Global research output in antimicrobial resistance among uropathogens: A bibliometric analysis (2002-2016).

OBJECTIVES: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among uropathogens contributes to treatment failure. Research in AMR among uropathogens is important to establish treatment options. This study assessed global research trends in AMR among uropathogens. METHODS: SciVerse Scopus was used to retrieve relevant documents for the period 2002-2016. Only journal articles were included in the analysis. Analysis of author keywords was carried out using VOSviewer. RESULTS: A total of 1087 journal articles were retrieved with an h-index of 50. The number of publications increased noticeably in the past decade. Analysis of subject areas of retrieved documents showed that 275 (25.3%) articles were in molecular biology/genetics/microbiology/immunology, 197 (18.1%) were in pharmacological/therapeutic approaches for treatment of urinary tract infections and 615 (56.6%) were in epidemiology/public health. Terms such as multidrug-resistant and extended-spectrum ß-lactamases (ESBLs) appeared more frequently in documents published in the period 2012-2016. The mean number of authors per article was 5.3. Most active authors in this field were from Japan. The USA ranked first with 148 documents (13.6%), followed by India (97; 8.9%) and Iran (84; 7.7%). The top productive institution was Tehran University of Medical Sciences (21 publications), followed by Kobe University in Japan (20 publications). The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy ranked first with 33 publications. CONCLUSION: Research in AMR among uropathogens showed a noticeable increase in the past decade. Reports of increasing incidence of resistance among uropathogens were published from different parts of the world. Empirical therapy should be based on updated research in AMR.

A bibliometric analysis of literature on malaria vector resistance: (1996 - 2015).

BACKGROUND: Emergence of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors is a real threat to future goals of elimination and control of malaria. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess research trend on insecticide resistance of Anopheles mosquito. In specific, number of publications, countries, institutions, and authors' research profile, citation analysis, international collaborations, and impact of journals publishing documents on insecticide resistance will be presented. It was conducted via Scopus search engine which was used to retrieve relevant data. Keywords used were based on literature available on this topic. The duration of study was set from 1996-2015. RESULTS: A total of 616 documents, mainly as original research articles (n = 569; 92.37%) were retrieved. The average number of citations per article was 26.36. Poisson log-linear regression analysis indicated that there was a 6.00% increase in the number of publications for each extra article on pyrethroid resistance. A total of 82 different countries and 1922 authors participated in publishing retrieved articles. The United Kingdom (UK) ranked first in number of publications followed by the United States of America (USA) and France. The top ten productive countries included seven African countries. The UK had collaborations mostly with Benin (relative link strength = 46). A total of 1817 institution/ organizations participated in the publication of retrieved articles. The most active institution/ organization was Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Retrieved articles were published in 134 different scientific peer reviewed journals. The journal that published most on this topic was Malaria Journal (n = 101; 16.4%). Four of the top active authors were from South Africa and two were from the UK. Three of the top ten cited articles were published in Insect Molecular Biology journal. Six articles were about pyrethroid resistance and at least two were about DDT resistance. CONCLUSION: Publications on insecticide resistance in malaria vector has gained momentum in the past decade. International collaborations enhanced the knowledge about the situation of vector resistance in countries with endemic malaria. Molecular biology of insecticide resistance is the key issue in understanding and overcoming this emerging problems.

Antipsychotic medication adherence and satisfaction among Palestinian people with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: In Arab and Muslim-dominated countries, spirituality and religiosity shape the belief and practices toward chronic illnesses. No previous studies were published to assess adherence to and satisfaction with antipsychotic medications in persons with schizophrenia in the Arab world. OBJECTIVE: To assess medication adherence and treatment satisfaction with antipsychotics in a sample of Palestinian people with schizophrenia. METHODOLOGY: Medication adherence was assessed using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Treatment satisfaction was assessed using the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4). Psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E). Data were entered and statistically analyzed using SPSS 16 for windows. RESULTS: A convenience sample of 131 persons with schizophrenia was studied. Based on MMAS-8, 44 persons (33.6%) had a low rate, 58 (44.3%) had a medium rate and 29 (22.1%) had a high rate of adherence. Age was significantly correlated (P=0.028) with adherence score. However, variables like use of monotherapy or atypical or depot antipsychotics were not significantly associated with higher adherence. The means of satisfaction with regard to effectiveness, side effects, convenience and global satisfaction were 72.6 ± 20.5, 67.9 ± 31.47, 63.2 ± 14.3 and 63.1 ± 18.8 respectively. There was a significant difference in the means of effectiveness (P < 0.01), convenience (P < 0.01), global satisfaction (P < 0.01), but not side effects domains (P=0.1) among persons with different levels of adherence. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the means of positive symptom score (P < 0.01), manic (P < 0.01) and depression (P < 0.01) but not negative symptom score (P=0.4) among persons with different levels of adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Medication nonadherence was common and was associated with low treatment satisfaction scores and poor psychiatric scores. Medication related factors had insignificant effects on adherence scores.

