Complementary Feeding for Children Aged 6-24 Months: Impact and Maternal Awareness in Al Baha City, Saudi Arabia.

Background Breastfeeding and complementary feeding are essential for baby health and nutrition. Concerning these feeding habits, there is a dearth of information on mother awareness and behaviors in Saudi Arabia. This study intends to evaluate maternal knowledge of breastfeeding and complementary feeding in Al Baha City, Saudi Arabia. Methodology This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted among mothers in Al Baha City, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a structured electronic questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and a chi-square test. Results We received 524 responses. The majority of participants (358, 68.2%) were found to have sufficient understanding of breastfeeding and complementary feeding. Four hundred and forty participants (84%) were aware that breastfeeding should begin immediately after birth, but only 250 (47.7%) participants knew the proper time to start complementary feeding. Three hundred and ninety-six (75.6%) participants were aware of the proper duration of exclusive breastfeeding, whereas 128 (24.4%) of them did not know. The study showed that factors such as occupation, family economic status, and educational level influence maternal knowledge of complementary feeding.  Conclusions The study revealed that the majority of participants had good knowledge about breastfeeding and complementary feeding. The study highlights effective training and public awareness initiatives aimed at improving mothers' knowledge and practices regarding feeding. Additionally, it sheds light on the healthcare providers' exemplary knowledge and attitudes toward appropriate feeding practices among mothers in Al Baha City.

Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 Related Disruption of National Health Service Elective Services on Emergency Major Lower Limb Amputations.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the healthcare systems worldwide since the dawn of 2020. In March 2020, the United Kingdom government announced the first national lockdown which severely disturbed all National Health Service (NHS) healthcare elective services. Our aim is to assess the long-term impact of COVID-19 related disruption of NHS elective services on emergency major lower limb amputations (MLLAs). METHODS: Patients' data for emergency MLLA for critical limb-threatening ischemia and diabetic foot infections performed at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was collected through Trakcare and divided into the control prepandemic group (April 2018-March 2020) and the pandemic group (April 2020-March 2022). The statistical analysis was conducted using the IBM SPSS software (v28.0.1.1 [14]). RESULTS: A total of 358 patients underwent MLLA and 206 (57.5%) of these had diabetes mellitus. There was a 17% increase in the number of urgent referrals and every 1 in 5 of these finally underwent an amputation. There was an increase in the absolute number of Above- and Below-Knee amputations. There was a statistically significant increase by 33% in emergency MLLAs during the pandemic period (P < 0.05). A total of 165 postoperative deaths up to December 2022 were recorded with 30-day mortality rate of 7.26% (n = 26). CONCLUSIONS: NHS vascular management groups should update themselves with evolving technologies to optimize the care provided during future unprecedented times. Furthermore, more effective measures should also be implemented to avoid delayed presentations, which can potentially lead to higher rates of major limb amputations.

The One-Stop Aortic Surveillance Clinic.

BACKGROUND: The principle of interval ultrasound surveillance of small abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) is well established. The fundamental principle of surveillance is that repair of AAA is a serious undertaking and the risk of the operation outweighs the risk of rupture in aneurysms less than 5.5 cm. Surveillance is well established but requires multiple visits to both the surgical clinic and the ultrasound department. REPORT: This report presents a system whereby the vascular surgeon is trained in the process of aortic sonography with a view to one-stop clinic assessment. After training of the main investigators in aortic sonography, the surgeons performed scans on the aortas of 80 consecutive patients and compared the scan result with the subsequent formal scan. DISCUSSION: Surgical and radiographer scans correlate very closely. It is believed that the one-stop aortic surveillance model is safe, accurate, and improves both the patient journey and clinic throughput.

History of TB in the Sudan

Introduction: Medical history in Sudan is far from being complete. There are no reliable records.Attempt to write on the projects and development of history of TB in the Sudan is a difficult task.Objective:To study and trace the progress of TB in Sudan during the last century through their historical development.Design: A retrospective study.Methods:Data were collected from the annual reports of the Sudan Medical Services.Libraries and a number of previous studies were consulted.Results: The route of entry of TB in the Sudan is mainly from the North.The South was virgin from TB up to 1930s. Northern Sudanese tribes have a high susceptibility and incidence of TB during 1925-1932 (3.7/1000). The south and the Nuba Mountains were almost free from infection or disease. The infectivity rate was highest in North 4.3while Khartoum showed 3. In the South;Rumbek district; no TB cases were reported before the age of puberty up to 1930.Prevalence of tuberculosis in 1959/1960 was 26.0and the detection rate was only 30.Conclusion: Northern Sudanese contracted tuberculosis while serving in the Egyptian army and cities. The Southern and Western tribes who were almost free from TB infection became highly susceptible to both infection and disease. The infectivity rate remains static during the last 50 years

Rapid method for determining malondialdehyde as secondary oxidation product in palm olein system by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

A simple and rapid Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic method has been developed for the quantitative determination of malondialdehyde as secondary oxidation product in a palm olein system. The FTIR method was based on a sodium chloride transmission cell and utilised a partial least square statistical approach to derive a calibration model. The frequency region combinations that gave good calibration were 2900-2800, and 1800-1600 cm-1. The precision and accuracy, in the range 0-60 mumol malondialdehyde/kg oil, were comparable to those of the modified distillation method with a coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.9891 and standard error of calibration of 1.49. The calibration was cross-validated and produced an r2 of 0.9786 and standard error of prediction of 2.136. The results showed that the FTIR method is versatile, efficient and accurate, and suitable for routine quality control analysis with the result obtainable in about 2 min from a sample of less than 2 mL.

Occupational risk of hepatitis B and C infections in Saudi medical staff.

The prevalence of markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was studied among final year medical students and the medical staff at two university teaching hospitals in Saudi Arabia. At King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) in Riyadh, evidence of exposure to HBV in the male medical staff (42.9%) was significantly greater than among medical students (25.3% males, 19.3% females; P = 0.0041) or the controls (28.6% males, 17.1% females; P = 0.0095). At King Fahad University Hospital (KFUH) in Al-Khobar, although the prevalence of exposure in the medical staff (28.3%) was higher than that in the controls (18.5%) the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05) and this could be due to the small numbers tested (46 physicians, 54 controls). Regarding exposure to HCV there was no significant difference in markers of the virus among the three categories investigated (1.7% in the controls, 2.6% in medical students and 1.9% in the medical staff). The low risk of transmission in the medical staff could be due to the small amount of the virus in the blood of HCV carriers. It can be concluded from the study that, in contrast to HCV, the occupational risk of HBV infection is high among Saudi physicians and hence HBV vaccination to unexposed medical staff is the only way for effective prevention of infection.

Highly selective devascularization for bleeding oesophagogastric varices.

Between 1975 and 1984, 419 patients with bleeding oesophagogastric varices were subjected to the simplified operation of highly selective devascularization. All but three were available for follow-up at 5-10 years. The overall mortality rates for urgent and elective operation were 8 and 2 per cent respectively. The overall recurrent bleeding rates at 1, 5 and 10 years were 8 per cent, 13 per cent (15 per cent of survivors) and 17 per cent (24 per cent of survivors). The overall survival rates at 1, 5 and 10 years were 87, 76 and 57 per cent. Recurrent bleeding was usually controlled by endoscopic sclerotherapy and less often by reoperation. Highly selective devascularization controlled bleeding in emergency and elective situations without compromising hepatic function.