Search Results (106)

Background and Objectives: Screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) aims to identify asymptomatic individuals who may be at a higher risk, allowing proactive interventions. The objective of this study was to predict the incidence of DM2 and prediabetes in the Saudi population over the next five years. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the Aseer region through August 2023 using a cross-sectional survey for data collection. A multistage stratified random sampling technique was adopted, and data were collected through face-to-face interviews using the validated Arabic version of the Australian Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool (AUSDRISK). Results: In total, 652 individuals were included in the study. Their mean age was 32.0 ± 12.0 years; 53.8% were male, 89.6% were from urban areas, and 55.8% were single. There were statistically significant differences between males and females in AUSDRISK items, including age, history of high blood glucose, use of medications for high blood pressure, smoking, physical activity, and measurements of waist circumference (p < 0.05). Based on AUSDRISK scores, 46.2% of the included participants were predicted to develop impaired glucose tolerance within the coming five years (65.8% among females vs. 23.6%), and 21.9% were predicted to develop DM2 (35.6% among males vs. 6.0% among females); this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Urgent public health action is required to prevent the increasing epidemic of DM2 in Saudi Arabia. Full article

Background: Migraine is a common health condition in both men and women. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects many women during their menstrual cycle, with around 50–60% of women with migraine attacks experiencing menstrual headaches. Most have mild symptoms, but 5–8% suffer from moderate to severe symptoms, causing distress and functional issues. Pure menstrual migraine (PMM) occurs in about 50% of women with migraine, and it can be debilitating in terms of frequency and severity. This information is crucial for Saudi Arabian medical professionals to provide better care and support, improving the quality of life for women with PMS and menstrual migraine (MM) attacks. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of MM in women, to evaluate the severity and frequency of MM in women with PMS, and to identify potential risk factors aggravating MM in women with PMS in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted on reproductive-aged (18–50 years) women who had regular menstrual cycles and were diagnosed with PMS, using a self-administered questionnaire between December 2022 to May 2023 in Saudi Arabia. Results: Out of the 2130 female participants, 397 (18.6%) had migraine. Among these 397 migraine sufferers, 230 (57.9%) experienced MM, while 167 (42.1%) had non-MM. In reproductive women in general, MM occurred in 10.7% of cases, while non-MM was observed in 7.8%. There is a correlation between increasing BMI and an increased incidence of MM. About one-third of the participants experienced moderate disability due to migraine attacks, with 134 (33.8%) individuals affected. Additionally, most MM sufferers missed at least 3 days of work in the last 3 months due to their condition. Conclusions: Migraine attacks occurring during the menstrual cycle impair the ability to engage in social, physical, household, and academic activities, often hindering the fulfillment of professional commitments. To gain a deeper understanding of menstrual and non-menstrual migraine attacks, it is essential to conduct extensive prospective studies aimed at developing effective management strategies. Full article

Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is a complex and serious form of heart failure caused by the accumulation of transthyretin amyloid protein in the heart muscle. Variable symptoms of ATTR-CM can lead to a delayed diagnosis. Recognizing the diagnostic indicators is crucial to promptly detect this condition. A targeted literature review was conducted to examine the latest international consensus recommendations on a comprehensive diagnosis of ATTR-CM. Additionally, a panel consisting of nuclear medicine expert consultants (n = 10) and nuclear imaging technicians (n = 2) convened virtually from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to formulate best practices for ATTR-CM diagnosis. The panel reached a consensus on a standard diagnostic pathway for ATTR-CM, which commences by evaluating the presence of clinical red flags and initiating a cardiac workup to assess the patient’s echocardiogram. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging may be needed, in uncertain cases. When there is a high suspicion of ATTR-CM, patients undergo nuclear scintigraphy and hematologic tests to rule out primary or light-chain amyloidosis. The expert panel emphasized that implementing best practices will support healthcare professionals in KSA to improve their ability to detect and diagnose ATTR-CM more accurately and promptly. Diagnosing ATTR-CM accurately and early can reduce morbidity and mortality rates through appropriate treatment. Full article

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder of the endocrine system characterized by persistent hyperglycemia appears due to the deficiency or ineffective use of insulin. The glucose level of diabetic patients increases after every meal and medically recommended drugs are used to control hyperglycemia. Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors are used as antidiabetic medicine to delay the hydrolysis of complex carbohydrates. Acarbose, miglitol, and voglibose are commercial drugs but patients suffer side effects of flatulence, bloating, diarrhea, and loss of hunger. To explore a new antidiabetic drug, a series of benzotriazinone carboxamides was synthesized and their alpha-glucosidase inhibition potentials were measured using in vitro experiments. The compounds 14k and 14l were found to be strong inhibitors compared to the standard drug acarbose with IC₅₀ values of 27.13 ± 0.12 and 32.14 ± 0.11 μM, respectively. In silico study of 14k and 14l was carried out using molecular docking to identify the type of interactions developed between these compounds and enzyme sites. Both potent compounds 14k and 14l exhibited effective docking scores by making their interactions with selected amino acid residues. Chemical hardness and orbital energy gap values were investigated using DFT studies and results depicted affinity of 14k and 14l towards biological molecules. All computational findings were found to be in good agreement with in vitro results. Full article

