The Effect of Solvent-Modification on the Physicochemical Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized by Sol-Gel Method

This study investigated the solvent effect on the synthesis of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle using sol-gel method. Zinc acetate dihydrate and oxalic acid were used as a chemical precursor for the synthesis of the ZnO nanoparticle considering the effects of various solvents. The effect of using water, propanol, or ethanol as solvent during the synthesis were examined. The resultant gel in the aqueous and organic moderate solvent was thermally cracked into ZnO nanoparticles at 450 °C under atmospheric pressure. The results showed that the solvent type has a significant effect on the morphology and particles size of the ZnO nanoparticles synthesized. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to investigate the microstructure of the nanoparticles. The crystalline and chemical structure of the prepared ZnO nanoparticle were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The average diameter of nano-size particles obtained for ethanol, propanol and water are 79.55 nm, 83.86 nm and 85.59 nm, respectively. ZnO particles showed higher degree of crystalline in water compared to other solvents under current investigation. Copyright © 2021 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Medical students' perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine therapies: A pre- and post-exposure survey in Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia

Background: Evidently, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is increasingly a recognized medical practice that efficiently uses multiple treatment therapies and techniques in promoting the health  and wellbeing of people as well as preventing and managing a variety of human disorders. Research in CAM, which courses exposure to diverse healthcare professionals, is important from many perspectives including improvement in teaching skills of faculty, enhancing capacity building, and  innovative curriculum development. This pre- and post-design crosssectional study aimed to assess perceptions, training needs, personal usage, use in office practice, and knowledge of two batches of medical students toward CAM therapies in Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia.Materials and Methods: The second year medical students of the first (year 2012-13) and second (year 2013-2014) batch [n=26 & 39, respectively] were selected for this study. A reliable 16-item  self-administered questionnaire was distributed among all students for answering before and after the 48-hour specific 19 CAM therapies course, in terms of CAM therapies are clearly conventional or  alternative, training needs, effectiveness, personal use, use in practice, management of two clinical cases by CAM or conventional therapies, and views about which evidence based approach strongly support individual CAM modalities.Results: Medical students' knowledge and perceptions of CAM therapies significantly improved across some sub-items of CAM questionnaire with a positive trend in the rest of its items including their views about CAM therapies, need for further training, personal use of therapies and advising patients regarding CAM practices strongly supported by randomized clinical controlled trials and published case studies.Conclusion: CAM course tends to have positive impact on the knowledge and perceptions of medical students, in addition to need for further training, and personal use and use of CAM therapies in practice in line with strong evidence-based data regarding therapeutic efficacy. The preliminary results of this study call for further research in specific CAM modalities with a larger sample in academic settings across the nation. Key words: Medical students; Complementary and Alternative Medicine; CAM course; CAM therapies; pre-post design study; Saudi Arabia

MEDICAL STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE THERAPIES: A PRE- AND POST-EXPOSURE SURVEY IN MAJMAAH UNIVERSITY, SAUDI ARABIA

Background: Evidently, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is increasingly a recognized medical practice that efficiently uses multiple treatment therapies and techniques in promoting the health and wellbeing of people as well as preventing and managing a variety of human disorders. Research in CAM, which courses exposure to diverse healthcare professionals, is important from many perspectives including improvement in teaching skills of faculty, enhancing capacity building, and innovative curriculum development. This pre- and post-design crosssectional study aimed to assess perceptions, training needs, personal usage, use in office practice, and knowledge of two batches of medical students toward CAM therapies in Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: The second year medical students of the first (year 2012-13) and second (year 2013-2014) batch [n=26 & 39, respectively] were selected for this study. A reliable 16-item self-administered questionnaire was distributed among all students for answering before and after the 48-hour specific 19 CAM therapies course, in terms of CAM therapies are clearly conventional or alternative, training needs, effectiveness, personal use, use in practice, management of two clinical cases by CAM or conventional therapies, and views about which evidence based approach strongly support individual CAM modalities. Results: Medical students' knowledge and perceptions of CAM therapies significantly improved across some sub-items of CAM questionnaire with a positive trend in the rest of its items including their views about CAM therapies, need for further training, personal use of therapies and advising patients regarding CAM practices strongly supported by randomized clinical controlled trials and published case studies. Conclusion: CAM course tends to have positive impact on the knowledge and perceptions of medical students, in addition to need for further training, and personal use and use of CAM therapies in practice in line with strong evidence-based data regarding therapeutic efficacy. The preliminary results of this study call for further research in specific CAM modalities with a larger sample in academic settings across the nation

COVID-19 Vaccination Among Diverse Population Groups in the Northern Governorates of Iraq

Objectives: The present study was carried out to investigate COVID-19 vaccination coverage among populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, and host communities in northern Iraq and the related underlying factors.Methods: Through a cross-sectional study conducted in five governorates in April–May 2022, 4,564 individuals were surveyed. Data were collected through an adapted questionnaire designed to gather data on participants.Results: 4,564 subjects were included (59.55% were 19–45 years old; 54.51% male). 50.48% of the participants (51.49% of host communities, 48.83% of IDPs, and 45.87% of refugees) had been vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. 40.84% of participants (42.28% of host communities, 35.75% of IDPs, and 36.14% of refugees) had been vaccinated by two doses, and 1.56% (1.65% of host communities, 0.93% of IDPs, and 1.46% of refugees) were vaccinated with three doses.Conclusion: Sociodemographic factors including age, gender, education, occupation, and nationality could affect vaccination coverage. Moreover, higher acceptance rate of vaccination is associated with belief in vaccine safety and effectiveness and trust in the ability of the vaccine to prevent complications

