An-Najah Staff

Background Obesity is a serious worldwide medical condition, considered by some researchers as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21^st century. The main objective of this study was to assess the quantity and quality of obesity-related research from Arab countries and compare it with that from non-Arab Middle Eastern countries.

Methods Original scientific articles or reviews published by Arab countries about obesity up until 2011 were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. Research activity was assessed by analyzing the annual research productivity, journals names, citations, top 10 active institutions, and the contribution of each Arab country to obesity research.
Results The total number of original and review research articles published globally about obesity was 110,167. The leading country in obesity research was United States of America (42.47%). Turkey, Israel, and Iran were in the top 30 countries while Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt, and Kuwait ranked 39^th, 43^rd, and 47^th, respectively. A total of 1,121 documents about “obesity” were published by Arab countries, representing 1.0% of the global research output, with 13,343 citations (average citation of 11.9 per document) and an h-index of 44. The Arab countries’ research output was very low until the mid-1990s and then increased steadily. Of the 1,121 documents, 107 (9.55%) were published in the Saudi Medical Journal. KSA, with a total of 318 publications ranked first among Arab countries in research quantity while Kuwait ranked first after adjustment based on population size. King Saud University in KSA was the most productive institution with a total of 140 documents. Compared with other non-Arab Middle Eastern countries, the research productivity from Arab countries was lower than that from Turkey, higher than that from Iran, and close to that from Israel. However, the h-index of documents about obesity published from Arab countries was lower than that of Turkey and Israel, but slightly higher than that from Iran.

Conclusions The present data reveals a good contribution by some Arab countries, particularly Arab gulf countries, to obesity research. More efforts are needed by other Arab countries to bridge the gap in this topic and to improve the quality of obesity-related research originating from Arab countries.  

Background

Obesity is a serious worldwide medical condition, considered by some researchers as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21^st century. The main objective of this study was to assess the quantity and quality of obesity-related research from Arab countries and compare it with that from non-Arab Middle Eastern countries.

Methods Original scientific articles or reviews published by Arab countries about obesity up until 2011 were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. Research activity was assessed by analyzing the annual research productivity, journals names, citations, top 10 active institutions, and the contribution of each Arab country to obesity research

Results The total number of original and review research articles published globally about obesity was 110,167. The leading country in obesity research was United States of America (42.47%). Turkey, Israel, and Iran were in the top 30 countries while Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt, and Kuwait ranked 39^th, 43^rd, and 47^th, respectively. A total of 1,121 documents about “obesity” were published by Arab countries, representing 1.0% of the global research output, with 13,343 citations (average citation of 11.9 per document) and an h-index of 44. The Arab countries’ research output was very low until the mid-1990s and then increased steadily. Of the 1,121 documents, 107 (9.55%) were published in the Saudi Medical Journal. KSA, with a total of 318 publications ranked first among Arab countries in research quantity while Kuwait ranked first after adjustment based on population size. King Saud University in KSA was the most productive institution with a total of 140 documents. Compared with other non-Arab Middle Eastern countries, the research productivity from Arab countries was lower than that from Turkey, higher than that from Iran, and close to that from Israel. However, the h-index of documents about obesity published from Arab countries was lower than that of Turkey and Israel, but slightly higher than that from Iran.
Conclusions The present data reveals a good contribution by some Arab countries, particularly Arab gulf countries, to obesity research. More efforts are needed by other Arab countries to bridge the gap in this topic and to improve the quality of obesity-related research originating from Arab countries.  

Background Obesity is a serious worldwide medical condition, considered by some researchers as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21^st century. The main objective of this study was to assess the quantity and quality of obesity-related research from Arab countries and compare it with that from non-Arab Middle Eastern countries.
Methods Original scientific articles or reviews published by Arab countries about obesity up until 2011 were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. Research activity was assessed by analyzing the annual research productivity, journals names, citations, top 10 active institutions, and the contribution of each Arab country to obesity research.
Results The total number of original and review research articles published globally about obesity was 110,167. The leading country in obesity research was United States of America (42.47%). Turkey, Israel, and Iran were in the top 30 countries while Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt, and Kuwait ranked 39^th, 43^rd, and 47^th, respectively. A total of 1,121 documents about “obesity” were published by Arab countries, representing 1.0% of the global research output, with 13,343 citations (average citation of 11.9 per document) and an h-index of 44. The Arab countries’ research output was very low until the mid-1990s and then increased steadily. Of the 1,121 documents, 107 (9.55%) were published in the Saudi Medical Journal. KSA, with a total of 318 publications ranked first among Arab countries in research quantity while Kuwait ranked first after adjustment based on population size. King Saud University in KSA was the most productive institution with a total of 140 documents. Compared with other non-Arab Middle Eastern countries, the research productivity from Arab countries was lower than that from Turkey, higher than that from Iran, and close to that from Israel. However, the h-index of documents about obesity published from Arab countries was lower than that of Turkey and Israel, but slightly higher than that from Iran.
Conclusions The present data reveals a good contribution by some Arab countries, particularly Arab gulf countries, to obesity research. More efforts are needed by other Arab countries to bridge the gap in this topic and to improve the quality of obesity-related research originating from Arab countries.   

