which was designed to empower people living with HIV to manage their daily antiretroviral therapies. The application (VIH-TAVIE) consists of four interactive computer sessions with a virtual nurse who guides the user through a learning process aimed at enhancing treatment management capacities. The information furnished and the strategies proposed by the nurse are tailored, based on the responses provided by the user.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evidence seems to be growing in favor of the stem cell theory of cancer with the emergence of studies demonstrating the parallel mechanisms of self renewing pathways in stem cells and particular subsets of cancer cells. The finding of leukemia stem cells and subsequently breast cancer stem cells (BCSC) further supports the concept. The importance of these findings lends itself to the selfrenewal properties of stem cells in addition to the survival characteristics of stem cells, mechanisms that will have to be overcome when creating treatment modalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSetting: A smoke-free law was passed in Egypt in 2007. In 2010 a bylaw was issued, leading to a drive by the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) to launch a smoke-free initiative in Alexandria, the second largest city.
Objective: To assess public opinion with regard to 100% smoke-free legislation and its implementation in the Alexandria governorate.