Predicting the outcomes of traumatic brain injury using accurate and dynamic predictive model

Predictive models have been used widely to predict the diseases outcomes in health sector. These predictive models are emerged with new information and communication technologies. Traumatic brain injury has recognizes as a serious and crucial health problem all over the world. In order to predict brain injuries outcomes, the predictive models are still suffered with predictive performance. In this paper, we propose a new predictive model and traumatic brain injury predictive model to improve the predictive performance to classifying the disease predictions into different categories. These proposed predictive models support to develop the traumatic brain injury predictive model. A primary dataset is constructed which is based on approved set of features by the neurologist. The results of proposed model is indicated that model has achieved the best average ranking in terms of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity

Melasma and Associated Factors in Arar City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Melasma is a common dermatological disorder characterized by irregular brownish patches with unclear etiology and a variety of factors may be associated with its occurrence. Melasma patients suffer significant emotional and psychological problems making assessment of their quality of life is increasingly necessary. Aim of the study: This study was conducted to identify the frequency and factors associated with occurrence of Melasma in in Arar, KSA and its effect on some determinant of quality of life in the affected patients. Subjects and methods: A population based cross sectional study was conducted from January 2016 to January 2017. It included 470 individuals attended five randomly selected primary healthcare centers in Arar city in the Northern Province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and were selected by systemic random sampling. Data were collected by means of personal interview with the sampled population using a predesigned questionnaire. Results: Findings revealed that18.7 % of the studied population suffered from Melasma. Age and positive family history were significantly associated with the development of Melasma among the studied patients while gender, skin color, sun exposure and cosmetic use had no significant effect. Most of the studied determinants of quality of life were not affected by suffering from Melasma while lack of self-confidence was significantly associated with the presence of Melasma. Conclusion: less than on fifth (18.7%) of the studied patients suffered from Melasma. Age and positive family history are the most common associations. Melasma had a significant impact on self-confidence of the affected patients.Keywords: Melasma, risk factor, quality of life

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Transmission among Healthcare Workers: Implication for Infection Control

Background Many outbreaks of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have occurred in health care settings and involved health care workers (HCWs). We describe the occurrence of an outbreak among HCWs and attempt to characterize at-risk exposures to improve future infection control interventions. Methods This study included an index case and all HCW contacts. All contacts were screened for MERS-CoV using polymerase chain reaction. Results During the study period in 2015, the index case was a 30-year-old Filipino nurse who had a history of unprotected exposure to a MERS-CoV–positive case on May 15, 2015, and had multiple negative tests for MERS-CoV. Weeks later, she was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and MERS-CoV infection. A total of 73 staff were quarantined for 14 days, and nasopharyngeal swabs were taken on days 2, 5, and 12 postexposure. Of those contacts, 3 (4%) were confirmed positive for MERS-CoV. An additional 18 staff were quarantined and had MERS-CoV swabs. A fourth case was confirmed positive on day 12. Subsequent contact investigations revealed a fourth-generation transmission. Only 7 (4.5%) of the total 153 contacts were positive for MERS-CoV. Conclusions The role of HCWs in MERS-CoV transmission is complex. Although most MERS-CoV–infected HCWs are asymptomatic or have mild disease, fatal infections can occur and HCWs can play a major role in propagating health care facility outbreaks. This investigation highlights the need to continuously review infection control guidance relating to the role of HCWs in MERS-CoV transmission in health care outbreaks, especially as it relates to the complex questions on definition of risky exposures, who to test, and the frequency of MERS-CoV testing; criteria for who to quarantine and for how long; and clearance and return to active duty criteria

Development of a new medium containing date syrup for production of bleomycin by Streptomyces mobaraensis ATCC 15003 using response surface methodology

A combined statistical approach of orthogonal design and polynomial regression were applied to optimize the composition and concentration of a liquid fermentation medium for the production of bleomycin (BLM) by Streptomyces mobaraensis. Optimal conditions for maximal productivity were determined based on eight parameters at three different levels. The sources of carbon and nitrogen concentration and their interactions with other precursors were found to be statistically significant factors. When date syrup was used as an additional carbon source, higher BLM amount was obtained in comparison to glucose. It was found that the optimum nitrogen source was achieved with the use of soyabean meal. The combined orthogonal design and response surface methodology predicted optimal conditions for production of BLM to be 138 mg dl-1. A confirmatory experiment of the optimal medium composition produced 142 mg dl-1 in the fifth day fermentation at 30°C. The complex medium containing 40 gml-1 date syrup as additional carbon source enhanced the production of BLM by 73%. The combined statistical approach enabled rapid identification and integration of key medium parameters for optimizing secondary metabolite production and could be very useful in pharma-ceutical screening programs.Keywords: Bleomycin, Streptomyces mobaraensis, orthogonal design, medium optimization, date syrupAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(33), pp. 5450-5459, 16 August, 201

