The Acceptance of National Electronic Health Records in Saudi Arabia: Healthcare Consumers’ Perspectives

This study aims to investigate factors impacting healthcare consumers’ acceptance of National Electronic Health Records (NEHRs) in Saudi Arabia. The study incorporated perceived security concerns and trust factors into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. A questionnaire survey was distributed among Saudi citizens to gain their perceptions, and 794 valid responses were collected. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyse the collected data. Both the measurement model and structural model proved a good fit to the research data. All research hypotheses were supported at the significance level of p \u3c 0.001 except the impact of social influence, which was significant at the level of p \u3c 0.005. The proposed model explained 56% of the variance in behavioural intention, implying the presence of additional factors that are not yet identified. A better understanding of these influential factors could prompt policymakers to effectively plan for and enhance the acceptance and use of NEHRs

Blockchain Technology Adoption in Saudi Hospitals: IT professionals' perspectives

While blockchain is an emerging technology that has exponential interest, the literature shows limited real-world examples of blockchain applications that have been applied in developed countries and there is no evidence of its adoption in Middle Eastern hospitals, especially in Saudi Arabia. Before adopting any new technology, it is necessary to know the extent of user acceptance of the technology. This study will investigate the factors that influence the adoption of blockchain technology in Saudi hospitals. The aim of this study is to develop a framework for blockchain decision-making in hospitals to provide a systematic approach to blockchain adoption that takes different perspectives into consideration. The framework developed is based on Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework and seeks to help healthcare decision-makers by covering three categories of blockchain adoption: technological, organisational and environmental. The implications of this study will contribute to both theory and practice

Repurposing the oncolytic virus VSV∆51M as a COVID-19 vaccine

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic imposes an urgent and continued need for the development of safe and cost-effective vaccines to induce preventive responses for limiting major outbreaks around the world. To combat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), we repurposed the VSV∆51M oncolytic virus platform to express the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) antigen. In this study, we report the development and characterization of the VSV∆51M-RBD vaccine. Our findings demonstrate successful expression of the RBD gene by the VSV∆51M-RBD virus, inducing anti-RBD responses without attenuating the virus. Moreover, the VSV∆51M-RBD vaccine exhibited safety, immunogenicity, and the potential to serve as a safe and effective alternative or complementary platform to current COVID-19 vaccines

Human infection with MERS Coronavirus after exposure to infected camels, Saudi Arabia, 2013

We investigated a case of human infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) after exposure to infected camels. Analysis of the whole human-derived virus and 15% of the camel-derived virus sequence yielded nucleotide polymorphism signatures suggestive of cross-species transmission. Camels may act as a direct source of human MERS-CoV infection

Hypertonicity counteracts MCL 1 and renders BCL XL a synthetic lethal target in head and neck cancer

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is an aggressive and difficult‐to‐treat cancer entity. Current therapies ultimately aim to activate the mitochondria‐controlled (intrinsic) apoptosis pathway, but complex alterations in intracellular signaling cascades and the extracellular microenvironment hamper treatment response. On the one hand, proteins of the BCL‐2 family set the threshold for cell death induction and prevent accidental cellular suicide. On the other hand, controlling a cell's readiness to die also determines whether malignant cells are sensitive or resistant to anticancer treatments. Here, we show that HNSCC cells upregulate the proapoptotic BH3‐only protein NOXA in response to hyperosmotic stress. Induction of NOXA is sufficient to counteract the antiapoptotic properties of MCL‐1 and switches HNSCC cells from dual BCL‐XL/MCL‐1 protection to exclusive BCL‐XL addiction. Hypertonicity‐induced functional loss of MCL‐1 renders BCL‐XL a synthetically lethal target in HNSCC, and inhibition of BCL‐XL efficiently kills HNSCC cells that poorly respond to conventional therapies. We identify hypertonicity‐induced upregulation of NOXA as link between osmotic pressure in the tumor environment and mitochondrial priming, which could perspectively be exploited to boost efficacy of anticancer drugs

Understanding Healthcare Consumers’ Intention to use the Integrated Electronic Personal Health Record System in Saudi Arabia

