Digital Commons Network^™

Seroprevalence Of Community-Acquired Atypical Bacterial Pneumonia Among Adult Covid-19 Patients From A Single Center In Al Madinah Al Munawarah, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Sari T. Alhoufie, Nadir A. Ibrahim, Naif H. Alsharif, Khalid O. Alfarouk, Hatim M. Makhdoom, Khaled R. Aljabri, Sayed H. Saeed, Adnan A. Khoumaeys, Yahya A. Almutawif, Mustafa A. Najim, Hamza M. Ali, Alanoud A. Aljifri, Ali M. Kheyami, Areej A. Alhazmi

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To investigate the seroprevalence of the community-acquired bacterial that causes atypical pneumonia among confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) patients. Methods: In this cohort study, we retrospectively investigated the seroprevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae , Mycoplasma pneumoniae , and Legionella pneumophila among randomly selected 189 confirmed COVID-19 patients at their time of hospital presentation via commercial immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against these bacteria. We also carried out quantitative measurements of procalcitonin in patients’ serum. Results: The seropositivity for L. pneumophila was 12.6%, with significant distribution among patientsolder than 50 years (χ2 test, p =0.009), while those of M. …

Clinical Characteristics And Outcomes Among Patients With Covid-19: A Single-Center Retrospective Observational Study From Marj, Libya, Aimen M. Khalifa, Fatimah A. Nouh, Farag A. Elshaari

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics and the contributing factors potentially associated with the poorer outcome in Libyan COVID-19 ICU patients. Methods: The present work is a retrospective, single-center study, which included 94 COVID-19 patients admitted to the Isolation Department at Marj Hospital from August 21st, 2020 till April 30th, 2021. The patients’ data, including their medical history, clinical manifestations, radiological imaging, and laboratory findings, were obtained from the hospital records. Results: A higher proportion of the admitted patients were males. The patients’ mean age was 68.29 ± 13.64. The patients came with varying symptoms, but most commonly they were …

Radiation Metrics For Vascular And Interventional Radiology Procedures In A Tertiary Care Institution: A Retrospective Cohort Study Over 5-Years, Mohammad Arabi, Ali S. Rajeh, Nasser Alhendi, Khalid T. Alotaibi, Talal A. Yahyan, Khalid Alyousef, Husam Ardah

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To evaluate the radiation metrics from frequently carried out vascular and interventional radiology (VIR) procedures at a tertiary care institution and compare them to international diagnostic reference levels (DRLs). Methods: A retrospective study of the radiation metrics of VIR-procedures carried out from January 2015 to December 2019. The collected data included age, gender, height and weight, reference point air kerma (mGy), dose area product (DAP; Gy.cm2), and fluoroscopy time (min.) The body mass index (BMI) and peak skin dose were calculated. The study cohort included 8942 adult patients (54.4% male, 45.6% female) with a mean age of 56.96 years …

Pediatric Ovarian Sliding Inguinal Hernia, Is Surgical Repair Urgent?, Mutaz M. Gieballa, Suliaman M. Alaqeel, Mohammad A. Aldaffaa

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To find if repairing sliding inguinal hernias containing the ovary should be carried out urgently or not. Methods: A retrospective chart review carried out at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2015-2022. All cases with an ovarian inguinal hernia in females aged 0-14 years were reviewed after obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board. Results: Female children with inguinal hernia patients were 191. A total of 28 cases were sliding inguinal hernias involving the ovary. All were repaired electively except for 4 cases that had an initial presentation of an incarcerated ovary at age less than 90 …

Profile And Primary Treatment Outcomes In Membranous Nephropathy, M.K. Hemanth Kumar, Jashan Sandhu, Jasvinder S. Sandhu

