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Abstract Background It is known worldwide that stigma towards mental illness exists. Studies on stigma perceived by patients with mental illness have shown decreased quality of life and a negative impact on work, school and social life. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of perceived stigma among respondents who had been diagnosed with a mental illness during the past 12 months, its association with socio-demographic variables and its effect on work and social roles limitations among Saudis. Methods The Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS) data were used for the analysis. The SNMHS is a nationally representative survey that was conducted using face-to -face interviews with Saudi individuals (age 15–65) in their households. Respondents were diagnosed (N = 639) with mental disorders based on a well-validated questionnaire—the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) 3.0. Two dimensions from CIDI assessed perceived stigma: embarrassment and perceived discrimination. Results The prevalence of perceived stigma was 27.8% among mentally ill respondents. Stigma was lower among respondents who didn’t seek any type of treatment than those who sought treatment OR = 0.28 (95% CI 0.084–0.935, P = 0.03). Respondents who reported perceived stigma had more work role limitations (OR = 1.1 95% CI 1.01–0.10 P 0.006) and social limitations (OR = 1.3 95% CI 0.99–1.62 P 0.05) than respondents who didn’t report stigma. Conclusion Perceived stigma is experienced by mentally ill individuals and it negatively affects their work and social roles. Awareness programs to remove stigma and educate the public are needed to be established by policymakers and healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a disease which is causing a high degree of mortality around the world. The present study reports the antiproliferative impact of the thioacetamide calix[4]arene, CAII receptor on a highly differentiated Caco-2 cell line. This statement is corroborated by the MTT assay results which revealed a reduction in the cell viability with an IC50 value of 19.02 ± 0.04 µM. Microscopic results indicated that at the starting amount of 10 µM of CAII, a decrease in cells confluency can already be observed in addition to changes in cells morphology. Cell metabolic pathway changes were also investigated. 1H NMR findings showed downregulation in lactate, pyruvate, phosphocholine, lipids, and hydroxybutyrate with the upregulation of succinate, indicating a decline in the cells proliferation. Some biochemical alterations in the cells as a result of the CAII treatment were found by Raman spectroscopy.

Background: The diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection in human can be determined by variable immunological and molecular methods.

Background: Several biological factors such as bacterial infections and immunological status are implicated in predisposing individuals to bladder cancer. Bacterial infection of urinary tract has been related to increase the risk of bladder cancer. Patients and Methods: Resected tumors of a total of 73 patients were obtained under sterile surgical conditions. Biopsy processing samples and culture procedures of biopsy samples were mentioned in the text. Results: Bacterial growth was observed in 48 biopsy tissues of those patients represent (65.8%) while, 25(34.2%) yielded no growth (negative results). It is obvious that E. coli is the most predominant organisms followed by K. pneumoniae and Ps. Aeruginosa. The other uropathogens isolated more or less of equal distribution. Conclusion: High frequency and great variety of bacteria in cystectomy specimens removed from cancer of urinary bladder. They were often Gram-negative pathogens (primarily Enterobacteriaceae).

Free – living or limax amoebae are small free-living protozoans which exist in fresh water and soil environment. These amoebae were found infective to man causing a fatal disease affecting the central nervous system. Fowler and Carter were the first to report four fatal human cases of acute pyogenic meningitis caused by free-living amoebae1. The genera Naegleria and Acanthamoeba are incriminated in such infections2. Swimming in contaminated water has been frequently postulated as the way of infection through the intranasal mucosa. Since that time more than one hundred cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis were reported from different parts of the world. On the other hand, the free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are known to cause eye infection and keratitis3,4,5. The discovery of progressive corneal ulceration due to several species of Acanthamoeba were reported in many parts of the world6,7. We describe here the first reported case of ocular acanthamoebiasis in Iraq due to the infection with Acanthamoeba sp.

