Publications by authors named "Shtaya A"

Deciphering the spectrum and founder disease-causing variants (DCVs) in specific populations can shape and facilitate the diagnostic process of Lynch Syndrome (LS). The aim of this report was to comprehensively update on the genetic landscape of LS in the ethnically diverse Israeli-Jewish population. The cohort included 1080 carriers from 588 families; some from underrepresented, understudied Israeli ethnic groups recruited from 8 genetic institutes and high-risk clinics throughout the country.

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Background: Biological similarities between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) have been described in humans and animal models suggesting a possible common genetic basis. FMF is caused by variants in the MEFV gene which encodes pyrin, an immune regulator. This study aimed to investigate the carrier rate of disease-causing MEFV variants in children of different ethnicities diagnosed with very-early-onset IBD (VEO-IBD).

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  • POT1 is an important gene involved in protecting and regulating the length of telomeres, and mutations in this gene can increase cancer risk, particularly for melanoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
  • A specific mutation, p.(I78T), has been identified as a common pathogenic variant among Ashkenazi Jews, linked to a range of cancers and recurrent melanoma in individuals aged 25 to 67.
  • Research suggests that this variant should be included in genetic testing for high-risk patients of Ashkenazi Jewish descent due to its association with early-onset severe cancers.
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  • Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a genetic condition that leads to retinal degeneration along with issues like obesity, intellectual disability, and kidney disease, but can also present milder symptoms in some patients.
  • A case study of an Israeli patient with a mild form of retinal disease showed additional issues like epilepsy and dental problems, linking them to a specific genetic variant in a gene that's critical for vision.
  • The study suggests that this genetic variant may cause a less severe form of BBS, indicating that genetic testing for this variant should be considered not just for BBS patients, but also for those with milder retinal diseases.
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(1) Background: Over the past several years, there has been a renewed interest with regard to the effect of pre-operative vitamin D levels on post-surgical outcomes. Pre-operative vitamin D deficiency has been associated with many negative post-operative outcomes. However, the role of vitamin D in postoperative outcomes in colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) resection is relatively uninvestigated.

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Founder pathogenic variants (PVs) are prevalent in Israel. This study investigated the current practice of offering cancer patients two-step genetic testing, starting with targeted testing for recurring founder PVs, followed, if negative, by next-generation sequencing. A total of 2128 subjects with cancer or a positive family history underwent oncogenetic testing with a panel of 51 recurring PVs at a tertiary medical center in March 2020-January 2023.

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Unlabelled: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a major cause of cognitive impairment in older people. As secondary endpoints in a phase-2 randomised clinical trial, we tested the effects of single administration of a widely-used PDE5 inhibitor, tadalafil, on cognitive performance in older people with SVD. In a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial, participants received tadalafil (20 mg) and placebo on two visits ≥ 7 days apart (randomised to order of treatment).

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Background: Cholesterol granuloma (CG) commonly occurs in the petrous apex; their occurrence in the anterior cranial fossa CGs is rare. Subfrontal approaches are the conventional surgical approaches for the resection of midline lesions of the anterior cranial fossa and frontal sinuses. In this article, we describe a successful minimally invasive approach for resection of a small midline anterior cranial fossa CG.

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Significant progress has been achieved in recent years in the field of cancer genomics. The advancement in genomic technologies, molecular pathology and genetic testing, led to the discovery of novel genetic-hereditary factors, associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). There are currently ~20 identified genes that are linked to a higher risk of developing CRC; some of these genes are also linked to polyposis.

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A short report of two male siblings born with cutis aplasia, lymphedema and intestinal lymphangiectasia, one found to carry bi-allelic variants in the TIE1 gene known to be associated with congenital lymphedema.

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vertebral osteomyelitis causing deformity in immunocompetent patients is uncommon. We describe a previously healthy 68-year-old male who was referred after 2 years of lower thoracic back pain and gibbus. His inflammatory markers and HIV test were normal.

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Objectives: The optimal endovascular treatment for tandem occlusion in anterior circulation ischaemic stroke remains unknown. The aim of this study was to examine how the aetiology of carotid pathology, dissection versus atherothrombosis, affects clinical outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Data was obtained from prospectively collected registries from two stroke centres between April 2016 and December 2020.

