Prevalence and Side Effects of Energy Drink Consumption among Medical Students at Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia

Background: Energy drinks are freely available at markets and shops on the university campus without regulation or proper education regarding its side effects. The caffeine amount within energy drinks is high and could become an addictive substance or cause intoxication. Therefore, this study aims to assess the prevalence of energy drink consumption and its reported side effects among medical students. Methods: A total number of 257 medical students from Umm Al-Qura University completed a questionnaire about energy drinks that was administrated electronically from September through November, 2012. Results: Out of the 257 participants, 27.2% (n=70) reported consu­ming at least one energy drink per month, with 61.5% (n=48) being males. Males consume significantly more energy drinks than females (p=0.0001). The students consumed energy drinks to get energy in general (32.8%) and while studying for exams or finishing a project (31.4%). Other reasons given include, lack of sleep (12.8%), just to be like friends (11.4%), or driving (8.5%). Heart palpitations are the most common side effect in our sample (20%), followed by insomnia (10%), headache and tremors (5.7%), nausea and vomiting (4.2%) and nervousness (2.8%). Conclusion: Energy drinks consumption is common practice among medical students and the main reason cited for consumption is the need for energy during general activities. Approximately one-third of the consumers manifested some side effect after consumption. We recommend the need to create public awareness about energy drinks. Further studies are recommended to assess the educational level of students consuming energy drinks, about the dangerous side effects

Epidemiology of Autoimmune Diseases among Attendants of General Hospitals in Aseer region

It has long been recognized that environmental influences play an important role in the risk of developing Autoimmune disease. Defining specific pathogenic environmental mediators that may trigger the development or progression of autoimmune disease remains a focus of increasing investigative effort. Factors promoting disease may not be identical to factors that influence the severity or progression of the disorder. The cause(s) of autoimmune disorders remain largely unknown. Considerable evidence supports a role for environmental agents in inducing autoimmune disorders. OBJECTIVES: The study aims to explore the risk factors of autoimmune diseases among attendants of general hospitals in Aseer Region. Methods: case control study design was carried out  included 70  patients with multiple types of auto immune diseases attending general hospitals and primary health care centers in Abha city. They were clinically diagnosed as having autoimmune diseases. and 140 clinically free subjects , age and sex matched were included as controls. RESULTS: The present study included 70 autoimmune disease patients predominantly females (88.4%). Their mean age was 42.7 ± 12.1 years and disease duration was 11.2 ± 7.2 years. The mean age of the control group was 47.1 ± 13.6 years with no significant differences in the demographic data between the patients and control (p > 0.05). This study found no significant differences between cases with autoimmune diseases and sociodemographic characteristics. Conclusion :There is multiple determinants and risk factors affecting the occurrence of autoimmune diseases. Familial history, psychological stresses, hormonal supplementation, using hair dyes, smoking and recent vaccination were significant factors associated with autoimmune diseases. Keywords: Epidemiology, autoimmune, diseases, Aseer regio

Induction of cryptic antifungal pulicatin derivatives from <i>Pantoea agglomerans</i> by microbial co-culture

Microbial co-culture or mixed fermentation proved to be an efficient strategy to expand chemical diversity by the induction of cryptic biosynthetic pathways, and in many cases led to the production of new antimicrobial agents. In the current study, we report a rare example of the induction of silent/cryptic bacterial biosynthetic pathway by the co-culture of Durum wheat plant roots-associated bacterium Pantoea aggolomerans and date palm leaves-derived fungus Penicillium citrinum. The initial co-culture indicated a clear fungal growth inhibition which was confirmed by the promising antifungal activity of the co-culture total extract against Pc. LC-HRMS chemical profiling demonstrated a huge suppression in the production of secondary metabolites (SMs) of axenic cultures of both species with the emergence of new metabolites which were dereplicated as a series of siderophores. Large-scale co-culture fermentation led to the isolation of two new pulicatin derivatives together with six known metabolites which were characterised using HRESIMS and NMR analyses. During the in vitro antimicrobial evaluation of the isolated compounds, pulicatin H (2) exhibited the strongest antifungal activity against Pc, followed by aeruginaldehyde (1) and pulicatin F (4), hence explaining the initial growth suppression of Pc in the co-culture environment

Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses: systematic review

Objective To review systematically the evidence of effectiveness of physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses

