Emotional Intelligence among Baccalaureate Students at the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt: A Cross-sectional Study

Emotional intelligence (EI) is seen as a necessity in health care practices, especially the nursing practice. Assessing levels of EI and ascertaining its progression among nursing students is essential for ensuring effective nursing education and competent professional nursing skills before graduation. This study aimed at assessing the level of emotional intelligence among baccalaureate students at the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, and determining its development over the academic semesters. The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive design. It was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, on 450 randomly selected students who registered in four semesters. A Socio-demographic and Academic Data Questionnaire, and Emotional Intelligence Scale, were used to collect data. The results indicated that the majority of the studied students in the four semesters had moderate levels of EI. The mean score of EI of the eighth semester's students was slightly increased by the end of the same semester. It was recommended that the student’s level of EI should be considered prior to entrance into the Faculty of Nursing, and EI concept should be incorporated into the nursing curriculum. Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Nursing students, Nursing education

Comparison between different methods of sonographic cervical length assessment during pregnancy

Background: Preterm birth is the presence of uterine contraction of sufficient frequency and intensity to effect progressive effacement and dilatation of cervix prior to term gestation (between 20 and 37 weeks). The objective of this study was to compare between the different methods of assessment of cervical length (Trans abdominal, trans vaginal, and transperineal) during pregnancy as a possible screening of preterm birth.Methods: Prospective cohort study was performed on 200 cases who attended at Elshat by hospital. At gestational age from 20 to 26 weeks, there was no significant difference regarding demographic data as (maternal age, parity). The route of examination was started according to urinary bladder fullness at admission. Accordingly, the patient was not instructed to void if she had full bladder, rather we started by transabdominal route. If she had empty bladder at the time she presented we started by transperineal then transvaginal route. The four measurements were compared to each other and the difference between them calculated. The selected sample size was found to be 200 pregnant women.Results: Transvaginal route gave the longest cervical measurements followed by transperineal route then abdominal route (full bladder) and finally tans abdominal route (semi-full bladder). Our results indicate that there is a significant positive correlation among the four methods of measuring cervical length in that gestational age.Conclusions: Tran-abdominal assessment could be used initially for cervical length screening, considering the maternal and fetal condition. Then, if the need arises, transvaginal sonography could be used. This step by step approach may be more convenient and useful to both patients and physicians for cervical length screening

Irisin in Adolescent Type 1 Diabetic Patients and its Relation to Diabetes Control and Atherosclerosis

AIM: The objective of this was to determine the role of irisin in adolescent type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients. METHODS: This study was conducted on 65 patients with T1D and 50 healthy individuals as control group. Serum irisin, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profile, oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL), urinary albumin/creatinine ratio; carotid intimal medial thickness (cIMT), and aortic intimal medial thickness (aIMT) were evaluated for all participant. RESULTS: HbA1c, lipid profile, albumin/creatinine ratio, OxLDL, irisin, aIMT and cIMT were significantly higher in diabetic patients. Irisin had a positive correlation with age of diabetic patients, onset of diabetes, mid arm circumference, waist/height ratio, body mass index, HbA1c, and cIMT. CONCLUSION: Irisin is a marker for detection of diabetes control and early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis. Irisin had a relation with obesity

INFLUENCE OF SOME BIOSTIMULANTS AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ON GROWTH, SEED YIELD, CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS, OIL PRODUCTIVITY AND FIXED OIL CONTENT OF CHIA (SALVIA HISPANICA L.) PLANT UNDER ASWAN CONDITIONS

This study was carried out at a private farm in AL-Radisiya city, Markaz Edfu, Aswan Governorate, Egypt on the banks of Nile River and Experimental Laboratory of Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, EL-Qaloubia Governorate, Egypt during the two successive seasons of 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 on chia (Salvia hispanica L.) plant. A study was initiated through various biostimulant and chemical fertilizer aiming to evaluate effectiveness of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) or seaweed extract and/or humic acid as well as chemical fertilizer (N.P and K) and the combination of them on vegetative growth, seed yield, chemical constituent's, fixed oil productivity and fixed oil composition of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) plant. Plants sprayed by biostimulants gave the significantly highest mean values for all of studied characteristics mentioned above, particularly T6: the combined of mycorrhiza, humic acid, seaweed and recommended dose of NPK followed by T5: recommended dose of NPK (350:200:100 kg/feddan) in the first and second seasons. Meanwhile, T4: seaweed (1 ml/l) ranked the third values in parameters mentioned before in this concern. Whereas, the richest fixed oil percentage was scored by T6, followed descendingly by T5 in the 1st and 2nd seasons. Chromatography analysis of chia fixed oil revealed the identification of four components. i.e. palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid. The main component was α-linolenic acid (43.34 to 53.28%). It can be concluded that T6 was the best for improving growth, seed yield, fixed oil productivity, chemical constituents and fixed oil components of Salvia hispanica L. plant