Abstract We present a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation of dimuon production in neutrino-nucleus collisions. This process is typically calculated by assuming it to be proportional to inclusive charm production, which requires an effective acceptance correction to take the experimental cuts on the decay-muon kinematics into account. Here, we instead compute the dimuon production cross section directly as a convolution of semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering to produce charmed hadrons, and a decay function fitted to e + e − data to produce a muon from the charmed hadrons. The presented approach is in a good agreement with available experimental data and will serve as a starting point for higher-order QCD calculations without an external acceptance correction. The uncertainties arising from the decay function and scale dependence are sizeably smaller than those from the nuclear parton distribution functions. We also calculate the effective acceptances within our approach and compare them to those usually used in global fits of parton distribution functions, finding differences of the order of 10 %, depending on the kinematics, perturbative order, and applied parton distributions.

Erilaiset työllistämistoimenpiteet ovat keskeinen työvoimapoliittinen keino, jolla pyritään edistämään työttömien työllistymistä. Nuoret ovat olleet yksi keskeisimmistä näiden toimenpiteiden kohderyhmistä. Siitä huolimatta tällä hetkellä on saatavilla vain niukasti tutkimustietoa siitä, millaisia myönteisiä ja kielteisiä seurauksia työllistämistoimenpiteisiin osallistumisella on erityisessä syrjäytymisvaarassa oleville nuorille. Tässä artikkelissa tätä vaikeasti lähestyttävää ongelmaa tutkitaan pitkäaikaistyöttömien nuorten haastatteluaineiston pohjalta. Tutkimuksen tavoite on selvittää, millaisia toivottuja ja ei-toivottuja seurauksia työllistämistoimenpiteisiin osallistumisella on ollut pitkäaikaistyöttömien nuorten itsensä arvioimana. Aineisto sisältää 28 pitkäaikaistyöttömän nuoren elämänkulkuhaastattelua, joita on analysoitu temaattisen narratiivisen analyysin avulla. Tulosten tulkinnan teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytetään Anthony Giddensin rakenteistumisteoriaa. Analyysissä nuorten kokemukset tiivistetään kolmeen tarinatyyppiin, jotka ovat aktivoinnin liukuportaat, karuselli ja kummitusjuna. Nämä tarinatyypit kuvaavat erilaisia työllistämistoimenpiteiden seurauksia pitkäaikaistyöttömien nuorten kokemusten näkökulmasta. Tutkimus osoittaa, että työllistämistoimenpiteet voivat auttaa nuoria murtamaan työttömyyttä ylläpitävän noidankehän, mutta työllistämistoimenpiteisiin osallistumiseen sisältyy myös huomattavia riskejä.

Since the 2011 revolution, Tunisia has undergone a transformative phase characterized by emerging models of governance that prioritize grassroots initiatives and community participation in local affairs. Despite its manifold challenges, this political renewal has unfolded during political, socioeconomic, and security crises. Through a case study of the commune of Mhamdia, this article aims to examine two key aspects: (1) how communes can approach built heritage amidst the presence of national, international, governmental, non-governmental, profit, and non-profit actors, and (2) how heritage management can pose challenges, occasionally leading to the destruction of historical elements. This qualitative analysis, rooted in practitioner research, explores shifting paradigms and evolving dynamics within traditional and novel practices, shedding light on their impact on built heritage. The results demonstrate that, similar to national players, local elites also leverage built heritage to fortify their legitimacy, albeit through different means.

The continuous enhancement of living conditions imposes higher requirements for medical and healthcare services. Although improved to a certain extent, there still exist critical challenges in current medical pattern, such as the shortage of medical resources, inefficient medical treatment, and limited medical technology level. The metaverse can offer a novel mechanism to address these problems in traditional healthcare domain, and thus, to enhance the quality of medical services. Generally, the metaverse is a dynamic feedback system that facilitates the collaboration and coexistence between the virtual and physical worlds. By fostering collaboration and evolution between intelligent agents in the virtual world, knowledge of this interdependence can be reconstructed in the digital realm. This allows problems existed in the real world to be abstracted and represented in the digital space, where models can be established and computational experiments can be conducted. The outcomes obtained can dynamically guide or control the execution of strategies in the real world, with real-world execution results serving as dynamic data inputs to continually update the virtual world’s model. In addition, this paper summarizes the current research status of different healthcare application scenarios for metaverse, highlights the challenges and vision, and aims to inspire further research in this field.

