THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAFFEINE ADDICTION AND STRESS AMONG LEBANESE MEDICAL STUDENTS IN LEBANON

Stress and behavioral addiction are becoming major health problems growing in strength and prevalence. They are often associated with a large array of debilitating diseases and conditions including psychosocial impairments. Medical students remain a vulnerable territory for developing stress and addiction mainly relating to caffeine consumption. Methods: A cross-sectional design was utilized in this study. Results: The study revealed that academic and learning issues are the most stressful and alarming levels of caffeine dependence. Conclusions: This showed a high impact of academic issues on medical students stress and performance, which mandates thorough actions to be considered by both medical institutions and medical students to fight this stress and maintain a healthier life and academic development

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF PREGNANT WOMEN DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK IN LEBANON

In Lebanon, the psychological conditions of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been reported, which creates the need to conduct this study that aims to evaluate the psychological conditions of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional design was adopted to reach the aim of this study. The study sample was reached through OBS/GYN clinics to be able to contact the pregnant women in the community, where a convenient sampling technique was followed. The total number of participants was 360 pregnant women: 101 (27.77%) first trimester, 140 (38.88%) second trimester, and 119 (33.33%) third trimester. There is significant evidence indicating that pregnant women may experience various psychological changes such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and symptoms of PTSD. These four conditions were evaluated using four scales known to be valid and reliable. The ratings of first- and third-trimester pregnant women for four measures were substantially higher than those of second-trimester pregnant women (

KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) AMONG LEBANESE HEALTHCARE WORKERS

During the first week of March, the surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases reached over 100 countries with more than 100,000 cases. Healthcare authorities have already initiated awareness and preparedness activities beyond borders. A poor understanding of the disease among healthcare workers (HCWs) may result in delayed treatment and the rapid spread of infection. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and perceptions of HCWs about COVID-19. A cross-sectional, web-based study was conducted among HCWs about COVID19, where a 23-item survey instrument was developed and distributed randomly to HCWs using google forms and email portals. The majority of the sample were females (75.5%) and have been working as registered nurses (50.3%), where their main source of information was their hospital and the Ministry of Health, followed by the social media the results of the study showed that the healthcare providers had adequate knowledge and positive perception regarding the prevention of COVID-19, however they have expressed concerns regarding contracting the infection and infecting family members. There has been a significant difference between those who have attended lectures and trainings and who have not on the level of the knowledge and perceptions (

Assessing the Psychometric Properties of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) Among Lebanese College Students

Internet addiction is an emergent problem; yet, both a strong conception of the factors precipitating challenging activities and a gold standard tool for evaluating symptoms are deficient. The aim of this study was to carry out a psychometric analysis using the most commonly employed screening tool, the young Internet Addiction Test (IAT), comprising a sample of Lebanese University medical students. Two hundred and fifty-six undergraduate medical students from a university in Beirut, Lebanon were included in our IAT. Exploratory factor analysis was employed, and four factors were extracted. These four factors were named as Lack of Control, Social Withdrawal and Emotional Conflict, Time Management Problems, and Concealing Problematic Behavior. Furthermore, the selected factors explained 56.5% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the internal reliability of the scale was found to be 0.91. For each subscale, the internal consistency score was approximated and detected as 0.76, 0.74, 0.69, and 0.63 for the first through fourth factor, respectively. Item total correlations were calculated and had a value range from 0.37 to 0.63 for the 20 items. IAT is a proper tool for evaluating internet addiction in Lebanese college students

Primary congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries and relation to atherosclerosis: an angiographic study in Lebanon

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most coronary artery anomalies are congenital in origin. This study angiographically determined the prevalence of different forms of anomalous aortic origins of coronary anomalies and their anatomic variation in a selected adult Lebanese population. Correlation between these anomalies and stenotic coronary atherosclerotic disease was also investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>4650 coronary angiographies were analyzed for anomalous aortic origin. These anomalies were clustered in four main groups: anomalous left circumflex (LCX) coronary artery, anomalous right coronary artery, anomalous left main coronary artery and anomalous left anterior descending coronary artery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty four patients had anomalous aortic origin of coronary arteries. Of these, anomalous LCX coronary artery was the most common (19 of 34 patients). The second most common anomaly was anomalous RCA origin (9 of 34 patients.) The incidence of coronary stenosis in non-anomalous vessels was 50%. However, a significantly smaller percentage (17.46%; 6 of 34 patients) of anomalous vessels exhibited significant stenosis, reminiscent of atherosclerotic disease. Of these six vessels, five were LCX coronary artery arising from right coronary sinus or from early branch of right coronary artery. The sixth was right coronary artery arising from left coronary sinus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The incidence of congenital coronary anomalies in Lebanon is similar to other populations where the most common is the LCX coronary artery. Isolated congenital coronary anomalies do not increase the risk of developing coronary stenosis or atherosclerosis. Angiographic detection of these anomalies is clinically important for coronary angioplasty or cardiac surgery.</p

