Innovative framework for e-government adoption in Saudi Arabia: a study from the business sector perspective

E-Government increases transparency and im- proves communication between the government and the users. Providing e-Government services to business sector is a fun- damental mission of governmental agencies in Saudi Arabia. However, the adoption of e-Government systems is less than satisfactory in many countries, particularly in developing coun- tries. This is a significant factor that can lead to e-Government failure and, therefore, to the waste of budget and effort. One pertinent, unanswered question is what are the key factors that influence the adoption and utilisation level of users from business sector. Unlike much research in the literature that has utilised common technology acceptance models and theories to analyse the adoption of e-Government, which may not be sufficient for such analysis, this study proposes a conceptual framework following a holistic approach to analyse key factors that influence the adoption and utilisation of e-Government in Saudi Arabia. The developed framework, E-Government Adoption and Utilisation Model (EGAUM), was developed based on critical evaluation of several common models and theories related to technology acceptance and use including Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), in conjunction with analysis of e-Government adoption literature. The study involved 48 participating business entities from two major cities in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh and Jeddah. The descriptive and statistical analyses are presented in this paper and the results indicated that all the proposed factors have degree of influence on the adoption and utilisation level. Perceived Benefits, Awareness, Previous Experience, and Regulations & Policies were found to be the significant factors that are most likely to influence the adoption and usage level of users from business sector. Keywords: E-Government; E-Services; Saudi Arabia; Technology Adoption; Influential Factors; Users’ Intention; Business Sector Perspectiv

The Adoption of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes in Ministry of Health Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

Aim: This thesis aims to explore and investigate the level and process of adoption of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes (ASPs) and factors influencing their implementation in Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals. The findings of this study will provide hospitals and policy makers with evidence-based recommendations on how barriers to ASPs adoption can be overcome, which will ultimately improve antimicrobial use and reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Method: A mixed method approach was carried out using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals in three Saudi hospitals to explore the enablers and barriers to their adoption of ASPs. A survey was then developed based on these findings to investigate the level of hospitals’ adoption of ASPs and factors influencing their implementation at a national level. Further, a case study using in-depth interviews was utilised to understand the process of ASP adoption in a Saudi hospital, and how adoption challenges were addressed. Finally, a self-administered questionnaire was used to examine patients’ knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial use and resistance, and to evaluate the institutional role of patient education on antimicrobial use in two Saudi hospitals. The overall methodology of the research is summarised in Figure I. Results: Despite the introduction of a national ASP strategy, adoption of ASPs in Saudi MOH hospitals remains low. Organisational barriers such as the lack of senior management support, lack of supportive IT infrastructure and the shortage of ASP team members hinder hospitals’ efforts to adopt ASPs. Further barriers relate to the lack of formal enforcement by MOH and the physicians fears of patients' complications and clinical liability. Patients admitted to Saudi hospitals lack knowledge and perceptions of AMR, and the adoption of ASPs may improve hospitals’ role in patients' education. Conclusions: Despite the established benefits of ASPs, their adoption in Saudi MOH hospitals remains low. Urgent action is needed to address the strategies priorities associated with AMR, including access to antimicrobials, antimicrobial stewardship and education and research. Policy makers are urged to consider making ASPs adoption in hospitals a regulatory requirement supported by national guidelines and surveillance programmes. It is essential to increase the provision of ID and infection control residency and training programmes to meet the extreme shortage of ID physicians, pharmacists, microbiologists and infection control practitioners. Higher education institutions and teaching hospitals are required to introduce antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship competencies into undergraduate Medical, Pharmacy, Dental, Nursing and Veterinary curriculum, as well as introduction of AMR topics in order to increase knowledge and awareness of ASPs and AMR. Collaboration between ASPs adopting and non-adopting hospitals is essential to share implementation experience, strategies and solutions to overcome barriers. Healthcare specialised associations are needed to be part of AMR conversation and guide healthcare professionals’ training and accreditation. Multiple stakeholders should be actively part of the conversations around tacking AMR. Primary care, secondary care, community pharmacies and policy makers should strive to create a shared culture of responsibility among all healthcare partners to improve antimicrobial therapy and reduce risks of AMR