Background: Building trust in the government and intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is as important as developing a safe vaccine to contain the pandemic. Purpose: The study aimed to examine the associations between the intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 and the people's trust in the government, and compare both concepts based on the subject's characteristics. Methods: This is a part of a large-scale cross-sectional study that employed a web-based survey conducted in 2021. The study utilized data collected on the main study variables using questionnaires from a convenient sample of 281 Jordanian subjects. Bivariate statistics were employed with .05 as a significance level. Results: Trust in the government scores were significantly different based on gender and marital status. As mistrust in the government increases, subjects tend to accept the vaccine. Female subjects tend to trust the government but have low intention to get vaccinated than male subjects. Married subjects tend to have higher mistrust of the government than single subjects. Subjects who agree with the statement "herd immunity would be beneficial for COVID-19 and this fact is covered up" and "the government restrictions are stronger than is needed" had a higher intention to get vaccinated scores than those who disagree with it. Conclusions: To build and maintain the trust of the public, the government needs to enhance its efforts in publicizing information on the pandemic and employ strategies for improved communication management to the public through social media and mainstream information sources and healthcare providers, especially those who are in the front lines healthcare providers. Policy-makers should employ strategies to improve communication management to the public and rebuild trust in the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal studies with more representative samples are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis indicates that pervaporation-flow injection offers several advantages over equilibrium static techniques when determining Henry's law constant for phenols. Experimental procedures and results are discussed in detail.

ObjectiveThis research aimed to culturally adapt and validate the MIAS scale for Arabic-speaking individuals within the Saudi Arabian general population, with an emphasis on cultural, societal, and individual nuances.MethodsAn initial pilot testing with a small group ensured the scale's clarity. Subsequently, two cross-sectional studies involving 189 participants to assess structural validity of the Arabic MIAS scale, and 38 participants to assess the test-retest reliability. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's α, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were employed for data analysis.ResultsThe Arabic MIAS scale demonstrated good internal consistency and acceptable test-retest reliability (ICC α = 0.631). A three-factor model emerged (CFI = 0.890, TLI = 0.845, RMSEA = 0.094), including “Outcomes,” “Negative Stereotypes,” and “Recovery,” closely mirroring the original study's structure. one item was excluded from the model since it didn't align with any of the three factors.ConclusionThe study contributes a culturally adapted, validated, non-condition-specific tool to gauge public attitudes toward mental health stigma in an Arabic context. It highlights the need for culturally sensitive stigma research and interventions and underscores the importance of improving such tools for cross-cultural applicability and comparability.

This study investigates the performance of a wind–solar generator (WSG) in the Hail region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with a fractional order PI controller (FOPI) applied to the grid connection line. The proposed hybrid generator consists of a wind turbine with a PMSM machine and a PV panel connected to a secondary distribution grid by a DC link, three-phase inverter, and an RL filter. The line currents injected into the grid and/or loads are controlled by calculating the output reference voltage of an inverter and by the reference active and reactive requested powers. For this purpose, control loops around the RL filter were developed with fractional-order proportional-integral (FOPI) controllers, and a comparison with classic PI controllers was made. The system was simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink software. The results showed that the generator satisfied the power demand under the climatic conditions of the Hail region. They also demonstrated the good performance of the proposed controllers, which had good tracking accuracy and robustness to variations in wind speed and power demanded by loads in a very short time. The FOPI controller exhibited faster dynamic response and less overshoot than the classic PI controller.

