[Knowledge, attitudes and practices among religious students concerning family planning].

To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices concerning family planning of students attending religious schools in Lebanon, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 450 male and female students. A validated structured questionnaire was completed by the students. The majority of the students (65%) had a moderate level of knowledge, males more than females, but females had more positive beliefs and attitudes. More females agreed with family planning programmes and methods than males, but 35% had a negative attitude to family planning; a significant percentage had negative attitudes to contraceptive methods based on their view that they are not allowed (haram) in Islam. Among the married students, less than 40% used a family planning method; of those, the majority used a female method. Religion plays an important role in the health behaviour of religious students. Religious leaders can therefore inhibit or promote family planning, which will affect the success of family planning programmes. Thus, they should be included in the development and promotion of family planning programmes.

Impact of health education on community knowledge, attitudes and behaviour towards solid waste management in Al Ghobeiry, Beirut.

The risks posed by accumulation of solid waste are most obvious in developing countries, where waste collection and treatment is often inadequate. This study aimed to determine the impact of a health education intervention (based on lectures and focus group discussions) on community knowledge, attitudes and behaviours concerning solid waste management in Al Ghobeiry, Beirut. A randomly selected sample of 320 inhabitants were divide into intervention and control groups who completed the same questionnaire in the pre- and post-intervention phases. Compared with the control group the intervention group, who attended the health education sessions, showed: significantly better knowledge about the problems of and diseases spread by accumulation of solid waste; better attitudes to management of solid waste collection; and improved practices in terms of handling and recycling of household waste. There was an observed increased participation by people in cleaning campaigns and voluntary work in all the municipality activities.

Prevalence and pattern of menstrual disorders among Lebanese nursing students.

Menstrual disorders frequently affect the quality of life of adolescents and young adult women and can be indicators of serious underlying problems. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and pattern of menstrual symptoms among nursing students in Beirut, Lebanon. Of 352 students completing a written questionnaire, the most common menstrual disorders were irregular frequency of menstruation (80.7%), premenstrual syndrome (54.0%), irregular duration of menstruation (43.8%), dysmenorrhoea (38.1%), polymenorrhoea (37.5%) and oligomenorrhoea (19.3%). On logistic regression analysis, there were significant associations between irregular cycles and marital status (OR 2.18) and menarcheal age (OR 4.76); oligomenorrhoea and residency (OR 2.06) and menarcheal age (OR 3.17); abnormal blood loss and menarcheal age (OR 6.92); dysmenorrhoea and marital status (OR 8.93) and residency (OR 2.04); and premenstrual syndrome and marital status (OR 2.10). Dysmenorrhoea and premenstrual symptoms were serious enough to affect daily activities or academic attendance in many cases and this is a concern for policy-makers.

Epidemiology of breast cancer patients at a tertiary care center in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Saudi Arabia. However, detailed published epidemiologic data are scarce. In this study, breast cancer patients at a tertiary care hospital were characterized and compared with data from the United States. METHODS: Medical records were retrospectively reviewed of female patients with confirmed diagnosis of invasive breast cancer who consulted with Saad Specialist Hospital between 2004 and 2011. Descriptive statistics were calculated and compared with published data. RESULTS: Two-hundred and sixty-two female patients with cytologically or histologically confirmed diagnosis of invasive breast cancer were identified and analyzed. Compared to published American data derived from the SEER database, patients were diagnosed at a markedly younger age (<50 years: 57.5% versus 12.5%) and more advanced disease (localized disease: 28.6% versus 61.2%). The difference of the age at diagnosis could not be fully explained by the different age structures of the Saudi Arabian and American population in our analysis. Although the overall mastectomy rate was higher (58.2% versus 38.5%), no relevant difference in the mastectomy rates was found if analyzed by stage. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that breast cancer in this part of Saudi Arabia is diagnosed at a much higher stage compared to the United States. More effort in awareness campaigns, easier access to screening and treatment are needed to improve the prognosis and to reduce the currently relatively high mastectomy rate.

Prevalence and pattern of menstrual disorders among Lebanese nursing students

Menstrual disorders frequently affect the quality of life of adolescents and young adult women and can be indicators of serious underlying problems. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and pattern of menstrual symptoms among nursing students in Beirut, Lebanon. Of 352 students completinga written questionnaire, the most common menstrual disorders were irregular frequency of menstruation [80.7%] premenstrual syndrome [54.0%], irregular duration of menstruation [43.8%], dysmenorrhoea [38.1%], polymenorrhoea [37.5%] and oligomenorrhoea [19.3%]. On logistic regression analysis, there were significant associations between irregular cycles and marital status [OR 2.18] and menarcheal age [OR 4.76]; oligomenorrhoea and residency [OR 2.06] and menarcheal age [OR 3.17]; abnormal blood loss and menarcheal age [OR 6.92]; dysmenorrhoea and marital status [OR 8.93] and residency [OR 2.04]; and premenstrual syndrome and marital status [OR 2.10]. Dysmenorrhoea and premenstrual symptoms were serious enough to affect daily activities or academic attendance in many cases and this is a concern for policy-makers

Impact of health education on community knowledge, attitudes and behaviour towards solid waste management in Al Ghobeiry, Beirut

The risks posed by accumulation of solid waste are most obvious in developing countries, where waste collection and treatment is often inadequate. This study aimed to determine the impact of a health education intervention [based on lectures and focus group discussions] on community knowledge, attitudes and behaviours concerning solid waste management in Al Ghobeiry, Beirut. A randomly selected sample of 320 inhabitants were divide into intervention and control groups who completed the same questionnaire in the pre- and post-intervention phases. Compared with the control group the intervention group, who attended the health education sessions, showed: significantly better knowledge about the problems of and diseases spread by accumulation of solid waste; better attitudes to management of solid waste collection; and improved practices in terms of handling and recycling of household waste. There was an observed increased participation by people in cleaning campaigns and voluntary work in all the municipality activities

