Role of Interventional Radiology in Management of Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Gastrointestinal bleeding is a common and potentially life-threatening condition that requires prompt and effective management. Interventional radiology has emerged as a valuable tool in the management of gastrointestinal bleeding, offering minimally invasive techniques that can rapidly control bleeding and improve patient outcomes. This review aims to provide an overview of the role of interventional radiology in the management of gastrointestinal bleeding, including its various techniques and their efficacy. The review discusses the different interventional radiology procedures that can be used to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal bleeding. It also highlights the advantages of techniques used in evaluation and management, including their ability to localize and control bleeding, as well as their low complication rates and shorter recovery times compared to traditional surgical approaches. Furthermore, the review addresses the specific indications for interventional radiology in the management of gastrointestinal bleeding, as well as the role of interventional radiology in the setting of underlying conditions. Overall, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the role of interventional radiology in the management of gastrointestinal bleeding, highlighting its effectiveness and potential benefits for patients. It also emphasizes the need for further research and collaboration between interventional radiologists and gastroenterologists to optimize the use of these techniques in clinical practice

Association between Renal Stones Sonographic Findings and Demographic Data among Patients at Riyadh Hospitals, Saudi Arabia

Background: Ultrasound is the primary imaging modality to identify renal stones (RS) in patients with acute flank pain. This study aimed to evaluate the presence, location, and size of RS diagnosed by ultrasound in association with age, gender, and BMI among patients at Riyadh hospitals. Methods and Results: In this case-control study, a total of 250 records (130/52% for males and 120/48% for females) from 2018 to 2019 were reviewed from January to March 2020 at different hospitals in Riyadh. In this study, 150(60%) records of patients with RS and 100(40%) records of patients without RS were collected to evaluate the risk factor for RS formation in the central area of Saudi Arabia. A designed data collection sheet containing all variables (demographic and sonographic) of the study was used. Demographic data included gender, age, and body mass index (BMI). Sonographic data included RS presence (yes, no), RS location (right kidney [RK], left kidney [LK], both kidneys), and RS size (small [1cm]). The study found that RS were more common among males than females (P0.05) Conclusion: Among patients at Riyadh hospitals, females are less affected by RS than males. Gender is a significant risk factor for the development of RS. The effect of BMI is obvious on renal stone location and size

Genetic screening for quality-of-life improvement and post–genetic testing consideration in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi genome project started in 2013 with a great hope to improve medical care and disease prevention. Among the genes are those related to nutrition and fitness that can optimize an individual’s lifestyle. Our aim was to review the knowledge and acceptance of nutrition and fitness genetic testing to enhance the quality of life among the population of Saudi Arabia. For the study an electronic questionnaire consisting of 27 questions was prepared, and it was answered by 302 respondents. The respondents’ demographics showed about 50% of respondents were aged 18–25 years and about 50% of respondents were aged 26–60 years. More than 50% of respondents were interested in having a genetic test to enhance their health, while 40% were interested in having a genetic test to enhance their fitness. Less than 50% of respondents had an understanding of the effects of coffee, macronutrition and micronutrition, elements, and enzyme activity. These results represented a contribution to the discussion on the relevance of genetic testing validity and acceptance among the population of Saudi Arabia. The results might help in producing specific guidelines on genetic testing and genomic analysis and help in the implementation of fitness and future health plans in cooperation with Saudi genome projects. Future study will focus on population structure and genetic frequency related to specific diets or fitness

Classical and Bayesian Inference of a Progressive-Stress Model for the Nadarajah–Haghighi Distribution with Type II Progressive Censoring and Different Loss Functions

Accelerated life testing (ALT) is a time-saving technology used in a variety of fields to obtain failure time data for test units in a fraction of the time required to test them under normal operating conditions. This study investigated progressive-stress ALT with progressive type II filtering with the lifetime of test units following a Nadarajah–Haghighi (NH) distribution. It is assumed that the scale parameter of the distribution obeys the inverse power law. The maximum likelihood estimates and estimated confidence intervals for the model parameters were obtained first. The Metropolis–Hastings (MH) algorithm was then used to build Bayes estimators for various squared error loss functions. We also computed the highest posterior density (HPD) credible ranges for the model parameters. Monte Carlo simulations were used to compare the outcomes of the various estimation methods proposed. Finally, one data set was analyzed for validation purposes

Alleviation of cisplatin-induced neuropathic pain, neuronal apoptosis, and systemic inflammation in mice by rapamycin

Platinum-based chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer patients is associated with debilitating adverse effects. Several adverse effects have been well investigated, and can be managed satisfactorily, but chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) remains poorly treated. Our primary aim in this study was to investigate the neuroprotective effect of the immunomodulatory drug rapamycin in the mitigation of cisplatin-induced neurotoxicity. Pain assays were performed in vivo to determine whether rapamycin would prevent or significantly decrease cisplatin-induced neurotoxicity in adult male Balb/c mice. Neuropathic pain induced by both chronic and acute exposure to cisplatin was measured by hot plate assay, cold plate assay, tail-flick test, and plantar test. Rapamycin co-treatment resulted in significant reduction in cisplatin-induced nociceptive-like symptoms. To understand the underlying mechanisms behind rapamycin-mediated neuroprotection, we investigated its effect on certain inflammatory mediators implicated in the propagation of chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity. Interestingly, cisplatin was found to significantly increase peripheral IL-17A expression and CD8- T cells, which were remarkably reversed by the pre-treatment of mice with rapamycin. In addition, rapamycin reduced the cisplatin-induced neuronal apoptosis marked by decreased neuronal caspase-3 activity. The rapamycin neuroprotective effect was also associated with reversal of the changes in protein expression of p21Cip1, p53, and PUMA. Collectively, rapamycin alleviated some features of cisplatin-induced neurotoxicity in mice and can be further investigated for the treatment of cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy.This grant was awarded by Ministry of Education as part of funding fellowship programs in Saudi Arabia. We extend their appreciation to RDO-MOE Postdoctoral Fellowship Program PFP for funding this research work and also acknowledge the Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University for their support