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Abstract Ascites is a pathological collection of free fluid in the peritoneal cavity, which is a common complication in patients with cirrhosis, an advanced liver disease. Bacterial infection increases the mortality rate of hospitalized patients with cirrhosis, irrespective of the severity of the liver disease. Around 60% of patients with compensated cirrhosis developed ascites within 10 years during the course of their disease. The in-hospital mortality rate due to spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) could exceed 90%, but with early diagnosis and prompt antibiotic therapy, this rate has been shown to decrease to 20%. Here, we enrolled adult (age ≥ 18) patients with liver disease with evidence of cirrhosis who developed ascites and assessed the presence of spontaneous ascites fluid infection (SAFI) in these patients. Of the total 218 patients, 22.9% (50/218) develop ascites infection. The liver organ function tests like alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and direct bilirubin were found to be significantly (P

Abstract Background: To study the anatomical variations of the nose and paranasal sinuses using Computed Tomography (CT) in Sudan during 2020–2022. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the radiological departments of Sudanese hospitals between 2020 June and 2022 June. The total number of patients was 111 of both sexes. Results: In this study, CT of 111 patients was analyzed. The patients were aged 18–80 years (mean age: 33 years) and comprised of 52.3% females and 47.7% males. The most common anatomical variants in the study group were pneumatization in sphenoid sinus-sellar type (71.2%), attachment of uncinate process into lamina papyrecea (69%), Keros type II (63.1%), deviated nasal septum (42.3%), concha bullosa (37.8%), and Onodi cells (20%). The opacity of the sinus was seen in about half (49.5%) of the CT, with more common sinus involvement being maxillary sinus (35.1%) followed by frontal sinus (8.1%) and ethmoid sinus (6.3%). There was no opacity in the sphenoid sinus in this study. Conclusion: The most common anatomical variants in the study group were pneumatization in the sphenoid sinus-sellar type. The opacity of paranasal sinuses was more common in the maxillary sinuses.

Abstract Background As the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) rapid testing services expanded to reach the global target that 95% of people living with the virus will know their status by 2030, ensuring the quality of those services becomes critical. This study was conducted to assess the performance of HIV Rapid testing at sites in health facilities that were enrolled in the Rapid Test Quality Improvement Initiative (RTQII) in Ethiopia. Methods Characterized HIV proficiency testing (PT) panels of Dried Tube Specimen (DTS) were prepared, verified, and distributed to testing sites from August to December 2019. In addition on-site evaluation of HIV testing sites (HTSs) was conducted using a checklist to assess testing conditions. For proficiency testing, the study included 159 HIV testing sites (HTSs) in 41 Health facilities (HFs) in five administrative regions and two city administrations. The collected data was analyzed by SPSS version 20 and chi-square test was applied to identify the association between acceptable performance and contributing factors. Testing sites with 100% PT score as well as conducting the test with adherence to the National HIV Testing Algorithm were considered acceptable. Results The overall acceptable performance (100% PT score with the correct algorithm followed) was found to be 62% while 12% scored 80% and 11% scored between 20 and 60%. The rest 15% were not considered as acceptable due to failure to adhere to the National HIV Testing Algorithm. Testing sites that participated in External Quality Assessment/Proficiency Testing schemes have shown better performance than those that did not participate with 70% and 56% performance respectively (p = 0.057).

