Genotyping Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Lebanon on the national level may be beneficial for assessing patients and monitoring the therapeutic response to DOTS. This study aimed to characterize the spoligotypes of clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis patients collected between April 2004 and October 2005 from all Lebanese provinces. Isolates (n = 60) were cultured and identified by their bioche...

Despite decades of research, many aspects of the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis remain unclear, and this is reflected in the antiquated tools available to treat and prevent tuberculosis and consequently this disease remains a serious public health problem. Important discoveries linking the metabolism of M. tuberculosis and pathogenesis has renewed interest in this area of research. Previ...

We and others recently identified copper resistance as important for virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here, we introduce a high-throughput screening assay for agents that induce a copper hypersensitivity phenotype in M. tuberculosis and demonstrate that such copper-boosting compounds are effective against replicating and nonreplicating M. tuberculosis strains.

The current paper investigates the influence of packet losses in network control systems (NCS’s) using the model predictive control (MPC) strategy. The study focuses on two main network packet losses due to sensor to controller and controller to actuator along the communication paths. A new Markov-based method is employed to recursively estimate the probability of time delay in controller to ac...

Two stages DEA models are used in many fields of management and industry. One of the concepts that has attracted the attention of researchers in the theory of production is the concept of ranking the units with a two-stage network. A unit ranking can provide useful information to decision makers (DMUs) about optimal decision making activities. This concept defines the superiority of a unit in t...

Pulmonary hamartomas are benign lesions, usually asymptomatic and incidentally discovered on a routine chest radiograph; occasionally, however, this benign lesion may cause life threatening symptoms due to it's location and diffuse vascular involvement. We report the case of a 27 year-old male, non-smoker, who presented with dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis and weight loss. He was found to have a mas...

A 69 yr old male patient developed an acute respiratory distress. The emergency bronchoscopic examination showed a polypoid tumour obstructing the left main bronchus. A snare used for colorectal polypectomy was introduced through the bronchofibrescope to remove the tumour. The patient then dramatically improved. No side effects were observed. Histopathological examination showed metastasis from...