The reality of the implementation of Total Quality Management in the Directorate General of Financial Affairs in the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman

هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى التعرف على واقع تطبيق إدارة الجودة الشاملة في المديرية العامة للشؤون المالية بوزارة التربية والتعليم في سلطنة عمان، ولتحقيق أهداف الدراسة استخدم المنهج الوصفي، وتم إعداد استبانة مكونه من 37 فقرة موزعة على خمسة محاور وهي:  التخطيط الاستراتيجي، والقيادة، ومنهجية العمليات، والتعليم والتدريب، والتطوير والتحسين المستمر، وبعد التأكد من صدقها وثباتها تم تطبيقها على عينة الدراسة والتي تمثلت في جميع العاملين في المديرية العامة للشؤون المالية والبالغ عددهم 184 فرداً، وتم جمع الاستجابات من 108 فردًا من أفراد العينة، ومن أبرز النتائج التي توصلت إليها الدراسة: جاءت تقديرات أفراد عينة الدراسة على واقع تطبيق إدارة الجودة الشاملة في المديرية العامة للشؤون المالية بدرجة متوسطة، ووجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية حسب تقديرات أفراد العينة لواقع التطبيق تعزى لمتغير المسمى الوظيفي، والجنس، وسنوات الخدمة. وفي ضوء ما توصلت إليه نتائج الدراسة تم وضع عدد من التوصيات أهمها توفير التدريب والتأهيل للعاملين في المديرية، والتنسيق بين الدوائر والأقسام   لتقسيم الأعمال بشكل تفصيلي بينها، والعمل على غرس ثقافة إدارة الجودة الشاملة.This study aimed to identify the reality of implementing Total Quality Management in the General Directorate of Financial Affairs at the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman. To achieve the objectives of the study, a descriptive approach was used in which a questionnaire was prepared, consisting of 37 items. The questionnaire was divided into five axes: strategic planning, leadership, operations methods, education and training, continuous development and improvement.  After checking its validity and reliability, it was applied to the study sample, (all 184 employees of the General Directorate of Financial Affairs), and responses were collected from 108 individuals from the sample. Among the most prominent results of the study was that the sample's estimates were at medium degree on the reality of implementing Total Quality Management in the General Directorate of Financial Affairs. Also, there were statistically significant differences according to the sample members’ estimates of the reality of application due to the variables of job title, gender, and years of experience. In light of the findings of the study, a number of recommendations were made such as providing training and education to the directorates’ employees, coordinating between departments and divisions to divide work between them and working to instill a culture of total quality management

Tissue and Serum miRNA Profile in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer (LABC) in Response to Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy (NAC) Treatment

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA that plays a vital role in cancer progression. Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has become the standard of care for locally advanced breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate miRNA alterations during NAC using multiple samples of tissue and serum to correlate miRNA expression with clinico-pathological features and patient outcomes.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Tissue and serum samples were collected from patients with locally advanced breast cancer undergoing NAC at four time points: time of diagnosis, after the first and fourth cycle of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide treatment, and after the fourth cycle of docetaxel administration. First, we evaluated the miRNA expression profiles in tissue and correlated expression with clinico-pathological features. Then, a panel of four miRNAs (miR-451, miR-3200, miR-21, and miR-205) in serum samples was further validated using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The alterations in serum levels of miRNA, associations with clinical and pathological responses, correlation with clinico-pathological features, and survival outcomes were studied using Friedman, Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman, Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests. <i>P</i>≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.</p><p>Results</p><p>We analyzed 72 tissue samples and 108 serum samples from 9 patients and 27 patients, respectively. MicroRNA expression profiling of tumor versus normal tissue revealed more than 100 differentially expressed miRNAs. Serum miR-451 levels were significantly decreased during treatment, and higher serum levels were associated with improved clinical and pathological responses and disease-free survival. This is one of the early reports on miR-3200 in response to treatment in breast cancer, as serum levels of miR-3200 found to decline during NAC, and higher serum levels were associated with lower residual breast cancer burden and relapse rates at time of diagnosis.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Variations in serum miRNA levels during NAC treatment may be therapeutically significant for predicting response and survival outcomes.</p></div

Disease-free survival and miR-451 expression.

<p>Kaplan-Meier estimates of disease-free survival based on low versus high expression of miR-451 at the time of diagnosis. Log-rank <i>P</i> = 0.046.</p

Differential expression of some randomly selected miRNAs between normal and breast cancer tumor tissue samples with various fold changes.

<p>Differential expression of some randomly selected miRNAs between normal and breast cancer tumor tissue samples with various fold changes.</p

Cancer staging, clinical responses, and pathological responses before and after treatment.

<p>Cancer staging, clinical responses, and pathological responses before and after treatment.</p

Hierarchal clustering of healthy versus tumor breast cancer tissue samples.

<p>Over 100 detected miRNAs that were differentially expressed. Heat map colors represent miRNA expression as indicated in the color key where tumor samples are from the all patients whereas normal tissue from the full follow-up patients.</p

Differential expression of miRNAs in relation to clinico-pathological features using SAM analysis.

<p>(A) Tissue miRNAs significantly associated with Estrogen receptor (ER+) expression (<i>p</i>≤0.05). (B) Tissue miRNAs significantly associated with relapse (<i>p</i>≤0.05). (C) Tissue miRNAs significantly associated with pathological stage (<i>p</i>≤0.05). (D) Tissue miRNAs significantly associated with Basal-like (triple negative) (<i>p</i>≤0.05).</p