Tele-Screening, Triaging of Dental Patients, and Reopening of Dental Services During SAR-CoV2 Pandemic

Background: The nature of dental profession requires a dentist to be in a close proximity to the patient’s mouth to perform various operative treatments including procedures such as generating aerosols. As such, dentistry is considered as one of the riskiest profession for the cross-transmission of SARS-CoV2. Although the prevalence and incidence of SARS-CoV2 continue to increase worldwide; the dental services and treatment of non-emergency cases have resumed in many countries including Sudan. Moreover, the use of smartphone technology in communication with patients can play an important role in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV2. Therefore, the aim of this short review was to draw a summary on using smartphone technology for telescreening dental patients prior to their visit to the clinics and to set guidelines and rules for dental treatment during SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Methods:  For the purpose of this study, telescreening is referred as a virtual contact between patients and healthcare personnel used to provide health services during the highly contiguous SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Using a smartphone, dental patients can be screened and questioned about their medical history and particularly for SARS-CoV2 (for symptoms such as fever, headache, coughing, breath shortness, loss of smell or taste). They should also be asked about their travel history to epidemic area, visiting hospital or coming in contact with a confirmed SARS-CoV2 patient during the last 14 days. On arrival to a dental clinic, the patient's temperature should be measured, instruction for wearing masks, hand hygiene, and keeping distances from others inside the waiting zone. Conclusion: Telescreening and triaging will minimize the time of patients’ exposure to dental clinic environments, hence decreasing the risk of getting SARS-CoV2 infection for both patients and dental healthcare workers.  Keywords: COVID-19, dentistry, procedure generating aerosols, smartphone, social distance, surgical masks

Poetry by HopeTowns: Creative Writing Project with Refugees

A curated selection of eight poems taken from Hopetowns - a community of refugees and volunteers. Hopetowns have recently undertaken a creative writing project and included here are a curated collection of poems, stories and memories as part of our creative writing project, which formed part of the Hopetowns `Past, Present and Future: From Sudan and Syria to London With Love’ Publication. The full `Past, Present and Future: From Sudan and Syria to London With Love’ publication along with the individual poems and stories are also available as part of a curated exhibition on the Living Refugee Archive, available at https://www.livingrefugeearchive.org/archives/hopetowns-poetry-archive/

Do grain reserves necessarily contribute to prices stability and food security in Sudan? An assessment

AbstractMost governments in Africa implement policies aiming to stabilize the prices of staple foods, which often include building up grain reserves, besides other trade measures insulating their domestic market from the world market. The mechanism should ideally work as follows, grains should be bought and stored from areas, during the surplus seasons (after harvest) so as to assure fair prices to producers and should be distributed during deficit seasons, in deficit areas besides in cases of emergencies. However, ideal approaches are not necessarily followed in many developing countries due to different constraints and situations. The Strategic Reserve Corporation (SRC) is an institution that is established ten years ago to play such a role in Sudan. This paper tries to assess the performance of the SRC against the overall goals and to study the related obstacles if any. We use a sample of 112 respondents from the SRC staff, related and grain farmers as our data source. Results of the research revealed numerous financial and administrative constraints that obstruct SRC from playing the intended role, which need to be considered so as to contribute to price stability and food security in Sudan

Uterine rupture: A review of 15 Cases at Bandier maternity hospital in Somalia

Background: Uterine rupture is a deadly obstetrical emergency endangering the life of both mother and fetus.Objective: To determine the frequency of ruptured uterus at Bandier Hospital and to elicit possible causes and type of management. Methods: It was cross sectional and hospital based descriptive study implemented during a time period of six months (July – December 2013) in Bandier maternity hospital and a total of 15 women presented with rupture uterus during the period of the study were included.Results: There were 15 cases of ruptured uterus out of a total of 2142 deliveries. Incidence of uterine rupture was found to be 0.7%. The mean age of women was 30.03 ± 4.55 years. Concerning risk factors for rupture uterus, 10 (66.7%) had previous uterine surgery, obstructed labor was found in 33.3%, and oxytocin was used in 46.7% of respondents. Repair was done for 8 (53.3%), 3 (20.6%) of respondents underwent total abdominal hysterectomy and 4 (26.7%) were ended by subtotal hysterectomy. Conclusions: Previous uterine surgery, obstructed labour and improper use of oxytocin increase the risk of uterine rupture in this study. Half of the patients underwent hysterectomy

Microbial Contamination of Date Rutab Collected from the Markets of Al-Hofuf City in Saudi Arabia

The microbial contamination of 60 samples from six date cultivars in the rutab stage purchased from different retail outlets in AL-Hofuf City, Saudi Arabia was studied. All samples were found contaminated with aerobic mesophilic bacteria at loads in the order 102 to 105 cfu/cm2 with some significant differences among varieties that can be attributed to differences in the weather conditions during rutab season. Also all samples, except only one, were contaminated with molds and yeasts at loads in the order 102 to 103 cfu/cm2. Potentially pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus was detected in 57 samples and A. flavus/parasiticus in 13 samples, while coliforms were detected in 39 samples

