Behavioral Health Risk Factors: the Interaction of Personal and Country Effects.

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between the individual's self-assessed health status (SAHS) and health-risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity), in 16 European countries. The associations were studied for the individual and for the country measures-and in particular, for the unexplored aspect of interaction between individual and country levels of the three risk factors.

Method: Data for 47,114 adults, who participated in the Survey of Health Aging and Retirement Europe (SHARE), were analyzed using Multilevel Regression Analysis.

The history and promising future of phage therapy in the military service.

The continuous evolvement of bacterial resistance to most, if not all, available antibiotics is a worldwide problem. These strains, frequently isolated from military-associated environments, have created an urgent need to develop supplementary anti-infective modalities. One of the leading directions is phage therapy, which includes the administration of bacteriophages, viruses that specifically target bacteria, as biotherapies.

A comparison of decisions to discharge committed psychiatric patients between treating physicians and district psychiatric committees: an outcome study.

Background: The Israel Mental Health Act of 1991 stipulates a process for involuntary psychiatric hospitalization (IPH). A patient thus hospitalized may be discharged by either the treating psychiatrist (TP) or the district psychiatric committee (DPC). The decision rendered by the DPC is often at odds with the recommendation of the TP.

Does Acute Otitis Media in the First Month of Life Increase the Risk for Recurrent Otitis?

Acute otitis media (AOM) is a common childhood illness. The aim of this study was to assess whether AOM in the first month of life predicts recurrent AOM (rAOM) in early childhood. The medical records of all neonates with AOM and isolation of bacterial pathogen from middle-ear fluid during 2005-2010 were reviewed.

Students as anatomy near-peer teachers: a double-edged sword for an ancient skill.

Background: A near-peer instructors (NPI) program was designed for 1st year medical students who successfully finished the Anatomy course, in order to develop their didactic ability and teaching skills, mostly for cadaver dissection.

Methods: Graduates of the training program were administered a voluntary survey at the end of the program, annually. Best graduates of the training program were offered a NPI position in the next academic year.

The novel sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors antagonist AD2900 affects lymphocyte activation and inhibits T-cell entry into the lymph nodes.

Sphingolipid derivatives play key roles in immune cell migration and function. Synthetic sphingolipid analogues are used as therapeutics to intervene various inflammatory and malignant conditions. We hypothesize that different analogs have different effects on immune cells and therefore can be used as treatment for specific diseases.

Plasticity of intrinsic firing response gain in principal hippocampal neurons following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus.

Objective: In experimental models of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), brain neurons manifest multiple changes in intrinsic excitability that contribute to neuronal network hyperexcitability. We have investigated whether the intrinsic firing response gain, quantified by the slope of the function relating the number of evoked spikes (Ns) to input excitatory current intensity (I), is modified in principal rat hippocampal neurons in the pilocarpine-status epilepticus (SE) model of TLE.

Methods: Intracellular recordings were made in CA3 and CA1 pyramidal cells (PCs) and dentate granule cells (GCs) in acute hippocampal slices obtained 7-36days after pilocarpine-SE.

Epidural analgesia at trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC): a significant adjunct to successful vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).

Introduction: Epidural analgesia has been considered a risk factor for labor dystocia at trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) and uterine rupture. We evaluated the association between exposure to epidural during TOLAC and mode of delivery and maternal-neonatal outcomes.

Materials And Methods: A single center retrospective study of women that consented to TOLAC within a strict protocol between 2006 and 2013.

Comparative incidence dynamics and serotypes of meningitis, bacteremic pneumonia and other-IPD in young children in the PCV era: Insights from Israeli surveillance studies.

Introduction: Widespread introduction of pneumococcal conjugated vaccines (PCVs) impacted on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). However, IPD reduction may not be similar in all outcomes within IPD. We assessed PCV7/PCV13 impact on pneumococcal meningitis, bacteremic pneumonia (BP) and other (non-meningitis, non-pneumonia) IPD episodes in children <5years in Israel.

Prevalence of bruxism and temporomandibular disorders among orphans in southeast Uganda: A gender and age comparison.

Objectives: The aims of the current study were: (1) to assess the prevalence of oral habits, bruxism, and temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) among children living in Uganda; (2) to establish whether parafunctional activities are associated with TMDs; and (3) to examine the possible impact of gender and age on the prevalence of bruxism, oral habits, and TMDs.

Methods: This study included 153 children aged 6-17 years. The study consisted of a questionnaire and a clinical examination.

Prediction value of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) serum levels and antral follicle count (AFC) in hormonal contraceptive (HC) users and non-HC users undergoing IVF-PGD treatment.

Use of hormone contraceptives (HC) is very popular in the reproductive age and, therefore, evaluation of ovarian reserve would be a useful tool to accurately evaluate the reproductive potential in HC users. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 41 HC users compared to 57 non-HC users undergoing IVF-preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) aiming to evaluate the effect of HC on the levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), small (2-5 mm), large (6-10 mm) and total antral follicle count (AFC) and the ability of these markers to predict IVF outcome. Significant differences in large AFC (p = 0.

