Michael S. Schimmel MD, Francis B. Mimouni MD, Avraham Steinberg MD and Moshe Y. Kasirer MD
Background: Israel's population is diverse, with people of different religions, many of whom seek spiritual guidance during ethical dilemmas. It is paramount for healthcare providers to be familiar with different religious approaches.
Objectives: To describe the attitudes of the three major monotheistic religions when encountering four complex neonatal situations.
Methods: A questionnaire related to four simulated cases was presented to each participant: a non-viable extremely premature infant (case 1), a severely asphyxiated term infant with extensive brain damage (case 2), a small preterm infant with severe brain hemorrhage and likely extensive brain damage (case 3), and a term infant with trisomy 21 syndrome and a severe cardiac malformation (case 4).
Results: Major differences among the three religious opinions were found in the definition of viability and in the approach towards quality of life.
Conclusions: Neonatologists must be sensitive to culture and religion when dealing with major ethical issues in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Shahar Blechman MD, Yariv Fruchtman MD, Zvi H. Perry MD PhD, Julia Mazar PhD, Miriam Ben Harosh MD, Abuquidar Abed MD, Nurit Rozenberg PhD, Gila Kenet MD and Eugene Leibovitz MD
Background: Congenital factor VII deficiency is a rare recessive autosomal bleeding disorder with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations.
Objectives: To compare the clinical and laboratory findings in Jewish and Bedouin patients with factor VII deficiency.
Methods: The clinical and laboratory findings of patients with factor VII deficiency treated at Soroka Medical Center, a tertiary hospital in Israel, from 2005 to 2015 were analyzed regarding blood factor levels, illness severity, treatment administration, and disease outcome.
Results: Seventy-eight patients were enrolled (1:13,000 of the population in southern Israel) of whom 26 were diagnosed with severe factor VII deficiency (1:40,000). Sixty (76.9%) patients were Jewish and 18 (23.1%) were Bedouin. In univariable analysis, Bedouin patients exhibited a more severe illness, with significantly higher complication and fatality rates, and required more preventive treatment than the Jewish patients.
Conclusions: The prevalence of congenital factor VII deficiency (including severe deficiency) in the Jewish and Bedouin populations of southern Israel is higher than previously reported. The clinical spectrum of the disease was found to be more severe in the Bedouin population.
Hussein Sliman MD, Avinoam Shiran MD, Dallit Mannheim MD, Eyal Avraham MD, Ron Karmeli MD, Nader Khader MD, Barak Zafrir MD, Ronen Rubinshtein MD and Ronen Jaffe MD
Background: Access-site bleeding is a common complication of transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Percutaneous stent-graft implantation within the femoral artery may achieve hemostasis and avert the need for more invasive surgical vascular repair; however, failure to advance a guidewire antegradely via the injured vessel may preclude stent delivery. While retrograde stent-graft delivery from the distal vasculature may potentially enable percutaneous control of bleeding, this approach has not been reported.
Objectives: To assess the feasibility of a retrograde approach for stent-graft implantation in the treatment of access-site bleeding following transfemoral TAVI.
Methods: A prospective TAVI registry was analyzed. Of 349 patients who underwent TAVI, transfemoral access was used in 332 (95%). Access-site injury requiring stent-graft implantation occurred in 56 (17%). In four patients (7%), antegrade wiring across the site of vascular injury was not possible and a retrograde approach for stent delivery was used.
Results: Distal vascular access was achieved via the superficial femoral or profunda artery. Retrograde advancement of a polymer-coated 0.035” wire to the abdominal aorta, followed by stent-graft delivery to the common femoral artery, achieved hemostasis in all cases. During a median (interquartile range) follow-up period of 198 (618) days (range 46–2455) there were no deaths and no patient required additional vascular interventions.
Conclusions: A retrograde approach for stent-graft delivery is feasible and allows percutaneous treatment of a common femoral artery injury following TAVI in patients who are not suitable for the conventional antegrade approach.
Ariel Rokach MD MHA, Ayal Romem MD MHA, Nissim Arish MD, Hava Azulai MD, Chen Chen MD, Milka Bertisch BPT MPE and Gabriel Izbicki MD
Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation has shown significant benefit for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The effect on non-COPD pulmonary patients is less well established.
