Recent Publications
Wisam Sbeit, Anas Kadah, Amir Shahin, Tawfik Khoury: Same day endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography immediately after endoscopic ultrasound for choledocholithiasis is feasible, safe and cost-effective (Scand J Gastroenterol . )
Patients with suspected choledocholithiasis should undergo further confirmatory imaging test by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) before performing definite extraction by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Usually, those procedures are performed at a separate session. The aim of our study is to report the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of same day EUS and ERCP.
Evgeny Solomonov, Igor Waksman, Seema Biswas: Assessment of Global Health Education: The Role of Multiple-Choice Questions (Front Public Health . )
The standardization of global health education and assessment remains a significant issue among global health educators. This paper explores the role of multiple choice questions (MCQs) in global health education: whether MCQs are appropriate in written assessment of what may be perceived to be a broad curriculum packed with fewer facts than biomedical science curricula; what form the MCQs might take; what we want to test; how to select the most appropriate question format; the challenge of quality item-writing; and, which aspects of the curriculum MCQs may be used to assess.
Tal Brosh-Nissimov, Avi Peretz: Dynamics of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Israel in Children and Adults in the PCV13 Era: A Nationwide Prospective Surveillance (Clin Infect Dis . )
Following 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) implementation in infants worldwide, overall and vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) rates declined in children, with variable indirect impact on adults.
Jonathan Solomon, Hava Gil-Henn: Are We Ready for Migrastatics? (Cells . )
Metastasis accounts for the highest mortality rates in solid tumor cancer patients. However, research and development have neglected this most lethal characteristic and, instead, have concentrated on the hallmarks of cancer that make tumor cells highly proliferative and distinctive from nonmalignant cells. The concentration on invasion and metastasis can be one of the most meaningful advancements in cancer investigation. Importantly, metastasis-free survival (MFS) was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a novel primary endpoint in clinical trials and has been used to evaluate the prognosis of patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. This new definition enables to shift the focus of research and development in cancer therapeutics toward metastasis and to change the emphasis from using tumor shrinkage as a benchmark for indicating the efficacy of treatment to using MFS as a more representative endpoint for antimetastatic drugs.
I Abu El-Naaj: The impact of lymph node density as a predictive factor for survival and recurrence of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg .)
The oral tongue is considered the most frequently involved site in cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Lymph node (LN) density, defined as the number of positive LNs divided by the total number of resected LNs, is considered an important prognostic factor in OSCC; however the cut-off point remains uncertain. A retrospective study was performed involving 104 patients who underwent a glossectomy procedure for oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) between the years 2008 and 2018.
Chaim Putterman: 3-hydroxy-L-kynurenamine is an immunomodulatory biogenic amine (Nat Commun .)
Tryptophan catabolism is a major metabolic pathway utilized by several professional and non-professional antigen presenting cells to maintain immunological tolerance. Here we report that 3-hydroxy-L-kynurenamine (3-HKA) is a biogenic amine produced via an alternative pathway of tryptophan metabolism.
Najib Dally: Non-immune Hemolysis in Gaucher Disease and Review of the Literature (Rambam Maimonides Med J .)
Gaucher disease (GD) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by the buildup of glucocerebrosides in macrophages, resulting in the formation of "Gaucher cells." These cells predominantly infiltrate the liver, spleen, and bone marrow leading to hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenia, and bone pain. Anemia in GD is typically considered to result from non-hemolytic processes. Although rare, a higher rate of hemolytic anemia of the autoimmune type has been reported in GD than in the general population. The literature on non-immune hemolytic anemia in GD is scarce. We review the literature on hemolytic anemia in GD and report on a case of non-immune hemolytic anemia secondary to GD. We believe this is the first description of a patient with confirmed GD and symptomatic non-immune hemolytic anemia that responded to GD-specific treatment.
Wisam Sbeit, Anas Kadah, Amir Shahin, Tawfik Khoury: The Yield of String Sign in Differentiating Mucinous from Non-Mucinous Pancreatic Cysts: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study (Medicina (Kaunas) .)
The diagnosis of pancreatic cysts is mostly based on a combination of morphological appearance and fluid analysis of amylase and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). We aimed to assess the capability of the string sign in differentiating mucinous from non-mucinous pancreatic cysts.
