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To address the issue of persistent unemployment, the UK Government implemented a conditional welfare scheme. Prompted by Mantouvalou's argument that the scheme forces people into exploitative work, this paper addresses the ‘pressing’ question of whether the scheme is compatible with the prohibition on ‘forced or compulsory labour’ under Article 4(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is argued that, whether the scheme imposes the menace of a penalty, is involuntary, seriously exploitative or a normal civic obligation, ultimately depends on different understandings of the demands of distributive justice. Given the politically contested nature of those demands, Article 4(2) is a poor weapon to use when challenging the UK's conditional welfare scheme.

Background: Yokenella regensburgei infections have been documented in several immunocompromised individuals with numerous associated risk factors including soft tissue infections, organ transplants, and metabolic disorders. Our report presents a rare case of Y. regensburgei infection in an immunocompetent individual. Methods: In September 2020, a 38-year-old man who was otherwise healthy fell from a personal conveyance causing a puncture of his elbow. Two months later, he was admitted to the hospital with a chronic draining wound on his left arm with no fever (36.7°C) and stable vital signs. The patient underwent white blood cell (WBC) imaging, and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) to rule out osteomyelitis. Incision and drainage were performed, and the collected fluid was sent to a microbiology lab for culture diagnosis. Subsequently, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed. Results: A WBC image and SPECT/CT test showed an increase in WBC uptake and activity in the subcutaneous tissue of the left arm. The culture diagnosis identified the isolate as Y. regensburgei and the patient received 2 weeks of sulfamethoxazole 800 mg and trimethoprim 160 mg orally twice daily based on the results of the antimicrobial susceptibility testing. He demonstrated clinical improvements shown through wound healing and reduced pain. Conclusion: This report supports the potential of Y. regensburgei to act as an opportunistic pathogen even in hosts with no prior underlying diseases or conditions.

Citizenship serves different interests. It provides security and empowerment for the citizen. For the state, control of citizenship is an attribute of sovereignty which may treat citizenship as a privilege at its behest rather than an individual right claimed in defiance of its interests. This tension is situated within a tripartite relationship also involving international law. However, international law’s insistence on a human right to citizenship is weak and affects the procedural, rather than the substantive, aspects of deprivation. The tension between sovereignty, human rights, and international law will be examined through the lens of citizenship deprivation within counterterrorism. The article will focus on laws and practices in Bahrain and the UK, both states at the forefront of reliance on citizenship deprivation for security purposes. As a result of the weakness of international law, the divergent polities of Bahrain and the UK are both enabled to promote citizenship deprivation.

This article aims to contribute to the academic debate on how to address international climate-induced human displacements and climate change more widely by proposing the inclusion of a new human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (udhr). The new right is called the right to climatic non-interference. It consists of two sub-rights, namely, the right not to be subjected to climatic interference by one’s home state and the right not to be subjected to climatic interference by foreign states. First, the content of the right to climatic non-interference is elaborated. The right to climatic non-interference is then contrasted with other existing or proposed environment-related human rights. This is followed by an explanation of the mechanics, significance, and legal effect of adding the new human right to the udhr. Finally, the incentives for states to implement the right to climatic non-interference are considered.

Acanthosis nigricans, acrochordrons, diabetic dermatopathy, necrobiosis lipoidica, and bullous diabeticorum are some of the cutaneous symptoms of diabetes. Bullous illness (bullosis diabeticorum) is a blistering, non-inflammatory condition of the acral skin. Diabetes bullous illness is more common in people who have had diabetes for a long time or who have many comorbidities. Although the actual cause is uncertain, it is likely to be multifactorial. Neuropathy, nephropathy, vasculopathy, and UV (ultraviolet) light are all suggested to have a role. BD is most likely caused by the various problems that come with poorly managed diabetes. The exact number of people who have BD is unknown. The majority of case studies in the literature were based on a small number of cases. Bullous diabeticorum is a restrictive diagnosis, which necessitates a histological study that includes direct immunofluorescence to rule out other vesicobullous illnesses. In terms of BD management, no strong consensus has formed. The blisters have historically been thought to be self-limiting, with bullae resolving in 2 to 6 weeks if left untreated. In some cases antibiotic may be used. In this article we’ll be looking at Bullosis Diabeticorum. Its etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment.

