Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1

Objectives: To report on the differences of blinding corneal ectasias in Qatari vs. Levante Arab patient populations with two diagnostic set-ups. Methods: Group 1: Over 6 months, 6432 consecutive patients were assessed by PENTACAM HR PREMIUM, 65 index persons (IP) (128 eyes) followed for 1 year. Group 2: Over 15 months 3232 patients were assessed by NIDEK OPD ARK 10000, 35 IP (67 eyes) followed. Demographic, fu Read More

Background & Objectives Patient perceived perceptions of psychosocial support are increasingly important to understanding appropriate holistic patient centred care. Psychological distress amongst female cancer patients has been discussed at length in the literature. Psychosocial distress has been noted to increase steadily even after treatment if left untreated and is found to hinder recovery and physical coping with the d Read More

Background: Recently, the role of autophagy in glucose and lipid metabolism has been emerging. Mice experiments showed that autophagy deficiency could prevent diet-induced obesity, characterized by less fat and a browning phenotype of white adipocyte (WAT). However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not well explored and the data from human are limited. Method: The mRNA sequencing data of undi Read More

One of the fundamental goals of genetic research is to understand the pattern of heritability associated with the manifestation of various complex diseases. Elucidation of underlying genetic variation associated with common traits is one of the major challenges faced by clinical researchers. Gestational diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is multifactorial disorder of pregnancy. GDM refers to abnormal glucose tolerance that is first identifi Read More

Background: Sick building syndrome (SBS) describes a situation in which building occupants experience mild to severe health problems for no perceptible reason. Indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs), namely benzene (C6H6) and formaldehyde (CH2O) are considered as potential contributors to the SBS condition. Based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies of human cancer and their exposure to b Read More

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, associated with a chronic inflammatory status, and an increased level of cytokines which are implicated in the destruction of joints. Periodontal disease is an infection of the tissue that surrounds and supports the tooth structure, resulting also in a chronic inflammatory status. An association between the two diseases has been reported in numerous studies. Objecti Read More

Calreticulin (CRT) is an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone protein that is involved in quality control process during protein folding and maturation. It plays an important role as a regulator of intracellular calcium homeostasis. Previously it has been shown that loss of CRT protein results in endoplasmic reticulum stress, increase in ubiquitin-proteasome activity, and resistance to apoptosis. Our preliminary studies illustrated t Read More

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal genetic neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG expansion gene which is translated into a polyglutamine stretch within the first exon of the Huntingtin protein (Htt). HD patients suffer from motor impairments, cognitive decline and depression. A hallmark of HD pathogenesis is the loss of neurons in the striatum and cortex which is closely linked to the formation of large cytoplasmi Read More

Background: Diabetes is one of the world's most rapidly growing metabolic disorders. In Qatar, one in five people may develop Diabetes. Despite the existence of well known metabolic biomarkers of diabetes, there is still an urgent need to study whether such markers are different in the Qatari population and investigate the interactions between metabolites to understand the underlying metabolism of such disorder. Wher Read More