Search

Public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic led researchers and clinicians to stretch their capacities in conducting, writing, reviewing, and publishing a wealth of pandemic-related research. Oman scholars, researchers, and clinicians are no different in their quest for rapid dissemination of relevant scientific knowledge, which is of paramount importance nationally and internationally. Given the intense international interest in COVID-19 research. The study aim is to describe the COVID-19 research output in Oman in relation to publication type, journal impact factor, collaboration, author affiliation and compared it with national scholarly output over the decade. Study Design : We carried out a bibliometric cross-sectional study. Methods : We included all Oman COVID-19 publications for the period February 14 and 25, February 2021. Data retrieved using search engines PubMed, Google Scholar and Directory of Open Access Journals. Results: The COVID-19 publications search generated 210 articles. There were 36.7% review articles and 30% original articles. Of note, 2.4% randomized controlled trials articles were produced during the search period, 1.4% systematic and meta-analysis articles. The 85.7% of the publications were in journals with defined impact factor (IF) and 89.4% of articles with IF < 5. There was 53.8% international collaboration. Conclusion: The need to increase research published in journals with high impact factors and there was a high international collaboration in reviews and report articles, which may require building national research capacity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health.)

Background: Despite the increasing recognition that medical training tends to coincide with markedly high levels of stress and distress, there is a dearth of validated measures that are capable of gauging the prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical residents in the Arab/Islamic part of the world., Objective: The aim of the present study is two-fold. First is to examine the diagnostic validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) using an Omani medical resident population in order to establish a cut-off point. Second is to compare gender, age, and residency level among Omani Medical residents who report current depressive symptomatology versus those who report as non-depressed according to PHQ-9 cut-off threshold., Results: A total of 132 residents (42 males and 90 females) consented to participate in this study. The cut-off score of 12 on the PHQ-9 revealed a sensitivity of 80.6% and a specificity of 94.0%. The rate of depression, as elicited by PHQ-9, was 11.4%. The role of gender, age, and residency level was not significant in endorsing depression., Conclusion: This study indicated that PHQ-9 is a reliable measure among this cross-cultural population. More studies employing robust methodology are needed to confirm this finding., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: In India, heterogeneous healthcare providers in the public and dominant private sectors serve a diverse population, including those from vulnerable groups, the scheduled castes and tribes. We explored relationships between the distribution of different categories of healthcare providers (public and private); and contextual socioeconomic and demographic variables. Access to healthcare providers for scheduled castes and tribes was specifically studied., Method: Set in Madhya Pradesh province (60.4 million), India. Dependent variables included district-wise densities of physicians and paramedics (public and private separately); and unqualified providers (private). Contextual variables included infrastructure, urbanization, economy, female literacy and proportion of scheduled castes and tribes., Results: Urbanization was strongly correlated with private physician density; and negatively with paramedical density (public and private). Private paramedical density variation was partially explained by economy. Public physician and paramedical density were positively correlated to district proportions of scheduled tribes. All provider densities (public and private) were negatively related to proportions of scheduled castes., Conclusions: Overall density of qualified providers was low. Qualified physicians tended to be more densely situated in the relatively more urban districts. Access to healthcare providers for scheduled castes and tribes is different. More targeted approaches are necessary for improving access for scheduled castes.

Purpose: Retinopathy is the major cause of ocular morbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus. Chronic hyperglycemia spares no organ and can affect the morphology and function of the various corneal layers, compromising its transparency. This study was conducted to associate the status of corneal endothelium to diabetes mellitus (DM) and identify risk factors of compromised corneal endothelium., Methods: A total of 220 eyes of randomly selected patients (110 diabetic and 110 nondiabetic) were subjected to detailed slitlamp and fundus evaluation. Corneal endothelial status was evaluated using the Nidek Confoscan 2. Cell density, percentage polymegathism, and pleomorphism were calculated. The findings in diabetic patients were compared to those without disease. The outcome was correlated to diabetic retinopathy (DR). The effects of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, age, gender, type, duration, glycemic control, and grades of DR was also considered., Results: The mean corneal endothelial cell density was -175 cells/mm2 (95% CI -317 to -33 cells/mm2) less in eyes of diabetic patients. The number of endothelial cells with polymegathism was significantly greater among eyes of diabetic patients. There were less corneal endothelial cells with pleomorphism in nondiabetic patients. Polymegathism and pleomorphism of corneal endothelial cells seems to be positively associated with DM type II. Cell density was significantly lower in eyes with DR than those without DR., Conclusions: Corneal endothelium in diabetic patients seems to be compromised. Evaluation of corneal endothelium should be part of protocol for eye care of diabetic patients.

Background: Corneal ulcers with fornix shortening associated with late stages of cicatrizing trachoma contribute significantly to blindness in many developing countries. We report on the outcome of ocular surface and fornix reconstruction using amnion membrane transplantation., Patients and Methods: From 2001 to 2005, cryopreserved human amnion membrane without mitomycin C was grafted to 25 eyes of 17 patients with trophic corneal ulcers and symblepharon (cicatrizing trachoma: 19 eyes of 14 patients, Stevens-Johnson syndrome: 4 eyes of 2 patients, alkali burns: 2 eyes of 1 patient) in a controlled case series. Follow-up was done up to 6 months., Statistics: Fischer's exact probability test., Results: Of 25 eyes, 9 of 19 eyes with trachoma, 3 of 4 eyes with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and 2 of 2 eyes with chemical burns showed complete reepithelialization and stromal recovery after 28-35 days (mean: 31+/-2.3 days). The primary success rate of trachoma eyes was not significantly different from the other indications (p=0.256). At 6 months post-op, 15 of 19 trachoma eyes (79%) compared to 2 of 6 non-trachoma eyes (33.3%) had developed a recurrence of symblephara (p=0.0592), and 13 of 15 eyes (86.6%) with a cicatricial trachoma compared to 1 of 6 with non-trachoma diagnosis experienced a recurrence of corneal vascularization (difference nonsignificant: p=0.1752). Persistent long-term reepithelialization was observed only in 1 of 19 trachoma eyes (5.3%) versus 4 of 6 non-trachoma eyes (66.7%, p=0.005); 3 of 19 trachoma eyes with a recurrence of ulcers had perforated after 6 months., Conclusions: Human amnion membrane without mitomycin C can be used for ocular surface reconstruction in selected patients with cicatrizing trachoma. Its efficacy in the long-term rehabilitation of cicatrizing trachoma seems to be limited due to the progressive scarring.

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence and predictors of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetics in Oman., Methods: All patients attending an outpatient diabetic clinic at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital between 2002 and 2003 were enrolled in the study., Results: A total of 261 patients were included in this study. The mean overall age of the cohort was 50+/-13 years, and 57% were male. The proportion of subjects who had microalbuminuria was 27% (n=70; N=261). The logistic regression model indicated that significant predictors for the development of microalbuminuria include HbA(1c), log creatinine, and the presence of hypertension. A one unit increase in HbA(1c) was associated with a 23% increase in the odds of developing microalbuminuria (OR 1.23; 95% CI: 1.10-1.37; p<0.001). Additionally, patients that had a one unit increase in log creatinine were 5.72 times more likely to develop microalbuminuria (OR 5.72; 95% CI: 1.86-17.59; p=0.002). Furthermore, patients who were hypertensive were 2.37 times more likely to have microalbuminuria (OR 2.37; 95% CI: 1.11-5.09; p=0.026)., Conclusions: The prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes in this study was 27%. Significant predictors of microalbuminuria included HbA(1c), creatinine, and the presence of hypertension.