The Degree of Administrative Mechanisms Availability to Increase the Competitive Advantage at the Public Jordanian Universities according to Leverage Approach of Knowledge Management

The study aimed at identifing the degree of administrative mechanisms availability to increase the competitive advantage at the public Jordanian Universities according to leverage approach of knowledge management, from the point of view of their academic leaders. The descriptive survey method was used. To achieve the objective of the study, a questionnaire consisting of five domains and (53) Items was developed, and distributed to a sample of (282) academic leaders from three universities. The results showed that the a availability of the administrative mechanisms to increase the competitive advantage at the public Jordanian Universities according to leverage approach of knowledge management was medium, domains arranged as follow: (cost reduction, timeliness, flexibility innovation and quality), The results indicated that there were no significant differences between variables and the degree of administrative mechanisms availability to increase the competitive advantage at the public Jordanian Universities according to leverage approach of knowledge management, from the point of view of their academic leaders. The study recommended consolidating knowledge-lever practices and building knowledge bases that represent the basic requirements for increasing the competitive advantage in universitie

Open Access Journals in Serbia: Policies and Practices

This study is the result of the project Revisiting Open Access Journal Policies and Practices in Serbia, funded through the EIFL Open Access Programme. The project was implemented by the Serbian Library Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition – KoBSON between 22 March 2016 and 22 January 2017

Blood cancer journal

BACKGROUND: Gait impairments increase with advancing age and can lead to falls and loss of independence. Brain atrophy also occurs in older age and may contribute to gait decline. We aimed to investigate global and regional relationships of cerebral gray and white matter volumes with gait speed, and its determinants step length and cadence, in older people. METHODS: In a population-based study, participants aged >60 years without Parkinson's disease or brain infarcts underwent magnetic resonance imaging and gait measurements using a computerized walkway. Linear regression was used to study associations of total gray and white matter volumes with gait, adjusting for each other, age, sex, height and white matter hyperintensity volume. Other covariates considered in analyses included weight and vascular disease history. Voxel-based morphometry was used to study regional relationships of gray and white matter with gait. RESULTS: There were 305 participants, mean age 71.4 (6.9) years, 54% male, mean gait speed 1.16 (0.22) m/s. Smaller total gray matter volume was independently associated with poorer gait speed (p = 0.001) and step length (p<0.001), but not cadence. Smaller volumes of cortical and subcortical gray matter in bilateral regions important for motor control, vision, perception and memory were independently associated with slower gait speed and shorter steps. No global or regional associations were observed between white matter volume and gait independent of gray matter volume, white matter hyperintensity volume and other covariates. CONCLUSION: Smaller gray matter volume in bilaterally distributed brain networks serving motor control was associated with slower gait speed and step length, but not cadence

Laparoscopic versus Robotic gastric cancer surgery: Short-term Outcomes. Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of 25 521 patients