Vesicular acetylcholine transporter defect underlies devastating congenital myasthenia syndrome.

Objective: To identify the genetic basis of a recessive congenital neurologic syndrome characterized by severe hypotonia, arthrogryposis, and respiratory failure.

Methods: Identification of the responsible gene by exome sequencing and assessment of the effect of the mutation on protein stability in transfected rat neuronal-like PC12 cells.

Results: Two brothers from a nonconsanguineous Yemeni Jewish family manifested at birth with severe hypotonia and arthrogryposis.

Infantile neurodegenerative disorder associated with mutations in TBCD, an essential gene in the tubulin heterodimer assembly pathway.

Mutation in a growing spectrum of genes is known to either cause or contribute to primary or secondary microcephaly. In primary microcephaly the genetic determinants frequently involve mutations that contribute to or modulate the microtubule cytoskeleton by causing perturbations of neuronal proliferation and migration. Here we describe four patients from two unrelated families each with an infantile neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of developmental milestones at 9–24 months of age followed by seizures, dystonia and acquired microcephaly.

Using medical specialty and selection criteria clusters to study specialty selection by Israeli medical students.

Background: During their final year of medical school, Israeli students must consider which specialty to choose for residency. Based on the vocational counseling literature we presumed that choices are made by selecting from a cluster of related specialties while considering professional and socio-economic issues.

Methods: Questionnaires distributed to final-year medical students at two Israeli medical schools ascertained inclinations toward various medical specialties and the importance of various selection criteria.

Proangiogenic characteristics of activated macrophages from patients with age-related macular degeneration.

Macrophages were previously implicated in the pathogenesis of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nvAMD). It is unclear if a specific macrophage phenotype is associated with nvAMD, and if macrophages from nvAMD patients are more pathogenic as compared with controls. To address these issues, we evaluated macrophages derived from peripheral blood monocytes of nvAMD patients and age-matched controls.

Anesthesia for Patients with Concomitant Sepsis and Cardiac Dysfunction.

Anesthesiologists faced with a patient with sepsis and concurrent cardiac dysfunction must be cognizant of the patient's cardiac status and cause of the cardiac problem to appropriately adapt physiologic and metabolic monitoring and anesthetic management. Anesthesia in such patients is challenging because the interaction of sepsis and cardiac dysfunction greatly complicates management. Intraoperative anesthesia management requires careful induction and maintenance of anesthesia; optimizing intravascular volume status; avoiding lung injury during mechanical ventilation; and close monitoring of arterial blood gases, serum lactate concentrations, and hematology renal and electrolyte parameters.

Bacteremic vs nonbacteremic urinary tract infection in children.

Aim: Bacteremia is an uncommon complication of urinary tract infection (UTI). The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for bacteremic UTI in pediatric patients.

Methods: The medical records of all pediatric patients with UTI between 2013 and 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.

Medical education in Israel 2016: five medical schools in a period of transition.

Abstract: We reviewed the existing programs for basic medical education (BME) in Israel as well as their output, since they are in a phase of reassessment and transition. The transition has been informed, in part, by evaluation in 2014 by an International Review Committee (IRC). The review is followed by an analysis of its implications as well as the emergent roadmap for the future.

K 7/M channels as targets for lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory neuronal hyperexcitability.

Key Points: Neuroinflammation associated with CNS insults leads to neuronal hyperexcitability, which may culminate in epileptiform discharges. Application of the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to brain tissue initiates a neuroinflammatory cascade, providing an experimental model to study the mechanisms of neuroinflammatory neuronal hyperexcitability. Here we show that LPS application to hippocampal slices markedly enhances the excitability of CA1 pyramidal cells by inhibiting a specific potassium current, the M-current, generated by K 7/M channels, which controls the excitability of almost every neuron in the CNS.

Spinal epidural abscess with a rapid course in young healthy infantry recruits with multiple skin lacerations.

In recent years, there has been high prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection among soldiers in the Israeli military, with devastating sequelae in several cases. Emergency department physicians have developed a high level of suspicion for spinal epidural abscess (SEA) in patients presenting known risk factors; however, SEA is a particularly elusive diagnosis in young healthy adults with no history of drug abuse.

Loss of function of PCDH12 underlies recessive microcephaly mimicking intrauterine infection.

Objective: To identify the genetic basis of a recessive syndrome characterized by prenatal hyperechogenic brain foci, congenital microcephaly, hypothalamic midbrain dysplasia, epilepsy, and profound global developmental disability.

Methods: Identification of the responsible gene by whole exome sequencing and homozygosity mapping.

Results: Ten patients from 4 consanguineous Palestinian families manifested in utero with hyperechogenic brain foci, microcephaly, and intrauterine growth retardation.