Assessing Service Quality at Optical Centers in Palestine Using SERVQUAL: Measuring Ambiguity

The main purpose of this article is to employ the SERVQUAL model to assess customers’ perceptions and expectations of service quality in the optical centers in the West Bank of Palestine, and to examine the impact of this service quality on their satisfaction. A focused critical review of the service quality literature was undertaken. Data was collected from a convenient and purposeful sample of 251 customers of optical centers in the West Bank via personally administered and online questionnaires. Data was analyzed, with the aid of SPSS, using descriptive and inferential statistics, including the Mann-Whitney test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, regression analysis, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The findings indicate that SERVQUAL proved to be a good tool for the purpose of assessing the gaps between customers’ expectations and perceptions of the service quality of optical centers in the Palestinian context. The findings also confirmed that customers had higher service quality expectations than perceptions in all the five dimensions of SERVQUAL. The developed regression analysis model shows that tangibles, reliability, assurance, and empathy had a significant statistical impact on customers’ satisfaction. No studies, to the best knowledge of the authors, were conducted on customers’ perceptions and expectations of service quality in the optical centers in the Palestinian context. Limitations of the study’s methodology and findings were discussed and avenues for further research suggested. The findings of this study could be valuable to interested parties including optometry regulators and managers of optical centers

Conceptual Understanding for Systems of Linear Equations: Difficulties and Challenges

The conceptual understanding of algebraic concepts is challenging to students, adds to the challenge of teaching them. This study aimed to reveal the level of conceptual understanding about Systems of Linear Equations (SLEs) and its difficulties that faced students while they solving problems. The study sample consisted of (68) male and female students of linear algebra course. The conceptual understanding test was prepared with two qualitative and quantitative rubrics to classify students’ levels. The study results showed a decrease in the conceptual understanding of SLEs in general, and in the area of realizing the relationships between concepts related to SLEs in particular. In contrast, the level of conceptual understanding of students was medium in the context of multiple representations. The results also showed many difficulties that students face while solving SLEs. The study recommended the need to focus on the conceptual understanding of concepts related to SLEs and to use multiple representations and connect them together when teaching mathematical concepts

Karakterizacija terenskih izolata virusa zarazne bolesti Fabricijeve burze u Jordanu uporabom molekularnih metoda - kratko priopćenje.

The reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (RTPCR/ RFLP) and RT-PCR specific primer to detect very virulent (vv) strains of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were used for identification and characterization of Jordanian field isolates of IBDV that caused severe outbreaks. In this study, 80 bursa of fabricius samples were used from 20 commercial broiler chicken flocks in Jordan with clinical symptoms of IBDV. The RT-PCR/RFLP was conducted on a 743-bp fragment of the VP2 gene with the restriction enzymes BstNI and MboI. The results indicate the existence of IBDV field strains in Jordan. In addition, 60% of IBDV Jordanian isolates had unique RFLP patterns different from those previously published elsewhere. However, 20% of local IBDV strains were positive on using a specific primer for vvIBDV and had a unique RFLP pattern that differed from the Jordanian IBDV isolate and those previously published elsewhere.Lančana reakcija polimerazom uz prethodnu reverznu transkripciju/polimorfizam dužine restrikcijskih fragmenata (RT PCR/RFLP) i RT-PCR specifične početnice za jako virulentne sojeve virusa zarazne bolesti Fabricijeve burze (ZBFB) bile su rabljene za identifikaciju i karakterizaciju jordanskih terenskih izolata toga virusa koji su uzrokovali teški oblik bolesti. Za istraživanje je bilo rabljeno 80 uzoraka tkiva Fabricijeve burze uzetih iz 20 komercijalnih jata tovnih pilića u Jordanu u kojih su ustanovljeni klinički znakovi ZBFB a. RT-PCR/ RFLP proveden je na odsječku gena VP2 od 743-bp s restrikcijskim enzimima BstNI i MboI. Rezultati upućuju na postojanje terenskih sojeva virusa ZBFB-a od kojih je 60% izolata imalo jedinstveni RFLP obrazac različit od onoga već objavljenog drugdje. Ipak, 20% lokalnih sojeva virusa bilo je pozitivno uporabom specifične početnice za jako virulentni virus i imalo je jedinstveni obrazac RFLP različit u jordanskih izolata u odnosu na izolate objavljene drugdje

