Recent Publications

Red blood cell transfusion (RBCT) is a therapeutic procedure with important and undesirable secondary effects. Inappropriate overuse of RBCT is significant, and a significant percentage of physicians prescribe RBCT unnecessarily. Patient involvement in treatment decision-making is poor worldwide. Shared (with the patient) transfusion decision-making (TrDM) can temper a "quick finger on the trigger" of blood transfusion (BT). The objective of this study was to determine patients' preferences surrounding their involvement in the TrDM process as well as physicians' willingness to involve the patient in TrDM. The study also determined the role of patient age, gender, ethnicity, and schooling years in the TrDM process

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The association between body mass index (BMI) and clinical outcomes following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains controversial. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between BMI and AMI presentation, in-hospital clinical course and mortality in the contemporary era of AMI management.

Following their first interaction with the antigen, quiescent naive T-helper (Th; CD4⁺) cells enlarge, differentiate, and proliferate; these processes are accompanied by substantial epigenetic alterations. We showed previously that the epigenetic regulators the polycomb-group (PcG) proteins have a dual function as both positive and negative transcriptional regulators; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that during Th cell differentiation the methyltransferase activity of the PcG protein Ezh2 regulates post-transcriptionally inducible assembly of intranuclear actin filaments.

The 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for people aged 65 years and over, to prevent pneumonia, a leading cause of infectious morbidity in older people. This study assessed pneumococcal vaccination in people aged 65-74 years living in northern Israel who were eligible for the pneumococcal vaccine since introduction free of charge. 

Characterizes the fecal microbiome in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients.

Medical cannabis (MC) is becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of chronic pain conditions. In this study, we evaluated the effect of MC treatment on pain level and quality of sleep of patients with different medical conditions at the rheumatology clinic.

The aim of the current study was to establish whether the vertebral morphometry (e.g., vertebral body width and spinal canal diameters) is associated with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS). 

Die besonderen Charakteristika von Patienten mit bullösem Pemphigoid (BP) mit Schleimhautbeteiligung sind weitgehend unbekannt. Unser Ziel war die Erforschung der klinischen und immunologische Charakteristika von BP-Patienten mit Schleimhautbeteiligung, um Faktoren zu identifizieren, die mit Schleimhautläsionen assoziiert sind.

Atopic dermatitis, known also as atopic eczema, represents a commonly diagnosed, chronic or recurrent/relapsing inflammatory disorder. From a clinical point of view, it is characterized by acute flare-ups of intense itching, eczematous pruritic lesions involving dry skin. Dupilumab is the only biologic agent approved to treat moderate to severe course of atopic dermatitis, which can be particularly severe during pregnancy causing distress and impacting on maternal and fetal health. However, there is a dearth of data concerning the safety profile of Dupilumab during gestation. (R Khamisy-Farah, G Damiani, J D Kong, J-H Wu, N L Bragazzi)

Fibromyalgia is characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain at the time of diagnosis, but many patients report their initial symptoms as being focal or local. Evaluates, prospectively, the initial location of body pain in recently diagnosed patients with fibromyalgia.

A solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) is considered a low-grade malignant neoplasm, more often composed of both solid and cystic components with pseudopapillary areas but predominantly solid in 15 % of cases. It is estimated to account for 1 % to 3 % of all pancreatic tumors. Immunostaining of SPNs for beta-catenin is specific. The natural history of these lesions is unknown, but the malignant potential is demonstrated especially in large lesions. The gold standard therapy is surgical resection. Nonetheless, an alternative such as endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (EUS-RFA), which is less invasive, should be discussed, especially for young patients with small lesions. All cases of SPN seen and treated with EUS-RFA between 2018 and 2020 were reviewed (IRB 00010835).

Large prospective trials attribute minimal thromboembolic risk for cardioversion of atrial fibrillation (AF) when duration of symptoms is shorter than 48 hours. Our goal is to compare the prevalence of left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus as demonstrated by a Trans esophageal echocardiography (TEE) exam between patients presenting with less or more than 48 hours of AF symptoms.

Compares the efficacy of fixed-time-interval oral analgesia and spinal-morphine for management of post-Cesarean pain.

Tocilizumab is an anti-IL-6 therapy widely adopted in the management of the so-called "cytokine storm" related to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, but its effectiveness, use in relation to concomitant corticosteroid therapy and safety were unproven despite widespread use in numerous studies, mostly open label at the start of the pandemic. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies utilising tocilizumab in COVID-19 on different databases (PubMed/MEDLINE/Scopus) and preprint servers (medRxiv and SSRN) from inception until 20 July 2020 (PROSPERO CRD42020195690). Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions were performed. The impact of tocilizumab and concomitant corticosteroid therapy or tocilizumab alone versus standard of care (SOC) on the death rate, need for mechanical ventilation, ICU admission and bacterial infections were assessed.