RARβ genetic and epigenetic alterations in aero-respiratory tract cancers

Early detection of lung and head and neck cancer would potentially improve diagnosis and prognosis. For such an approach to be successful, specific and novel markers at a pre-clinical stage of the disease must be identified. There is growing evidence that hypermethylation of CpG-rich sequences in the promoter regions of tumour suppressor genes such as RARJ3, may lead to long-term transcriptional silencing of such genes and thus contribute to tumour development. Many previous studies have implicated RARJ3 promoter methylation in the transcriptional silencing of the RARJ3 gene in a variety of cancers. Since carcinogenesis is a multi-step process that arises as a result of combinations of genetic and epigenetic events, it was the purpose of this study to investigate both genetic changes such as mutations and allelic imbalance, as well as epigenetic changes such as aberrant methylation and establish whether the presence of such changes was influencing transcription of isoforms one and two of the RARJ3 gene in non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Mutational analysis revealed a lack of mutations within all the coding exons of the RAR~ gene sequence, whilst allelic imbalance studies on five microsatellite markers within and surrounding the gene demonstrated relatively high levels of allelic imbalance. Methylation analysis of the RARJ3 promoter was carried out using the much utilized MSP method and the results obtained displayed a significant level of aberrant hypermethylation in non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tumour samples compared to their corresponding normal samples. Sensitivity and specificity of the MSP method was also studied and results suggested that more stringent controls are needed as well as exceptionally specific conditions so as to achieve analysis-analysis reproducibility. Expression analysis of RARJ3 isoform one displayed significance levels of expression in a variety of normal tissues including lung and head and neck tissue, furthermore, analysis of both isoforms in non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma samples revealed no statistically significant differences in expression levels between normal and tumour paired samples, which implies that RARJ3 differential expression may not be as significant a marker of carcinogenesis as previously considered. The study demonstrated that whilst differential expression was not found as being a feature of non-small cell lung cancer or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, allelic imbalance as well as aberrant promoter methylation of the RARJ3 gene were found to be frequent features of both these diseases, although the number of clinical samples investigated did not allow statistically significant correlations to be made

HYPERTENSION AMONG REFUGEES: A DISEASE OF RISINGPUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN

After the war in Syria, Lebanon became among the top countries hosting for refugees. Many public health issues started to be raised with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) being high on the list. Providing health care for refugees is not easy since it requires huge resources, continuous follow-up encounters, and an extensive financial support. Reports show that NCDs are a health priority in Syrian refugees, and hypertension is the most prevalent one affecting more than half of the older Syrian refugees in Lebanon. This creates an enormous burden on the host community health system that needs effective interventions. While Lebanese citizens favor the private sector for seeking health care, better attention and support is to be given to the public sector for better coping with the needs of both refugees and host community, including the implementation of the new guidelines developed by the Lebanese Ministry of Public health in order to decrease the cost of care for NCDs and limit the rate of complications. However, there are barriers encountered when attempting at fulfilling the refugees’ health needs. A multisectoral approach involving different stakeholders is essential to ensure the readiness of the host health system and enhance the solidarity of the host community towards refugee

Improving Content Based Video Retrieval Performance by Using Hadoop-MapReduce Model

In this paper, we present a distributed Content- Based Video Retrieval (CBVR) system based on MapReduce pro- gramming model. A CBVR system called Bounded Coordinate of Motion Histogram (BCMH) has been implemented as case study by using Hadoop framework. Our work consists of proposing a distributed model to extract videos signatures and compute similarity with the BCMH system based on a set of Mapreduce jobs assigned to multiple nodes of the Hadoop cluster in order to reduce computation time of training process. The proposed approach is tested on HOLLYWOOD2 dataset and the obtained results demonstrate efficiency of the proposed approach

Dacryocystitis presenting as post-septal cellulitis: a case report

Dacryocystitis is relatively common, the majority of patients present with pre-septal cellulitis and not an orbital abscess due to anatomical barriers. The authors report a case of dacryocystitis presenting as post-septal cellulitis in a postmenopausal lady with an underlying malignancy. Following antibiotic therapy and elective dacryocystorhinostomy the patient is still under follow-up, and has no further recurrence of symptoms. Orbital abscess in postmenopausal women presenting with dacryocystitis should be considered, as prompt recognition and early surgical intervention is required to prevent visual loss

Implemented Interventions at the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute to Protect Patients and Medical Personnel From COVID Infections: Effectiveness and Patient Satisfaction

BackgroundThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. The first case of COVID-19 was identified in Lebanon on the 21st of February 2020, amid a national economic crisis. As the numbers of cases increased, ICU admissions and mortality rose, which led hospitals across Lebanon to take certain safety measures to contain the virus. The Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute (NKBCI) at the American University of Beirut Medical Center handles oncology outpatient visits and outpatient treatment protocol infusions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the safety measures put forth by the NKBCI early in the pandemic.MethodsOncology patients are amongst the immunosuppressed population, who are at greatest risk of contracting COVID-19 and consequently suffering its complications. In this manuscript, we evaluated the precautionary measures implemented at the NKBCI of AUBMC from March 1st to May 31st of 2020, by surveying oncology patients on the telephone who had live and virtual appointments in both the oncology outpatient clinics and infusion unit. We conducted a prospective study of 670 oncology patients who had appointments at the NKBCI during this period and used their answers to draw responses about patient satisfaction towards those safety measures.ResultsOur results involved 387 responses of oncology patients who visited the NKBCI during the period of March 1st to May 31st of 2020. 99% of our respondents gave a rating of good to excellent with these new measures. The option of online consultation was given to 35% in the hematology group compared to 19% in those with solid tumors (p=0.001). From the total, 15% of patients opted for the telemedicine experience as a new implemented strategy to provide patient-centered medical care. Of this group of patients, 22% faced problems with connectivity and 19% faced problems with online payment.ConclusionNKBCI was competent in following the WHO guidelines in protecting the oncology patient population. Feedback collected from the surveys will be taken into account by the committee of the NKBCI to develop new safety measures that can better control viral spread while providing patient-centered medical care