Factors Associated with Patient Visits to the Emergency Department for Asthma Therapy in Jordan

This study aimed at analyzing the factors associated with patient visits to the emergency department for asthma therapy in Jordan, by attempting to answer the study questions: What are the factors associated with patient visits to the emergency department for asthma therapy in Jordan University Hospital, and king Abdullah Hospital in Jordan? And how to reduce the use of the emergency departments for asthma treatment as a major goal of asthma management? This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2016 to June 2016 on 400 patients reporting to the ED of two hospitals (Jordan University Hospital and King Abdullah Hospital. The researchers adopted the descriptive methodology by adopting the questionnaires as the study tool and data collection

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

HPLC method with monolithic column for simultaneous determination of irbesartan and hydrochlorothiazide in tablets

A simple, sensitive and accurate HPLC method with high throughput has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of irbesartan (IRB) and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) in combined pharmaceutical dosage forms. The proposed method employed, for the first time, a monolithic column in the analysis. Optimal chromatographic separation of the analytes was achieved on Chromolith® Performance RP-18e column using a mobile phase consisting of phosphate buffer (pH 4):acetonitrile (50:50, V/V) pumped isocratically at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min–1. The eluted analytes were monitored with a UV detector set at 270 nm. Under the optimum chromatographic conditions, linear relationship with a good correlation coefficient (R ≥ 0.9997) was found between the peak area and the corresponding concentrations of both IRB and HCT in the ranges of 10–200 and 1–20 ng mL–1. The limits of detection were 2.34 and 0.03 ng mL-1 for IRB and HCT, respectively. The intra- and inter-assay precisions were satisfactory as the RSD values did not exceed 3 %. The accuracy of the proposed method was > 97 %. The proposed method had high throughput as the analysis involved a simple procedure and a very short run-time of 3 min. The results demonstrated that the method is applicable in the quality control of combined pharmaceutical tablets containing IRB and HCT

The effect of mephedrone on human neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cells

Mephedrone is an illegal drug that is used recreationally. Few studies have been conducted to investigate the mechanisms by which mephedrone is harming cells. In this research, we investigated the effect of mephedrone using toxicology coupled with LC-MS/MS based metabolomics in the two CNS derived cell lines. Methods of assessment such as neutral red (NR) assay, dimethylthiazolyl diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), lactose dehydrogenase (LDH) measurement, and morphology were performed to identify the effect on cell viability and to identify the best concentration to be used in a metabolomics study. A concentration of 100 μM of mephedrone was used in the metabolomic experiment because at this concentration mephedrone had induced several intracellular changes. Although there no clear indicators of cellular damage caused by mephedrone. In astrocytes there was a clear indication that cell membrane function might be impaired by depletion of ether lipids

Metabolomics analysis as a tool to measure cobalt neurotoxicity : an in vitro validation

In this study, cobalt neurotoxicity was investigated in human astrocytoma and neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells using proliferation assays coupled with LC–MS-based metabolomics and transcriptomics techniques. Cells were treated with a range of cobalt concentrations between 0 and 200 µM. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay revealed cobalt cytotoxicity and decreased cell metabolism in a dose and time-dependent manner was observed by metabolomics analysis, in both cell lines. Metabolomic analysis also revealed several altered metabolites particularly those related to DNA deamination and methylation pathways. One of the increased metabolites was uracil which can be generated from DNA deamination or fragmentation of RNA. To investigate the origin of uracil, genomic DNA was isolated and analyzed by LC–MS. Interestingly, the source of uracil, which is uridine, increased significantly in the DNA of both cell lines. Additionally, the results of the qRT-PCR showed an increase in the expression of five genes Mlh1, Sirt2, MeCP2, UNG, and TDG in both cell lines. These genes are related to DNA strand breakage, hypoxia, methylation, and base excision repair. Overall, metabolomic analysis helped reveal the changes induced by cobalt in human neuronal-derived cell lines. These findings could unravel the effect of cobalt on the human brain

A population-based study of 15,000 people on Knowledge and awareness of lung cancer symptoms and risk factors in Saudi Arabia