POSSIBLE REGULATION OF LDL-RECEPTOR BY NARINGENIN IN HEPG2 HEPATOMA CELL LINE

Background: High plasma concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) plays a significant role in the incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart diseases (CHD). Materials and Methods: The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which citrus flavonoids, naringenin regulate the LDL receptor (LDLr) gene in human liver using the human hepatoma cell line, HepG2 as a model. Results: Time-course transient transfection of HepG2 cells with luciferase reporter-gene constructs incorporating the promoters of SREBP-1a,-1c, -2 and LDLr, revealed that in lipoprotein-deficient medium (LPDM), only SREBP-1a promoter activity was increased significantly after 4h exposure to 200μM naringenin respectively. However, after 24h incubation with 200μM naringenin the gene expression activities of all the SREBP-1a, -1c, -2 and LDLr promoterconstructs were increased significantly. The effects of both 200μM naringenin on elevating LDLr mRNA are possibly due to regulation of gene transcription by SREBP-la and SREBP-2. However, the suppression effect of 200μM naringenin on hepatic SREBP-1c mRNA expression is likely associated with the reduction in mRNA expression of both acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. It was found that, 200μM naringenin was likely to stimulate LDLr gene expression via increase phosphorylation of PI3K and ERK1/2 which enhance the transcription factors SREBP-1a and SREBP-2 mRNA levels and increased their protein maturation in human hepatoma HepG2 cell. Conclusion: Diets supplemented with naringenin could effectively reduce mortality and morbidity from coronary heart diseases and as cardio-protective effects in humans

Circulating leukocyte telomere length is highly heritable among families of Arab descent

Background Telomere length, an indicator of ageing and longevity, has been correlated with several biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease in both Arab children and adults. It is not known, however, whether or not telomere length is a highly conserved inheritable trait in this homogeneous cohort, where age-related diseases are highly prevalent. As such, the aim of this study was to address the inheritability of telomere length in Saudi families and the impact of cardiometabolic disease biomarkers on telomere length. Methods A total of 119 randomly selected Saudi families (123 adults and 131 children) were included in this cross-sectional study. Anthropometrics were obtained and fasting blood samples were taken for routine analyses of fasting glucose and lipid profile. Leukocyte telomere length was determined using quantitative real time PCR. Results Telomere length was highly heritable as assessed by a parent-offspring regression [h2 = 0.64 (p = 0.0006)]. Telomere length was modestly associated with BMI (R2 0.07; p-value 0.0087), total cholesterol (R2 0.08; p-value 0.0033), and LDL-cholesterol (R2 0.15; p-value 3 x 10-5) after adjustments for gender, age and age within generation. Conclusion The high heritability of telomere length in Arab families, and the associations of telomere length with various cardiometabolic parameters suggest heritable genetic fetal and/or epigenetic influences on the early predisposition of Arab children to age-related diseases and accelerated ageing

Influence of combining Al2O3, La2O3, Gd2O3, and Dy2O3with barium borosilicate glass-ceramics: A case study of gamma radiation interaction parameters

The goal of this investigation is to test the barium boro-silicate glass-ceramics with different additives against gamma radiation using the FLUKA Monte Carlo code. On four different glass-ceramics samples, the effect of an equal quantity of Al2O3, La2O3, Gd2O3, and Dy2O3 with barium borosilicate glass-ceramics on the radiation shielding capabilities of the glass-ceramics was investigated. In the examined glass ceramics, densities were obtained to investigate glass samples. The densities obtained were 3.92, 4.432, 4.52, and 4.88 g/cm3, respectively. BBSDy sample has the highest density which indicates that it is more effective for radiation shielding. The shielding parameters have been calculated at 0.356, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.333 MeV. The obtained results have been compared with the NistXCOM web page and Phy-X/PSD platform. The results showed a good agreement between FLUKA code, NistXCOM, and Phy-X/PSD. The calculated shielding parameters increase with additive (Al2O3, La2O3, Gd2O3, and Dy2O3). Moreover, the 50BaO-15SiO2-30B2O3-5Al2O3-5Dy2O3 specimen has the best radiation shielding features among the other glass-ceramics. In conclusion, the BBSDY sample containing 5 mol per cent 5 mol% Dy-III-Oxide would be the most effective in terms of radiation shielding, based on the results obtained in this study. When Dy-III Oxide concentrations were increased, linear and mass attenuation coefficient values were significantly increased, which contributed directly to the development of radiation shielding characteristics in the glass-ceramic. © 2022 The Author(s).Deanship of Scientific Research, University of Jordan, DSR, (DSR-2021-03-03149)This work was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Jouf University under grant No ( DSR-2021-03-03149 )

