Objectives. To explore the magnitude and determinants of burnout among emergency physicians and nurses working at emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities. Subjects and Methods. A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted in emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities belonging to Ministry of Health. All physicians (n=95) and nurses (n=187) currently working at these sites were invited to participate in the study by filling a validated self-administered questionnaire including two main sections: personal and professional characteristics of physicians and nurses as well as Maslach burnout inventory (MBI) to assess the three components of the burnout syndrome: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Results. The study included 282 physicians and nurses. The age of more than half of them (54.3%) ranged between 31 and 35 years. Most of them (70.9%) were females. About two-thirds of the respondents (66.3%) were nurses while the remaining 33.7% were physicians. Majority of the emergency healthcare professionals (88.7%) had high emotional exhaustion. The prevalence of high depersonalization (cynicism) was 20.6% whereas that of low personal accomplishment was 41.1% among emergency healthcare professionals. The overall prevalence of burnout among healthcare professionals was 16.3%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that male healthcare professionals were at almost higher three-folded risk for developing burnout compared to females (aOR=2.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21-6.28, p=0.017)). Smokers were at higher significant risk for burnout compared to nonsmokers (aOR=15.37; 95% CI: 7.06-33.45, p<0.001). Healthcare professionals who reported a history of taking medications for sleep disorders expressed higher risk for burnout opposed to those with no history of sleep disorder medication (aOR=6.59; 95% CI: 2.08-20.81, p=0.001). Conclusion. A considerable proportion of physicians and nurses working at emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities had burnout syndrome, particularly high emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment.

Backgrounds:Child abuse or child maltreatment is physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or other caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to act by a parent or other caregiver that results in actual or potential harm to a child, and can occur in a child's home or in the organizations, schools, or communities the child interacts with. This study was conducted to assess the primary health care (PHC) centers’ physicians’ knowledge and attitude toward child abuse including its types, and child neglect with their behavior regarding reporting of abuse cases.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in Abha which is the capital of Aseer Province, including all PHC physicians (about 475) working in PHC centers. Data regarding physicians’ demographic characteristics, perception, and awareness regarding child abuse and neglect were collected by self-administrative questionnaire in the PHC center during their time between patients’ consultation.Results:The study included 300 PHC physicians whose ages ranged from 25 to 50 years old with mean age of 28 years. About 65% of the physicians were males and 69% of them were married with about 73% having at least one child. Overall, 96.3% of the physicians recorded good awareness level regarding types of child abuse and 97.3% recorded good awareness level regarding child neglect patterns. Underreporting of child abuse cases was recorded by about 64% of physicians.Conclusion:Regarding child abuse and neglect, PHC physicians have good knowledge, optimal attitude, and positive perception. There was also the problem of underreporting of suspected child abuse cases among PHC physicians in Saudi Arabia, with many barriers to report, such as community traditions; unclear reporting strategy was identified.

Cancer causes a major health concern worldwide due to high incidence and mortality rates. To accomplish this purpose, the Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were searched using the keywords bacteria and cancer. Most of published research addressed several different factors that induced cancer, such as toxins, medications, smoking, and obesity. Nonetheless, few studies are dealing with cancer induction via bacterial infection. In addition, mechanisms of cancer induction via bacterial infections are not well understood. Therefore, in this review, we will shed light on different bacteria that induced cancer via different molecular mechanisms. Among the bacterial infection that induced cancer, Helicobacter pylori was the first recognized bacteria which caused gastric cancer and might be also linked to extragastric cancer in humans. H. pylori has been associated with adenocarcinoma in the distal stomach by its ability to cause severe inflammations. It has been found that inflammations induced cancer via different mechanisms including induction of cell proliferation and production of high levels of free radicals. Recently, free radicals were found to induce and cause various types of cancer. Salmonella typhi has been found to be associated with gallbladder carcinoma (GBC). Also, intercellular infection of lungs with Chlamydia pneumoniae was found to contribute as one of the ethological factors of lung cancer. Moreover, infection of the urinary tract with Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp., and Proteus mirabilis has been found to cause bladder cancer. These microorganisms produce a high level of N-nitrosamines which are metabolically activated leading to the generation of alkylating agents that damage DNA and other macromolecules. It is concluded that a certain bacterium is linked with induction of a specific type of cancer via different molecular and biochemical mechanisms as discussed in the text in details. This infection could potentially affect human health in different ways. In addition, it is important to know the possible factors involved in cancer induction for better treatment of cancer patients.