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To assess the clinical profile and primary treatment response and outcomes in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) patients. Methods: This study was carried out between December 2013 and January 2019 in a tertiary care hospital in North India on 2 years retrospective and 3 years prospective renal biopsy proven patients with IMN presenting with nephrotic syndrome. Basic baseline investigations carried out were urinary proteins, serum albumin, serum creatinine, other special tests wherever necessary or possible (including phospholipase A2 receptor antibodies), and different treatment regimens were offered for treatment. The patients were followed up for a minimum period of 6 months …

Cardiac Myxoma Presenting With Multisystem Involvement, Ghofran A. Ageely, Salhah S. Alsulami, Ahad A. Alkenani, Ebtihal Ems. Albeshri

Saudi Medical Journal

A cardiac myxoma is a rare tumor that could be incidental or present with common symptoms due to embolization. A minority of cases are attributed to carney complex, a rare inherited disease. A 73-year-old Asian male presented with acute left-side weakness, slurred speech, gait imbalance, and subacute constitutional symptoms. Left atrial myxoma was discovered by computed tomography and confirmed by echocardiography. Brain imaging revealed pituitary macroadenoma with subarachnoid and intraventricular hemorrages. The hormonal profile confirmed pituitary apoplexy, for which hormone replacement was initiated. Workup also revealed multiple endocrine tumors and excluded infection and malignancy. Myxoma resection could not be carried …

Double Malignancy And A Mycobacterial Infection In A Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient, Huda Alfaris, Sarah A. Alkathiri, Doha Babelli, Fahdah Alokaily

Saudi Medical Journal

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease. Malignancy is a serious complication of rheumatoid arthritis and its treatment. In this article, we discuss a 61-year-old woman who is a known case of Rheumatoid arthritis and secondary Sjögren’s syndrome treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatoid drugs and multiple lines of biological therapies. She was found to have recto-sigmoid cancer, disseminated tuberculosis infection, and acute lymphoid leukemia at different intervals of treatment. Therefore, it is advisable to initiate appropriate screening programs that target high-risk people for malignancy.

Comment On: Fracture Risk Assessment In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Ali S. Jawad

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Who Makes New Recommendations For Ebola Treatments, Calls For Improved Access

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

A Cat's Busy Day, Lana Wang, Special Collections, Fleet Library

9th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2023

Entry for the 9th Annual Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening Reception Thursday, March 02, 2023, Fleet Library, Main Reading Room. Juror: Andre Lee Bassuet.

Availability And Accessibility Of Health Information To Women In Rural Community, Elemere, Moro Local Government, Kwara State, Olamide Hammed Olaiya, Marcus Oladotun Aragbaye, Omolara Deborah Akintobi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This research work investigates the availability and accessibility of health information by rural women in Elemere communities of moro local government, Kwara state. Questionnaire and interviews are major instruments used for data collection which was done by examining relevant documents to obtain necessary information 10 set of questionnaire were administered to health workers and health information providers in which all the 10 questionnaires were retrieved. Interviews were conducted on forty (40) rural women. the study selects reconnaissance survey for its design. The data gotten from the study area was further analysed with the use of descriptive techniques such as frequency …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 6, Number 9, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton, Chia-Chun Chiang

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Taiwan: Implications For Occupational Therapy Education, Yu-Chan Lin, Chung-Pei Fu, Han-Kuei Fu, Keh-Chung Lin

Journal of Medical Education

There is a desperate need for the transition of health care professional education from face-to-face education to e-learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Post pandemic changes in the behavior of patients seeking occupational therapy services mark the need for the ongoing transformation of occupational therapy education for strategic plans to meet the need for occupational therapy services inside and outside the hospital setting. To achieve the goal, occupational therapy educators need to study the processes of teaching and learning to make effective use of modern technology to provide online courses and instruction. To investigate the experiences of tutors and learners …

The Evaluation Of An Integrative Curriculum For Physician-Patient Relationship And Emotional Resilience: From Medical College To Post-Graduate Year, Shih-Cheng Liao, Ming-Been Lee