Background Obesity is a serious worldwide medical condition, considered by some researchers as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21^st century. The main objective of this study was to assess the quantity and quality of obesity-related research from Arab countries and compare it with that from non-Arab Middle Eastern countries.
Methods Original scientific articles or reviews published by Arab countries about obesity up until 2011 were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. Research activity was assessed by analyzing the annual research productivity, journals names, citations, top 10 active institutions, and the contribution of each Arab country to obesity research.
Results The total number of original and review research articles published globally about obesity was 110,167. The leading country in obesity research was United States of America (42.47%). Turkey, Israel, and Iran were in the top 30 countries while Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt, and Kuwait ranked 39^th, 43^rd, and 47^th, respectively. A total of 1,121 documents about “obesity” were published by Arab countries, representing 1.0% of the global research output, with 13,343 citations (average citation of 11.9 per document) and an h-index of 44. The Arab countries’ research output was very low until the mid-1990s and then increased steadily. Of the 1,121 documents, 107 (9.55%) were published in the Saudi Medical Journal. KSA, with a total of 318 publications ranked first among Arab countries in research quantity while Kuwait ranked first after adjustment based on population size. King Saud University in KSA was the most productive institution with a total of 140 documents. Compared with other non-Arab Middle Eastern countries, the research productivity from Arab countries was lower than that from Turkey, higher than that from Iran, and close to that from Israel. However, the h-index of documents about obesity published from Arab countries was lower than that of Turkey and Israel, but slightly higher than that from Iran.
Conclusions The present data reveals a good contribution by some Arab countries, particularly Arab gulf countries, to obesity research. More efforts are needed by other Arab countries to bridge the gap in this topic and to improve the quality of obesity-related research originating from Arab countries.  

Objectives: To describe, in morbid obese subjects, the jejunal expression of efflux transporters and metabolizing enzymes, that the intestinal microbiota and the low-grade inflammation may change.
Methods: The subjects were non-diabetic obese patients (BMI> 35kg / m²). A fragment of jejunal epithelium located about 40cm after the gastroduodenal junction and considered as a surgical waste was preserved during gastric bypass surgery and frozen at -80 ° C. The expressions of genes encoding the transporters: ABCB1/MDR1, ABCC2/MRP2, and ABCC3/MRP3; in addition to the enzymes: CYP3A4 and UGT2B7 were analyzed by qRT-PCR. Patients were genotyped for the ABCB1 C3435T polymorphism.
Results: The intestinal epithelium of 28 obese subjects (23 women and 5 men) were analyzed. This population, with a mean age of 40 ± 9.9 years, had a mean BMI of 44.6 ± 5.9kg m². Of those, 10.7% were smokers, 32.1% were hypertensive and 28.6% had a treated sleep apnea syndrome. No chronic treatment of the patients was known to induce transporters and enzymes expression.
qRT-PCR showed that ABCB1/MDR1 was the mainly expressed (84.1 ± 48.8) gene, followed by CYP3A4 (43.2 ± 19.9),ABCC2/MRP2 (22.7 ± 23.3), UGT2B7 (14.5 ± 7.4) and ABCC3/MRP3 (2.0 ± 1.2). A difference between sex in the expression of ABCB1 was at the limit of significativity (136.6 ± 75.3 in men versus 72.7 ± 33.7 in women, p = 0.055). Patients homozygous for the T allele of the gene ABCB1/MDR1 expressed significantly more ABCB1/MDR1 than subjects heterozygous CT and homozygous CC (123.2 ± 59.5 versus 63.5 ± 23.7 and 60.7 ± 22.8 respectively). A correlation between the expression ofABCB1/MDR1 and weight, fat mass, truncal fat mass, BMI, liver enzymes (AST, ALT, GGT) disappeared after adjusting for sex. Similarly, there was no correlation between the markers of inflammation and the gene expression. There was a strong correlation between the expression of each gene.
Conclusion: In obese subjects, inflammation and body composition do not influence jejunal expression of the genes studied. Carriers of the C allele of the gene ABCB1/MDR1 encoding P-gp express significantly less ABCB1/MDR1 gene transcripts than the others.