Diabetes Mellitus Risk Assessment Among Egyptians Versus Saudi Arabians Nursing Employees: Comparative Study

Purpose: Diabetes mellitus is the uppermost vital public health challenges in the world. More than 150 million adults are affected and the total number is predicted to double in the next 25 years. The present study aiming to assess the diabetes mellitus risk among Egyptians versus Saudi Arabian's nursing employees. Methods: A convenient sample of 150 employees from each country were collected. The study was conducted at faculties of Nursing at Menoufia University, Egypt and Jouf University, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia. Two tools were utilized for data collection, self-administered questionnaire and self-risk assessment screening score. Results: Both groups had a good total knowledge score (74% of Egyptians vs. 58% of Saudi Arabians) with a statistically significant difference. More than half of Egyptians had negative attitude compared to nearly half of Saudi Arabians who had a positive attitude. Nearly two-thirds of Egyptians had good practice vs. 44% of Saudi Arabians who had a bad practice. More than two-thirds of Egyptians vs. more than three-fourths of Saudi Arabians were scored high risk for diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Based on the findings, there were statistically significant differences among Egyptians versus Saudi Arabian's nursing employees in total knowledge, practice and attitude scores of diabetes mellitus. Total risk assessment screening score of diabetes mellitus has shown a statistically significant difference between both groups. Recommendations: Large-scale awareness programs should be implemented after identifying the appropriate means to spread the message to the common population about all aspects of diabetes. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Knowledge, Practices, Attitude, Risk assessment. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/59-0

The temporal and long‐term impact of donor body mass index on recipient outcomes after kidney transplantation – a retrospective study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153284/1/tri13505_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153284/2/tri13505.pd

An integrative comparative study between ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia versus parenteral opioids alone for analgesia in emergency department patients with hip fractures: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundEmergency physicians play a major role in managing patients with hip fractures. The most commonly used pain management option is parenteral opioids. However, parenteral opioids are subjected to several adverse effects. New pain management techniques such as regional anesthesia are used as alternatives to parenteral opioids. Anatomical landmarks were used to administer regional anesthesia; however, ultrasound guidance has shown promising results with regional anesthesia. Objectiveof the Review: The present study compares the efficacy of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (USGRA) to parenteral opioids in analgesia of hip fractures patients. MethodsA literature search for original and relevant articles carried out through six electronic databases, yielded 710 articles which were then assessed using the eligibility criteria resulting in 8 studies eligible for inclusion. ResultsA Meta-analysis of the seven studies showed that ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block was more effective than parenteral opioids in relieving pain. Similarly, meta-analysis of data from two studies shows that US-guided FICB significantly reduced pain scores than parenteral opioids. A subgroup analysis of adverse events showed no significant difference in nausea/vomiting and respiratory complications. However, a subgroup analysis on hypotension showed that the incidence of hypotension was significantly lower in USGRA than parenteral opioids. The present study also revealed that patients in the USGRA group required less frequent rescue analgesia than the patients in the parenteral opioids group. ConclusionResults of the present study show that USGRA is superior to parenteral opioids in reducing pain and the need for rescue analgesia in patients with hip fractures.The publication of this article is funded by the Qatar National Library

Thyroid Hormone Indices in Computer Workers with Emphasis on the Role of Zinc Supplementation

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the effects of computer monitor-emitted radiation on thyroid hormones and the possible protective role of zinc supplementation.MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included three groups. The first group (group B) consisted of 42 computer workers. This group was given Zinc supplementation in the form of one tablet daily for eight weeks. The second group (group A) comprised the same 42 computer workers after zinc supplementation. A group of 63 subjects whose job does not entail computer use was recruited as a control Group (Group C). All participants filled a questionnaire including detailed medical and occupational histories. They were subjected to full clinical examination. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and zinc levels were measured in all participants. RESULTS: TSH, FT3, FT4 and zinc concentrations were decreased significantly in group B relative to group C. In group A, all tested parameters were improved when compared with group B. The obtained results revealed that radiation emitted from computers led to changes in TSH and thyroid hormones (FT3 and FT4) in the workers. CONCLUSION: Improvement after supplementation suggests that zinc can ameliorate hazards of such radiation on thyroid hormone indices

