Antidote Stocking at Hospitals in North Palestine

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the availability and adequacy of antidote stocking at hospitals in north Palestine based on published guidelines for antidote stocking. Methodology: This study is a cross sectional survey of all hospitals at north Palestine (n=11) using a questionnaire which was completed by the director of the pharmacy department at each hospital. The questionnaire was divided into 2 parts. The first part contained a list of 25 antidotes while the second part contained a list of 12 antidotes. This classification is based on the guideline proposed by the British Association for Emergency Medicine (BAEM). The net antidote stock results were compared with the American guidelines as well. Result: The overall availability of each antidote in the first list varied widely from zero for glucagon to 100% for atropine. The number antidotes of the first list that were stocked in the 11 hospitals ranged from 5 to 12 antidotes but none of the hospitals stocked all the 25 antidotes. Additionally, availability of antidotes in the second list varied widely from zero for polyethylene glycol to 100% for dobutamine. The number of antidotes stocked ranged from 5 to 9 but none of the hospitals stocked all the 12 antidotes. Discussion and Conclusion: hospitals in north Palestine do not have adequate stock of antidotes. Raising awareness of the importance of antidotes by education, regular review of antidote storage, distribution plans, and appropriate legislation might provide solutions. Coordination between Palestinian hospitals and the PCDIC at An-Najah National University is also important

Global cocaine intoxication research trends during 1975–2015: a bibliometric analysis of Web of Science publications

Density view of terms map based on the co-occurrence matrix of terms from text data in the title and abstract of retrieved publications related to cocaine toxicity by periods. Figure S1. Density view of terms map in Period I (1975–1995); colors show the density of relevance, sorting from blue (lowest density) to red (highest density). (number of publications related to cocaine intoxication = 954). Figure S2. Density view of terms map in Period II (1996–2005); colors show the density of relevance, sorting from blue (lowest density) to red (highest density). (Number of publications related to cocaine intoxication = 987). Figure S3. Density view of terms map in Period III (2006–2015); colors show the density of relevance, sorting from blue (lowest density) to red (highest density). (Number of publications related to cocaine intoxication = 961). Figure S4. Density view of terms map in Period 1975–1995; colors show the density of relevance, sorting from blue (lowest density) to red (highest density). (Number of publications related to cocaine intoxication = 2,902). (DOCX 794 kb

Bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: research activity in Arab countries

BACKGROUND: Chronic respiratory diseases, like bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are a worldwide health problem. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of asthma and COPD-related research from Arab countries has not been explored and there are few internationally published reports on such field. The main objectives of this study were to analyze research output originating from Arab countries in the field of bronchial asthma and COPD. METHODS: Original scientific articles or reviews published from the 22 Arab countries were screened using specific words pertaining to asthma and COPD using Scopus database and search engine. Research productivity was evaluated based on: (a) total and trends of contribution of each Arab country to asthma and COPD research and (b) journals in which researchers from Arab countries published their research. RESULTS: The total number of original research and review articles published globally about bronchial asthma and COPD was 163,964. The leading country in bronchial asthma and COPD research was United States of America (38,632; 23.56%). Worldwide, Turkey ranked 19th while Israel and Iran ranked 25th and 29th respectively. Among Arab countries, Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came on positions 39th and 43rd, respectively. A total of 1,304 documents about bronchial asthma and COPD were published from Arab countries which represents 0.8% of the global research output. Research in bronchial asthma was almost double that in COPD. Research from Arab countries was low and showed a significant increase after 2000. Approximately 12% of research activity in asthma and COPD from Arab countries was published in Saudi Medical Journal, Annals of Saudi Medicine, Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal and Tunisie Medicale. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a total publication of 353 (27.07%) ranked first among the Arab countries while University of Kuwait was the most productive institution with a total of 123 (9.43%) documents. CONCLUSIONS: The present data showed relatively low research productivity about bronchial asthma and COPD in Arab countries. Research output can be improved by investing more in international and national collaborative research projects in the field of asthma and COPD

Osteoporosis is a neglected health priority in Arab World: a comparative bibliometric analysis

Osteoporosis is an important health problem with serious consequences. Evaluation of osteoporosis scientific output from Arab countries has not been explored and there are few internationally published reports on research activity about osteoporosis. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the research output originating from Arab countries and 3 Middle Eastern non-Arab countries, particularly Israel, Turkey and Iran in the field of osteoporosis. Original scientific articles or reviews published from the 21 Arab countries, Israel, Turkey and Iran about “osteoporosis” were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. The time frame for the result was up to year 2012. The total number of original and review research articles published globally about osteoporosis was 43,571. The leading country in osteoporosis research was United States of America (14,734; 33.82%). Worldwide, Turkey ranked 16th while Israel and Iran ranked 24th and 31st respectively. Among Arab countries, Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came on positions 41 and 45 respectively. A total of 426 documents about “osteoporosis” were published from Arab countries which represents 0.98% of the global research output. Research about osteoporosis from Arab countries was very low until 2002 and then increased steadily. The total number of citations for osteoporosis documents from the Arab world was 5551 with an average citation of 13.03 per document and an h- index of 35. Thirty (7.04%) documents published from Arab countries about osteoporosis were published in Saudi Medical Journal. Egypt, with a total publication of 117 (27.47%) ranked first among the Arab countries in research about osteoporosis while American University in Beirut was the most productive institution with a total of 47 (11.03%) documents. Compared with other non-Arab countries in the Middle East, the research productivity from the Arab countries was lesser than that from Turkey and Israel but higher than that from Iran. The present data showed low research productivity in osteoporosis field in Arab countries. Research output can be improved by investing in more international and national collaborative research projects in the field of osteoporosis

Bibliometric analysis of global migration health research in peer-reviewed literature (2000-2016).

