Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Motivational Interviewing On Glycemic Control Among Saudi Persons With Type 2 Diabetes: A Feasibility Study, Fatima Y. Al-Slail, Ibtihal M. Bin Jumah, Kawther O. Abdelfadil, Sahar M. Fadl, Amaal O. Almutairy, Abdullah F. Alanazi, Omer O. Kheir

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of integrating a motivational interviewing approach with a comprehensive diabetes care program in Saudi primary care clinics. Approximately 23.1% of the adult Saudi population is diabetic, yet only 22.5% of these diabetic individuals maintain adequate glycemic control as defined by Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels <7%.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study employed pre- and post-evaluation methods to compare HbA1c levels among persons with uncontrolled diabetes before and after implementing a motivational interviewing (MI) and comprehensive care program. Adults with type 2 DM were included. The MI approach was used to educate and motivate the patients. Starting from November …

Anatomical Distribution And Extent Of Carotid Plaque In Early Inflammatory Polyarthritis, Fahad F. Almutairi

Saudi Medical Journal

Objective: To compare the extent and anatomical distribution of carotid atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery segments between patients with early Inflammatory Polyarthritis (IP) and age- and sex-matched controls, and to assess associated cardiovascular and disease-specific risk factors.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (June 2022 to April 2023), 349 patients (70% female; age 50.74 years; 41.81-58.34) and 115 matched controls (66% female; age 52.28 years; 42.29-58.42) underwent carotid ultrasound examination. Associations between plaques and cardiovascular were assessed.

Results: Plaques were significantly more common among patients than controls (46.1% vs. 27.8%, p = 0.0006), particularly …

Role Of Artificial Intelligence In Infectious Diseases And Antimicrobial Resistance: A Comprehensive Review On Diagnostic, Treatment, And Prevention Aspects, Naveed Ahmed, Mansoor Alghamdi

Saudi Medical Journal

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a significant role in managing infectious diseases by enhancing diagnosis, treatment, and preventive measures. AI-assisted tools have predictive analysis ability for incoming outbreaks, including the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AI-assisted tools facilitate the treatment methods by tailoring personalized medicine according to the specific disease history of the patient, immune response, and genetics. Advanced vaccine development by various AI-assisted in silico tools is becoming easy, leading to faster vaccine discovery and more efficient vaccine design with a more immunogenic response. Despite huge benefits, a few limitations are also encountered, including biases in algorithms, data privacy, and …

Artificial Intelligence In Radiology: Hidden Fragilities And The Path To Resilience, Mustafa S. Alhasan

Saudi Medical Journal

Radiology artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing however its adoption faces fragile foundations that threaten sustainability. Despite bold promises of efficiency and accuracy, current deployment is undermined by weaknesses in economics, evidence, infrastructure, human factors, regulation, security, and environmental impact. Nearly 90% of radiology AI studies report process metrics rather than patient outcomes, while hidden costs elevate ownership to 400% to 500% of subscription fees. Technical fragilities include 25% or greater performance loss with routine protocol or scanner shifts, compounded by vendor consolidation that has eliminated 63% of companies since 2020, creating migration costs averaging 180,000 dollars per exit. Human factor …

Childhood Obesity: Global Burden, Multifactorial Etiologies, Biological Mechanisms, And Emerging Interventions For Prevention And Management, Fahad H. Baali

Saudi Medical Journal

Childhood obesity, characterized by excessive accumulation of body fat that adversely affects health, is a global public health challenge. It affects approximately 8.2% of children and adolescents globally and contributes significantly to the burden of chronic diseases in later life. Obese children are at increased risk of developing metabolic disorder cluster, type 2 diabetes (T2D), coronary artery disease (CAD), and psychosocial complications. Increasing prevalence of childhood obesity imposes substantial economic costs and highlights the urgent need for effective prevention and management strategies. The causes of childhood obesity are multifactorial including genetic predispositions, environmental influences, dietary habits, and physical inactivity. Early …

In The Belly Of The Beast:The Struggle For Abortion Rights And Reproductive Freedom In El Salvador, Cho, Karen Hyunbee

Santa Clara Journal of International Law

El Salvador maintains one of the most restrictive abortion regimes globally. Abortion is prohibited in all circumstances, and women who undergo the procedure may face prosecution for aggravated homicide, punishable by sentences of up to fifty years’ imprisonment. Healthcare professionals who assist with such procedures can likewise face criminal liability, with penalties of up to twelve years of imprisonment. This article concerns the case of a woman named Beatriz (surname unlisted) in El Salvador who sought an abortion in 2013 when she was medically diagnosed with a high-risk condition and an anencephalic fetus during her pregnancy. She was denied her …

Learning The Game Beyond The Scoreboard, Marisa C. Atkinson

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – While people are watching football, selecting their fantasy teams, keeping up with the transfer portal or calling a play, statistics often form the linchpin of their analysis. Some of those statistics may have been collected by sport management students in the University of Mississippi's School of Applied Sciences.