Dental anxiety is a common health problem among children. It creates major issues for patients, parents, and dental professionals. Children who cancel or otherwise miss their dental appointments generally do so due to fear of the unknown and lack of understanding of what they can expect from the environment and treatment when they arrive there. Some distraction interventions are already used by dental professionals, such as using clown doctors, watching cartoons, and utilizing the tell–show–do (TSD) technique. Still, the problem is common, and the fail to attend (FTA) rates at clinics are high. Familiarizing children with the dental setting and procedures in advance may help to manage their anxiety. This paper aims to help in managing children’s dental anxiety in a simple, attractive, and age-appropriate way through the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. The developed system is named “Dr. Barea”. It targets Arabic-speaking children aged from 7 to 10 years old. It uses model–view–control (MVC) as its architectural design pattern. The proposed solution consists of three main sections: a 360° VR video that simulates a dental clinic environment, an educational description on dental tools using AR technology, and interactive educational stories that educate children about dental hygiene. The system performance was evaluated using unit, integration, performance, and user acceptance testing. The results demonstrate that the proposed solution, which performed reasonably, achieved the usability requirements and was engaging for learning information about dental hygiene. A feasibility study with 16 children was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system. The Child Fear Survey Schedule—Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) was used to measure children’s dental anxiety level. The T test was used to evaluate the differences between groups, and Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the distributions of gender and age between the groups. The CFSS-DS index in the VR group decreased after dental consultation (35.04 ± 9.14 before consultation and 32.32 ± 8.32 after consultation, p = 0.041). The implications of this study shall be beneficial to patients, parents, and dental professionals.

Containers have emerged as the most promising lightweight virtualization technology in providing cloud services due to its flexible deployment, portability, and scalability especially in micro-services, smart vehicles, IoTs, and fog/edge computing. An important and vital role in cloud container services is played by the scheduler’s component to optimize performance and reduce cost due to the diverse nature of the workload and cloud resources. Despite the immense traction of containers in cloud computing, there is no comprehensive survey that covers container scheduling techniques. In this timely survey, we investigate the landscape of the state-of-the-art container scheduling techniques aiming to inspire more research work in this active area of research. The survey is structured around classifying the scheduling techniques into four categories based on the type of optimization algorithm employed to generate the schedule namely mathematical modeling, heuristics, meta-heuristics and machine learning. Then for each class of scheduling algorithms, we analyze and identify key benefits and pitfalls, together with key challenges of the available techniques based on the performance metrics. Finally, this paper highlights fertile future research opportunities to realize the full potential of the emergent container technology.

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of corporate governance mechanisms, among other variables, on audit report lag (ARL) for a sample of 97 companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Market (KSE) in 2020. Audit report lag is measured as the number of days between the date of the financial year end and the date of the audit report. The descriptive statistics indicate that there is considerable variation in the ARL between the sample companies, ranging from 13 to 121 days, with an average of 69 days. A multivariate regression model was employed to examine the association between ARL and corporate governance proxies, namely: board size, board meetings, board financial expertise, non-executive directors, and institutional ownership. The results indicate that companies whose boards have considerable financial expertise are associated with lower audit delay. For other (control) variables, the results indicate that profitability, company size, type of audit opinion, and industry type are found to have a significant impact on the timeliness of financial reporting. More profitable and larger companies were found to issue their audited financial reports faster. Moreover, financial institutions show a shorter lag in releasing their annual report than other sectors, and companies which seek qualified opinions have longer ARLs. Finally, in order to improve the timeliness of annual reports of companies listed on the market, the study suggests the adoption of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). There is convincing evidence to suggest that the use of XBRL results in timelier stock market filing and shorter ARL.