Journal of Medical Education

Background and purpose: Medical humanities courses for medical students were often scattered over the six years of schooling. The ideal curriculum must be linked across grades and even extend to the teaching hospital curriculum after graduation. Here we introduced an innovative teaching program designed to integrate medical humanity teaching objectives vertically and longitudinally. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative teaching plan, Methods: The program vertically integrated teaching objectives such as dealing with difficult patients, physician-patient relationships, prevention of medical disputes, and developing emotional resilience, into the current medical humanities courses. Furthermore, the …

Innovation Culture Assessment: An Exploratory Diagnosis Of A Taiwanese Manufacturing Company, Yong Keong Tay

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The purpose of this research study is to better understand how manufacturing firms in Asia are trying to make innovation work and the challenges they are facing in creating and capturing new value. Based on a real-life case study of a medium-sized OEM lock manufacturer in Taiwan (“3ST”), the study sheds light on key building blocks of a robust corporate innovation culture with focus on ‘Values’, ‘Behaviours’, ‘Climate’, ‘Resources’, ‘Processes’, and ‘Success’, using a valid and reliable diagnostic innovation culture framework developed by Rao & Weintraub (2013).

Besides the identification of critical gaps in 3ST’s innovation culture based on Rao …

A Study On The Impact Of Technological Innovation Attributes On Listing Success Rate And Post-Listing Performance, Yijun Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

"Key and core technology" enterprises form the backbone of great powers. China’s STAR Market (technological innovation board) is committed to implementing strategies that will lead to technological innovation-driven sustainable development and strengthen the country by building a secure and independent industrial chain that can support the development of cutting-edge technology. From the outset, the STAR Market put forward clear requirements for "key and core technology" enterprises. The technological innovation attributes of the enterprises listed on the STAR Market are the most essential core characteristics, but a question arises as to how best to evaluate their technological innovation attributes. Are these …

Nudging Social Online Referrals: Evidence From A Randomized Field Experiment, Qian Zeng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the rise of social commerce platforms and customer engagement in online products and services, firms are focusing their attention on effective social online referral program to encourage customers’ online referral behaviors to grow their customer base. Hence, how to influence customers to participate in online referral is a matter of the utmost importance to firms. However, little empirical research has examined the impact of online referral program on customers’ online referral on social commerce platform. To close this research gap, this dissertation investigates the effectiveness of digital nudging for consumers’ social online referral on social commerce platforms.

Working with …

Research On A Suitable Upstream Traceability Model For The Natural Rubber Supply Chain In Thailand, Specifically For Rib-Smoke-Sheet (Rss), Beh Kok Fong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Traceability is the first step to gain visibility in the supply chain and can be used to meet different purposes. Similar to other agriculture crops, the natural rubber industry faces reputational damage due to deforestation, land grab, loss of biodiversity and non-compliance with environmental standards occurring in the upstream. The introduction of new social and environmental regulations accelerates the need for traceability. Reflecting on the importance of environmental and social considerations, this industry is looking at traceability to identify the historical trends leading to the present sustainability state and any ongoing sustainability risks in the upstream to enable downstream users …

Robustness And Cross-Lingual Transfer: An Exploration Of Out-Of-Distribution Scenario In Natural Language Processing, Yu, Sicheng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Most traditional machine learning or deep learning methods are based on the premise that training data and test data are independent and identical distributed, i.e., IID. However, it is just an ideal situation. In real-world applications, test set and training data often follow different distributions, which we refer to as the out of distribution, i.e., OOD, setting. As a result, models trained with traditional methods always suffer from an undesirable performance drop on the OOD test set. It's necessary to develop techniques to solve this problem for real applications. In this dissertation, we present four pieces of work in the …

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy And Pregnancy: A Retrospective Analysis From A Tertiary Care Hospital, Pooja Sikka, Vanita Suri, Seema Chopra, Neelam Aggarwal, Subhas Chandra Saha, Ramandeep Bansal, Rajesh Vijayvergiya, Ajay Bahl