Gestational and Newborn Screening Markers of Cystic Fibrosis

Newborn Screening for Cystic Fibrosis Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder that results in a shortened lifespan if appropriate treatment is not initiated sufficiently early. Approximately one in every 2,000 to one in every 3,500 Caucasians bom in Europe is affected by CF, which manifests itself in severe disorders of the lungs and the digestive system. Newborn screening for CF based on the analysis of bloodspot immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) has recently been introduced in a number of countries, including the UK. Also, it has been reported that pancreatitis associated protein (PAP) is elevated in bloodspots from neonates with CF and a strategy involving a combination of IRT and PAP may offer enhanced specificity. The study aims to develop an algorithm based on universal IRT measurements and subsequent PAP measurements in newborns with elevated IRT levels which will allow high detection rates to be maintained while at the same time decreasing the number of cases referred for DNA analysis and the accompanying detection of CF carriers. Prenatal Screening The aim of antenatal screening programmes is to offer couples reproductive choice, for example, termination of the pregnancy if the foetus is found to have a serious disorder such as CF. In this study, the physiological effects on women pregnant with a baby affected by CF were investigated. Several maternal serum markers were tested in this project in blood samples from women carrying a CF foetus. These markers are known to be associated with a number of adverse outcomes in pregnancy such as low birth weight, pre-term birth, pre-eclampsia, and stillbirth. The markers tested were alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), pregnancy-associated plasma protein (PAPP-A), human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), free beta subunit of hCG (FBhCG), unconjugated estriol (UE3) and Inhibin-A. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Development and Characterization of Selective CB2R Inverse Agonists as a Novel Anti-Inflammatory Therapy for Neuroinflammation – Mechanisms of Action in Murine and Human Microglia Models Provide Valuable Insights into Their Therapeutic Potential

Introduction: Recently, research has revealed the presence of cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R) in the central nervous system (CNS); since then, the receptor has emerged as a promising therapeutic target for treating multiple neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) such as Alzheimer’s (AD), Parkinson’s (PD), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The restricted and upregulated expression of CB2R in activated microglia and lack of psychotropic activity make this receptor an attractive target for discovering novel therapy to treat neuroinflammatory diseases for which there is currently no curative treatment. Methodology: A library of compounds were synthesized and evaluated in ACTOne and TANGO-bla functional assays for CB1 and CB2 activity in combination with affinity measurements for the CB1/2 receptors. Moreover, the compounds that demonstrated no activity at functional assays with high binding affinities to CB2R were further assessed in antagonist (competition) studies against the non-selective cannabinoid agonist CP 55,940. Compound 45 demonstrated CB2R inverse agonism at G-protein signaling with high potency, efficacy, and affinity in the binding and functional assays and was selected for further evaluation in murine and human microglia inflammatory models. On cell polarization assays were done to measure microglia M1 and M2 surface markers expression. Scratch assay and ROS measurements were performed to assess the effects of drug treatment on microglia migration and ROS production. Extensive signaling pathway studies were conducted to identify the downstream signaling mechanism for compound 45 and cytoskeleton staining was performed to evaluate the microglia morphological changes upon 45 treatment. A molecular docking study was utilized to explore ligand protein molecular interaction between 45 and CB2R. Additionally, the similarities and differences in the activity of compound 45, relative to standard CB2R agonist and inverse agonist, were examined in the aforementioned assays. Results: Compound 45 demonstrated the highest affinity and selectivity towards CB2R that translated to higher potency in CB2R ACTOne functional assay, whereas no functional activity was detected at CB1R. Moreover, testing compound 45 in the TANGO-bla assay revealed neutral antagonism at β-arrestins signaling, confirming the G-protein functional selectivity of this class of compounds. Treatment with compound 45 triggered a shift in murine and human microglia polarization from a pro-inflammatory (M1) to an anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotype after 24 hours of treatment. The M1 markers were significantly decreased and M2 markers significantly increased relative to LPS stimulus. These results were further confirmed using microscopic examination wherein compound 45 induced a remarkable transformation of microglia into ramified morphology with a small cell body and several elongated cell projections, indicating microglia adopted an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype. Moreover, compound 45 significantly reduced cell migration, suppressed the M1 associated ROS production which causes neurotoxicity and cell damage. Additionally, the application of compound 45 significantly increased JNK, c-JUN, CREB, and p38 phosphorylation levels and decreased ERK1/2 and NF-κB representing a unique anti-inflammatory mechanism of CB2R inverse agonists in activated microglia. The molecular docking study of compound 45 revealed that the thiophene C ring constrained the toggle switch residue Trp 258 via multiple π-π stacking interactions that stabilized CB2R in the inactive state and led to 45 inverse agonism activity at CB2R. These results were distinctly different when compared to standard CB2R agonists and inverse agonists, suggesting further research is needed to explore more precisely the utility of CB2R based therapeutics in human CNS disorders. Conclusion: The results of these studies provided valuable information that aids in the development of new analogs of the biaryl-aryl scaffold for treating neuroinflammation in human neurodegenerative diseases