Instructors in higher education face challenges getting feedback about their instructional artifacts. It could impact instructors' performance and students' learning outcomes. Exploring a better way to assist instructors to self-examine their work is important. This research investigated the creation of a framework to automatically generate individualized feedback for instructors regarding their instructional artifacts. It limited the investigation to use one instructional artifact, the course outline preparation, as the proof-of-concept experiment to demonstrate the potential of automatically providing instructors with feedback about communication, organizational, and planning instructional skills.Limited studies investigated instructors' skills. This research conducted a thorough literature review to identify the skills of successful instructors and the process used to evaluate those skills. It used a mixed approach looking for specific skills that appear more frequently and indicate clear impacts on success. The investigation concluded with a clear identification of the essential skills possessed by good instructors that can help to understand how to improve the quality of their instructions.Furthermore, this research conducted a single exploratory survey using closed-ended questions. The goal of the survey's questions is to gather opinions from participants in different departments and colleges from the University of Guelph. The results investigated the essential components in the course outlines and how they impact instructional skills. The outcomes from the survey demonstrated the data components used in data analysis. The data analysis outcomes identified the way to design the proposed framework, which can help university instructors. This research made three major contributions: a) the identification of essential skills for successful instructors; b) the necessary components to design the proposed Automated Feedback System for Instructors (AFSI) framework; and c) the exploration of data to demonstrate that feedback topics can be automatically determined. The objective of the AFSI feedback is not to judge the instructors' performance but to provide private and immediate feedback that can help instructors to adjust their work as the semester progresses. The University of Jeddah.

Recently a set of engineering charts have been developed for the time-dependent stress and pore pressure responses at the wellbore surface under the ramp-type, finite-length fluid injection conditions, based on a semi-analytical solution with the use of Laplace-Fourier integral transform technique, to facilitate the prediction of borehole breakdown pressure for hydraulic fracturing operating practice. The charts were presented in a non-dimensionalized form to cover a wide range of borehole/rock parameters, which, in combination with the approximate solution for the impermeable borehole drilling problem, can be conveniently utilized to gain a rapid estimation of breakdown pressure. In this work, a borehole breakdown pressure prediction software was developed to generalize the applications of these engineering charts. Firstly, the engineering charts for an arbitrary borehole interval length-to-radius ratio are constructed from these charts by interpolation or extrapolation. Secondly, the breakdown pressure for a given borehole, in-situ condition, formation properties and pumping schedule, is looked up automatically with higher accuracy and faster speed than the method adopted in previous work.

Purpose The term muscle dysmorphia (MD) refers to the pathological desire to increase lean muscle mass coupled with a persistent belief that one is not muscular enough. The disorder was recently classified under the umbrella of obsessive-compulsive disorder in DSM-5. The individuals social view and sense of self-worth are impacted by MD. Consequently, functional impairment occurs. The assessment of MD is made with the muscle dysmorphia Disorder Inventory (MDDI). The purpose of the study is to validate the Arabic version of the MDDI ensuring the availability of the instrument in Arabic-speaking nations. Methods 1118 participants (58% female, average age 28 years) participated in the translation of MDDI through an internet-based survey. Results Based on multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the three-factor structure of the English MDDI was replicated, independent of gender (TLI = 0.85, CFI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.09). The reliability was evaluated via Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω for the total MDDI scale and the sub-scales. Cronbach´s alpha was 0.71 for DFS, 0.71 for AI and 0.82 for FI, and 0.70 for the MDDI total score. Men and women showed differences in three subscales of the MDDI (DFS, AI, FI). McDonald's Omega showed an Al of (0 .72) DFS (0.72) FI (0.83) and total MDDI (0.82). Conclusion The MDDI-13 Arabic translation proved to be valid. Thus, the results are consistent with using the measure in Arabic-speaking nations. Level of evidence: Level V descriptive cross-sectional study.

A dental implant (DI) is a prime illustration of the integrated construct of science and technology involving several arenas, including surface science, biophysics, from macroscopic to nanoscopic manufacturing techniques, among other materials utilized in dentistry and their effective implementations. Since the exterior of DI is in close contact with tissues and is sensitive to biochemical as well as biomechanical environments, there are important criteria placed on dental implants systems, just as there are for many other materials and equipment used in dentistry. Numerous elements of biocompatibility profiling created for DI have been shown to be dependent on parameters related to the individual, the hard and soft tissue present, and the constituents; these factors are either connected to superficial or bulk qualities. Biological, mechanical, and morphological compatibility with adjacent critical tissues should at the very least be part of these standards. Because alloying elements are believed to only be capable of penetrating the surrounding biosystem around and producing harmful effects by converting to ions chemically or electrochemically, biological compatibility of metals fundamentally equals to their ability to resist corrosive forces under such hostile settings. Further, the technique through which mechanically acting loads undergo effective transfer from the implanted device to bony structure is a crucial factor determining whether an implant will succeed or fail. Also, any relative motion that could erode the osseous structure or cause the implants to gradually loosen must be avoided. An implant that has undergone osseointegration offers a direct and comparatively rigid link to the bone. Additionally, the surface characteristics of materials must not seep or emit substances that are active biologically or pose hazard. Clinical DI have been produced with an emphasis on topographic modifications to DI surfaces as opposed to modifications to chemical characteristics.

