Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2013 Issue 1

The expanding economy of Qatar in the last two decades has attracted immigrants, often from countries with poor socio-economic standards. Many arrive with patent intestinal parasitic infections, and recent analyses have indicated consistently rising trends in the prevalence of some infections. We have used several approaches for quantifying the prevalence of parasitic infections brought into the country by immigran Read More

Correlation between quality of life and disease severity in children with atopic dermatitis in the state of Qatar Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an itchy, chronic or chronically relapsing, inflammatory skin condition which is most prevalent in childhood. It is known to affect 10-20% of children. The prevalence of AD has increased during the past 3 decades and is probably due to modification of lifestyles and environment. Atopic Read More

Malignant tumors metabolize glucose through glycolysis to lactic acid and produce ATP at an accelerated rate when compared to normal cells, a phenotype detected clinically using Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Out of the four available isoforms, Hexokinase 2 (HK2) is the major expressing isoform in cancers specially those that metastasize and kill their human host. In malignant cells, HK2 not only improves the c Read More

The foodborne and waterborne disease continues to pose significant health problems in the Middle East. This region specifically Arabic speaking countries, imports large amounts of food products from all over the world. At the same time, this region exports a variety of food commodities to many countries worldwide. The increased international food trade, changes in agriculture production, food processing, and consumer d Read More

Anti-allergic effects by arginase inhibitors: role of nitric oxide Herman Meurs¹, Ramadan Sopi¹´², Mirjam Simoons¹, Paul Jackson³, Harm Maarsingh¹´³ ¹Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Groningen Research Institute for Pharmacy and Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, ²Faculty of Medicine, University of Prishtina, Prishtina, Kosovo, ³Department of Pha Read More

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the bioactive compounds from secondary metabolites of the fungus Rhizoctonia solani against some selected strains of pathogenic bacteria. The fungus grown in a fermented culture and the filtrate was extracted in different chemical solvents. The fungal crude extract was used to examine the bioactivity against six strains of bacteria using disc diffusion method. The results showed t Read More

Osteopontin regulates hypoxic induction of NHE1 activity in H9C2 cells. Soumaya Bouchoucha, Fatima Mraiche Hypoxia, an important component of ischemia, is the result of an imbalance between oxygen supply and demand. Severe impairment of oxygen supply may result in a maladaptive cardiac phenotype. During myocardial ischemia, the Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1), the main regulator of pHi, has been shown to Read More

Background: Most of available literature on atrial fibrillation (AF) is based on studies in the developed world and included mainly Caucasian patients. Data about AF in other ethnicities is very limited. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effect of hypertension (HTN) in Middle-eastern Arab and South-Asian patients hospitalized with AF from a 20 year national registry in a Middle-Eastern country. Methods: Retrospective analy Read More

Blood doping still remains as a performance enhancement strategy misused by athletes . Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream by means of either blood transfusion of an individual or by administration of erythropoietin, in order to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. There is no direct method currently for the detection of autologous transfusion, leaving this a Read More

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) are an important class of chemical carcinogens formed as a result of incomplete combustion; it is therefore found in grilled foods, tobacco smoke and in general, the environment. Previous studies have shown exposure of smokers and second hand smokers (SHS) towards a whole host of PAHs and more than 500 of these have been demonstrated in tobacco smoke. As it is ubiqu Read More

Background: Individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) frequently suffer from concomitant impaired proprioception and postural instability. Conventional exercise training has been demonstrated effective in improving balance; however these exercises are often repetitive, causing patients to lose interest and not complete the long term rehabilitation process. In addition, these programs do not incorporate v Read More

Endometriosis is a debilitating medical condition in females in which endometrial glands and stroma appear and flourish in areas outside the uterine cavity and walls, most commonly in the ovaries. Incidence in general population is 5-15% and around 30% in infertile women. Usual age group is 20-30years and patients present with dysmenorrhoea, dyspareunia, dyschezia, infertility and pelvic pain. We report two interesting case Read More

Type I interferon α/β (IFN-α/β) cytokines are produced by the host cell upon sensing viral proteins and nucleic acids as pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and thereby elicit an antiviral response that represents the frontline of innate immunity against a virus infection. Among the signatures of the "non self" presence, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is the most potent PAMP in triggering the IFN-α/β-based Read More

