Knowledge of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Among Adult Females in Al Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a carbohydrate intolerance of variable severity with onset or first recognition during pregnancy; it does not include diabetics who become pregnant or women who become lactosuric. Knowledge of this problem among the public will promote its prevention, screening, and treatment strategies. This study aims to assess the knowledge of GDM regarding its risk factors, screening, treatment, and complications among women in the Al Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted among 617 females aged 18 years and older through convenience sampling between October 2022 and January 2023. An online questionnaire was distributed using Google Forms (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA) and WhatsApp (Meta, Menlo Park, CA, USA). Data was entered, cleaned, and analyzed using SPSS Statistics version 27 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Informed consent was obtained from every participant, and the participants' information was kept confidential. Results In this study, 52.4% of the women (323/617) had moderate knowledge, and 27.6% (170/617) had excellent knowledge about GDM. Only 13.3% (n = 82) knew the optimum time (24 to 28 weeks of gestational age) for gestational diabetes screening in the absence of risk factors. Moreover, 44.6% (n = 275) knew that insulin is one of the treatments for gestational diabetes, while 45.4% (n = 280) knew that gestational diabetes increases a baby's risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) later in life. A statistically significant association was found between the development of GDM with multigravida (19.5%), a BMI of >25 (15%), and age 31 to 45 years (17.8%), with corresponding p-values of 0.001, 0.0001, and 0.0001, respectively. Conclusion In this study, almost four-fifths of the study population had moderate to excellent knowledge regarding GDM. However, there is a need to enhance knowledge about optimum screening time and insulin use for gestational diabetes treatment. Therefore, encouraging the existing population to learn more about diabetes education programs and health promotional measures should be undertaken periodically. Further studies are required to support this study's findings.

Clinical and Radiological Outcomes Following Medial Pivot Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Chart Review Study.

Medial pivot total knee arthroplasty (MP-TKA) is a relatively new design that simulates normal knee mechanics with the aim of enhancing postoperative recovery. Furthermore, it reduces postoperative complications in patients with end-stage osteoarthritis of the knee. No study has been done regarding this topic in Saudi Arabia yet, so we aimed to study the post-operative clinical and radiological outcomes of MP-TKA, as well as the postoperative complications. A retrospective cohort chart review study was conducted on 46 patients and 70 knees after applying our inclusion/exclusion criteria. The patients were followed up for an average period of two years. Clinical outcomes were assessed pre- and postoperatively by the validated Saudi Arabian version of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), as well as radiological outcomes and postoperative complications gathered from patients' charts. The postoperative KOOS score showed a statistically significant improvement in pain, symptoms, and activities of daily living in comparison with the preoperative score (P-value < 0.0001). The mean time until ambulation and length of hospital stay were five and 14 days, respectively. Four patients (8.7%) showed radiological complications. Deep vein thrombosis was observed in only two knees (4.3%), and there were no revision cases. Thus, MP-TKA has been shown to improve pain, symptoms, and activities of daily living with a relatively short time until ambulation and length of hospital stay, in addition to a low incidence of postoperative and radiological complications.

Bisphenol A modified DNA: A possible immunogenic stimulus for anti-DNA autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Anti-DNA antibodies are now considered as a universal diagnostic feature for the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) but the mechanism(s) involved in the generation of these autoantibodies remains to be investigated. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic phenol extensively used in the manufacturing of polycarbonated plastics. Upon mixing in the diet, it causes several health hazards. This study was undertaken to investigate the contribution of BPA induced DNA damage in SLE patients. Human DNA was modified by BPA in-vitro and the binding characteristics of SLE circulating immunoglobulin Gs (SLE-IgGs) with BPA damaged DNA (BPA-DNA) were screened and compared with the IgGs from normal healthy humans (NH-IgGs). Immunogenicity of BPA-DNA was determined by immunisation in rabbits. DNA from SLE patients (SLE-DNA) or healthy humans (NH-DNA) were isolated and their binding specificity with rabbit anti-BPA-DNA-IgGs was studied. Treatment of human DNA with BPA caused extensive damaged. Circulating SLE-IgGs showed strong recognition of BPA-DNA. BPA-DNA induced high titre antibodies in rabbits. Rabbit anti-BPA-DNA-IgGs showed strong cross reaction with isolated DNA from SLE patients. In short, we concluded that the structural alterations in DNA by BPA, generate neo-epitopes that may be a factor responsible for the induction of anti-DNA autoantibodies in SLE.

Prevalence Refractive Errors among Medical Students of Qassim University, Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of various errors of refraction among the medical students studying at the college of medicine, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at Qassim University clinics over a period of two months. The study population comprised 162 male and female students from different academic years. The students were selected randomly so that around 35-40 students were taken from each academic class. The selected study population was explained the objectives of the study and a written consent form that stated the purpose, methods, risks, benefits, and the assurance of the confidentiality of the data was obtained from each student. After giving the consent, each subject was examined by auto refractometer. The examination was carried out by an optometrist without using cycloplegia. Both right and left eyes were thoroughly examined by auto refractometer and on the average three readings of the refraction measurements were taken. The readings were recorded on a data sheet of every individual, and the Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-two (162) students with a mean age of 22.44 years, Std 1.661 and a range of 8 (19-27) were included in the study. Of the total number, 111 (68.51%) were males and remaining 51 (31.48%) were females. Of the total sample, only 1 (0.617%) student had diabetes mellitus, and 6 (3.70%) students gave a history of previous ocular surgery. Myopia was found to be the commonest error of refraction 53.7% with hyperopia next to it. CONCLUSION: Myopia is found to be a common error of refraction in young adults. A regular checkup is essential to timely correct the error and to prevent deterioration of the vision.