Background: Patients’ experience is divided into relational and functional, in which the former is related to the relationship in terms of the treatment, while the functional experience is related to healthcare facilities. Patients’ experience differs from patients’ satisfaction in which the former tests the interaction that patients have with the healthcare system in the ideal way, rather than patients’ expectation from the encounter. There are limited studies in the Middle East region regarding patients’ experience. Objective: The aim of the study was to establish a cornerstone for patients’ experience in primary healthcare centers in Bahrain. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional one where a validated questionnaire consisting of 10 questions was used. A sample of 50 patients was taken from each of the ten randomly selected healthcare centers. The patients were approached after ending their consultation at the general clinics. A total of 502 patients participated and their response was analyzed and included in the final results. Results: Patients’ experience in primary healthcare centers in Bahrain scored a mean of 42.4 out of 50, 84.8%. More than 70% of the responders answered the questions as very good and excellent. In terms of statistical significance, the timing of the consultation, nationality, and consultation fees yielded a p-value of 0.017, 0.011, and 0.005, respectively. On the other hand, results of patients’ experience scores regarding patients’ gender, doctors’ gender, age, education level, and marital status were statistically not significant. Conclusion: Bahrain’s mean score for patients’ experience in primary health centers was 84.8%. Keywords: Bahrain, Consultation, Middle East, Patients’ Satisfaction, Primary Health Care

In 2003, Qatar launched the initiative for Developing Education, called Education for New Era Reform, based on four principles: independence, accountability, diversity, and choice. Public schools w...

Purpose The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses worldwide. Arguably, one of the most affected industries is the hospitality sector, where the world has seen a substantial drop in personal and professional travel owing to severe lockdowns, which has particularly harmed the hotel and tourism industries by lowering occupancy and profits. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the emotional and mental well-being of hospitality workers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative cross-sectional technique was used, with 517 respondents drawn from Dubai's major hotels. Findings Fear of the COVID-19 pandemic was found to be positively connected to employees' emotional weariness, which is then positively related to their intention to leave their organizations. Practical implications The paper gives suggestions to managers on how to best deal with their employees, especially the more competent ones, as they are more likely to leave during a pandemic. Originality/value Contrary to suggestions in the literature and our predictions, this paper found that self-efficacy positively moderated the relationship between fear of COVID and emotional exhaustion such that workers with high self-efficacy were more prone to emotional exhaustion as a result of their fear of COVID. Furthermore, the results of the research suggest that it is the more competent workers who are more likely to be affected, during a pandemic, and thus their loss is expected to cause greater loss to their organizations.

Surgical site infections (SSI) are considered one of the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality among postoperative patient's worldwide, and increasing awareness and knowledge regarding surgical site infection will improve the quality of care. This study aims to use the appropriate tools to assess and analyze the level of awareness and understanding regarding surgical wound infection among medical and surgical interns, residents, specialists and consultants working in Riyadh city hospitals and how each of them plays a crucial role in providing the optimal healthcare for patients and prevent any unwanted devastating complications. Additionally, the objective of this study is to provide the necessary data to help identify the gaps in the participants understating of surgical site infections. In which a cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2022 and October 2022. The Data was collected using a 20-Item multiple-choice questionnaire which was adopted and validated from a previous study. The questionnaire was randomly distributed among physicians working in Riyadh city hospitals. The sample study included 390 participants who completed the questionnaire in 5 minutes on average. The analyzed data showed that 74.8 % of the responders are medical interns, 18.2% are residents, 5.8% are specialists, and 0.12% are consultants. The Results of the study showed that only 3% of all participants have a high level of knowledge and awareness regarding surgical site infection, while the rest of the responders have moderate to low levels of knowledge and awareness regarding the subject. And we recommend improving the awareness and understanding regarding surgical site infection by offering more courses and events on infection control and prevention; in turn, it would decrease the length of hospital stay, improve healthcare out, decrease morbidity and mortality rates and economic costs caused by surgical site infection.

