Immunomodulation by endothelial cells: prospects for cancer therapy.

Growing evidence highlights the importance of tumor endothelial cells (TECs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) for promoting tumor growth and evading immune responses. Immunomodulatory endothelial cells (IMECs) represent a distinct plastic phenotype of ECs that exerts the ability to modulate immunity in health and disease. This review discusses our current understanding of IMECs in cancer biology, scrutinizing insights from single-cell reports to compare their characteristics and function dynamics across diverse tumor types, conditions, and species.

Prevalence of Keratoconus on Screening of Egyptian LASIK Candidates: A Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Purpose: This is a retrospective multicenter study to report the incidental discovery of keratoconus (clinical and subclinical) in a screening of laser vision correction (LVC) surgery candidates.

Methods: This retrospective multicenter study was conducted on patients presenting for LVC in four Egyptian governorates (Cairo-Giza-6 of October-Beni Suef) during the year 2018. The patients were examined using the Pentacam HR (OCULUS Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) or Sirius (Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici, Italy).

Generation of the UAE's first Emirati induced pluripotent stem cell line KUSTi001-A from peripheral blood derived CD34+ hematopoietic cells.

Here we report the generation of the first Emirati iPSC line in the United Arab Emirates and name it KUSTi001-A. CD34+ hematopoietic cells purified from peripheral blood of a 27-year-old healthy female donor were reprogrammed using Sendai vectors. Twenty days post-reprogramming colonies were manually picked, and expanded clones were verified for transgene clearance by RT-PCR.

FTO m6A Demethylase in Obesity and Cancer: Implications and Underlying Molecular Mechanisms.

Fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) is the first reported RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) demethylase in eukaryotic cells. m6A is considered as the most abundant mRNA internal modification, which modulates several cellular processes including alternative splicing, stability, and expression. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within to be associated with obesity, as well as cancer including endometrial cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma.

Contribution of Posterior Corneal Astigmatism to Total Corneal Astigmatism in a Sample of Egyptian Population.

Purpose: To determine the percentage of contribution of the magnitude of posterior corneal astigmatism to total corneal astigmatism using Scheimpflug imaging.

Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 356 eyes of 356 patients, where the total corneal astigmatism was calculated by addition of anterior and posterior corneal astigmatism using vector analysis and then the percentage of posterior to total corneal astigmatism was calculated.

Results: The percentage of contribution of posterior to total corneal astigmatism was about 30% in patients with With The Rule astigmatism and about 8% in patients with Against The Rule astigmatism.

Study of Demarcation Line Depth in Transepithelial versus Epithelium-Off Accelerated Cross-Linking (AXL) in Keratoconus.

Aim: This is a prospective interventional clinical trial to assess the depth of the demarcation line in transepithelial versus epithelium-off accelerated corneal cross-linking (AXL) in keratoconus patients.

Methods: This prospective clinical trial was conducted on 40 eyes of 20 patients. Each patient had transepithelial AXL in one eye and epithelium-off AXL in the contralateral eye applying UVA light with an irradiance of 45 mW/cm for 2.

Verification and measurement of the side-cut angle of corneal flap in patients undergoing LASIK surgery using FS 200 kHz femtosecond laser system versus conventional mechanical microkeratome.

This is a prospective nonrandomized interventional clinical trial conducted to measure and verify the intended versus the achieved LASIK flap side-cut angle in two groups of patients, Femtosecond laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK) using Wavelight FS200 (Alcon Laboratories Inc. Fort Worth, TX, USA) and the conventional mechanical microkeratme (Moria M 90). This prospective clinical trial was conducted on 40 eyes of 20 patients (20 eyes in each group) in the interval between December 2017 and August 2018.

Genetic Associations With Diabetic Retinopathy and Coronary Artery Disease in Emirati Patients With Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is associated with both microvascular complications such as diabetic retinopathy (DR), and macrovascular complications like coronary artery disease (CAD). Genetic risk factors have a role in the development of these complications. In the present case-control study, we investigated genetic variations associated with DR and CAD in T2DM patients from the United Arab Emirates.

Inhibition of Human Amylin Aggregation and Cellular Toxicity by Lipoic Acid and Ascorbic Acid.

More than 30 human degenerative diseases result from protein aggregation such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Islet amyloid deposits, a hallmark in T2DM, are found in pancreatic islets of more than 90% of T2DM patients. An association between amylin aggregation and reduction in β-cell mass was also established by post-mortem studies.

Simultaneous intratunnel cross-linking with intrastromal corneal ring segment implantation versus simultaneous epithelium-off cross-linking with intrastromal corneal ring segment implantation for keratoconus management.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of intratunnel cross-linking combined with intrastromal corneal ring segment (ICRS) implantation versus combined epithelium-off (epi-off) cross-linking and ICRS implantation for the management of keratoconus.

Methods: Our study included 20 eyes of 12 patients with moderate-to-severe keratoconus. Group A included 10 eyes that underwent simultaneous ICRS implantation with intratunnel cross-linking.