Recent Publications
Noa Martonovich, Maher Khatib, Michael Assaf: Hair tourniquet syndrome: A retrospective study (Pediatr Dermatol .)
Hair thread tourniquet syndrome (HTS) is a pediatric condition in which human hair or synthetic fiber encircles and strangulates a body appendage causing tissue necrosis. Few epidemiologic studies have been done. Our objective was to better define the demographics, clinical features, and predisposing factors for this condition.
Amir Mari, Wisam Sbeit, Tawfik Khoury: Bloating, Diarrhoea and Maldigestion in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: Are Fatty Pancreas and Pancreatic Exocrine Insufficiency the Missing Pieces of the Puzzle? (J Clin Med .)
Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) is a disorder causing symptoms such as maldigestion, malnutrition, diarrhoea, bloating, vitamin deficiency and weight loss [...].
Shemy Carasso: Urgent Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Severe Mitral Regurgitation in Patients with Refractory Cardiogenic Shock (J Clin Med . )
Patients suffering from cardiogenic shock (CS) and mitral regurgitation (MR) demonstrate worse prognosis, with higher mortality rates. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of urgent valve intervention of the mitral valve, using transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) procedures in patients presenting with CS in a tertiary Intensive Coronary Care Unit (ICCU).
Yasmin Ghantous, Aysar Nashef, Murad Abdelraziq, Kutaiba Alkeesh, Shareef Araidy, Imad Abu El-Naaj: Clinical and Prognostic Significance of the Eighth Edition Oral Cancer Staging System (Cancers (Basel) . )
The most notable changes in the eighth edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging System include incorporating the depth of invasion (DOI) into T staging and extranodal extension (ENE) into N staging. In this study, we retrospectively assessed the prognostic and clinical implications of the eighth TNM staging system.
Naaem Simaan, Fadi Shbat: Characteristics of patients with cerebral sinus venous thrombosis and JAK2 V617F mutation (Acta Neurol Belg . )
Janus kinase 2 (JAK2-V617F) mutations can cause thrombocytosis, polycythemia and hyper viscosity leading to cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (CSVT). However, data regarding the characteristics and prevalence of JAK2-V617F mutation in patients with CSVT are currently lacking. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of CSVT patients that carry the JAK2 mutation.
Liora Livshitz, Tsafrir Or: The effects of a multi-day cross-country mountain bike race on myocardial function, stress, inflammation and cardiac biomarkers in amateur master athletes (Res Sports Med . )
This study aimed to examine the effects of a multi-day mountain bike race on amateur master athlete cyclists (AMA).
Johnny S Younis: Is ovarian reserve reduction following endometriotic cystectomy predicted? The implication for fertility preservation counseling (Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) . )
Ovarian reserve depletion secondary to an intact endometrioma continues to be actively debated and has been recently challenged. Conversely, endometriotic cyst surgery, specifically endometriotic ovarian cystectomy, seems to have an irreversible damaging impact and is of concern for women and practitioners alike. Past histological studies have demonstrated inadvertent primordial follicle removal adjacent to the endometrioma, which seems inevitable even in experienced hands. Furthermore, well-performed systematic reviews and meta-analyses have resulted in a significant irreversible reduction in serum AMH levels, suggesting potentially lasting damage to the reproductive life span.
Ran Handel: What we know about the role of corticosteroids in psychiatric disorders; evidence from animal and clinical studies (J Psychiatr Res .)
Corticosteroids, often known as steroids, are anti-inflammatory medicine prescribed for various conditions. There is accumulating evidence of immune dysregulation in major psychiatric disorders. Significant changes in concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers (i.e., IL-6 and TNF-a) have been previously reported in individuals with schizophrenia, autistic individuals, and depressive patients. Thus, systemic corticosteroids can be used as an adjuvant treatment to reduce inflammation in major psychiatric disorders. However, despite their well-known potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant properties, this treatment is often associated with increased severity of several psychiatric symptoms and relapse. This article reviews the available literature on psychiatric and cognitive changes during corticosteroid therapy.
