Exploring Renal Malignancies in Saudi Arabia: Insights from a Tertiary Care Center Study

This retrospective study aims to describe the characteristics of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in Saudi Arabia, in terms of epidemiology, clinical presentation, tumor subtype, Fuhrman grade, tumor size and stage, and overall survival. A total of 431 adult patients with a histopathological diagnosis of RCC between 2015 and 2023 were included in the analysis. Most patients (72.4%) had clear cell tumors, followed by chromophobe (15.1%) and papillary (12.5%) subtypes. In males, papillary RCC (85.2%) was more common compared to clear cell (59.8%) and chromophobe (67.7%) subtypes. Significant differences were observed in median body mass index (BMI) across tumor subtypes, and papillary tumor patients exhibited the highest incidence of hematuria (33.3%) compared to other subtypes. The Fuhrman grade also varied significantly among RCC types. Survival times were found to be lower for patients with papillary tumors. No significant difference was observed based on patients’ nationality. This study can inform clinical decision-making on patient prognosis and management as well as public health efforts aimed at reducing the alarming rise of RCC incidence

Large-Scale Mode Impacts on the Sea Level over the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Falling between seasonal cycle variability and the impact of local drivers, the sea level in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has been given less consideration, especially with large-scale modes. With multiple decades of satellite altimetry observations combined with good spatial resolution, the time has come for diagnosis of the impact of large-scale modes on the sea level in those important semi-enclosed basins. While the annual cycle of sea level appeared as a dominant cycle using spectral analysis, the semi-annual one was also found, although much weaker. The first empirical orthogonal function mode explained, on average, about 65 of the total variance throughout the seasons, while their principal components clearly captured the strong La Niña event (1999–2001) in all seasons. The sea level showed a strong positive relation with positive phase El Niño Southern Oscillation in all seasons and a strong negative relation with East Atlantic/West Russia during winter and spring over the study period (1993–2017). We show that the unusually stronger easterly winds that are displaced north of the equator generate an upwelling area near the Sumatra coast and they drive both warm surface and deep-water masses toward the West Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, rising sea level over the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This process could explain the increase of sea level in the basin during the positive phase of El Niño Southern Oscillation events

Partial Nephrectomy A Comparison between Different Modalities

Kidney cancer, with 4% of all malignancies, is one of the most common malignancies occurring among in adults. In Saudi Arabia, kidney cancer comprises 2.3% of all cancers, and its incidence has increased by 33%. Partial nephrectomy (PN) is considered as the gold standard for T1 renal masses. In this retrospective study, we did a chart review for all patients who underwent PNs between April 2013 and February 2019. Data comprised pre-sentation, tumor size, type of procedure (open vs. laparoscopic vs. robotic), and intra- and post-operative complications. Chi-square, ANOVA, and cross-tabulation were done using SPSS software. P > 0.05 was considered significant. Approval was obtained from the institutional review board of King Abdullah International Medical Research Center. In all, 69 patients were identified: 26 (37.7%) males and 43 (62.3%) females, with mean age = 54.53 ± 13.21 years; mean body mass index = 32.36 ± 7.03, and mean tumor size = 3.7 ± 1.72 cm. In terms of presentation, most patients (50, 72.4%) presented incidentally as opposed to symptomatic presentation. Of these patients, 18 (26.1%) underwent open partial nephrectomy (OPN), 29 (42%) laparoscopic partial nephrec-tomy (LPN), and 22 (31.9%) robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN). On comparing minimally invasive surgery (MIS) PN with OPN, we found that OPN had more blood loss and a longer hospital stay but a shorter operating room (OR) time. Results of PN irrespective of the procedure type, whether it was OPN, LPN, or RPN, were similar if performed by experienced surgeons. However, open procedures involved a higher blood loss, more operative time, and longer hospital stay when compared with minimally invasive techniques

Persistence of a hypoglossal artery: Case report

Persistent primitive hypoglossal artery (PPHA) is a rare embryological carotid–basilar anastomosis. Diagnosis is by imaging and computed tomography angiography is the most common methods employed. Herein we present a case of a 51 years-old Indian male, who admitted with midnight nonwitnessed syncope. CT angiogram of the brain revealed a very rare caroto-basilar anastomoses anomaly with PPHA

Atmospheric Forcing of the High and Low Extremes in the Sea Surface Temperature over the Red Sea and Associated Chlorophyll-a Concentration