Adherence and satisfaction with oral hypoglycemic medications: a pilot study in Palestine.

OBJECTIVES: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic progressive disease characterized by numerous health complications. Medication adherence is an important determinant of therapeutic outcome. Few studies on medication adherence have been published from the Arab countries. Therefore, the objective of this pilot study was to assess hypoglycemic medication adherence and its association with treatment satisfaction. SETTING: Military Medical Services clinic in Nablus, Palestine. METHODS: This is a cross sectional descriptive study. A convenience sample of 131 diabetic patients was studied. The 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication were used to assess adherence and treatment satisfaction, respectively. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for statistical analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Level of adherence, treatment satisfaction and association between adherence and treatment satisfaction among diabetic patients. RESULTS: According to MMAS-8, 50 patients (38.5%) had a high adherence, 58 (44.6%) had a medium adherence and 22 (16.9%) had a low adherence rate. The mean scores of satisfaction domains were 71 ± 17.6 and 95 ± 16.4 for effectiveness (EFF) and side effects (SE), respectively. Adherence score was a positively and significantly correlated with EFF satisfaction domain (P < 0.01) and age (P = 0.01). Similar significant correlation was found between adherence level and duration of illness (P = 0.047). However, adherence was not significantly associated with gender (P = 0.2), number of hypoglycemic medications (P = 0.5) or SE satisfaction domain (P = 0.2). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The majority of diabetic patients in this pilot study were non-adherent. Improving patients' treatment satisfaction will improve treatment adherence.

Sleep habits and sleep problems among Palestinian students.

AIM: The aim of this study was to describe sleep habits and sleep problems in a population of undergraduates in Palestine. Association between self-reported sleep quality and self-reported academic achievement was also investigated. METHODS: Sleep habits and problems were investigated using a convenience sample of students from An-Najah National University, Palestine. The study was carried out during spring semester, 2009. A self-administered questionnaire developed based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV criteria and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used. RESULTS: 400 students with a mean age of 20.2 ± 1.3 were studied. Reported mean duration of night sleep in the study sample was 6.4 ± 1.1 hours. The majority (58.3%) of students went to bed before midnight and 18% of the total sample woke up before 6 am. Sleep latency of more than one hour was present in 19.3% of the students. Two thirds (64.8%) of the students reported having at least one nocturnal awakening per night. Nightmares were the most common parasomnia reported by students. Daytime naps were common and reported in 74.5% of the study sample. Sleep quality was reported as "poor" in only 9.8% and was significantly associated with sleep latency, frequency of nocturnal awakenings, time of going to bed, nightmares but not with academic achievement. CONCLUSION: Sleep habits among Palestinian undergraduates were comparable to those reported in European studies. Sleep problems were common and there was no significant association between sleep quality and academic achievement.

Differences in medication adherence, satisfaction and clinical symptoms in schizophrenic outpatients taking different antipsychotic regimens.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in medication adherence, treatment satisfaction and clinical symptoms in schizophrenic outpatients taking different antipsychotic treatment regimens. METHODOLOGY: Medication adherence was measured using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) while treatment satisfaction was measured using the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4). Psychiatric symptoms were measured using the 24-item expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E). Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 16 for windows. RESULTS: A convenience sample of 131 schizophrenic patients was studied. Patients belonged to 7 groups based on their antipsychotic treatment regimens. There was no significant difference in the means of adherence (P=0.6) and BPRS domains: positive (P=0.6), negative (P=0.8), manic (P=0.2) and depression (P=0.9) scores among the studied groups. Satisfaction with side effect domain was significantly different among studied groups (P=0.006, F=3). However, no significant difference was found in other satisfaction domains: effectiveness (P=0.8), convenience (P=0.3), and global satisfaction (P=0.8). CONCLUSIONS: Medications adherence, most treatment satisfaction domains and clinical symptom scores were not significantly different among patients taking different antipsychotic regimens.

Medication dosing errors in hospitalized patients with renal impairment: a study in Palestine.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Reduced renal function requires dose adjustment for certain drugs to avoid toxicity. The aim of this study was to determine whether appropriate dosage adjustments were made for drugs that are nephrotoxic, excreted, or metabolized (TEM medications) by the kidney in patients with renal impairment. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study of a group of hospitalized patients was carried out at Al-Watni governmental hospital, Nablus, Palestine. All patients with creatinine clearance