Current treatment of choice for chronic hepatitis C infection

More than three million Americans have chronic hepatitis C infection, and the disease remains one of the most common blood-borne infections in the US. Treatment is focused on the chronic form of the disease, because the acute one tends to be self-limiting. In this article, we review the recent literature regarding the most effective therapy against hepatitis C infection, to confirm the current treatment of choice for the disease. We conclude that combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin remains the initial treatment of choice. New research focusing on adjuvant therapies, such as protease and polymerase inhibitors, has yielded early data that appear to be promising

Enhancing Water Resource Management in Arid Areas, Disi Basin -Jordan

Abstract: Water shortage is a main issue in Jordan as the annual share per capita is less than 145 cubic meters that categorizes Jordan as one of the top five poorest countries in the world in respect to fresh water resources. Limited financial and natural resources and water shortage play significant constraint to development; concurrently the population growth is 2.3%, in addition to large number of refugees from neighboring countries since 1948. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) including implementation of decision support tools is necessary to balance the present demand and future generations. Decision support system software based on Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) used to analyze multiple variables associated with agricultural crops. The MCA utilized Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) which resulted in the prioritization of sustainable water policies for management in the Disi Basin (the biggest non renewable ground water basin in Jordan). The inputs to the MCA were generated through applying of Modflow (groundwater), Penman Montieth models and the estimated water productivity of agricultural and industrial sectors. The use of MCA led to develop good management practices of water resources and also recommended how to enhance a long-term sustainability in Disi Basin, while allowing for water utilization and economic growth. It can be concluded that the MCA tool and AHP are potentially positive tools contributing to the process of decision-making for selection and ranking of alternatives and policies, therefore helping in solving problems and sustaining the management of the precious water resources

Association between mobile phone use and neck pain in university students: A cross-sectional study using numeric rating scale for evaluation of neck pain.

ObjectiveMobile phones are reliable devices for communication and entertainment. However, their utilization for prolonged periods in flexed neck position is linked to neck and shoulders pain. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the association between neck pain and the duration of device use, taking into consideration gender, age, and the most frequent position in which students use their devices.Subjects and methodsBased on a self-administered online questionnaire, we filled 500 questionnaires between February 15th, 2017 and March 18th, 2017. The study sample included healthy students from health care faculties regardless of their age, gender, or handedness.ResultsAnalysis of the predictors for pain severity showed that age (p = 0.04) and duration of use (p = 0.001) were significantly associated with the severity of neck pain, while only the duration of use was significantly associated with pain duration (p = 0.036). Subjects were divided into two groups according to the pain score, 75.8% had pain severity equal or less than 4/10 and 24.2% had pain severity more than 4/10. Of those with pain severity >4, 5.8% of students sought medical help at the emergency department and 12.4% visited clinics, compared to only 0.3% seeking medical advice at an emergency department and 4.2% visiting clinics in the group with pain severity of ≤4 (p4 used analgesia, compared to only 12.1% in subjects with pain severity of ≤4 (pConclusionThis study demonstrates a significant positive correlation between the duration of mobile phone use and the duration and severity of neck pain. Furthermore, the increased severity of neck pain places a huge burden on the healthcare system