Introduction: Critical thinking dispositions (CTD) are valued across the health professions disci... more Introduction: Critical thinking dispositions (CTD) are valued across the health professions disciplines being essential for decision-making, critical judgment and managing complex health situations. Promoting critical-thinking dispositions in undergraduate nursing students can support the students to utilize critical thinking during challenging patient care and problem-solving situations. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of critical thinking disposition among neophyte nursing students in a private nursing college. Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study design was adopted. Neophyte students (n=98) of the BSN program participated in the study. Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS) of 54 items under seven constructs was utilized to assess CTD level. Data was analyzed at descriptive and inferential level using SPSS 23.0 version. Results: Overall, CTD among neophytes nursing students is at 75% a progressive level. Contextual and inquisitiveness construct o...
OBJECTIVE To assess the value of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and event related evoked po... more OBJECTIVE To assess the value of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and event related evoked potential (3rd positive component of evoked related potentials with latency of 300 millisecond, in evaluating cognitive dysfunction in patients with chronic respiratory failure. METHODS Thirty-two patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory failure of mild to moderate severity, were assessed regarding their mental function, utilizing mini-mental state examination, arterial blood gases including PH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, partial pressure of oxygen, and both brainstem auditory evoked potentials and event related evoked potential response. Twenty-five normal subjects, matched for age and sex, were also studied as a control group. The study was carried out during the year 1999 to 2000 in 3 hospitals; King Khalid University Hospital, King AbdulAziz University Hospital and Sahara Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RESULTS There were significant delay...
Objective: To determine different kind of stressors and coping strategies for stress among medica... more Objective: To determine different kind of stressors and coping strategies for stress among medical students and their association with Year of Medical Education. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on Pakistani medical students from all over Pakistan from June 2012 to December 2014. Students were selected through consecutive non-probability sampling. Medical students fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. The data obtain was analyzed by SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics were calculated for both qualitative and quantitative variables. Chi square test of Independence was used to determine the difference in causes and coping strategies in relation to year of medical education keeping p value less than 0.05 significant. Result: Out of the total sample size of 3043; 1327 (43.6%) were male and 1716(56.4%) were female. There were 1363 (44.8%) preclinical year medical students and 1680 (55.2%) clinical year medical student. Examinations 2044(67.2%),...
Research in Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, 2021
Although tilapia is one of the most cultivated fish species in Bangladesh owing to its high growt... more Although tilapia is one of the most cultivated fish species in Bangladesh owing to its high growth rate, comparatively easy culture practices, higher survival rate and short culture period but low market preference marked it as a low-priced fish. Various approaches have been adopted to enhance consumer acceptability and ensure better use of tilapia, including the production of value-added products such as tilapia-prepared fillets, which attract increasing interest. Therefore, the current study was designed and carried out in order to prepare tilapia fillets and to estimate their shelf life at frozen (-18±20C) and refrigerated (4±10C) temperatures. Fillets were produced from tilapia collected from local fish markets of Sylhet city, Bangladesh with according to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) established by International Standards Organization (ISO) and packed in polyethylene bags. Proximate composition, total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN), peroxide value (PV), pH, total plate coun...
Introduction: The importance of faculty development programs (FDP) to improve teaching effectiven... more Introduction: The importance of faculty development programs (FDP) to improve teaching effectiveness has been emphasized in recent years. Our endeavors to improve teaching ways at Shifa College of Medicine, include development of student feedback mechanisms, professional development programs, and research into teaching. New trends taking place in academic medicine were accommodated by modification of faculty development model. Methods: With an aim to assess the perceptions of faculty about FDP at Shifa College of Medicine we gathered views of faculty, by administering questionnaire, conducting focus group and individual interviews. Results: More than half of faculty (51%-83%) agreed with various items related to teaching and learning concepts, 79% believed that they learned assessment methods. 73% agreed that it was a source of introduction to new educational strategies. Sixty-eight percent agreed that FDP helped to improve skills in teaching of ethics and professionalism. Results ...
