Self-reported use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) products in topical treatment of diabetic foot disorders by diabetic patients in Jeddah, Western Saudi Arabia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is little published on current Saudi diabetic patients' practices when they are exposed to foot disorders such as open wound, ulcer, and skin cracks. These factors are usually influenced by local culture and communities beliefs. The aim of the current study was to identify the pattern of patients' use of CAM products in dealing with diabetic foot disorders topically in a group of diabetic patients.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A Cross-sectional descriptive study of a representative cohort of diabetic patients living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was designed. A pre-designed questionnaire to identify local diabetics' practices in dealing topically with foot disorders including open wound, chronic ulcer, and skin cracks was designed. Questionnaire was administered by a group of trained nutrition female students to diabetics face to face living in their neighborhood. A total of 1634 Saudi diabetics were interviewed. Foot disorders occurred in approximately two thirds of the respondents 1006 (61.6%). Out of the 1006 patients who had foot disorders, 653 reported trying some sort of treatment as 307 patients (47.1%) used conventional topical medical treatment alone, 142 (21.7%) used CAM products alone, and 204 (31.2%) used both treatments. The most commonly used CAM product by the patients was Honey (56.6%) followed by Commiphora Molmol (Myrrh) in (37.4%) and Nigellia Sativa (Black seed) in (35.1%). The least to be used was Lawsonia inermis (Henna) in (12.1%). Ten common natural preparations used topically to treat diabetic foot disorders were also identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The use of CAM products in topical treatment of diabetic foot disorders is fairly common among Saudi diabetic patients. Honey headed the list as a solo topical preparation or in combination with other herbs namely black seeds and myrrh. The efficacy of the most common products needs further research.</p

Insights and Perspectives About Textual with Visual Data Analysis: The Use of Photos as an Example

Visual data analysis have become a noteworthy approach in qualitative research in the years. This paper presents a content analysis based on a study carried out in tourism field that used visual elements specifically photos, combined with verbal data. The goal is to demonstrate that, always considering the research goals, a more integrated approach to data production and analysis might be a suitable option. The results intend to provide evidence that visual data, in this case photos about lakes, might add value to the findings extracted from textual analysis (description of lakes) and reveal, in some cases, new insights about the object of research. In addition, the procedure of using webQDA, a Computer-Aided Text Analysis (and pictorial) is exposed and explained

Watching A Bite of China: The impact of a food and culture documentary on previsit perceptions and expectations

Based on 15 semi-structured interviews with recent viewers of the successful documentary A Bite of China, this chapter examines the impacts of the food and culture documentary on previsit perceptions and expectations. The results show that the documentary can change viewers’ perceptions of regional cuisine and has a more prominent impact on first-time viewers. Food image is highlighted through representations of unique regional cooking methods, ingredients, customs and everyday life of locals as part of local culture. Those credible food images aid the process of building perceptual images that distinguish a destination from other similar destinations. The documentary, therefore, has the potential to motivate viewers to visit destinations they were initially interested in

Automated Hyperlink Text Analysis of City Websites: Projected Image Representation on the Web

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28231-2_5The objective of this study is to identify the image representations of 75 European cities on the Web. As an effective image positioning strategy will result in successful differentiation from competitors, it is crucial for tourism destinations to regularly examine their image. This study focuses on the supply-side of destination image formation and is therefore concerned with analysing the projected destination image. Hyperlink text of DMO websites was collected automatically by a crawler. The text was then edited and filtered. Latent semantic dimensions were generated by applying PCA. A hierarchical cluster approach revealed different groups of hyperlink terms. Finally, the co-occurrence of terms and cities was displayed in a joint-map indicating which groups of hyperlink terms are over- or underrepresented for each of the cities. This information permits conclusions regarding the projected image of the cities