Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Musculoskeletal Complaints: Insights From Nursing Students at Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia.

Introduction Smartphones are widely utilized by individuals on a daily basis for a variety of activities, including communication, web browsing, and gaming. However, the excessive and prolonged use of these devices often leads to adverse effects on musculoskeletal health. This study aimed to assess the effect of mobile phone use on musculoskeletal complaints among nursing students at Northern Border University. Methods An analytical descriptive study was conducted using a convenience sample of 202 nursing students recruited via a Google survey questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised four sections concerning the students' demographics, smartphone data collection tools, the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV), and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ). Results Among the study participants, 62.6% were females, with 52.4% spending more than 5 hours daily on media and technology usage, often extending into bedtime. In the last 12 months, neck pain was the most prevalent complaint, reported by 38.8% of the participants, followed by shoulder pain experienced by 20.3% of the sample. Notably, female students displayed a significantly higher incidence of musculoskeletal pain, with rates as high as 81.7% showing statistical significance (p<0.001). A significant association was also observed between mobile phone addiction and academic grade, as well as the time spent on media and technology usage daily (p<0.001). Conclusions There is a significant association between mobile phone use and discomfort in the musculoskeletal system, particularly in the neck region. Moreover, female students tend to experience more pronounced musculoskeletal discomfort compared to their male counterparts. The study also suggests that extended usage of mobile phones, especially at bedtime, increases the likelihood of experiencing musculoskeletal discomfort.

Clinical profile of functional constipation in Saudi children.

BACKGROUND: Functional constipation (FC) is a common condition in children, and information on the clinical characteristics of FC in Saudi children is scarce. OBJECTIVE: Describe the clinical profile of FC in Saudi children. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: Hospital that provides primary, intermediate and tertiary care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All children diagnosed with FC according to the Rome IV criteria were included and had at least one follow-up clinic visit. Demographic and clinical data collected from medical records included the age at onset, duration of constipation, clinical features, treatment modalities, and factors associated with clinical response. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi-squared test were used in the statistical analysis to see how categorical study variables were linked to clinical response. A P value of ≤.05 was used to report statistical significance. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Compliance and clinical response to polyethylene glycol (PEG) compared with lactulose. SAMPLE SIZE: 370 children from 0.1 to 13 years of age. RESULTS: The median (IQR) age of onset was 4 (5) years and less than one year in 14%. The median (IQR) duration of constipation was 4 months (11) and less than two months in 93/370 (25%). Abdominal pain was the most commonly associated feature (44%). Screening for celiac disease and hypothyroidism was negative. A Fleet enema was the most common disimpaction method (54%) and PEG was the most common maintenance medication (63.4%). PEG was significantly better tolerated (P=.0008) and more effective than lactulose (P<.0001). Compliance was the only variable significantly associated with clinical response. CONCLUSIONS: PEG was better tolerated and more effective than lactulose in our study, a finding in agreement with the literature. Therefore, PEG should be the drug of choice in the initial management of FC in Saudi children. Prospective studies on the causes of noncompliance are needed to improve the response to treatment. LIMITATIONS: The limitations of retrospective design are missing data, recall bias, and hospital-based limitation, such as missing milder cases treated at the outpatient level. However, the sample size of 370 may have minimized these limitations.

Prevalence of middle mesial canal using cone beam computed tomography: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The presence of middle mesial canals in mandibular molars are not commonly encountered in daily practice. However, locating and debriding such anatomical variation during the endodontic therapy is essential to avoid endodontic failure. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the overall prevalence of middle mesial canals (MMC) in mandibular molars using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), to assess the influence of different gender on the prevalence of MMCs in mandibular molars and to describe the MMC configurations. Methods: The review protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42021238523). The main electronic databases were searched until February 2022 for prevalence studies on root/canal anatomy in mandibular molars using CBCT imaging, in addition to hand-searched scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and grey literature. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool. Egger's and Begg's tests and Pearson's chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results: From 523 records, 488 studies were excluded after screening the title and abstract. 35 relevant studies were included for full-text assessment and 28 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of MMC out of the 19,256 teeth was 5.09% (95% CI: 2.894 to 7.784). The prevalence of MMC was 9.79% (95% CI: 4.296 to 17.224) in males and 13.96% (95% CI: 0.541 to 40.737) in females with a statistically significant difference of 4.16% (95% CI: 2.29 to 6.01). The most MMC configuration found in this review to be confluent with the mesiobuccal canal. Conclusion: The results showed an overall 5.09% prevalence of MMC in mandibular molars, with a significantly high prevalence in female subjects. Additionally, this canal was found to be confluent with the mesiobuccal canal.