Objective: To determine the frequency of suicidal ideation, its risk factors and clinical Manifes... more Objective: To determine the frequency of suicidal ideation, its risk factors and clinical Manifestation in Pakistani Medical Students. Methods: Cross Sectional Study; carried-out through a self-made questionnaire having 22 items was administered among medical students of eight colleges, all over Pakistan. Students were selected through consecutive non-probability sampling. The data obtained was analyzed by SPSS version 21. Results: Out of the total sample size of 1132, 47.9% were male and 52.1% were female. Of the 49.2% were in pre-clinical year (1st and 2nd year) and 50.8% were in clinical years (3rd, 4th and 5th year). About 6.8% of the medical student had suicidal ideation and 9.5% had the desire to harm themselves. Majority of the medical students (82.7%) choose medical profession by their will; 62.5% were found out to be fully satisfied by their medical college. In effects of stress, irritability, inability to sleep, fatigue, depression, decrease appetite, headache, feeling of ...
Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a basic measure by it the value of health care facilities i... more Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a basic measure by it the value of health care facilities is assessed. It a personal assessment of the service received and the person’s prospects. This study would have significant input in assessing the level of patients’satisfaction in secondary and tertiary outpatient health care services. Methods: Across-sectional study of 300 patients random sample visit outpatients of Marjan medical city the interview was conducted at general and specialist outpatient only. The specialist outpatients include cardiac, gastrology, nephrology and diabetology outpatient. 150patients from secondary outpatient &150patients from tertiary outpatient. The purpose of study was to assessing the level of patients’satisfaction in secondary and tertiary outpatient health care services. Results: Majority of patients visit general and specialist outpatients with age31-50(45.5%,46%), female(57.3%,62.75), low income patients 5 km(77%,79%), the majority of patients were not...
Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan : JCPSP, 2016
OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of 2.5% and 1.25% Povidone-Iodine solution for Ophthalmia neo... more OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of 2.5% and 1.25% Povidone-Iodine solution for Ophthalmia neonatorum prophylaxis. STUDY DESIGN Interventional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Eye Department, Combined Military Hospital, Sargodha, from May to November 2014. METHODOLOGY Atotal of 200 eyes of 100 newborn babies were enrolled and divided into two groups of 100 right eyes and 100 left eyes. Aconjunctival swab for bacterial culture was taken within 30 minutes after delivery. Asingle drop of 2.5% Povidone-Iodine was then placed in the right eye while in the left eye a single drop of 1.25% Povidone-Iodine was placed. Thirty minutes after placing Povidone-Iodine, a conjunctival swab was again taken. Abacterial suspension was prepared from each swab in determining bacterial counts. The bacterial suspension was inoculated on yeast extract agar and the number of colony forming units were counted. At each culture, the number of colony forming units before and after instillation of 2.5% Povi...
Objectives: Anatomy education has undergone enormous transformation in the last decade.Traditiona... more Objectives: Anatomy education has undergone enormous transformation in the last decade.Traditional topographic anatomy taught by didactic lectures and complete dissection of the bodyhas been replaced by a wide range of special study modules, learning strategies and teaching tools.The present study was designed to provide a snapshot of the working knowledge of anatomyprevalent among Pakistani medical students and residents in this changing scenario.Study Design: A cross-sectional study conducted through a mini-test questionnaire completed by325 medical students j however the results of candidates from publicsector institution were astounding.Conclusion: The decay in anatomical knowledge over time portrays that residents would try tofill their anatomy deficiency during surgical residency rather learning surgical skills. The medicaleducationists should find-out the root cause of this deterioration. We propose a randomized trialusing problem solving test items to identify the exact inte...