Saudi mothers' preferences about breaking bad news concerning newborns: a structured verbal questionnaire

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Breaking bad news (BBN) to parents whose newborn has a major disease is an ethical dilemma. In Saudi Arabia, BBN about newborns is performed according to the parental preferences that have been reported from non-Arabic/non-Islamic countries. Saudi mothers' preferences about BBN have not yet been studied. Therefore, we aimed to elicit the preferences of Saudi mothers about BBN concerning newborns.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We selected a convenience sample of 402 Saudi mothers, aged 18-50 years, who had no previous experience with BBN. We selected them via a simple number-randomization scheme from the premises of a level III Saudi hospital between October of 2009 and January of 2011. We used a hypothetical situation (BBN about trisomy 21) to elicit their preferences about BBN concerning newborns via a structured verbal questionnaire composed of 12 multiple-choice questions. We expressed their preferences as percentages (95% confidence interval), and we used the Kendall's W test (W) to assess the degree of agreement in preferences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Saudi mothers preferred that BBN be conducted with both parents together (64% [60-69]), albeit with weak levels of agreement (W = 0.29). They showed moderate agreement in their preferences that BBN should be conducted early (79% [75-83], W = 0.48), in detail (81% [77-85], W = 0.52), in person (88% [85-91], W = 0.58), and in a quiet setting (86% [83-90], W = 0.53). With extremely weak agreement, they preferred to have a known person present for support during BBN (56% [51-61], W = 0.01), to have close bodily contact with their babies (66% [61-70], W = 0.10), and to have no another patients present (64% [59-68], W = 0.08). They showed moderate levels of agreement in their desires to detail, in advance, their preferences about process of BBN by giving a reversible, written informed consent that could be utilized for guidance, if needed (80% [76-84], W = 0.36).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In our experience, Saudi mothers' preferences about BBN concerning newborns are varied, suggesting that a "one-size-fits-all" approach is inappropriate. A reversible, written informed consent detailing their preferences about BBN that would be kept in their medical records and utilized for guidance, if needed, may be the best solution, given this level of diversity. These findings merit further study.</p

Endotoxin and bone turnover markers in postmenopausal women with and without osteoporosis

Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) also known as endotoxin, which represents the outer cell wall membrane of gram-negative bacteria has been implicated as the major bacterial bone-resorbing factor. Recently, the most prevalent form of clinically significant osteopenia and osteoporosis involves periodontitis and otitis media by gram-negative bacteria. The aim of the study is to evaluate circulating endotoxin levels and to study the association amongst endotoxin and bone turnover markers in a cohort of Saudi postmenopausal women with or without osteoporosis. We determined the levels of endotoxin, bone turnover markers, 25-OH vitamin D total and corrected calcium in 100 Saudi postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and 100 women without osteoporosis were taken under the supervision of qualified physicians in the primary care centers in Riyadh. Serum endotoxin, NTx, osteocalcin, PTH, 25-OH vitamin D total and calcium were analyzed. Serum NTX and PTH levels in patients with osteoporosis were significant higher than controls. Serum endotoxin was significantly and positively associated with calcium in all subject and controls. Endotoxin was positively associated with NTX in both groups but not with osteocalcin, PTH or 25-OH vitamin D. Findings of the present study implicate a role for endotoxin-mediated inflammation in patients with osteoporosis

Protective effect of berberine chloride on Plasmodium chabaudi-induced hepatic tissue injury in mice