Nuclear factor I-C overexpression promotes monocytic development and cell survival in acute myeloid leukemia.

Nuclear factor I-C (NFIC) belongs to a family of NFI transcription factors that binds to DNA through CAATT-boxes and are involved in cellular differentiation and stem cell maintenance. Here we show NFIC protein is significantly overexpressed in 69% of acute myeloid leukemia patients. Examination of the functional consequences of NFIC overexpression in HSPCs showed that this protein promoted monocytic differentiation. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis further demonstrated that NFIC overexpressing monocytes had increased expression of growth and survival genes. In contrast, depletion of NFIC through shRNA decreased cell growth, increased cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in AML cell lines and AML patient blasts. Further, in AML cell lines (THP-1), bulk RNA sequencing of NFIC knockdown led to downregulation of genes involved in cell survival and oncogenic signaling pathways including mixed lineage leukemia-1 (MLL-1). Lastly, we show that NFIC knockdown in an ex vivo mouse MLL::AF9 pre-leukemic stem cell model, decreased their growth and colony formation and increased expression of myeloid differentiation markers Gr1 and Mac1. Collectively, our results suggest that NFIC is an important transcription factor in myeloid differentiation as well as AML cell survival and is a potential therapeutic target in AML.

The Effect of Antiresorptive Drug Holidays on Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of discontinuing high-dose antiresorptive (AR) therapy in reducing the risk of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) in patients treated with AR medications and undergoing dentoalveolar surgery or tooth extractions. The review was carried out in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. A literature search was conducted using the databases MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from inception till the 1st of April, 2022. Both observational and interventional studies that evaluated the effect of AR drug holiday in the development of MRONJ in patients receiving AR medications and who require dentoalveolar surgical procedures were included. Trials published as abstracts, case reports, case series, non-systematic reviews, and others were excluded. All findings were reported as odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality assessment, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) approach was used to evaluate the quality of the evidence. Eight articles (6808 subjects) were included for analysis. Of the participants, 4847 cases (drug holiday group) were compared to 1961 controls (non-drug holiday group). Based on the random effects model, the pooled summary OR was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.51-1.06) for the drug holiday group compared to the non-drug holiday group. In other words, the drug holiday group was not significantly different from the non-drug holiday group in the development of MRONJ following a tooth extraction procedure (p = 0.10). The statistical heterogeneity was low across all studies (I2 = 13%, p = 0.33). Within the limits of the available evidence, our findings revealed that drug holidays with AR will not minimize the risk of MRONJ and thus cannot be advised. It may be possible to arrive at more definitive conclusions from large prospective studies and randomized trials of good quality.

Patients' Satisfaction and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life of Edentulous Patients Using Conventional Complete Dentures and Implant-Retained Overdentures in Saudi Arabia.

The aim of this study was to compare patients' satisfaction and quality of life (QoL) when using implant overdentures vs. conventional dentures. The QoL of Saudi patients who were provided mandibular implant-supported overdentures was assessed using a structured questionnaire. Overall satisfaction; ability to speak, eat, and chew food; comfort; esthetics; stability; and satisfaction of general oral health were measured. A total of 48.3% vs. 6.9% were, overall, very satisfied with their implant overdentures and conventional dentures, respectively. A total of 37.9% of the patients were very satisfied regarding speaking with their implant overdentures vs. 17.2% with conventional dentures. Furthermore, 41.4% were very comfortable with their implant overdentures vs. 5.2% were very comfortable using conventional dentures. However, only 15.5% were very satisfied with the esthetics of the conventional dentures compared to 43.1% being satisfied with implant overdentures. Only 1.7% were very satisfied with the stability of conventional dentures vs. 44.8% being satisfied using implant overdentures. About 8.6% of the candidates were very satisfied regarding chewing food with conventional dentures vs. 36.2% being very satisfied using implant overdentures. Approximately 10.3% were very satisfied with their general oral health using conventional dentures compared to 29.3% being very satisfied using implant overdentures. Mandibular implant overdentures had a strong impact on patients' quality of life over conventional complete dentures and should be considered the minimum standard of care provided to completely edentulous patients.

