Outcome of Penetrating Keratoplasty (PKP) and Redo PKP among Jordanian Population

Background: The success of penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) is determined by the duration of graft survival, which is the time to graft failure. Our study aims to identify various indications of corneal graft among our Jordanian population, their success rate as well as spotting the light on cases of re-grafting. Methods: In this study, we analyzed data for patients who had PKP as well as re-do PKP in the period from January 2014 to June 2017. For each study eye, we identified pre-operative visual acuity as well as visual acuity at six months and one year. We also focused on the specific indication for PKP, the surgical procedure and graft clarity at one year post-op. On SPSS statistical analysis software, we used repeated measure ANOVA, Pearson correlations, and Fischer’s exact test to analyze our study’s variables.Results: We included a total of 230 patients in this study with a mean age of 34.22 (±19.32). They were 112 (48.7%) males and 118 (±51.3%) females. We found a significant difference in mean age and outcome (p< 0.001), as the mean age for patients with successful PKP was 31.55 (±16.55) compared to 44.1 (±25.1) for patients with failed PKP. the success rate for patients with KC as an indication was 96.7% compared to only 58.3% for other indications. We found that failure rate in redo surgeries was significantly higher than first time surgeries.Conclusion: Among the Jordanian population, we found that Keratoconus was the main indication for PKP in our population, where we also found that it was associated with the best prognosis

BK Virus Load Associated with Serum Levels of sCD30 in Renal Transplant Recipients

Background. Rejection is the main drawback facing the renal transplant operations. Complicated and overlapping factors, mainly related to the immune system, are responsible for this rejection. Elevated serum levels of sCD30 were frequently recorded as an indicator for renal allograft rejection, while BV virus is considered as one of the most serious consequences for immunosuppressive treatment of renal transplant recipients (RTRs). Aims. This study aimed to determine the association of BK virus load with serum levels of sCD30 in RTRs suffering from nephropathy. Patients and Methods. A total of 50 RTRs with nephropathy and 30 age-matched apparently healthy individuals were recruited for this study. Serum samples were obtained from each participant. Real-time PCR was used to quantify BK virus load in RTRs serum, while ELISA technique was employed to estimate serum levels of sCD30. Results. Twenty-two percent of RTRs had detectable BKV with mean viral load of 1.094E + 06 ± 2.291E + 06. RTRs showed higher mean serum level of sCD30 (20.669±18.713 U/mL) than that of controls (5.517±5.304 U/mL) with significant difference. BK virus load had significant positive correlation with the serum levels of sCD30 in RTRs group. Conclusion. These results suggest that serum levels of sCD30 could be used as an indicator of BK viremia, and accordingly the immunosuppressive regime should be adjusted

Non-Destructive Testing of Concrete Structures Using GPR Technique with an Intermediate Frequency Antennas

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical technique of imaging the subsurface structures at high resolution and it is a non-destructive technique can consequently be applied in many civil engineering fields and sensitive environments. The amount of data collected however can be very large and take a significant level of subjective experience to interpret. This study focuses upon the ability of using the GPR with 250 MHz and 500 MHz antennas (intermediate frequencies) to investigate the reinforced concrete to indicate the quantity of steel bars and their configurations in the concrete constructed in the hidden mensurations. The recent study shows the ability of using the intermediate frequency antennas for such fields

GPR Data Simulation for Detecting Subsurface Bodies

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technique was used at University of Technology-Baghdad, as a non destructive, quick, low cost and powerful technique in detecting any change in the constituents of subsurface as materials which can be consequently applied in urban and constructed areas. The main objectives of this study are: to simulate GPR data obtained by 250 and 500 MHz antennas for shallow engineering investigation by detecting different subsurface bodies. A simulation is made for GPR data with different geometric buried bodies and located at different depth. Before processing, most of the raw data of radargram do not reflect the presence of the buried bodies. But after processing by using suitable filters and other interpretation tool parameters, many of the investigated subsurface bodies and structures appeared clearly. It is found from this study that the degree of clarity of the buried bodies do not depend on the higher value of dielectric constant of the body, but it depends on the contrast between the body and the host medium. Thus the body with low dielectric constant appears more clear than that with higher dielectric constant, when they are at the same depth. Most of the buried bodies appeared on GPR radargrams using the medium frequencies. The best detecting depth are 1.5 m to 1 m for 250 and 500 MHz antennas respectively

Conspiracy Beliefs Are Associated with Lower Knowledge and Higher Anxiety Levels Regarding COVID-19 among Students at the University of Jordan