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

How Students, in an Air Conditioning and Heating Course, Assess the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the ABET Student Learning Outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced almost all universities in the world to switch from face-to-face to an online teaching format. In response to this sudden transition, the Mechanical Engineering department at the Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan had to adapt to this change within two weeks in mid-March 2020. In addition, the department had to comply with the strict ABET accreditation regulations, among which is the indirect assessment of each course by the students each semester. They judge to what degree ABET-mandated student learning outcomes (SO) are actually met in any course designated to deliver the outcomes. Another ABET accreditation regulation is direct assessment, which is conducted by the instructor and relies on an instructor’s own evaluation of tasks designated for certain student learning outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine if, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ assessments changed significantly, in accordance with the ABET mandate, by using statistical analyses of students’ responses on an online completed survey. An independent samples t-test was used to evaluate the statistical importance of the observed differences. The SO coverage rates were quite high during the pandemic, although, generally, somewhat lower than their pre-pandemic equivalents. In this study, the Air Conditioning and Heating (ACH) course was selected to compare direct and indirect student learning outcomes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, our findings revealed a positive effect on SO performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and due to e-learning teaching

How Students, in an Air Conditioning and Heating Course, Assess the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the ABET Student Learning Outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced almost all universities in the world to switch from face-to-face to an online teaching format. In response to this sudden transition, the Mechanical Engineering department at the Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan had to adapt to this change within two weeks in mid-March 2020. In addition, the department had to comply with the strict ABET accreditation regulations, among which is the indirect assessment of each course by the students each semester. They judge to what degree ABET-mandated student learning outcomes (SO) are actually met in any course designated to deliver the outcomes. Another ABET accreditation regulation is direct assessment, which is conducted by the instructor and relies on an instructor’s own evaluation of tasks designated for certain student learning outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine if, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ assessments changed significantly, in accordance with the ABET mandate, by using statistical analyses of students’ responses on an online completed survey. An independent samples t-test was used to evaluate the statistical importance of the observed differences. The SO coverage rates were quite high during the pandemic, although, generally, somewhat lower than their pre-pandemic equivalents. In this study, the Air Conditioning and Heating (ACH) course was selected to compare direct and indirect student learning outcomes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, our findings revealed a positive effect on SO performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and due to e-learning teaching

Urban air pollution monitoring system with forecasting models

A system for monitoring and forecasting urban air pollution is presented in this paper. The system uses low-cost air-quality monitoring motes that are equipped with an array of gaseous and meteorological sensors. These motes wirelessly communicate to an intelligent sensing platform that consists of several modules. The modules are responsible for receiving and storing the data, preprocessing and converting the data into useful information, forecasting the pollutants based on historical information, and finally presenting the acquired information through different channels, such as mobile application, Web portal, and short message service. The focus of this paper is on the monitoring system and its forecasting module. Three machine learning (ML) algorithms are investigated to build accurate forecasting models for one-step and multi-step ahead of concentrations of ground-level ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These ML algorithms are support vector machines, M5P model trees, and artificial neural networks (ANN). Two types of modeling are pursued: 1) univariate and 2) multivariate. The performance evaluation measures used are prediction trend accuracy and root mean square error (RMSE). The results show that using different features in multivariate modeling with M5P algorithm yields the best forecasting performances. For example, using M5P, RMSE is at its lowest, reaching 31.4, when hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is used to predict SO2. Contrarily, the worst performance, i.e., RMSE of 62.4, for SO2 is when using ANN in univariate modeling. The outcome of this paper can be significantly useful for alarming applications in areas with high air pollution levels. 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.Scopu

Sustainable Development in Education of Horticulture

Sustainable development in education of horticulture imposes envolvement of new system in education of agricultural experts (in particular vegetable growers); include – etical view off point to the reality of production,synthesis of traditional practices (crop rotation, mixed crops, etc.), the love to the land inherited from ancestors and modern scientific achievements from this perspective which will have a positive environmental effect over the agrarian ecosystems and the environment in general. From this perspective lectures and practices should be based on the principles of integration of different systems and methods of production; this will include sustainable management of fertilizing and irrigation; energy use associated with production; integrated control of pests with sustainable application in the farms. These principles should be presented in a special section entitled “Sustainable Growing of Vegetables” which will form the basic knowledge related to the topic; they should be incorporated in a suitable place in the respective sections for individual crops where developed of details with active participation of trained people. In order to overcome the specified problems and ensure sustainable development of the sector its necessary to provide well-trained people who know not only the traditional technologies used at present but also the principles of sustainable agriculture as well, especially related with keeping natural resources to next generations