Introdução: O cancro gástrico possui a terceira maior taxa de mortalidade oncológica a nível mundial. Ainda não existe um consenso relativamente à técnica cirúrgica mais apropriada para realizar a cirurgia de resseção curativa. Objetivo: Comparar as gastrectomias laparoscópica e robótica, tendo em conta os resultados a curto prazo, em doentes com cancro gástrico. Materiais e Métodos: Esta revisão sistemática foi realizada de acordo as Guidelines PRISMA. Pesquisámos os seguintes tópicos: "Gastrectomy", Laparoscopic" e "Robotic Surgical Procedures". Incluímos os estudos que comparavam os resultados a curto prazo entre as gastrectomias laparoscópica e robótica. O risco de viés individual foi analisado através da escala MINORS. Resultados: Não houve diferenças significativas entre a gastrectomia robótica e a gastrectomia laparoscópica no que diz respeito à probabilidade de conversão, probabilidade de reoperação, mortalidade, complicações, deiscência da anastomose, distâncias das margens de resseção distal e proximal e probabilidade de recorrência. Contudo, a média da perda hemática (Diferença de Médias - DM - -19,43 mL, p<0,00001), o tempo de internamento (DM -0,50 dias, p=0,0007), o tempo até à primeira flatulência (DM -0,52 dias, p<0,00001), o tempo até ingestão oral (DM -0,17 dias, p=0,0001), as complicações cirúrgicas com classificação de Clavien-Dindo ≥ III (Risco Relativo - RR - 0,68, p<0,0001) e as complicações pancreáticas (RR 0,51, p=0,007) foram significativamente menores no grupo submetido a cirurgia robótica. O número de nódulos linfáticos removidos foi significativamente maior no grupo submetido a cirurgia robótica. Em contrapartida, a cirurgia robótica apresentou um tempo operatório (DM 41,19 min, p<0,00001) e um custo (DM 3684,27 dólares americanos, p<0,00001) significativamente maiores. Conclusão: Esta meta-análise favorece a escolha da cirurgia robótica no que concerne às complicações cirúrgicas mais relevantes. Contudo, o maior tempo operatório e o seu custo elevado ainda permanecem limitações importantes. Deste modo, são necessários mais ensaios clínicos aleatorizados, com o intuito de evidenciar as vantagens e desvantagens da gastrectomia robótica.Background: Gastric cancer has the third highest cancer-related mortality worldwide. There is no consensus regarding the optimal surgical technique to perform curative resection surgery. Objective: Compare laparoscopic and robotic gastrectomy regarding short-term outcomes in patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. We searched the following topics: "Gastrectomy", "Laparoscopic" and "Robotic Surgical Procedures". The included studies compared short-term outcomes between laparoscopic and robotic gastrectomy. Individual risk of bias was assessed with the MINORS scale. Results: There were no significant differences between robotic gastrectomy (RG) and laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) regarding conversion rate, reoperation rate, mortality, overall complications, anastomotic leakage, distal and proximal resection margin distances, and recurrence rate. However, mean blood loss (mean difference - MD - -19.43 mL, p<0.00001), length of stay (MD -0.50 days, p=0.0007), time to first flatus (MD -0.52 days, p<0.00001), time to oral intake (MD -0.17 days, p=0.0001), surgical complications with a Clavien-Dindo grade ≥ III (relative risk - RR - 0.68, p<0.0001), and pancreatic complications (RR 0.51, p=0.007) were significatively lower in the RG group. Furthermore, the number of retrieved lymph nodes was significantly higher in the RG group. Nevertheless, the RG group showed a significantly higher operation time (MD 41.19 min, p<0.00001) and cost (MD 3684.27 US Dollars, p<0.00001). Conclusion: This meta-analysis supports the choice of robotic surgery over laparoscopy concerning relevant surgical complications. However, longer operation time and higher cost remain crucial limitations. Randomized clinical trials are required to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of RG

Ethical Publications in Medical Research

Ethics in medical sciences research may not always translate into ethical publications. Unfortunately due to lack of regulatory bodies, publication misconduct is now a global menace for the scientific community. Publication misconducts are not only restricted to research fraud or data manipulations alone but also seriously include plagiarism, duplicate publications especially on figures and tables, authorship disputes and conflict of interests. As global scientific research is expanding particularly in the field of health sciences hence possibilities of more rise of unethical practices from research to publications are very high, authors suggest a strong peer-reviewing system, use latest technological support, strong publication ethics policies, active monitoring, protection of whistle blowers and more liaisons between journals and research institutions or universities possibly to prevent publication misconduct effectively. This chapter discusses how medical publications might have abused various ethical norms not only while conducting research but also during the publication process. The review also discusses the possible preventive measures against unethical practices of research publications

Polymyxin NP elution : a rapid and accurate methodology to determine susceptibility to polymyxins among Enterobacterales

Fast and accurate detection of polymyxins resistance has become necessary as they remain one of the few last resources to treat infections caused by Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in many regions. We described NP macroelution and established the miniaturized version, NP microelution, aiming to detect polymyxins resistance quickly, accurately and at low cost among Enterobacterales. The methodologies consist of exposing bacterial populations of 10⁸ CFU/mL in NP solution where polymyxin B disks were previously eluted, reaching concentrations of 2μg/mL for macro and 3μg/mL for NP microelution. Eighty-four Enterobacterales isolates were evaluated, 39 (46.4%) resistant to polymyxin B. When compared to broth microdilution (BMD), the NP macroelution obtained 2.4% major error (ME), with specificity of 95.6%, while its miniaturized version presented a slightly lower a ME (1.2%) and higher specificity (97.8%). Both methodologies presented sensitivity of 100.0%, and needed 3 hours incubation to identify over 90% of truly resistant isolates. NP macro and microelution proved to be excellent alternatives to determine polymyxin B susceptibility in routine of microbiology laboratories, presenting low cost, being easy to perform, and demanding short incubation time