Level of including the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) in the Omani Science Curricula content for Grades 5-8

This study aimed to determine the level of including the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) in the Omani science curricula content for Grades 5-8. To achieve the objectives of the study, a content analysis card was prepared by using the educational literature of previous studies and research. It consisted of six main areas with (34) indicators. To ensure the content analysis card\u27s validity, it was presented to a group of experts specialized in the field of education. Cohen Kappa equation was used to ensure the instrument\u27s reliability, which was (0.87) across individuals and (0.92) over time. The results showed the level of inclusion of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) content in Omani school science curricula for grades 5 to 8. The total percentage was (37.83%), with a medium inclusion level, with a variation in the level of inclusion of these fields. The results also showed differences in the inclusion of STEAM fields in the Omani science curricula content for grades 5 to 8 according to the different grades. These differences were between (41.87%) for the fifth and (36.18%) for the eighth grades. The study recommended enhancing the level of inclusion of STEAM fields in the Omani science curricula content for grades (5-8) from an average inclusion level to a higher-than-average inclusion level, and not only paying attention to one domain of the STEAM curricula to the exclusion of other domains

Knowledge and perceptions of diabetes in a semi-urban Omani population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem in the Sultanate of Oman. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and perception of diabetes in a sample of the Omani general population, and the associations between the elements of knowledge and perception, and socio-demographic factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was carried out in two semi-urban localities. A total of 563 adult residents were interviewed, using a questionnaire specifically designed for the present study. In addition to demographic information, the questionnaire contained questions on knowledge related to diabetes definition, symptoms, risk factors, complications and preventative measures, as well as risk perception for diabetes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Knowledge of diabetes was suboptimal. The percentages of correct responses to questions on diabetes definition, classical symptoms, and complications were 46.5%, 57.0%, and 55.1%, respectively. Only 29.5%, 20.8% and 16.9% identified obesity, physical inactivity and a positive family history, respectively, as risk factors for diabetes. A higher level of education, a higher household income, and the presence of a family history of diabetes were found to be positively associated with more knowledge.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrated that there is lack of awareness of major risk factors for diabetes mellitus. Level of education is the most significant predictor of knowledge regarding risk factors, complications and the prevention of diabetes. Given that the prevalence of diabetes has increased drastically in Oman over the last decade, health promotion seems essential, along with other means to prevent and control this emerging health problem.</p

Diversity, distribution and conservation of the terrestrial reptiles of Oman (Sauropsida, Squamata)