BACKGROUND: The health of migrants has become an important issue in global health and foreign policy. Assessing the current status of research activity and identifying gaps in global migration health (GMH) is an important step in mapping the evidence-base and on advocating health needs of migrants and mobile populations. The aim of this study was to analyze globally published peer-reviewed literature in GMH. METHODS: A bibliometric analysis methodology was used. The Scopus database was used to retrieve documents in peer-reviewed journals in GMH for the study period from 2000 to 2016. A group of experts in GMH developed the needed keywords and validated the final search strategy. RESULTS: The number of retrieved documents was 21,457. Approximately one third (6878; 32.1%) of the retrieved documents were published in the last three years of the study period. In total, 5451 (25.4%) documents were about refugees and asylum seekers, while 1328 (6.2%) were about migrant workers, 440 (2.1%) were about international students, 679 (3.2%) were about victims of human trafficking/smuggling, 26 (0.1%) were about patients' mobility across international borders, and the remaining documents were about unspecified categories of migrants. The majority of the retrieved documents (10,086; 47.0%) were in psychosocial and mental health domain, while 2945 (13.7%) documents were in infectious diseases, 6819 (31.8%) documents were in health policy and systems, 2759 (12.8%) documents were in maternal and reproductive health, and 1918 (8.9%) were in non-communicable diseases. The contribution of authors and institutions in Asian countries, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Eastern European countries was low. Literature in GMH represents the perspectives of high-income migrant destination countries. CONCLUSION: Our heat map of research output shows that despite the ever-growing prominence of human mobility across the globe, and Sustainable Development Goals of leaving no one behind, research output on migrants' health is not consistent with the global migration pattern. A stronger evidence base is needed to enable authorities to make evidence-informed decisions on migration health policy and practice. Research collaboration and networks should be encouraged to prioritize research in GMH

Sleep habits and sleep problems among Palestinian students

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>The aim of this study was to describe sleep habits and sleep problems in a population of undergraduates in Palestine. Association between self-reported sleep quality and self-reported academic achievement was also investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sleep habits and problems were investigated using a convenience sample of students from An-Najah National University, Palestine. The study was carried out during spring semester, 2009. A self-administered questionnaire developed based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV criteria and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>400 students with a mean age of 20.2 ± 1.3 were studied. Reported mean duration of night sleep in the study sample was 6.4 ± 1.1 hours. The majority (58.3%) of students went to bed before midnight and 18% of the total sample woke up before 6 am. Sleep latency of more than one hour was present in 19.3% of the students. Two thirds (64.8%) of the students reported having at least one nocturnal awakening per night. Nightmares were the most common parasomnia reported by students. Daytime naps were common and reported in 74.5% of the study sample. Sleep quality was reported as "poor" in only 9.8% and was significantly associated with sleep latency, frequency of nocturnal awakenings, time of going to bed, nightmares but not with academic achievement.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Sleep habits among Palestinian undergraduates were comparable to those reported in European studies. Sleep problems were common and there was no significant association between sleep quality and academic achievement.</p

The Arab world's contribution to solid waste literature: a bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND: Environmental and health-related effects of solid waste material are considered worldwide problems. The aim of this study was to assess the volume and impact of Arab scientific output published in journals indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) on solid waste. METHODS: We included all the documents within the SCI whose topic was solid waste from all previous years up to 31 December 2012. In this bibliometric analysis we sought to evaluate research that originated from Arab countries in the field of solid waste, as well as its relative growth rate, collaborative measures, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals. RESULTS: A total of 382 (2.35 % of the overall global research output in the field of solid waste) documents were retrieved from the Arab countries. The annual number of documents published in the past three decades (1982–2012) indicated that research productivity demonstrated a noticeable rise during the last decade. The highest number of articles associated with solid waste was that of Egypt (22.8 %), followed by Tunisia (19.6), and Jordan (13.4 %). the total number of citations over the analysed years at the date of data collection was 4,097, with an average of 10.7 citations per document. The h-index of the citing articles was 31. Environmental science was the most researched topic, represented by 175 (45.8 %) articles. Waste Management was the top active journal. The study recognized 139 (36.4 %) documents from collaborations with 25 non-Arab countries. Arab authors mainly collaborated with countries in Europe (22.5 %), especially France, followed by countries in the Americas (9.4 %), especially the USA. The most productive institution was the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, with 6.3 % of total publications. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the expected increase in solid waste production from Arab world, research activity about solid waste is still low. Governments must invest more in solid waste research to avoid future unexpected problems. Finally, since solid waste is a multidisciplinary science, research teams in engineering, health, toxicology, environment, geology and others must be formulated to produce research in solid waste from different scientific aspects