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF WEIGHT MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS: ACHIEVED GOALS AND QUALITY OF LIFE

Obesity is becoming a major health problem growing in strength and prevalence. It is often associated with large array of debilitating diseases and conditions including psychosocial impairments. Morbid obesity rarely responds to conservative treatment regimens but has been successfully managed with bariatric interventions that have been achieving sustained weight loss of about 50% of excess body weight with improvement or resolution of most obesity-associated conditions. This cross sectional study evaluates the impact of weight changes by bariatric interventions on psychosocial functioning among Lebanese patients. 38 participants who signed consent were examined at pre-interventional and 6-month follow-up period. The spectrum of examination consists of demographic variables including height and weight measurements and psychosocial functioning evaluated through four standardized questionnaires well recognized and pretested in several previous studies. Data was analyzed using SPSS program. Positive impact of bariatric intervention was prevalent in approximately all studied parameters. This should be taken into consideration as a therapeutic tool in positive psychology-oriented intervention and necessitated pre-interventional psychological clearance and follow up as well

SURVEILLANCE OF MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT UROPATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS AND COMMUNITY SETTINGS IN THE SOUTH OF LEBANON

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is one of the common infectious diseases in both hospitals as well as community settings; they are recognized to be among the most serious worldwide bacterial infections impacting 150 million people globally every year. The purpose of this study was to assess the changing antibiotics resistance profile for uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from community and hospital setting over a period of time (2018–2019) with a special emphasis on ESBL/MDR producing Escherichia coli. A descriptive retrospective study was conducted among patients with uropathogenic Escherichia coli from both community and hospital settings in south Lebanon. Out of 863 patients with positive uropathogenic Escherichia coli, 451 (52.25 %) comes from the community while 412 (47.74 %) came from the hospital settings. Almost 60.83 % are not Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBL), 31.4 % ESBL, and 7.76 % Multiple drug resistance (MDR). The majority of urinary tract infections are related to the female population (78.21 %). The most vulnerable age for both gender to develop UTI belong to elderly population (\u3e64 years) which account 37.19 % of all isolates. Statistically, we observed a high resistance rate toward all antibiotics using in the treatment of urinary tract infections such as Cefixime (45.30 %), Sulfamethoxazole (44.95 %), Ciprofloxacin (38.23 %) and Augmentin (38.93 %). A statistically significant association was observed between risk factors for hospitalized patients and all age categories with (P \u3c 0.05). Susceptibility profiles are critical to be evaluated in countries such as Lebanon where excessive use of antibiotics is observed at all levels. Therefore, this finding is useful for the determination of appropriate antimicrobial treatment in UTI patients that are caused by Escherichia coli and to follow the antimicrobial stewardship program to reduce the rate of resistance toward antibiotics

Salvia fruticosa Induces Vasorelaxation in Rat Isolated Thoracic Aorta: Role of the PI3K/Akt/eNOS/NO/cGMP Signaling Pathway

