Cancer biomarker development from basic science to clinical practice

The amount of published literature on biomarkers has exponentially increased over the last two decades. Cancer biomarkers are molecules that are either part of tumour cells or secreted by tumour cells. Biomarkers can be used for diagnosing cancer (tumour versus normal and differentiation of subtypes), prognosticating patients (progression free survival and overall survival) and predicting response to therapy. However, very few biomarkers are currently used in clinical practice compared to the unprecedented discovery rate. Some of the examples are: carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) for colon cancer; prostate specific antigen (PSA) for prostate; and estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2 for breast cancer. Cancer biomarkers passes through a series of phases before they are used in clinical practice. First phase in biomarker development is identification of biomarkers which involve discovery, demonstration and qualification. This is followed by validation phase, which includes verification, prioritisation and initial validation. More large-scale and outcome-oriented validation studies expedite the clinical translation of biomarkers by providing a strong ‘evidence base’. The final phase in biomarker development is the routine clinical use of biomarker. In summary, careful identification of biomarkers and then validation in well-designed retrospective and prospective studies is a systematic strategy for developing clinically useful biomarkers

The distribution of the ABO blood groups among the diabetes mellitus patients

Background: There is strong evidence in the literature that there is an association between ABO blood group and certain diseases.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate any association between the ABO blood groups and diabetes mellitus (DM) in Qatar.Design: This was a sex.matched case.control study.Setting: This study was carried out in the diabetic outpatient clinics and blood bank of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) from April 2011 to December 2012.Subjects and Methods: The study included 1633 diabetic patients and 1650 nondiabetic apparently healthy controls. Atotal of 2148 adult patients above 18 years of age were selected consecutively from the diabetic clinics of the hospitals and 1633 patients gave consent to take part in this study, thus giving a response rate of 76%. Atotal of 2150 nondiabetic healthy adults above 18 years of age were recruited from the blood bank and 1650 individuals agreed to take part in this study, giving a response rate of 76.7%. Blood group of the recruited subjects was taken from the database of the Blood Bank, Central laboratory, HMC.Results: The data revealed that the blood group B was significantly more common in diabetic patients as compared with healthy population (25.7% vs. 20.4%; P < 0.001). Blood group O was significantly less common in diabetic patients compared with nondiabetics (38.5% vs. 45.4%; P < 0.001). Among diabetic men, the frequency of only blood group B was significantly higher, while on the contrary among diabetic women the  frequency of both A and B (29.7% vs. 24.8%; P = 0.03 and 25.5% vs. 20%; P < 0.009, respectively) were significantly higher as compared with nondiabetic healthy population.Conclusion: The findings in this study suggest that ABO antigens are associated with DM. DM is more common in individuals with blood group B.Key words: ABO blood groups, case.control, diabetes mellitus, prevalenc

How successful are women\u27s groups in health promotion and disease prevention? A synthesis of the literature and recommendations for developing countries.

There is a general scarcitly of resources for delivery of services to the population in all social welfare and development sectors, with the health sector being no exception. In developing countries, lack of trained manpower, illiteracy and compliance issues make health care interventions even more complex. Various community-based projects have used women as a specific group for delivery of health care interventions. The objective of this paper was to review published studies that evaluated women\u27s groups for the promotion of health and prevention of disease. A total of 8 studies were reviewed. Women\u27s groups have proved to be a convenient and workable option for delivering health care interventions in several developing countries

Prevalence and associated risk factors of ante‑partum hemorrhage among Arab women in an economically fast growing society

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of antepartum hemorrhage (APH) in the third trimester of Arab women residing in Qatar and their neonatal outcome.Design and Setting: A prospective hospital‑based study was conducted in the Women’s Hospital and Maternity Clinics.Materials and Methods: The study was based on pregnant women in the third trimester from the first week of January 2010 to April 2011. A total of 2,056 pregnant women, who had any kind of maternal complications, were approached and 1,608 women (78.2%) expressed their consent to participate in the study. The questionnaire covered variables related to socio‑demographic factors, family history, medical history, maternal complications and neonatal outcome. Multiple logistic regressions were used to describe the association between socio‑demographic factors and APH.Results: The overall prevalence of APH among Arab women residing in Qatar was 15.3% with 6.7% among Qatari’s and 8.6% among non‑Qatari Arab women; the difference in ethnicities was not significant. Among maternal socio‑demographic characteristics, lower education (primary or below AOR 1.72; 95%CI 1.22‑2.43, and intermediate education AOR 1.41; 95%CI 0.88‑2.26; P=0.005) compared to university education was significantly associated with APH. As for maternal biological characteristics, family history of G6PD (AOR 1.87; 95% CI 1.18‑2.95; P=0.007) and family history of Down’s Syndrome (AOR 1.88; 95%CI 1.35‑2.62; P=<0.001) were significantly associated with APH at the multivariable level; family history of hypertension (OR 1.78; 95%CI 1.30‑2.44; P<0.001) was significant at the univariate level. Neonatal outcomes as a result of APH included increased risk of Apgar score at 1 minutes <7 (AOR 1.44; 95%CI 1.12‑2.02; P=0.04) and minor congenital anomaly (AOR 2.82; 95%CI 1.39‑5.71; P=0.004).Conclusion: Qatar has a high prevalence of APH. Poor education, family history of hypertension, G6PD and Down’s syndrome were found to be significantly associated with increased risk of APH in Qatar. Neonates of APH are at significantly increased risk of adverse outcome. Thus it is essential that obstetricians are alerted to these risk factors for early detection and to decrease the negative effects of APH

On cultural and macroeconomic contingencies of the entrepreneurial orientation-performance relationship