The world has been afflicted heavily by the burden of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that overwhelmed health care systems and caused severe economic and educational deficits, in addition to anxiety among the public. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the mutual effects of belief that the pandemic was the result of a conspiracy on knowledge and anxiety levels among students at the University of Jordan (UJ). An electronic-based survey was conducted between 29 March, 2020 and 31 March, 2020. The targeted population involved all undergraduate and postgraduate students from the health, scientific and humanities schools at UJ. Survey sections included 26 items on: socio-demographic information, knowledge and sources of information about the disease, attitude towards the false notion that COVID-19 stemmed from a conspiracy and items to assess the anxiety level among students during the quarantine period. The total number of participants was 1540 students. The mean age of study participants was 22 years and females predominated the study population (n = 1145, 74.4%). The majority of participants perceived the disease as moderately dangerous (n = 1079, 70.1%). Males, Jordanians and participants with lower income were more inclined to feel that COVID-19 is very dangerous. A lower level of knowledge and a higher level of anxiety about COVID-19 were associated with the belief that the disease is part of a conspiracy. Females and participants with lower income were more likely to believe that the disease is related to conspiracy. Belief in conspiracy regarding the origin of COVID-19 was associated with misinformation about the availability of a vaccine and the therapeutic use of antibiotics for COVID-19 treatment. The Ministry of Health in Jordan was the most common source of information about COVID-19 reported by the participants (n = 1018). The false belief that COVID-19 was the result of a global conspiracy could be the consequence of a lower level of knowledge about the virus and could lead to a higher level of anxiety, which should be considered in the awareness tools of various media platforms about the current pandemic

CT Scan Value Of Temporal Bone In Assessment Of Congenital Deafness

Background:. Computed tomography (CT) of the temporal bone is the first-line recommended imaging modality for SNHL. Because it can identify inner ear malformations that may be responsible for hearing impairment. Objectives: To demonstrate CT abnormalities encountered in children with congenital deafness and to assess the value of CT in the prediction for cochlear implantation. Also to evaluate the incidence and types of inner ear abnormalities in children with congenital deafness identified with CT scan for implantation difficulties. Patients & Methods: This is a cross sectional study carried out during the period from October 2009 to October 2010 at Baghdad medical city complex on children patients who are suffering from congenital deafness. The study included 60 patients (120 ears), 27 males and 33 females, were evaluated by CT scan of temporal bone before cochlear implants. Results: Most of the cases undergo CT scan examination were normal (80%). Enlargement of the vestibular aqueduct is most common (10% ) causes of congenital inner ear malformations, followed by cochlear malformation (8.3%) while dysplasia of lateral semicircular canal found in (3.3%) of cases. Conclusion: High resolution CT scan is recommended in all patient for pre implant analysis of temporal bone morphology due to its reliability and easy availability. CT scan is the modality provided critical information on abnormalities of the otic capsule, pneumatisation of the mastoid, middle ear abnormalities, cochlear ducts patency and vascular abnormalities- thus helping to assess the suitability of the ear for implantation, determine the side to be implanted and to find any associated abnormality which could adversely influence the surgery or post operative period

Topographic and Clinical Characteristics of a Sample of Jordanian Students

Purpose: To screen for keratoconus (KC) and potential associated risk factors in a sample of medical students. Methods: This cross sectional study included 120 medical students studying at The University of Jordan. They were randomly selected from a total of 400 students. Participants responded by completing a self-administered questionnaire. Following initial clinical evaluation, corneal tomography images and indices were analyzed by an experienced ophthalmologist, after which the participants were classified into: normal, KC suspects and KC patients. Results: A total of 120 participants (mean age, 23.1 ±0.5 years) were included in this study, 70 (58.3%) were females and 50 (41.7%) were males. Two subjects had KC, demonstrating a prevalence of 1.7% while five (4.2%) participants showed at least two abnormal indices and were considered as KC suspects.Conclusion: the result of this study is similar to other studies conducted in the Middle East, which indicates a higher prevalence of KC than other western countries. Combined with the significantly impaired vision-related quality of life and the relatively young onset of disease, the burden of keratoconus represents a significant public health concern

Contingency Analysis of a Power Grid with the Participation of Utility-Scale Solar PV Units: A Case Study from Sarawak, Malaysia

Integrating renewable energy resources (RER) into the power grid may jeopardize the whole power system if the penetration level or solar PV uncertainty is not thoroughly managed. The critical impact on the behaviour of power system can be observed during the line outage in a power grid connected with large-scale RER. Therefore, contingency analysis (CA) is crucial to assess such hybrid power grid. This paper proposes a framework based on CA to assess the simultaneous effect of large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants integrated with the existing power grid, particularly, in the aspects of implementing effective measuring indices. Simulation studies have been carried out on a practical power system, which was modelled by considering the probability of solar irradiance at different locations in Sarawak. The study presented in this paper can provide an insight to identify the level of insecurity for a large-scale deployment of solar PV systems in Sarawak