An Investigation of Quality of Urban Life: A Case Study of Quba Municipality, Medina City, Saudi Arabia

The term quality of urban life (QoUL) usually refers to the well-being of people and the quality of the environment in which they live. Over the past three decades, there has been an increasing interest in the study and an investigation of QoUL, which has attracted the attention of researchers in several fields, such as geography, psychology, economics, politics and sociology. In general, outputs of QoUL investigation can be used to diagnose previous policy strategies and to design future planning policies. The investigation of QoUL provides a basis of data that helps identify issues concerning the urban environment, causes of dissatisfaction, people’s priorities in their daily lives, as well as monitoring and assessment of the efficiency of policies and strategies related to QoUL. Despite the large body of QoUL literature, there is still no agreed definition, or agreement over the way in which QoUL is investigated. However, there is wide consensus that QoUL has both subjective and objective dimensions. Although QoUL has been of interest in many disciplines around the world during the past three decades, it is relatively unexplored in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the QoUL in the city of Medina, the case of Quba Municipality. To this end, this research uses different conceptual approaches, namely functionalist and postmodernity approaches, in order to provide an overarching understanding of the QoUL characteristics in the study area. Such understanding involves identifying the most influential aspects of the physical, economic, social and cultural domains, and exploring the impact of these aspects on QoUL in the study area. In so doing, this thesis tries to address some key challenges related to the current approaches to QoUL and provides a research framework of investigation that may lead to rethinking about QoUL

The Impact of Operational Risk Management on the Financial Development and Economic Growth: A Case Study of Saudi SME Companies

Project finance is a strong driver of economic growth in low income countries where transaction costs are particularly high. One of the main obstacles covering huge associations today is reviewing and commanding the risks that are generated from the risk operations. Through the representation of a business procedure a lot of oddities, that is, aberrations from the normal succession of occurrences might happen. To warrant that a procedure is still able to carry through its organizational targets, procedure entrants must be able to expose, analyze and prosperously resolve such unusual conditions as they occur. This paper intends to measure the operational risk management effects on the financial development and growth in the Saudi SME companies. Online survey was distributed among 150 employees from different SME companies in Saudi Arabia. The result showed that operational risk management effects have positive effects of the financial development and growth in the Saudi SME companies. Keywords: Operational risk, risk management, financial development, economic growt

The Impact of Interest Rate on Profit among the United Arab Emirates UAE Small and Medium Companies

Interest rate has long been reported by different classical and neo-classical economists. Interest rate but has been recognized as one of the factors that verify the economy savings level. Although many economical cases of inconsistent findings indicate that interest rate has a positive relationship with savings. This papers intends to highlight the prior research that conducted to demonstrate the impact of the interest rate on the profit differ by various variables. A qualitative method was used in this study to indicate the interest rate impact level on the UAE small and medium companies profit. A questionnaire was administrated among 20 users from different medium companies in UAE. The result revealed that interest rate was highly effects on the companies profit in UAE. Keywords: Interest rate, profit, SME, business management, organizational behavio

Evaluation of BACTEC™ FX and BacT/Alert™ Automated Blood Culture Systems for Detection of Clinically Relevant Bacterial and Yeast Species

Background: Bloodstream infections (BSI) are a significant health concern, necessitating effective diagnostic tools. This study evaluates the performance of the BD Bactec FX system in comparison to the established BacT/Alert system, examining mean time till detection (TTD) across various blood culture bottles.Methods: The study involves 148 blood culture bottles, inoculated with representative bacterial ATCC strains (n= 15) and 04 yeast isolates. Parallel testing is conducted by seeding 10–30 colony-forming units (CFU) in duplicate in both BD Bactec FX and BacT/Alert systems. TTD is assessed across aerobic, anaerobic, and pediatric bottles for diverse microbial species.Results: All 148 bottles tested in parallel show positive signals in both systems. BD Bactec FX demonstrates significantly shorter TTD for adult-seeded cultures in aerobic and anaerobic bottles compared to BacT/Alert Similarly, pediatric bottles with BD Bactec FX exhibit a shorter TTD compared to BacT/Alert. The statistical significance of TTD, 95% confidence intervals (CI), and p-values is evident for Bactec FX aerobic, anaerobic, and pediatric bottles across tested organisms. Notable examples of faster TTD include; Bacteroides ovatus (16.6h by Bactec FX vs. 70.5h by Bact/Alert 3D), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (33.7h vs. 72.5h), and Streptococcus pyogenes (8.1h vs. 11.9h).Conclusions: In conclusion, the study’s findings demonstrate that BD Bactec FX surpasses BacT/Alert in prompt microbial detection, showcasing potential for early identification of bacteremia and fungemia. Faster TTD implies the potential to initiate timely antimicrobial treatment, thereby reducing patient morbidity and mortality. However, exceptions in certain microbial species highlight the need for comprehensive clinical validation to establish the broad applicability of these findings.Keywords: Blood Culture System; Recovery Rate; Time to detection; Blood stream infection; BTA3D; Bactec FX 