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Pregnancy in women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is not well described. In this retrospective study, we analyzed data on pregnant women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who were under follow-up care in the cardiology department of a tertiary care hospital. We reviewed data on all women registered in the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy cohort and those who attended the cardio-obstetric clinic and delivered between January 2010 and June 2019. From these 2 groups, we identified 7 pregnant women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who delivered during this period. These 7 women (mean [SD] age, 25 [3.3] years) had a total of 15 pregnancies (range per woman,1–4). This …

Evidence Of Likely Autochthonous Chagas Disease In The Southwestern United States: A Case Series Of Trypanosoma Cruzi Seropositive Blood Donors, Mary K. Lynn, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Norman L. Beatty, Patricia L. Dorn, Stephen A. Klotz, Susan L. Stramer, Rebecca L. Townsend, Hany Kamel, Jacquelyn M. Vannoy, Patrick Sadler, Susan P. Montgomery, Hilda N. Rivera, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Background Chagas disease is a parasitic infection that can insidiously cause non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. Given the largely silent nature of this progressive disease, asymptomatic blood donors pose potential blood transfusion risk. Blood donation screening has become an unintentional form of Chagas disease surveillance, with thousands of new cases identified since national surveillance was initiated in 2007.

Study Design and Methods We recruited T. cruzi-positive blood donors identified from California and Arizona blood centers for confirmatory blood screening and assessment of lifetime infection risk.

Results Among eight suspected cases, we identified four confirmed US autochthonous infections. The current manuscript details the …

Systematic Review Of Functional Outcomes In Cancer Rehabilitation, Alix Sleight, Lynn H. Gerber, Timothy F. Marshall, Alicia Livinski, Catherine M. Alfano, Shana Harrington Pt, Ph.D., Ann Marie Flores, Aneesha Virani, Xiaorong Hu, Sandra A. Mitchell, Mitra Varedi, Melissa Eden, Samah Hayek, Beverly Reigle, Anya Kerkman, Raquel Neves, Kathleen Jablonoski, Eileen Danaher Hacker, Virginia Sun, Robin Newman, Karen Kane Mcdonnell, Allison L'Hotta, Alana Schoenhals, Nicole L. Stout

Faculty Publications

Objective

To systematically review the evidence regarding rehabilitation interventions targeting optimal physical or cognitive function in adults with a history of cancer and describe the breadth of evidence as well as strengths and limitations across a range of functional domains.

Data Sources

PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Plus, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase. The time scope was January 2008 to April 2019.

Study Selection

Prospective, controlled trials including single- and multiarm cohorts investigating rehabilitative interventions for cancer survivors at any point in the continuum of care were included, if studies included a primary functional outcome measure. …

Structural And Optical Properties Of Graphene-Zno Nanohybrid Thin Films Synthesized By Spray Pyrolysis, Zahraa Talib, Azhar Hassan, Jehan Saimon

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

Graphene-ZnO nanohybrid thin films were prepared by spray pyrolysis technique at 350 °C. Different graphene nanoplate concentrations of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 wt.% were used to deposit films on quartz substrates. The Structural and optical properties of the nanohybrid films have been investigated. X-ray diffraction XRD results show that the films have a hexagonal wurtzite polycrystalline structure and no secondary phases were observed. The structural parameters of crystallite size, dislocation density, and microstrain have indicated that the addition of graphene has a strong effect on the microstructure of zinc oxide films. Surface morphological analysis of the ZnO-graphene films …

Modal Analysis For Single-Mode Waveguides Of Silicon On Sapphire (Sos) At Infrared Region Using Finite Element Method (Fem), Yadgar Shwan

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

One of the recommended platforms for waveguide generation in the infrared region is silicon-on-sapphire (SOS). This paper proposes a modal of the optical waveguide of silicon on a sapphire from  ), using FEM (finite-element method) solver simulation performed by FDTD [finite-different-time-domain]. The waveguide is directly based on the refractive index difference between the wave's guideline regions and surrounding media (cladding). The use of FEM to analyze a single waveguide mode of SOS at a certain size within multiple wavelengths is a unique aspect of this research. In addition, this project's objective is to discov how the waveguide size (dimension) impacts …

