Elaeagnus Angustifolia: a Promising Medicinal Plant for Cancer Theraby

Introduction: Elaeagnus angustifolia (EA) is a medicinal plant that has been used for centuries in treating many human diseases, in the Middle East, including fever, amoebic dysentery, gastrointestinal problems. However, the effect of EA plant extract on human cancer progression especially oral malignancy has not been investigated yet. Thus, first we examined the effect of EA flower extract on angiogenesis in ovo, and on selected parameters in human oral cancer cells. Materials and methods: Chorioallantoic membranes (CAMs) of chicken embryos at 3-7 days of incubation were used to assess the effect EAflower plant extract on angiogenesis. Meanwhile, cell proliferation, soft agar, cell cycle, cell invasion and cell wounding assays were performed to explore the outcome of EA plant extract on FaDu and SCC25 oral cancer cell lines. On the other hand, western blot analysis was carried out to evaluate E-cadherin and Erk1/Erk2 expression and activation, respectively, in FaDu and SCC25 under the effect of EA extract. Results: Our data show that EA extract inhibits cell proliferation and colony formation, in addition to the initiation of Scell cycle arrest and reductionof G1/G2 phases. In parallel, EA extract provokes differentiation to an epithelial phenotype “mesenchymal-epithelial transition: MET” which is the opposite of “epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT”: an important event in cell invasion and metastasis. Thus, EA extract causes a dramatic decrease in cell motility and invasion abilities of FaDu and SCC25 cancer cells in comparison with their controls. These changes are accompanied by an up-regulation of E-cadherin expression. The molecular pathway analysis of the EA flower extract reveals that it can inhibit the phosphorylation of Erk1/Erk2, which could be behind the inhibition of angiogenesis, the initiation of MET event and the overexpression of E-cadherin. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that EA plant extract can downgrade human oral cancer progression by the inhibition of angiogenesis and cell invasion via Erk1/Erk2 signaling pathways.

Comparison of Co-Presence of Epstein-Barr Virus and High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses in Colorectal Cancers in the Middle East Region

Background: Several studies have shown the presence of onco viral DNA in colorectal tumor tissues. Viral infection by onco-viruses such as Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) are well-known to be involved in the onset and/or progression of numerous human carcinomas. Methods: We explored the co-presence of high-risk HPVs and EBV in a cohort of colorectal cancer samples from Lebanon (94) and Syria (102) by PCR, immunohistochemistry and tissue microarray. Results: The results of the study point out that 54% of colorectal cancer cases in Syria are positive for high-risk HPVs, while 30% of the cases in Lebanon are positive for these viruses; the most frequent high-risk HPV types in these populations are 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35. Analysis of LMP1 showed similar results in both populations; 36% of Syrian and 31% of Lebanese samples. Additionally, we report that EBV and high-risk HPVs are co-present in these samples. In Syrian samples, EBV and HPVs are co-present in 16% of the population, however, in the Lebanese samples, 20% of the cases are positive for both EBV and HPVs; their co-presence is associated with high/intermediate grade invasive carcinomas. Conclusion: These data suggest that EBV and high-risk HPVs are co-present in human colorectal cancers where they can cooperate in the progression of these cancers. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to elucidate the role of those oncoviruses in the development of human colorectal carcinomas.

Antibiotics Prescription Patterns in Primary Health Care in Qatar – A Population based study from 2017 to 2018