Regulating Reader(S): Book People V. Wong, Compelled Speech, And Sexually Explicit Library Materials In The Fifth Circuit, Gray Wood

Texas A&M Law Review

This Note analyzes the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent holding in Book People, Inc. v. Wong, which struck down Texas Education Code Chapter 35. Passed under the 88th Texas Legislature’s READER Act in 2023, Chapter 35 instituted a mandatory rating system that required Texas book vendors to review the books they sold to district schools and open-enrollment charter schools for sexually explicit material. Book vendors banded together to oppose the law, arguing that it constituted compelled speech, a legal doctrine that has come to the forefront of First Amendment fights since the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in 303 …

Paying The Price For Beauty Abroad: Khoula Hospital’S Experience With Complications Following Aesthetic Procedures Performed Overseas, 2013–2023, Khalifa Al Alawi, Areej Al-Mamari, Maysa Al-Maawali, Ashima Alkabi, Al-Batul Al-Mufargi, Juhaina Al Tobi, Hoor Al-Khanjari, Yasmine Al Balushi, Rawan Al Mandhari, Rafal Aljadder, Sultan Al Shaqsi

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the types and outcomes of complications arising from aesthetic surgeries performed abroad and subsequently managed at Khoula Hospital, Muscat, Oman. Methods: This retrospective study included patients who presented with post-aesthetic surgical complications after undergoing procedures outside Oman from January 2013 to December 2023. Data were extracted from Khoula Hospital’s electronic health records, focusing on demographics, procedures performed, types of complications and outcomes, including admissions and surgical interventions. Results: A total of 191 patients with 488 recorded encounters were included. The most common procedures done overseas were abdominoplasty (50.8%), lipectomy (29.3%) and …

Mignone, Fernandez, Guarnieri: Brazilian Guitar Music After Villa-Lobos, Fabio Zanon

Soundboard Scholar

This article challenges the widespread perception of Heitor Villa-Lobos as an isolated peak in Brazilian musical culture with no natural successors. The author focuses on the composers who followed Villa-Lobos—Francisco Mignone, Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez, and Camargo Guarnieri—arguing that their works deserve far more attention in international concert life, not least their contributions to the guitar repertoire.

These twentieth-century Brazilian composers are situated within a broader historical narrative that traces the impact of European colonial models, the delayed and contested formation of musical nationalism in Brazil, and the shifting aesthetic and political conditions of the twentieth century. Analytical discussions of representative …

Ai Integration In English Language Teaching: Exploring Efl Teachers’ Perceptions And Challenges In Saudi Universities, Waheeb Shadid Al-Biladi

UB Journal for Humanities

In response to the growing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in English language education, this study explores how EFL educators in Saudi universities perceive and respond to the challenges associated with incorporating AI into their teaching practices. A quantitative study including 158 male and female EFL faculty members at Saudi institutions was executed using a standardized questionnaire to evaluate perceived barriers connected to AI and corresponding coping methods. Descriptive statistics and inferential tests were used to examine differences based on gender, teaching experience, and educational qualification. The findings indicate that educators somewhat recognize hurdles, including technological difficulties, inadequate training, and …

The Impact Of Climate On Solar Panel Performance In Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Mounira Matthas Al-Qahtani

UB Journal for Humanities

This study aims to identify the most important climatic elements that must be considered when designing solar panels in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah for the period 1995–2024, as well as the impact of monthly and annual climatic variations on the efficiency of solar panel performance. The study relies on the following climatic elements: annual radiation, temperature, relative humidity, wind, rainfall, and dust, in order to understand the relationship between climatic elements and the performance of solar panels. The study employed an analytical and applied methodology. The results indicate that Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah enjoys high levels of solar radiation, with an overall average of …

Emotion Driven Rumor Detection And Analysis: An Llm(Large Language Model) Augmented Approach, Chinelo Njoku, Yingjie Chen

Purdue Polytechnic Graduate Student Poster Symposium

Misinformation and rumors during public health crises significantly affect lives and increases mistrust in government and public health institutions. The circulation and amplification of rumors often worsen disease transmission and impede effective interventions. Historically, rumor spread has been a recurring issue in public health emergencies. For example, during the Ebola outbreak, misinformation about the virus and its treatment created deep mistrust of health workers. Similarly, in the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread misinformation fueled public panic and vaccine hesitancy. Previous research has primarily identified social media as a channel for rumor dissemination and focused on automatic rumor detection for fact-checking using binary …

Edge Ai-Enabled Vagus Nerve Analysis For Adaptive Neuromodulation In Diabetes, Saeka Rahman, Reepa Saha, Md Motiur Rahman, Ardavan Vakil, Hope Teng, Muhammad Arafin Khan, Benjamin Larimer, Rita Basu, Andy Basu, Amy Warriner, Miad Faezipour, S. Abdollah Mirbozorgi

