Factors Influencing Teachers Attrition in the United Arab Emirates

Factors Influencing Teacher AttritionIn the United Arab EmiratesAli S. Al Kaabi, PhDUniversity of Pittsburgh, 2005The purpose of this study was to examine the factors associated with high attrition rate among the UAE citizen teachers who teach in public schools grades 1-12. The factors that this study investigated are: personal factors, economic factors, teacher preparation, employment factors, and social-cultural factors. The study was guided by five research questions. Data for this study was collected through two methods: a survey questionnaire that was sent to the sample of this study was 594 UAE citizen teachers in the public schools, and a constructed interview with five educational zone directors. To analyze the quantitative data descriptive statistics (means, percentage, and standard deviations), and Chi-Square Test were applied to examine the relation between the most important factors and teachers gender, qualifications, and years of experience. Qualitative analysis was applied to interpret the data obtained from the interviews with five educational zone directors and open-ended questions from the last part of the questionnaire.The result of this study indicated that the most important factors associated with teacher attrition are: (a) The personal factors that have the highest effect on teacher attrition are "stress" with mean (3.31), and "accountability" with mean (3.19). (b) The economic factor that has the highest effect on teacher attrition is "incentives" with mean (3.23). (c) The employment factor that has the highest effect on teacher attrition is "paperwork" with mean (3.07). (d) The social-cultural factor that has the highest effect on teacher attrition is "social appreciation" with mean (3.07). The result indicated that teacher preparation factors are the least important factors associated with teacher attrition with a very low mean (2.10)

Effect of Culturing Time and Hormonal Combinations on Organogenesis of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L., CV. Khnazi) In Vitro

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) monocotyledon dioecious tree is one of the most important fruit crop trees in the Arabian Gulf region in general and in the UAE in particular. Date palm is propagated sexually by seeds or vegetative by offshoots. Seed propagation is not appropriate for commercial production because of the high genetic heterozygosity, which resulted in not true-to-type male and female seedlings. The vegetative propagation utilizing offshoots is slow and inefficient for rapidly growing demands of the date industry. Therefore, it seems essential to use plant tissue culture techniques for propagating and producing date palms. The present study included three experiments that were conducted through three successive seasons (1996- 1998). The first experiment included the effect of 18 different media developed from various combinations of different auxin and concentrations, in addition to the control (no hormones at all), on shoot bud generation from shoot tip of Khnazi cultivar. Maximum percentage of explants formed bud generative tissue were induced by the addition of 1.6mg/l lAA or 0.4mg/l of both lAA and NAA to the initiation medium. Maximum number of differentiated buds per bud generative tissue resulted from the addition of 0.8 mg/l lAA to initiation medium. The initiation medium contained Murashige and Skoog inorganic salts and supplemented with 100mg/l myo-inositol, 0.5mg/l nicotinic acid, 0.5 mg/l pyridoxine, 0.1 mg/l thiamine-HCI, 2 mg/l Glycine, 40mg/l adenine sulfate, 2g/l polyvinile pyrolidon (PVP 40000), 3mg/l activated charcoal, and 40mg/l sucrose. In the second experiment, 23 different media were developed from the combinations of different cytokines and concentrations. Maximum percentage of explants formed bud generative tissue was induced by the addition of 3.2 mg/l 2iP or 1.6 mg/l BAP. Maximum number of generated buds per explants was induced by the addition of 3.2 mg/l 2iP to initiation medium. Both auxins and cytokines proved to be essential for the induction of bud generative tissue and for differentiation of shoot buds from cultured explants. In the third experiment, shoot tips of the tested cultivar were cultured monthly beginning from September 5, and continued for successive 12 months, on two different types of medium. Maximum percentage of explants formed bud generative tissue was attained during spring season, especially in March. Similarly, maximum number of buds was produced during the spring, and in particular at the month of April regardless of medium types. The hot environment in summer inhibited the formation bud generative tissues, and the differentiation of shoot bud per generative tissue

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2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201804_a bcmaVersion of RecordPublishe

Field Evaluation to the attraction efficiency for the different sources of the red palm weevil aggregation pheromone

