MgAl based layered double hydroxide (MgAl-LDH) was used as adsorbent for the removal of chromium oxyanion from an aqueous solution. MgAl-LDH was synthesized successfully using co-precipitation method, and was characterized by X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). MgAl-LDH was thermally treated for improving the chromium adsorption. Samples were treated at 220°C and 450°C. A negligible difference of total chromium adsorption capacities was observed between MgAl-LDH000 and MgAl-LDH220 as 12.56 mg/g and 11.01 mg/g. The maximum chromium adsorption capacity of MgAl-LDH was 88.07 mg/g at 500g/l chromium concentration for MgAl-LDH which has been thermally treated at 450°C (MgAl-LDH450). The results indicated that memory effects of thermally treated MgAl-LDH at certain temperatures were retained and enhanced chromium removal efficiency.
Median arcuate ligament syndrome is a rare entity. This clinical condition develops by compression of the root of a celiac artery with the median arcuate ligament. The typical triad of this syndrome is the following; abdominal discomfort and pain, especially after a meal, and weight loss. In diagnosis, other causes should be ruled out and compression must be demonstrated by any type of imaging method. The main principle of treatment is cutting down the median arcuate ligament. A 54-year-old woman presented with untreatable recurrent abdominal pain and was diagnosed with median arcuate ligament syndrome by imaging with angiographic computed tomography. This patient was operated on. We performed laparoscopic division of median arcuate ligament with the retrograde surgical dissection technique. The patient was discharged from the hospital without any complaint on the third day after surgery. She was still symptom-free after 12 months.The laparoscopic retrograde dissection approach is a safe and feasible treatment modality for median arcuate ligament syndrome.
Rawan Eskandarani*, Abdulaziz Alhamad and Saad Almodameg
Published on: 27th December, 2022
Context: Illicit and performance-enhancing drug (PED) use is prevalent among athletes.Aims: We examine the prevalence of PED use among amateur athletes, identify the common characteristics and associated risk factors for illicit PED use and measure the perception and awareness among gym members regarding the safety and effects of illicit drug use.Settings and design: This cross-sectional study was conducted among adult male and female gym center attendees in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Methods and materials: Self-administered Arabic and English questionnaires were used for data collection. Statistical analysis used: SPSS version 26 was used to perform t- and chi-square tests.Results: This study included 379 participants, of whom 59.6% were male, 52.8% were between 26 and 35 years of age, and a majority of the participants had normal (47.5%) or overweight (40.9%) body mass index. Our study revealed a high prevalence (48.5%) of PED use among gym athletes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the true prevalence might have been higher due to the possibility of underreporting by some participants because of the sensitivity of the subject. Protein powder was the most commonly used type of PED. Of all the participants, 22.3% reported anabolic androgenic steroid use. Side effects of PEDs were observed in 19% of the study participants.Conclusion: The results of this study should encourage public health researchers and health advocates to design and implement behavioral interventions to educate the public on the benefits, risks, and contraindications of dietary supplements used by athletes to enhance their body performance.Key messages• Performance-enhancing drug (PED) use is prevalent among both professional and amateur athletes.• Gym athletes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, report increasing PED use.• Side effects and negative health impacts are associated with illicit PED use.• Misinformation on the risks and benefits of PEDs is a major public health concern.• More efforts should be implemented in public awareness about the risk of using PED targeting younger populations.
Background: Glomerular hyperfiltration (GH) is a common feature of sickle cell nephropathy (SCN) starting at infancy and represents an early marker of incipient glomerular injury and renal dysfunction.
Methods: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of GH among children (≤ 16 years) with sickle cell disease (SCD) at their steady state, recruited over 6 months at the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic in Al-Sadaqa General Teaching Hospital, Aden, Yemen. Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was estimated using the Schwartz formula. Data on clinical history, anthropometry, blood pressure (BP) and laboratory investigations were collected.