Hypertension is a worldwide epidemic that affects healthcare costs and public health. As a result, self-management of this disease and, in this context, mobile health (mHealth) can be used as a cost-effective management tool. Self-management of hypertension remains of great significance due to the rising number of hypertension cases. As a result, this study aimed to assess the various mobile health interventions used in the self-management of hypertension, their user acceptability, compliance, and adherence to hypertension treatment, and their effectiveness. Some mobile health techniques are automated text and video messages. These mobile applications allow for self-monitoring and communication between the patients and the health service providers, reminders, and automated signals. The abovementioned interventions are promising tools in helping manage blood pressure (BP), but resources are limited. This review involved selecting studies associated with mobile health interventions in managing hypertension and extracting data from available resources. Thirteen studies were selected using the inclusion criteria, and relevant data were extracted and discussed in the review. This review reported the role of mobile health interventions in the management of blood pressure, as most studies noted a decrease in blood pressure and increased medication adherence and self-efficacy. It also reported a reliable communication channel between the participants and their health service providers.

Aim: To assess the attitudes of clinical dental students towards the various aspects of tooth bleaching in Saudi Arabia Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study that was carried out across different universities in Saudi Arabia. The study’s questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the demographics and knowledge of dental bleaching procedures, techniques, and materials. Descriptive statistics of frequency distribution and percentages were calculated for categorical variables and the Chi-squared test was applied to assess the relationship between categorical variables. Results: A total of 674 dental students and interns from 14 different governmental and private dental colleges in Saudi Arabia completed the survey. The majority of participants were females, 461 (68.4%), attended governmental universities, 396 (58.8%), and did not use any bleaching techniques (62.8%). Dental interns had a higher level of knowledge (42%) followed by 5th-year students (33.7%), and 6th-year students (22.9%). Furthermore, participants who practiced tooth bleaching during clinical training and private universities’ students showed a significantly better bleaching knowledge Conclusion: Overall, dental schools should be encouraging their students to be involved in bleaching application. Additionally, there is a pressing need to focus more on dental bleaching material and procedures in dental school. Keywords: Tooth bleaching, bleaching, techniques, dental students, attitude.

Background: Bleaching is considered the most conservative and cost-effective aesthetic procedure. Vital and non-vital bleaching techniques commonly involve at-home, in-office, and over-the-counter techniques and can be internal (within the pulp chamber) or external (on the enamel surface). Aim: To assess the attitudes of clinical dental students towards the various aspects of tooth bleaching in Saudi Arabia Design and settings: This is an observational cross-sectional study that was carried out across different universities in Saudi Arabia. The study’s questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the demographics and knowledge of dental bleaching procedures, techniques, and materials. Results: A total of 674 dental students and interns from 14 different governmental and private dental colleges in Saudi Arabia completed the survey. The majority of participants were females, 461 (68.4%), attended governmental universities, 396 (58.8%), and did not use any bleaching techniques (62.8%). Dental interns had a higher level of knowledge (42%) followed by 5th-year students (33.7%), and 6th-year students (22.9%). Furthermore, participants who practiced tooth bleaching during clinical training and private universities’ students showed a significantly better bleaching knowledge Conclusion: Overall, dental schools should be encouraging their students to be involved in bleaching application. Additionally, there is a pressing need to focus more on dental bleaching material and procedures in dental school. Keywords: Tooth Bleaching, Dental Students, Bleaching Techniques.

Comamonas kerstersii (C. kerstersii) is a Gram-negative bacillus abundant in the environment and rarely implicated in human disease. Previously considered nonpathogenic, its scarcity in literature may be partly due to the unreliability of past phenotypic tests used for its identification. In recent years, the development of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) has enabled fast and accurate laboratory identification of C. kerstersii. Since the first report of human infection in 2013, several others have emerged, with most cases involving peritoneal infection. Here, we present a rare case of C. kerstersii bacteremia in an 82-year-old male patient. With no clear predisposing conditions, the source of his infection is unclear. We accompany this report with a review of C. kerstersii bacteremia cases found in the literature.

In pursuit of higher Gas production targets in Kuwait, a major campaign was initiated to increase reservoir contact in a tight carbonate limestone formation associated with depositional uncertainties. The primary challenge was to overcome lack of sufficient offset data and ambiguous seismic interpretation. To add to the complexity, the well was overlapping a major fault plane, resulting in several anomalies. A combination of deep-reading mapping and accurate imaging tools in real time was a must to properly land and steer the lateral within less than 9 feet thickness at 14,475 feet true vertical depth. Several sub-seismic faults were encountered while drilling and further complications were present with high temperature anomalies while drilling that exceeded tool temperature rating. A pre-well model was completed to predict formation behavior and develop an initial trajectory with expected responses for different scenarios as well as identifying optimum landing point parameters. Bottom-hole assembly (BHA) was optimized according to required setup and outputs. Latest well placement solutions combining ultra-deep resistivity reservoir mapping and spectral gamma ray imaging tools were deployed. Tool output was used to correlate to the model and anticipate anomalies in formation behavior while crossing any sub-seismic faults or react to sudden change in dip angles. During drilling, a steep increase in temperature was observed exceeding tool specifications. This resulted in premature trips, increasing the complexity of the challenge, especially as longer open hole section became exposed. An analysis bases on collecting circulating and non-circulating temperature in different runs, along with correlated mud flow and rotation parameters helped establishing best practices to mitigate the high temperature while drilling within tool operating envelope. The established best practice helped to extend tool life to continue drilling to the required objective, with no compromise to the reservoir data transmitted in real-time for steering purposes. The final outcome was achieving field record in deep drilling group by completing successfully and precisely the longest and deepest lateral in north Kuwait Jurassic asset area while remaining inside the required reservoir unit and providing insight on further units more than 30 ft. away. The final run was the deepest in terms of true vertical depth in which ultra-deep reservoir mapping tool was utilized for steering worldwide. The paper focuses on how the output of latest well placement technologies helped achieve the objectives and the approach to develop and apply drilling best practices in real time to achieve this field record. The knowledge and methodology is considered crucial in Kuwait Oil Company's path to achieve the set gas production targets, especially with the increase in planned number of laterals in Jurassic asset.

Liver is a vital organ in the body that perform very important functions to keep health hemostasis. Liver function tests are a group of tests that determine the liver health in physiological and pathological conditions. The main objectives of the present study were to assess liver function using a panel of liver function tests among a sample of liver patients and to compare their levels with a sample of subjects who had no liver disease. To achieve the study objectives, we analyzed a dataset posted on Kaggle. The dataset described Indian liver patients and included 583 subjects among which 414 patients with liver disease and 167 subjects without liver disease. The results showed that demographic variables including age and gender were predictors of liver disease. On the other hand, liver function tests including bilirubin, ALT, AST, albumin, albumin globulin ratio, alkaline phosphatase were significantly associated with liver disease. The level of total proteins was not significantly associated with liver disease. Taken together, liver function tests can be used to assess liver disease. The interpretation of total proteins and AST should be considered with cautious

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by inadequate insulin secretion by the pancreas or the lack in ability of the existing insulin to function properly. So, diabetes forms a fertile media for many diseases and embodies a risk to human-being’s health. Unfortunately, the incidence of diabetes is increasing every year. Over decades, several strategies have been tried by specialists to control diabetes, some of which are medical and herbal. Although diabetes mellitus represents a growing global epidemic disease, at the moment there is no absolute solution at the molecular level that targets the disease. Despite the fact that bacterial functions, such as gut barrier stability and butyrate production, are crucial for preserving normal blood sugar and insulin levels, a growing body of evidence suggests that some naturally occurring gut bacteria are underrepresented in the intestinal tracts of people with type 2 diabetes (T2D){Sharma, 2019 #8}. In fact, we need to look at the possibility of using probiotics in the outpatient clinic. Probiotics have been demonstrated to be helpful for patients with diabetes mellitus, particularly at the cellular level, based on clinical trials and animal research, as well as their high tolerability. In preclinical investigations and human trials{Kocsis, 2020 #7}, probiotics have shown that they can lower insulin and fasting blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. Recently, probiotics have been used to treat a range of ailments, such as autoimmune conditions, allergic reactions, andinflammation. However, there was a lot of heterogeneity in these trials. Examples include the kind of species used, how many probiotics are used, and the level of effectiveness. In our review, we focused on reviewing the role of using probiotics as an adjuvant therapy for lowering blood levels of sugar and troubled metabolism of our body sugar. Keywords: probiotics; diabetes; type 2 DM; inflammation; adjuvant therapy.