Optimized surface-type impedimetric and capacitive proximity sensors have been fabricated on paper substrates by using rubbing-in technology. The orange dye (OD) and silicone glue (SG) composite-gel films were deposited on the zig-zag gap between two aluminum electrodes fixed on a paper (dielectric) substrate. The effect of proximity of various objects (receivers) on the impedance and the capacitance of the sensors was investigated. These objects were semi-cylindrical aluminum (metallic) foil, a cylindrical plastic tube filled with water, a kopeck-shaped plastic tube filled with carbon nanotubes and a human finger. The mechanism of sensing was based on the change in impedance and/or the capacitance of the sensors with variation of proximity between the surfaces of the sensor and the object. On decreasing proximity, the impedance of the sensors increased while the capacitance decreased. The impedimetric proximity sensitivities of CNT, water, metal-based receivers and the finger were up to 60 × 10³ Ω/mm, 35 × 10³ Ω/mm, 44 × 10³ Ω/mm and 6.2 × 10³ Ω/mm, respectively, while their capacitive sensitivities were −19.0 × 10⁻² pF/mm, −16.0 × 10⁻² pF/mm, −16.4 × 10⁻² pF/mm and −1.8 × 10⁻² pF/mm. If needed for practical application, the sensors can be built in to the Wheatstone bridge, which can also increase the sensitivity of the measurement. Moreover, the sensor’s materials are low cost, while the fabrication technique is easy and ecologically friendly. The sensor can also be used for demonstrative purposes in school and college laboratories. Full article

Introduction: Birth defects are a significant concern since they can lead to permanent disability and death. This study comprehensively reviews the prevalence and patterns of birth defects in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A systematic analysis of the literature retrieved from three databases (Pub Med, Science Direct, and the Saudi digital library) published between 1989 and 2022 was performed. Observational studies that addressed the prevalence and patterns of birth defects in Saudi Arabia were chosen based on the eligibility criteria, while systematic reviews, review articles, non-relevant articles, and studies that did not fulfill the eligibility criteria were excluded. Quality and risk of bias were evaluated based on the JBI and GRADE tools, respectively. Results: We identified 26 eligible publications of 1277 records that included 297,668 patients from different regions of Saudi Arabia. The highest overall prevalence of birth defects was 46.5 per 1000 live births compared to a lowest rate of 8.6 per 1000 in one study. Several studies have reported positive associations of consanguinity, maternal folic acid supplementation, family history of birth defects or genetic abnormalities, and maternal co-morbidities. The most frequent birth defects include cardiac, genitourinary, craniofacial, and nervous system defects. Conclusion: Robust findings have improved our understanding of the prevalence and pattern of birth defects in Saudi Arabia. Importantly, future studies will likely require multicenter collaboration to arrive at appropriate sample sizes in the context of the effects of risk factors on elevated prevalence. Furthermore, quantitative data require careful evaluation in more complex statistical models. Full article

Nowadays, brain tumors have become a leading cause of mortality worldwide. The brain cells in the tumor grow abnormally and badly affect the surrounding brain cells. These cells could be either cancerous or non-cancerous types, and their symptoms can vary depending on their location, size, and type. Due to its complex and varying structure, detecting and classifying the brain tumor accurately at the initial stages to avoid maximum death loss is challenging. This research proposes an improved fine-tuned model based on CNN with ResNet50 and U-Net to solve this problem. This model works on the publicly available dataset known as TCGA-LGG and TCIA. The dataset consists of 120 patients. The proposed CNN and fine-tuned ResNet50 model are used to detect and classify the tumor or no-tumor images. Furthermore, the U-Net model is integrated for the segmentation of the tumor regions correctly. The model performance evaluation metrics are accuracy, intersection over union, dice similarity coefficient, and similarity index. The results from fine-tuned ResNet50 model are IoU: 0.91, DSC: 0.95, SI: 0.95. In contrast, U-Net with ResNet50 outperforms all other models and correctly classified and segmented the tumor region. Full article

