Informational rescaling of PCA maps with application to genetic distance.

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a powerful multivariate tool allowing the projection of data in low-dimensional representations. Nevertheless, datapoint distances on these low-dimensional projections are challenging to interpret. Here, we propose a computationally simple heuristic to transform a map based on standard PCA (when the variables are asymptotically Gaussian) into an entropy-based map where distances are based on mutual information (MI).

Exploring Health Sciences Students' Perspectives on Using Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study.

The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in academic settings has the potential to revolutionize learning experiences, enhance educational outcomes, and streamline academic processes. The aim of this research was to explore the perceptions of Lebanese health sciences students regarding the use of generative AI in higher education. A qualitative descriptive research design informed by descriptive phenomenology was employed.

Attachment to Meat and Willingness Towards Cultured Alternatives Among Consumers: A Cross-Sectional Study in the UAE.

: The escalating global demand for meat, as a sequela of population growth, has led to unsustainable livestock production, resulting in a host of environmental and food security concerns. Various strategies have been explored to mitigate these issues, including the introduction of a novel food product, cultured meat. Cultured meat is not yet commercially available, yet public perceptions are already taking shape.

Cigarette smoke extract induces p38-mediated expression and ROS/rho-mediated translocation of alpha 2C adrenoceptor in human microvascular smooth muscle cells.

Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is a vascular disease characterized by exaggerated vasoconstriction in response to stressors, mainly cold and emotional stress. This vasoconstriction is mediated solely by alpha 2C-adrenoceptors (α-AR) expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells of dermal arterioles. Several factors, among which is cigarette smoking, are associated with aggravated symptoms of and increased risk for RP.

Multiomics dissection of human RAG deficiency reveals distinctive patterns of immune dysregulation but a common inflammatory signature.

Human recombination-activating gene (RAG) deficiency can manifest with distinct clinical and immunological phenotypes. By applying a multiomics approach to a large group of -mutated patients, we aimed at characterizing the immunopathology associated with each phenotype. Although defective T and B cell development is common to all phenotypes, patients with hypomorphic variants can generate T and B cells with signatures of immune dysregulation and produce autoantibodies to a broad range of self-antigens, including type I interferons.

Current and future burden of female breast cancer in the Middle East and North Africa region using estimates from GLOBOCAN 2022.

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed female cancer and the most common cause of cancer death in women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In this study, we aimed to describe the current patterns of breast cancer among women in the MENA region and estimate the burden for the year 2050. We used the estimates of the breast cancer incidence and mortality from the GLOBOCAN 2022 database and predicted the burden of breast cancer in 2050 according to different scenarios.

The Relationship Between Early Maladaptive Schemas and Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: The Moderating Effect of Childhood Trauma.

The study objectives were to test the hypothesis that childhood trauma moderates the associations between early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and intimate partner violence (IPV) among women in the specific Lebanese patriarchal context. This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on Lebanese women between September and December 2018; 1,655 participants enrolled in this study were from all of Lebanon's governorates and were selected using an equitable representative sample. The "Disconnection and Rejection" EMS domain showed the strongest correlations with both physical and nonphysical IPV ( = .

A Rare Case of Adrenal Gland Metastasis from Parotid Adenocarcinoma: Unveiling the Potential Augmented Utility of FAPI PET/CT.

Conventional imaging techniques, while essential, occasionally fall short in identifying elusive metastatic lesions, leading to delayed diagnoses and compromised patient outcomes. Gallium-68 fibroblast activating protein inhibitor (Ga-FAPI) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), leveraging the distinct affinity of fibroblast activation protein for cancer-associated fibroblasts, emerges as a promising solution to bridge this diagnostic gap. Parotid gland adenocarcinoma is a relatively rare malignancy with metastasis typically occurring in regional lymph nodes and distant sites such as the lungs and bones.

What Do Patients Seek Care for at a Health Facility in the Aftermath of an Earthquake? Experiences From an Emergency Medical Team in Türkoğlu, Türkiye 2023.

On February 6, 2023, a strong earthquake (7.8 Richter scale) shook southwestern Türkiye, and also affected areas in northwest Syria, resulting in over 50 000 fatalities and more than 100 000 injured in Türkiye, in addition to the displacement of approximately 3 million people. In response to an international request for assistance from the Turkish government, the United Kingdom (UK) government deployed an Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Type 1 to provide outpatient care.

Deep learning-integrated MRI brain tumor analysis: feature extraction, segmentation, and Survival Prediction using Replicator and volumetric networks.

The most prevalent form of malignant tumors that originate in the brain are known as gliomas. In order to diagnose, treat, and identify risk factors, it is crucial to have precise and resilient segmentation of the tumors, along with an estimation of the patients' overall survival rate. Therefore, we have introduced a deep learning approach that employs a combination of MRI scans to accurately segment brain tumors and predict survival in patients with gliomas.

Development of a framework to structure decision-making in environmental and occupational health: A systematic review and Delphi study.

Background: Environmental and occupational health (EOH) assessments increasingly utilize systematic review methods and structured frameworks for evaluating evidence about the human health effects of exposures. However, there is no prevailing approach for how to integrate this evidence into decisions or recommendations. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence-to-decision (EtD) frameworks provide a structure to support standardized and transparent consideration of relevant criteria to inform health decisions.

Psychological and interpersonal dimensions of sexual function and dysfunction: recommendations from the fifth international consultation on sexual medicine (ICSM 2024).

Introduction: Sexual health concerns are common and significantly impact quality of life, but many people do not seek treatment due to embarrassment and other barriers. A biopsychosocial model of assessment and treatment acknowledges the biological, psychological, and social contributors to sexual difficulties and suggests that all these domains should be evaluated.