Taking advantage of 37-year-long (1982–2018) of high-quality satellite datasets, we examined the role of direct atmospheric forcing on the high and low sea surface temperature (SST) extremes over the Red Sea (RS). Considering the importance of SST in regulating ocean physics and biology, the associated impacts on chlorophyll (Chl-a) concentration were also explored, since a small change in SST can cause a significant impact in the ocean. After describing the climate features, we classified the top 5% of SST values (≥31.5 °C) as extreme high events (EHEs) during the boreal summer period and the lowest SST values (≤22.8 °C) as extreme low events (ELEs) during the boreal winter period. The spatiotemporal analysis showed that the EHEs (ELEs) were observed over the southern (northern) basin, with a significant warming trend of 0.027 (0.021) °C year−1, respectively. The EHEs were observed when there was widespread less than average sea level pressure (SLP) over southern Europe, northeast Africa, and Middle East, including in the RS, leading to the cold wind stress from Europe being relatively less than usual and the intrusion of stronger than usual relatively warm air mass from central Sudan throughout the Tokar Gap. Conversely, EHEs were observed when above average SLP prevailed over southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea as a result of the Azores high and westward extension of the Siberian anticyclone, which led to above average transfer of cold and dry wind stress from higher latitudes. At the same time, notably less wind stress due to southerlies that transfer warm and humid air masses northward was observed. Furthermore, physical and biological responses related to extreme stress showed distinct ocean patterns associated with each event. It was found that the Chl-a concentration anomalies over the northern basin caused by vertical nutrient transport through deep upwelling processes are the manifestation of the superimposition of ELEs. The situation was the opposite for EHEs due to the stably stratified ocean boundary layer, which is a well-known consequence of global warming

Generation of human iPS cell line SKiPSc1 from healthy Human Neonatal Foreskin Fibroblast cells

The SKiPSc1 induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell line was generated from Human Neonatal Foreskin Fibroblasts (HNFFs) obtained from a healthy donor infant that were reprogrammed using non-integrating Sendai viral vectors expressing Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4

Decadal variability and recent summer warming amplification of the sea surface temperature in the Red Sea.

Under climate change, regional Sea Surface Temperature (SST) changes are a crucial factor affecting marine ecosystems, which thrive only within a certain thermal limit. Thirty-seven years of monthly gridded Optimum Interpolation SST data from 1982 to 2017 were used to investigate the decadal variability of this parameter in the Red Sea during the summer season, in relation to large-scale climate variability. We identified a non-uniform warming trend beginning around the mid-1990s over the whole basin, with a predominant amplified warming over the northern half (0.04°C year-1), which is approximately four times higher than the global warming trend, but much weaker warming over southern end (0.01°C year-1). It was found that the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Silk Road Pattern (SRP) are shaping the RS SST, since their phase shift concurs with the timing of the significant non-uniform warming over the basin. The AMO triggers the SRP-related vertical and horizontal temperature advection that leads to opposite changes in the SST. We suggest that warming is amplified over the basin due to an overlap with global warming signals. Our results have important implications for interannual and decadal SST predictions based on the predictability of AMO and SRP patterns

Signatures of Tropical climate modes on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Sea Level

2088-2096Long–term sea level data (1958–2010) for the Red Sea (RS) and Gulf of Aden (GA) obtained from Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) were analyzed to examine its relation to the tropical climate modes. The continuous wavelet power spectrum analysis of sea level reflects the presence of significant power peak in semi-annual and annual band throughout the study region over the entire period. This variability is clearly associated with Nino3.4, which were accounted from the analysis of wavelet coherence. The results show an in-phase relation in semi-annual band while the sea level lags the Nino3.4 by 9-10 months in annual band in all regions, which in-turn is associated to the peak difference between mean SST and sea level. Whereas, there is no significant interaction is identified with SOI and IOD. However, the wavelet coherence of Nino3.4 and SOI showed 2-7 years band in all regions, which corresponds to the sequence of strong El Nino/La Nina events during1968-1976 and 1997-2003

Phylogenetic and Structural Analysis of the Pluripotency Factor Sex-Determining Region Y box2 Gene of Camelus dromedarius (cSox2)

Although the sequencing information of Sox2 cDNA for many mammalian is available, the Sox2 cDNA of Camelus dromedaries has not yet been characterized. The objective of this study was to sequence and characterize Sox2 cDNA from the brain of C. dromedarius (also known as Arabian camel). A full coding sequence of the Sox2 gene from the brain of C. dromedarius was amplified by reverse transcription PCRjmc and then sequenced using the 3730XL series platform Sequencer (Applied Biosystem) for the first time. The cDNA sequence displayed an open reading frame of 822 nucleotides, encoding a protein of 273 amino acids. The molecular weight and the isoelectric point of the translated protein were calculated as 29.825 kDa and 10.11, respectively, using bioinformatics analysis. The predicted cSox2 protein sequence exhibited high identity: 99% for Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Bos taurus , and Vicugna pacos ; 98% for Sus scrofa and 93% for Camelus ferus. A 3D structure was built based on the available crystal structure of the HMG-box domain of human stem cell transcription factor Sox2 (PDB: 2 LE4) with 81 residues and predicting bioinformatics software for 273 amino acid residues. The comparison confirms the presence of the HMG-box domain in the cSox2 protein. The orthologous phylogenetic analysis showed that the Sox2 isoform from C. dromedarius wa s grouped with humans, alpacas, cattle, and pigs. We believe that this genetic and structural information will be a helpful source for the annotation. Furthermore, Sox2 is one of the transcription factors that contributes to the generation-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which in turn will probably help generate camel induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSCs)