Search

Mouna Achoui,1 Karen Heyninck,2 Chung Yeng Looi,1 Ali Mohd Mustafa,1 Guy Haegeman,2 Mohd Rais Mustafa1 1Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Department of Physiology, Laboratory of Eukaryotic Gene Expression and Signal Transduction, Ghent, Belgium Abstract: The terpenoid 17-O-acetylacuminolide (AA) was shown to inhibit the production of several inflammatory mediators. However, the mechanisms by which this compound elicited its anti-inflammatory activity remain to be elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the effects of AA on inflammatory gene expression in two different cell types with primordial importance in the inflammatory processes – endothelial cells and macrophages. In human umbilical vein endothelial cells, AA inhibited the expression of inflammatory proteins including the adhesion molecules intercellular adhesion molecule 1; vascular cell adhesion molecule 1; and E-selectin, as well as the release of the chemokine interleukin-8. Additionally, AA hindered the formation of capillary-like tubes in an in vitro model of angiogenesis. AA’s effects in endothelial cells can be attributed at least in part to AA’s inhibition of tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells (NF-κB)’s translocation. Also, in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells, AA was able to downregulate the expression of the genes cyclooxygenase 2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, interleukin-6, and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2. Moreover, AA inhibited the phosphorylation of nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor-alpha (IκBα), IκB kinase (IKK), and the mitogen-activated protein kinases JNK, ERK, and p38. In conclusion, the present results further support the anti-inflammatory potential of AA in different models of inflammation. Keywords: 17-O-acetylacuminolide, angiogenesis, HUVEC, MAPK, NF-κB

Galal Faisal Abdulqader Abdulla Albani,1 Widad Ibrahim Abdelgadir,2,3 Amal Abdelgadir Ali Mohamed,4 Magda Yousif,5 Amna Mohammed Ali Mustafa,6 Egbal Abbashar Algmair Almkiy,7,8 Khadiga Z M Mohammed,4,9 Eman Ahmed Saad Mohamed,7 Fahad Abdullah A Alghamdi,10 Raga Gasim Ahmed,11 Manal SA Hakami,10 Niemat A Dinar,10 Amal Alsulami,2 AbdAllah Ibrahim AbdAlrahman Mudawi,12 Waled AM Ahmed10 1Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Aljanad University for Science and Technology, Taiz, Yemen; 2Department of Community Health Nursing & Mental Nursing Sciences College of Nursing,Taif university, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 3Faculty of Nursing Sciences Bahri University, Sudan; 4Department of Maternal and Child Nursing Sciences College of Nursing,Taif university, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 5Nursing Department, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; 6Faculty of Nursing Sciences, Jazan University, Jazan Saudi Arabia; 7Department of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Buraydah College, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia; 8Faculty of Nursing Sciences, Alneelain University, Sudan; 9Nursing Faculty, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt; 10Faculty of Nursing, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia; 11Department of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia; 12Oral and Dental Health Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Waled AM Ahmed; Amal Abdelgadir Ali Mohamed, Tel +966508245369; +966550367392, Email wahmed@bu.edu.sa; ammohamed@tu.edu.saBackground: Oral health education programs have long been considered an essential part of oral health policies. This is important for reducing the risk of oral diseases through health enhancement and voluntary behavioral changes due to learning opportunities. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of school-based oral health education program on oral health in school children in Sudan.Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted at four governmental schools in Khartoum, Sudan, between August 2018, and March 2022. A total of 423 school children were randomly allocated into the control (n = 211) and study (n = 212) groups. An adapted questionnaire was administered to students before and after the intervention to assess their knowledge and practice of oral health. The study group participated in oral health education activities. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.Results: The findings revealed that the mean knowledge at the pre-educational program was 9.3066 (SD = 3.91078) and the mean knowledge after the educational program was 21.2736 (SD = 2.13982). The scores indicated that the school children had significantly higher knowledge and practice scores after the oral health education program.Conclusion: The study concluded that education program on oral health improved students’ oral health knowledge and practices. Imposing theoretical and practical lessons on oral and dental health in school curricula can motivate students to maintain oral health care, and this improves oral health status.Keywords: education program, school children, oral health, knowledge, practice, Sudan

Background: Hospital-acquired thrombosis (HAT) is associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and financial burden globally. Following trusted guidelines for VTE prevention has shown effective, safe, and satisfactory results. This prompts national collaborative efforts to maintain a consensus approach for the safe risk assessment of inpatients and the prescription of thromboprophylaxis., Objective: This study aimed to detect and estimate deviations from international thromboprophylaxis protocols. The study also aimed to raise the quality of practice and adherence to evidence-based protocols in Alshuhada Teaching Hospital., Methods: A cross-sectional audit of general surgical inpatients was performed from October 2021 to May 2022. The first cycle was from 1/10/2021 to 21/10/2021, and the second cycle was from 13/5/2022 to 31/5/2022. The target population was adults aged >18 years. Data were collected via an online checklist on two separate occasions. The criteria were based on the NICE guideline for venous thromboembolism in individuals aged over 16 years: "Reducing the risk of hospital-acquired deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism NG89"., Results: Forty-five surgical inpatients were included in this study: 20 in the first cycle and 25 in the second cycle. The first-cycle report showed that only 25% of VTE candidates received this regimen. In the second cycle, practice significantly improved, with 92% of admitted patients having their risk assessment tool completed within 24 h of admission. 79% of VTE prophylaxis candidates were prescribed adequate pharmacological prophylaxis within 14 h of admission., Conclusion: The rate of adequate thromboprophylaxis for inpatients undergoing surgery was very low before clinicians received education on VTE prevention, whereas was evidently high after they had received them. The cause of non-adherence in the pre-intervention phase was a lack of adequate knowledge regarding the magnitude and burden of HAT and the importance of thromboprophylaxis, which has a potential role in preventing the majority of HAT., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 Abdalla et al.)