Knowledge, attitudes and practices among religious students concerning family planning

To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices concerning family planning of students attending religious schools in Lebanon, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 450 male and female students. A validated structured questionnaire was completed by the students. The majority of the students [65%] had a moderate level of knowledge, males more than females, but females had more positive beliefs and attitudes. More females agreed with family planning programmes and methods than males, but 35% had a negative attitude to family planning; a significant percentage had negative attitudes to contraceptive methods based on their view that they are not allowed [haram] in Islam. Among the married students, less than 40% used a family planning method; of those, the majority used a female method. Religion plays an important role in the health behaviour of religious students. Religious leaders can therefore inhibit or promote family planning, which will affect the success of family planning programmes. Thus, they should be included in the development and promotion of family planning programmes

Increasing the frequency of T-cell precursors specific for a cryptic epitope of hen-egg lysozyme converts it to an immunodominant epitope.

Efforts to understand the mechanisms that govern how immunodominant T-cell epitopes are selected from protein antigens have focused mostly on differences in the efficiency of processing and presentation of peptide/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) complexes by antigen-presenting cells, while little attention has been directed at the role of the T-cell repertoire. In this report, the influence of the T-cell repertoire on immunodominance was investigated using transgenic mice that express the beta chain from a T-cell receptor specific for a cryptic Ek restricted epitope of hen-egg lysozyme, HEL85-96. In these mice, the frequency of HEL85-96-specific T-cell precursors is increased 10-20-fold over non-transgenic mice. Transgenic mice respond as well as non-transgenic controls to intact HEL, even though they respond poorly or not at all to a variety of other antigens, including the dominant H-2k restricted epitopes of HEL. Following immunization with native HEL, the only HEL peptide that could recall a response in vitro in the transgenic mice was HEL85-96. Therefore, this normally cryptic epitope is the sole immunodominant epitope in the transgenic mice, and this alteration in immune response is due solely to an increase in the frequency of specific T-cell precursors. An analysis of four additional H-2k restricted cryptic epitopes of HEL suggests that three are similarly limited by T-cell frequency, and that only one is consistent with a defect in efficient antigen presentation. This indicates that there are at least two different types of cryptic epitopes, one in which crypticity is caused by inefficient processing or presentation, and another in which the frequency of specific T-cell progenitors is limiting.

Functional analysis of androgen receptor N-terminal and ligand binding domain interacting coregulators in prostate cancer.

Several new androgen receptor (AR) coregulators, including ARA70, ARA55, ARA54, ARA160 and ARA24, associated with the N-terminal or the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of AR, have been identified by our group. We first identified the AR-LBD coregulators ARA70, ARA55, and ARA54. Our previous reports suggest that ARA70 can enhance the androgenic activity of 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and antiandrogens toward AR. It is of interest to compare and determine if the specificity of sex hormones and antiandrogens can be modulated by different coregulators. Our results indicate that, ARA70 is the best coregulator for increasing the androgenic activity of E2. Only ARA70 and ARA55 were able to significantly increase the androgenic activity of hydroxyflutamide, the active metabolite of a widely-used antiandrogen for the treatment of prostate cancer. Furthermore, our results suggest that among the LBD coregulators, ARA70 has a relatively high specificity for AR in the human prostate cancer cell line DU145. Together, our data suggest that the androgenic activity of some sex hormones and antiandrogens can be modulated by selective AR coactivators. In addition to the AR-LBD associated proteins, ARA24 and ARA160 have been identified as AR coregulators, interacting with the AR N-terminal instead of the LBD. Functional analysis revealed that the AR N-terminal coregulator ARA160 could cooperate with the AR LBD-associated coregulator ARA70. Our data indicate that ARA24 could also interact with AR, and that this binding is decreased by an expanding poly-glutamine (Q) length within AR. The length of the poly-Q stretch in the AR N-terminal domain is inversely correlated with the transcriptional activity of AR. Our data suggest that optimal AR transactivation may require interaction of AR with AR coregulators. The identification of factors or peptides that can interrupt androgen-mediated AR-ARA interactions may be useful in the development of better antiandrogens for treating androgen-related diseases, such as prostate cancer.

Complete molar pregnancy. Clinical trends at King Fahad Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical trends of complete hydatidiform mole at the King Fahad Hospital (KFH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Medical record review of 71 patients admitted to KFH for the primary management of complete hydatidiform mole (CHM) during the period 1984-1995 was performed, and clinical trends were identified. RESULTS: During the study period, 48,000 live births occurred, and a total of 71 patients were admitted for management of CHM; the incidence of CHM was 1:676 live births. The mean gestational age at molar evacuation was 13.3 weeks, and 54.4% of patients were diagnosed in the first trimester. At the time of presentation, excessive uterine size, anemia, hyperemesis and preeclampsia were present in 20 (28%), 11 (15.5%), 9 (12.6%) and 1 (1.4%) patient, respectively. Persistent gestational trophoblastic tumor developed in 32 (45.1%) patients. CONCLUSION: A higher proportion of our CHM patients developed persistent gestational trophoblastic tumors when compared with those in North American studies. CHM was diagnosed earlier in pregnancy in Saudi Arabia at our hospital during the past decade, and the patients frequently did not present with the classic signs and symptoms of complete mole.