A brain tumor is a significant health concern that directly or indirectly affects thousands of people worldwide. The early and accurate detection of brain tumors is vital to the successful treatment of brain tumors and the improved quality of life of the patient. There are several imaging techniques used for brain tumor detection. Among these techniques, the most common are MRI and CT scans. To overcome the limitations associated with these traditional techniques, computer-aided analysis of brain images has gained attention in recent years as a promising approach for accurate and reliable brain tumor detection. In this study, we proposed a fine-tuned vision transformer model that uses advanced image processing and deep learning techniques to accurately identify the presence of brain tumors in the input data images. The proposed model FT-ViT involves several stages, including the processing of data, patch processing, concatenation, feature selection and learning, and fine tuning. Upon training the model on the CE-MRI dataset containing 5712 brain tumor images, the model could accurately identify the tumors. The FT-Vit model achieved an accuracy of 98.13%. The proposed method offers high accuracy and can significantly reduce the workload of radiologists, making it a practical approach in medical science. However, further research can be conducted to diagnose more complex and rare types of tumors with more accuracy and reliability. Full article

Polymeric rubber and organic semiconductor H₂Pc-CNT-composite-based surface- and sandwich-type shockproof deformable infrared radiation (IR) sensors were fabricated using a rubbing-in technique. CNT and CNT-H₂Pc (30:70 wt.%) composite layers were deposited on a polymeric rubber substrate as electrodes and active layers, respectively. Under the effect of IR irradiation (0 to 3700 W/m²), the resistance and the impedance of the surface-type sensors decreased up to 1.49 and 1.36 times, respectively. In the same conditions, the resistance and the impedance of the sandwich-type sensors decreased up to 1.46 and 1.35 times, respectively. The temperature coefficients of resistance (TCR) of the surface- and sandwich-type sensors are 1.2 and 1.1, respectively. The novel ratio of the H₂Pc-CNT composite ingredients and comparably high value of the TCR make the devices attractive for bolometric applications meant to measure the intensity of infrared radiation. Moreover, given their easy fabrication and low-cost materials, the fabricated devices have great potential for commercialization. Full article

Primary care physicians (PCPs) are the first line of defense for the management of common dermatological conditions (DCs). This study aimed to assess how dermatological diseases are identified, managed, and referred to in primary healthcare centers (PHCs). This was a mixed methods study comprising a cross-sectional survey and semi-structured interviews recruited through PHCs across the Jouf region of Saudi Arabia. Sixty-one PCPs completed the data, and eight participants were interviewed. A survey based on a sample of 22 photographs of common DCs in the Kingdom was administered to the participants to answer questions about the correct diagnosis, appropriate management, referral strategy, and encounter rate. In our sampled population, the mean overall knowledge level on a scale of 10 was 7.08 (±1.3). Among participants that had good to acceptable scores, 51 (83.6%) were in the overall knowledge parameter, 46 (75.4%) in the diagnosis parameter, and 49 (80.3%) in the management parameter. PCPs with five years or more of experience were found to have significantly higher overall knowledge and management scores. Most of our PCPs demonstrated sufficient knowledge of common DCs and had good to acceptable scores in all parameters. However, educational and regulatory aspects of PCPs’ clinical management were identified. Focused training, provision of workshops, and improving medical school curricula regarding common DCs are recommended. Full article

Generally, our ecosystem is continuously contaminated as a result of anthropogenic activities that form the basis of our comfort in our routine life. Thus, most scientists are engaged in the development of new technologies that can be used in environmental remediation. Herein, highly calcined binary metal oxide (Er₂O₃@NiO) semiconductor nanocomposite (NC) was synthesized using a classical wet chemical process with the intention to both detect and degrade the toxic chemicals in an aqueous medium using a novel electrochemical current–potential (I–V) approach for the first time. Optical, morphological, and structural properties of the newly synthesized semiconductor NC were also studied in detail using FT-IR, UV/Vis., FESEM-EDS, XPS, BET, EIS, and XRD techniques. Then, a modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) based on the newly synthesized semiconductor nanocomposite (Er₂O₃@NiO-NC/Nafion/GCE) as a selective electrochemical sensor was fabricated with the help of 5% ethanolic-Nafion as the conducting polymer binder in order to both detect and electro-hydrolyze toxic chemicals in an aqueous medium. Comparative study showed that this newly developed Er₂O₃@NiO-NC/Nafion/GCE was found to be very selective against m-tolyl hydrazine (m-Tolyl HDZN) and to have good affinity in the presence of other interfering toxic chemicals. Analytical parameters were also studied in this approach to optimize the newly designed Er₂O₃@NiO-NC/Nafion/GCE as an efficient and selective m-Tolyl HDZN sensor. Its limit of detection (LOD) at an SNR of 3 was calculated as 0.066 pM over the linear dynamic range (LDR) of our target analyte concentration (0.1 pM–0.1 mM). The limit of quantification (LOQ) and sensitivity were also calculated as 0.22 pM and 14.50 µAµM⁻¹cm⁻², respectively. m-Tolyl HDZN is among the toxic chemicals in our ecosystem that have lethal effects in living beings. Therefore, this newly designed electrochemical sensor based on semiconductor nanostructure material offers, for the first time, a cost-effective technique, in addition to long-term stability, that can be used as an alternative for efficiently probing other toxic chemicals in real samples. Full article