All authors: Salvador Carranza , Meritxell Xipell, Pedro Tarroso, Andrew Gardner, Edwin Nicholas Arnold, Michael D. Robinson, Marc Simó-Riudalbas, Raquel Vasconcelos, Philip de Pous, Fèlix Amat, Jiří Šmíd, Roberto Sindaco, Margarita Metallinou †, Johannes Els, Juan Manuel Pleguezuelos, Luis Machado, David Donaire, Gabriel Martínez, Joan Garcia-Porta, Tomáš Mazuch, Thomas Wilms, Jürgen Gebhart, Javier Aznar, Javier Gallego, Bernd-Michael Zwanzig, Daniel Fernández-Guiberteau, Theodore Papenfuss, Saleh Al Saadi, Ali Alghafri, Sultan Khalifa, Hamed Al Farqani, Salim Bait Bilal, Iman Sulaiman Alazri, Aziza Saud Al Adhoobi, Zeyana Salim Al Omairi, Mohammed Al Shariani, Ali Al Kiyumi, Thuraya Al Sariri, Ahmed Said Al Shukaili, Suleiman Nasser Al Akhzami.In the present work, we use an exceptional database including 5,359 records of 101 species of Oman’s terrestrial reptiles together with spatial tools to infer the spatial patterns of species richness and endemicity, to infer the habitat preference of each species and to better define conservation priorities, with especial focus on the effectiveness of the protected areas in preserving this unique arid fauna. Our results indicate that the sampling effort is not only remarkable from a taxonomic point of view, with multiple observations for most species, but also for the spatial coverage achieved. The observations are distributed almost continuously across the two-dimensional climatic space of Oman defined by the mean annual temperature and the total annual precipitation and across the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the multivariate climatic space and are well represented within 17 out of the 20 climatic clusters grouping 10% of the explained climatic variance defined by PC1 and PC2. Species richness is highest in the Hajar and Dhofar Mountains, two of the most biodiverse areas of the Arabian Peninsula, and endemic species richness is greatest in the Jebel Akhdar, the highest part of the Hajar Mountains. Oman’s 22 protected areas cover only 3.91% of the country, including within their limits 63.37% of terrestrial reptiles and 50% of all endemics. Our analyses show that large areas of the climatic space of Oman lie outside protected areas and that seven of the 20 climatic clusters are not protected at all. The results of the gap analysis indicate that most of the species are below the conservation target of 17% or even the less restrictive 12% of their total area within a protected area in order to be considered adequately protected. Therefore, an evaluation of the coverage of the current network of protected areas and the identification of priority protected areas for reptiles using reserve design algorithms are urgently needed. Our study also shows that more than half of the species are still pending of a definitive evaluation by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).This work was funded by grants CGL2012-36970, CGL2015-70390-P from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (cofunded by FEDER) to SC, the project Field study for the conservation of reptiles in Oman, Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, Oman (Ref: 22412027) to SC and grant 2014-SGR-1532 from the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya to SC. MSR is funded by a FPI grant from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (BES-2013-064248); RV, PT and LM were funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through post-doc grants (SFRH/BPD/79913/2011) to RV, (SFRH/BPD/93473/2013) to PT and PhD grant (SFRH/BD/89820/2012) to LM, financed by Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (POPH) – Quadro de Referência Estrategico Nacional (QREN) from the European Social Fund and Portuguese Ministerio da Educação e Ciência

Effect of N-acetyl-L-cysteine on Cytokine Production by Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Objectives: This study investigates the in vitro effect of the antioxidant drug, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), on cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Methods: PBMC were isolated by Ficoll-Hypaque, and stimulated with anti-CD3 antibodies, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 hours in the presence or absence of 5 mM NAC. The cytokines produced were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Treatment with NAC significantly up-regulates the secretion of IL-1β, IL-5 (interleukin) and IFN-γ (interferon) and down regulates IL-10 production, after anti-CD3 or PHA (p&lt;0.05), but not after LPS stimulation. NAC also significantly increased total IL-12 secretion after anti-CD3 (but not PHA or LPS) stimulation and IL-12p40 after anti-CD3, PHA, and LPS stimulation (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: These results indicate that NAC up-regulated the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and down regulated anti-inflammatory cytokine production by PBMC, in a process which may be associated with increased levels of glutathione (GSH). Further work is required to determine whether this increase or decrease in cytokine production is due to direct effect of NAC

Water table rise in arid urban area soils due to evaporation impedance and its mitigation by intelligently designed capillary chimney siphons

