Introducing inter-professional education in curricula of Saudi health science schools: An educational projection of Saudi Vision 2030

AbstractRecently, the Saudi government initiated plans to improve both the health care system and health profession education. Providing optimal care in health care institutions requires health care providers from different services to collaborate and interact. Evidence-based research has shown that optimizing the interactions and communication between health care workers improves patient outcomes and reduces medical errors. The use of interprofessional education (IPE) in undergraduate health profession programmes in some Western universities has been found to be an effective tool for improving communication and interaction between health care providers. This paper addresses the possibility of introducing IPE into health profession education in KSA to support Saudi Vision 2030

Investigating the Relationship between faculty perception of educational technology and the level of technology integration into teaching and learning

There are three main research goals of this study. The first one is to examine the level of technology integration into teaching by Saudi university faculty members. The second goal of this study is to investigate Saudi university faculty members’ perceptions of educational technology. The third and most important one is to investigate whether there is a relationship between faculty perception of educational technology and the level of technology integration into teaching and learning. A quantitative approach was employed to organize, collect, test and analyze the data. Analysis of self-report survey data from 306 Saudi university faculty members showed that Saudi university faculty members use technology in their teaching at three different levels of the T3 technology integration model; the most used level is the translational level (M = 5.35, SD = .499), the second most used is the transformational level (M = 4.8, SD = .84), and the third most used is the transcendent level (M = 4.6, SD = 1.10). Five educational technology concepts were examined to investigate Saudi university faculty members’ perceptions of educational technology. The overall trend of the findings of this section suggests that there is no definite answer. Therefore, we cannot conclude whether there is misconception or not. For the first four concepts, the mean of the answer centered around 3 (somewhat disagree). Onley the fifth concept confirmed a trend toward the disagreement, meaning that there is misconception or misunderstanding about this concept. Regression analysis found that there is a relationship between the perceptions of educational technology and educational technology integration by faculty members in Saudi Arabia. By and large, all regression models in this study were statistically significant, indicating that perception concepts are good at predicting the level of technology integration into teaching

Autoimmune liver disease - are there spectra that we do not know?

Autoimmune liver diseases (AILDs) are common leading causes for liver cirrhosis and terminal stage of liver disease. They have variable prevalence among patients with liver disease and have two major clinical and biochemical presentations. Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is the typical example of hepatocellular AILD, but it can also be presented under a cholestatic pattern. AIH has a scoring diagnostic system and respond in most cases to the treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine. Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is the second most common AILD, with a cholestatic presentation and characterized by positive antimitochondrial antibody (AMA). It has an excellent response and long term outcome with the administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Another AILD that is thought to be a variant of PBC is the autoimmune cholangitis, being a disease that has biochemical and histological features similar to PBC; but the AMA is negative. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare entity of AILD that has a cholestatic presentation and respond poorly to the treatment, with the ultimate progression to advance liver cirrhosis in most patients. Other forms of AILD include the overlap syndromes (OS), which are diseases with mixed immunological and histological patterns of two AILD; the most commonly recognized one is AIH-PBC overlap (AIH-PSC overlap is less common). The treatment of OS involves the trial of UDCA and different immunosuppressants. Here we present three case reports of unusual forms of chronic liver diseases that most likely represent AILD. The first two patients had a cholestatic picture, whereas the third one had a hepatocellular picture at presentation. We discussed their biochemical, immunological and histological features as well as their response to treatment and their outcomes. Then, we compared them with other forms of AILD

Autoimmune Hepatitis as a Unique Form of an Autoimmune Liver Disease: Immunological Aspects and Clinical Overview

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a unique form of immune-mediated disease that attacks the liver through a variety of immune mechanisms. The outcomes of AIH are either acute liver disease, which can be fatal, or, more commonly, chronic progressive liver disease, which can lead to decompensated liver cirrhosis if left untreated. AIH has characteristic immunological, and pathological, features that are important for the establishment of the diagnosis. More importantly, most patients with AIH have a favorable response to treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine, although some patients with refractory AIH or more aggressive disease require more potent immune-suppressant agents, such as cyclosporine or Mycophenolate Mofetil. In this paper, we discuss the immunological, pathological and clinical features of AIH, as well as the standard and alternative treatments for AIH

Liver diseases in pregnancy and outcomes: A retrospective study from Saudi Arabia