Ilan Shamir: Atenolol treatment does not affect behavioral outcomes in pediatric patients with infantile hemangiomas: a case-control cohort study (J Am Acad Dermatol . )
To the Editor: Recently, atenolol has generated interest as an alternative to propranolol in the treatment of Infantile hemangioma (IH), due to comparable efficacy and better safety profile, in terms of CNS-related adverse effects. Despite the promising benefits of atenolol treatment, its effects on CNS development in children have not been evaluated to date. Theoretically, atenolol, unlike propranolol which is lipophilic, has a hydrophilic structure that prevents it from crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, animal studies have shown that atenolol is actively effluxed into the brain and is able to induce central toxicity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of atenolol treatment on CNS development in infants with IH.
Hanna Mandel, Nadra Nasser Samra: Vici syndrome in Israel: Clinical and molecular insights (Front Genet .)
Vici Syndrome is a rare, severe, neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorder with multi-systemic manifestations presenting in infancy. It is mainly characterized by global developmental delay, seizures, agenesis of the corpus callosum, hair and skin hypopigmentation, bilateral cataract, and varying degrees of immunodeficiency, among other features. Vici Syndrome is caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in EPG5, resulting in impaired autophagy. Thus far, the condition has been reported in less than a hundred individuals. Objective and Methods: We aimed to characterize the clinical and molecular findings in individuals harboring biallelic EPG5 variants, recruited from four medical centers in Israel. Furthermore, we aimed to utilize a machine learning-based tool to assess facial features of Vici syndrome.
Ohad Ronen: Effectiveness of core needle biopsy in the diagnosis of thyroid lymphoma and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) .)
Both anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) and thyroid lymphoma (TL) clinically present as rapidly enlarging neck masses. Unfortunately, in this situation, like in any other thyroid swelling, a routine fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology is the first and only diagnostic test performed at the initial contact in the average thyroid practice. FNA, however, has a low sensitivity in diagnosing ATC and TL, and by the time the often "inconclusive" result is known, precious time has evolved, before going for core-needle biopsy (CNB) or incisional biopsy (IB) as the natural next diagnostic steps. Objectives: To determine the diagnostic value of CNB in the clinical setting of a rapidly enlarging thyroid mass, via a systematic review and meta-analysis of the available data on CNB reliability in the differential diagnosis of ATC and TL.
Maya Azrad, Dafna Vazana, Avi On, Maya Paritski, Hanan Rohana, Halim Roshrosh, Keren Agay-Shay, Avi Peretz: Antibiotic resistance patterns of Helicobacter pylori in North Israel - A six-year study (Helicobacter .)
One main challenge in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication is its increasing antibiotic resistance. Additionally, resistance rates vary between geographic areas and periods. However, data are limited since susceptibility testing is not routinely performed. Thus, it is valuable to gather data regarding H. pylori's resistance rates in Israel that would aid in better adjustment of treatment.The study included 540 H. pylori isolates, recovered from gastric biopsy samples of patients who had undergone endoscopy, during 2015-2020, at the Padeh Poriya Medical Center.
Ibrahim Marai: Left atrial appendage exclusion in atrial fibrillation (Front Cardiovasc Med . )
Although oral anticoagulants (OACs) are first-line therapy for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), some patients cannot be treated with OACs due to absolute or relative contraindications. Left atrial appendage (LAA) exclusion techniques have been developed over the years as a therapeutic alternative for stroke prevention. In this paper, we review the evolution of surgical techniques, employed as an adjunct to cardiac surgery or as a stand-alone procedure, as well as the recently introduced and widely utilized percutaneous LAA occlusion techniques.
Nosaiba Rayan-Gharra, Marganit Ofir-Gutler, Sivan Spitzer: Shaping health: conducting a community health needs assessment in culturally diverse peripheral population groups (Int J Equity Health .)
The impact of social determinants on health status and outcomes has been widely established. However, it is recognized that health systems' ability to address community health needs may be limited. To better understand the interrelation between social determinants of health and health outcomes, health systems need to understand the health concerns and needs of populations. The aim of this study was to map the perceived health needs of Israel's northern periphery's diverse ethnic and religious communities and regional clusters by conducting a community health needs assessment (CHNA).
Elite Arnon-Sheleg: Vascular Graft Infection Imaging (Semin Nucl Med .)
Vascular graft infection is a rare, life threatening complication of vascular repair with synthetic or native material. The pathogenesis, causative microorganisms and clinical manifestations vary according to graft's location and time duration since surgery. The diagnosis of graft infection is challenging since there is no single "gold standard" test and diagnosis is based on clinical and radiological criteria.