Association Between Lipid Profile and Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Diabetic foot ulcer is a serious disabling consequence of Diabetes Mellitus. They are characterized by the breakdown of skin and underlying tissues in the feet, and are a major cause of lower limb amputations. Various risk factors have been identified for the development of diabetic foot ulcers, including poor glycemic control, peripheral neuropathy, peripheral arterial disease, and impaired wound healing. it is considered that the lipid profile is one of many factors that contribute to the formation and progression of diabetic foot ulcers. To stratify the incidence of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), biomarkers are required. The aim of this review is to assess the relationship between the risk of DFU and lipid profile in diabetic patients

Surveillance of device associated infections in intensive care units at a Saudi Arabian Hospital, 2017–2020

Background: Device-associated infections (DAIs) are important components of healthcare associated infection and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This study describes DAIs across different intensive care units (ICUs) in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study was conducted between 2017 and 2020 and followed the definitions of National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for DAIs. The calculated the rates of ventilator-associated events (VAE), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) followed NHSN definitions. Results: During the study period, there were 82 DAIs in adult ICUs and of these 16 (19.5%) were CLABSI, 26 (31.7%) were CAUTI and 40 (48.7%) were VAE. The overall rates for adult ICUs were 1.6, 1.9, 3.8 per 1000 device-days for CAUTI, CLABSI and VAE, respectively. The device-utilization ratio was 0.5, 0.6, and 0.48 for urinary catheters, central lines, and ventilators, respectively. VAE rates for medical and surgical ICU were about 2.8 times the rate in the coronary care unit and the rates were high in 2020 corresponding with the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the adult ICUS, medical ICU had a CLABSI rate of 2.13/1000 device-days and was about double the rate in surgical and cardiac ICU. For CAUTI, the rates per 1000 device-days were 2.19, 1.73, and 1.65 for medical, surgical, and coronary ICUs, respectively. The rate of CLABSI per 1000 device-days for pediatric and neonatal ICUs were 3.38 and 2.28, respectively. Conclusions: CAUTI was the most common infections among adult ICUs and medical ICU had higher rates than other adult ICUs. VAE rate was higher in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating increased device-use, change in patients characteristics as well as possible change in practices across the ICUs

Microscopic CO₂ Injection in Tight Rocks: Implications for Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Geo-Storage

Carbon dioxide (CO2) injection has been widely used in conventional reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery and CO2 sequestration. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of CO2 injection in tight reservoirs is limited due to diagenetic processes that impact displacement efficiency. This research work assesses the performance of CO2 injection in tight reservoirs and evaluates oil mobilization and fluid distribution within the rock pore systems. A set of experiments, including routine core analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP), was performed on Scioto sandstone. Three core-flooding runs were conducted to evaluate oil recovery of different injection schemes, including tertiary miscible CO2 injection, secondary immiscible CO2 injection, and secondary miscible CO2 injection. A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer was utilized to evaluate the fluid distribution in pre- and postflooding schemes. Results show that secondary miscible CO2 injection provided the highest displacement efficiency (Ed) of 88%, with oil mobilized from both micro- and macropore systems, leading to the highest oil recovery of 93% original oil in place (OOIP). Tertiary miscible CO2 injection had Ed of 67%, providing an ultimate oil recovery of 79% OOIP mostly from the macropore system. Limited contribution of micropores during the tertiary miscible CO2 injection is attributed to the increased water content as a result of previously conducted secondary water flooding. Secondary immiscible CO2 injection showed the least oil recovery among the injection schemes of 68% OOIP, which is attributed to the unstable displacement, as indicated by Ed of 52%. The efficiency of pore fluid displacement was determined through NMR analyses, and the findings are in line with the displacement efficiency values obtained from core-flood experiments, with a strong positive correlation. This finding is a promising strategy for determining a suitable CO2 injection scheme in tight rocks for oil recovery and CO2 storage.Reservoir EngineeringApplied Geophysics and Petrophysic