Gamma-Ray Protection Properties of Bismuth-Silicate Glasses Against Some Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine Radioisotopes: A Comprehensive Study

This study aimed to perform an investigation for the potential implementation of bismuth silicate glasses as novel shield equipment instead of ordinary shields in nuclear medicine facilities. Accordingly, a group of Bi2O3 reinforced silicate glass system were investigated and compared with ordinary shields in terms of their gamma-ray attenuation properties in diagnostic nuclear medicine radioisotope energies emitted from99mTc,111 In,67Ga,123 I,131 I,81mKr,201Tl,133Xe. Mass attenuation coefficient (µm) results for glass samples were calculated comparatively with the XCOM program and MCNPX code. The gamma-ray attenuation parameters such as half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff ) were obtained in the diagnostic gamma ray energy range from 75 to 336 keV. To confirm the attenuation performance of superior sample, obtained results were extensively compared with ordinary shielding materials. According to the results obtained, BISI6 glass sample with the highest Bi2O3 additive has an excellent gamma-ray protection. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This research was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University through the Fast-track Research Funding Program

CffDNA screening for Niemann–pick disease, type C1: a case series

Cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) screening is a valuable tool in clinical practice for detecting chromosomal abnormalities and autosomal dominant (AD) conditions. This study introduces a novel proof-of-concept assay designed for autosomal recessive (AR) cffDNA screening, focusing on cases involving the NPC1 gene. We aim to illustrate the significant benefits of AR cffDNA screening in managing high-risk pregnancies, specifically where biallelic pathogenic variants in NPC1 cause Niemann–Pick disease, type C1 (NPC), a disorder marked by progressive neurodegeneration. Three participants for this study were recruited and gave consent to a hospital in Saudi Arabia. These participants were either carriers of NPC or had a first- or second-degree relative affected by the disorder. No specific criteria were set for the age of the participants. All were between 15 and 18 weeks of gestation. Using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing (NGS), we analyzed the zygosity and variants in cffDNA extracted from maternal peripheral blood. After amplicon NGS, analysis was completed by a custom data analysis pipeline that included in-house-built data processing scripts and commonly used software packages. Importantly, the results were not disclosed to the patients. Our findings showed that in all three cases, AR cffDNA screening results were consistent with standard invasive diagnostic testing. This screening method offers several advantages: it provides critical information to families earlier in the pregnancy compared to invasive diagnostic tests, and it helps to alleviate parental anxiety. Moreover, this non-invasive method can determine pregnancy status in the first trimester for known familial variants. Future research may extend this approach to screen for known disease-causing variants in common AR conditions

Diabetes mellitus type 2 and other chronic non-communicable diseases in the central region, Saudi Arabia (riyadh cohort 2): a decade of an epidemic

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Follow-up epidemiologic studies are needed to assess trends and patterns of disease spread. No follow-up epidemiologic study has been done in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assess the current prevalence of major chronic, noncommunicable diseases, specifically in the urban region, where modifiable risk factors remain rampant. This study aims to fill this gap.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 9,149 adult Saudis ages seven to eighty years (5,357 males (58.6%) and 3,792 females (41.4%)) were randomly selected from the Riyadh Cohort Study for inclusion. Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DMT2) and obesity were based on the World Health Organization definitions. Diagnoses of hypertension and coronary artery disease (CAD) were based on the Seventh Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure and American Heart Association criteria, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall crude prevalence of DMT2 was 23.1% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 20.47 to 22.15). The age-adjusted prevalence of DMT2 was 31.6%. DMT2 prevalence was significantly higher in males, with an overall age-adjusted prevalence of 34.7% (95% CI 32.6 to 35.4), than in females, who had an overall age-adjusted prevalence of 28.6% (95% CI 26.7 to 29.3) (<it>P </it>< 0.001). The overall crude prevalence of obesity was 31.1% (95% CI 30.1 to 32.0). The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity was 40.0%. The prevalence of obesity was higher in females, with an overall prevalence of 36.5% (95% CI 35.1 to 37.83), than in males (25.1% (95% CI 23.7 to 26.3)) (<it>P </it>< 0.001). The age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension and CAD were 32.6% (95% CI 31.7 to 33.6) and 6.9% (95% CI 6.4 to 7.4), respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Comparisons of our findings with earlier data show that the prevalence of DMT2, hypertension and CAD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has alarmingly worsened. Aggressive promotion of public awareness, continued screening and early intervention are pivotal to boosting a positive response.</p