Priabonian Sharks and Rays (Late Eocene: Neoselachii) From Minqar Tabaghbagh In The Western Qattara Depression, Egypt

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90948/1/Contributions32no06-c04-30-2012.pd

Consumer trust and confidence in the compliance of Islamic banks

Islamic banks compete with traditional (non-Islamic) banks for customers. This article aims to provide insight into why some Muslims choose to bank with Islamic banks in Pakistan, while others do not. Specifically, it addresses the questions: to what extent are trust and confidence active influencers in the decision-making process, are they differentiated or are they one of the same? Also how does the Pakistani collective cultural context further complicate the application of these concepts? For the purposes of this article trust refers to people and their interpersonal or social relations whereas confidence concerns institutions such as banks. Drawing on interviews with Muslim consumers in Pakistan, this study provides further insight into consumer behaviour within financial services and specifically Islamic banking and contributes to our theoretical understanding of the concepts of trust and confidence

Epidemiology, practice of ventilation and outcome for patients at increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications

BACKGROUND Limited information exists about the epidemiology and outcome of surgical patients at increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), and how intraoperative ventilation was managed in these patients. OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence of surgical patients at increased risk of PPCs, and to compare the intraoperative ventilation management and postoperative outcomes with patients at low risk of PPCs. DESIGN This was a prospective international 1-week observational study using the ‘Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia risk score’ (ARISCAT score) for PPC for risk stratification. PATIENTS AND SETTING Adult patients requiring intraoperative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery in 146 hospitals across 29 countries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome was the incidence of patients at increased risk of PPCs based on the ARISCAT score. Secondary outcomes included intraoperative ventilatory management and clinical outcomes. RESULTS A total of 9864 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The incidence of patients at increased risk was 28.4%. The most frequently chosen tidal volume (VT) size was 500 ml, or 7 to 9 ml kg1 predicted body weight, slightly lower in patients at increased risk of PPCs. Levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) were slightly higher in patients at increased risk of PPCs, with 14.3% receiving more than 5 cmH2O PEEP compared with 7.6% in patients at low risk of PPCs (P < 0.001). Patients with a predicted preoperative increased risk of PPCs developed PPCs more frequently: 19 versus 7%, relative risk (RR) 3.16 (95% confidence interval 2.76 to 3.61), P < 0.001) and had longer hospital stays. The only ventilatory factor associated with the occurrence of PPCs was the peak pressure. CONCLUSION The incidence of patients with a predicted increased risk of PPCs is high. A large proportion of patients receive high VT and low PEEP levels. PPCs occur frequently in patients at increased risk, with worse clinical outcome

Risk factors for traumatic and non-traumatic lower limb pain among preadolescents: a population-based study of Finnish schoolchildren

BACKGROUND: The child's lower limb is the most commonly reported musculoskeletal location with pain and also the most commonly injured site in sports. Some potential risk factors have been studied, but the results are inconsistent. We hypothesized that distinction of traumatic from non-traumatic pain would provide a clearer picture of these factors. The aim of this study is to assess factors associated with lower extremity pain and its impact on preadolescents in a population-based cohort. METHODS: A structured pain questionnaire was completed by 1756 schoolchildren of third and fifth grades to assess musculoskeletal pain, psychosomatic symptoms, subjective disabilities, school absence and frequency of exercise. In addition, hypermobility and physical fitness were measured. RESULTS: The knee was the most common site of pain followed by the ankle-foot and thigh. Of the children who reported pain in their lower extremity, approximately 70% reported at least one disability and 19 % reported school absence attributed to their pain during the previous three-month period. Children with traumatic pain had a higher subjective disability index than those with non-traumatic pain (P = 0.02). Age less than 11 years, headache, abdominal pain, depressive feelings, day tiredness, and vigorous exercise were more common in children with lower limb pain than those free of it. In the stratified analysis, younger age was related to both traumatic and non-traumatic pain groups. Vigorous exercise was positively associated with traumatic pain, while subjects with non-traumatic pain had more frequent psychosomatic symptoms. CONCLUSION: Risk factors and consequences of traumatic and non-traumatic lower limb pain are not similar. Traumatic lower limb pain is associated with practicing vigorous exercise and high level of physical fitness, while non-traumatic pain is more correlated with psychosomatic symptoms. These differences might be one of the reasons for the discrepancy of previous research conclusions. The two conditions need to be treated as different disorders in future studies

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112

Risk factors for development of non-specific musculoskeletal pain in preteens and early adolescents: a prospective 1-year follow-up study

