ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: blood products is an interesting term as all blood and blood transfusion procedures carry risk even with advance screening of donors and donated blood. In Saudi Arabia voluntary donors are either the only source or not, the other source is paid donors and the lack of volunteers represents a major challenge. This is usually attributed to low community awareness regarding voluntary blood donation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the levels of awareness towards blood donation in northern Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: in this descriptive cross sectional survey, data about blood donation were obtained from 717 Saudi volunteers living in the city of Hail, Saudi Arabia. A Purposeful questionnaire was designed and used for obtaining of the necessary data. RESULTS: When asking the participants to rate the level of awareness about blood donation in Saudi Society, the majority of participants categorized the levels as good followed by very good and poor, representing 48.8%, 29.3%, and 22% participants, respectively. CONCLUSION: the broad concept of blood donation is still poor in Saudi Arabia. Further educational plans are needed to raise the level of awareness and increase the perception of blood donation among Saudi population. Efforts should be made to involve females in blood donation duties.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions toward evidence-based medicine among medical students from different colleges across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An adapted evidence-based medicine (EBM) questionnaire was administered to second year to sixth year level of medical students and interns from different medical colleges across the Kingdom from November 2016 to May 2017. The questionnaire contains items that would describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents: 24 multiple-choice questions and one open-ended question. Questions were randomly arranged to refrain from respondents' bias but are identified to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of the respondents toward evidence-based medicine (EBP). Data were analyzed statistically using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: This study surveyed 344 medical students from different universities in Saudi Arabia. The students' knowledge and attitude to EBM were low: 80.8% answered incorrectly on the components of EBM; 40.4% knew that the strongest evidence to EBP is systematic review, and 95% of the respondents were not aware of the Cochrane Library (CL). Nearly 70% did not attend EBP workshops, 18% read journals, and 85.8% use the Internet to support clinical decisions. Only 50% are interested of knowing and using CL, 69.5% would evaluate the veracity of evidence when it contradicts clinical judgment, 24.4% will follow the evidence, and 6.1% will discard the evidence favoring their clinical judgment. No journal subscription, having no time, and difficulty in comprehension were the greatest reported barriers with a relative weight of 29.1%, 25%, and 15.7%, respectively; 68.8% claimed that EBP is not applicable to their culture, and 87.1% believed that their patients are willing to participate in clinical decision-making but perceived a low participation in clinical trials. CONCLUSION: The findings described the current status of the level of awareness and use of EBM among the medical students. This calls for a well-structured incorporation of the pedagogy into the undergraduate curriculum as a major competency standard considering culture and values that are well-preserved in the Kingdom. The outcomes of its integration will impact not only the medical and allied-medical professions but also the public health in general.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to evaluate the biochemical effects of grape seed extract against dexamethasone-induced hepatic and renal dysfunction in a female albino rat. Twenty-eight adult female rats were divided randomly into four equal groups: Group 1: animals were injected subcutaneously with saline and consider as normal control one. Group 2: animals were injected subcutaneously with dexamethasone in a dose of 0.1 mg/kg body weight. Group 3: animals were injected subcutaneously with 0.1 mg/kg body weight of dexamethasone, and then treated with a grape seed extract in a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight by oral gavage. Group 4: animals were injected subcutaneously with 0.1 mg/kg body weight of dexamethasone, and then treated with a grape seed extract in a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight by oral gavage. After 4 weeks, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, albumin, uric acid, creatinine, and glucose levels were assayed. Hepatic reduced glutathione (GSH), total protein content, and catalase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities were also assayed. Dexamethasone administration caused elevation of serum levels of glucose, uric acid, creatinine, ALT, AST activities, and a decrease in other parameters such as hepatic glutathione, total protein levels, and catalase enzyme activity. Treatment with Vitis vinifera L. seed extract showed a significant increase in the body weight of rats in the group treated with Vitis vinifera L. seed extract orally compared with the dexamethasone control group. An increase in GSH and catalase activity in response to oral treatment with Vitis vinifera L. seed extract was observed after treatment. Grape seed extract positively affects glucocorticoid-induced hepatic and renal alteration in albino rats.
