Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1

Cdc25C is a member of the dual specific protein phosphatase family capable of dephosphorylating both phospho-Tyr and phospho-Ser/Thr residues. In vertebrates, there are three isoforms of the Cdc25 enzyme (Cdc25A, Cdc25B and Cdc25C). The N-terminal (regulatory domain) region of these three enzymes is highly divergent (~20-25% identity) while the C-terminal (catalytic domain) region is more conserved (~60% identity). Read More

Abstract Nanobiotechnology has been recently widely applied in multidisciplinary fields including pharmaceutical applications. The last decade has witnessed an increase research interests focused on the biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles from fungi as a natural sources and as bionanofactories. However, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are of great importance particularly in medical therapy applications and can be Read More

Worldwide 1.24 million deaths occur annually due to road traffic injuries. Additionally, 20-50 million are injured or disabled. Similarly, within the Gulf Cooperation Council countries injury and mortality due to road traffic injury are high. In the State of Qatar, for example, the road traffic fatality rate for the year 2010 is estimated to be 14 per 100,000. Young adult males are disproportionately affected. Road safety risk factor laws na Read More

One of the key objectives of the surveillance of communicable disease (CDs) is the identification of areas for research and healthcare system improvement. In a recent paper published in Qatar Medical Journal (http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2014.9) is shown the delay in diagnosis of CDs of cases reported at The Cuban Hospital (TCH) during 2012 and 2013. Examples of delay in diagnosis was for tuberculosis 61.7 days, acute Read More

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) have been classified into three different classes I, II, III. Betaretrovirus-like sequences, including HERV-K, belong to the class II and contains ten groups, termed HML1-10. It has been reported that an HML-10 sequence, termed HERV-K(C4), is inserted within the gene coding for the human complement C4 in an antisense orientation (Tassabehij et al. 1994). The expression of the HERV-K( Read More

Abstract Introduction Bleeding is a common complication after cardiac surgery. However, lower gastrointestinal bleeding is not usually associated with this type of surgery. Case presentation A 50-year-old man with a history of aortic regurgitation underwent elective mechanical valve replacement under cardiopulmonary bypass. He experienced a complicated intraoperative course involving unexplained cardiac arrest f Read More

Introduction: Intractable bleeding is one of common adverse events after cardiac surgeries. Recombinant activated factor VII (rVIIa) showed efficiency in controlling postoperative intractable bleeding (1). Its usage after cardiac surgeries should be more investigated. Patients and methods: - All patients received rVIIa post cardiac surgeries over a period of two years were included in a retrospective descriptive study. All patie Read More

Background: Small RNAs play an essential role in fundamental biological processes such as differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and homeostasis. Evidence suggests that small RNAs may also play function in Cancer progression. The conventional in-vitro two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell culture models are not sufficient to explain the exact mechanism behind tumor invasion and metastasis. The objective of this study is to Read More

Background and Objective: In the Middle East and North Africa, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection distribution appears to present a wide range of prevalence. The scale and nature of HCV infection exposure in Yemen is poorly known. The objective of this study was to establish the national population-level HCV prevalence in Yemen and to characterize the epidemiology of this infection in the Yemeni population. Methods: We Read More

Background It is widely perceived that little is known about the epidemiology of HIV infection among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The primary objective of this study was to assess the status of the HIV epidemic among PWID in MENA by describing HIV prevalence and incidence. Secondary objectives were to describe the risk behavior environment and the HIV epidemic potential am Read More

Background: Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the leading chronic diseases in Qatar as well as worldwide. However, the risk factors for DM in Qatar and their prevalence are not well understood. We conducted a case-control study with the specific aim of estimating, based on data from outpatients with DM in Qatar (cases) and inpatient/outpatient controls, the association between demographic/lifestyle factors and DM. W Read More

Background: Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) is well-established in the management of infected surgical wounds. However, it is a relatively new modality of treatment for the protection of clean surgical sites. This study was aimed at developing guidelines for the use of negative pressure incision management to prevent surgical wound complications after heart surgery. Methods: In this prospective study, we inclu Read More

Background: a 30 year old gentleman was referred to our in thoracic surgery clinic with an incidental finding of an abnormal shadow around the apical region of the heart on the chest radiograph. He was asymptomatic and non smoker and he had no chronic medical illness in the past. He had no specific findings on physical examination. Echocardiogram revealed rounded cyst in the pericardium around the hear apex measurin Read More

