Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a hereditary autoinflammatory disease with variable manifestations across Mediterranean regions. This study compares FMF cohorts from Italy (Apulia) and Lebanon. We analyzed a cohort of 443 FMF patients, 165 Italians (females: males = 90:75) and 278 Lebanese (females: males = 173:105). Clinical records/interviews provided data on demographics, MEFV genetic testing, and treatments. A 55-item questionnaire in 54 Italians and 42 Lebanese patients assessed disease knowledge, management, misdiagnoses, attack frequency (yearly), duration (days), body temperature, symptoms prevalence and frequency, and severity score before/after treatment. Italians were significantly older at disease onset, diagnosis, and had longer diagnostic delay than Lebanese patients (p < 0.00001). The most common MEFV variants were E148Q and R202Q in Italians, and M694V and E148Q in Lebanese, with fewer pathogenic and homozygous cases in Italians. Italian patients had lower prevalence of FMF symptoms (10-92% vs. 30-99%; p < 0.00001) and fewer attacks. All Italians received treatment compared to 88.5% of Lebanese. Colchicine was first-line treatment, while biological drug use was higher in Italians. In the subgroups study, Italians reported lower disease knowledge and were followed up mainly by internists, while Lebanese were followed up by gastroenterologists or pediatricians. Italians were misdiagnosed with appendicitis, whereas Lebanese were misdiagnosed with gastrointestinal diseases. Italians exhibited lower symptom frequency, lower severity scores, and a better response compared to Lebanese patients. In conclusion, FMF presentation differed by country, with Italians showing milder symptoms and better treatment response, while Lebanese showed severe symptoms linked to pathogenic MEFV variants. Gene-environment interactions require further studies.
أدّى التطوّر التكنولوجيّ المُتسارع إلى إتساع نطاق تداول البيانات عبر البيئة الرقميّة، ممّا جعل الحياة الخاصّة للأفراد أكثر عرضة للإنتهاكات، وهدّد حقّهم في الخصوصيّة كأحد أهم الحقوق اللصيقة بشخصيّة الإنسان. وعليه، دفع هذا الواقع المختصّين في دول العالم إلى وضع أطر قانونيّة متكاملة لحماية الخصوصيّة في البيئة الإفتراضيّة، وضمان الحقوق والحريّات الأساسيّة التي تكفلها المواثيق الدوليّة والتشريعات الوطنيّة. كما دفع ذلك إلى تحديث القوانين الوطنيّة لمواكبة التطوّرات التقنيّة، من أجل الوصول إلى تعريف دقيق للحياة الخاصّة في البيئة الرقميّة.
Microplastics (MPs) have emerged as persistent environmental contaminants due to their persistence, widespread distribution, and potential risks to the environment and human health. This review focuses on the sources of MPs, their potential environmental risks, and human impacts, as documented in the recent literature from 2020 to 2026. Recent studies focusing on pathways, environmental weathering, and toxicity were evaluated and synthesized into the analysis. Previous studies have demonstrated that microplastics are transported across and between environmental compartments. Environmental degradation, driven by ultraviolet radiation, mechanical fragmentation, and oxidation, can alter microplastics’ surface characteristics, which may affect microplastic mobility, reactivity, and the solid-state adsorption of contaminants. Human exposure occurs primarily through ingestion and inhalation, with dermal and occupational exposure also contributing under certain conditions. Emerging evidence from in vitro, animal, and human tissue studies suggests that smaller particles, particularly nanoplastics, may contribute to oxidative stress, inflammation, and cellular injury; however, important uncertainties remain regarding environmentally realistic exposure levels, long-term health outcomes, and the extrapolation of experimental findings to real-world human health risk. Overall, the current literature highlights the need for standardized methodologies, improved integration of environmental monitoring and exposure assessment, and stronger evidence to support risk assessment and policy development.
This essay describes the design and testing of a desktop computer-based automated brain tumour segmentation system for MRI images, which will support the broad adoption of advanced deep learning models in clinical practice. The proposed system integrates a DeepLabV3+ framework with a ResNeXt50 backbone and a U-Net complementary structure, and is trained on a hybrid loss function that combines Dice loss and binary cross-entropy. It was trained and evaluated using benchmark brain MRI data, such as the BraTS 2020 dataset, with a standardised preprocessing and augmentation pipeline. In contrast to most research-only implementations, the proposed work focuses on practical deployment by incorporating the entire workflow, i.e., data preprocessing, model training, inference, and quantitative evaluation, in an integrated desktop environment suitable for clinical settings. The system will facilitate effective segmentation while maintaining high diagnostic reliability. The quantitative analysis yields promising results, with a mean Dice coefficient of 0.89 ± 0.04, a sensitivity of 81.5%, a specificity of 95.9%, and an AUC-ROC greater than 0.90. It has a mean inference time of 0.65 seconds per image and moderate memory requirements, making it easy to integrate into a typical hospital computing infrastructure. The findings suggest that the tool offers a good compromise between segmentation accuracy, computational efficiency, and clinical usability. This balance may support feasible AI-based decision support in neuro-oncology.
تعدّ غاية العقوبة من أكثر المسائل جدلاً في الفكر الجنائيّ، إذ تهدفُ إلى تكريس الأمن والإستقرار داخل المجتمع في مواجهة الأفعال الجرميّة. وقد إنقسم الفقهاء بين فريق يراها وسيلة لتحقيق العدالة من خلال إقرار الجزاء المُستحق على الجاني، واتجاه آخر يعتبرها أداةً نفعيّةً لردع الجريمة وحماية المجتمع. ومن هنا، مثّل أصحاب الاتجاه الأوّل روّاد المدرسة التقليديّة، بينما تبنّى الإتجاه الثاني النظريّة النفعيّة. مع الإشارة إلى أنّ تحقيق أيّ من هذه الغايات لا يكون بالعقوبات الجامدة، بل بمبدأ التفريد القضائيّ الذي يعد ركيزة للنّظام العقابيّ الحديث. حيث ينقل العقوبة من إطارها المجرّد والثابت إلى إطار أكثر مرونة يراعي ظروف الجريمة وشخصيّة الجاني.