Background: Lung cancer is currently the most fatal form of cancer worldwide, ranking as the fourth most prevalent type in Saudi Arabia, particularly among males. This trend is expected to increase with growing population, lifestyle changes, and aging population. Understanding the awareness of the Saudi population regarding the risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer is necessary to attenuate the predicted increase in cases. Method: A cross-sectional, population-based survey was performed using a previously validated questionnaire (Lung CAM). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess variables associated with deficiency in knowledge and awareness of risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer. Results: Majority of the 15,099 respondents were male (65%), aged between 18 and 30 years (53%), 50% of which were educated up to a bachelor’s degree level. Overall awareness of lung cancer signs and symptoms was 53%, with painful cough and coughing up blood being the best-known symptoms. Conversely, persistent shoulder pain (44%) and clubbing fingers (47%) were the least known lung cancer symptoms. Also, 60% of the respondents showed low confidence in identifying the signs and symptoms of lung cancer. The overall awareness of the risk factors for lung cancer development was 74%, with first-hand (74%) and second-hand (68%) smoking being the most known risk factors. However, only ≤ 62% know the other non-smoking risk factors. Awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer depended on age, gender, education, marital and employment status (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Public awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer in Saudi Arabia is inadequate and heavily dependent on education and socio-economic status. Awareness can be improved through campaigns to raise awareness about other lesser-known lung cancer risk factors and symptoms

A population-based study of 15,000 people on Knowledge and awareness of lung cancer symptoms and risk factors in Saudi Arabia

Background: Lung cancer is currently the most fatal form of cancer worldwide, ranking as the fourth most prevalent type in Saudi Arabia, particularly among males. This trend is expected to increase with growing population, lifestyle changes, and aging population. Understanding the awareness of the Saudi population regarding the risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer is necessary to attenuate the predicted increase in cases. Method: A cross-sectional, population-based survey was performed using a previously validated questionnaire (Lung CAM). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess variables associated with deficiency in knowledge and awareness of risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer. Results: Majority of the 15,099 respondents were male (65%), aged between 18 and 30 years (53%), 50% of which were educated up to a bachelor’s degree level. Overall awareness of lung cancer signs and symptoms was 53%, with painful cough and coughing up blood being the best-known symptoms. Conversely, persistent shoulder pain (44%) and clubbing fingers (47%) were the least known lung cancer symptoms. Also, 60% of the respondents showed low confidence in identifying the signs and symptoms of lung cancer. The overall awareness of the risk factors for lung cancer development was 74%, with first-hand (74%) and second-hand (68%) smoking being the most known risk factors. However, only ≤ 62% know the other non-smoking risk factors. Awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer depended on age, gender, education, marital and employment status (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Public awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of lung cancer in Saudi Arabia is inadequate and heavily dependent on education and socio-economic status. Awareness can be improved through campaigns to raise awareness about other lesser-known lung cancer risk factors and symptoms

Chlorhexidine versus Povidone-Iodine for the prevention of ‎Surgical Site ‎Infections: A review.‎

BackgroundSurgical Site Infections (SSIs) are the third most frequently reported health care-associated ‎infection‎ and it remain a major clinical problem despite improvements in prevention, as they ‎are associated with ‎significant mortality and morbidity. Prevention strategies for SSIs are based ‎on reducing the risk of infection by bacteria, So many antiseptic agents are ‎used, the most ‎common one are Chlorhexidine and Povidone-Iodine.‎AimsTo discuss the ‎findings of RCTs that compare Chlorhexidine versus Povidone-Iodine in the prevention of ‎Surgical ‎Site ‎Infections (SSIs).‎Methods This systematic review was carried out, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and EBSCO that ‎examining randomized trials of Chlorhexidine and Povidone-Iodine to summarize the major ‎RCT that compare Chlorhexidine versus Povidone-Iodine in the prevention of Surgical Site ‎Infections (SSIs).‎Results The review included six randomized studies that compare between Chlorhexidine and Povidone-‎Iodine for the prevention of SSIs. The findings showed that many studies prefer using ‎Chlorhexidine over Povidine-Iodine to reduce SSIs, few studies prefer using PVI as antiseptic ‎and other studies reported that there is no significant difference between both. ConclusionMajority of results prefer using Chlorhexidine than Povidone-Iodine‎ as antiseptics but ‎there were few findings prefer ‎PVI and other studies reported that there was no significant ‎difference between using them as ‎antiseptics.