A Preliminary Study On The Interfacial Strength Of Red Abalone

Nacre is a hierarchical material found within the tough shells of red abalone. Despite being composed of calcium carbonate, nacre exhibits remarkable mechanical properties resulting from the nanoscale brick-and-mortar structure made from aragonite polygons. The objective of this research is to elucidate the toughening mechanisms associated with the interfacial resistance of red abalone. This was achieved by studying the mechanical behavior of dry nacre under pure shear and tension, and characterizing the associated fracture mechanisms using optical and scanning electron microscopes. Mathematical modeling was applied to further quantify the contribution of protein chains, nano-asperities and shear pillars to interfacial strengths. Preliminary conceptual models were proposed to elucidate the toughening mechanisms of polymorphic aragonite structures in red abalone. The findings can extend our understanding of the mechanical behavior of natural materials and promote the research and development of high performance bioinspired materials

Applications of multivariate statistics in honey bee research, analysis of metabolomics data from samples of honey bee propolis

This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 20/04/2020 to 20/04/2022Honey bees play a significant role both ecologically and economically, through the pollination of flowering plants and crops. Additionally, honey is an ancient food source that is highly valued by different religions and cultures and has been shown to possess a wide range of beneficial uses, including cosmetic treatment, eye disease, bronchial asthma and hiccups. In addition to honey, honey bees also produce beeswax, pollen, royal jelly and propolis. In this thesis, data is studied which comes from samples of propolis from various geographical locations. Propolis is a resinous product, which consists of a combination of beeswax, saliva and resins that have been gathered by honey bees from the exudates of various surrounding plants. It is used by the bees to seal small gaps and maintain the hives, but is also an anti-microbial substance that may protect them against disease. The appearance and consistency of propolis changes depending on the temperature; it becomes elastic and sticky when warm, but hard and brittle when cold. Furthermore, its composition and colour varies from yellowish-green to dark brown, depending on its age and the sources of resin from the environment. Propolis is a highly biochemically active substance with many potential benefits in health care, which have attracted much attention. Biochemical analysis of propolis leads to highly multivariate metabolomics data. The main benefit of metabolomics is to generate a spectrum, in which peaks correspond to different chemical components, making possible the detection of multiple substances simultaneously. Relevant spectral features may be used for pattern recognition. The purpose of this research is to study methods used for statistical analysis of biochemical data arising from propolis samples. We investigate the use of different statistical methods for metabolomics data from chemical analysis of propolis samples using Mass Spectrometry (MS). Methods studied will include pre-treatment methods and multivariate analysis techniques including principal component analysis (PCA), multidimensional scaling (MDS), and clustering methods including hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), k-means clustering and self organising maps (SOMs). Background material and results of data analysis will be presented from samples of propolis from beehives in Scotland, Libya and Europe. Conclusions are drawn in terms of the data sets themselves as well as the properties of the different methods studied for analysing such metabolomics data.Honey bees play a significant role both ecologically and economically, through the pollination of flowering plants and crops. Additionally, honey is an ancient food source that is highly valued by different religions and cultures and has been shown to possess a wide range of beneficial uses, including cosmetic treatment, eye disease, bronchial asthma and hiccups. In addition to honey, honey bees also produce beeswax, pollen, royal jelly and propolis. In this thesis, data is studied which comes from samples of propolis from various geographical locations. Propolis is a resinous product, which consists of a combination of beeswax, saliva and resins that have been gathered by honey bees from the exudates of various surrounding plants. It is used by the bees to seal small gaps and maintain the hives, but is also an anti-microbial substance that may protect them against disease. The appearance and consistency of propolis changes depending on the temperature; it becomes elastic and sticky when warm, but hard and brittle when cold. Furthermore, its composition and colour varies from yellowish-green to dark brown, depending on its age and the sources of resin from the environment. Propolis is a highly biochemically active substance with many potential benefits in health care, which have attracted much attention. Biochemical analysis of propolis leads to highly multivariate metabolomics data. The main benefit of metabolomics is to generate a spectrum, in which peaks correspond to different chemical components, making possible the detection of multiple substances simultaneously. Relevant spectral features may be used for pattern recognition. The purpose of this research is to study methods used for statistical analysis of biochemical data arising from propolis samples. We investigate the use of different statistical methods for metabolomics data from chemical analysis of propolis samples using Mass Spectrometry (MS). Methods studied will include pre-treatment methods and multivariate analysis techniques including principal component analysis (PCA), multidimensional scaling (MDS), and clustering methods including hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), k-means clustering and self organising maps (SOMs). Background material and results of data analysis will be presented from samples of propolis from beehives in Scotland, Libya and Europe. Conclusions are drawn in terms of the data sets themselves as well as the properties of the different methods studied for analysing such metabolomics data

Towards a comprehensive model for e-government adoption and utilisation analysis: the case of Saudi Arabia