Introduction: The objective of the "Italian Study on gene-environment interactions in lymphoma etiology", hereafter named the Italian GxE Study, is to identify individual conditions and external factors associated with lymphoma aetiology, the response to therapy and survival, as possible targets for preventive action and possible drivers of new individualized therapeutic strategies. Methods: This objective is being pursued by recrui Read More

الفكرة هي اعتبار عقل الطفل لا يوجد به البرنامج التشغيلي ي للعقل أو أن برنامج التشغيل الأولي لا يعمل كما يجب وهو فرضية أن عقل الطفل عندما يولد يكون عقله محمل ببرنامج مكتسب من الجينات وضعه الخالق سبحانه وتعالى نصه * انتبه إلى ما هو مكرر في بيئتك * انتبه إلى المثيرات البصرية التي تتكرر * انتبه إلى المثيرات السمعية التي تتكرر * سوف تتعرف على نفسك ومن حولك في حالة الطفل تم إهماله في الشهور الأولى مثل ترك الطفل ليشاهد قنوات الأطفال في أول 6 أشهر أو أن الدماغ لم يحفز فيصبح اقل ن Read More

Background & Objectives Aneurysm is a condition in which an abnormal dilation occurs in the wall of an artery or vein. Since cerebral aneurysm morphology is considered as a potential surrogate of rupture, clinicians often desire its segmentation before any pre-operative or interventional planning is performed. Also, segmentation of such images offers the potential of identifying the right treatment for a wide range of medi Read More

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease affecting mainly the alpha motor neurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord leading to muscular atrophy and paralysis. Although SMA is one of the leading genetic causes of infant mortality, no effective treatment is currently available. Gene delivery studies of Glial Derived Neurotrophic (GDNF) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have demonstrated positive impacts in Read More

Cancer develops as a result of a defective apoptotic system. Anticancer drugs mainly aim to modulate apoptosis. Multiple publications strongly support the link between the elevation of the intracellular calcium concentration and the induction of apoptosis. Cisplatin was one of the pioneers of the metal based anticancer drugs. Many tumors have been treated with cisplatin and other platin-based anti-cancer drugs like carboplat Read More

The computational advances in recent times have led to analysis of the complex interaction of blood flow through elastic artery. This aids in prognosing the progression and behaviour of cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis, aneurysms etc. In the present investigation, an idealistic 66% eccentric stenosed common carotid artery is analyzed under normal blood pressure condition based on clinical data obtained from Read More

Purpose: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has one of the worst prognoses of all malignancies. At time of diagnosis, 80% of patients with PDAC have unresectable tumors, and conventional therapies are nearly ineffective. The relative poor efficacy of chemo/radiotherapy against PDAC indicates that the development of new therapeutic strategies is a crucial step to improve the survival of patients with this disease. This i Read More

Patient engagement in their care process, vis-à-vis self-management programs is an important element of the patient's longitudinal care plan, where the patient is encouraged and expected to achieve self-efficacy in the self-management of the disease through a regime of educational and behavioral modification strategies. To ensure the effectiveness of self-management programs, it is important that the proposed self-man Read More

Background: People with diabetes are at risk of developing foot ulcers (DFUs), which accounts for significant morbidity and mortality. Damage caused from repeated foot loading and temperature changes during walking may go undetected by patients due to loss of lower-extremity sensations (peripheral neuropathy). Clinical assessment on the other hand needs considerable time. Therefore, a feasible assessment of Read More

Modulation of calcium homeostasis plays a key role in regulating fundamental cellular processes, including gene transcription, cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) is the major pathway in non-excitable cells for extracellular Ca2+ influx across the plasma membrane and is regulated by the content of the intracellular Ca2+ stores. Following store depletion, the Ca2+ sensor in ER Read More

Gastric bypass surgery is the most effective treatment for obesity, achieving both sustained weight loss and improved insulin sensitivity. However, following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (RYGB) some patients develop debilitating nausea and vomiting (N/V) persisting for years. The aim of this study was to determine if the N/V following RYGB is due to elevated systemic GLP-1 levels and whether GLP-1 directly mediates secretio Read More