Objectives: To determine whether pulmonary rehabilitation is also beneficial for non-COPD pulmonary patients.
Methods: Clinical and demographic data on non-COPD pulmonary patients who participated in our institutional pulmonary rehabilitation program between January 2009 and December 2016 were collected. Participants engaged in a 60-minute, twice-weekly, ambulatory hospital-based program lasting 12 to 24 sessions. Sessions included both endurance and muscle training as well as healthy lifestyle educational activities. The six-minute walk test (6MWT) and the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were conducted before and after the rehabilitation program.
Result: We recruited 214 non-COPD patients, of whom 153 completed at least 12 sessions. Of these, 59 presented with interstitial lung disease (ILD), 18 with non-ILD restrictive lung defects, 25 with asthma, 30 with lung cancer, and 21 with other conditions (e.g., pulmonary hypertension, bronchiectasis) The groups demonstrated significant improvement in 6MWT and in SGRQ scores. Non-COPD patients gained a 61.9 meter (19%) improvement in the 6MWT (P < 0.0001) and 8.3 point reduction in their SGRQ score (P < 0.0001).
Conclusions: Pulmonary rehabilitation is effective in non-COPD pulmonary patients. As such, it should be an integral part of the treatment armament provided to the vast majority of those suffering from chronic respiratory disease.
Mahmud Mahamid MD, Amir Mari MD, Tawfik Khoury MD, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi MD PhD, Majeed Ghantous MD, Omar Abu-Elhija MD and Abdulla Watad MD
Background: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori varies geographically by age, race, and socioeconomic status (SES). However, the impact of ethnicity on endoscopic outcomes in infected individuals is not well known.
Objectives: To assess the impact of ethnicity among Israelis with biopsy-proven H. pylori infection.
Methods: A retrospective study, including patients who underwent gastroscopy and were diagnosed histologically with H. pylori infection, was conducted. Information on demographics, SES, medications, and co-morbidities were extracted from medical records. Univariate (Student's t-test, chi-square test) and multivariate (multinomial and logistic) regression analysis were conducted to examine the predictors of the clinical outcome.
Results: The study included 100 Israeli Jews and 100 Israeli Arabs diagnosed with biopsy-proven H. pylori infection. At univariate analysis, the number of households was higher among Arabs (P < 0.001), whose family income and parental education were lower than among Jews (P < 0.001 for both variables). The response to amoxicillin and clarithromycin differed between the two groups, being higher among Jews (P < 0.001).In clinical outcomes (gastritis severity, gastric and duodenal ulcer, intestinal metaplasia, atrophic gastritis, and MALT), no statistically significant differences could be detected between Jews and Arabs. Concerning intestinal metaplasia, lack of consumption of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs resulted a statistically significant protective factor (odds ratio 0.128, 95% confidence interval 0.024–0.685, P = 0.016).
Conclusions: Although in the literature ethnicity seems to be a risk factor for H. pylori colonization, no statistical significance was detected in various endoscopic and histological findings related to H. Pylori infection between Israeli Arabs and Jews.
Emese Balogh MD, Monika Biniecka PhD, Ursula Fearon MD PhD, Douglas J. Veale MD PhD and Zoltán Szekanecz MD PhD
Angiogenesis is the outgrowth of new blood vessels from existing ones and is an early occurrence in inflamed joint tissue. It is governed by a tightly controlled balance of pro- and anti-angiogenic stimuli, which promote or inhibit generation and proliferation of new endothelial cells, vascular morphogenesis, and vessel remodeling. At the beginning, capillary formation is crucial in maintaining the supply of various nutrients as well as oxygen to the inflamed tissue. Local and systemic expression of angiogenic factors may indicate a constant remodeling of synovial vasculature. Redox signaling is closely related to angiogenesis and can alter angiogenic responses of synovial cells. In this review we discuss key issues about the endothelial pathology in inflammatory arthritis followed by a review of angiogenic processes and main angiogenic mediators. We discuss the hypoxia-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-Ang/Tie2 system and its related therapeutic implications in detail with further review of various mediator protein targets and intracellular regulatory pathway targets with their current and potential future role in preclinical or clinical setting whilst ameliorating inflammation.