Background: The discovery of the COVID-19 virus and the subsequent rapid pandemic has had a significant impact not only on public health but also on clinical education. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) within the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) had to be adapted, especially regarding the methods of delivery. Social distancing was a requirement from the Public Health directives, impacting the practicalities of face-to-face didactic and simulated clinical educational sessions. Given the challenges that the pandemic generated across the globe in terms of education, new ways of offering education were required as a matter of urgency. This evaluative study was undertaken to describe the PHCC Workforce Training and Development’s (WTD) response to achieve maximum efficacy of our delivered CPD. Methods: The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the interventions utilized by the WTD directorate within PHCC. The evaluation and comparison of teaching and learning interventions (in terms of subject matter and delivery method) were described. It was based upon a three-month period from pre-COVID-19 (2019) and mid-COVID19 (2020). Staff who attend CPD programs within PHCC included: Physicians, Nurses, Dentists, and allied health care professionals. Results: During a three-month period from the pre-COVID-19 year (2019), 68 CPD courses were delivered mainly face-to-face, and individual accreditation varied from 1 to 30.25 educational accreditation points. During the mid-COVID year (2020), 38 CPD courses were delivered as online webinars and individual accreditation varied from 1 to 3.75 educational accreditation points. It was found that a greater number of participants were able to undertake web-based learning with individual sessions than face-to-face ones. Microsoft Teams was successfully utilized. The remote online host lecturer has facilitated significant interaction with most participants. The lecturers received the Learning Management System (LMS) training prior to the Pandemic; thus, we have experienced an easier integration of ongoing online clinical education during these challenging times. Conclusion: It was acknowledged that the WTD directorate at PHCC was in a fortunate position, due to the integration of the online LMS training prior to the pandemic. Both the clinical and educational staff were able to implement and deliver this method effectively at short notice, with similar academic accredited standards and quality. It is expected that following the pandemic, a higher uptake, demand, and motivation for innovative learning approaches will occur. It is thought that the use of the blended learning approach will dramatically increase.

A simple photoreduction method was used to deposit Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) at different loadings (0.1–2 Au%) into mixed phase brookite-anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanowires (NWs). X-ray diffraction (XRD) verified that the Au/TiO2 NWs were composed of a mixture of brookite (84.24%) and anatase (15.76%); while transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed a uniform dispersion of 5- to 10-nm Au NPs over the TiO2 NWs. The photocatalytic performance of the synthesized Au/TiO2 NWs was evaluated for the degradation of resorcinol under UVA illumination. The 0.1% Au/TiO2 NWs photocatalyst offered the best photocatalytic efficiency for resorcinol degradation among the synthesized samples, with the rate, constantly increasing from 0.0014 to 0.003 min−1 after adding 0.1% Au into TiO2 NWs. At Au higher loadings, the rate decreased (0.0005 min−1 for 2% Au/TiO2 photocatalyst. The enhanced activity of the 0.1% Au/TiO2 NWs sample could be ascribed to the effective electron–hole separation at brookite/anatase phase junctions. The Au/TiO2 NWs has maintained good activity over five catalytic test cycles.

Under the League of Arab States’ human rights regime, Arab countries are governed by the Arab Charter of Human Rights 2004. The Charter, however, lacks an enforcement mechanism. The Statute of the Arab Court of Human Rights 2014 aims to fill this enforcement void. This article addresses the criticism that, because it fails to provide for a direct right of individual petition, the Statute is not fit for purpose. It is argued contrarily that, within the context of an Arab human rights system, the Court should be welcomed as an important step in the process of establishing an effective regime.