AbstractThe present study aimed to investigate the protective role of berberine (BER) against Plasmodium chabaudi-induced infection in mice. Animals were divided into three groups. Group I served as a vehicle control. Group II and group III were infected with 1000 P. chabaudi infected erythrocytes. Group III was gavaged with 100μl of 10mg/kg berberine chloride for 10days. All mice were sacrificed at day 10 post-infection. The percentage of parasitemia was significantly reduced more than 30%, after treatment of mice with BER. Infection caused marked hepatic injuries as indicated by histopathological alterations as evidenced by the presence of hepatic lobular inflammatory cellular infiltrations, dilated sinusoids, vacuolated hepatocytes, increased number of Kupffer cells and the malaria pigment, hemozoin. These changes in livers led to the increased histological score. Also, infection induced a significant increase in liver alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase and a significant increase in the total leucocytic count. Moreover, mice became anemic as proved by the significant decrease in erythrocyte number and haemoglobin content. BER showed a significant protective potential by improving the above mentioned parameters. Based on these results, it is concluded that berberine could offer protection against hepatic tissue damage

New Compact Microstrip Filters Based on Quasi Fractal Resonator

This paper presents new microstrip devices&nbsp; as single band bandpass and multi band bandstop filters. The proposed filters use&nbsp; slotted patch microstrip resonator based on quasi fractal geometry, simulated by AWR12 software package. Both filters have quasi elliptic frequency response, designed at centre frequency of&nbsp; 2.437 GHz for bandpass filter and at band frequencies of&nbsp; 2.434, 4.032, 4.976 and 5.638 GHz GHz respectively, for multi bandstop filter. All filters are employed using RT/Duroid 6010.8 LM substrate of &nbsp;dielectric constant and 1.27 mm dielectric thickness. Simulation results show that the designed quasi fractal bandpass filter has very narrow fractional bandwidth of 0.38 %&nbsp; which is very rare in microstrip filter design. On the other hand,&nbsp; the projected bandstop filter offers multi&nbsp; narrow rejection bands that is&nbsp; useful in broadband wireless schemes influencing from fixed interferences. Both filters&nbsp; present satisfactory S11 and S21 responses besides smallness properties that stand for interesting features of the newest wireless applications. The simulated and measured frequency responses for both designed filters are in good agreement

Lipid peroxidation is involved in calcium dependent upregulation of mitochondrial metabolism in skeletal muscle

BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle cells continuously generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Excessive ROS can affect lipids resulting in lipid peroxidation (LPO). Here we investigated the effects of myotube intracellular calcium-induced signaling eliciting contractions on the LPO induction and the impact of LPO-product 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) on physiology/pathology of myotubes using C2C12 myoblasts. METHODS: C2C12 myoblasts were differentiated into myotubes, stimulated with caffeine and analyzed for the induction of LPO and formation of 4-HNE protein adducts. Further effects of 4-HNE on mitochondrial bioenergetics, NADH level, mitochondrial density and expression of mitochondrial metabolism genes were determined. RESULTS: Short and long-term caffeine stimulation of myotubes promoted superoxide production, LPO and formation of 4-HNE protein adducts. Furthermore, low 4-HNE concentrations had no effect on myotube viability and cellular redox homeostasis, while concentrations from 10 μM and above reduced myotube viability and significantly disrupted homeostasis. A time and dose-dependent 4-HNE effect on superoxide production and mitochondrial NADH-autofluorescence was observed. Finally, 4-HNE had strong impact on maximal respiration, spare respiratory capacity, ATP production, coupling efficiency of mitochondria and mitochondrial density. CONCLUSION: Data presented in this work make evident for the first time that pathological 4-HNE levels elicit damaging effects on skeletal muscle cells while acute exposure to physiological 4-HNE induces transient adaptation. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: This work suggests an important role of 4-HNE on the regulation of myotube's mitochondrial metabolism and cellular energy production. It further signifies the importance of skeletal muscle cells hormesis in response to acute stress in order to maintain essential biological functions