The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance is among the best-researched topics in entrepreneurship research. These studies have been conducted in various national contexts. While a first meta-analysis by Rauch et al. finds no significant difference between EO's effects based on the continent in which the firm is based, the present study considers how national cultural and macroeconomic drivers impact the EO–performance relationship. Building upon 177 studies with data from 41 countries, the meta-analysis consolidates this literature stream, contributing to the evidence-based entrepreneurship research

Gamma power in rural Pakistani children: links to executive function and verbal ability

Children in low- and middle-income countries are at high risk of cognitive deficits due to environmental deprivation that compromises brain development. Despite the high prevalence of unrealized cognitive potential, very little is known about neural correlates of cognition in this population. We assessed resting EEG power and cognitive ability in 105 highly disadvantaged 48-month-old children in rural Pakistan. An increase in EEG power in gamma frequency bands (21–30 Hz and 31–45 Hz) was associated with better executive function. For girls, EEG gamma power also related to higher verbal IQ. This study identifies EEG gamma power as a neural marker of cognitive function in disadvantaged children in low- and middle-income countries. Elevated gamma power may be a particularly important protective factor for girls, who may experience greater deprivation due to gender inequality.This research was supported by Grand Challenges Canada Saving Brains Initiative Grant 0061-03. The preparation of this article also was supported by a Scholar's Award from the William T. Grant Foundation to Jelena Obradovic. (0061-03 - Grand Challenges Canada Saving Brains Initiative; William T. Grant Foundation)Published versio

Relationship between patient satisfactions with diabetes care and treatment

Background: Measurement of treatment satisfaction in diabetes is important as it has been shown to be associated with positive outcomes, reduced disease cost and better health.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between treatment satisfaction of diabetes patients and socioeconomic, clinical, medication adherence and health‑related factors in Qatar.Design: This is a cross‑sectional study.Setting: The survey was carried out in primary health care centers and hospitals from April 2010 to May 2011.Subjects: Of a total of 3000 diabetic patients, 2582 patients gave their consent to take part in the study, with a response rate of 86.1%.Materials and Methods: The Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire was used to measure the patient satisfaction. The modified Morisky  Medication Adherence was used to measure medication taking behavior. A multivariate stepwise linear regression model was performed to identify factors independently associated with patients’ satisfaction instrument.Results: Of the studied patients, majority of the diabetes patients were Qataris (61.2%), married (86.1%), above secondary education (46.9%) and unemployed (28.6%). Diabetes patients who had professional jobs (3.97 ± 0.65; P = 0.009) and those who were staying alone had a significantly higher treatment satisfaction score (4.01 ± 0.64; P = 0.001) compared with the other patients. Patients who were taking tablets were significantly more satisfied with treatment (4.08 ± 0.60; P < 0.001). Diabetes patients of primary health care centers (3.96 vs. 3.80; P < 0.001) were more satisfied with treatment than patients visiting hospitals. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that age of the patient (P < 0.001), expatriates (P = 0.023), patients visiting hospitals (P < 0.001), treatment with insulin (P < 0.001) and any diabetes complications (P < 0.001) were significantly less satisfied with the treatment.Conclusion: The study findings revealed that patient satisfaction was positively associated with sociodemographic variables like high income, employment, married individuals and those with higher levels of education. We found a lower treatment satisfaction in patients with diabetes‑related complications and insulin treatment.Key words: Diabetes care, DTSQ, health status, patient satisfaction, quality of life, treatment adherenc

Inside-out and outside-in orientations: A meta-analysis of orientation's effects on innovation and firm performance

The inside-out and outside-in orientations place differing levels of emphasis on internal versus external resources and capabilities as sources of competitive advantage. While the inside-out orientation primarily considers organizational resources, followed by competitors and customers (implicitly), the outside-in orientation appears to reverse the order by first examining customers and competitors and then the degree to which the firm responds to them, implicitly addressing organizational resources. Existing empirical evidence does not clarify the comparative effects of inside-out and out-side in orientations on innovation performance. This paper draws on 232 independent studies (N = 38,051) analyzed systematically through a quantitative meta-analytic synthesis in order to develop a detailed contextualized elaboration of the relationships between the inside-out and outside-in orientations and innovation performance. Going beyond the direct effects, we also extend the literature by investigating the moderating effects of industry type (high-tech vs. low-tech), economic development (developed vs. developing countries), and cultural context (collectivist vs. individualist cultures). Our findings shed light on the relative value of inside-out and outside-in orientation for innovation performance, the direct and indirect effects of the two orientations on firm performance, and the conditions under which the effectiveness of each is enhanced

Global variation of COVID-19 mortality rates in the initial phase

Objectives: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused devastation in over 200 countries. Italy, Spain, and the United States (US) were most severely affected by the first wave of the pandemic. The reasons why some countries were more strongly affected than others remain unknown. We identified the most-affected and less-affected countries and states and explored environmental, host, and infrastructure risk factors that may explain differences in the SARS-CoV-2 mortality burden. Methods: We identified the top 10 countries/US states with the highest deaths per population until May 2020. For each of these 10 case countries/states, we identified 6 control countries/ states with a similar population size and at least 3 times fewer deaths per population. We extracted data for 30 risk factors from publicly available, trusted sources. We compared case and control countries/states using the non-parametric Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and conducted a secondary cluster analysis to explore the relationship between the number of cases per population and the number of deaths per population using a scalable EM (expectation–maximization) clustering algorithm. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in 16 of 30 investigated risk factors, the most important of which were temperature, neonatal and under-5 mortality rates, the percentage of under-5 deaths due to acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and diarrhea, and tuberculosis incidence (p < 0.05) Conclusion: Countries with a higher burden of baseline pediatric mortality rates, higher pediatric mortality from preventable diseases like diarrhea and ARI, and higher tuberculosis incidence had lower rates of coronavirus disease 2019-associated mortality, supporting the hygiene hypothesis