Qatar Medical Journal - Volume 2004, Issue 1

Abu Raihan Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Al Biruni was one of the well-known figures associated with the court of King Mahmood Ghaznawi, a famous Muslim kings of the 11th century AD. Al Biruni was a versatile scholar and scientist who had equal facility in physics, metaphysics, mathemat-ics, geography and history. Born in the city of Kheva near “Ural” Turkey in 973 AD, he was a con-temporary of the well-known phy-sician Ibn Sina. He died in 104 Read More

Papers considered for publication in Qatar Medical Journal are those reporting original work, review articles and case reports that are particularly relevant to medicine in the broad sense. Editorials and Review articles are by invitation.

The benefits of cholesterol-lowering with statins has been established for patients with high cholesterol levels as well as for patients with prior occlusive coronary heart disease. However; substantial uncertainty has existed about the long-term benefits of these agents in certain groups, including patients with “normal” cholesterol levels pretreatment, women, the elderly, as well as those with prior occlusive non-coronary disease. The Heart Prot Read More

The medical records of 219 epileptic patients seen over a period of eight years were reviewed to determine the incidence and causes of intractable epilepsy amongst adults in Qatar: The incidence rate of hospital admission with uncontrolled epilepsy was calculated as 25per 100,000persons. Thirty-nine patients (18%) fulfilled the criteria for IE and the incidence of IE could be approximated at 4.5 per 100,000 persons. In the native Qatari Read More

In this era of antibiotics the incidence of brain abscess and lateral sinus thrombosis (LST) secondary to chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) should not be underestimated and the management still remains a clinical challenge. We review the clinical records of patients who presented with temporal lobe abscess (Case 1), cerebellar and extradural abscess (Case 2) and LST (Case 3) of otogenic origin and discuss the importance of multidisc Read More

Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) defined as a rupture of membranes before onset of labor, which is one of the most complications of pregnancy that leads to significant maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. These complications depend on the gestational age to which it occurred. The aim of this study is to determine diagnostic value of CRP during pregnancy complicated by PROM. Retrospective study perform Read More

We retrospectively analyzed the results of263 consecutive Methacholine challenge tests (MCTs) done in our laboratory between July 2000 and June 2003, in symptomatic adult patients with no history of bronchial asthma or chronic lung disease, who presented with chronic nonproductive cough, shortness of breath (subjective dyspnea), or both. All of these patients had normal results of chest physical examination, chest radiographs and screeni Read More

Takayasu's arteritis is a rare inflammatory arteriopathy that affects predominantly young females and segmentally involves the aorta and its major branches. Infectious, hereditary, and autoimmune causes of Takayasu's arteritis have all been suggested; yet there is no consensus regarding its cause.

A 37 year-old Asian man with an infection of the upper respiratory tract experienced sudden visual changes suggestive of acute multifocal posterior placoid pigment epitheliopathy (AMPPPE). Extensive examination showed this to be serpiginous choroidopathy that was treated successfully with a single subtenon injection methylprednisolone. It is suggested that this method of treatment needs further investigation and evaluation.

Traumatic intrusion of permanent teeth is rare, as with many things in dentistry often treatment has been empiri-cal in nature. This article will review the available research data as well as present a case study showing successful treatment of an eight year-old Qatari who sustained such an injury.

An Egyptian infant with the common CFTR mutation N1303K in exon 21 developed alkalosis, electrolyte disturbance and pancreas insufficiency. The need is emphasized to consider the possibility of cystic fibrosis (CF) in the Arab world. The frequency of N1303K mutation in the Middle East and its distribution are both reviewed.

This is retrospective study of breast cancer in Qatar during period 1999-2002, using cancer registry data A total 214 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer; with incidence of5/10,000 of population per year; account-ing for 13.3% of new cancer cases and 29.9% of all female cancer. Male breast cancer is rare accounting for 3.2% of total number. Qatari patients were 23% and non-Qatari patients were 36.2%. The disease more comm Read More

G6PD deficiency is the most common enzyme deficiency disease worldwide, affecting 10% of the world's population. It is an X linked recessive disease therefore it affects males more than females (females are usually carriers of the disease).

The delivery system of oxygen in the human body consist of lungs and CVS, which it depends by it self on the: 1 Amount of O2 entering the lung. 2 Adequacy of pulmonary gas exchange. 3 Blood flow to the tissue: witch depends on the degree of the constriction of the vascular bed in the tissue, and on the cardiac output. 4 Capacity of blood to carry O2: which depends on the amount of dissolved O2, amount of Hb in the blood, and affinity Read More