Background Musculoskeletal pain symptoms are common in children and adolescents. These symptoms have a negative impact on children's physical and emotional well-being, but their underlying aetiology and risk factors are still poorly understood. Most of the previous cohort studies were conducted among mid and/or late adolescents and were mainly focused on a specific pain location (e.g. low back pain or neck pain). The purpose of this study is to estimate occurrence of new-onset pain symptoms, in all musculoskeletal locations, in preteens and early adolescents and investigate risk factors for development of these symptoms. Methods 1756 schoolchildren (mean age 10.8) were recruited from schools in southern Finland. Information was extracted as to whether they experienced musculoskeletal pain and a total of 1192 children were identified as free of musculoskeletal pain symptoms. Information was collected on factors which could potentially predict the development of musculoskeletal pain: headache, abdominal pain, sadness/feeling down, day-time tiredness, difficulty in falling asleep, waking up during nights, level of physical activity and hypermobility. These children were followed-up 1-year later and those with new episodes of non-traumatic and traumatic musculoskeletal pain symptoms were identified. Results A total of 1113 schoolchildren (93% of baseline pain-free children) were found at one-year follow-up. New episodes of musculoskeletal pain were reported by 21.5% of these children. Of them 19.4% reported non-traumatic pain and 4.0% reported traumatic pain. The neck was the most commonly reported site with non-traumatic pain, while the lower limb was the most common site for traumatic pain. The independent risk factors for non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain were headache (OR = 1.68, [95% CI 1.16–2.44]) and day-time tiredness (OR = 1.53, [95% CI 1.03–2.26]). The risk factors for traumatic musculoskeletal pain were vigorous exercise (OR = 3.40 [95% CI 1.39–8.31]) and day-time tiredness (OR = 2.97 [95% CI 1.41–6.26]). Conclusion This study highlights that there may be two types of pain entities with both distinct and common aspects of aetiology. For primary prevention purposes, school healthcare professionals should pay attention to preteens and early adolescents practicing vigorous exercise (predictor of traumatic pain), reporting headache (predictor of non-traumatic pain) and reporting day-time tiredness (predictor of both types of pain).BioMed Central Open acces

Validated spectrophotometric methods for determination of Alendronate sodium in tablets through nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alendronate (ALD) is a member of the bisphosphonate family which is used for the treatment of osteoporosis, bone metastasis, Paget's disease, hypocalcaemia associated with malignancy and other conditions that feature bone fragility. ALD is a non-chromophoric compound so its determination by conventional spectrophotometric methods is not possible. So two derivatization reactions were proposed for determination of ALD through the reaction with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl) and 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) as chromogenic derivatizing reagents.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three simple and sensitive spectrophotometric methods are described for the determination of ALD. Method I is based on the reaction of ALD with NBD-Cl. Method II involved heat-catalyzed derivatization of ALD with DNFB, while, Method III is based on micellar-catalyzed reaction of the studied drug with DNFB at room temperature. The reactions products were measured at 472, 378 and 374 nm, for methods I, II and III, respectively. Beer's law was obeyed over the concentration ranges of 1.0-20.0, 4.0-40.0 and 1.5-30.0 μg/mL with lower limits of detection of 0.09, 1.06 and 0.06 μg/mL for Methods I, II and III, respectively. The proposed methods were applied for quantitation of the studied drug in its pure form with mean percentage recoveries of 100.47 ± 1.12, 100.17 ± 1.21 and 99.23 ± 1.26 for Methods I, II and III, respectively. Moreover the proposed methods were successfully applied for determination of ALD in different tablets. Proposals of the reactions pathways have been postulated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proposed spectrophotometric methods provided sensitive, specific and inexpensive analytical procedures for determination of the non-chromophoric drug alendronate either per se or in its tablet dosage forms without interference from common excipients.</p> <p>Graphical abstract</p> <p><display-formula><graphic file="1752-153X-6-25-i3.gif"/></display-formula></p

Expression and Regulation of Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases in Human and Rat Pancreatic Islets

As shown by transgenic mouse models and by using phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) inhibitors, PDE3B has an important role in the regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells. However, very little is known about the regulation of the enzyme. Here, we show that PDE3B is activated in response to high glucose, insulin and cAMP elevation in rat pancreatic islets and INS-1 (832/13) cells. Activation by glucose was not affected by the presence of diazoxide. PDE3B activation was coupled to an increase as well as a decrease in total phosphorylation of the enzyme. In addition to PDE3B, several other PDEs were detected in human pancreatic islets: PDE1, PDE3, PDE4C, PDE7A, PDE8A and PDE10A. We conclude that PDE3B is activated in response to agents relevant for β-cell function and that activation is linked to increased as well as decreased phosphorylation of the enzyme. Moreover, we conclude that several PDEs are present in human pancreatic islets