Old Dog, New Trick: Type I IFN-Based Treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Despite strong biological rationale for the use of type-I IFNs for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), their usage is limited to few hematologic malignancies. Here, we propose that innate immune sensing machinery, particularly the stimulator of IFN genes pathway, may be exploited to deliver antileukemic effects in AML.

Factors associated with diabetic foot among type 2 diabetes in Northern area of Saudi Arabia: a descriptive study.

OBJECTIVE: Foot complications are considered to be a devastating consequence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), posing a major medical and economic burden. A prospective study was conducted at researchers' area "Northern area of Saudi Arabia" to determine the factors associated with diabetic foot (DF) among T2DM patients. Identifying the extent of this problem and the associated factors will enable the health providers to imply early preventive measurements. RESULTS: Two hundred T2DM patients with/without DF (n = 100 for each group) were recruited. In total, the mean (SD) age of participants was 56 (± 12.2) years and nearly 70% of the patients were females. They showed a trend for higher frequency of impaired vibration perception, light touch pressure, proprioception and pain sensation than males in T2DM with DF. In univariate analysis, older age, long duration of diabetes and poor glycemic control reflected in high levels of HbA1c were significant factors associated with DF (OR = 4.1, 95% CI 2.3-7.4, P < 0.0001; OR = 6.5, 95% CI (4.9-9.3), P < 0.0001, and OR = 1.1, 95% CI (1.05-1.3), P = 0.002, respectively). Taken together, the current results could highlight the importance of epidemiological studies to raise the awareness of this important health care problem around the country.

Maternal-fetal Rhesus (Rh) factor incompatibility in Arar, northern Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Rh isoimmunization still contributes to the neonatal morbidity and mortality due to non-immunization, under-immunization, and in rare cases, false Rh typing. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Rh incompatibility, mothers' knowledge about Rh incompatibility, mothers' knowledge about anti-D immunoglobulin and to show the pregnancy outcome of Rh negative mothers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at the Maternity and Children Hospital in Arar city from November 2016 to May 2017. All pregnant mothers attending the Maternity and Children Hospital for pregnancy follow up or delivery, during the study period were studied. Data were collected by means of personal interview with the sampled population using a researcher-made questionnaire covering the needed data. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16, using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test. RESULTS: Of the studied mothers, 23% were Rh negative. Only 38% of the studied mothers had knowledge about Rh incompatibility, 68.5% had knowledge about anti-D and 51% had knowledge about time of administration of anti D. Considering pregnancy outcome; 55% of the delivered babies needed incubation after delivery, 23.3% of those babies were born to Rh negative mothers. However, 6.7% of the incubated children died after incubation (47.8% of them belong to Rh negative mothers). CONCLUSION: About a quarter of the mothers in the studied population were Rh negative. Mothers had a low level of knowledge about Rh incompatibility and anti-D immunoglobulin and its administration. Health education sittings are needed to increase public awareness about this important issue.

Profile of peptic ulcer disease and its risk factors in Arar, Northern Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Peptic ulcer disease is a multifactorial health problem, and its prevalence and risk factors have changed considerably within the past century. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of peptic ulcer among the population of Arar city and to identify risk factors for peptic ulcer and to estimate their relative impact on ulcer incidence. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on the population of Arar city, Northern Saudi Arabia from November 01, 2016 to April 30, 2017. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16, using descriptive statistics, prevalence, and Chi-square test. RESULTS: Total prevalence of peptic ulcer among the studied respondents was thus: 21.9% had peptic ulcer; 16.2% gastric ulcer and 5.6% duodenal ulcer. In 19.7% of the cases, the pain was severe, 92.4% reported that pain was precipitated by certain food. In addition to heartburn, 78.8% reported loss of appetite, 71.2% indigestion, 66.7% regurgitation, 59.1% nausea and vomiting and 42.4% with chest pain. Regarding the risk factors, coffee drinking came in first place (81.8%) followed by physical stress in 77.3%, spicy food in 57.6%, prolonged use of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in 33.3% and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in 24.2%. A further 22.7% reported melena as a complication while only 10.6% reported hematemesis. CONCLUSION: This is the first population-based study in Arar, Northern Saudi Arabia reporting point prevalence of peptic ulcer disease. The rate of 16.2% for gastric ulcer and 5.6% for duodenal ulcers are substantially high. Coffee drinking, physical stress, spicy food, prolonged use of NSAID and H. pylori infection were the reported risk factors. Population-based endoscopic studies are recommended.