Molecular characterization of Leishmania species from stray dogs and human patients in Saudi Arabia

Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica cause cutaneous leishmaniasis in humans and dogs in several parts of the world, with a large number of cases recorded in the Middle East. However, when they occur in sympatry, the role of each species of Leishmania in the epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is not clear. To assess the frequency and to identify the species of Leishmania that infect humans and stray dogs in Riyadh and Al-Qaseem (Saudi Arabia), 311 stray dogs and 27 human patients who were suspected for Leishmania infection were examined for CL by a nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR). Seven (25.9%) out of 27 human patients scored positive for Leishmania spp. (i.e., L. major in five patients from Riyadh and L. tropica in two patients from Al-Qaseem). Out of 311 dogs, five (1.6%) were infected by L. tropica. Data herein presented demonstrate the occurrence of L. tropica in dogs and humans in Saudi Arabia, as well as the occurrence of L. major in humans

The Effects of Stress on Surgeons and Surgical Performance: An Analytical Study

This study aimed at exploring the effects of stress on surgeons and surgical performance, as the researchers adopted the methodology of descriptive analytical statistics by conducting a semi structured interviews on fourteen surgeons in Jordan. The aim of this study also was to investigate surgeons’ perceptions of surgical stress, highlight key stressors and their impact on performance, and identify coping strategies. Stress poses a serious risk for training surgeons since their performance and well‐being in reflected in patients' health. This study focuses on measuring the stress on surgeons and at the same time evaluates prospectively the results of practices that uses alternative techniques to combat the effects of stress. The study concluded that these interviews provided valuable insights into stressors, stress responses, and coping strategies used by surgeons and allowed us to categorize sources of stress. Although surgeons characteristically enjoy the stimulating features of their work, high levels of stress can affect performance adversely

The Main and Most Important Radiological Role in the Future of the Healthcare Management: A Systematic Theoretical Review

This study aimed at exploring the main and most important Radiological role in the future of the healthcare management through a systematic theoretical review.  As radiology plays the key role of jumping in to investigate dis­ease diagnosing, staging, monitoring and following it over time and offering expertise and consultation on disease states. And highlighting that this discipline is now in a stage of profound metamorphosis through out of building the value of radiology and the radiologist, to empower radiologists to be larger contributors to care teams. The study concluded that the current radiology model, though useful in many respects, needs to adapt to changing economic incentives and in one way or another align itself with those of the clinicians radiologists serve.

Antibacterial efficacy of indigenous Pakistani honey against extensively drug-resistant clinical isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi: an alternative option to combat antimicrobial resistance

Abstract Background Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) poses a grave threat to public health due to increased mortality and morbidity caused by typhoid fever. Honey is a promising antibacterial agent, and we aimed to determine the antibacterial activity of honey against XDR S. Typhi. Methods We isolated 20 clinical isolates of XDR S. Typhi from pediatric septicemic patients and determined the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of diferent antibiotics against the pathogens using the VITEK 2 Compact system. Antimicrobial-resistant genes carried by the isolates were identifed using PCR. The antibacterial efcacy of fve Pakistani honeys was examined using agar well difusion assay, and their MICs and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) were determined with the broth microdilution method. Results All 20 isolates were confrmed as S. Typhi. The antibiogram phenotype was confrmed as XDR S. Typhi with resistance to ampicillin (≥32 µg/mL), ciprofoxacin (≥4 µg/mL), and ceftriaxone (≥4 µg/mL) and sensitivity to azithromycin (≤16 µg/mL) and carbapenems (≤1 µg/mL). Molecular conformation revealed the presence of blaTM-1, Sul1, qnrS, gyrA, gyrB, and blaCTX-M-15 genes in all isolates. Among the fve honeys, beri honey had the highest zone of inhibition of 7–15 mm and neem honey had a zone of inhibition of 7–12 mm. The MIC and MBC of beri honey against 3/20 (15%) XDR S. Typhi isolates were 3.125 and 6.25%, respectively, while the MIC and MBC of neem were 3.125 and 6.25%, respectively, against 3/20 (15%) isolates and 6.25 and 12.5%, respectively, against 7/20 (35%) isolates. Conclusion Indigenous honeys have an efective role in combating XDR S. Typhi. They are potential candidates for clinical trials as alternative therapeutic options against XDR S. Typhi isolates. Keywords Antimicrobial resistance, Natural antibiotics, XDR S. Typhi, MIC, Honey, Resistance gene