Rational: Heart failure is a common, costly, and frequently fatal disease. One in three cases of heart failure is due to dilated cardiomyopathy. NHE1 expression and activity are increased in this cardiac defect. We have previously shown that elevated activity of NHE1 in the cardiomyocytes induced cardiac hypertrophy in transgenic mice. However, it protected the myocardium following ischemia/reperfusion. This overexpression of a Read More

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) functions as a storehouse for intracellular calcium. STIM1, a calcium sensor, localizes mostly to the ER membrane. Following Ca2+ store depletion, STIM1 forms puncta that localize to the cortical ER and bind Orai1, a plasma membrane Ca2+ channel, to allow Ca2+ influx. This is the predominant pathway for Ca2+ influx in non-excitable cells and is referred to as Store-Operated Calcium Entry ( Read More

Background: Breakdown of blood-retinal barrier (BRB) and subsequent hyperpermeability is a cardinal feature of early diabetic retinopathy (DR) and leading cause of blindness. Fatty acid metabolism is implicated in several biological functions via multiple signaling pathways including the synthesis of bioactive metabolites. Our previous studies established 12/15-lipoxygenase (12/15-LOX)-derived 12- and 15- hydroxyeicosat Read More

Neuroblastoma is a solid malignant embryonic tumor. It is usually diagnosed in the infancy and rarely found after the age of 10 years. In the current treatment options, CDDP and TOPO are included. Methods: Neuroblastoma (SH SY-5Y) cell death was investigated after treatment with CDDP and TOPO (0.1nM-1μM) using Trypan Blue Cytotoxicity Test and Total Cytotoxicity and Apoptosis Detection Kit (FACS). These data a Read More

Biocompatible Graphene Oxide with Anchored Zwitterionic Moiety - Synthesis, Characterization and Application Markéta Ilčíková1, Zuzana Kroneková2, Anna Záhoranová2 and Peter Kasák1* 1 Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, P.O.Box 2713 Doha, Qatar 2 Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, Slovakia *Corresponding author: peter.kasak@qu.edu.qa The nove Read More

One goal in the field of soft tissue biomechanics is to understand and to model the properties of collagen-fibers in biological tissues such as blood vessels, brain tissues, and skin which undergo growth and remodeling processes. Experimental studies of Bhole et al.\ [1] suggest that the mechanical properties of fibers in biological tissues depend not only on the current state of the deformation but also on the deformation Read More

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness among working diabetic patients worldwide. The current therapeutic strategies are limited by several side effects. Thus, it is important to investigate novel approaches for therapeutic intervention. Early inflammatory response and late neovascularization (NV) are cardinal clinical signs of the DR. We have previously demonstrated the involvement of bioactive lipids especi Read More

General consensus exists that biomedical research is a key determinant of innovation, health, and economic wellbeing. However, the answer to the question how do we determine and quantify the value and the impact of research is apparently simple, while a thoughtful and analytical answer quickly becomes very probing and difficult to address. Qatar has dedicated itself to transitioning from a resource-based to a knowledge- Read More

Nonlinear continuum mechanics is commonly used to study the response of highly de- formable materials. Nowadays, the proposed material models often include internal ma- terial variables in order to capture realistic engineering behavior. The theoretical back- ground is mature and its implementation in the frame of nite element method is well established. Solely, these material constitutive models are expressed in ter Read More

Background Islet cell death is a common feature of type 1 diabetes (T1D), including after islet cell transplantation, as well as of type 2 diabetes (T2D). As of today, we lack tools to quantitatively detect islet cell loss prior to the clinical onset of diabetes, or to predict the progression of established diabetes. Our preliminary data demonstrates that a signature of 20 different non-coding (nc) RNAs (including microRNAs) ref Read More

Over the last two decades the prevalence of obesity has reached epidemic levels worldwide. Secondary major health risks, such as hypertension, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, can be summarized as the metabolic syndrome and are highly associated with obesity. In cases in which energy intake e.g. through high caloric food intake exceeds energy expenditure the overall energy homeostasi Read More

Background: Polycythemia Vera (PV), Essential Thrombocytosis (ET) & Primary Myelofibrosis (PMF) are Philadelphia negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) characterized by overproduction of one or more myeloid cell lineages. MPNs are associated with the presence JAK2 V617F mutation in 95% of PV & 50% of ET & PMF patients. Several molecular methods such as RQ-PCR, HRM & Sequencing are currently used t Read More