Clinical Management in Diagnosis and Treatment of the Iron Deficiency Anemia in Adults: Systemic Review

This study aimed at exploring with a systematic review the clinical management in diagnosis and treatment of the iron deficiency anemia in adults, as the iron deficiency is the most frequent cause of anemia worldwide. And it impairs quality of life, increases asthenia and can lead to clinical worsening of patients. In addition, iron deficiency has a complex mechanism whose pathologic pathway is recently becoming better understood. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding diagnostic algorithms for iron deficiency anemia. The majority of aetiologies occur in the digestive tract, and justify morphological examination of the gut. First line investigations are upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy, and when negative, the small bowel should be explored; newer tools such as video capsule endoscopy have also been developed. The treatment of iron deficiency is aetiological if possible and iron supplementation whether in oral or in parenteral form.

Role of calcium and magnesium on dramatic physiological and anatomical responses in tomato plants

Minerals are the fundamental source of nutrients for plant functions such as photosynthesis, ATP currency, cellular respiration, metabolic activities, defense mechanisms, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stressors. Minerals are the most significant component of plant nutrition and applying these minerals supplements can increase fruit output. The study’s main aim was to make agricultural farming easier by foliar applying newly created nutrients like Lebosol-calcium and Magnesium. The four treatments: To (Control), T1 (Lebosol-Mg-Plus, 3 ml/L), T2 (Lebosol-Ca-Forte, 3 ml/L), and T3 (Lebosol-Mg-Plus and Lebosol-Ca-Forte, 3 ml/L) was applied as foliar spray to the seedlings of tomato. It was found that T3 substantially enhanced tomato’s morphological features and yield. The treatment T3 significantly increased total soluble protein, chlorophyll content, and antioxidant enzyme activity. Furthermore, the foliar application of T3 considerably improved phenolic and ascorbic acid contents. The general anatomical features of the leaf, stem, and roots of tomato were qualitatively affected by the treatments. Application of Lebosol-Ca provided the highest total thickness of lamina, number of vessel elements, total phloem area, chlorenchyma layer, total area of vessel elements, xylem ratio, and increased palisade layer thickness, vessel diameter. Furthermore, T3 treatment showed a diverse impact on the internal structure of tomato organs, with palisade and spongy parenchyma growing to maximum values and vessel diameters expanding. T3 had also posed remarkable alterations in morpho-physiological, biochemical, and anatomical aspects in tested plants

Risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury in population with elevated body mass index

Aim Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is among the most common orthopaedic injuries. The elevated body mass index (BMI) can contribute to non-contact ACL injury. This study aims to assess the risk of ACL injury among elevated BMI population people (BMI ≥25 Kg\m2). Methods This is a cross sectional study that was conducted in a tertiary care centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A total of 302 patients, who had an ACL reconstruction surgery in a ten-year-period (January 2008 to December 2018) were included. Results Sport related injury is significantly higher among the overweight and obese groups (p=0.002). Moreover, the combined ACL tear was higher among the overweight and obese groups (p=0.001). In univariate regression analysis for the selected baseline characteristics, it was found that individuals with higher BMI have chance to develop combined (ACL) injury 2 times higher when compared to those with isolated ACL injury (p=0.003). Also, the ACL type, mode of injury, types of injury and type of sports were statistically significant in univariate regression analysis. However, only the mode of injury was statistically significant after controlling the confounding factors. Other selected variables like type of sport, type of injury and ACL type were not significant. Conclusion Elevated BMI was associated with a higher risk of developing combined ACL tear as well as reinjured individuals