Purdue Polytechnic Graduate Student Poster Symposium

Comprehending the neural mechanisms underlying Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is critical to developing next generation bioelectronic therapies. This work-in-progress presents a novel neural interface that integrates edge artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and flexible implantable electronics to record, analyze, and modulate vagus nerve activity in real time for potential diabetes treatment and reversal. The proposed system combines low-power, semi-analog signal processing with embedded AI/ML algorithms capable of performing on-chip feature extraction and classification of neural signals under stringent power and communication constraints. By leveraging edge-based learning, the platform will enable adaptive neuromodulation of vagus nerve activity, providing a closed-loop …

A Smarter Way To Watch Over Alpacas In Peru, Nicolas Rendon-Arias, Juyoung Kim, Walter Daniel Leon-Salas

Purdue Polytechnic Graduate Student Poster Symposium

In the Andean region of Peru, alpacas are more than animals. They are a lifeline for entire families who rely on them. Shepherds, many of whom live in remote mountain areas, spend countless hours watching over their herds. Without fences or boundaries, alpacas can spread out for miles, sometimes vanishing behind valleys or hills. When this happens, shepherds may spend hours searching for them. In these high-altitude areas, phone signals are rare, and internet connections are unreliable. As a result, families face stress, lost time, and even financial losses when animals go missing. At Purdue’s Tiny Lab, we focus on …

Black Women In Oregon Academia, Topanga Shakur-Freeman

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Black women scholars are a powerful demographic of intellectuals navigating a haunted house of academia, a structure erected upon the bones of a grotesque past. Black women scholars navigate a complex and often hostile academic landscape, a realm marked by under representation and the insidious interplay of race and gender. Oregon, a state steeped in a sinister history of racial terror, casts a long shadow over its present. Its soil, contaminated by the blood of countless Black lives, serves as a fertile ground for the insidious growth of systemic racism. Until 1905, a malevolent decree barred Black individuals from even …

On Becoming A Book At 40, Ilan Stavans

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Of Sea Turtles: A Cautionary Tale, Homero Aridjis

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Group Photo: 100 Million Mexicans, Juan Villoro

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Crown In Death: An (Expanded) Dramaturgical Approach To The Trojan Women Of Euripides, Stephanie Lester

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

In the action-packed, visually-oriented market for modern media, some may assume a 2,400-year-old Greek tragedy to be slightly past its expiration date, especially if it features little to no action onstage like in Euripides’ The Trojan Women. However, it is important to remember that literature is lost when the world fails to cherish it, so if a text survives that long, it may be worth another cursory glance. In this case, that glance involved a full dramaturgical study featuring qualitative script analysis of multiple translations of The Trojan Women with related texts to explore context, themes, common literary devices, and …

Creative Nonfiction In The Crosshairs, Lee Gutkind

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Last Train To Clarksville: A Journey Through Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Cornelia Reynolds

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Burden Of Oath, Linda Peeno

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Rage And Reconciliation: Inspiring A Health Care Revolution, Lee Gutkind

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Notes From A Difficult Case, Ruthann Robson

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Recreating The Magic: Designing Serendipitous Discovery Experiences In 100% Online Libraries, Stephanie Garrett

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Traditional libraries excel at serendipitous discovery—patrons browse shelves, stumble upon unexpected titles, and make chance connections between materials. But how do we recreate this magic in purely digital environments? This presentation showcases a successful transformation of a 100% online library that achieved over 90% increased asset usage in just 12 months through strategic implementation of serendipitous discovery features.

Using Springshare's LibGuides CMS as the foundation, we redesigned the digital library experience around three core discovery spaces: Visual Course Reserve Guides that mirror physical browsing through thumbnail displays and thematic clustering, a comprehensive Reference Section that encourages exploration beyond immediate research …

Unwired, Hilary Masters

Creative Nonfiction Magazine

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Buzzwords: Working With Faculty To Create Ai-Informed Personal Information Literacy Frameworks, Scott E. Shumate, Jenny Harris, Stephanie Bandel

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have become increasingly integrated into the classroom, requiring faculty across disciplines to reconsider how critical thinking skills are being impacted by AI. Academic libraries, long the centers of information access and literacy, are well positioned to confront the issues surrounding AI and address its influence on the wider information landscape. Three academic librarians have taken the lead at their university in encouraging faculty to be thoughtful and intentional about their own understanding of information literacy by developing a personal information literacy framework. This reflective process codifies the mental models all users create when interacting with information …

Why And How We Should Be Talking About Race, Morgan Minkler

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Bridging The Gap Between Stem And Liberal Arts In Higher Education, Berkly Hargon

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.