Lack of association between polymorphism rs540782 and primary open angle glaucoma in Saudi patients.

Background To investigate whether polymorphism rs540782 on chromsome 1, in close proximity to the Zona Pellucida Glycoprotein 4 (ZP4) gene, is a risk factor for primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Method The study genotyped 92 unrelated POAG cases and 95 control subjects from Saudi Arabia using Taq-Man® assay. Results The genotype frequency distribution did not deviate significantly from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p > 0.05). Overall, both the genotype and allele frequencies were not significantly different between cases and controls. The minor ‘C’ allele frequency was 49.4%, which was comparable to the Japanese population and higher than the Indian and Afro-Caribbean populations. Similarly, no significant association was found between genotypes and systemic diseases and health awareness/behavior domain variables. Importantly, glaucoma specific indices, such as intraocular pressure, cup/disc ratio and number of anti-glaucoma medication, also showed no statistically significant effect of genotypes within POAG cases. Conclusion Polymorphism rs540782 is not a risk factor for POAG in the Saudi cohort

Causes of delays in Saudi Arabian public sector construction projects

Many public construction projects have been undertaken throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the government’s national development plans in the last three decades, with significant public expenditure involved. One of the critical problems concerning these projects is the frequent and lengthy delays that occur. In order to improve the situation, it is first necessary to identify the major causes involved. Several studies have already been reported which do this but all use different sets of variables. Also, none have attempted to identify the extent to which improvements are possible in practice. A new survey is reported that uses all the variables from the previous work and that are measured for both current degree of effect on delays and the extent to which each can be practically improved. These are contained in seven groupings: client, contractor, consultant, materials, labour, contract and relationship-related causes. The survey covers a sample of 86 clients, contractors and consultants working in the Saudi construction industry. The analysis reveals some considerable heterogeneity between the cause groupings and respondent groupings in terms of means and correlations, apparently partly due to lack of knowledge of respondents and a tendency for the consultants to blame the contractors for the delays and vice versa. The main results, therefore, are disaggregated to reflect the views of each respondent group concerning each group of causes. In general however, it is found that the most influencing current cause of delay is the lack of qualified and experienced personnel – attributed to the considerable amount of large, innovative, construction projects and associated current undersupply of manpower in the industry