Recent Publications

During the COVID-19 outbreak, numerous reports indicated a higher mortality rate among cardiovascular patients. We investigated how this trend applied to patients admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU).

Delayed detection of lupus nephritis associates with worse outcomes. There are conflicting recommendations regarding a threshold level of proteinuria at which biopsy will likely yield actionable management. This study addressed the association of urine protein creatinine ratios (UPCR) with clinical characteristics and investigated the incidence of proliferative and membranous histology in patients with a UPCR between 0.5 and 1.

Inauguration Editorial from new editor in chief.

The effect of contrast media (CM), delivered prior to- and during transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), on kidney function, following the procedure, is debatable. Consequently, the performance of CM-based, acute kidney injury (AKI) risk prediction models is also questionable. We retrospectively studied 210 patients that underwent TAVI. (Doron Sudarsky, Yarden Drutin, Fabio Kusniec, Liza Grosman-Rimon, Ala Lubovich, Wadia Kinany, Evgeni Hazanov, Michael Gelbstein, Edo Y Birati, Ibrahim Marai)

Evaluates the efficacy and safety of a single carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser maintenance treatment in women previously treated successfully with laser for stress urinary incontinence (SUI), who have demonstrated a decline in treatment effect.

Myocardial infarction is the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality, with myocardial injury occurring during ischemia and subsequent reperfusion (IR). We previously showed that the inhibition of protein kinase C delta (δPKC) with a pan-inhibitor (δV1-1) mitigates myocardial injury and improves mitochondrial function in animal models of IR, and in humans with acute myocardial infarction, when treated at the time of opening of the occluded blood vessel, at reperfusion. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a key sarcomeric protein in cardiomyocyte contraction, is phosphorylated by δPKC during reperfusion. Here, we describe a rationally-designed, selective, high-affinity, eight amino acid peptide that inhibits cTnI's interaction with, and phosphorylation by, δPKC (ψTnI), and prevents tissue injury in a Langendorff model of myocardial infarction, ex vivo. 

Review.

Acromegaly is a rare condition typically caused by benign pituitary adenomas, resulting in excessive production of growth hormone. Clinical manifestations of acromegaly are diverse, varying from the overgrowth of body tissue to cardiovascular, metabolic, and osteoarticular disorders. Symptoms may emerge slowly, overlapping with other diseases and often involve many different healthcare specialists. In the last decade, efforts to provide an accurate and timely diagnosis of acromegaly have improved disease management and clinical experience. Despite this progress, marked differences in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of acromegaly exist from country-to-country. To address these inconsistencies in the region comprising Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, and Kazakhstan, a panel of acromegaly experts from 13 of these countries was convened. 

Medical ethics is a significant learning topic for medical students, and often studied through small group learning (SGL) to encourage critical thinking (CT) and tolerance for ambiguity, both considered particularly important when coping with medical ethics dilemmas. However, a previous study about CT and tolerance for ambiguity in medical ethics SGL produced mixed results. Debating is a pedagogical tool known to enhance CT but never used before in medical ethics learning. This paper examines whether the use of debate may enhance medical ethics SGL by contributing to the CT of students and their tolerance of ambiguity.

The effect of ethnicity on chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection's course and outcome has attracted little research. We aimed to compare different aspects of ethnic disparities in CHB patients, including prevalence, phenotypes, management, and outcome between two major ethnic groups in Israel.

Patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) occasionally present with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). In this study, we aimed to identify predictors for ICH in CVST patients.

Letter

Pregnant women with previous caesarean delivery might suffer from acute lower abdominal pain located at the site of previous caesarean scar (CS). The association between this complaint and uterine rupture (UR) is not fully understood. Therefore, we aimed to examine the risk of UR in women with acute persistent abdominal pain (APAP) over a previous CS and to investigate all the women with UR, with or without APAP and with or without previous CS, in order to determine risk factors, clinical presentation and management. 

Prior work has shown the utility of using Internet searches to track the incidence of different respiratory illnesses. Similarly, people who suffer from COVID-19 may query for their symptoms prior to accessing the medical system (or in lieu of it). To assist in the UK government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic we analyzed searches for relevant symptoms on the Bing web search engine from users in England to identify areas of the country where unexpected rises in relevant symptom searches occurred.

The endocytic reabsorption of proteins in the proximal tubule requires a complex machinery and defects can lead to tubular proteinuria. The precise mechanisms of endocytosis and processing of receptors and cargo are incompletely understood. EHD1 belongs to a family of proteins presumably involved in the scission of intracellular vesicles and in ciliogenesis. However, the relevance of EHD1 in human tissues, in particular in the kidney, was unknown.

This short opinion aimed to present the evidence to support our hypothesis that vulvodynia is a neuroinflammatory pain syndrome originating in the pelvic visceral nerve plexuses caused by the failure of weakened uterosacral ligaments (USLs) to support the pelvic visceral nerve plexuses, i.e., T11-L2 sympathetic and S2-4 parasympathetic plexuses.