Prevalence of blaCTX-M, blaTEM, and blaSHV Genes among Extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing Clinical Isolates of Enterobacteriaceae in Different Regions of Sudan

Background: This study aimed to characterize blaCTX-M, blaTEM, and blaSHV genes among extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs)-producing Enterobacteriaceae species in different regions of Sudan. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, different clinical samples (n = 985) were collected randomly from symptomatic patients from four geographical regions of Sudan and cultured on chromogenic media. Following bacterial identification, phenotypic screening of ESBLs was done according to CLSI guidelines using cefotaxime (30 μg), ceftazidime (30 μg), and cefepime (30 μg) discs with and without clavulanic acid. The DNA was extracted by guanidine hydrochloride protocol, and then conventional PCR was used to detect blaCTX-M, blaTEM, and blaSHV genes. The presence of genes’ subtypes was characterized by DNA Sanger sequencing for selected samples.  Results: Enterobacteriaceae represented 31% (305/985) of all isolates, 42 (128/305) of which were ESBLs producer, confirmed by phenotypic confirmatory test (75% [96/128] of them were positive for blaCTX-M genes, 61% [78/128] for blaTEM genes, and 38% [48/128] for blaSHV genes). Fourteen isolates (11%) were negative for all genes. Forty-eight percent (63/75) of Escherichia coli isolates were positive for blaCTX-M, while in Klebsiella pneumoniae, the dominant gene was blaTEM (82%) and had a low amount of blaSHV (59%). There was a significant association (P-value = 0.001 for all except for chloramphenicol, P = 0.014, and amikacin, P = 0.017) between resistance to third-generation cephalosporins and ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, meropenem, chloramphenicol, and amikacin.  Forty-two percent (40/96) of CTX-M-positive isolates were in Gizera State, 33% (32.96) in Sinnar, 24% (23/96) in Khartoum, and 1% (1/96) in White Nile.  Conclusion: We conclude that blaCTX-M genes are the most dominant genes in ESBLs-producing isolates and are more prevalent in big cities than in rural areas. Keywords: phenotypic, blaCTX-M, blaTEM, and blaSHV ESBLs genes, Enterobacteriaceae, Suda

Assessment of Nutritional Status in Children from Eastern Sudan

Background: Malnutrition is a very important risk factor leading illness and death in children worldwide.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status and relevant haematological and biochemical parameters in school children.Materials and Methods: Cross sectional study, was conducted in 120 (70 boys and 50 girls) school going children of 6-7 years of age, for the assessment of their nutritional status. The haemogloblin concentration (Hb%) was measured by equation method, packed cell volume (PCV) was estimated by scale of microhameatocrit reader, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) was calculated. Serum total protein, albumin, iron, total iron binding capacity and transferrin were measured by colorimetric methods. Weight (kg) and height (cm) were measured and body mass index was calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS version13.0.Results: The mean values for hematological, biochemical and  anthropometrical measurements were much below the normal ranges. The anthropometric percentile measured in the children showed malnutrition cases in 32 (26.7%) and malnutrition and underweight in 73 (60.8%) while the body mass index showed underweight in males in 23 (19.2%) and in females 11 (9.2%).Conclusions: Malnutrition is common in our study population and was seen in 48.3 of children. It was accompanied by anaemia in 60.8 % of children.Key words: Biochemical parameters, Hematological parameters,  Anthropometric measurements, Nutritional status, Anemia

Study of Environmental Pollution Rustling from Balhaf Liquid Natural Gas Station Using Spectroscopy Analysis, Shabwah Governorate – Yemen

The present work aimed to determine the contaminants in soil resulting due to emissions that come from natural gas in the station of Balhaf which is it LNG project in Shabowah Gov, Republic of Yemen. Total 20 samples soil samples were collected at depth of approximately (0-10 cm) from different locations from the Balhaf natural gas station. These samples were analyzed by Laser Breakdown Plasma Spectroscopy (LIBS) to determine the samples toxic elements. The components of the toxic elements present in the soil samples were further confirmed by spectroscopic technique induced coupled plasma (ICP) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The LIBS spectra showed the presence of different amounts of elements, including radioactive and toxic elements such as (Ac, Pu, Th, U) and (Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Tl, Zn), in all of the soil samples. The concentrations of the elements were calculated by ICP spectroscopy. The average concentrations of elements in the samples appeared to be 410 ppb for Al, 1.9 ppb for Ba, 2.6 ppb for Cd,2.7 ppb for Co, 2.3 ppb for Cr, 257 ppb for Cu, 30 ppb for Mn, 6,8 ppb for Ni, 63 ppb for Th, 56 ppb for Tl and 6.1 ppb for Zn, but these values did not exceed normal levels for these elements in earth crust according to reference values such as ATSDR 2020, IAEA, 200. The presence of a high concentration of toxic elements in the soil around the natural gas facility, that indicates the presence of emissions from this facility that leads to the accumulation of these elements in the soil