A Comparison Study in the Management of Ectopic Pregnancy between State of Qatar and Kingdom of Bahrain

Ectopic pregnancy is of increasing concern to gynecologists since it is a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in reproductive age women. It occurs when the conceptus implants in an abnormal position other than the uterus. Although the incidence of ectopic pregnancy during the 20 years studied increased five-folds, the risk of death from ectopic pregnancy declined by 90%. This decline might be related to the increase awareness of this condition that accompanied improved diagnostic technology and thus improved management and care. However, ectopic pregnancy remains the leading cause of maternal mortality in first trimenster. This study was to evaluate the management of ectopic pregnancy in the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Bahrain in a time period from January I, 2000 to August 31, 2003. Statistical analysis showed high incidence of ectopic pregnancy with increase in age and abortion. Etiological factors including contraceptive usage, infertility treatment and previous ectopic pregnancy were shown to increases ectopic pregnancy rates. In the Kingdom of Bahrain, management of ectopic pregnancy was carried by surgical salpingectomy and Laparoctomy and to a lesser extend medical Methotrexate management was also carried on. While in the State of Qatar it was the opposite as Methotrexate was mainly used rather than the surgical treatment. It is recommended that further investigations are needed to enhance this data and to prove the benefits of medical management over the surgical management.qscienc

Precise Cerebrovascular Segmentation

© 2020 IEEE. Analyzing cerebrovascular changes using Time-of-Flight Magnetic Resonance Angiography (ToF-MRA) images can detect the presence of serious diseases and track their progress, e.g., hypertension. Such analysis requires accurate segmentation of the vasculature from the surroundings, which motivated us to propose a fully automated cerebral vasculature segmentation approach based on extracting both prior and current appearance features that capture the appearance of macro and micro-vessels. The appearance prior is modeled with a novel translation and rotation invariant Markov-Gibbs Random Field (MGRF) of voxel intensities with pairwise interaction analytically identified from a set of training data sets, while the current appearance is represented with a marginal probability distribution of voxel intensities by using a Linear Combination of Discrete Gaussians (LCDG) whose parameters are estimated by a modified Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. The proposed approach was validated on 190 data sets using three metrics, which revealed high accuracy compared to existing approaches

Ultra-flat wideband single-pump Raman-enhanced parametric amplification

We experimentally optimize a single pump fiber optical parametric amplifier in terms of gain spectral bandwidth and gain variation (GV). We find that optimal performance is achieved with the pump tuned to the zero-dispersion wavelength of dispersion stable highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). We demonstrate further improvement of parametric gain bandwidth and GV by decreasing the HNLF length. We discover that Raman and parametric gain spectra produced by the same pump may be merged together to enhance overall gain bandwidth, while keeping GV low. Consequently, we report an ultra-flat gain of 9.6±0.5 dB over a range of 111 nm (12.8 THz) on one side of the pump. Additionally, we demonstrate amplification of a 60 Gbit/s QPSK signal tuned over a portion of the available bandwidth with OSNR penalty less than 1 dB for Q2 below 14 dB

Metabolic profling of cytotoxic metabolites from five Tabebuia species supported by molecular correlation analysis

Tabebuia is the largest genus among the family Bignoniaceae. Tabebuia species are known for their high ornamental and curative value. Here, the cytotoxic potential of extracts from the leaves and stems of fve Tabebuia species was analyzed. The highest activity was observed for T. rosea (Bertol.) DC. stem extract against HepG2 cell line (IC50 4.7 µg/mL), T. pallida L. stem extract against MCF-7 cell line (IC50 6.3 µg/mL), and T. pulcherrima stem extract against CACO2 cell line (IC50 2.6 µg/mL). Metabolic profiling of the ten extracts using liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry for dereplication purposes led to annotation of forty compounds belonging to diferent chemical classes. Among the annotated compounds, irridoids represent the major class. Principle component analysis (PCA) was applied to test the similarity and variability among the tested species and the score plot showed similar chemical profling between the leaves and stems of both T. pulcherrima and T. pallida L. and unique chemical profling among T. rosea (Bertol.) DC., T. argentea Britton, and T. guayacan (Seem.) Hemsl. leaf extracts and the stem extract of T. rosea (Bertol.) DC. Additionally, a molecular correlation analysis was used to annotate the bioactive cytotoxic metabolites in the extracts and correlate between their chemical and biological profles

