Adolescent obesity is associated with both immediate and longer-term health implications. This study aims to identify dietary patterns among a nationally representative sample of Lebanese adolescents aged between 13 and 19 years (n 446) and to assess the association of these patterns with overweight and obesity. Through face-to-face interviews, socio-demographic, lifestyle and anthropometric variables were collected. Dietary intake was assessed using a sixty-one-item FFQ. Dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis. The following two dietary patterns were identified: Western and traditional Lebanese. The Western pattern was characterised by high consumption of red meat, eggs and fast-food sandwiches. The traditional Lebanese pattern reflected high intakes of fruits and vegetables, legumes and fish. Female sex and a higher maternal education level were associated with a greater adherence to the traditional Lebanese pattern. As for the Western pattern, the scores were negatively associated with crowding index, physical activity and frequency of breakfast consumption. After adjustment, subjects belonging to the 3rd tertile of the Western pattern scores had significantly higher odds of overweight compared with those belonging to the 1st tertile (OR 2·3; 95 % CI 1·12, 4·73). In conclusion, two distinct dietary patterns were identified among adolescents in Lebanon: the traditional Lebanese and the Western, with the latter pattern being associated with an increased risk of overweight. The findings of this study may be used to guide the development of evidence-based preventive nutrition interventions to curb the obesity epidemic in this age group.

The Eastern Mediterranean region is characterized by one of the highest burdens of paediatric obesity worldwide. This study aims at examining dietary, lifestyle, and socio-economic correlates of overweight, obesity, and abdominal adiposity amongst children and adolescents in Lebanon, a country of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was conducted on 6–19-year-old subjects (n = 868). Socio-demographic, lifestyle, dietary, and anthropometric data (weight, height, waist circumference) were collected. Overweight and obesity were defined based on BMI z-scores. Elevated waist circumference (WC) and elevated waist to height ratio (WHtR) were used as indices of abdominal obesity. Of the study sample, 34.8% were overweight, 13.2% were obese, 14.0% had elevated WC, and 21.3% had elevated WHtR. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that male gender, maternal employment, residence in the capital Beirut, sedentarity, and higher consumption of fast food and sugar sweetened beverages were associated with increased risk of obesity, overweight, and abdominal adiposity, while regular breakfast consumption, higher intakes of milk/dairies and added fats/oils were amongst the factors associated with decreased risk. The study’s findings call for culture-specific intervention strategies for the promotion of physical activity, healthy lifestyle, and dietary practices amongst Lebanese children and adolescents.

In this population of CL patients displaying variable degrees of complexity and severity, almost two-thirds of patients could be initially managed without systemic therapy. Of these, 60 were cured before day 60. The WHO-recommended stepwise approach favoring initial local therapy therefore resulted in at least 44% of all patients being cured without exposure to the risk of systemic adverse events. Efforts are needed to further simplify local therapy of CL and to improve the management of patients with complex lesions and/or preexisting comorbidities.

Background-Epidemiologic findings support a positive association between asthma and obesity.

The success of solid-organ transplantation was made possible by recognizing that destruction of the graft is caused by an alloimmune-mediated process. For the past decade, immunosuppressive protocols have used a combination of drugs that significantly decreased the rate of acute organ rejection. Despite advances in surgical and medical care of recipients of solid-organ transplants, long-term graft survival and patient survival have not improved during the past 2 decades. Current immunosuppression protocols include a combination of calcineurin inhibitors, such as tacrolimus, and antiproliferative agents (most commonly mycophenolate mofetil), with or without different dosing regimens of corticosteroids. Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors were introduced to be used in combination with cyclosporine-based therapy, but they did not gain much acceptance because of their adverse event profile. Belatacept, a costimulatory inhibitor, is currently being studied in different regimens in an effort to replace the use of calcineurin inhibitors to induce tolerance and to improve long-term outcomes. Induction therapy is now being used in more than 90% of kidney transplants and more than 50% cases of other solid-organ transplantation such as lung, heart, and intestinal transplants. As a result of these combination immunosuppressive (IS) therapy protocols, not only the incidence but also the intensity of episodes of acute rejection have decreased markedly, and at present 1-year graft and patient survival is almost 98% for kidney transplant recipients and approximately greater than 80% for heart and lung transplants. Evolving concepts include the use of donor-derived bone marrow mesenchymal cells to induce tolerance, to minimize the use of maintenance IS agents, and to prevent the development of adverse events associated with long-term use of maintenance IS therapy.