Normoglycemia diagnosed in 41.2%.Glucose intolerance found in 58.8% of these; 44.1% vs.17.6% had ... more Normoglycemia diagnosed in 41.2%.Glucose intolerance found in 58.8% of these; 44.1% vs.17.6% had diabetes and14.7% vs. 13.2% prediabetes (IFG and/or IGT) compared with control (P; =0.002).There was no statistically significant differences in age, gender, duration or activity of the disease, basal or last GH or IGF-1 between normoglycemic patients and those with glucose intolerance. Hypertension found in 39.7%vs 19.1%of control (P =0.008).
Introduction: Multiple studies have been conducted on the theme of stress faced by medical studen... more Introduction: Multiple studies have been conducted on the theme of stress faced by medical students due to the load of medical education and lack of adequate stress coping skills which may affect the students variedly. Objective: To critically assess stress levels in medical students of Shifa College of Medicine (a private medical college in Islamabad, Pakistan) and the quality of relationship between students and parents, thereby studying a relationship between the two. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the students of Shifa College of Medicine. A sample size of 315 students filled a pretested student stress questionnaire, which was made using the student life stress inventory survey consisting of 34 questions. Data was then analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: Increased levels of stress were found to be common among medical students with a prevalence of 53.3% among our study group. A total of 65.7% students face stress due to the increased expectations o...
A new strain of coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsi... more A new strain of coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was first detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China in late December 2019. To date, more than 1 million deaths and nearly 57 million confirmed cases have been recorded across 220 countries due to COVID-19, which is the greatest threat to global public health in our time. Although SARS-CoV-2 is genetically similar to other coronaviruses, i.e., SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), no confirmed therapeutics are yet available against COVID-19, and governments, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies worldwide are working together in search for effective drugs and vaccines. Repurposing of relevant therapies, developing vaccines, and using bioinformatics to identify potential drug targets are strongly in focus to combat COVID-19. This review deals with the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and its clinic...
Background: Countries that are facing war disasters are prone to develop outbreak emergencies esp... more Background: Countries that are facing war disasters are prone to develop outbreak emergencies especially when this is associated with massive displacement of populations or refugees to overcrowded settings, and when the provision of safe water supply and sanitation is a challenge. Objective: To portray the trend of cholera in Iraq for the last 18 years. Methods: Records of cholera cases registered for the last 18 years were reviewed from the Department of Health Statistics of the Iraqi Ministry of Health and categorized according to the 18 Iraqi governorates; the total of each governorate was computed for the whole studied years and then summed to get the total for Iraq. Data were categorized by gender and age. Rates of occurrence were plotted against time (for the period from 2000 to 2017) to define the trend of the disease. Results: The trend of cholera in Iraq showed four peaks, in 2003, 2007, 2012, and 2015, females showed slightly more cases than males, with a higher incidence among adult age group, and more in the southern provinces. Conclusion: The epidemics of cholera in Iraq are getting progressively more frequent, with higher number of cases forming a real burden on the health system and a serious threat to the community. Efficient preventive health plans are needed to overcome this growing problem that may compromise the life of people.
The nature of antitumor effector cells induced by OK-432, a streptococcal preparation with potent... more The nature of antitumor effector cells induced by OK-432, a streptococcal preparation with potent BRM activity, was analysed. BALB/c-+/+ mice implanted(ip) with syngeneic fibrosarcoma BAMC-I were cured by 5 every other day injections(ip) of 0K-432 starting day2 after tumor implantation.
Background Equity is one of three dimensions of universal health coverage (UHC). However, Iraq ha... more Background Equity is one of three dimensions of universal health coverage (UHC). However, Iraq has had capital-focused health services and successive conflicts and political turmoil have hampered health services around the country. Iraq has embarked on a new reconstruction process since 2018 and it could be time to aim for equitable healthcare access to realise UHC. We aimed to examine inequality and determinants associated with Iraq’s progress towards UHC targets. Methods We assessed the progress toward UHC in the context of equity using six nationally representative population-based household surveys in Iraq in 2000–2018. We included 14 health service indicators and two financial risk protection indicators in our UHC progress assessment. Bayesian hierarchical regression model was used to estimate the trend, projection, and determinant analyses. Slope and relative index of inequality were used to assess wealth-based inequality. Results In the national-level health service indicator...