Background: Pharmacists' job satisfaction has been of interest for many years and is of great importance in several respects, such as productivity and ultimately organizational performance., Objective: This study aimed to investigate the perceived motivational factors and levels of job satisfaction of female pharmacists working in private pharmaceutical sectors., Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using a web-based survey of randomly selected female pharmacists working in different private settings including community pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, private hospitals, and other private sectors using a pre-validated satisfaction scale (Warr-Cook-Wall scale)., Results: A total of 232 female pharmacists participated in the study with a mean age of 26.1±2.4 years. Of the total respondents, more than half (58%) worked for pharmaceutical companies, 25% worked in community pharmacies, and 16.8% were from hospital pharmacies. The most attractive motivating factors that encourage female pharmacists toward better performance were having the opportunity to learn new skills, being in contact with people both locally and internationally, gaining a sense of achievement, and being recognized, appreciated, and rewarded. The participants of this study were shown to have a moderate job satisfaction level., Conclusion: This study revealed that the non-Saudi, part-time pharmacists who never expected a promotion were less satisfied than the Saudi, full-time employees who expected a promotion within a year., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2022 Al-Omar et al.)

Objective: This study is a part of the Primary Health Care Corporation's (PHCC) Health Needs Assessment (HNA) Initiative. It focuses on identifying perceptions of Arabic speaking primary care clients regarding community's major health issues, their experiences in utilizing health services, and the barriers that limit their access to health care in the State of Qatar., Study Setting and Design: A total of 10 focus groups sessions were conducted at different PHCC's health centers between October of 2019 and March of 2020. Sessions were distributed to cover all PHCC's three geographical regions. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis., Participants: A total of 89 adult Arabic speaking individuals were recruited. Participants included were in the age groups (18-69), native Arabic speaker, and registered at one of the PHCC's health centers with a valid health card at time of recruitment., Results: Areas investigated included perceptions of the community's health issues, needed health services, and perceived barriers to health care. Priority health issues identified were chronic non-communicable diseases, mental health, timely access to care, cultural competency of delivered services, and integration and coordination across health care settings and sectors. Participants were able to identify socioeconomic and environmental factors such as the need for health and wellness interventions at schools that affects the health of the individual and the community. The importance of raising the community's awareness about health-related issues and availability of health services was highlighted by study participants., Conclusion: Collecting qualitative data provides an opportunity to examine people's perceptions, and motivations and engage the whole community. This process is very important for strategic planning of health services. The study attempts to fill the knowledge gap and should be linked to health policy and the development of socially and culturally appropriate health programs., Competing Interests: The authors reported no conflicts of interest for this work., (© 2021 Al-Kuwari et al.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health care systems around the world. Pharmacists have made substantial contributions to the health care operations during the COVID-19 response. The Pharmacy Department at Qatar Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) acted proactively to ensure that all patients received their medications and their refilled prescriptions in time and without any disruption. The Medication Home Delivery Service was introduced and implemented for all Qatar residents to prevent unnecessary visits to health centers, minimize the spread of COVID-19 to vulnerable populations, especially those with multiple comorbidities, and protect health care workers from exposure to the virus. Moreover, several other precautionary measures were taken by the PHCC to ensure uninterrupted access to health care, including moving to a virtual health care delivery model. As of September 2020, the service had served around 64,213 patients since its launch in March 2020. In total, 70,357 medications were delivered and 69,092 (98.2%) medication packages were delivered successfully to patients, with an average of 450.8 medication packages delivered per month. Despite various challenges, the PHCC is considering continuing the Medication Home Delivery Service in the long term to continue with a more effective and efficient service for patients during the coming months and years., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2021 Al-Zaidan et al.)

Background and Aims: Immunoregulatory cytokines influence the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection and the extent of liver damage. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) plays an important role in the inflammatory process. Some studies have demonstrated that IL-1α production was impaired in patients with chronic infections of HCV, implying that IL-1α may play a role in viral clearance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum level of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1α in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC)., Methods: This study was performed on 20 CHC patients with cirrhosis in (Group I), 20 CHC patients without cirrhosis in (Group II), 20 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with positive anti-HCV in (Group III), and 10 healthy subjects as a control group. Serum levels of IL-1α were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay technique., Results: IL-1α had the highest mean concentration in the HCC group and then in the group of CHC with cirrhosis compared to the group of CHC without cirrhosis. Also, it was higher in all studied groups than in the control group ( P <0.001). Statistical analysis showed that IL-1α was positively correlated with bilirubin ( P ≤0.001), alanine aminotransferase ( P =0.006), aspartate aminotransferase ( P =0.001), and viral load ( P =0.001) but it was negatively correlated with albumin ( P ≤0.001) and Hb ( P ≤0.001), and was not significantly correlated with other parameters (age, international normalized ratio, urea, creatinine, white blood cells, and platelet count)., Conclusion: Serum level of IL-1α was elevated in patients with CHC and its related liver diseases (liver cirrhosis and HCC) and can be used as an important parameter of inflammatory activity and for fibrosis evaluation in patients with chronic liver disease., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.