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

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

A Novel Artificial Spider Monkey Based Random Forest Hybrid Framework for Monitoring and Predictive Diagnoses of Patients Healthcare

Early diagnosis of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, HIV, AIDS, Lyme, and tuberculosis can enable timely treatment, which enhances efficacy and helps reduce the severity and mortality while lowering overall healthcare costs. Predictive analytics is an emerging approach that comprehends trends in patient data to identify patterns in patient data, detect subtle signs of diseases, and enable early diagnosis for more effective treatment. However, traditional predictive diagnosis approaches rely on statistical models that are contingent on the data’s average pattern and are unable to capture the data’s inherent patterns, leading to ineffective and inaccurate diagnoses. In this paper, we introduce a novel Artificial Spider Monkey-based Random Forest (ASM-RF) hybrid framework that combines the predictive analytics of a Random Forest algorithm with Artificial Intelligence to evaluate patient health data, spot patterns, diagnose modest indications, and automate intelligent decisions for enhancing the healthcare system. The proposed ASM-RF hybrid framework employs a fitness function to evaluate the spider monkey’s performance at the classification layer and update accuracy and recall, resulting in more accurate patient disease diagnoses and automating timely treatment decisions for improving the overall healthcare system. Moreover, we use Identity-based Encryption (IBE), which enables the encryption of data with private and public keys coupled with users’ identities as the encryption keys, assisting in enhancing the security of the healthcare system. A dataset collected from three different IoT sensor devices, ten participants, and twelve activities is employed to simulate the proposed ASM-RF hybrid framework, which is then contrasted to cutting-edge predictive diagnostic algorithms in terms of accuracy, precision, Area under the Curve, execution time, recall, and F-measure. The proposed method exhibits superior performance when compared to conventional methods, as evidenced by its exceptional accuracy (99.52%), precision (99.12%), Area Under the Curve (AUC) (99.00%), recall (99.22%), F-measure (97.12%), and significantly reduced execution time (6s)

Single or combined consumption of resveratrol and the probiotic, Lactobacillus acidophilus attenuate the effects of crowding stress on growth, immune characteristics, and antioxidant defense in the common carp, (Cyprinus carpio)

In the present study, dietary resveratrol (RE) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (LAB) were individually or combined added to the diet of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) to protect against crowding stress. Fish (30.16 ± 0.7; Mean ± SE) were randomly allocated to seven groups in three replicates, as follows: T1: basic food as control, T2: LAB with a concentration of 1.5 × 107 CFU/g, T3: LAB with a concentration of 3 × 107 CFU/g, T4: 300 mg resveratrol/kg, T5: 600 mg resveratrol/kg, and T6: 1.5 × 107 CFU/g + 300 mg resveratrol/kg and T7: 3 × 107 CFU/g + 600 mg resveratrol/kg. After 60 days feeding, the supplemented fish had the highest final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG), and specific growth rate (SGR), and the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) as compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The activities of amylase, protease and lipase were noticed markedly higher in fish supplemented with 1.5 × 107 CFU/g + 300 mg resveratrol/kg and 1.5 × 107 CFU/g diets compared to the control (P < 0.05). Generally, fish in supplemented diets, particularly T2 and T6 groups, had the highest lysozyme, alternative complement activity (ACH50), total immunoglobulin (Ig), nitroblue tetrazolium test (NBT), myeloperoxidase (MPO), complement component 3 (C3), complement component 4 (C4), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and lower levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), glucose, cortisol, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) when were compared with the control before crowding stress (P < 0.05). After crowding stress challenge, fish in the supplemented groups, particularly T2 and T6, generally showed significantly higher values of lysozyme, ACH50, total Ig, NBT, MPO, C3, C4, SOD, CAT, GPx and lower levels of MDA, glucose, cortisol, ALT, ALP, LDH when compared with the control (P < 0.05). Also, recovered fish in the control group demonstrated significantly declined levels of lysozyme, ACH50, total Ig, NBT, MPO, C3, C4, SOD, CAT, GPx and higher levels of MDA, glucose, cortisol, ALT, ALP, LDH as compared to other group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, a combined administration of RE and LAB effectively improved growth performance and health status as well as protected common carp against crowding stress

Proposed Model for Micro-Insurance Risk Management Applied to the cooperative insurance sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Micro insurance represents one of the most important tools that provide insurance protection for a large segment of society members with low incomes against the risks they are exposed to, in return for paying low premiums commensurate with the nature of the insured risk and also with their low incomes, which requires cooperative insurance companies to provide an integrated package One of the insurance products that meet the needs of this segment of society, and given the importance of that insurance product as a tool for developing the demand for insurance sector products, in addition to providing insurance protection for an important segment of society, namely, low and middle-income people, the research team, through this research, dealt with The nature of micro-insurance by presenting its concept, characteristics and dimensions, as well as the importance of this type of insurance on the different parties to the insurance process, and the insurance coverages it provides. The insurance market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the research reached many results, perhaps the most important of which is that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is represented by An appropriate environment for this type of insurance for many reasons, perhaps the most important of which is the increase in the number of small individual projects, but this experiment (micro takaful) faces a set of challenges that include the lack of reinsurance as a result of the dangerous nature of financial bonds, in addition to the lack of insurance expertise that enables To provide a different set of insurance products on a sound economic basis, and there are a set of organizational difficulties facing insurance companies that adopt this type of products, which prompted the research team to present a proposed model for effective strategies that work to reduce these obstacles, which can be Cooperative insurance companies are guided by the design and delivery of micro-insurance products