Liver diseases unique to pregnancy are common causes of both maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. We retrospectively studied liver diseases unique to pregnancy, including hyperemesis gravidarum (HG); intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy; eclampsia; preeclampsia; hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and a low platelets (HELLP) syndrome; and acute fatty liver of pregnancy. We collected data including maternal age, gestational weeks at presentation and at delivery, mode of delivery, number of parity, and laboratory markers at 0, 1 week, and within 24 hours after delivery; from 112 patients (mean age, 29.8 years) from April 2015 - March 2017. SPSS 22 was used for statistical analysis. We The commonest liver disease in pregnancy was pre-eclampsia followed by HG. HG patients were younger compared with those with eclampsia and preeclampsia (P=0.025). Gestational week at presentation and the week of delivery were significantly greater for preeclampsia/eclampsia and HELLP patients compared to HG. Primigravida represented 42.9% of our patients. Fetal complications were reported in 29 (26%) of cases. Of those, 17 had fetal or neonatal death. Fourteen mothers (12.5%) had ICU admission. Pregnancy related liver diseases are important causes for fetal mortality and morbidity. Maternal age and gestational weeks are important predictors of fetal and maternal outcomes.   Les maladies du foie propres à la grossesse sont des causes courantes de mortalité et de morbidité maternelles et foetales. Nous avons étudié rétrospectivement les maladies du foie propres à la grossesse, y compris l'hyperemesis gravidarum (HG); cholestase intrahépatique de la grossesse; éclampsie; prééclampsie; hémolyse, élévation des enzymes hépatiques et syndrome de bas taux de plaquettes (HELLP); et stéatose hépatique aiguë de la grossesse. Nous avons recueilli des données comprenant l'âge maternel, les semaines de gestation à la présentation et à l'accouchement, le mode d'accouchement, le nombre de parité et les marqueurs de laboratoire à 0, 1 semaine et dans les 24 heures suivant l'accouchement; de 112 patients (âge moyen, 29,8 ans) d'avril 2015 à mars 2017. SPSS 22 a été utilisé pour l'analyse statistique. Nous La maladie hépatique la plus courante pendant la grossesse était la pré-éclampsie suivie de l'HG. Les patients atteints de HG étaient plus jeunes que ceux atteints d'éclampsie et de prééclampsie (P = 0,025). La semaine gestationnelle lors de la présentation et la semaine de l'accouchement étaient significativement plus importantes pour les patients prééclampsie / éclampsie et HELLP par rapport à HG. Primigravida représentait 42,9% de nos patients. Des complications foetales ont été rapportées dans 29 (26%) des cas. Parmi ceux-ci, 17 ont eu un décès foetal ou néonatal. Quatorze mères (12,5%) ont été admises à l'USI. Les maladies hépatiques liées à la grossesse sont des causes importantes de mortalité et de morbidité foetales. L'âge maternel et les semaines de gestation sont des prédicteurs importants des issues foetales et maternelles. &nbsp

From existing in situ, high-resolution measurement technologies to lab-on-a-chip – the future of water quality monitoring?

Abstract. This paper introduces new insights into the hydrochemical functioning of lowland river-systems using field-based spectrophotometric and electrode technologies. The streamwater concentrations of nitrogen species and phosphorus fractions were measured at hourly intervals on a continuous basis at two contrasting sites on tributaries of the River Thames, one draining a rural catchment, the River Enborne, and one draining a more urban system, The Cut. The measurements complement those from an existing network of multi-parameter water quality sondes maintained across the Thames catchment and weekly monitoring based on grab samples. The results of the sub-daily monitoring show that streamwater phosphorus concentrations display highly complex, seemingly chaotic, dynamics under storm conditions dependent on the antecedent catchment wetness, and that diurnal phosphorus and nitrogen cycles occur under low flow conditions. The diurnal patterns highlight the dominance of sewage inputs in controlling the streamwater phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations at low flows, even at a distance of 7 km from the nearest sewage works in the rural, River Enborne, and that the time of sample collection is important when judging water quality against ecological thresholds or standards. An exhaustion of the supply of phosphorus from diffuse and septic tank sources during storm events was evident and load estimation was not improved by sub-daily monitoring beyond that achieved by daily sampling because of the eventual reduction in the phosphorus mass entering the stream during events. The dominance of respiration over photosynthesis in The Cut indicated a prevalence of heterotrophic algae, and the seasonal patterns in respiration and photosynthesis corresponded with those of temperature and light in this nutrient over-enriched stream. These results highlight the utility of sub-daily water quality measurements but the deployment of modified wet-chemistry technologies into the field was limited by mains electricity availability. A new approach is therefore needed to allow measurement of a wide range of analytes at a broader range of locations for the development of water quality web-sensor networks. The development and field deployment of a miniaturised "lab-on-a-chip" ion chromatograph is proposed and justified. </jats:p

Results of the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative 2021

The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI) aims at comparing ontology matching systems on precisely defined test cases. These test cases can be based on ontologies of different levels of complexity and use different evaluation modalities (e.g., blind evaluation, open evaluation, or consensus). The OAEI 2021 campaign offered 13 tracks and was attended by 21 participants. This paper is an overall presentation of that campaign

Results of the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative 2022

The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI) aims at comparing ontology matching systems on precisely defined test cases. These test cases can be based on ontologies of different levels of complexity and use different evaluation modalities. The OAEI 2022 campaign offered 14 tracks and was attended by 18 participants. This paper is an overall presentation of that campaign