Study of knowledge, attitude and practice of Saudi women towards physical activity, 2017

Background: Physical activity is an effective component of health and prevention of disease. Increasing the general health knowledge about physical activity could prevent obesity and chronic diseases

Objectives: Study the knowledge, attitude and practice [KAP] of Saudi women regarding physical activity in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA]

Methods: This was a community based survey study conducted among 800 Saudi adult females chosen randomly using a multistage random technique during the period from January to April 2017. The study included subjects were asked to fill up a predesigned questionnaire including questions about socio-demographics and assessing the KAP about physical activity

Results: Most of females [64%] had poor knowledge while 36% had good awareness about the physical activity. About 72.2% had poor practice pattern but 22.8% had good practice pattern of physical activity. The attitude toward physical activity was good in the majority of subjects [75.1%] and poor in [24.9%] of them. The overall general KAP of included females regarding physical activity was poor in 62% and good in 38%

Conclusion: The overall general KAP was low among the studied groups thus, there is a dispensable need for providing a good and safe environment for women for practicing routine physical activity. Also, more efforts should be carried out to increase the KAP of females toward physical activity through educational campaigns in internet, TV and health care facilities

Trend, features and outcome of meningitis in the communicable diseases hospital, Alexandria, Egypt, 1997-2006

Following vaccine introduction, long-term epidemiological changes have been occurred in meningitis. Studying these changes is of practical importance for both public health planning and clinical management. To study trend in meningitis in Alexandria, Egypt [1997-2006] as well patients'characteristics and outcome. The descriptive epidemiologic approach was adopted. Study population was all discharge records and computer files of meningitis admissions to the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, 1997-2006. Outcome measures were age, number and percentage of patients, organisms proportions and case fatality. The study included 1210 recorded meningitis cases. Patients had a mean age of 22.26 years and a male to female ratio of 1.8:1. Study started with a sharp descent of yearly admissions [1997-1999] and ended by a sharp increase [2004-2006]. Cases insignificantly increased during autumn though spring. Neisseria meningitidis was the dominant pathogen [28.9%] in all years. Mycobacterium tuberculosis [MTB] was the second common agent [11.6%] with a decrea sing frequency till 2000. Streptococcus pneumoniae was responsible for 8.9% of case s. Group B Streptococci and Haemophilus influenzae type b caused 2.8% and 2.4% of cases respectively. Both had a declining trend. Other bacteria [gram negative bacteria, non specific streptococci an d staphylococci] was isolated in 2.7% whereas no organism could be identified in 45.6% of specimens. All agent differences were statistically significant where Po 0.001. The mean hospital stay was 14.95 days. Overall case fatality was 17.6%. The most lethal was other bacteria [Odds Ratio = 6.0, 95% Confidence interval = 3.0-12.2]. Fatal outcome was predicted by short hospital stay [regression coefficient r] = -0.17, P=0 0.001], diagnosis of other bacterial [r=1.75, P=0 0.001], pneumococcal [r=0.66, P =0.02] or tuberculous meningitis [r = 0.59, P =0.04] and being an elderly [r= 1.80, P=0 0.001] or an adult [r= 1.03, Po 0.001]. Neisseria remained the main etiologic agent of meningitis. TB emerged as the second pathogen. Rate of bacterial un-detection was high. Mean age of meningitis had shifted to adult age. Other bacteria, pneumococci, MTB and advanced age were important predictors for mortality

Effect of oromotor exercises on energy and duration of anterior voiceless non-emphatic consonants in spastic dysarthria