Sondra Turjeman: Drivers of change and stability in the gut microbiota of an omnivorous avian migrant exposed to artificial food supplementation (Mol Ecol . )
Human activities shape resources available to wild animals, impacting diet and likely altering their microbiota and overall health. We examined drivers shaping microbiota profiles of common cranes (Grus grus) in agricultural habitats by comparing gut microbiota and crane movement patterns (GPS-tracking) over three periods of their migratory cycle, and by analyzing the effect of artificially-supplemented food provided as part of a crane-agriculture management program.
Johnny S Younis, Nora Shapso, Yval Ben-Sira: Endometrioma surgery - A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect on antral follicle count and anti-Müllerian hormone (Am J Obstet Gynecol .)
Accurate pre-operative counseling regarding whether endometriotic cystectomy has a detrimental effect on the ovarian reserve has been a considerable challenge, as studies assessing antral follicle counts (AFC) and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels have reported conflicting results. Our objective was to explore the impact of endometriotic cystectomy on both AMH and AFC measurements, but focusing on prospective studies where both were measured for each woman concurrently (overcoming unmeasured confounding), in the same setting (overcoming surgical technique differences) and at the same three postoperative time points; early (one to six weeks), intermediate (two to six months) and late (nine to eighteen months), to overcome time-sensitive changes.
Guy Journo, Anuj Ahuja, Yonatan Eran, Meir Shamay: Global CpG DNA Methylation Footprint in Kaposi's Sarcoma (Front Cell Infect Microbiol . )
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also familiar as human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), is one of the well-known human cancer-causing viruses. KSHV was originally discovered by its association with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a common AIDS-related neoplasia. Additionally, KSHV is associated with two B-lymphocyte disorders; primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and Multicentric Castlemans Disease (MCD). DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that is essential for a properly functioning human genome through its roles in chromatin structure maintenance, chromosome stability and transcription regulation. Genomic studies show that expressed promoters tend to be un-methylated whereas methylated promoters tend to be inactive. We have previously revealed the global methylation footprint in PEL cells and found that many cellular gene promoters become differentially methylated and hence differentially expressed in KSHV chronically infected PEL cell lines. Here we present the cellular CpG DNA methylation footprint in KS, the most common malignancy associated with KSHV.
Hiba Zayyad: BNT162b2 vaccine breakthrough: clinical characteristics of 152 fully-vaccinated hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Israel (Clin Microbiol Infect . )
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have shown high effectiveness in the prevention of symptomatic COVID-19, hospitalization, severe disease, and death. Nevertheless, a minority of vaccinated individuals might get infected and suffer significant morbidity. Characteristics of vaccine breakthrough infections have not been studied. We sought to portray the population of Israeli patients, who were hospitalized with COVID-19 despite full vaccination.
Maya Frank Wolf, Inshirah Sgayer, Areej Asslan, Eilam Palzur, Oleg Shnaider, Jacob Bornstein: The Hormonal Milieu by Different Labor Induction Methods in Women with Previous Cesarean Section: a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial (Reprod Sci .)
The physiological pattern of hormonal and signaling molecules associated with labor induction is not fully clear. We conducted a preliminary study in order to investigate hormonal changes during labor induction in women with previous cesarean section.
Tawfik Khoury: Gastrointestinal manifestations of synthetic cannabinoids: a retrospective cohort study (BMC Gastroenterol . )
Synthetic cannabinoids (SC) are chemical substances which activate cannabinoid receptors similarly to tetrahydrocannabinol, but with a higher efficacy. These substances are used as illicit recreational drugs, often smoked as herbal mixtures. The continuing availability and rapid evolution of SC is an ongoing health risk. The adverse effects of SC are wide ranging, and span from mild behavioral changes to death. Knowledge regarding gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations of SC use is sparse.
Ibrahim Marai: Long QT Syndrome and Torsade de Pointes Ultimately Treated With Quinidine: Introducing the Concept of Pseudo-Torsade de Pointes (Circulation . )
A 36-year-old woman was hospitalized elsewhere after an episode of nocturnal seizures. Her family history is negative for sudden death. One week before the event she received esomeprazole and metoclopramide for abdominal pain, discontinuing both medications 2 days before the index event. Early morning on the day of hospitalization, while still asleep, she developed strenuous breathing. The loud breathing awakened her husband who noticed she was “stiff,” only to then become apneic and limp. She eventually regained consciousness but remained confused as she was transferred to a hospital....