Azza Ramadan

Al Ain University · College of Pharmacy

Background: It would be rational to describe the pattern of the clinical characteristics of the survivors and the nonsurvivors during the critical intensive-infection era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The explicit objective of the current scoping review was to delineate the predictive risk factors associated with case fatality rate (CFR)...

Background: Recently, a plethora of events have affected the statin arena such as muscle-induced myalgia, myopathy, myositis, rare rhabdomyolysis, and new-onset diabetes. The latest statin pitavastatin has emerged with descent stamina (optimum efficacy and improved safety). Objective: The objective of the current review is to explore the pros an...

Background A subpopulation of statin users such as subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD), Human Immune virus (HIV, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), revascularization, metabolic syndrome, and/or diabetes may particularly benefit from pitavastatin pharmacotherapy. Aim of the systematic review The current systematic review aimed systematically eva...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40200-021-00965-2.].

Introduction Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of metabolic risk factors that include central obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance, and atherogenic dyslipidemia and is strongly associated with a greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods A literature search was conducted using the words metab...

Background The current therapy of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is confronted with many challenges such as inadequate response, infection, and treatment failure. Aim and Objective The main objective was to assess the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab (TCZ) in subjects with RA using the available evidence from published randomized controlled trials....

Background: Medical students encounter various stressors during their studies. The study aimed to assess stress levels, sources, and associated determinants among Sudanese medical students. Method: An online questionnaire-based study was conducted among 617 undergraduate medical students of 6 dif�ferent universities in Sudan. A 19-item questionnai...

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent cancers and the leading cause of cancer related deaths among women worldwide with a steadily increasing global annual incidence. This study aims is to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of females in the UAE toward BC and Breast Self-Examination practice in the seven Emirates. This was a f...

Objective To examine whether self-reported sleep duration and visual impairment were associated among College students. Participants: Students (n = 1002, age 17–35 years) from Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Methods: Students were asked to complete a validated questionnaire between October 2018 and May 2019. The questions were related to soci...

Background: Lower extremity amputation (LEA) in individuals with diabetes is a serious health issue with a considerable physical and social burden. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with LEA in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) patients. Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional health facility-based...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic that has spread to almost all countries worldwide. Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been shown to increase the risk of COVID-19 disease severity. In this review, we provide a summary of the impact of COIVD-19 on diabetes management and related services. We searched the literature using the follow...

Objective: The pathophysiologic processes of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and atherosclerosis often intersect. Given that anomalies in vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) autophagy have been noted in models of atherosclerosis, we sought to evaluate the potential role that SMC autophagy may play in the initiation and progression of AAAs. Method...

Emerging evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a cellular hub coordinating various cellular processes that are critical in health and disease. Mechanical stress triggers changes in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) that in turn contribute to pathophysiological changes within the vasculature. We sought to evaluate the ro...

Background: Thrombosis persists as a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Given that endothelial cells (ECs) play a central role in regulating thrombosis, understanding the molecular endothelial cues that regulate susceptibility or resistance to thrombosis have important translational implications. Accordingly, we evaluated the role of endoth...

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are a significant cause of worldwide mortality and morbidity. While the histopathological characteristics of AAA are well documented, the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of AAA are not entirely understood. Autophagy is a highly conserved basal cellular process in eukaryotic cells that...

Fig. S1. Characterization of the role of autophagy in endothelial lipid homeostasis. Fig. S2. The role of autophagy in ApoE KO mouse atherosclerotic plaque formation. Table S1. Serum chemistry and body weight.

Data S1. Experimental procedures.

The physiological role of autophagic flux within the vascular endothelial layer remains poorly understood. Here, we show that in primary endothelial cells, oxidized and native LDL stimulates autophagosome formation. Moreover, by both confocal and electron microscopy, excess native or modified LDL appears to be engulfed within autophagic structures....

Autophagy regulates cellular homeostasis and integrates the cellular pro-survival machinery. We investigated the role of autophagy in the natural history of murine abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). ApoE−/− mice were implanted with saline- or angiotensin II (Ang-II)-filled miniosmotic pumps then treated with either the autophagy inhibitor chloroquin...

Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive disease characterized by fibroblast proliferation and excess deposition of collagen and other extracellular matrix components. Although the origin of fibroblasts is multifactorial, recent data implicate endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) as an important source of fibroblasts. We report herein that loss...

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are a significant cause of worldwide mortality and morbidity. Although several mechanisms have been put forth, the central determinants of progressive AAA development appear to involve heightened vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis, with increased degradation of the extracellular matrix, in the setting of c...

The adenosine transporter 1 (ENT1) transports nucleosides, such as adenosine, and cytotoxic nucleoside analog drugs. ENT1 is well established to play a role in adenosinergic signaling in the cardiovascular system by modulating adenosine levels. Moderate ethanol consumption is cardioprotective and underlying mechanisms of action are not clear althou...

Equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENT) modulate the flux of adenosine. The ENT1-null (KO) mouse heart is endogenously cardioprotected but the cellular basis of this phenotype is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the cellular mechanisms underlying ENT1-mediated cardioprotection. Circulating adenosine levels were measured in WT and KO mice. Ce...