Field experiments were conducted during the periods from June, 2014 to March, 2015, in three date palm orchards located in Al Ain city, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in order to evaluate the attraction efficacy for five different sources from the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorous ferrugineus Oliver (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), aggregation pheromone by using the standard four window black bucket trap.  The three orchards are characterized by having different levels of infestation incidence by red palm weevil. The Randomize Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five treatment and three replicates was used in each of the three orchards. The aggregation pheromone sources used in this experiment were: Rhyfer 700, Pherocon RDPW Lure, Ferrugitom 700, Weevil lure, and Ferrulure +. Collectively in the three farms as well as per each farm, Weevillure aggregation pheromone trap capture significantly lower average numbers of RPW adults than Rhyfer, Pherocon, Ferrulure, and Ferrugitom pheromone sources. Rhyfer pheromone is about 1.12, 1.18, 1.56 & 1.16 % more efficient than Pherocon, Ferrugitom, Weevillure & Ferrulure, respectively

An Overview of Differences Between Types of Chimeras and Their Impact on Humans

Chimera has several important definitions that are common to each other, where he is known a single creature that is made up of two or more separate populations of genetically unique cells that originated from various zygotes. Definition can be interpreted as cells from one person might appear in another individual in a process known as chimerism. These cells may be incorporated into the parenchyma or they may circulate. Chimeras are divided into several types depending on several factors such as the percentage of chimera cells in the body of the organism neighborhood, origin, or other reasons, which includes microchimeras, natural human macro-chimeras and man-made chimeras. Chimeric cells in human can arise from three significant sources, namely originating from gestation, blood transfusions, and transplants

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) among type 1 diabetic Siblings and Control group

Abstract:Background: the genetic factor of type 1 diabetes mellitus may play a key role in pathogenesis of that disorder, thus, diabetic siblings might prone into an impaired OGTT.Objective: To determine whether diabetic Siblings might have an impaired glucose tolerance test in compare to normal control group.Material and Method: A case-control study was performed on 120 persons, they divided into three group which are diabetic, siblings and control (40 persons in each group), who attended to Al Zahraa Teaching Hospital /Diabetic Center in Al Kut between the period from April; 2012 till April; 2013.Results: OGTT performed on both diabetic siblings and control, results have showed that the Means of OGTT is highly Significant (P value = 0.000) in both Siblings and Control groups, whereas there were no Significant differences in the Means of differences of OGTT in both tested groups (Siblings and Control), P value = 0.288, although the Mean of differences of OGTT is higher in Siblings group (25.3250) than that in Control group (22.0750).Conclusion: the inheritance factor play a key role in pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus since, diabetic siblings showed an impaired OGTT.Recommendation: for early detection of diabetes, diabetic siblings must submit to a routine screening test by OGGT.Key words: Type 1 diabetes mellitus, Siblings, OGTT

Bilateral Anterior Ischaemic Optic Neuropathy in a Child on Continuous Peritoneal Dialysis : Case report and literature review

Non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is a serious complication of continuous peritoneal dialysis (CPD) which can lead to poor vision and blindness. We report a five-year-old girl who had undergone a bilateral nephrectomy at the age of one year and was on home CPD. She was referred to the Paediatric Ophthalmology Unit of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, in 2013 with acute bilateral vision loss, preceded by a three-day history of poor oral intake. At presentation, the patient had severe systemic hypotension. An ophthalmological examination revealed severe bilateral visual impairment and NAION. She was treated with intravenous methylprednisolone and normal saline boluses. At a five-month follow-up, the visual acuity of the right eye had improved but vision in the left eye remained the same. Acute bilateral blindness due to NAION while on CPD is a rare condition in childhood. Paediatricians should be aware of this complication in order to ensure prompt management.Keywords:

Review Article p16 INK4A and p14 ARF Gene Promoter Hypermethylation as Prognostic Biomarker in Oral and Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Review