Meeting consumer concerns and preferences for fresh and safely processed fisheries products free ... more Meeting consumer concerns and preferences for fresh and safely processed fisheries products free of chemical and synthetic preservatives is a challenge for the aqua-food industry. As such, natural preservatives from plant and animal origin including chitosan, essential oils (EOs), plant extracts and lactic acid bacteria have attracted considerable interest recently. These preservatives have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties that can retard spoilage, uphold product quality and safety as well as extend the storage shelf-life of fish and seafood. Chitosan and EOs have been successfully used in edible coatings, film wrapping and dipping solutions. The present review focuses on the effectiveness of chitosan, EOs and other natural preservatives intended for prolonging the shelf-life of fisheries products, and maintaining their freshness and quality. Moreover, the mechanisms of action of natural additives, harmful impacts of chemical preservatives and status of aquatic food preserva...
International Journal of Probiotics and Prebiotics
Finfish aquaculture is one of the quickly developing food industries in the world. But, the major... more Finfish aquaculture is one of the quickly developing food industries in the world. But, the major drawbacks of this industry are the frequent outbreak of infectious diseases due to elevated stress in an intensive culture system. Antibiotics are extensively used to combat these diseases. Prophylactic administrations of antibiotics in aquaculture lead to the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens which indirectly cause a risk to health of human. Therefore, hard rules and regulations have been established in various countries to minimize or ban the application of antibiotics in finfish aquaculture. Recently probiotics have garnered significant attraction as an alternative measure for disease prevention in aquaculture. Probiotics increase health status, disease resistance, growth performance and feed utilization through improving hosts microbial balance. This review presents the summary and discussion of the results of the effects of probiotic administration in the cultu...
Introduction: Critical thinking dispositions (CTD) are valued across the health professions disci... more Introduction: Critical thinking dispositions (CTD) are valued across the health professions disciplines being essential for decision-making, critical judgment and managing complex health situations. Promoting critical-thinking dispositions in undergraduate nursing students can support the students to utilize critical thinking during challenging patient care and problem-solving situations. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of critical thinking disposition among neophyte nursing students in a private nursing college. Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study design was adopted. Neophyte students (n=98) of the BSN program participated in the study. Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS) of 54 items under seven constructs was utilized to assess CTD level. Data was analyzed at descriptive and inferential level using SPSS 23.0 version. Results: Overall, CTD among neophytes nursing students is at 75% a progressive level. Contextual and inquisitiveness construct o...
OBJECTIVE To assess the value of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and event related evoked po... more OBJECTIVE To assess the value of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and event related evoked potential (3rd positive component of evoked related potentials with latency of 300 millisecond, in evaluating cognitive dysfunction in patients with chronic respiratory failure. METHODS Thirty-two patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory failure of mild to moderate severity, were assessed regarding their mental function, utilizing mini-mental state examination, arterial blood gases including PH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, partial pressure of oxygen, and both brainstem auditory evoked potentials and event related evoked potential response. Twenty-five normal subjects, matched for age and sex, were also studied as a control group. The study was carried out during the year 1999 to 2000 in 3 hospitals; King Khalid University Hospital, King AbdulAziz University Hospital and Sahara Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RESULTS There were significant delay...
Objective: To determine different kind of stressors and coping strategies for stress among medica... more Objective: To determine different kind of stressors and coping strategies for stress among medical students and their association with Year of Medical Education. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on Pakistani medical students from all over Pakistan from June 2012 to December 2014. Students were selected through consecutive non-probability sampling. Medical students fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. The data obtain was analyzed by SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics were calculated for both qualitative and quantitative variables. Chi square test of Independence was used to determine the difference in causes and coping strategies in relation to year of medical education keeping p value less than 0.05 significant. Result: Out of the total sample size of 3043; 1327 (43.6%) were male and 1716(56.4%) were female. There were 1363 (44.8%) preclinical year medical students and 1680 (55.2%) clinical year medical student. Examinations 2044(67.2%),...