Objectives: This paper provides an overview of the major psychological factors contributing to sexual difficulties and offer an evidence-based approach for primary care clinicians to assess and treat these issues.

The impact of music on patient tolerance during office-based laryngeal surgery.

Objective: To investigate the impact of music on patient tolerance during office-based laryngeal surgery (OBLS).

Methods: All patients undergoing OBLS between February 2024 to June 2024 were invited to participate in this study. They were divided into two subgroups, those with music in the background during surgery and those without.

Indigenous university students' perceptions regarding nature, their daily lives and climate change: a photovoice study.

Background: Climate change has severe health impacts, particularly for populations living in environmentally sensitive areas such as riversides, slopes, and forests. These challenges are exacerbated for Indigenous communities, who often face marginalisation and rely heavily on the land for their livelihoods. Despite their vulnerability, the perspectives of Indigenous populations on climate change and its impacts remain underexplored, creating a critical gap in the literature.

Unveiling Risk Profiles: A Latent Profile Analysis of 21st-Century Skills, Resistance to Change, and Cognitive Flexibility.

Objectives: Limited research utilized a person-centered approach in examining 21st-century skills. This study used latent profile analysis to explore the relationships between resistance to change, cognitive flexibility, and 21st-century skills, including creativity, cooperativity, critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving.

Materials And Methods: A convenience sampling approach was used to recruit 502 individuals (342 females; mean = 21.

Unusual presentation of necrotising sarcoid granulomatosis in the liver, spleen and bone.

Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory multisystem disease characterised by non-necrotising granulomas that typically affect the lungs, lymph nodes, eyes, skin, liver, spleen, heart, bones and joints. Although rare, necrotising granulomas can also occur. In this report, we present a case of a healthy woman in her 60s who presented with a 1-year history of fatigue and generalised body aches.

Physician demography in Lebanon 2024: identifying gaps and proposing solutions for sustainable healthcare system.

Background: Lebanon continues to experience dramatic changes in its medical demography following the ongoing economic crisis of 2019, including brain drain of physicians across different specialties. This paper assesses the landscape of physicians in Lebanon in 2024 to highlight gaps and propose solutions.

Methods: A List of registered physicians is obtained from the Lebanese Order of Physicians (LOP) in Beirut and Tripoli.

The Lebanese health economic evaluation guideline.

Background: Economic evaluation guidelines (EEGs) serve as a valuable tool to assist appraisers in making consistent and transparent recommendations, standardize EE studies, enhance their quality, and minimize methodological uncertainties. As other LMICs, Lebanon aims for UHC where EEG is a necessity. This paper aims to report on the Lebanese health EEG (LEEG) and its reference case, including the intermediate results leading to the final decisions.

Maintaining the Cartilage Phenotype of Late-Passage Chondrocytes Using Salidroside, TGF-β, and Sulfated Alginate for Cartilage Tissue Engineering Applications.

The limited self-repair capacity of cartilage due to its avascular and aneural nature leads to minimal regenerative ability. Autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) is a popular treatment for cartilage defects but faces challenges due to chondrocyte dedifferentiation in later passages, which results in undesirable fibroblastic phenotypes. A promising treatment for cartilage injuries and diseases involves tissue engineering using cells (e.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with a Religious Focus: An Observational Study.

: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder with poorly detailed subtypes/dimensions, such as religious OCD (ROCD). To date, little is known about ROCD characteristics. This work aimed to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, along with the religiosity and spirituality, of Lebanese Muslim citizens diagnosed with OCD and exhibiting religious symptoms.

Barriers and Facilitators for the Use of Patient Lifts by Healthcare Workers: A Scoping Review.

(1) Background: Patient lifts are evidence-based engineering controls used in Safe Patient Handling Programs to assist healthcare workers in moving patients. They have been shown to be beneficial for both healthcare workers and patients. However, these devices are not consistently used.

Testing the Isotropic Cauchy Hypothesis.

The isotropic Cauchy distribution is a member of the central α-stable family that plays a role in the set of heavy-tailed distributions similar to that of the Gaussian density among finite second-moment laws. Given a sequence of observations, we are interested in characterizing the performance of Likelihood Ratio Tests, where two hypotheses are plausible for the observed quantities: either isotropic Cauchy or isotropic Gaussian. Under various setups, we show that the probability of error of such detectors is not always exponentially decaying with , with the leading term in the exponent shown to be logarithmic instead, and we determine the constants in that leading term.

Accessory splenic infarction presenting as acute abdominal pain: A case report.

Introduction: Accessory spleens are a common anatomical variant, consisting of ectopic splenic tissue present in different locations in the peritoneal cavity. Typically asymptomatic, the presence of these tissue grows to be of clinical importance when complicated by infarction, rupture, or torsion.

Presentation Of Case: We report the case of a 36-year-old female that presented to the Emergency Department for diffuse abdominal pain and was found to have a partially ruptured splenule secondary to a venous infarct on abdominal computed tomography scan.

Processed and ultra-processed foods are associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in a cross-sectional sample of urban Lebanese adults.

While low dietary quality has been linked to poor mental health, evidence on more direct relations of specific dietary quality indicators, namely degrees of food processing, with mental health disorders remains limited. This study aims to investigate the association between food groups' intakes, defined based on their degree of food processing, with depression and anxiety symptoms in a sample of Lebanese adults. We hypothesized that higher intakes of ultra-processed foods (UPF) will be related to higher risk of depression and anxiety while an opposite association will be observed for unprocessed or minimally processed foods (MPF).