Prostate cancer in Saudi Arabia: trends in incidence, morphological and epidemiological characteristics

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cause of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among men worldwide. This paper aims to determine the incidence of the prostate cancer cases in Saudi Arabia between 1994 and 2016.Methods: In this study, the statistics of prostate cancer cases recorded in reports of the Saudi cancer registry for the period from 1994 to 2016 are used. The data and numbers of these reports were assessed to review the full picture during the study period. Age-standardized and age-specific incidence rates were calculated for these purposes.Results: In total, 89,880 cancer cases were recorded for the period between 1994 and 2016. The number of prostate cancer cases out of this total is 5,332. The age-adjusted prostate cancer incidence increased from 4.1 in 1994 to 6.3 in 2016. A variation in the incidence of prostate cancer by region was noticed, and a direct relationship was identified between prostate cancer rates and the ages of those with prostate cancer, with the majority of people with prostate cancer being over 50 years.Conclusions: The overall appearance of prostate cancer is moving upwards. Differences in the incidence rates between men who live in different Saudi regions suggest that environment, behaviour and genetic factors may be a cause. Exploring these factors is necessary to take advantage of them while drawing up the prevention plans

The changing patterns of liver cancer in Saudi Arabia over a 22-year period

Background: Liver cancer is a major public health problem in the developing world. It is the sixth most common cancer in the developed world and the second leading cause of death among cancer patients, globally. This study evaluated the trends and geographical distributions of liver cancer in the Saudi Arabian population.Methods: A secondary data analysis was performed on liver cancer cases registered in the Saudi Cancer registry for the period 1994 to 2015. In all, 8,785 liver cancer cases were included in the analysis, all of them Saudi nationals.Results: There were significant decreases in the mean age-standardised rates of liver cancer over the study period. The incidence of liver cancer varied by region. A strong positive correlation was observed between liver cancer incidence and age. Hepatocellular carcinoma-NOS is the most common histopathology subtype among the Saudi population.Conclusions: The overall trend of the liver cancer age-standardised rate for males and females decreased among the Saudi population. This rate varies by region. Studying this variation in more detail will help improve public health policy, optimise distribution of resources and allocation of funding for research on prevention and diagnosis and direct awareness programs to the regions that are most in need.

A validated capillary electrophoresis method for simultaneous determination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin in pharmaceutical formulations

AbstractA simple, precise, and sensitive capillary electrophoresis technique coupled with a diode array detector has been developed for the separation and simultaneous determination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin in pharmaceutical formulations. Separation of both ezetimibe and atorvastatin was achieved utilizing fused silica capillary (58cm×75μm ID) and background electrolyte solution that consisted of phosphate buffer (2.5mM, pH 6.7): methanol (70:30 v/v). The proposed method was validated by testing its specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery, and detection limit/quantitation limit values. The method was linear over the range 2.5–50μg/ml for ezetimibe (r=0.9992) and 1–100μg/ml for atorvastatin (r=0.9999). Within-day and between-day RSD for ezetimibe and atorvastatin were ⩽5.6% and ⩽2.9%, respectively. The detection limit was 0.07μg/ml for ezetimibe and 0.06μg/ml for atorvastatin. The validated method was successfully employed for the determination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin in tablets with no interfering peaks from common pharmaceutical excipients. The percentage recoveries of the two drugs from their tablets were 99.80±1.76 and 100.19±1.83, respectively

The Effect of Twitter in Academic Achievement and Students’ Motivation toward Mathematics

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effectiveness of Twitter when used in conjunction with a non-traditional type of educational approach referred to as the “flipped classroom method” upon the academic achievement of 12th grade students and their learning motivation towards mathematics. The study used a quantitative approach, and the sample consisted of 48 students. The study was conducted during a three-week period in two public high schools in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The first hypothesis was that the use of Twitter would improve academic performance in mathematics. The second hypothesis was that learning in a flipped classroom via Twitter would lead to an improvement in math performance but that this improvement within the flipped classroom would differ across gender. The third hypothesis was that learning in a flipped classroom via Twitter would lead to more positive attitudes towards mathematics. The findings did not support the first or the second hypotheses; when used in the context of a flipped classroom approach, Twitter, did not improve academic achievement: F(1, 46) = .49, p = .486.  Improvement in academic achievement from pretest to posttest also did not differ across gender; F(1, 44) = .00, p = .963. However, the results did support the third hypothesis; within the flipped classroom, the improvement in motivation was stronger for girls than it was for boys; F(1, 22) = 51.32, p < .001

