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From
the Editor
..........................................................................................................................
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
Web: www.amc-lb.com
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This is the third issue for 2007 and with it
we are starting Child Watch - a project to monitor
at risk children around the world and to provide
and disseminate educational strategies to reduce
and eliminate these risks.
In this issue a study from
Jordan looks at the clinical features and prognostic
factors of breast cancer. The aim of the author
is to analyze the clinical presentation and outcome
of Jordanian patients with breast cancer. Data
from 184 patients registered and treated at different
Royal Medical Services Hospitals in Jordan, from
January 2002 to December 2005 were analyzed. The
study’s results indicated that breast cancer
prognosis in Jordan remains poor, primarily due
to late diagnosis. The authors stressed that that
future studies of survival of node-negative patients
should include information on co-morbidity and
treatment.
Prof Abdul Rahman Al-ajlan,
studied the incidence of hyperkalemia among diabetic
patients. He studied a total of 362 patients and
158 non-diabetic control subjects. He observed
that there is a strong association between hyperglycemia
and hyperkalemia in Saudi diabetes mellitus patients
of type 1 and type 2. The elderly uncontrolled
diabetics are at a higher risk of hyperkalemia.
Hyperkalemia in uncontrolled diabetics can lead
to kidney and liver damage and cardiac arrest.
The physicians, while prescribing ACE inhibitors
to diabetics, must take precautions to avoid complications
of hyperkalemia.
A study from Basrah was presented
on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among
diabetic patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
(DM). This was a cross sectional hospital based
study of patients. Highest prevalence of MetS
was reported in this study which includes diabetic
patients only, although this high figure may be
due to a different definition and population studied
with selection bias.
The main stay of management
of MetS is dietary modification and weight reduction
which may delay the development of DM, and improves
the control of established DM and decreases morbidty
and mortality associated with this syndrome.
A two-stage prospective study
from Saudi Arabia was performed in an IVF unit
in the eastern province. The first stage compared
the fertilization and pregnancy outcomes in patients
with Polycystic Ovary (PCO) Syndrome and patients
with poor response to recombinant Follicular Stimulation
Hormone (rFSH). The second study compared these
outcomes according to follicular size. The authors
concluded that concentrations higher than 0.075
IU ml in culture media for IVM are not necessarily
associated with a better outcome. Larger Follicular
size produces better fertilization and pregnancy
rates. In both PCO and poor responders, cycle
irregularity is associated with poorer outcomes.
Dr Magableh S and Bataineh
HA studied the prevalence of childhood brucellosis
among patients attending the pediatric department
at Prince Rashed Hospital (PRH). In their series,
pediatric brucellosis is quite common since this
area is endemic to B. melitensis where a strong
clinical suspicion or laboratory routine screening
has to be done to diagnose and institute specific
therapy.
A paper from Tehran investigated
the relationship between social and family factors
and the idea of committing suicide, among university
students in Iran. 100 university students (50
male, 50 female) from the University of Welfare
and Rehabilitation Sciences were randomly selected
and participated in the study.
Tt was found that the singles
were more inclined to commit suicide than the
married students. Divorce, failure in education,
and family background also increase the likelihood.
Among the other increasing factors old age and
female sex should was indicated.
A well rounded study evaluated
the relationships between health behaviors, some
medical conditions and health related quality
of life in an east Mediterranean community sample.
The study population consisted of 327 adult Datca-Knidos
county residents. Participants filled out a questionnaire
regarding health behaviors, medical history and
an extensive health related quality of life (HRQOL)
measurement short form questionnaire (SF-36v2).
In this issue Dr Thamer Al
Hilfy discusses the concept of total quality management
(TQM) which is defined as controlling every thing
about what is actually done to create a product,
in this acse better quality of education and better
quality of graduates related to one of Iraqi colleges
(Tikrit College of medicine/University Tikrit/Iraq).
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