Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2016 Issue 1

Background Long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with distinct peritoneal structural changes characterized by thickening of the sub-mesothelial cell layer, fibrosis and angiogenesis. These changes were assumed to be the cause for peritoneal membrane dysfunction and technique failure that was observed in some long-term PD patients. However, this assumption was refuted by the findings from animal Read More

Introduction A medication error can be defined as “any error occurring in the medication use process” and focuses on problems with the delivery of medication to a patient [1]. Medication errors are a complex and ongoing issue that are of concern in all health care institutions [1]. Such errors range in severity but have been associated with an increased mortality and morbidity rate, as well as resulting in significant health care Read More

Background Traumatic exsanguination leading to class IV hemorrhagic shock as defined by the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons requires aggressive resuscitation with crystalloids and packed cells together with the temporary administration of either norepinephrine or vasopressin to manage a persistent hypotension that is not corrected by aggressive fluid resuscitation. However, the use of vasopres Read More

Background Natural Killer (NK) cells are critical mediators of tumor immunosurveillance. In humans, clinically relevant NK-dependent anti-leukemia effects have been originally demonstrated in the context of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from HLA-haploidentical related donors. More recently, adoptive transfer of allogeneic NK cells has been recognized as a potentially successful immunotherapeutic strategy allowing f Read More

Background Our immune system is composed of an innate (germ-line encoded) and adaptive (acquired) arm. It involves specialized hematopoietic cells but also cell-intrinsic (non-hematopoietic) mechanisms, antigen-specific receptors (T and B cell receptors/immunoglobulins), microbial sensors (pattern recognition receptors), and a complex network of signaling molecules that cooperatively work together to prevent or control inf Read More

Objective To study the prevalence of neonatal complications among pregnancies complicated by polyhydramnios of unidentified prenatal cause and their outcome in an attempt to introduce more active antenatal/postnatal evaluation and aid the counseling. Methods A retrospective descriptive study to identify all the cases of idiopathic polyhydramnios for whom there was causes between 2002 and June 2014. All the cases of pol Read More

Introduction The aim of prenatal diagnosis is to detect fetal structural and genetic abnormalities. Some changes can be registered on chromosome level (chromosome mutations) or at the level of DNA (genetic or genomic mutations), which in turn can produce somatic malformations. When amniocentesis for fetal karyotyping was first performed it was limited to gestations at or beyond 16 weeks because it was associated wit Read More

Introduction Metabolomics is a study of small molecule (metabolite) composition in the body fluids, tissue or cell culture samples. Depending on the study objective we can apply non-targeted metabolomics (metabolic profiling), which provides a semi-quantitative, global overview of the organisms metabolic composition, or targeted-metabolomics, which offers quantitative measurements of a given set of metabolites. Unt Read More

Background The world's obese population is continuing to grow at an alarming rate and Qatar posts one of the highest obese populations in the Middle East relative to its total population. Data from the supreme council for health shows that 70% of Qataris are either overweight or obese1. This development represents an increased risk for notable complications of obesity such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and other car Read More

Background and Objectives Walking is the most natural and important activity of daily living as it refers to the primary type of terrestrial human locomotion. Analyses of gait patterns typically examine the speed and manner in which people prefer to walk. Even though humans can walk at speeds ranging from near 0 km/h to 9 km/h, they typically only use a very limited range of speeds around 4.5 km/h in their daily life (Bo Read More