Design and implementation of the European-Mediterranean Postgraduate Programme on Organ Donation and Transplantation (EMPODaT) for Middle East/North Africa countries

This prospective study reports the design and results obtained after the EMPODaT project implementation. This project was funded by the Tempus programme of the European Commission with the objective to implement a common postgraduate programme on organ donation and transplantation (ODT) in six selected universities from Middle East/North Africa (MENA) countries (Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco). The consortium, coordinated by the University of Barcelona, included universities from Spain, Germany, Sweden and France. The first phase of the project was to perform an analysis of the current situation in the beneficiary countries, including existing training programmes on ODT, Internet connection, digital facilities and competences, training needs, and ODT activity and accreditation requirements. A total of 90 healthcare postgraduate students participated in the 1-year training programme (30 ECTS academic credits). The methodology was based on e-learning modules and face-to-face courses in English and French. Training activities were evaluated through pre- and post-tests, self-assessment activities and evaluation charts. Quality was assessed through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The project results on a reproducible and innovative international postgraduate programme, improvement of knowledge, satisfaction of the participants and confirms the need on professionalizing the activity as the cornerstone to ensure organ transplantation self-sufficiency in MENA countries

Feature selection for an improved Parkinson's disease identification based on handwriting

International audienceParkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological disorder associated with a progressive decline in motor skills, speech, and cognitive processes. Since the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease is difficult, researchers have worked to develop a support tool based on algorithms to differentiate healthy controls from PD patients. Online handwriting analysis is one of the methods that can be used to diagnose PD. The aim of this study is to find a subset of handwriting features suitable for efficiently identifying subjects with PD. Data was taken from PDMultiMC database collected in Lebanon, and consisting of 16 medicated PD patients and 16 age matched controls. Seven handwriting tasks were collected such as copying patterns, copying words in Arabic, and writing full names. For each task kinematic and spatio-temporal, pressure, energy, entropy, and intrinsic features were extracted. Feature selection was done in two stages, the first stage selected a subset using statistical analysis, and the second step select the most relevant features of this subset, by a suboptimal approach. The selected features were fed to a support vector machine classifier with RBF kernel, whose aim is to identify the subjects suffering from PD. The accuracy of the classification of PD was as high as 96.875%, with sensitivity and specificity equal to 93.75 % and 100%. The results as well as the selected features suggest that handwriting can be a valuable marker as a diagnosis tool

Visual Representation of Online Handwriting Time Series for Deep Learning Parkinson's Disease Detection

International audienc

Flavonoids, gut microbiota and cardiovascular disease: Dynamics and interplay

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Extensive efforts have been invested to explicate mechanisms implicated in the onset and progression of CVD. Besides the usual suspects as risk factors (obesity, diabetes, and others), the gut microbiome has emerged as a prominent and essential factor in the pathogenesis of CVD. With its endocrine-like effects, the microbiome modulates many physiologic processes. As such, it is not surprising that dysbiosis-by generating metabolites, inciting inflammation, and altering secondary bile acid signaling- could predispose to or aggravate CVD. Nevertheless, various natural and synthetic compounds have been shown to modulate the microbiome. Prime among these molecules are flavonoids, which are natural polyphenols mainly present in fruits and vegetables. Accumulating evidence supports the potential of flavonoids in attenuating the development of CVD. The ascribed mechanisms of these compounds appear to involve mitigation of inflammation, alteration of the microbiome composition, enhancement of barrier integrity, induction of reverse cholesterol transport, and activation of farnesoid X receptor signaling. In this review, we critically appraise the methods by which the gut microbiome, despite being essential to the human body, predisposes to CVD. Moreover, we dissect the mechanisms and pathways underlying the cardioprotective effects of flavonoids

Immunotherapy and immunoevasion of colorectal cancer

The tremendous success of immunotherapy in clinical trials has led to its establishment as a new pillar of cancer therapy. However, little clinical efficacy has been achieved in microsatellite stable colorectal cancer (MSS-CRC), which constitutes most CRC tumors. Here, we discuss the molecular and genetic heterogeneity of CRC. We review the immune escape mechanisms, and focus on the latest advances in immunotherapy as a treatment modality for CRC. By providing a better understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the molecular mechanisms underlying immunoevasion, this review offers an insight into developing therapeutic strategies that are effective for patients with various subsets of CRC.Scopu