New Thermal and Microbial Resistant Metal-Containing Epoxy Polymers

A series of metal-containing epoxy polymers have been synthesized by the condensation of epichlorohydrin (1-chloro-2,3-epoxy propane) with Schiff base metal complexes in alkaline medium. Schiff base was initially prepared by the reaction of 2,6 dihydroxy 1-napthaldehyde and o-phenylenediamine in 1  :  2 molar ratio and then with metal acetate. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental, spectral, and thermal analysis. The physicochemical properties, viz., epoxy value, hydroxyl content, and chlorine content [mol/100 g] were measured by standard procedures. The antimicrobial activities of these metal-containing epoxy polymers were carried out by using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) methods against S. aureus, B. subtilis (Gram-positive bacteria), and E. coli, P. aeruginosa (Gram-negative bacteria). It was found that the ECu(II) showed higher antibacterial activity than other metal-chelated epoxy resin while EMn(II) exhibited reduced antibacterial activity against all bacteria

A Schwarz lemma for the pentablock

In this paper we prove a Schwarz lemma for the pentablock. The set $$\mathcal{P}=\{(a_{21}, \text{tr} \ A, \det A) : A=[a_{ij}]_{i,j=1}^2 \in \mathbb{B}^{2\times 2}\}$$ where $\mathbb{B}^{2\times 2}$ denotes the open unit ball in the space of $2\times 2$ complex matrices, is called the pentablock. The pentablock is a bounded nonconvex domain in $\Bbb{C}^3$ which arises naturally in connection with a certain problem of $\mu$-synthesis. We develop a concrete structure theory for the rational maps from the unit disc $\Bbb{D}$ to the closed pentablock $\overline{\mathcal{P}}$ that map the unit circle ${\mathbb{T}}$ to the distinguished boundary $b\overline{\mathcal{P}}$ of $\overline{\mathcal{P}}$. Such maps are called rational ${\overline{\mathcal{P}}}$-inner functions. We give relations between penta-inner functions and inner functions from $\Bbb{D}$ to the symmetrized bidisc. We describe the construction of rational penta-inner functions $x = (a, s, p) : \Bbb{D} \rightarrow \overline{\mathcal{P}}$ of prescribed degree from the zeroes of $a, s$ and $s^2-4p$. The proof of this theorem is constructive: it gives an algorithm for the construction of a family of such functions $x$ subject to the computation of Fej\'er-Riesz factorizations of certain non-negative trigonometric functions on the circle. We use properties and the construction of rational ${\overline{\mathcal{P}}}$-inner functions to prove a Schwarz lemma for the pentablock.Comment: 35 pages. This version includes minor revisions. It has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Geometric Analysi

The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and the Level of Literary Appreciation Skills among Arabic Language Teachers for the Secondary Stage in Najran Region

The study aimed at identifying the relationship between emotional intelligence and the level of literary appreciation skills among Arabic language teachers for the secondary stage in Najran region. To achieve this aim, the researchers used the descriptive analytical method. The researchers used two questionnaires; the first one was to measure the level of emotional intelligence, which consisted of 38 items, and the second one was to measure the level of literary appreciation scale, which consisted of 20 items. The research sample consisted of 105 teachers chosen randomly, 28 males and 77 females. The results of the study indicated that the level of emotional intelligence and the level of literary appreciation skills among the teachers was high. There were no statistically significant differences at the level of emotional intelligence attributed to the variables of gender, qualification, and experience, and there were no statistically significant differences at the level of literary appreciation skills attributed to the variables of gender, qualification, and experience. In addition, the results indicated that there was a significant correlation between the level of emotional intelligence and the level of literary appreciation skills. There was a statistically significant effect of emotional intelligence and its dimensions on the level of literary appreciation skills among Arabic language teachers. Emotional intelligence was able to explain 0.503 of the variances in the level of literary appreciation skills among teachers of Arabic language

Using the Twitter Platform as a Research Method in the Information and Social Media Age

Within the context of social media there are rich and massive qualitative sources of data. The intense volume of data produced by social media comprises a promising resource for studying socially constructed language, interactions and behaviours. Research utilising data from social media offers a useful alternative to traditional research methods, which are often restricted and limited by theoretical and methodological boundaries. Social media data are characterised by a qualitative and unstructured nature of using words, either written or spoken, that naturally leads to using a qualitative approach. With social media, researchers immerse themselves with captured social media data as ‘text’. Such involvement poses challenges to researchers, and in particular to identify and locate appropriate data to be collected and develop an appropriate research design that analyses data to its full potential with valid findings. This study contributes methodologically to qualitative research and extends traditional qualitative methods to include the social media platform of designated hashtag of Twitter. Two cases of Organic and Semi-organic Twitter Data are discussed along with research implications and limitations