Currently, polymer organic solar cells (POSCs) are widely utilized due to their significant application, such as low-cost power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Therefore, we designed a series of photovoltaic materials (D1, D2, D3, D5 and D7) by the incorporation of selenophene units (n = 1–7) as π₁-spacers by considering the importance of POSCs. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were accomplished at MPW1PW91/6-311G (d, p) functional to explore the impact of additional selenophene units on the photovoltaic behavior of the above-mentioned compounds. A comparative analysis was conducted for designed compounds and reference compounds (D1). Reduction in energy gaps (∆E = 2.399 − 2.064 eV) with broader absorption wavelength (λ_max = 655.480 − 728.376 nm) in chloroform along with larger charge transference rate was studied with the addition of selenophene units as compared to D1. A significantly higher exciton dissociation rate was studied as lower values of binding energy (E_b = 0.508 − 0.362 eV) were noted in derivatives than in the reference (E_b = 0.526 eV). Moreover, transition density matrix (TDM) and density of state (DOS) data also supported the efficient charge transition origination from HOMOs to LUMOs. Open circuit voltage (V_oc) was also calculated for all the aforesaid compounds to check the efficiency, and significant results were seen (1.633–1.549 V). All the analyses supported our compounds as efficient POSCs materials with significant efficacy. These compounds might encourage the experimental researchers to synthesize them due to proficient photovoltaic materials. Full article

In this work, we have developed novel beads based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) encapsulated copper oxide-titanium oxide (CuO-TiO₂) nanocomposite (CMC/CuO-TiO₂) via Al⁺³ cross-linking agent. The developed CMC/CuO-TiO₂ beads were applied as a promising catalyst for the catalytic reduction of organic and inorganic contaminants; nitrophenols (NP), methyl orange (MO), eosin yellow (EY) and potassium hexacyanoferrate (K₃[Fe(CN)₆]) in the presence of reducing agent (NaBH₄). CMC/CuO-TiO₂ nanocatalyst beads exhibited excellent catalytic activity in the reduction of all selected pollutants (4-NP, 2-NP, 2,6-DNP, MO, EY and K₃[Fe(CN)₆]). Further, the catalytic activity of beads was optimized toward 4-nitrophenol with varying its concentrations and testing different concentrations of NaBH₄. Beads stability, reusability, and loss in catalytic activity were investigated using the recyclability method, in which the CMC/CuO-TiO₂ nanocomposite beads were tested several times for the reduction of 4-NP. As a result, the designed CMC/CuO-TiO₂ nanocomposite beads are strong, stable, and their catalytic activity has been proven. Full article

The world is suffering from heavy pollution because of synthetic petrochemical plastic used in our daily activities. A possible solution is the use of bioplastic synthesized from natural renewable resources. The present work investigates the development and characterization of polymer bioplastic using ginger tea and green tea to decrease the adverse effect of petrochemical plastic waste for versatile applications. Two kinds of bioplastic samples were produced with two types of tea, ginger tea and green tea, using glycerol, vinegar, starch, and water. SEM (scanning electron microscopy), FTIR (Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy), mechanical (tensile), TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), and time tests of bioplastic degradation analysis were carried out to evaluate the morphological, mechanical, and thermal behaviors of the synthesized tea bioplastics. The research result showed ginger tea bioplastic had a maximum tensile strength of 2.9 MPa and a minimum elongation of 7.46 mm. More than 78% of degradation occurred in ginger bioplastic within 30 days. Compatible thermal and morphological characteristics are also observed in the prepared bioplastic samples. Full article

The potential of nanocomposite membranes (NCMs) prepared by the sodium alginate polymer and embedded with synthesized zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) as fillers having microporous structure in the application of separation of gaseous mixture generated by the process of methane reforming was assessed. ZIF-8 crystals were created through hydrothermal synthesis, with sizes varying from 50 to 70 nm. NCMs were prepared with a 15% filler loading, i.e., synthesized ZIF-8. NCMs (ZIF-8) having H₂ permeability of 28 Barrer and H₂/CH₄ selectivity of 125 outperformed neat polymer membranes in terms of separation performance at ambient temperature and 4 kg/cm² pressure. The purity of H₂ increased to as high as 95% among the measured values. The NCMs did not, however, outperform a neat polymer membrane in terms of their ability to separate mixtures of gases. Moreover, the combination of ZIF-8 as a filler with sodium alginate was new and had not been reported previously. As a result, it is worthwhile to investigate. Full article