Treatment of dysarthric children may rely on speech therapy [direct therapy] or on oro-motor exercises [indirect therapy]. Some authors believe that therapy is more effective when both methods are applied. Others believe that application of oro-motor exercises provide little or no beneficial effect. The aim of this work was to study the effect of oromotor therapy on the energy and duration of anterior non-emphatic voiceless Arabic consonants prior to and after therapy in order to obtain a more objective view about the progress achieved by therapy which would aid in selecting the most appropriate line of therapy for such patients. Subjects and methods: Thirty dysarthric children and fifteen normal children of both gender participated in this study. The dysarthric children were randomly divided using a customized random sample into 2 groups. One group received speech therapy while the other group received speech therapy, in addition to, oromotor exercises. Spectrographic analysis of the anterior voiceless non-emphatic consonants /f/, /thea/, /t/, and /s/ was performed prior to and after therapy. Spectrographic analysis for the normal group was done during the study. The study extended over a period of about 9 months. Spectrographic analysis revealed reduction in the duration of consonants and increase in their energy values for both patients group with more significant improvement when oromotor exercises were applied the application of oromotor exercises in conjunction with speech therapy can aid in improving the production of anterior non-emphatic voiceless consonants in dysarthric patients. 1-Considering oromotor therapy while planning any speech rehabilitation program for dysarthric patients as it can be beneficial in some patients. 2- Thorough objective analysis of other phonemes and follow up for longer duration to detect any subclinical improvement achieved by different lines of therapy which would help in selecting the most effective and rapid ones in improving the speech of dysarthric patients

Ureaplasma urealyticum in women with chronic urinary symptoms

Objective. To determine the incidence of Ureaplasma urealyticum in women experiencing chronic urinary symptoms and to determine whether antibiotic therapy targeting these organisms is effective. Design: a prospective study. Setting: Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Zahraa University Hospital. Patients: Twenty-four women with chronic urinary symptoms. Study design: Participants were referred for evaluation of chronic voiding symptoms. They underwent urologic evaluation, including culture screening for Ureaplasma urealyticum. Patients with positive cultures were treated with a 1-g dose of azithromycin. Patients were scored for symptoms severity and voiding frequency before and after treatment. Twelve out of 24 women [50%] with chronic urinary symptoms had positive cultures for Ureaplasma urealyticum. No signifcant difference in age or parity was found between women with positive cultures and those with negative cultures for Ureaplasma urealyticum [p=0.51 and 0.93 respectively]. Women with negative cultures [n = 12] had urinary frequency of 10 +/- 1.63 and severity of symptoms of 1.75 +/- 0.72. Women with positive cultures [n = 12] had urinary frequency of 9.67 +/- 1.37 and severity of symptoms of 1.92 +/- 0.95. Women with positive cultures before treatment did not differ significantly from those with negative cultures as regard urinary frequency and severity of symptoms [p = 0.60 and 0.63 respectively]. After receiving therapy, women with positive cultures reported urinary frequency of 5.83 +/- 1.14 and severity of symptoms of 0.42 +/- 0.86. These values differed significantly from corresponding values before treatment [p <0.0001 and=0.0005 respectively]. Ureaplasma urealyticum infections may account for a large proportion of unexplained chronic urinary symptoms in women. Culture and treatment appears cost-effective

Comparing urine specimens, vaginal swabs, and endocervical specimens to detect chlamydia trachomatis by using PCR

to determine the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis and to compare the abilities of three different techniques of collecting specimens [urine, vaginal swab, and endoeervical swab] to identify a positive specimen. Cross-sectional. Setting: Al Zahraa University Hospital a total of 70 women were enrolled in the study, the women provided first-void urine and self-collected vaginal swabs. The overall prevalence of genital C. trachomatis infection was 20.0% and 70% in women consulting without [G0] and with [G1] genital symptoms, respectively [Table 2]. The rate of detection of Chiamydia using PCR in urine samples did not differ significantly between the 2 groups although it showed a higher detection rate in the other sympyomatizing cases. The detection rate in vaginal introital swabs and endocervical swabs were significantly higher in cases than control, p=0.045 and 0.031 respectively. When both vaginal and endocervical swabs are combined together the difference was extremely significant [p=0.0016]. Self-collected vaginal swabs identified the highest number of positive test results among single specimens, with the combined cervix-vagina results identifying the highest number of positive results