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Hereditary spinocerebellar degenerations (SCDs) is an umbrella term that covers a group of monogenic conditions that share common pathogenic mechanisms and include hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), cerebellar ataxia, and spinocerebellar ataxia. They are often complicated with axonal neuropathy and/or intellectual impairment and overlap with many neurological conditions, including neurodevelopmental disorders. More than 200 genes and loci inherited through all modes of Mendelian inheritance are known. Autosomal recessive inheritance predominates in consanguineous communities; however, autosomal dominant and X-linked inheritance can also occur. Sudan is inhabited by genetically diverse populations, yet it has high consanguinity rates. We used next-generation sequencing, genotyping, bioinformatics analysis, and candidate gene approaches to study 90 affected patients from 38 unrelated Sudanese families segregating multiple forms of SCDs. The age-at-onset in our cohort ranged from birth to 35 years; however, most patients manifested childhood-onset diseases (the mean and median ages at onset were 7.5 and 3 years, respectively). We reached the genetic diagnosis in 63% and possibly up to 73% of the studied families when considering variants of unknown significance. Combining the present data with our previous analysis of 25 Sudanese HSP families, the success rate reached 52–59% (31–35/59 families). In this article we report candidate variants in genes previously known to be associated with SCDs or other phenotypically related monogenic disorders. We also highlight the genetic and clinical heterogeneity of SCDs in Sudan, as we did not identify a major causative gene in our cohort, and the potential for discovering novel SCD genes in this population.

Introduction. Microbiocenosis is a self-regulating system of relationships between the body and microflora. Ensuring the technological process of agricultural production involves contact with conditionally pathogenic and pathogenic microflora. The spread of antibacterial drug resistance is a matter of concern. Materials and methods. There was studied the microbiocenosis of the upper respiratory tract in agricultural enterprises: in the absence of inflammatory diseases; the clinical picture of diseases of the ENT organs, and the susceptibility of the isolated strains to antibacterial drugs. Results. Working conditions of employees correspond to classes 3.1 - 3.3. Typical representatives are strains of Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Neisseria, Corynebacterium. The etiological share of S. Aureus, C. Albicans, E. Coli, Kl. Pneumoniae, Ps. Aeruginosa, predominates in the formation of inflammatory diseases. Staphylococcus are most susceptible to Cefotaxime and Sparfloxacin, followed by Cefepime, Levofloxacin and Amikacin. Strains of Kl. pneumoniae are susceptible to Cefotaxime and Sparfloxacin; strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa - to Cefepime and Ceftazidim; C. Albicans and C. crusei - to Amphotericin B and Fluconazole. Conclusion. The complex industrial factors of agricultural production contributes to the violation of the ratio of microbial associations even against the background of clinical health, which is a risk factor for the development of inflammatory processes. S. Aureus strains; Candida Albicans; Klebsiella Pneumoniae play the leading role. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. Coli. The isolates demonstrate multidrug resistance to antimicrobial drugs.

Hand-dug wells are natural, inexpensive solution to widespread water scarcity; however, they could be contaminated with toxic algae. This study aimed to assess the physicochemical parameters and survey algal species in water from three hand-dug wells in Nassarawa Local Government area of Kano State (11⁰57'53''N; 8⁰30'50''E). Water samples were collected during May and June 2021. Temperature, pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) Dissolved oxygen (DO), Turbidity (TBDT), Nitrate and Phosphate were determined according to (APHA, 2005). Algal composition (org/L) and identification were by using the guide of Palmer (1980). Analyses of variance was used to determine significant differences between means at (p

Background Cancer is an ongoing global health concern; it is the greatest cause of mortality in the industrialized world and the second-highest cause of death in the developing world. This study aims to assess the incidence and geographic distribution of nasopharyngeal cancer between 2007 and 2016 in Saudi Arabia. Methods Data between 2007 and 2016 from Saudi Cancer Registry reports were collected in this study. These reports provide information on all cancer cases, including the age, sex, geographic location, and year of diagnosis for each patient. Result Between 2007 and 2016, the Saudi Cancer Registry identified 110,075 cancer cases in total. The mean age-standardized rate of all cancer types for women was 51.7 compared with 48.2 for men. The percentage of cases of nasopharyngeal cancers was 1.2% for women and 2.2% for men in 2007. This percentage decreased to 0.8% for women and increased to 2.7% for men in 2016 in comparison to all cancer cases. The curve for nasopharyngeal cancer of all cancer types for men and women correlated with rises and drops in men over the study period, and a minor decrease in women over time, until another rise in 2016. A positive correlation was observed between nasopharyngeal cancer incidence and age. The age-standardized rate data for nasopharyngeal cancer cases demonstrated a wide variation across Saudi regions. The age-standardized rate per 100,000 people from 2007 to 2016 ranged from 0.39 in Jazan to 1.92 in Qassim, with a national average of 1.06. Conclusion From 2007 to 2016, the overall trend of the age-standardized rate for men fluctuated while the female rate slightly dropped before rising again. On the contrary, the incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer varies by region in Saudi Arabia. Further study of this variation would help focus awareness campaigns on the most susceptible regions.

