A profile of the Youth Olympic Taekwondo Athlete

Our study aims to identify trends in anthropomorphic attributes and competitive strategies of successful (medalists) versus non medalist young Olympic Taekwondo competitors by gender in terms of body mass, body-mass index (BMI) and fighting technique at the Youth Olympic Games 2010. Results were then compared to adult Taekwondo Olympic athletes in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Data on 96 Taekwondo athletes were obtained from the official Youth Olympic website. A LOGIT analysis was performed on the following six independent variables: height, body mass, body mass index, gender, techniques used to score, and warnings obtained during a match. The study did find some differences between winners and non-winners for males and female, although none of the differences were statistically significant. Consequently, training personnel may enhance winning potential of Taekwondo competitors by focusing on offensive versus defensive techniques and improving the quality of punching.     

Waiting time for transfer of patients with prostaglandin dependant congenital heart defects to tertiary cardiac centers

Worldwide congenital heart defects (CHD) are the leading cause of infant deaths owing to congenital anomalies. Delay in diagnosing and operating in neonates with prostaglandin dependant CHD may lead to significant morbidity and mortality.Objectives: To assess the time interval needed for acceptance and transfer of patients with critical CHD to a tertiary cardiac center and the impact on the patient’s survival.Study design: Retrospective database reviews of all cases diagnosed to have prostaglandin dependant (PG) CHD at Prince Sultan Cardiac Center-Qassim during a 43 months period (from May 2007 to December 2010).Results: During the study period 104 patients were diagnosed to have PG dependant CHD. Patients with PG dependant systemic circulation constitute 60% of patients. Patients with ventricular septal defect (VSD) associated with coarctation of the aorta constituted 16% of patients. The mean waiting time for transfer to a tertiary cardiac center was 10 ± 10 days. Twenty-two (21%) patients died while waiting for acceptance and transfer. Eleven patients were diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). There was no significant difference in the waiting time for those with or without HLHS, with a mean of 9 days for both. Six of our patients had infections with positive blood cultures. The mean waiting period for those with proved infection was 25 days compared with 8 days for those with no proved infection (p value < 0.005).Conclusion: There are a significant number of patients with severe CHD who die while waiting for acceptance and transfer to a tertiary cardiac center. The causes for delay could be the presence of infection, prematurity and low birth weight. The limited numbers of tertiary cardiac centers in Saudi Arabia as well as cardiac ICU beds are among the factors delaying the acceptance of patients requiring cardiac surgery.     

Nocturnal Medications Dosing: Does It Really Make a Difference in Blood Pressure Control Among Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease?

Ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring is superior to clinic BP monitoring in predicting long-term consequences of hypertension. This has raised interest in diurnal variation in BP and elevation in nighttime BP as a prognostic and therapeutic target. Several studies have identified prevalence of nocturnal hypertension in patients with accelerated progression of chronic kidney disease and target organ damage. Some studies suggest that nocturnal BP can be lowered by changing administration of antihypertensive medication to bed time; whether that results in retarding kidney disease progression is not very clear. Further research is needed to determine if certain classes of medications or interventions are superior in controlling nocturnal hypertension, and protocols need to be developed to screen patients for monitoring nocturnal BP. Further studies are needed to evaluate long-term renal outcomes of evening dosing in patients with nocturnal hypertension and chronic kidney disease.     

The Aquilegia pubiflora (Himalayan columbine) mediated synthesis of nanoceria for diverse biomedical applications

Herein, we report an eco-friendly, facile, one-pot, green synthesis of nanoceria for multiple biomedical applications. In the study, cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO₂-NPs) were synthesized using a simple aqueous extract of Aquilegia pubiflora as an effective reducing and capping agent. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were characterized via UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Raman spectroscopy. The NPs were highly stable, exhibited high purity, and had a spherical morphology and mean size of 28 nm. FTIR and HPLC studies confirmed the successful capping of bioactive compounds on the nanoparticles. The well-characterized NPs were evaluated for a number of biomedical applications, and their antimicrobial (antifungal, antibacterial, and antileishmanial), protein kinase inhibition, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-diabetic and biocompatibility properties were studied. Our results showed that the Aquilegia pubiflora mediated CeO₂-NPs were highly active against fungal strains, compared to the tested bacterial strains, with Aspergillus niger resulting in the largest zone of inhibition (15.1 ± 0.27 mm). The particles also exhibited dose dependent leishmanicidal activity with significant LC₅₀ values toward both the amastigote (114 μg mL⁻¹) and promastigote (97 μg mL⁻¹) forms of the parasite Leishmania tropica (KWH23). The NPs were found to be moderately active against the HepG2 cell line, showing 26.78% ± 1.16% inhibition at 200 μg mL⁻¹. Last but not least, their highly biocompatible nature was observed with respect to freshly isolated human red blood cells (hRBCs), making the greenly synthesized CeO₂-NPs a novel candidates for multidimensional medical applications.

Graphical illustration of eco-friendly, facile, one-pot, green synthesis of nanoceria for multiple biomedical applications.