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is a heterogeneous group of tumors with each subtype having a distinct histopathological and molecular profile. Most tumors share, to some extent, the same multistep carcinogenic pathways, which include a wide variety of genetic and epigenetic changes. Epigenetic alterations represent all changes in gene expression patterns that do not alter the actual DNA sequence. Recently, it has become clear that silencing of cancer related genes is not exclusively a result of genetic changes such as mutations or deletions, but it can also be regulated on epigenetic level, mostly by means of gene promoter hypermethylation. Results from recent studies have demonstrated that DNA methylation patterns contain tumor-type-specific signatures, which could serve as biomarkers for clinical outcome in the near future. The topic of this review discusses gene promoter hypermethylation in oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The main objective is to analyse the available data on gene promoter hypermethylation of the cell cycle regulatory proteins p16 INK4A and p14 ARF and to investigate their clinical significance as novel biomarkers in OSCC. Hypermethylation of both genes seems to possess predictive properties for several clinicopathological outcomes. We conclude that the methylation status of p16 INK4A is definitely a promising candidate biomarker for predicting clinical outcome of OSCC, especially for recurrence-free survival

Demographics and Epidemiology of Hepatitis B in the State of Qatar: A Five-Year Surveillance-Based Incidence Study

Background: Expatriates represent >80% of Qatar’s population, mostly arriving from countries in Africa and Asia that are endemic with many diseases. This increases the risk for introducing new pathogens into the country and provides a platform for maintenance of endemic pathogen circulation. Here, we report on the incidence and epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis B in Qatar between 2010 and 2014. Methods: We performed a retrospective epidemiological data analysis using the data available at the surveillance system of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) in Qatar. Data were collected from distinctive public and private incorporates around the nation. Reported cases of hepatitis B patients represent those who met the stringent case definition as per World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and eventually reported to MOPH. Results: The annual incidence rates of hepatitis B cases were 30.0, 34.2, 30.5, 39.4, and 19.8 per 100,000 population in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, respectively. There was no specific trend or seasonality for the reported cases. The incidence rates were higher in females compared to males between 2010 and 2012, but similar in 2013 and 2014. The highest incidence rates were reported among individuals between 25 and 34 years of age. No cases were reported in children younger than five years in 2013 and 2014. Rates of hepatitis B cases declined dramatically in 2014, in both Qataris and non-Qataris, as compared to the previous years. Conclusion: Our results indicate a dramatic decline of hepatitis B cases in Qatar but mandate improved surveillance and vaccination efforts in expatriates in the nation. View Full-TextMOP

Glycan and protein analysis of glycoengineered bacterial E. coli vaccines by MALDI-in-source decay FT-ICR mass spectrometry

Bacterial glycoconjugate vaccines have a major role in preventing microbial infections. Immunogenic bacterial glycans, suchas O-antigen polysaccharides, can be recombinantly expressed and combined with specific carrier proteins to produce effective vaccines. O-Antigen polysaccharides are typically polydisperse, and carrier proteins can have multiple glycosylation sites. Consequently, recombinant glycoconjugate vaccines have a high structural heterogeneity, making their characterization challenging. Sincedevelopment and quality control processes rely on such character-ization, novel strategies are needed for faster and informative analysis.Here, we present a novel approach employing minimal samplepreparation and ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry analysis forprotein terminal sequencing and characterization of the oligosaccharide repeat units of bacterial glycoconjugate vaccines. Threeglycoconjugate vaccine candidates, obtained from the bioconjugation of the O-antigen polysaccharides fromE. coliserotypes O2,O6A, and O25B with the genetically detoxified exotoxin A fromPseudomonas aeruginosa, were analyzed by MALDI-in-source decay(ISD) FT-ICR MS. Protein and glycan ISD fragment ions were selectively detected using 1,5-diaminonaphtalene and a 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid/2-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzoic acid mixture (super-DHB) as a MALDI matrix, respectively. The analysis of protein fragments required the absence of salts in the samples, while the presence of salt was key for the detection of sodiated glycanfragments. MS/MS analysis of O-antigen ISD fragments allowed for the detection of specific repeat unit signatures. The developed strategy requires minute sample amounts, avoids the use of chemical derivatizations, and comes with minimal hands-on time allowing for fast corroboration of key structural features of bacterial glycoconjugate vaccines during early- and late-stage developmentProteomic