From the Editor
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Abdul Abyad, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Chief Editor)

Address correspondence to:
Abdul Abyad, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Editor)
Abyad Medical Center & Middle East Longevity Institute
Azmi Street, Abdo Center, 2nd Floor
PO BOX 618, Tripoli LEBANON
Tel & Fax: 961 6 443684/5/6
Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
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The year is at an end and the editorial board and the production team wish all the readers a happy end of year holiday and happy new year. As usual this issue is rich with various papers from the region. A cross sectional survey from Qatar looked at Primary care physicians' knowledge, attitude, and practice toward obesity management. The author estimated that in Qatar, about 29.3% of females and 17.4% of males are obese. More than two thirds of physicians agreed that primary care physicians have a major role in obesity management. The authors concluded that knowledge gaps and ambivalent attitudes toward obesity management are common.

A paper from Libya looked at HPV vaccine type, Gardasil. The author stressed that cervical cancer is the commonest type of all cancers that affect women world wide. It is closely linked to HPV infection; especially HPV 16 and 18 strains which cause the lining of the cervix to change from normal to pre-cancerous lesions, which if not detected and treated can change to cancer. The author reviewed HPV epidemiology, Pap screening in the era of HPV vaccination, and the proposed and approved Gardasil vaccine to combat cervical cancer in terms of effectiveness, tolerability, safety and pricing; including Gardasil dosing, and administration, and its importance in life-saving vaccines against cervical cancer.

A paper from Iran looked at supporting services and quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis. Sixty files were reviewed. There is a significant relationship between supportive services and these items: Promotion of somatic health, decrease in somatic/emotional limitations in performance of the role, increase in psychological health, fatigue decline, increase in sense of health, optimization of cognitive and social performance, decrease in anxiety regarding health, improvement in health conditions and promotion of life style from the patients' point of view. There is no significant relationship between supportive services and increase in sexual performance of patients and pleasure from their sexual performance. The authors concluded that according to the results of this study some procedures and activities can be used for increasing supportive services levels in MS patients who need these services in order to promote their quality of life.

A paper from Jordan looked at early performance of imaging studies after the first urinary tract infection. The authors looked at the yield and potential risks/benefits of early compared to late performance imaging studies such as renal ultrasonogram (RUS) and if needed, voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) after UTI.

The authors concluded that performing RUS early does not influence the detection rate, severity of mild to moderate renal pelvic dilatation, or risk of secondary infection; it shortens the period of prophylactic use and increases performance rate of VCUG, thereby minimizing the risk of failure to detect VUR. The traditional recommendation of performing VCUG 3-6 weeks after the diagnosis of UTI should be re-evaluated.

Health care professionals including family physicians increasingly become involved in public health data analyses. The first part of a series of papers from Iran looked at issues whereby data visualisation is the first step in data analyses, which help to disclose complex structure within data. The chief aim of the present article, which is the first article in a series of two, is to discuss the pros and cons of two ways of data visualisation i.e. box plot and map using a real public health data example.

A paper from Jordan looked at Otological manifestations among patients with cleft palate. The authors noted that patients with cleft palate are more prone to have hearing loss than normal individuals and this decrease in hearing is secondary to eutachian tube (ET) dysfunction . The dysfunction in ET function is due to an abnormal insertion of levator veli palatini and tensor veli palatini muscles into the posterior margin of the hard palate and the palatal aponeurosis.