Epilepsy among elderly Sudanese patients

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical presentation and characteristics of elderly Sudanese patients with epilepsy. Methodology: This is a prospective study (from Feb. 2005 to Jun 2008). The study population included 240 elderly epileptic patients (age 60 years or above). Results: Cerebrovascular accident was found to be the most common cause of secondary epilepsy (31%).Generalize epilepsy was seen in 120 (50%) of patients. Abnormal neurological findings were more common (49%) among patients with partial epilepsy. Fifty percent of our patients showed abnormal EEG. Abnormal CT brain findings were common among patients with partial epilepsy. Conclusion: The pattern of clinical presentation of epilepsy among elderly Sudanese epileptic patients is similar to what was mentioned in the literature except that the percentage of epilepsy following infections was more among our studied group (6%Keywords: Cerebrovascular, EEG, seizure

Why ethics in research are crucial?

Ethical norms are so everywhere that one might be tempted to consider them as simple rational. Most civilizations use laws to implement widely accepted moral standards and legal rules. It is important to know that ethics and law are not the same. An act may be lawful but immoral/unethical or unlawful but moral/ethical. There are a number of reasons why it is essential to stick to ethical norms in conducting research. First, is to support the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, preventions of fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data support the truth and avoid error. Second, ethical standards promote the values that are vital to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, joint respect, and fairness since research usually involves cooperation and coordination among many researchers in a mixture of disciplines and institutions. For example, many ethical standards in research, such as copyright, patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are deliberated to protect intellectual property interests as well as encouraging collaboration. Third, some ethical norms help to guarantee that researchers can be held responsible to the public. For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects‘ protections, and animal care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded by public money can be held accountable to the public. Fourth, ethical norms in research also help to build community support sustainability for research. Fifth, many of the ethical standards of research promote a variety of other moral and social values, such as human rights, animal welfare and compliance with the law, health and safety. Ethical descends in research can significantly harm the whole society and animal subjects. For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical trial may harm or even kill patients. Also a researcher who fails to stand for guidelines and regulations relating to radiation or biological safety may endanger health and safety of himself, staff and students

Why ethics in research are crucial?

Ethical norms are so everywhere that one might be tempted to consider them as simple rational. Most civilizations use laws to implement widely accepted moral standards and legal rules. It is important to know that ethics and law are not the same. An act may be lawful but immoral/unethical or unlawful but moral/ethical. There are a number of reasons why it is essential to stick to ethical norms in conducting research. First, is to support the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, preventions of fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data support the truth and avoid error. Second, ethical standards promote the values that are vital to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, joint respect, and fairness since research usually involves cooperation and coordination among many researchers in a mixture of disciplines and institutions. For example, many ethical standards in research, such as copyright, patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are deliberated to protect intellectual property interests as well as encouraging collaboration. Third, some ethical norms help to guarantee that researchers can be held responsible to the public. For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects’ protections, and animal care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded by public money can be held accountable to the public. Fourth, ethical norms in research also help to build community support sustainability for research. Fifth, many of the ethical standards of research promote a variety of other moral and social values, such as human rights, animal welfare and compliance with the law, health and safety. Ethical descends in research can significantly harm the whole society and animal subjects. For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical trial may harm or even kill patients. Also a researcher who fails to stand for guidelines and regulations relating to radiation or biological safety may endanger health and safety of himself, staff and students

Social networking and fear of missing out (FOMO) among medical students at University of Khartoum, Sudan 2021

Abstract Background With students becoming more involved in the internet and social networking sites, they become more prone to their consequences. This study focuses on measuring the social networking intensity and the fear of missing out among the medical students of University of Khartoum, then examining the association between them. Methods Facility-based, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at Faculty of Medicine, Khartoum University between January and March 2021. A total of 333 students were selected by simple random sampling. Data was collected from the participants using a structured self-administered questionnaire that involved the social networking intensity (SNI) scale and fear of missing out (FOMO) scale. The data was analyzed by the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 26. Results Moderate positive correlation between social networking intensity and fear of missing out was found (p-value < 0.01). Of the total participants; 51 participants (15.4%) experienced low SNI and low FOMO. Another 78 participants (23.6%) had moderate SNI and moderate FOMO and only 16 Participants (4.8%) showed high SNI and high FOMO. There were no significant differences in SNI or FOMO scores among the different socio-demographic variables, except for the SNI score which was positively correlated to the monthly income. Conclusion An association between SNI and FOMO was found. SNI was not affected by socio-demographic factors except for the monthly income

Parkinsonism Relat Disord

Background: Several studies suggested a significant role of epigenetic changes, including alterations in miRNA, histone modifications, and DNA methylation of α-synuclein (SNCA) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathogenicity. As of yet, only very few studies have been carried out in this field in Africa and none in Sudan. Materials and methods: We collected DNA from 172 Sudanese individuals (90 cases, 82 controls) who donated saliva for DNA extraction (mean age of onset: 40.6 ± 22.4 years). A family history of PD was evident in 64 patients. DNA preparation and bisulfite sequencing of SNCAintron1 was performed as described earlier. Results: Of the fourteen analyzed CpGs of SNCAintron1, CpGs 16-23 were hypomethylated in PD (P-value ranged from 0.023 to 0.003). P–values improved, when sporadic cases were excluded from the analysis. Conclusion: We identified the presence of a specific pattern of DNA methylation in a young Sudanese cohort of familial PD, which confirms the importance of the methylation of SNCAintron1 for PD. This phenomenon appears to be independent of ethnicity, the impact of environmental factors, drug history, or familial clustering

Plants of Sabkha Ecosystems of the Arabian Peninsula.

Sabkhas are unique ecosystems that are highly saline and where specially adapted plants are able to grow, flower, and fruit. In general, saline environments are poor in species – for the Arabian Peninsula about 120 taxa are recorded as halophytes which constitute about 4% of the total flora of the Arabian Peninsula. Key halophytes of Arabia are nearly always perennial; predominant life-forms are somewhat succulent, semiwoody dwarf shrubs belonging to the families Amaranthaceae, Zygophyllaceae, and Plumbaginaceae and hemicryptophytes belonging to the Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Juncaceae; annuals are exceptions. Coastal species are either obligate halophytes or salt-tolerant genera from unspecialized families, such as Sporobolus and Aeluropus (Poaceae), or salt-secreting species such as Avicennia (Acanthaceae) and Limonium (Plumbaginaceae). The submerged coastal vegetation, e.g., seagrasses, is one of the most important vegetation types of the Gulf coast and is of great importance to marine fauna. The north-south distribution of coastal species is more distinct on the Red Sea coast, with the border lying near Jeddah, than on the Persian Gulf coast where there is a broad transitional zone between Qatar and northern Oman. The east-west distribution of coastal species is not as distinct. The eastern elements are either restricted to the coasts around the Arabian Gulf or are Irano-Turanian species extending into the Gulf region. Several vicariant species groups of halophytes are represented in the Arabian Peninsula. Halophytes have developed strategies for seed germination such as high germination levels and fast germination speed. These traits are found in the sabkha plants of the Arabian Peninsula. Some halophytes have been investigated for their potential for phytoremediation in their ability to survive weathered oil-contaminated soils. They have been found to have a set of micoorganisms around their root system that are related to the degradation of oil in contaminated soils. Sabkha ecosystems are being degraded and altered throughout the Gulf countries as they appear to be nonproductive. Over the last two decades, there has been a growing concern in protecting and restoring mangroves, and programs do to so have seen promising results. But, on the whole, coastal and inland sabkhas are neglected, and these unique ecosystems require urgent protection