Epidemiology of congenital heart disease among pediatric patients in Northwest, Saudi Arabia

BackgroundCongenital heart defect (CHD) is considered one of the commonest major birth defects, causing children’s morbidity and mortality.AimsTo define the frequency and epidemiology of congenital heart disease among children in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.Methods This was a retrospective observational study based on the medical hearts. The study population consisted of pediatric patients with confirmed CHD, who were referred to the pediatric cardiology clinic at the King Salman Armed Forces Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia between January 2015 and June 2019. Of patients with CHD, those with patent ducts arteriosus (PDA) and persistent foramen oval spontaneously resolved during the first four weeks of life were excluded.Results A total of 1,647 pediatric patients were referred to the pediatric cardiology clinic. Of these, 851 were confirmed to have CHD. The diagnosis was made most frequently during the neonatal period. The following three were most frequently observed (in the order of): Ventricular septal defect (VSD: 42 per cent), atrial septal defect (ASD: 32.6 per cent), PDA (16.2 per cent). Down syndrome (DS) was the most frequent underlying condition. Approximately two-thirds of cases were managed conservatively.ConclusionWe demonstrated the characteristics of children’s CHD in this referral center. The data may be important to further make health-policy-making in this area

Using CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing Methods to Create Novel Diagnostic Exams

In order to monitor the spread of diseases globally, diagnostic testing is essential. It consists of three main stages: detection, analysis, and outcomes. The diagnosis of many infectious diseases is based on symptoms, which can frequently overlap between infections and result in incorrect diagnoses. For many illnesses, conventional antibody testing is quite slow and not particularly economical. Using blood or urine samples from patients, CRISPR-based diagnostics could detect the disease-specific DNA sequences in less than a day. The type of disease might then be quickly identified using this data, and the appropriate course of treatment could be started. There is currently a CRISPR-based influenza diagnostic available. Research has shown that Cas9 is useful in differentiating between the virus\u27s strains. The next stage would be to modify this test to make it easier to use than the PCR techniques that are now in use. As a result of the flu\u27s symptoms\u27 resemblance to those of other respiratory illnesses, misdiagnosis rates of influenza would decline. The traditional ways of diagnosing different diseases are covered in this literature review, along with an analysis of how CRISPR technology can improve the detection of tests that are now on the market. This review focuses on non-communicable diseases (diabetes and cancer) and communicable diseases (dengue, influenza, and HIV) using data and research that is already available. Novel approaches in the field of molecular diagnostics have been introduced as a result of recent developments in the genomic sciences. The application of CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-based gene editing to the development of quick, inexpensive, and extremely sensitive diagnostic tests for the identification of communicable and non-communicable diseases is one of the most promising future directions. The way diagnostic tests are performed could be completely changed by CRISPR technology, creating a whole new set of opportunities that the world\u27s health desperately needs

Adherence to antidiabetic medication during the month of Ramadan among diabetes mellitus patients in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background: Ramadan may lead to reduced adherence to antidiabetic medications among Saudi diabetes patients due to fasting, changes in daily routine, social and cultural influences, health risks, and inadequate awareness. This study aimed to assess the Saudi population adherence to the diabetes management medication in Ramadan. Methodology: A convenience sampling method was used to recruit participants for the study. Participants were sourced from social media platforms, diabetes mellitus patient groups, and healthcare providers groups. The Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS), a tool, was used to assess medication compliance. Results: A total of 384 individuals were included in this study, 20.3% were from Riyadh, 52.3% were males, 35% aged 31-50 years, and 64.1% had type 2 diabetes mellitus of participants. Age between 31-50 years was negatively associated with compliance (β = -1.06, p = 0.002), while age between 51-65 years is positively associated ((β= 1.00, p = 0.003). Being male was negatively associated with compliance (β= -0.72, p = 0.001). Different fasting behaviors like non-fasting one day or more (β = -2.92, p < 0.001) and fasting all month (β = -2.90, p < 0.001), significantly affect compliance scores with negative associations indicating lower compliance during fasting periods. Various HbA1c levels were significant predictors of compliance. Higher HbA1c levels were associated with increased compliance. Conclusions: The study reveals that age, gender, fasting behaviors and HbA1c levels significantly impact medication compliance among patients with diabetes mellitus during Ramadan