The objective of this paper was to study and analyze the performance of a micro Wind – Solar Hybrid Generator (WSHG) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The WSHG consists of a micro wind solar system connected to a secondary distribution grid. The system was tested in two locations in the KSA namely DAMMAM and HA`IL and used the wind speed and solar radiation of two periods of the year. Two operating modes were discussed for the system: the Normal Operating Mode (NOM) and the Default Operating Mode (DOM). The simulation results showed the best performance of the system during the two periods of the year, in the two locations of the KSA, and in the two operating modes. The experimental measurements of the WSHG have been carried out and showed the similarity between the measured and simulated values of the output inverter voltage and of the DC-link voltage.

The biological understanding of poor prognosis associated with lymph node metastasis in head and neck cancer (HNC) remains crucial. Here, a proteomic characterisation of 140 multisite samples from a 59-HNC patient cohort and machine learning reveals potential biomarkers and metastasis related signatures.

The electro-discharge (ED) drilling of precision boreholes in difficult-to-machine materials, particularly with respect to the cost-effectiveness of the overall process, is still a challenge. Flushing is one key factor for the precise machining of boreholes, especially with high aspect ratios. Therefore, the influence of internal and external flushing geometries for six types of brass tool electrodes with a diameter of 3 mm with and without a helical groove was analyzed experimentally and numerically. Using this helical external flushing channel, drilling experiments in X170CrVMo18-3-1 (Elmax Superclean) with an aspect ratio of five revealed a material removal rate (MRR) that was increased by 112% compared with a rod electrode, increased by 28% for a single-channel tool electrode and decreased by 8% for a multi-channel tool electrode. Signal analyses complemented these findings and highlighted correlations between classified discharge event types and the experimental target parameters. Amongst others, it was verified that the arcing frequency ratio drove the electrode wear rate and the beneficial frequency ratio correlated with the MRR and the surface roughness Ra. Sophisticated 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the liquid phase were introduced and evaluated in great detail to demonstrate the validity and further elucidate the effect of the external flushing channel on the evacuation capability of debris and gas bubbles. The presented methods and models were found to be suitable for obtaining in-depth knowledge about the flushing conditions in the ED drilling working gap.

Clinical decision support based on artificial intelligence (AI) methods has increasingly been employed in medical applications to support medical diagnosis. Developing efficient AI methods, however, depends necessarily on the availability of sufficiently large amount of data to provide reliable results. But, in medicine, it is not always possible to find sufficient amount of real data on all pathologies, particularly, for rare diseases. This paper proposes a methodological framework for generating synthetic data using data augmentation techniques combined with epidemiological profiles. It focuses on Uveitis, a rare disease in ophthalmology, which is difficult to diagnose because of the disparity in prevalence of its etiologies. The generated synthetic data have been qualitatively validated by specialist ophthalmologists and quantitatively tested using machine learning methods. Results show that, of a randomly selected sample of the generated data, more than 55% were assessed as good or excellent, which is very promising for generating synthetic, validated as near-real, medical data for rare diseases. They also show that the proposed framework is consistent in generating synthetic data, for Uveitis pathology, of different dataset sizes, achieving more than 80% diagnosis prediction accuracy for 2000 patient records or larger.