CO elimination through oxidation over highly active and cost-effective catalysts is a way forward for many processes of industrial and environmental importance. In this study, doped CeO2 with transition metals (TM = Cu, Co, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zr, and Zn) at a level of 20 at. % was tested for CO oxidation. The oxides were prepared using microwave-assisted sol-gel synthesis to improve catalyst's performance for the reaction of interest. The effect of heteroatoms on the physicochemical properties (structure, morphology, porosity, and reducibility) of the binary oxides M-Ce-O was meticulously investigated and correlated to their CO oxidation activity. It was found that the catalytic activity (per gram basis or TOF, s-1) follows the order Cu-Ce-O > Ce-Co-O > Ni-Ce-O > Mn-Ce-O > Fe-Ce-O > Ce-Zn-O > CeO2. Participation of mobile lattice oxygen species in the CO/O2 reaction does occur, the extent of which is heteroatom-dependent. For that, state-of-the-art transient isotopic 18O-labeled experiments involving 16O/18O exchange followed by step-gas CO/Ar or CO/O2/Ar switches were used to quantify the contribution of lattice oxygen to the reaction. SSITKA-DRIFTS studies probed the formation of carbonates while validating the Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism. Scanning transmission electron microscopy-high-angle annular dark field imaging coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy proved that the elemental composition of dopants in the individual nanoparticle of ceria is less than their composition at a larger scale, allowing the assessment of the doping efficacy. Despite the similar structural features of the catalysts, a clear difference in the Olattice mobility was also found as well as its participation (as expressed with the α descriptor) in the reaction, following the order αCu > αCo> αMn > αZn. Kinetic studies showed that it is rather the pre-exponential (entropic) factor and not the lowering of activation energy that justifies the order of activity of the solids. DFT calculations showed that the adsorption of CO on the Cu-doped CeO2 surface is more favorable (-16.63 eV), followed by Co, Mn, Zn (-14.46, -4.90, and -4.24 eV, respectively), and pure CeO2 (-0.63 eV). Also, copper compensates almost three times more charge (0.37e-) compared to Co and Mn, ca. 0.13e- and 0.10e-, respectively, corroborating for its tendency to be reduced. Surface analysis (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), apart from the oxidation state of the elements, revealed a heteroatom-ceria surface interaction (Oa species) of different extents and of different populations of Oa species.

Sabkhas are hypersaline, mineral-rich, supratidal mudflats that harbor microbes that are adapted to high salt concentration. Sabkha microbial diversity is generally studied for their community composition, but less is known about their genetic structure and heterogeneity. In this study, we analyzed a coastal sabkha for its microbial composition using 16S rDNA and whole metagenome, as well as for its population genetic structure. Our 16S rDNA analysis show high alpha diversity in both inner and edge sabkha than outer sabkha. Beta diversity result showed similar kind of microbial composition between inner and edge sabkha, while outer sabkha samples show different microbial composition. At phylum level, Bacteroidetes (~ 22 to 34%), Euryarchaeota (~ 18 to ~ 30%), unclassified bacteria (~ 24 to ~ 35%), Actinobacteria (~ 0.01 to ~ 11%) and Cyanobacteria (less than 1%) are predominantly found in both inside and edge sabkha regions, whereas Proteobacteria (~ 92 to ~ 97%) and Parcubacteria (~ 1 to ~ 2%) are predominately found in outer sabkha. Our 225 metagenomes assembly from this study showed similar bacterial community profile as observed in 16S rDNA-based analysis. From the assembled genomes, we found important genes that are involved in biogeochemical cycles and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. We observed a dynamic, thriving ecosystem that engages in metabolic activity that shapes biogeochemical structure via carbon fixation, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling. Our results show varying degrees of horizontal gene transfers (HGT) and homologous recombination, which correlates with the observed high diversity for these populations. Moreover, our pairwise population differentiation (Fst) for the abundance of species across the salinity gradient of sabkhas identified genes with strong allelic differentiation, lower diversity and elevated nonsynonymous to synonymous ratio of variants, which suggest selective sweeps for those gene variants. We conclude that the process of HGT, combined with recombination and gene specific selection, constitute the driver of genetic variation in bacterial population along a salinity gradient in the unique sabkha ecosystem.