Results: Of 101 children (mean age 7.2 ± 3.9 years), 65 (64.4%) were males. The prevalence of GH was observed in 36 (35.6%) children, who were significantly older (10.7 ± 3.2 vs. 5.2 ± 2.7 years, p < 0.001) and had a lower fetal Hb level (5 ± 3.3 vs. 9 ± 7.1, p = 0.02). All children were normotensive, but hyperfiltrating children showed significantly higher systolic (97.2 ± 7.3 vs. 89.7 ± 5.2 mmHg) and diastolic pressure (55.1 ± 5.0 vs. 49 ± 4.3 mmHg) (all p < 0.001). Among evaluated children, 25.7% had hyperfiltration alone, whereas 9.9% had an associated microalbuminuria (MA), and no significant difference in eGFR between those with and without MA (158.4 ± 33.7 vs. 160.7 ± 29.8 ml/min/173m2, p = 0.84).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated a relatively high prevalence of GH in Yemeni children with SCD that increased with age. Recognition of hyperfiltration and other early markers of nephropathy in this population could help to develop renal protective strategies to prevent progressive loss of kidney function.
Adnan Yaqoob*, Rafat Jan and Salma Rattani and Santosh Kumar
Published on: 4th August, 2023
Introduction: Nursing theories are critical as they drive nursing education, practice, and research. Neuman Systems Model (NSM) considers a person a complete system with integrated psychological, physiological, spiritual, social, and developmental components. Nurses give their patients physical, emotional, and psychological assistance and are subjected to mental and physical pressure due to these responsibilities, impacting their health, psychological well-being, and interpersonal relationships. This paper aims to perform a concept analysis of stressors proposed in NSM about lines of defense and the level of preventive interventions that can affect a person’s well-being. Further, this paper discusses knowledge generation through NSM’s applicability to preventing exhaustion and burnout among nurses. Methodology: This theoretical attempt is carried out using the theory analysis approach suggested by Walker and Avant (2019).Discussion: Nursing is a career that requires a great deal of dedication and personal engagement. Nurses are subjected to recurrent stresses due to technological advances and rising demands. Burnout occurs when nurses get discouraged and have less compassion for the patients due to recurrent burdens. Stress and burnout are two of the most common reasons for nurses to quit hospitals. The NSM is concerned with stresses that may affect a person’s health and well-being (prediction). Nurses assist patients at the most vulnerable and challenging times, such as surgical procedures, traumas and personal and physical losses.Conclusion: The NSM enables the investigation of preventative and protective treatments. Because of the model’s flexibility, it may be used in a wide range of nursing situations. Administrative, hospitals, clinics, and other nurses can benefit from this paradigm. Evaluating the many distinct elements contributing to burnout is also feasible. The model’s client factors of physiological, sociocultural, developmental, and spiritual characteristics are used to achieve this. Viewing the individual as an open system that responds to environmental stimuli encourages the existence of stressors that might lead to burnout.
Coronary artery aneurysm is an uncommon condition defined as abnormal dilatation of the coronary artery.We report the case of a man admitted to the Emergency Department for suspected intestinal obstruction. At abdominal/thoracic Computed Tomography (CT) it was reported a suspected pericardial cyst. Contrast echocardiography showed a clear pattern of blood flow inside the mass with a probable origin at a very limited region where it was also possible to sample an ECG-synchronized system-diastolic Pulse-Wave (PW)-Doppler pattern, typical for a coronary artery flow. Our suspicion of a giant coronary artery aneurysm was then confirmed by coronary CT and coronary angiography. The patient was transferred to a Cardiac Surgery center where he underwent surgical treatment for the aneurysm.Most coronary aneurysms are clinically silent and are often incidentally detected. Coronary angiography is the ‘‘gold standard’’ for diagnosis and evaluation of coronary artery aneurysms. Among non-invasive diagnostic techniques, Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography is the best method for coronary artery anatomy and coronary abnormalities. However, echocardiography with the use of a contrast agent, a cost-effective non-radiation nature, and a widespread use method, maybe a reliable method to detect and characterize the masses, allowing a differential diagnosis.Learning objective1. Recognition and evaluation of cardiac masses require first-line imaging methods such as echocardiography.2. The use of additional non-invasive (cardiac CT or MRI) and/or invasive imaging methods are often required. 3. Contrast echocardiography may be helpful, as second-line imaging methods, to better characterize the mass and approach the correct diagnosis.
