Diagnosis and management of vitamin D deficiency in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries: an expert consensus summary statement from the GCC vitamin D advisory board.

Objective: A summary of recommendations is given within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) setting on the assessment and management of vitamin D deficiency in the region.

Methods: An assembly of 11 regional experts gathered to formulate an all-inclusive approach to vitamin D deficiency within GCC.

Results And Conclusion: Several gaps were identified before regional guidelines could be developed.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of lamotrigine for prescription corticosteroid effects on the human hippocampus.

In animals, stress and corticosteroid excess are associated with decreases in memory performance and hippocampal volume that may be prevented with agents that decrease glutamate release. Humans also demonstrate changes in memory and hippocampus with corticosteroids. In this report the effects of glutamate-release inhibitor lamotrigine on hippocampal structure and memory were examined in people receiving medically needed prescription corticosteroid therapy.

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Escitalopram in Patients with Asthma and Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Depression is common in asthma and is associated with poor outcomes. However, antidepressant therapy in depressed patients with asthma has been the topic of little research.

Objective: This study examined the impact of antidepressant treatment with escitalopram versus placebo on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report (IDS-SR), Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), and oral corticosteroid use in patients with asthma and major depressive disorder (MDD).

Consensus clinical recommendations for the management of plasma lipid disorders in the Middle East.

Background: Plasma lipid disorders are key risk factors for the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and are prevalent in the Middle East, with rates increasing in recent decades. Despite this, no region-specific guidelines for managing plasma lipids exist and there is a lack of use of guidelines developed in other regions.

Methods: A multidisciplinary panel of regional experts was convened to develop consensus clinical recommendations for the management of plasma lipids in the Middle East.

Identification and Treatment of Patients with Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolaemia: Information and Recommendations from a Middle East Advisory Panel.

We present clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HoFH) in the Middle East region. While guidelines are broadly applicable in Europe, in the Middle East we experience a range of confounding factors that complicate disease management to a point whereby the European guidance cannot be applied without significant modification. Specifically, for disease prevalence, the Middle East region has an established epidemic of diabetes and metabolic syndrome that can complicate treatment and mask a clinical diagnosis of HoFH.

Subtypes of post-traumatic epilepsy: clinical, electrophysiological, and imaging features.

Post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) is a consequence of traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurring in 10-25% of patients with moderate to severe injuries. The development of animal models for testing antiepileptogenic therapies and validation of biomarkers to follow epileptogenesis in humans necessitates sophisticated understanding of the subtypes of PTE, which is the objective of this study. In this study, retrospective review was performed of patients with moderate to severe TBI with subsequent development of medically refractory epilepsy referred for video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring at a single center over a 10-year period.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors reduce albuminuria more than angiotensin receptor blockers in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: This study retrospectively compared the effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) versus angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) as classes with respect to overall mortality and cardiovascular and renal events in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: An electronic database of medical records was reviewed. A total of 16,489 patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled and divided into ACEI (n = 12,351) or ARB (n = 4,138) groups.

Clinical phenotype of dementia after traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in early to mid-life is associated with an increased risk of dementia in late life. It is unclear whether TBI results in acceleration of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like pathology or has features of another dementing condition, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is associated with more-prominent mood, behavior, and motor disturbances than AD. Data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set was obtained over a 5-year period.

Association of selective HLA class II susceptibility-conferring and protective haplotypes with type 2 diabetes in patients from Bahrain and Lebanon.

The association of HLA class II with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) was investigated in Bahraini and Lebanese subjects. DRB1*070101 (Lebanese and Bahraini) and DQB1*0201 (Lebanese) were susceptibility-conferring alleles, and unique susceptibility-conferring/protective haplotypes were found in both patient groups. Regression analysis confirmed that DRB1*070101-DQB1*0201 (Bahraini) and DRB1*110101-DQB1*0201 (Lebanese) were susceptibility-conferring haplotypes.