Background/Objectives: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the seventh most common cancer worldwide, with rising incidence rates and significant mortality. While tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and viral infections are established risk factors, the role of dietary patterns, particularly adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), in HNC prevention has gained increasing attention. The aim of the current systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the association between adherence to the MD and the risk of HNC. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted, following PRISMA guidelines, to identify relevant studies published up to January 2024 that assessed the association between MD adherence and HNC risk in adults. Pooled odds ratios (OR) for a three-unit increase in MD adherence scores and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using a random-effects model. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS). Results: Eleven case–control studies comprising 6106 HNC cases and 9166 controls met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. High adherence to the MD was significantly associated with a reduced risk of HNC (pooled OR = 0.561, 95% CI: 0.368–0.856, p = 0.007, I² = 92%). Individual component analyses from three studies revealed that higher fruit and vegetable consumption significantly decreased HNC risk, whereas legumes, fish, and low meat intake showed no statistically significant associations. Conclusions: Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with a significantly reduced risk of head and neck cancer. These findings support the role of the MD in cancer prevention and highlight the potential benefits of MD adherence in reducing HNC risk. Further prospective studies and randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Objective: This scoping review aims to contribute a descriptive analysis of the craniomaxillofacial trauma (CMF trauma) literature in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) to identify knowledge gaps, direct future research, and inform policy.Data Sources: PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Review, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar from January 1, 2012 to December 10, 2023.Review Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) guided reporting, and the PRISMA flowchart documented database searches. Specific, predefined search terms and inclusion criteria were used for screening, and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist was used for quality assessment. The search yielded 54 articles, with 13 meeting the inclusion criteria. Key findings were summarized and divided into 7 categories.Results: There were 10,420 patients (7739 [74.3%] male, 2681 [25.7%] female) with a male‐to‐female ratio of 2.9:1. The mean peak age of incidence of CMF trauma was 30.8 years, ranging from 20 to 40 years. Road traffic accidents were the leading cause (60.4%), followed by assault (27.2%) and falls (12.2%). The most common injuries were soft tissue injury (31.7%), isolated mandibular fracture (22.8%), and isolated middle‐third of mandible fracture (18.1%). The most common treatments were closed reduction and immobilization (29.5%), conservative management (27.6%), and open reduction and internal fixation (19.6%). Most patients (77.8%) experienced a treatment delay due to a lack of fixation materials (54.8%) or surgeon unavailability (35.7%).Conclusion: CMF trauma remains a significant cause of global morbidity, yet there remains a lack of high‐quality, CMF trauma‐specific data in LMICs. Country‐specific investigations are required to enhance knowledge and inform novel interventions. Implementing policy change must be community‐specific and account for unique cultural barriers, attitudes, and behaviors to maximize patient care outcomes.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic strained healthcare systems around the world. This study aims to understand the preparedness of private remote hospitals in Lebanon to respond to the pandemic and evaluate the impact of inter-hospital collaborations on the hospitals’ readiness. Methods: A multi-centered study was conducted between August 2020 and June 2021 in ten Lebanese private remote hospitals based on a mixed-methods embedded approach where the quantitative supported the qualitative. Through the AUB-USAID (American University of Beirut-United States Agency for International Development) COVID-19 project, these hospitals received personal protective equipment and medical equipment in addition to COVID-19-related training using the Train-the-Trainer model. The quantitative part used knowledge and evaluation questionnaires and a pre–post-intervention hospital preparedness checklist. The qualitative approach adopted semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample from key hospital personnel. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 27, and a p-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. For the qualitative data, a thematic analysis was performed by adopting the six-phase process described by Braun and Clarke. Results: Of the 393 healthcare workers who attended the training and completed the evaluation questionnaire, 326 completed the pre- and post-training knowledge questionnaire. A significant improvement was observed in mean knowledge scores following training for infection control, nursing, and polymerase chain reaction sampling staff (p-value < 0.001, p-value < 0.001, and p-value = 0.006, respectively), but not for housekeeping staff. More than 93% of the participants showed high trainer and content evaluation scores. As for the hospitals’ preparedness assessments, there was a clear improvement in the pre- and post-assessment scores for each hospital, and there was a significant difference in the mean of the total scores of partner hospitals pre- and post-USAID-AUB project (p-value = 0.005). These findings were supported by the qualitative analysis, where nine hospitals expressed the positive impact of the USAID-AUB intervention in improving their preparedness to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic at a critical time when it was highly needed. Despite the intervention, persistent challenges remained. Conclusions: A timely and proactive collaborative program between academic/tertiary care centers and remote community hospitals that includes sharing supplies and expertise is feasible and highly effective during public health emergencies.

Background: Migraine is a prevalent episodic brain disorder known for recurrent attacks of unilateral headaches, accompanied by complaints of photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, and vomiting. Two main categories of migraine are migraine with aura (MA) and migraine without aura (MO). Main body: Early twin and population studies have shown a genetic basis for these disorders, and efforts have been invested since to discern the genes involved. Many techniques, including candidate-gene association studies, loci linkage studies, genome-wide association, and transcription studies, have been used for this goal. As a result, several genes were pinned with concurrent and conflicting data among studies. It is important to understand the evolution of techniques and their findings. Conclusions: This review provides a chronological understanding of the different techniques used from the dawn of migraine genetic investigations and the genes linked with the migraine subtypes.

PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer care in terms of the stage at presentation, treatment delays, and follow-up in a tertiary care center in Lebanon. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study compared patients with breast cancer who presented to a tertiary care center in Lebanon before (September 2019-December 2019) and during (September 2020-December 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. We extracted data from the electronic medical records of patients with breast cancer who had their initial presentation, were under treatment, or were on follow-up during our period of interest. RESULTS: Of the 333 patients, 186 visited the hospital in the pre–COVID-19 period and 147 during the pandemic, showing almost a 12% reduction in the number of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the pre-COVID period, more patients were presented for screening (52%); however, more symptomatic patients were presented during the pandemic (51.4%). Almost 54% had an advanced stage at presentation during the pandemic compared with 48% before the pandemic but with no statistical significance ( P = .50). Significantly fewer patients came for chemotherapy in the COVID-19 period (38.1%) compared with the pre–COVID-19 period (52.2%). Fewer patients underwent surgery during the pandemic, although the difference was not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis showed that the COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with having an advanced stage at presentation ( P = .24). CONCLUSION: The management of breast cancer was not substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of Lebanese patients. However, 4 months might not be sufficient to draw a solid conclusion.