E-Government increases transparency and improves communication between the government and the users. However, users’ adoption and usage is less than satisfactory in many countries, particularly in developing countries. This is a significant factor that can lead to e-Government failure and, therefore, to the waste of budget and effort. Unlike much research in the literature that has utilised common technology acceptance models and theories to analyse the adoption of e-Government, which may not be applicable for e-Government acceptance analysis, this study proposes a more comprehensive and appropriate framework for analysing the significant factors that could influence the adoption and utilisation of e-Government in Saudi Arabia, as this is becoming a necessity

Pharmacy Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Online Education during COVID-19 Lockdown in Saudi Arabia

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/In March 2020, a national lockdown in Saudi Arabia due to the pandemic forced all educational institutions to complete their academic year via online education. This study aims to explore pharmacy students’ perceptions and assess their attitude towards online education during the lockdown. A cross-sectional self-administered survey was designed to collect responses of pharmacy students (from one college of pharmacy in Saudi Arabia) from December 2020 through January 2021. A total of 241 students completed the survey. Students’ responses indicated that they had easy access to the technology, online skills, motivation and overall favorable acceptance for online learning and examinations. There was a significant difference in the mean scores between the students from different years of study (p = 0.013) related to technology access, and the male students were in significantly more favor of online examinations than female students (p = 0.009). The majority of the students indicated that the lockdown had no or negative impact on their learning and training. Students have general acceptance for online education delivery due to more technology access and online skills. More research should explore the factors affecting and the extent of the impact of online education on student learning and training.Peer reviewe

Risk of neuropsychiatric adverse effects of lipid-lowering drugs: a Mendelian randomization study

Background: Recent studies have highlighted the possible risk of neuropsychiatric adverse effects during treatment with lipid-lowering medications. However, there are still controversies that require a novel genetic-based approach to verify whether the impact of lipid-lowering drug treatment results in neuropsychiatric troubles including insomnia, depression, and neuroticism. Thus, we applied Mendelian randomization to assess any potential neuropsychiatric adverse effects of conventional lipid-lowering drugs such as statins, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors, and ezetimibe. Methods: A 2-sample Mendelian randomization study was conducted based on summary statistics from genome-wide association studies for lipids, insomnia, depression, and neuroticism. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms located in or near drug target genes of HMGCR, PCSK9, and NPC1L1 were used as proxies for statins, PCSK9 inhibitors, and ezetimibe therapy, respectively. To assess the validity of the genetic risk score, their associations with coronary artery disease were used as a positive control. Results: The Mendelian randomization analysis showed a statistically significant (P <.004) increased risk of depression after correcting for multiple testing with both statins (odds ratio=1.15, 95% CI: 1.04–1.19) and PCSK9 inhibitor treatment (odds ratio =1.19, 95%CI: 1.1–1.29). The risk of neuroticism was slightly reduced with statin therapy (odds ratio=0.9, 95%CI: 0.83–0.97). No significant adverse effects were associated with ezetimibe treatment. As expected, the 3 medications significantly reduced the risk of coronary artery disease. Conclusion: Using a genetic-based approach, this study showed an increased risk of depression during statin and PCSK9 inhibitor therapy while their association with insomnia risk was not significant

Curriculum Innovation in Selected Saudi Arabia Public Secondary Schools: The Multi-Stakeholder Experience of the Tatweer Project

The development and implementation of innovative curriculum projects continues to be a prominent feature in the education enterprise. The primary aim of this qualitative study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the implementation of the Tatweer Project in five selected public secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. The project is an innovative education reform initiative that aimed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in public secondary schools across the country. Under the Tatweer Project, reforms were made in the following areas: school curriculum development, teacher training, learning environments and extra-curriculum activities. The study made use of a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions to elicit the views and experiences of teachers, students, school heads and policy-makers who participated in the implementation of the project. Data were analysed manually using the thematic analysis method (Braun and Clarke, 2006; Wellington, 2015). The study findings indicate that the implementation of the Tatweer Project took place in two phases and each phase was affected by a number of problems and challenges, which made it difficult for the innovation to get institutionalised. The study explores the factors that affected the implementation of the curriculum innovation and suggests changes that may help to achieve a successful implementation of similar projects in future. In particular, the study confirmed the need to engage all stakeholders in the curriculum design and implementation process as well as the need for the provision of effective leadership, training and adequate technical support to the primary implementers, that is, the teachers and school heads. Although the study findings cannot be generalised widely due to the scope of the study, it is important to appreciate that some useful insights that could be useful in terms of guiding effective curriculum implementation are discussed. The study recommends, among other things, the need to ensure that all key stakeholders should be involved in the whole process of planning and implementing a curriculum innovation given that effective curriculum change should be viewed as a shared responsibility. In the same vein, adequate funding should be made available