Background: Antibiotics are antimicrobial drugs used in the treatment and prevention of bacterial infections. They played a pivotal role in achieving major advances in medicine and surgery (1). Yet, due to increased and inappropriate use of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance (AR) has become a growing public health problem. Information on antibiotic prescription patterns are vital in developing a constructive approach to deal with growing antibiotic resistance (2). The study aims to describe the population based antibiotic prescriptions among patients attending primary care centers in Qatar. Methodology: A population based observational study of all medications prescribed in the all Primary Health Care Centers during the period of 2017-2018 in Qatar. Records with all medication prescriptions were extracted and linked to medical diagnosis. Antibiotics prescriptions records were compared to non- antibiotics records using logistic regression model in identifying the potential predictors for antibiotic prescriptions. Results: A total of 11,069,439 medication prescriptions given over a period of two-years, we found about 12.1% (n= 726,667) antibiotics prescriptions were antibiotics, and 65% of antibiotics are prescribed and received by the patients at the first visits. Paracetamol (22.3%) was the first highest medication prescribed followed by antibiotics (12.1 %) and vitamin D2 (10.2 %). More than half of all antibiotics prescribed during the period of January 2017 to December 2018 were Penicillin (56.9%). We found that half of the antibiotics (49.3 %) have been prescribed for the respiratory system comparing to the other body system. We found that males were 29% more likely be given an antibiotic compared to females (OR=1.29, 95% CI= 1.24- 1.33). Implications: The study provides a baseline data to enable PHCC management to design effective intervention program to address the problem of antibiotics resistance. Furthermore, it will help the policymakers to comprehend the size of the issue and develop a system to manage the antibiotics therapy. Conclusion: Antibiotics was the second highest medication prescribed in the Primary Health Care Centers in Qatar after paracetamol and most of the patients received it at the first visit. Most of the prescriptions in Primary Health Care Centers in Qatar were for the respiratory system, and Penicillin was the highest class prescribed. Male visitors were prescribed antibiotics more than female visitors.

Relationship between Eating Patterns and Body Composition among Young Females in Qatar

The prevalence of obesity has been increased in Qatar, with the transition from healthy to unhealthy dietary habits. Behavioral factors that are associated with obesity are, long-term imbalanced energy intake, high screen time, skipping breakfast and physical inactivity. Changes in body composition and percent body fat (PBF) increase the risk of non-communicable disease. This study is the first study conducted in Qatar to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns and body composition among young females at Qatar University. This cross-sectional study consisted of 766 healthy female students Qatari and non-Qatari aged from 18-26 years randomly selected from different colleges at Qatar University. A validate questionnaire was used in order to collect data about healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns. Anthropometric measurements involved body weight, height, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and body composition using “Seca285”, “Seca203” and “InbodyBiospace 720”. Dietary patterns were identified by using factor loading. Linear regression was used to estimate confidence intervals and regression coefficient. More than half of the participants had a normal weight (65.1%), whereas 22.8 % and 12.0% were overweight and obese, respectively. Fat mass, BMI and PBF were slightly increased with age, but there was no significant difference. Factor analysis identified two dietary patterns: unhealthy patterns and healthy patterns. The frequent intake of vegetables and fruits was significant among high PBF female students (p=0.045 and p=0.001, respectively). The frequent intake of fast food was higher for overweight female students but there was no significant difference (p=0.289), whereas, the frequent intake of sweetened beverages was associated with higher significant rate of normal weight among female students (p = 0.009). No significant relation was found between dietary patterns, BMI and PBF. In conclusion, body composition is not significantly associated with healthy and unhealthy eating patterns among young females.

Laboratory Animal Research Centre (Larc) “A Specific Pathogen Free Rodent Facility” - Covid – 19 Pandemic Response Plan

Laboratory Animal Research Centre (LARC) has developed an early emergency operational plan for COVID-19 pandemic situation. Biosafety and biosecurity measures were planned and implemented ahead of time to check the functional requirement to prevent the infection. Identified necessary support for IT, transport, procurement, finance, admin and research to make the operations remotely and successfully.

Science Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching and Learning Implementing Inquiery-based Learning - A Case in Qatar Government Primary Schools

The current study investigates the beliefs held by science teachers on constructivism and a traditional approach in Qatar government primary schools. More specifically, it aims to investigate the challenges that science teachers experience during inquiry-based learning implementation. A web-based survey was conducted in order to collect data from grades 4 to 6 science teachers. A total of 112 science teachers responded and completed the survey on a voluntary basis. The results indicate that science teachers hold a higher beliefs in constructivism than traditional approach. A T-test and ANOVA analysis have showed that there is no significant differences between the beliefs of science teachers’ and their gender, level of education, and years of teaching experience. In addition, science teachers faced challenges in lesson planning, assessment, and teacher support.