Enterobius vermicularis (E. vermicularis), also called pinworm or threadworm, is a widespread parasitic infection that has infected approximately 40 million individuals in the United States. However, the infection is rarely seen in the adult population. An atypical presentation of Enterobius vermicularis (E. vermicularis) infection has been reported previously in children and infants. However, there are no previous reports of this infection among adults in the Middle East. We present a case of a 30-year-old Saudi male patient who presented with significant weight loss, diarrhea, and vomiting. A colonoscopy revealed E. vermicularis in the cecum. The patient received one dose of oral albendazole 400 mg and then a repeat dose in two weeks based on his colonoscopy findings. The patient was seen in an outpatient clinic and reported complete resolution of postprandial vomiting. Asking about risk factors if there is any contact with contamination is essential. In addition, colonoscopy and stool analysis may also be considered to confirm the diagnosis. However, future studies investigating the incidence and risk factors of this infection are warranted as similar studies reporting this infection in Saudi Arabia are limited. Proper diagnosis and treatment are also essential to prevent complications of the infection.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an infection that mainly affects the respiratory system. It may present with fever, fatigue, dry cough, and dyspnea. In addition, numerous studies and case reports discussed those viruses showing their effects on the nervous system. In this report, we present a case of a 66-year-old Saudi man who had been recovering from symptoms related to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) associated disease. He was presented with sudden progressive ascending weakness that started in the left leg, and it spread to involve both legs and then both arms, five days prior to hospitalization. Lumbar puncture and nerve conduction studies showed that the patient has an acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN) variant of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). The patient was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and supportive care. The patient was discharged after 15 days of hospitalization with clinical improvement. In conclusion, to our knowledge, this study investigated the first reported case of GBS in an elderly patient as a complication of COVID-19 infection in Saudi Arabia, with the most severe variant AMSAN. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, clinicians should consider GBS as a neurological complication of COVID-19, and therapy must be initiated. Further studies are needed to study the possible mechanism of GBS in patients with COVID-19 in the future.

Background: Data regarding ventricular tachycardia (VT) or premature ventricular complex (PVC) ablation following MVS is limited.) CA can be challenging given perivalvular substrate in the setting of mitral annuloplasty or prosthetic valves. Objective: To investigate the characteristics, safety, and outcomes of radiofrequency catheter ablation (CA) in patients with prior mitral valve surgery (MVS) and ventricular arrhythmias (VA). Methods: We identified consecutive patients with prior MVS who underwent CA for VT or PVC between January 2013- December 2018. We investigated the mechanism of arrhythmia, ablation approach, peri-operative complications, and outcomes. Results: In our cohort of 31 patients (77% men, mean age 62.3±10.8 years, left ventricular ejection fraction 39.2±13.9%) with prior MVS underwent CA (16 VT; 15 PVC). Access to the left ventricle was via transseptal approach in 17 patients, and a retrograde aortic approach was used in 13 patients. A combined transseptal and retrograde aortic approach was used in one patient, and a percutaneous epicardial approach was combined with trans-septal approach in 1patient. Heterogenous scar regions were present in 94% of VT patients and scar-related reentry was the dominant mechanism of VT. Clinical VA substrates involved the peri-mitral area in 6 patients with VT and 5 patients with PVC ablation. No procedure-related complications were reported. The overall recurrence-free rate at 1-year was 72.2%; 67% in the VT group and 78% in the PVC group. No arrhythmia-related death was documented on long-term follow-up. Conclusion: CA of VAs can be performed safely and effectively in patients with MVS

In this paper, we investigate and enhance the performance of data transmission using a hybrid underwater and terrestrial system with low‐complexity linear equalization. Due to the low spee...

One of the major challenges during initiation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is the energy conservation. Knowing that the transceiver is the main source of energy dissipation, we have to design a suitable protocol at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer to maximize the network lifetime. We are interested in reducing the energy consumption in such networks with very little degradation in the delay profile. In this paper, a Node-power-based MAC protocol with adaptive listening period for WSNs is presented. The proposed protocol alleviates the problems of unfair distribution of power among nodes in the original Sensor-MAC (S-MAC) and Multi-Layer MAC (ML-MAC) protocols. Simulation results show that the proposed MAC protocol provides an enhanced performance compared to both the S-MAC and ML-MAC protocols. The simulation results show also that the proposed MAC protocol consumes less energy than those consumed by both the S-MAC and ML-MAC protocols. The proposed protocol saves about 61.1% of the energy consumed by the S-MAC protocol. It also achieves 17% energy saving as compared to the ML-MAC protocol in the non-coherent mode. Moreover, in the coherent mode, the proposed protocol saves 73% and 23.1% of the energy consumed by the S-MAC and ML-MAC protocols, respectively.