تهدف الدراسة إلى التعرف على دور التفكير التصميمي كمتغير مستقل بأبعاده(التعايش، تحديد المشكلة، الفكرة، النموذج الأولي، الاختبار) في أنماط التجديد الاستراتيجي كمتغير تابع بأبعاده (التجديد التدريجي، التجديد الجذري)، تمثل ميدان الدراسة بقطاع التعليم العالي، واختيرت جامعة بغداد كميدان للدراسة، في حين تمثل مجتمع الدراسة بالملاكات التدريسية في كليات الجامعة فضلا عن الذين ممن كان لديهم منصب اداري حالياً أو سابق، ومن الكليات التي ظهرت في الجرد بعد انتهاء التوزيع (العلوم، الهندسة، الزراعة، آداب، تربية رياضية، قانون، إدارة واقتصاد، هندسة خوارزمي)، وقد بلغ مجتمع الدراسة من الملاك التدريسي 511 فرد، ولقد تم اعتماد في هذه الدراسة على المنهج الوصفي التحليلي في تحليل وتفـسير البيـانات والمعلومـات، وتـم اسـتخدام الاسـتبانة كـأداة رئيسـية فـي جمـع البيـانات والمعلومـات، وتـم تحـديد عـينة الدراسـة باستـخدام طـريقة (Steven k. Thompson) عبر توزيع استمارات الاستبيان الكترونيا وورقيا على كليات الجامعة كافة، وتم توزيع 250 استمارة قسم منها ورقية وقسم منها إلكترونية وذلك حسب الوقت الملائم لهم، وقد بلغ عدد الاستمارات المستردة 232 استمارة، في حين بلغ الصالح منها للتحليل 222 استمارة فقط بنسبة (95.6%) بعد استبعاد 10 استمارات ورقية غير مكتملة الرد، وتم معالجة البيانات احصائياً باستخدام البرنامج الاحصائي (SPSS. V22) للوصول إلى النتائج المطلوبة، وتم التحقق من ثبات الاستبانة من خلال (معامل ألفا كرونباخ) ومستوى الاجابات للتدريسيين لمتغيرات الدراسة، وقد توصلت هذه الدراسة إلى مجموعة من النتائج أهمها وجود اهتمام من جانب القيادات الإدارية والعلمية بالتفكير التصميمي واهتمام التدريسيين بالتجديد التدريجي حسب النسب الإحصائية.

IntroductionHealthcare-acquired infections are infections that patients acquire while receiving treatment for a medical or surgical condition and can occur in all care facilities. Hospital-acquired infections and the spread of antimicrobial resistance can be reduced by implementing proper preventive measures, including hand hygiene.AimThis study aimed to assess nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward hand hygiene guidelines in Najran city, determine compliance levels, identify factors contributing to non-compliance, and provide recommendations for interventions to improve hand hygiene practices and reduce healthcare-associated infections risk.Subject and methodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working in the selected government hospitals in Najran City, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the targeted nurses using an online survey. The questionnaire includes socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and marital status. The questionnaire had 25 items to measure knowledge, 10 to measure attitude, 6 to measure practices, and 4 to measure the impact of COVID-19 on hand hygiene practices.ResultsAmong the 386 nurses recruited, 88.3% were females, and 25.6% were aged between 31 to 35 years old. Overall, good knowledge, positive attitude, and good practice levels were found in 42.5, 48.4, and 94%, respectively. The common factor influencing hand hygiene practice was the prevention of cross-infection (88.1%). The total knowledge score mean was 18 ± 3.4 (highest possible score: 25). The total attitude score mean was 37.5 ± 6.1 (highest possible score: 50). The total practice score mean was 26.9 ± 2.8 (highest possible score: 30). A higher score indicates higher KAP of hand hygiene. Factors associated with increased KAP were being older in age (Z = 6.446; p

Rational and responsible self-medication (SM) is an essential core element for better health outcomes. It is influenced mainly by the level and adequacy of knowledge, attitude, and appropriateness of practice (KAP) towards SM. The present study explored the level and adequacy of KAP among residents of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. A convenient snowball sampling method was utilized to recruit the study participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 27. Six hundred and eleven participants completed the questionnaire. Residents with good knowledge, positive attitude, and proper practice were 43.7%, 33.1%, and 90.0%, respectively. The level of KAP was significantly influenced by the participant’s occupation, age, gender, nationality, marital status, presence of chronic disease, and COVID-19 infection status. The mean knowledge, attitude, and practice scores observed were 5.11 (SD = 1.27), 22.28 (SD = 2.6) and 5.20 (SD = 1.29), respectively. Pearson correlation and scattered plot matrix analysis revealed a significant positive weak correlation among KAP, indicating that residents with good knowledge possess better attitude (r = 0.142, p < 0.001) and follow the proper practice (r = 0.256, p < 0.001) towards SM. Multivariate linear regression revealed a significant (p < 0.001) negative (β = −0.059) influence of occupation, family members working in the health sector (p = 0.046, β= −0.426), Body Mass Index (p = 0.019, β = −0.049), and physical activity (p = 0.018, β = −0.292) on the overall KAP score. Understanding the residents’ level of KAP towards SM would enable the health care system to identify the gap and develop a mechanism to educate the people and make them knowledgeable about SM and self-care.

