Attitudes of Saudi Arabian undergraduate medical students towards health research

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate attitudes, perceptions and perceived barriers towards health research among Saudi Arabian undergraduate medical students

Methods: This cross-sectional study took place between August and October 2014 and included 520 students from five medical schools across Saudi Arabia. An anonymous online survey with 21 close-ended questions was designed to assess students' attitudes towards research, contribution to research-related activities, awareness of the importance of research, perception of available resources/opportunities for research, appreciation of medical students' research contributions and perceived barriers to research. Responses were scored on a 5-point Likert scale

Results: A total of 401 students participated in the study [response rate: 77.1%]. Of these, 278 [69.3%] were female. A positive attitude towards research was reported by 43.9% of the students. No statistically significant differences were observed between genders with regards to attitudes towards and available resources for research [P = 0.500 and 0.200, respectively]. Clinical students had a significantly more positive attitude towards research compared to preclinical students [P = 0.007]. Only 26.4% of the respondents believed that they had adequate resources/opportunities for research. According to the students, perceived barriers to undertaking research included time constraints [n = 200; 49.9%], lack of research mentors [n = 95; 23.7%], lack of formal research methodology training [n = 170; 42.4%] and difficulties in conducting literature searches [n = 145; 36.2%]

Conclusion: Less than half of the surveyed Saudi Arabian medical students had a positive attitude towards health research. Medical education policies should aim to counteract the barriers identified in this study

Surgical treatment and histopathology of a symptomatic free-floating primary pigment epithelial iris cyst in the anterior vitreous

We report the surgical removal of an iris pigment epithelial cyst that was floating freely in the posterior chamber of an 18-month-old child. The reason for surgical removal was disturbance in near vision secondary to the movement of the cyst across the visual axis. Visual disturbance secondary to a unilateral anterior vitreous iris cyst at this age is a rare presentation and, to the best of our knowledge, has not been reported previously as an indication for surgery. We performed histopathological study of the cyst aspirate to determine its contents and its possible origin

correlation between optical coherence tomography features and visual acuity in macular edema associated with retinal venous occlusion

To investigate the correlation between the features of optical coherence tomography [OCT] and central macular thickness [CMT], and the best-corrected visual acuity in macular edema complicating retinal vein occlusion. In a prospective study, OCT was performed in 37 eyes of 37 patients with macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion. Twenty five eyes had central retinal vein occlusion [CRVO], and 12 eyes had branch retinal vein occlusion [BRVO]. The OCT features were categorized into: type 1, sponge-like retinal swelling; type 2, cystoid macular edema; and type 3, serous retinal detachment. Visual acuity at presentation correlated with CMT [r = 0.650, P <0.0001]. OCT type 1 showed the least CMT [P <0.0001] and the best visual acuity [P <0.0001]. A serous retinal detachment [type 3] undetectable by slit-lamp biomicroscopy and fundus fluorescein angiography was identified in 23 eyes [62.2%] using OCT. Our analysis showed that eyes with OCT type 3 had the worst visual acuity [P <0.0001] and the thickest CMT [P <0.0001]. There was a significant correlation between CMT and OCT patterns of macular edema and visual acuity at presentation