ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine the prevalence of smoking and habits of smoking among male secondary school students in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA] and to assess their knowledge and attitudes toward it. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jeddah, using a two-stage cluster sampling, randomly selecting 4 out of 85 government male secondary schools. Data were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire eliciting responses to questions on personal background, smoking behavior, knowledge, behavior, and attitude toward smoking. A total of 695 students responded to the questionnaires with 87.4% response rate. Of the studied group, 258 [37%] currently smoked, and of these, 83.7% had started smoking at the age of 14 years or less. The most common reason for smoking was the influence of family, especially the presence of someone at home who smoked [65, 9%] and friends who smoked [42.5%]. Many of the students search for information on the risks of smoking [66.3%], and only [45.3%] knew about the bad effects of passive smoking on others. Two-third of the students who smoked wanted to quit smoking [63.2%], especially if suitable help was offered, whereas [60.9%] had tried to quit. While 50% of students smoked for recreation and entertainment, and [33.6%] had difficulty avoiding smoking in no smoking areas. A well-planned integrated antismoking campaign is urgently required, especially among students and teachers. The study revealed that the prevalence of smoking was high. This will contribute to an increase in smoking-related health problems in the future if proper preventive measures are not taken
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Prevalence , Schools , Students , Cross-Sectional StudiesABSTRACT
Simulium (Gomphostilbia) sofiani sp. nov. is described on the basis of reared adult female, male, pupal and larval specimens collected from Cameron Highlands, Pahang state, Malaysia. This new species is placed in the ceylonicum species-group within the subgenus Gomphostilbia and is easily distinguished from all the related known species by the combination of the following characteristics: an elongate sensory vesicle and yellow hair tuft on the stem vein of the wing in the female, the greater number of large upper-eye facets (15 or 16 vertical columns and 15 or 16 horizontal rows) and almost entirely darkened hind basitarsus in the male, and the gill bearing a long common basal stalk and 8 filaments arranged as [(1+2)+ (1+2)] +2 filaments from dorsal to ventral in the pupa.
ABSTRACT
The study was designed in across-sectional pattern, on 335 pregnant -women who attended the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Maternity and Child Teaching Hospital, and some private clinics in AL-Diwaniya city. They were examined for bacterial vaginosis in the period from September 2002 to the end of February 2003. The present study showed that 96 [28.6%] women affected by bacterial vaginosis, 109 [32.6%] women presented with abnormal vaginal discharge due to other causes and 130 [38.8%] women without any signs and symptoms of vaginitis G.vaginalis were isolated from 89 [93.7%], 3[2.7%] and 45[34.6%] of the above mentioned groups respectively. The main age group of bacterial vaginosis occurrence was [25-35%] years, and was more common among pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy [40.7%], where the economic status and parity of patient appeared to play no role on the disease prevalence. It was found that the bacterial vaginosis plays an important and significant role in the causation ofpreterm delivery [Odds ratio 2.9]. It was found that Amselrs criteria are good and valid screening tests in the early diagnosis than the cultural technique, because of their high sensitivity and specificity, which yielded [96%, 95%] respectively. Other microorganisms are mainly Candida albicans [11.9%], Staphylococcus aureus [7.4%], Staphylococcus saprophyticus [4.8%], Beta haemolytic streptococcal [3.6%] and to a less prevalence rates for Neisseria gonorrhea [2.6%] and Trichomonas vaginalis [2.08%]