As energy demand continues to rise and the global population steadily grows, there is a growing interest in exploring alternative, clean, and renewable energy sources. The search for alternatives, such as green hydrogen, as both a fuel and an industrial feedstock, is intensifying. Methane steam reforming (MSR) has long been considered a primary method for hydrogen production, despite its numerous advantages, the activity and stability of the conventional Ni catalysts are major concerns due to carbon formation and metal sintering at high temperatures, posing significant drawbacks to the process. In recent years, significant attention has been given to bimetallic catalysts as a potential solution to overcome the challenges associated with methane steam reforming. Thus, this review focuses on the recent advancements in bimetallic catalysts for hydrogen production through methane steam reforming. The review explores various aspects including reactor type, catalyst selection, and the impact of different operating parameters such as reaction temperature, pressure, feed composition, reactor configuration, and feed and sweep gas flow rates. The analysis and discussion revolve around key performance indicators such as methane conversion, hydrogen recovery, and hydrogen yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper proposes a new implementation of a long short-term memory network for active fault-tolerant control subjected to single and multiple undiagnosable sensor faults. There are two networks used: the first performs as a diagnosis for automated manufacturing systems and can identify faulty sensors, while the second acts as an inverse model of these systems and is used to determine the reconfigured control action to take when sensors are not functioning as expected. The Factory I/O simulator is interfaced with MATLAB to simulate and verify the proposed approach for automated material handling case study with faultless and multiple fault sensors. Four sensors of the case study out of six are tolerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phishing, an Internet fraud where individuals are deceived into revealing critical personal and account information, poses a significant risk to both consumers and web-based institutions. Data indicates a persistent rise in phishing attacks. Moreover, these fraudulent schemes are progressively becoming more intricate, thereby rendering them more challenging to identify. Hence, it is imperative to utilize sophisticated algorithms to address this issue. Machine learning is a highly effective approach for identifying and uncovering these harmful behaviors. Machine learning (ML) approaches can identify common characteristics in most phishing assaults. In this paper, we propose an ensemble approach and compare it with six machine learning techniques to determine the type of website and whether it is normal or not based on two phishing datasets. After that, we used the normalization technique on the dataset to transform the range of all the features into the same range. The findings of this paper for all algorithms are as follows in the first dataset based on accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score, respectively: Decision Tree (DT) (0.964, 0.961, 0.976, 0.968), Random Forest (RF) (0.970, 0.964, 0.984, 0.974), Gradient Boosting (GB) (0.960, 0.959, 0.971, 0.965), XGBoost (XGB) (0.973, 0.976, 0.976, 0.976), AdaBoost (0.934, 0.934, 0.950, 0.942), Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) (0.970, 0.971, 0.976, 0.974) and Voting (0.978, 0.975, 0.987, 0.981). So, the Voting classifier gave the best results. While in the second dataset, all the algorithms gave the same results in four evaluation metrics, which indicates that each of them can effectively accomplish the prediction process. Also, this approach outperformed the previous work in detecting phishing websites with high accuracy, a lower false negative rate, a shorter prediction time, and a lower false positive rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall risk of developing cancer before the age of 75 years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is 9.9%. We aimed to explore the pattern of skin cancer, specifically among the Saudi population residing in the Aseer region. We obtained data from the medical records of Aseer Central Hospital regional histopathological laboratory considering surgical pathology reports from 2011 to 2021. The 61–80-year-old age group represented most of the cases (41.4%), followed by the 41–60-year-old group at 24.1%. Men made up the majority of the cases (59.4%). Furthermore, the dataset predominantly consisted of Saudi nationals (94.3% of the sample). The percentage of cases diagnosed each year relative to the cumulative number of skin cancer cases varied each year, ranging from 1.6% in 2011 to 11.6% in 2017. The most common diagnoses were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with 230 cases (41.1%) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) with 147 cases (26.3%). The majority of cases occurred in the head and neck region (55.4%), followed by the lower limb (16.6%), trunk (13.6%), upper limb (8.2%), and pelvis (2.3%). There was a significant variation in the type of skin cancer across the age groups (p < 0.001) and across different body parts (p < 0.001). The incidence of skin cancer exhibited variability throughout the study period. The predominant diagnoses observed were SSC and BCC. Among the affected areas, the head and neck region displayed the highest prevalence, followed by the lower limb, trunk, upper limb, and pelvis.