Purpose: To compare functional outcomes and complication rates of two scleral fixated intraocular lens implantation (SFIOL) techniques. Methods: In this retrospective study, there were 30 eyes of 30 patients who underwent SFIOL implantation for dislocation of the IOL or crystalline lens. Group 1 (n = 17) comprised patients who received scleral-fixated polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) IOL implantation through a self-sealing sclerocorneal tunnel with the suture burial technique, and group 2 (n = 13) comprised patients who received scleral-fixated foldable acrylic IOL implantation with a cartridge using a self-sealing clear corneal incision (CCI) with knotless Z-suture technique between 2014 and 2019. Surgical outcomes concerning safety, efficiency, visual function, induced astigmatism with vector analysis, and complications were compared. Results: The indications were dislocated crystalline lens (n = 5/30), dislocated IOL (n = 17/30), and dropped nucleus (n = 8/30). The mean follow-up time was 50.65 ± 14.02 months in group 1 and 15.69 ± 3.71 months in group 2 (P < 0.001). The postoperative visual acuity improvement was statistically significant in both groups (P < 0.001). Surgically induced astigmatism was significantly higher in group 1 (2.68 ± 1.04 D) compared with group 2 (1.6 ± 1.0 D) at month 12 (P = 0.001). Postoperative complications included suture exposure (n = 1 in group 1) and cystoid macular edema (n = 1 in group 1; n = 1 in group 2). Conclusion: Both SFIOL techniques are safe and effective in the absence of adequate capsular support. However, the knotless Z-suture technique appears to be superior to the suture burial technique with regard to suture exposure-related complications. In addition, self-sealing CCI appears to be superior to self-sealing sclerocorneal tunnel with regard to surgically induced astigmatism.

In the recent years the importance of secondary uses of health data for clinical, research and policy making purposes has been further stressed in view of the availability of health-related data collected in traditional and non-traditional settings. However, processing health data - which are sensitive type of personal data - requires adopting adequate legal and ethical protections, to ensure that rights of the data subjects have been respected, while also facilitating responsible access to data. In this paper we aim to shed light on the interplay between the existing and emerging relevant European regulatory frameworks related to data processing, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the upcoming Data Governance Act and the legislative proposal for European Health Data Space. In doing that, we will focus mainly on the legal bases for secondary uses of data in view of the overarching princi- ples of data protection.

Abstract Malignant thyroid lesions are the most common malignancy of the endocrine glands with increasing rates in the last two decades. Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common thyroid malignancy. In our study, we aimed to quantitatively evaluate the levels of DNA repair proteins MSH2, MLH1, MGMT, which are representative blocks of patients diagnosed with papillary carcinoma, chronic thyroiditis, or colloidal goiter. Total or subtotal thyroidectomy material of 90 patients diagnosed with papillary carcinoma, nodular colloidal goiter, or chronic thyroiditis between 2009 and 2012 were retrospectively evaluated. Tissue samples obtained from paraffin blocks were stained with MGMT, MSH2, MLH1 proteins and their immunohistochemistry was evaluated. Prepared sections were examined qualitatively by an impartial pathologist and a clinician, taking into account the staining method under the trinocular light microscope. Although there was no statistically significant difference in MGMT, MSH2, MLH1, follicular cell positivity, staining intensity, and immunoreactivity values, papillary carcinoma cases showed a higher rate of follicular cell positivity, and this difference was more pronounced between papillary carcinoma and colloidal goiter. In the MSH2 follicular cell positivity evaluation, the difference between chronic thyroiditis and colloidal goiter was significant (p = 0.023). The difference between chronic thyroiditis and colloidal goiter was significant in the MSH2 staining intensity evaluation (p = 0.001). The difference between chronic thyroiditis and colloidal goiter was significant in MLH1 immunoreactivity evaluation (p = 0.012). Papillary carcinoma cases were demonstrated by nuclear staining only for MSH2 and MLH1 proteins as opposed to hyperplastic nodules. The higher levels of expression of DNA repair genes in malignant tumors compared to benign tumors are attributed to the functional activation of DNA repair genes. Further studies are needed for DNA repair proteins to be a potential test in the development and progression of thyroid cancer.