Culpability, blame, and stigma after pregnancy loss in Qatar

Background: Following a miscarriage many women report feeling guilty and culpable for what has happened particularly when aspects of societal blame and stigma are involved. This research investigated the impact of cultural context on the experience of miscarriage. In particular, it focused on how elements of stigma and blame are linked to notions of miscarriage etiology and risk among Qatari women. Methods: The research used an ethnographic approach. The data was collected over 18 months of fieldwork in Qatar, using semi-structured face to face interviews, and participant observation. A purposive sample of 40 women (primary participants) who had recently miscarried, participated in the study. Potential subjects were initially identified in the Women’s Hospital and were consented, and then interviewed in Arabic either in the hospital or at their preferred location. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and translated into English. Additional key interviews were performed with 20 secondary participants related to the miscarriage cohort including family members and husbands. Inductive thematic analysis of content was performed manually to extract themes. Results: Two main themes emerged from the material looking specifically at miscarriage aftermaths: rhetorics of blame, self-blame and feelings of guilt; and miscarriage attitudes. Overall society is sympathetic and miscarriage is seen as normal and not particularly worrying, but understood to be upsetting to women. However, findings suggest there is some ambivalence around blame, culpability and stigma applied to miscarriage; some participants perceived miscarriage as a relatively normal and common event, whereas, others felt that miscarriage is resounding stigma and shame. Conclusion: Miscarriage aftermaths are embedded in social, cultural and religious frameworks in relation to notions of risk and causation. Attention should be paid to ensure women and those around them are given appropriate and robust information about miscarriage causation to deflect discourses of blame that may be employed and reduce harm to women who suffer miscarriage

C-Reactive Protein in the Premature Rupture of the Membranes

Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) defined as a rupture of membranes before onset of labor, which is one of the most complications of pregnancy that leads to significant maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. These complications depend on the gestational age to which it occurred. The aim of this study is to determine diagnostic value of CRP during pregnancy complicated by PROM. Retrospective study performed at Hamad Women's Hospital in Qatar. Data collected from files in the Medical Records over a two period from 27/11/2000 to 27/11/2002. One hundred and fifty cases were chosen and divided into: Group (la) 50 patients with PROM before 37 wks. Group (lb) 50 patients with PROM after 37 wks. Group (2) 50 patients as control. Statistical analysis showed high incidence of Oligohydroamnios and polyhydramnios in the group 1 compared with control Measurement of maternal blood CRP early before 37 weekindicated significant relation between the prevalence of premature rupture of the membranes, associated oligohydramnios with the incidence of positive results of CRP. We recommend that further investigations needed to document our data and to prove the beneficial effect of the test especially before 37 week of gestations.qscienc

Calm Vessels: Cultural Expectations of Pregnant Women in Qatar

This article explores emerging themes from the first stage of ethnographic research investigating pregnancy and loss in Qatar. Issues around the development of foetal personhood, the medical management of the pregnant body and the social role of the pregnant woman are explored. Findings suggest that Qatari women are expected to be calm vessels for their growing baby and should avoid certain foods and behaviours. These ideas of risk avoidance are linked to indigenous knowledge around a mother’s influence on a child’s health and traits. Motherhood holds a particularly important place in Qatari culture and in Islam, and women are ultimately responsible for protecting and promoting fertility and for producing healthy children

Effect of inhibition of estrogen synthesis or blocking its receptors on male rabbit reproduction

Purpose: The present aimed to study the effects of tamoxifen and fadrozole on semen characteristics and fertility, besides we emphasized the relationship between brain estrogen and sexual behavior in male rabbits. Methods: Eighty rabbits allocated into four equal groups. The control injected with sesame oil; the second injected with estradiol; the third injected with tamoxifen and the fourth injected with fadrozole. Treatments done daily for 60 days. Ten rabbits from each group served artificial vagina for evaluation of semen and sexual behavior. The other ten served female rabbits for fertility test. Reproductive organ and brain weights recorded. Serum and testicular testosterone, serum and brain estradiol and testicular zinc and cholesterol levels assayed. Results: Tamoxifen caused decrease in all estimated parameters except it increased both sperm ab normalities percentage; testicular cholesterol content; time of reaction and time between two consecutive ejaculations. Fadrozole results were opposite to that of tamoxifen except it increased the time between two consecutive ejaculations and decreased brain estradiol level. Conclusion: Fadrozole may be improve male rabbits performance along with elevated testosterone evident highlighting the important played by testosterone in regulating male rabbit fertility and advocacy the postulate that testosterone effect is mediated in part by its aromatization to estradiol

Effect of Muscle Energy Technique versus Graston Technique on non-specific neck pain

Article accepted. The article will be published here soon. Pending final quality checks

Albumin nanoparticles Preparation, Characterization and In-Vitro Safety Evaluation

The goal of this study was to prepare and characterize albumin nanoparticles to be later used as a drug delivery system. The utilization of nanoparticles as a delivery system for antimicrobial drugs has arisen recently which solve many problems and enhance the traditional treatment with this antimicrobial drugs. In this study, nanoparticles of bovine serum albumen were successfully obtained using a coacervation process (separation of proteins in two liquid phases in colloidal systems). The prepared nanoparticles were nearly spherical in shape and have smooth surface as determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The sizes of the obtained nanoparticles were 70 ± 10 nm with negative surface zeta potential. Additionally, the in vitro safety of albumin nanoparticles has been demonstrated. Both cytotoxicity and genotoxicity studies indicated that, there is no observed toxic effect of nano-albumin on lymphocyte cell line. Also, the results showed that the albumin nanoparticles enhances and promotes the response of immune system