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.: Integrated electronic personal health record systems (ePHRs) have the potential to improve healthcare consumers’ health outcomes; however, the integrated ePHR system’ adoption and use remain low among healthcare consumers. Identifying and understanding the key predictors of healthcare consumers’ intentions to use an integrated ePHR system is highlighted as a fundamental approach to determine key areas for interventions enhancing future usage. This research, therefore, aims to (i) explain and understand Saudi healthcare consumers’ intentions to use the integrated ePHR system through identifying key predictors of their intentions; and investigate Saudi healthcare consumers’ attitudes and preferences towards sharing their health-related information. : The research adopted and augmented the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with e-health literacy, trust, and perceived security concerns. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was distributed, resulting in 794 valid responses. Besides, in September 2018, two focus group discussions were conducted. The SPSS and Amos 26 were used to analyse the collected quantitative data. : 46.6% of respondents were not aware of implementing the integrated ePHR system in Saudi Arabia. The adapted research model explained 63% of the variance in behavioural intentions. Path analysis results showed that all our proposed key predictors were significant at the level of 0.001, except social influence which was significant at the level of 0.005. Additionally, the research model moderators' assessment revealed that only gender showed a significant moderating role in the relationships between exogenous and endogenous variables. This research further found that healthcare consumers' attitudes towards sharing their health-related information were significantly influenced by the class of recipients and the anonymization of individuals' health-related information. A total of 139 thoughts or ideas were extracted from 127 respondents’ comments. Usability theme-related factors were the highest mentioned factors in the respondents’ comments (63% of the comments). The focus group discussions' findings were consistent with the quantitative findings. : The original contribution of this research is the empirically delivered validity evidence of a new extension that augments the UTAUT with three context-specific factors, along with their adapted measurement scales. This work also provides empirical evidence of Saudi healthcare consumers’ attitudes in the context of the integrated ePHR system. By explaining healthcare consumers’ usage intentions towards using the integrated ePHR system, the research offers practical implications and suggestions to healthcare providers, policymakers, and developers of health information technologies and systems to achieve high acceptance and use by healthcare consumers

Skin-Net: a novel deep residual network for skin lesions classification using multilevel feature extraction and cross-channel correlation with detection of outlier

Abstract Human Skin cancer is commonly detected visually through clinical screening followed by a dermoscopic examination. However, automated skin lesion classification remains challenging due to the visual similarities between benign and melanoma lesions. In this work, the authors proposed a new Artificial Intelligence-Based method to classify skin lesions. In this method, we used Residual Deep Convolution Neural Network. We implemented several convolution filters for multi-layer feature extraction and cross-channel correlation by sliding dot product filters instead of sliding filters along the horizontal axis. The proposed method overcomes the imbalanced dataset problem by converting the dataset from image and label to vector of image and weight. The proposed method is tested and evaluated using the challenging datasets ISIC-2019 & ISIC-2020. It outperformed the existing deep convolutional networks in the multiclass classification of skin lesions. Graphical Abstrac

Natural HIV-1 Nef Polymorphisms Impair SERINC5 Downregulation Activity

HIV-1 Nef enhances virion infectivity by counteracting host restriction factor SERINC5; however, the impact of natural Nef polymorphisms on this function is largely unknown. We characterize SERINC5 downregulation activity of 91 primary HIV-1 subtype B nef alleles, including isolates from 45 elite controllers and 46 chronic progressors. Controller-derived Nef clones display lower ability to downregulate SERINC5 (median 80% activity) compared with progressor-derived clones (median 96% activity) (p = 0.0005). We identify 18 Nef polymorphisms associated with differential function, including two CTL escape mutations that contribute to lower SERINC5 downregulation: K94E, driven by HLA-B( *)08, and H116N, driven by the protective allele HLA-B( *)57. HIV-1 strains encoding Nef K94E and/or H116N display lower infectivity and replication capacity in the presence of SERINC5. Our results demonstrate that natural polymorphisms in HIV-1 Nef can impair its ability to internalize SERINC5, indicating that variation in this recently described function may contribute to differences in viral pathogenesis

A Very Rare Basidiobolomycosis Case Presented with Cecal Perforation and Concomitant Hepatic Involvement in an Elderly Male Patient: A Case Study

This is a case report of Basidiobolomycosis in a 65-year-old male patient from Jizan presenting with colonic perforation and concomitant liver involvement from February 2021 to July 2021. To control the infection, the patient underwent colonic resection and segmental liver resection, as well as three antifungal drugs. The treatment was successful, and the condition was completely resolved