Introduction: The published studies comparing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in pure aortic regurgitation (AR) are conflicting. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to compare TAVI with SAVR in pure AR. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, and the Cochrane Library Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from inception until 23 June 2023. Review Manager was used for statistical analysis. The risk ratio (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to compare dichotomous outcomes. Continuous outcomes were compared using the mean difference (MD) and 95% CI. The inconsistency test (I²) assessed the heterogeneity. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa scale to assess the quality of included studies. We evaluated the strength of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) scale. Results: We included six studies with 5633 patients in the TAVI group and 27,851 in SAVR. In-hospital mortality was comparable between TAVI and SAVR (RR = 0.89, 95% CI [0.56, 1.42], P = 0.63) (I² = 86%, P < 0.001). TAVI was favored over SAVR regarding in-hospital stroke (RR = 0.50; 95% CI [0.39, 0.66], P < 0.001) (I² = 11%, P = 0.34), in-hospital acute kidney injury (RR = 0.56; 95% CI: [0.41, 0.76], P < 0.001) (I² = 91%, P < 0.001), major bleeding (RR = 0.23; 95% CI: [0.17, 0.32], P < 0.001) (I² = 78%, P < 0.001), and shorter hospital say (MD = − 4.76 days; 95% CI: [− 5.27, − 4.25], P < 0.001) (I² = 88%, P < 0.001). In contrast, TAVI was associated with a higher rate of pacemaker implantation (RR = 1.68; 95% CI: [1.50, 1.88], P < 0.001) (I² = 0% P = 0.83). Conclusion: TAVI reduces in-hospital stroke and is associated with better safety outcomes than SAVR in patients with pure AR.

Background and Objectives: breast cancer remains the most common health burden affecting females worldwide. Despite developments in breast cancer diagnostic approaches and treatment strategies, the clinical management of metastatic breast cancer remains challenging. Thus, there is a need to identify new biomarkers and novel drug targets for breast cancer diagnosis and therapy. Recently, aberrant glypican-3 (GPC3) expression in cancers has gained considerable interest in cancer research. The studies, however, have yielded contradictory results about GPC3 expression in breast cancer. Therefore, the current study aims to analyse GPC3 expression across a large panel of different breast cancer subtypes. Materials and Methods: GPC3 expression was immunohistochemically evaluated in 230 breast cancer patients along with eight normal tissues and its associations to clinical and demographic characteristics, as well as immunohistochemical biomarkers for breast cancer. Moreover, a public database consisting of breast cancer patients’ survival data and GPC3 gene expression information was used to assess the prognostic value of GPC3 in the survival of breast cancer patients. Results: GPC3 expression was only characterised in 7.5% of different histological breast cancer subtypes. None of the normal breast tissues displayed GPC3 expression. Interestingly, all cases of Paget’s disease, as well as 42.9% of intraductal and 16.7% of mucinous carcinomas were found to have GPC3 expression, where it was able to significantly discriminate Paget’s disease and intraductal carcinoma from other breast cancer subtypes. Importantly, GPC3 expression was found more often in tumours that tested positive for the expression of hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), indicating more favourable histological subtypes of breast cancer. Consequently, longer relapse-free survival (RFS) was significantly correlated with higher GPC3 mRNA expression. Conclusions: Our study proposes that GPC3 is a promising breast cancer subtype-specific biomarker. Moreover, GPC3 may have the potential to be a molecular target for the development of new therapeutics for specific subtypes of breast cancer.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (CNSL) is a rare, aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma confined to the CNS. Although radiation and chemotherapy, particularly high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX), are effective treatments, the relapse rates remain high, prompting the exploration of novel therapeutic options. Ibrutinib, an irreversible Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, has shown promise in various B-cell malignancies, including CNSL. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ibrutinib in the treatment of CNSL, focusing on overall response (OR), complete response (CR), partial response (PR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and adverse events. A comprehensive search of the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases was conducted. The included studies were prospective and retrospective studies focusing on ibrutinib as monotherapy or in combination with CNSL. Data extraction and quality assessment were independently performed by two reviewers, and statistical analyses were conducted using R version 4.4.0. Fourteen studies (eight cohort studies and six clinical trials) involving 784 patients were included. The median age was 61 years, with nearly equal sex distribution. The meta-analysis for CNSL, the partial response rate was 29.52%, complete response rate was 49.19%, and overall response rate was 72.11%. For PCNSL, the partial response rate was 20.85%, complete response rate was 48.13%, and overall response rate was 66.92%. For SCNSL, the partial response rate was 29.42%, complete response rate was 44.64%, and overall response rate was 66.82%. Significant heterogeneity was observed in some comparisons. There were no significant differences in the efficacy of ibrutinib between CNSL subtypes. Ibrutinib shows promising efficacy in improving partial and complete response rates in CNSL. The substantial heterogeneity observed underscores the need for further well-designed studies to confirm these findings and explore the optimal use of ibrutinib in CNSL treatment protocols. Future trials should consider comparing ibrutinib to standard therapies and investigate its long-term efficacy and safety profile.

Introduction: Awareness of psychological disorders such as smartphone addiction, anxiety, and depression is a trending research area in the scientific community that has further escalated with the impact of COVID-19. In this regard, young adults and medical students are already considered to be under a high level of stress academically and culturally. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between depression, anxiety, and smartphone addiction among medical students in Jordan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online structured questionnaire. The survey was completed by 164 male and female medical students stratified by years one to three in the basic medical sciences. The survey consisted of items from the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), in addition to two questions concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smartphone addiction. Results: Among the students who participated, the mean age was 18.9, with almost half (47.2%) being first-year students. The results showed no significant difference in stress, anxiety or cell phone addiction based on gender or academic year. The logistic regression model was not statistically significant regarding the covariates, except for GAD, which had an OR=1.15 (CI: 1.06 -1.25). Furthermore, SAS-SV was positively correlated with GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores (r=0.42, r=0.2, p< 0.000, p=0.029, respectively). Conclusions: The results of the study showed a statistically significant positive correlation between smartphone addiction, depression, and anxiety. These variables were not statistically different among medical students in terms of gender and academic year.

A new breakthrough development in cancer treatment is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy. In this review, we focussed on its efficacy & safety in prostate cancer, obstacles impeding its...