Development of an Arabic battery for remediation of selective auditory attention disorder in children

A battery of Arabic speech material was developed for remediation of selective auditory attention disorder (SAAD) in children and standardized on 40 normal children aged from 6 to 12 years. This battery included: the Word Intelligibility by Picture Identification (WIPI) test, newly developed sentences for speech discrimination in noise, bisyllabic words and monosyllabic words. The tests were recorded against a background noise of either multitalker babble or stories. Variables affecting the results of the new battery, namely age, type of speech material and type of background noise, were studied. A significant positive correlation was found between the age of the child and the test scores. The WIPI test was the easiest test, giving the highest scores. The monosyllabic words test was the most difficult, yet normal children gave mean scores around 92%. The type of background noise showed a non-significant effect on the test scores. Results of two cases with SAAD are also presented.     

Red blood cell distribution width in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndromeand its association with cardiovascular disease

Background : Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is reported as a novel marker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We aimed to investigate the correlation of RDW level with the severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) defined with the apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) and to study the relationship between RDW and CVD in OSAS. Methods: From retrospective analyses of patients admitted to our department for polygraphy between January 2018 and January 2020, OSAS patients with complete medical records and hemogram analyses were evaluated. Results: The study population consisted of 160 patients (101 females/59 males). The mean age was 52.32 ± 10.83 years. RDW correlated positively with the apnea hypopnea index (AHI) (r=0.392; p <0.0001) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (r = 0.3, p < 0.001). RDW and CRP were significantly higher in patients with CVD than whom without CVD (p <0.0001). In multivariate analysis, the independent predictors of CVD in OSAS were RDW (p<0.0001; OR=3.095; CI: 1.69-5.66), CRP (p=0.046; OR=1.136; CI: 1.002-1.287) and age (p=0.013; OR=1.085; CI: 1.017-1.157). The cut-off level for RDW with optimal sensitivity and specificity was calculated as 14.45 with sensitivity of 81% and specificity of 75%. Conclusions : The findings of this study suggest that RDW, a simple, relatively inexpensive and universally available marker could have the ability to predict CVD in OSAS.     

Genotoxicity of air borne particulates assessed by comet and the Salmonella mutagenicity test in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Fine airborne respirable particulates less than 10 micrometer (PM10) are considered one of the top environmental public health concerns, since they contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are among the major carcinogenic compounds found in urban air. The objective of this study is to assess the genotoxicity of the ambient PM10 collected at 11 urban sites in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The PM10 extractable organic matter (EOM) was examined for its genotoxicity by the single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) comet assay and the Salmonella mutagenicity (Ames) test .Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to quantify 16 PAH compounds in four sites. Samples from oil refinery and heavy diesel vehicles traffic sites showed significant DNA damage causing comet in 20-44% of the cells with tail moments ranging from 0.5-2.0 compared to samples from petrol driven cars and residential area, with comet in less than 2% of the cells and tail moments of < 0.02.In the Ames test, polluted sites showed indirect mutagenic response and caused 20-56 rev/ m3, mean while residential and reference sites caused 2-15 rev /m3. The genotoxicity of the EOM in both tests directly correlated with the amount of organic particulate and the PAHs concentrations in the air samples. The PAHs concentrations ranged between 0.83 ng/m3 in industrial and heavy diesel vehicles traffic sites to 0.18 ng /m3 in the residential area. Benzo(ghi)pyrene was the major PAH components and at one site it represented 65.4 % of the total PAHs. Samples of the oil refinery site were more genotoxic in the SCGE assay than samples from the heavy diesel vehicles traffic site, despite the fact that both sites contain almost similar amount of PAHs. The opposite was true for the mutagenicity in the Ames test. This could be due to the nature of the EOM in both sites. These findings confirm the genotoxic potency of the PM10 organic extracts to which urban populations are exposed.     

Synergistic effect of Ebselen and gamma radiation on breast cancer cells

Purpose: To explore the synergistic effect of a seleno-organic compound Ebselen (Ebs) and/or γ-radiation to exert antitumor effects on human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell line in vitro.

Materials and methods: Ebs cytotoxicity at various concentrations (10, 25, 50 and 75 μg), cell proliferation and clonogenic assay of Ebs and/or γ-radiation (at 1, 3 and 6?Gy), expression of p-IκBα and NF-κB, inflammatory cytokines levels (TNF-α, IL-2, INF-γ, IL-10 and TGF-β), apoptotic factors (Caspase-3, Granzyme-B and TRAIL) and angiogenic factor (VEGF) were investigated.

Results: The results showed that the effective dosage of this combination was observed at 25 μg/ml of Ebs with γ-radiation at 6?Gy. Data displayed a significant reduction in NF-κB mRNA along with an elevation in granzyme-B mRNA and TRAIL mRNA expression. Furthermore, protein expression of caspase-3 was elevated, whereas p-IκBα and p-NF-κB(p65) protein expression was reduced significantly. Also, a significant decline in TNF-α, IL-2, INF-γ, TGF-β with a significant increase in IL-10 levels were revealed. Meanwhile, a significant decrease in VEGF level and proliferation capacity were observed.

Conclusions: We conclude that a combination of Ebs with radiotherapy has a major antitumor efficiency in inducing apoptosis and inhibiting cancer cell progression, due to the synergistic effect in regulating gene and protein expression, and in a modulating response of pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines.     

Addressing medication errors in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study

ObjectiveThere is a wide range of strategies that could help in minimizing medication errors during healthcare delivery. We undertook a qualitative study to identify recommended solutions to minimize medication errors in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia from the perspectives of healthcare professionals.MethodsThis was a qualitative study conducted in an adult oncology department in Saudi Arabia. After obtaining the required ethical approvals and written consents from the participants, seven focus group discussions were carried out for data collection. A stratified purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit medical doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. NVivo Pro version 11 was used for data analyses. Inductive content analysis was adopted in the coding of collected data.ResultOur study showed that improving organizational support, staff education, and communication could help in minimizing medication errors in the adult oncology department.ConclusionThe adoption of multiple strategies is required to improve the safety of the medication process in the adult oncology department. We argue that the availability of supportive leadership should be prioritized as it plays a crucial role in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of both staff education and communication.