Research in Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, 2021
Although tilapia is one of the most cultivated fish species in Bangladesh owing to its high growt... more Although tilapia is one of the most cultivated fish species in Bangladesh owing to its high growth rate, comparatively easy culture practices, higher survival rate and short culture period but low market preference marked it as a low-priced fish. Various approaches have been adopted to enhance consumer acceptability and ensure better use of tilapia, including the production of value-added products such as tilapia-prepared fillets, which attract increasing interest. Therefore, the current study was designed and carried out in order to prepare tilapia fillets and to estimate their shelf life at frozen (-18±20C) and refrigerated (4±10C) temperatures. Fillets were produced from tilapia collected from local fish markets of Sylhet city, Bangladesh with according to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) established by International Standards Organization (ISO) and packed in polyethylene bags. Proximate composition, total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN), peroxide value (PV), pH, total plate coun...
Introduction: The importance of faculty development programs (FDP) to improve teaching effectiven... more Introduction: The importance of faculty development programs (FDP) to improve teaching effectiveness has been emphasized in recent years. Our endeavors to improve teaching ways at Shifa College of Medicine, include development of student feedback mechanisms, professional development programs, and research into teaching. New trends taking place in academic medicine were accommodated by modification of faculty development model. Methods: With an aim to assess the perceptions of faculty about FDP at Shifa College of Medicine we gathered views of faculty, by administering questionnaire, conducting focus group and individual interviews. Results: More than half of faculty (51%-83%) agreed with various items related to teaching and learning concepts, 79% believed that they learned assessment methods. 73% agreed that it was a source of introduction to new educational strategies. Sixty-eight percent agreed that FDP helped to improve skills in teaching of ethics and professionalism. Results ...
Objective: To determine the frequency of suicidal ideation, its risk factors and clinical Manifes... more Objective: To determine the frequency of suicidal ideation, its risk factors and clinical Manifestation in Pakistani Medical Students. Methods: Cross Sectional Study; carried-out through a self-made questionnaire having 22 items was administered among medical students of eight colleges, all over Pakistan. Students were selected through consecutive non-probability sampling. The data obtained was analyzed by SPSS version 21. Results: Out of the total sample size of 1132, 47.9% were male and 52.1% were female. Of the 49.2% were in pre-clinical year (1st and 2nd year) and 50.8% were in clinical years (3rd, 4th and 5th year). About 6.8% of the medical student had suicidal ideation and 9.5% had the desire to harm themselves. Majority of the medical students (82.7%) choose medical profession by their will; 62.5% were found out to be fully satisfied by their medical college. In effects of stress, irritability, inability to sleep, fatigue, depression, decrease appetite, headache, feeling of ...
Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a basic measure by it the value of health care facilities i... more Introduction: Patient satisfaction is a basic measure by it the value of health care facilities is assessed. It a personal assessment of the service received and the person’s prospects. This study would have significant input in assessing the level of patients’satisfaction in secondary and tertiary outpatient health care services. Methods: Across-sectional study of 300 patients random sample visit outpatients of Marjan medical city the interview was conducted at general and specialist outpatient only. The specialist outpatients include cardiac, gastrology, nephrology and diabetology outpatient. 150patients from secondary outpatient &150patients from tertiary outpatient. The purpose of study was to assessing the level of patients’satisfaction in secondary and tertiary outpatient health care services. Results: Majority of patients visit general and specialist outpatients with age31-50(45.5%,46%), female(57.3%,62.75), low income patients 5 km(77%,79%), the majority of patients were not...
Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan : JCPSP, 2016
OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of 2.5% and 1.25% Povidone-Iodine solution for Ophthalmia neo... more OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of 2.5% and 1.25% Povidone-Iodine solution for Ophthalmia neonatorum prophylaxis. STUDY DESIGN Interventional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Eye Department, Combined Military Hospital, Sargodha, from May to November 2014. METHODOLOGY Atotal of 200 eyes of 100 newborn babies were enrolled and divided into two groups of 100 right eyes and 100 left eyes. Aconjunctival swab for bacterial culture was taken within 30 minutes after delivery. Asingle drop of 2.5% Povidone-Iodine was then placed in the right eye while in the left eye a single drop of 1.25% Povidone-Iodine was placed. Thirty minutes after placing Povidone-Iodine, a conjunctival swab was again taken. Abacterial suspension was prepared from each swab in determining bacterial counts. The bacterial suspension was inoculated on yeast extract agar and the number of colony forming units were counted. At each culture, the number of colony forming units before and after instillation of 2.5% Povi...
Objectives: Anatomy education has undergone enormous transformation in the last decade.Traditiona... more Objectives: Anatomy education has undergone enormous transformation in the last decade.Traditional topographic anatomy taught by didactic lectures and complete dissection of the bodyhas been replaced by a wide range of special study modules, learning strategies and teaching tools.The present study was designed to provide a snapshot of the working knowledge of anatomyprevalent among Pakistani medical students and residents in this changing scenario.Study Design: A cross-sectional study conducted through a mini-test questionnaire completed by325 medical students j however the results of candidates from publicsector institution were astounding.Conclusion: The decay in anatomical knowledge over time portrays that residents would try tofill their anatomy deficiency during surgical residency rather learning surgical skills. The medicaleducationists should find-out the root cause of this deterioration. We propose a randomized trialusing problem solving test items to identify the exact inte...
Normoglycemia diagnosed in 41.2%.Glucose intolerance found in 58.8% of these; 44.1% vs.17.6% had ... more Normoglycemia diagnosed in 41.2%.Glucose intolerance found in 58.8% of these; 44.1% vs.17.6% had diabetes and14.7% vs. 13.2% prediabetes (IFG and/or IGT) compared with control (P; =0.002).There was no statistically significant differences in age, gender, duration or activity of the disease, basal or last GH or IGF-1 between normoglycemic patients and those with glucose intolerance. Hypertension found in 39.7%vs 19.1%of control (P =0.008).
Introduction: Multiple studies have been conducted on the theme of stress faced by medical studen... more Introduction: Multiple studies have been conducted on the theme of stress faced by medical students due to the load of medical education and lack of adequate stress coping skills which may affect the students variedly. Objective: To critically assess stress levels in medical students of Shifa College of Medicine (a private medical college in Islamabad, Pakistan) and the quality of relationship between students and parents, thereby studying a relationship between the two. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the students of Shifa College of Medicine. A sample size of 315 students filled a pretested student stress questionnaire, which was made using the student life stress inventory survey consisting of 34 questions. Data was then analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: Increased levels of stress were found to be common among medical students with a prevalence of 53.3% among our study group. A total of 65.7% students face stress due to the increased expectations o...
A new strain of coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsi... more A new strain of coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was first detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China in late December 2019. To date, more than 1 million deaths and nearly 57 million confirmed cases have been recorded across 220 countries due to COVID-19, which is the greatest threat to global public health in our time. Although SARS-CoV-2 is genetically similar to other coronaviruses, i.e., SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), no confirmed therapeutics are yet available against COVID-19, and governments, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies worldwide are working together in search for effective drugs and vaccines. Repurposing of relevant therapies, developing vaccines, and using bioinformatics to identify potential drug targets are strongly in focus to combat COVID-19. This review deals with the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and its clinic...