Initial experience with off-pump left ventricular assist device implantation in single center: retrospective analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We hypothesize that implantation of left ventricular assist device through off-pump technique is feasible and has a comparable result to implantation on cardiopulmonary bypass and could improve one-year survival.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This retrospective, observational, single-center study was conducted on 29 consecutive patients at our institution who underwent off-pump left ventricular assist device implantation by a single surgeon.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-seven procedures were performed successfully using the off-pump technique. The survival rate was 92% at 30 days, 76% at 90 days, and 67% at one year. We compared the one-year survival of different implantation periods, and divided our study into three time intervals (2004-2005, 2006, and 2007). There was a trend in reduction in number of deaths over one year that demonstrated a decrease in death rate from 50% to 17%, as well as improvement in our experience over time. However, this trend is not statistically significant (p = 0.08) due to limited sample size.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based upon our findings, off-pump left ventricular assist device implantation is a feasible surgical technique, and combining this technique with improved device technology in the future may provide even greater improvement in patient outcomes.</p

An optimum distributed energy balanced algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Lifetime of sensor networks based on finding energy efficient paths is a crucial topic in wireless sensor networks research. This paper aims to implement an optimal algorithm for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to solve the most convenient problems within this area: energy efficiency, energy balance, and routing path. This metric is based on a decentralized manner as in the distributed energy balance routing algorithm (DEBR) [1]. We will demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method by comparing four existing efficient routing algorithms. Results are shown and discussion is held to verify the great effects on network lifetime and network energy balance

5-(5-Aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-carbonyl)furan-3-carboxylate and New Cyclic &lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;-Glycoside Analogues from Carbohydrate Precursors with MAO-B, Antimicrobial and Antifungal Activities

Cyclization of acyclic &lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;-glycoside derivatives &lt;strong&gt;1a,b&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;2a,b&lt;/strong&gt; as the major isomers, and &lt;strong&gt;4a,b&lt;/strong&gt; as the minor isomers were carried out. The isopropylidene derivatives &lt;strong&gt;3a,b&lt;/strong&gt; were prepared, as well as the hydrazide derivative &lt;strong&gt;6&lt;/strong&gt;, which was condensed with a variety of aldehydes to give hydrazones &lt;strong&gt;7a–e&lt;/strong&gt; which were also prepared from the compounds &lt;strong&gt;12a–e&lt;/strong&gt;. Acetylation of &lt;strong&gt;7a,d&lt;/strong&gt; gave the corresponding acetyl derivatives &lt;strong&gt;8a,d&lt;/strong&gt;, respectively. In addition, the dicarbonyl compound &lt;strong&gt;9&lt;/strong&gt; was prepared in the hydrate form, which reacted with a number of aroylhydrazines to give the corresponding bisaroyl-hydrazones &lt;strong&gt;10a–d&lt;/strong&gt;, which were cyclized into 1,3,4-oxadiazoles &lt;strong&gt;11a–d&lt;/strong&gt;. Furthermore, two of the prepared compounds were examined to show the ability to activate MAO-B. In addition a number of prepared compounds showed antibacterial and antiviral activities

Evaluation of the policy of secondary prevention against rheumatic fever among Egyptian children

Objective: We evaluated the effectiveness of long acting penicillin (LAP) as a 2-weekly regimen in winter and a 3-weekly regimen in summer for prevention of streptococcal colonization and also studied the common complaints of patients during the period of compliance for LAP administration. We also attempted to determine the incidence of relapses or recurrence of rheumatic fever (RF) after the onset of first episode of RF. Patients & methods: 210 rheumatic patients with good compliance to LAP (for at least one year) were included in the study. Demographic, clinical information, patients' complaints and echocardiographic data of rheumatic patients were collected both retrospectively and prospectively. Anti-streptolysin O titre (ASOT) and throat swab culture were done at the end of the study (on Day 14 in the 2-weekly regimen and on Day 21 in the 3-weekly regimen). Results: The age of onset of rheumatic fever was mostly between 5 and 15 years and the youngest patient was 2 years old. Subclinical carditis (SCC) was present in 79 (37%) of all the patients in the study population. Only 7 patients (3.3%) had a relapse within 2 years of the acute episode of RF. At the end of the study, ASOT was found to be high only in 11 patients (5.2%) and throat swab cultures were found negative in all patients Conclusion: LAP regimen is fairly effective in eradicating streptococcal colonization. The incidence of relapse of RF within 2 years of the acute episode of RF is relatively low