During this period of time, mushroom experience changes in functional aspects and consumption areas. Due to its magnificent role in promoting health, it was considered one of the most healthy sources of food. Agaricus spp., Marcrolepoita spp., Auricularia spp, Armillaria spp, Pholoita, Hericium, Grifola spp, Flammulina, and Hypsizygus spp. are some most commonly consumed mushrooms in the world. They provide inexpensive means of nutritious and tasty food worldwide. However, ancient people are also very much aware of their holistic function towards health and that was why they used mushrooms for medicinal purposes in the past onwards. Mushroom plays an important role in the treatment of some lethal diseases like cancer, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, allergy, hypertension, arthritis, hyperglycemia, atherosclerosis, and many more. Meanwhile, researchers still focus on other functions of mushrooms in health science and also explore their anticancerous activity. However, many findings are left to be found in the future. This review paper throws light on the various important mushrooms and their functions related to human health, and also ongoing research towards treating some critical diseases.
Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is a rare benign inflammatory disease of gallbladder that may be misdiagnosed as carcinoma of the gallbladder intraoperative or in pre-operative imaging. Intramural accumulation of lipid-laden macrophages and acute and chronic inflammatory cells is the hallmark of the disease. The xanthogranulomatous inflammation can be very severe and can spill over to the neighboring structures like liver, bowel and stomach resulting in dense adhesions, abscess formation, perforation, and fistulous communication with adjacent bowel [1-3]. Cholecysto-colic fistula is a rare and late complication of gallstones roughly found 1 in every 1,000 cholecystectomies.
Clinical featuresThe clinical features are variable and non-specific. Patients with cholecysto-colonic fistula often present with symptoms of acute cholecystitis and preoperative diagnostic tools often fail to show the fistula. Hence most cases it is an on table diagnosis.
ManagementTreatment involves closing the fistula and performing an open or laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are emerging pathogens whose resistance profiles generate a serious health crisis by holding their impact on human health. Misuse of antibiotics has directed the emergence of microbes immune to presently accessible drugs. Pathogenic bacteria become resistant by employing various mechanisms, such as; antibiotic modification, target site alteration, and biofilm formation, increasing the time they spend in the intracellular environment where antibiotics are unable to succeed at therapeutic levels. Due to this, attempts are being made to develop new alternative nanoantibiotics as a promising approach to treat multidrug resistance disease-causing bacteria. Accordingly, there is considerable contemporary attention to the use of nanoparticles (NPs) as antibacterial agents against different pathogens and as target drug delivery toward specific tissues therefore microbes are eliminated by the biocidal properties of nanoantibiotics. Additionally, the utilization of nanoencapsulation systems can help to beat the issues of, those with toxicity natures, and target drug delivery problems. This review encompasses the antibiotic resistance prevalence, mechanisms, and therefore the use of nanoparticles as antibacterial and drug delivery systems to overcome the antibiotic resistance challenges of bacteria. Overall, this review paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding the complexity of the matter of emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria even for brand spanking new synthesized antibiotics. Therefore the availability of such knowledge will allow researchers to supply detailed studies about the applications of nanoparticles in the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Objective: To identify the risk factors for marginal cord insertion (MCI).
Material and Methods: This case-control study was carried out between 1st February and 30th June 2019. Singletons with and without MCI at delivery were recruited. Main variables analyzed included maternal age, parity, number of previous dilatation and curettage (D&C) or manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), time interval between each procedure and conception, cord insertion. Fisher’s exact test, t-test and logistic regression were used to compare data from both groups.
Results: We found 60 cases of MCI (4.1%). The significant (p < 0.05) risk factors for MCI were past-history of D&C (aOR 5.97, 95% CI 1.95-18.25) particularly when conception occurred ˂ 5 months after D&C (OR 10.5, 95% CI 1.36-81.05), fetal female sex (aOR 3.82, 95% CI 1.41-10.32), parity ≥ 4 (aOR 2.63, 95% CI 1.05-12.71) and past-history of MVA (aOR 2.06, 95% CI 1.23-8.76).
Conclusion: Women should be advised to conceive at least five months after D&C.
Congratulations for the excellence of your journal and high quality of its publications.
Angel MARTIN CASTELLANOS
Great, thank you! It was very efficient working w/ your group. Very thorough reviews (i.e., plagiarism, peer, etc.). Would certainly recommend that future authors consider working w/ your group.
David W Brett
Great, We are too comfortable with the process including the peer review process and quality. But, the journal should be indexed in different databases such scopus.
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