Objectives:To evaluate the functional and morphological outcomes of vitrectomy in combination with intravitreal 5% C3F8 tamponade and subretinal injections of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) in patients with submacular hemorrhage (SMH) and to investigate the preoperative prognostic factors.Materials and Methods:This retrospective study included 30 patients (16 women, 14 men) diagnosed with SMH secondary to neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Preoperative SMH thickness and area, ellipsoid zone integrity, and postoperative reduction in the amount of subfoveal blood on optical coherence tomography and fundus photographs were assessed. Furthermore, visual acuity (VA), hemorrhage duration, and the need for additional intravitreal anti-VEGF injections were recorded.Results:The patients’ mean age was 73.33±8.23 years. Mean VA improved from logMAR 2.11±0.84 at baseline to logMAR 1.32±0.91, 0.94±0.66, 1.13±0.84, and 1.00±0.70 at postoperative month 1, 2, 3, and 6, respectively. A significant negative correlation was found between hemorrhage duration and postoperative VA at month 2 (p=0.005), month 3 (p=0.019), and month 6 (p=0.012). The mean preoperative SMH duration was significantly shorter in patients who achieved total resolution of the hemorrhage compared with the subtotal resolution group (p

Internet of Things (IoT) enables a myriad of applications by interconnecting software to physical objects. The objects range from wireless sensors to robots and include surveillance cameras. The applications are often critical (e.g. physical intrusion detection, fire fighting) and latency-sensitive. On the one hand, such applications rely on specific protocols (e.g. MQTT, COAP) and the network to communicate with the objects under very tight timeframe. On the other hand, anomalies (e.g. communication noise, sensors' failures, security attacks) are likely to occur in open IoT systems and can result by sending false alerts or the failure to properly detect critical events. To address that, IoT systems have to be equipped with anomaly detection processing in addition to the required event detection capability. This is a key feature that enables reliability and efficiency in IoT. However, anomaly detection systems can be themselves object of failures and attacks, and then can easily fall short to accomplish their mission. This paper introduces a Reliable Event and Anomaly Detection Framework for the Internet of Things (READ-IoT for short). The designed framework integrates events and anomalies detection into a single and common system that centralizes the management of both concepts. To enforce its reliability, the system relies on a reputation-aware provisioning of detection capabilities that takes into account the vulnerability of the deployment hosts. As for validation, READ-IoT was implemented and evaluated using two real life applications, i.e. a fire detection and an unauthorized person detection applications. Several scenarios of anomalies and events were conducted using NSL-KDD public dataset, as well as, generated data to simulate routing attacks. The obtained results and performance measurements show the efficiency of READ-IoT in terms of event detection accuracy and real-time processing.

Sleep disturbance is common in patients with heart failure and their family caregivers. The purpose of this study was to determine whether sleep disturbances of patients and their spousal caregivers predicted their own and their partners' quality of life (QoL) in 78 heart failure patient-spousal caregiver dyads. Sleep disturbance was assessed using a composite score of four common sleep complaints. QoL was assessed by the physical and mental well-being subscales of the Short-Form 12 Health Survey. The multilevel dyadic actor-partner interdependence model analysis was used to determine the association between sleep disturbance and QoL. Each individual's sleep disturbance predicted their own poor physical and mental well-being while spousal caregivers' sleep disturbance predicted their partners' mental well-being. Results indicated that patients' mental well-being is sensitive to their spouses' sleep disturbance. Interventions targeting improving sleep and QoL may have to include both patients and spousal caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consistent forest loss estimates are important to enforce forest management regulations. In Tunisia, recent evidence has suggested that the deforestation rate is increasing, especially since the 2011’s Revolution. However, no spatially explicit data on the extent of deforestation before and after the Revolution exists. Here, we quantify deforestation in the country for the period 2001–2014 and we propose a novel spatio-temporal pattern-based sequence classification framework for forest loss estimation. To do so, expert knowledge and spatial techniques are applied to identify deforestation drivers. Then, we adopt sequential pattern mining to extract sets of patterns sharing similar spatiotemporal behavior. The sequence miner generates multidimensional-closed sequential patterns at different time granularities. Then, a discriminative filter is employed to decide on patterns to use as relevant classification features. Lastly, the classifier is trained using random forest and shows an improved result.