Characterization Of Superconductor Materials Doped With Nanoparticles On Their Properties: Review Article, Hanan Kadhim, Noor Hasan, Adawiya Haider

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

Revolutionary developments have been started in the field of superconductors since their discovery. High-temperature superconductors have been a focus of attention in advanced technology for many scientists because of their potential applications. Therefore, many changes are made in the products that use such materials. It remains one of the most exciting research fields and can revolutionize the physics and technology of the future. It is required to understand and learn the history and basic principles of Superconductivity for its better implications. Considering its recent discoveries, its current applications can be studied. The mechanism of ‘HTS’ is much easier to understand …

Characterizations Of Nanodiamond Composite Film For Photonics Applications, Aseel Shakaty, Jassim Hmood, Bushra Mahdi

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Fes2 Thin Film Prepared By Spray Pyrolysis Method For Optoelectronic Applications, Mostafa Ibrahim, Mustafa Hassan, Khaleel Hassoon

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

In this work, the physical properties of iron sulfide (FeS2) thin films deposited by the chemical spray-pyrolysis (CSP) technique were studied.  The thin films are deposited on glass substrates at 200oC, using FeCl3 salt with thiourea (NH2)2CS as precursors. Structural analysis of X-Ray diffraction manifested that the thin films contain two phases: Marcasite and Pyrite in planes (110), (111) at angles 2θ =26.3°, 2θ =28.3° respectively. Optical properties analysis showed that the prepared iron sulfide thin-films were highly absorbing in the UV-Visible range and the absorption coefficient was in the range of 1.6x105 cm-1 with a relatively low resistivity of …

Spectroscopic And Structural Analysis Of Aluminum Bulk And Nanoparticles: A Comparative Study, Hajir M. Fadhil, Khaleel I. Hassoon, Hyder A. Salih

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

In the present work, Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has been utilized to investigate two forms of aluminum samples, namely Al in the form of the nanoparticles (NPs) and a bulk (pellet). The Al target was irradiated by pulsed Nd-YAG laser with wavelength 1064 nm to produce plasma. The plasm spectrum is analyzed in the wavelength range between 250 nm and 700 nm. Some plasma parameters were calculated, including electron temperature (����), plasma density (ne) and Debye length (����) for different laser energies. The temperature of electrons was computed employing the Boltzmann plot technique, and the electrons density was computed …

Antibacterial Studying Of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized By Chemical Reduction Method Using Different Stabilized Concentrations, Zahraa Ghazi, Mohammad Mohammad, Manal Abbood, Amal Hussein

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

Silver nanoparticles were prepared by the chemical reduction method. Silver nitrate was taken as a metal precursor and sodium borohydride as a reducing agent with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) stabilizers of different concentrations, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques have been used, these measurement results showed that the prepared material is silver nanoparticles. The average size of silver nanoparticles using the Scherrer equation with values ranging from 8.49-12.15nm. TEM images showed that the silver nanoparticles are spherical in size between 5-47nm. Nanoscale distribution of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) prepared at different concentrations was …

Preparation Of Cellulose Acetate Nanocomposite Films Based On Tio2-Zno Nanoparticles Modification As Food Packaging Applications, Hajer Ali, Nahida Hameed

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

To develop bio-packaging materials, nanocomposite films of cellulose acetate reinforced with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles were prepared, by the casting method at different weight ratios of ZnO nanoparticles (1.5, 2, and 2.5) wt% and a constant weight ratio of 2 wt% TiO2. ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles were tested using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation) were improved at a fixed level of Cellulose Acetate+ 2% TiO2+1.5wt% ZnO loading. Beyond that level of loading, they decreased. The tensile strength was decreased due to some degrees of agglomeration of filler particles above a critical content. …