وجهة نظر معلمي العلوم في دولة قطر نحو توجه (STEM) كبرنامج تدريسي في المدارس الحكومية

يهدف هذا البحث للتعرف على وجهة نظر معلمي العلوم في دولة قطر نحو توجه (STEM)؛ ليكون برنامجًا تدريسيًّا في المدارس الحكومية، وقامت الباحثة باتباع المنهج الكمي الوصفي من أجل إجراء تأكد الباحثون من صدقها وثباتها. يتمثل مجتمع الدراسة وتفسير نتائجها. تمثلت أداة البحث باستبانة مكونة من (16) فقرة، صُممت الاستبانة من قبل العنزي والجبر (2017)، تكون مجتمع الدراسة من جميع معلمي ومعلمات العلوم لجميع المراحل الدراسية في دولة قطر، وبلغت عينة الدراسة 121 معلمًا ومعلمة. وبعد عرض النتائج وتفسيرها توصلت الباحثة إلى أن للمعلمين وجهة نظر إيجابية تجاه برنامج (STEM). وبناء على هذه النتيجة أوصت الباحثة ببعض الأمور منها تقديم ورش للمعلمين وتوعيتهم ببرنامج (STEM).

Cyber-Physical Industrial Control System Testbed: A Cyber-Security Solution

In this project, the hybrid testbed architecture is selected for the development of ICS testbed where the Tennessee Eastman (TE) plant is simulated inside PC and the remaining components are implemented using real industrial hardware. TE plant is selected as the industrial process for the developed cybersecur ity testbed due to the following reasons. First, the TE modTheel is a wellknown chemical process plant used in control systems research and it dynamics is well understood. Second, it should be properly cont rolled otherwise small disturbance will drive the system toward an unsafe and unstable operat ion. The inherent unstable open-loop property of the TE process model presents a real-world scenario in which a cyberattack could represent a real risk to human safety, environmental safety, and economic viability. Third, the process is complex, coupled and nonlinear, and has many degrees of freedom by which to control and perturb the dynamics of the process.

Genome-Wide Association study Identifies a Novel Association Between a Cardiovascular Gene Polymorphism and Superior Athletic Performance

Research into the genetic predisposition to superior athletic performance has been a hindered by the underpowered studies and the small effect size of identified genetic variants. The aims of this study were to investigate the association of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with endurance athlete status in a large cohort of elite European athletes using GWAS approach, followed by replication studies in Russian and Japanese elite athletes and functional validation using metabolomics analysis. Results: The association of 476,728 SNPs of Illumina DrugCore Gene chip and endurance athlete status was investigated in 796 European international-level athletes (645 males, 151 females) by comparing allelic frequencies between athletes specialized in sports with high (n=662) and low/moderate (n=134) aerobic component. Validation of results was performed by comparing the frequencies of the most significant SNPs between 242 and 168 elite Russian high and low/moderate aerobic athletes, respectively, and between 60 elite Japanese endurance athletes and 406 controls. A meta-analysis has identified rs1052373 (GG homozygotes) in Myosin Binding Protein (MYBPC3; implicated in cardiac hypertrophic myopathy) gene to be associated with endurance athlete status (P=1.43E-08, odd ratio 2.2). Homozygotes carriers of rs1052373 G allele in Russian athletes had significantly greater VO2max than carriers of the AA+AG (P = 0.005). Subsequent metabolomics analysis revealed several amino acids and lipids associated with rs1052373 G allele (1.82x10-05) including the testosterone precursor androstenediol (3beta, 17beta) disulfate. Conclusion: This is the first report of genome-wide significant SNP and related metabolites associated with elite athlete status. Further investigations of the functional relevance of the identified SNPs and metabolites in relation to enhanced athletic performance are warranted.

Environmentally-Powered WSN for Urban-Scale Mapping and Assessment of Air Quality in Qatar

Environmental monitoring has gained significant importance in outdoor air quality measurement and assessment for fundamental survival as well as ambient assisted living. In real-time outdoor urban scale, instantaneous air quality index estimation, the electrochemical sensors warm-up time, cross-sensitivity computation-error, geo-location typography, instantaneous capacity or back up time; and energy efficiency are the six major challenges. These challenges lead to real-time gradient anomalies that effect the accuracy and pro-longed lags in air quality index mapping campaigns for state and environmental/meteorological agencies. In this work, a gradient-aware, multi-variable air quality-sensing node is proposed with event-triggered sensing based on position, gas magnitudes, and cross-sensitivity interpolation. In this approach, temperature, humidity, pressure, geo-position, photovoltaic power, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter (2.5), ozone, Carbon mono-oxide, Nitrogen dioxide, and Sulphur dioxide are the principle variables. Results have shown that the proposed system optimized the real-time air quality monitoring for the chosen geo-spatial cluster (Qatar University).