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  • Microscopic unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression (ULBD) is a minimally invasive surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis that may offer advantages like reduced instability and improved outcomes compared to traditional laminectomy (CL).
  • A scoping review covering studies from 1990 to 2022 found 17 relevant articles, with different research designs, including randomized trials and retrospective analyses, examining the effects of ULBD.
  • The findings suggest ULBD might result in shorter surgery times and less blood loss while maintaining similar clinical outcomes compared to CL, but the limited and varying quality of the studies makes it hard to draw definitive conclusions.
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Background: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is common in older people and causes lacunar stroke and vascular cognitive impairment. Risk factors include old age, hypertension and variants in the genes encoding collagen alpha-1(IV) and alpha-2(IV), here termed collagen-IV, which are core components of the basement membrane. We tested the hypothesis that increased vascular collagen-IV associates with clinical hypertension and with SVD in older persons and with chronic hypertension in young and aged primates and genetically hypertensive rats.

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Objective: To investigate if COVID-19 UK lockdown measures resulted in a delay in the presentation and treatment of patients with cauda equina syndrome (CES).

Methods: This is a multicenter retrospective study of patients with surgically treated CES across 3 time periods: April-May 2020 (first lockdown), August-September 2020 (no-lockdown group), and January-February 2021 (second lockdown). Data regarding duration of symptoms, time from referral to admission, time from admission to surgery, and postoperative outcomes were collected.

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  • - Scoliosis in children is a common spinal deformity that may lead to worsening aesthetics and could require surgical intervention, especially when conservative treatments fail; sometimes, it's linked with intramedullary tumors, complicating management.
  • - The study details a surgical method that combines titanium implants for initial correction of scoliosis in two adolescents with tumors, which are later swapped for carbon fiber implants to preserve the correction and enable better post-op imaging.
  • - The proposed technique is noted for being safe, reliable, and effective, allowing for improved MRI evaluations post-surgery while minimizing metal-related imaging issues.
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Objective: Primary spinal leiomyosarcoma (PSL) is extremely rare. A case is presented, followed by a systematic review establishing the consensus on presentation, diagnosis, management, and outcomes. Comparison is made with metastatic spinal leiomyosarcoma (MSL).

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Introduction: There are few randomized clinical trials in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). This trial tested the hypothesis that the PDE5 inhibitor tadalafil, a widely used vasodilator, increases cerebral blood flow (CBF) in older people with symptomatic small vessel disease, the main cause of VCI.

Methods: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial, participants received tadalafil (20 mg) and placebo on two visits ≥7 days apart (randomized to order of treatment).

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Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is common in older people and is associated with lacunar stroke, white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and vascular cognitive impairment. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is reduced in SVD, particularly within white matter.Here we quantified test-retest reliability in CBF measurements using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) in older adults with clinical and radiological evidence of SVD (N=54, mean (SD): 66.

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Background And Purpose: Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) is a common form of hemorrhagic stroke, with high mortality and morbidity. Pathophysiological mechanisms in sICH are poorly understood and treatments limited. Neuroinflammation driven by microglial-macrophage activation contributes to brain damage post-sICH.

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Lumbar vertebral tuberculosis presenting with a focal solitary osteolytic lesion is rare in spinal tuberculosis (TB) and the English literature describing this entity is scant. The differential diagnosis includes primary and secondary malignancies. In this report, we describe a case of 35-year-old woman who presented with low back pain and was found to have a focal L4 vertebral lytic lesion on MRI and CT.

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Background: Accuracy of freehand insertion of external ventricular drains (EVDs) is influenced by many factors including etiology and presence of midline shift. We sought to assess if junior neurosurgical trainees' performance in accurately inserting EVDs improves with experience, using a radiological grading system.

Methods: EVD insertion procedures from the first 3 years of training were identified from the operative logbooks of three trainees.

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Cauda equina paragangliomas are rare benign extra-adrenal neuroendocrine tumours arising from the neural crest cells associated with autonomic ganglia. These tumours are often mistaken preoperatively for ependymomas or schwannomas. Patients present with axial or radicular pain with or without neurological deficits.

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Background: Subacute subdural hematomas (ASDH) are only treated surgically when they cause mass effect significant enough to give symptoms. Rarely, sub-ASDH may cause enough pressure to result in a malignant middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory infarction. Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is the last resort to reduce intracranial pressure following malignant MCA infarction.

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Lynch syndrome is an inherited cancer predisposition syndrome caused by germline defects in any of the mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Diagnosis of carriers makes precision prevention, early detection, and tailored treatment possible. Herein we report a novel founder deletion of 18,758 bp, mediated by Alu repeats on both sides, detected in Ethiopian Jews.

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