Waterlogging of urban area soil in a hyperarid climate, caused by impedance of evapotranspiration due to land cover by an impervious pavement, is studied by a multidisciplinary team of researchers (hydropedeologists, hydrogeologists, groundwater engineers, soil physicists and mathematical modelers). In this paper, a study unique for an arid/hyperarid MENA region has been conducted: from soil pedons’ data, a thin vadose zone superjacent to a shallow water table of a coastal aquifer in Oman is described with emphasis on soil profile morphology layering and determination of the van Genuchten hydraulic parameters, used in HYDRUS modeling of evaporation-driven saturated/unsaturated flows. On a large scale, for capillarity-free groundwater flow, the Dupuit–Forchheimer model is used and an analytical solution is obtained. Intensive evaporation from the water table to a bare unpaved soil surface is impeded by an impermeable surface strip (land pavement) with an ensued rise of the water table. Waterlogging is quantified by the “dry area,” Sd, under the strip. This integral is explicitly evaluated as a function of the model parameters: aquifer’s size and evaporation-normalized conductivity, the width of the strip, d, and its locus with respect to the shoreline, u1. Nontrivial extremes of Sd(d,u1) are found. Contrary to the surface pavement, intensification of evaporation by capillary siphons, i.e., structural heterogeneities of a porous massif, is proposed as an engineering mitigation of groundwater inundation. Composite porous media with siphons (small-size rectangular inclusions of a contrasting finer texture) are numerically tackled by MODFLOW and HYDRUS2D. A constant flux or a constant pressure head condition is imposed on the top of the flow domain. The water table is shown to drop and Sd to increase as a result of such “passive moisture pumping” from the aquifer. A potential model for 2D tension-saturated flow is used to solve a mixed boundary-value problem in a rectangular wick. Its flow rate is analytically evaluated as a function of evaporating width and the height of the “window” through which the aquifer feeds the wick. Conformal mapping of a rectangle in the physical domain onto a rectangle in the complex potential plane is realized via two reference planes and elliptic functions

Measurement of circulating levels of VEGF-A, -C, and -D and their receptors, VEGFR-1 and -2 in gastric adenocarcinoma

AIM: To analyze the serum levels and prognostic significance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) -A, -C, and -D, and their receptors, VEGFR-1 and -2 in gastric adenocarcinomas

Development and characterization of natural polyelectrolyte capsules for drug delivery applications

379-384Nanotechnology has provided numerous cutting-edge applications in drug delivery, biosensors, nanorobots, biomedical devices and nanocarriers. Polyelectrolyte mediated nanocapsules contributes a significant development as drug carriers for more than a decade. Majority of the nanocapsules employed in the drug delivery system are fabricated using synthetic materials leading to many health complications. In this research, natural polyelectrolyte capsules are prepared using carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) and chitosan by dip coating technique. The capsules are used for the delivery of antibacterial drug by encapsulating ciprofloxacin hydrochloride into the capsule interiors. The drug release study has been carried out by altering the permeability of the capsule shell. The optimal pH for the drug encapsulation has been established at 2.3 pH and 381 μg of drug is loaded in 60 min. The drug release study is performed at three different pH conditions of 2.0 pH, 6.0 pH, and 7.2 pH respectively and the release media chosen is water and PBS. Maximum amount of drug release (367 μg) is achieved at pH 2.0 within 48 hours. The study demonstrates an easy and effective delivery of antibacterial drug from natural polyelectrolyte capsules

Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in pregnant women in Oman and its effect on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes

BACKGROUND: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor disorder during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of RLS and explore the associated risk factors and outcomes in Omani women in the first and third trimester and at 2-week postpartum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 305 pregnant women visiting four health centers in Muscat between May 2018 and October 2020. A structured questionnaire was used and data were collected through review of electronic records and face-to-face interviews. The International RLS Study Group criteria were used to diagnose RLS. Participants were interviewed during their first trimester, their third trimester, and at their 2-week postpartum visit. Results were presented as means and standard deviations or percentages, as appropriate. To assess the association between RLS and various variables, unpaired t-test or McNemar's test were used, as appropriate. RESULTS: The mean age at baseline was 29.8 ± 5.28 years. The prevalence of RLS was significantly higher in the third trimester (41.0%) than in the first trimester (15.7%) and postpartum period (15.1%) (P < 0.001), although there was no significant difference in severity. Family history and personal history of RLS were the only independent correlates of RLS (P < 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). No associations were noted with pregnancy and neonatal outcomes or other comorbidities, including anemia. However, there was a significant relationship between the development of RLS and weight gain during pregnancy (P = 0.023). CONCLUSION: One in six pregnant Omani women may be at risk of RLS during the first trimester, while one in 2–3 may be at risk in the third trimester, particularly those with a personal or family history of RLS and those who gain >12 kg during pregnancy