Salvia fruticosa (SF) Mill. is traditionally used for its antihypertensive actions. However, little is known about its pharmacologic and molecular mechanisms of action. Here we determined the effects of an ethanolic extract of SF leaves on rings of isolated thoracic aorta from Sprague-Dawley rats. Our results show that SF extract increased nitric oxide production and relaxed endothelium-intact rings in a dose-dependent (0.3 µg/ml–1 mg/ml) manner, and the maximum arterial relaxation (Rmax) was significantly reduced with endothelium denudation. Pretreatment of endothelium-intact rings with L-NAME (a non-selective inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, 100 µM), or ODQ (an inhibitor of soluble guanylyl cyclase, 10 µM) significantly diminished SF-mediated vasorelaxation. Furthermore, SF induced Akt phosphorylation as well as increased cGMP levels in rings treated with increasing doses of SF. Prior exposure to PI3K inhibitors, wortmannin (0.1 µM) or LY294002 (10 µM), decreased cGMP accumulation and attenuated the SF-induced vasorelaxation by approximately 50% (Rmax). SF-evoked relaxation was not affected by indomethacin, verapamil, glibenclamide, tetraethylammonium, pyrilamine or atropine. Taken together, our results indicate that SF induces endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation through the PI3K/Akt/eNOS/NO/sGC/cGMP signaling pathway. Our data illustrate the health-orientated benefits of consuming SF which may act as an antihypertensive agent to reduce the burden of cardiovascular complications.Scopu

Marjoram Relaxes Rat Thoracic Aorta Via a PI3-K/eNOS/cGMP Pathway.

Despite pharmacotherapeutic advances, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the primary cause of global mortality. Alternative approaches, such as herbal medicine, continue to be sought to reduce this burden. is recognized for many medicinal values, yet its vasculoprotective effects remain poorly investigated. Here, we subjected rat thoracic aortae to increasing doses of an ethanolic extract of (OME). OME induced relaxation in a dose-dependent manner in endothelium-intact rings. This relaxation was significantly blunted in denuded rings. N(ω)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) or 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3,-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) significantly reduced the OME-induced vasorelaxation. Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels were also increased by OME. Moreover, wortmannin or LY294002 significantly reduced OME-induced vasorelaxation. Blockers of ATP-sensitive or Ca2+-activated potassium channels such as glibenclamide or tetraethylamonium (TEA), respectively, did not significantly affect OME-induced relaxation. Similarly, verapamil, a Ca channel blocker, indomethacin, a non-selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor, and pyrilamine, a H1 histamine receptor blocker, did not significantly modulate the observed relaxation. Taken together, our results show that OME induces vasorelaxation via an endothelium-dependent mechanism involving the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-K)/ endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase (eNOS)/cGMP pathway. Our findings further support the medicinal value of marjoram and provide a basis for its beneficial intake. Although consuming marjoram may have an antihypertensive effect, further studies are needed to better determine its effects in different vascular beds

Asymmetry and structural system analysis of the proximal femur meta-epiphysis: osteoarticular anatomical pathology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The human femur is commonly considered as a subsystem of the locomotor apparatus with four conspicuous levels of organization. This phenomenon is the result of the evolution of the locomotor apparatus, which encompasses both constitutional and individual variability. The work therein reported, therefore, underlies the significance of observing anatomical system analysis of the proximal femur meta-epiphysis in normal conditions, according to the anatomic positioning with respect to the right or left side of the body, and the presence of system asymmetry in the meta-epiphysis structure, thus indicating structural and functional asymmetry.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 160 femur bones of both sexes were compiled and a morphological study of 15 linear and angulated parameters of proximal femur epiphysis was produced, thus defining the linear/angulated size of tubular bones. The parameters were divided into linear and angulated groups, while maintaining the motion of the hip joint and transmission of stress to the unwanted parts of the limb. Furthermore, the straight and vertical diameters of the femoral head and the length of the femoral neck were also studied. The angle between the neck and diaphysis, the neck antiversion and angle of rotation of the femoral neck were subsequently measured. Finally, the condylo-diaphyseal angle with respect to the axis of extremity was determined. To visualize the force of intersystem ties, we have used the method of correlation galaxy construction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The absolute numeral values of each linear parameter were transformed to relative values. The values of superfluity coefficient for each parameter in the right and left femoral bone groups were estimated and Pearson's correlation coefficient has been calculated (> 0.60). Retrospectively, the observed results have confirmed the presence of functional asymmetry in the proximal femur meta-epiphysis. On the basis of compliance or insignificant difference in the confidence interval of the linear parameters, we have revealed, therefore, a discrepancy in values between the neck and the diaphysis angle and the angle of femoral neck rotation (range displacement of confident interval to a greater degree to the right).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study assessed the observations of a systemic anatomical study encompassing the proximal femur meta-epiphysis behavior in normal condition. This work has significance in medical practice as the theoretical basis is also required in knowing the decreased frequency and degree of severity of osteoarthritic pathologies in the dominant lower extremity.</p