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 pandemic has affected the psychological health of people, causing a higher level of stress. Stress can exaggerate the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). To assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic stress on patients with IBS in Saudi Arabia. A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used, which targeted accessible subjects with IBS from different regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from participants using a structured electronic questionnaire, which captured the participants’ socio-demographic data, medical history, IBS clinical data, self-reported stress due to COVID-19, and its effect on IBS symptoms. A total of 1255 IBS patients completed the questionnaire. About 63.4% of them reported stress due to the pandemic. The most frequently reported causes of stress were fear of infection occurring in the family, followed by fear of self-infection (43.5%), and death due to COVID-19 infection (17.2%). Most of the stressed participants (56.6%) reported that stress usually exaggerated IBS symptoms. Almost 22% of them consulted a physician for stress aggravation of the symptoms, 18.1% used sedatives due to stress, 9.2% modified IBS medications due to the stress, and 75.5% of the participants reported impaired daily activities due to symptoms exacerbation. Coexisting chronic morbidities and inability to differentiate between COVID-19 gastrointestinal symptoms and IBS symptoms were significantly associated with COVID-19 related stress ( P = .039 and .001, respectively). Two-thirds of IBS patients were stressed during the first few months of COVID-19 pandemic. Patients unable to differentiate between COVID-19 gastrointestinal tract symptoms and IBS symptoms, and patients suffering from chronic morbidities were more vulnerable. Pandemic stress exacerbated patients’ symptoms and impacted their activities of daily life.

Objective: Little is known about the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 among the health care workers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May till mid-July among 389 health care workers from government and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using a pre-structured online questionnaire that measured adverse psychological outcomes, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale. The Pearson chi-square test was used to assess the distribution of depression and anxiety among health care workers. Results: A high level of anxiety was recorded among the health care workers, and 69.3% of health care workers below the age of 40 were found to have depression. There was a significant increase in depression among staff with chronic health problems (72.1% vs. 61.9%; p = 0.048). High anxiety levels were detected among young staff compared to others (68.7% vs. 43.8%; p = 0.001). Moreover, 82.1% of the female staff were anxious, as compared to 55.6% of the males (p = 0.001). Conclusions: We found increased prevalence of adverse psychological outcomes among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia during the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need for proper screening and development of corresponding preventive measures to decrease the adverse psychological outcomes.

Background: Twitter and WhatsApp may have the potential to negatively affect quality of sleep. Aim of Study: To assess the impact of using social media (i.e., Twitter and WhatsApp) on sleep quality and to identify risk factors associated with poor sleep quality among medical students in King Khalid University (KKU). Methodology: Following a cross -sectional design, 286 medical students at King Khalid College of Medicine, Abha, Saudi Arabia, were recruited into this study. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire has been designed by the researchers which included sociodemographic data, extent of using the WhatsApp and/or Twitter and the Pittsburgh sleep Quality Index. Results: 76.2% of students use both Twitter and WhatsApp, 21.5% use WhatsApp only, 1% use Twitter only, while 1% do not use any. Most medical students (89.8%) use Twitter/WhatsApp every day. Most medical students use Twitter/WhatsApp for 3-4 or more than 5 hours daily (31.1% for both). Most medical students (88.7%) use Twitter/WhatsApp during night. 29.7% of medical students have poor quality of sleep. Twitter/WhatsApp use was significantly more among female than male medical students (81.7% and 73.1%, respectively, p=0.014). Use of Twitter/WhatsApp by medical students differed significantly according to their scholastic year (p=0.014), with highest use among 6 th year medical students (94.1%). Medical students' quality of sleep differed significantly according to their scholastic year (p=0.02), with highest prevalence of poor quality among those at their 2 nd and 6 th scholastic years (37.7%) and 37.3%, respectively). Quality of sleep differed significantly according to students' daily use of Twitter/WhatsApp (p=0.022), with highest prevalence of poor sleep quality among those who spend more than 4 hours daily using Twitter/WhatsApp. Conclusions: The majority of medical students in KKU, especially females and final year students, use Twitter and/or WhatsApp. Almost one third of students have poor sleep quality, especially 2 nd and final year medical students and those who use social media for more than two hours daily. This study indicates a strong need for integrating sleep hygiene education for medical students and to provide health education to promote correct and effective use of social networks.

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