Background: Countries that are facing war disasters are prone to develop outbreak emergencies esp... more Background: Countries that are facing war disasters are prone to develop outbreak emergencies especially when this is associated with massive displacement of populations or refugees to overcrowded settings, and when the provision of safe water supply and sanitation is a challenge. Objective: To portray the trend of cholera in Iraq for the last 18 years. Methods: Records of cholera cases registered for the last 18 years were reviewed from the Department of Health Statistics of the Iraqi Ministry of Health and categorized according to the 18 Iraqi governorates; the total of each governorate was computed for the whole studied years and then summed to get the total for Iraq. Data were categorized by gender and age. Rates of occurrence were plotted against time (for the period from 2000 to 2017) to define the trend of the disease. Results: The trend of cholera in Iraq showed four peaks, in 2003, 2007, 2012, and 2015, females showed slightly more cases than males, with a higher incidence among adult age group, and more in the southern provinces. Conclusion: The epidemics of cholera in Iraq are getting progressively more frequent, with higher number of cases forming a real burden on the health system and a serious threat to the community. Efficient preventive health plans are needed to overcome this growing problem that may compromise the life of people.
The nature of antitumor effector cells induced by OK-432, a streptococcal preparation with potent... more The nature of antitumor effector cells induced by OK-432, a streptococcal preparation with potent BRM activity, was analysed. BALB/c-+/+ mice implanted(ip) with syngeneic fibrosarcoma BAMC-I were cured by 5 every other day injections(ip) of 0K-432 starting day2 after tumor implantation.
Background Equity is one of three dimensions of universal health coverage (UHC). However, Iraq ha... more Background Equity is one of three dimensions of universal health coverage (UHC). However, Iraq has had capital-focused health services and successive conflicts and political turmoil have hampered health services around the country. Iraq has embarked on a new reconstruction process since 2018 and it could be time to aim for equitable healthcare access to realise UHC. We aimed to examine inequality and determinants associated with Iraq’s progress towards UHC targets. Methods We assessed the progress toward UHC in the context of equity using six nationally representative population-based household surveys in Iraq in 2000–2018. We included 14 health service indicators and two financial risk protection indicators in our UHC progress assessment. Bayesian hierarchical regression model was used to estimate the trend, projection, and determinant analyses. Slope and relative index of inequality were used to assess wealth-based inequality. Results In the national-level health service indicator...
Meeting consumer concerns and preferences for fresh and safely processed fisheries products free ... more Meeting consumer concerns and preferences for fresh and safely processed fisheries products free of chemical and synthetic preservatives is a challenge for the aqua-food industry. As such, natural preservatives from plant and animal origin including chitosan, essential oils (EOs), plant extracts and lactic acid bacteria have attracted considerable interest recently. These preservatives have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties that can retard spoilage, uphold product quality and safety as well as extend the storage shelf-life of fish and seafood. Chitosan and EOs have been successfully used in edible coatings, film wrapping and dipping solutions. The present review focuses on the effectiveness of chitosan, EOs and other natural preservatives intended for prolonging the shelf-life of fisheries products, and maintaining their freshness and quality. Moreover, the mechanisms of action of natural additives, harmful impacts of chemical preservatives and status of aquatic food preserva...
International Journal of Probiotics and Prebiotics
Finfish aquaculture is one of the quickly developing food industries in the world. But, the major... more Finfish aquaculture is one of the quickly developing food industries in the world. But, the major drawbacks of this industry are the frequent outbreak of infectious diseases due to elevated stress in an intensive culture system. Antibiotics are extensively used to combat these diseases. Prophylactic administrations of antibiotics in aquaculture lead to the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens which indirectly cause a risk to health of human. Therefore, hard rules and regulations have been established in various countries to minimize or ban the application of antibiotics in finfish aquaculture. Recently probiotics have garnered significant attraction as an alternative measure for disease prevention in aquaculture. Probiotics increase health status, disease resistance, growth performance and feed utilization through improving hosts microbial balance. This review presents the summary and discussion of the results of the effects of probiotic administration in the cultu...
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Papers by Ashraf Hussain