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Background: Breast cancer is the highest incident cancer among women in the world today as well as in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Improving the public awareness is significant in decreasing the overall morbidity and mortality of breast cancer. Social media brings a new dimension to healthcare as it offers a medium to communicate to be used by the public, patients, and health professionals to communicate health-related issues with the possibility of potentially improving health outcomes. According the Arab Social Media Report 2017 , the GCC countries largely dominate the top five spots in terms of penetration rates of key social media platforms among their populations, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Social media platforms are now frequently used on a large adoption rate by the public to address health-related issues especially in GCC countries. Compared with the rest of the Arab region, the Gulf countries largely have more balanced age breakdowns of young users who are under 30 and those who are over 30 years old, indicating the maturity of usage across age groups in society. Aim: This paper aims to provide an overview of the available evidence concerning the use of social media platforms in breast cancer awareness campaigns in GCC. Methods: A literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar databases for articles published between 2010 and March 2018. Several keywords have been used. Search was limited to articles in English and Arabic describing the use of social media platforms in breast cancer awareness campaigns in any of the GCC countries. Results: More than 500 studies have been identified in the initial search. Fifteen articles have been deemed eligible. The majority are discussing the importance of using media (mass and social) as the main source of breast cancer information, however, a multilevel intervention should be considered as many interventions should be used to create culturally appropriate breast cancer awareness campaigns in the GCC countries. Conclusion: Apparently, media have been used to raise breast cancer awareness to promote breast cancer screening programs including self-exam and mammogram, benefits of early detection, and modifiable risk factors. However, social media should not be viewed as a solution to the complexities of behavior change and improved health outcomes; instead, use of social media in health promotion should be valued for its potential to engage with audiences for enhanced communication and improved capacity to promote programs, products, and services. The use of various social media platforms is variable across age, educational, and socioeconomic groups; therefore, breast cancer awareness campaigns utilizing social media should be tailored according to the target group, however public communication in the GCC still considered as a significant challenge due to the cultural diversity and language barriers.

Purpose: The aim was to provide an overview of nursing research in Qatar over the previous 15 years. Methods: Several online databases were searched for published articles between 2000 and 2015 related to nursing research in Qatar. Findings: The initial search identified 6540 articles, whose titles, abstracts, and texts were screened for satisfying the eligibility criteria. Only 57 articles met the eligibility criteria. The highest percentage of studies (42%) focused on clinical practice issues. Eighty-seven percent (87%) were published in peer-reviewed journals; 84% (N = 48) were conducted between 2011 and 2015 with 16-fold growth rate compared to 2000-2005. The majority of authors were postgraduate qualified nurses, mainly 67% of them with hospital and academic affiliation (88%). The vast majority of identified studies were conducted in hospital settings (63%), and only 14% of the studies used a nursing theory or conceptual framework. Sixty-three percent (63%) of the studies were quantitative, and 25% were funded mostly by hospitals. The majority of the included studies have been done in collaboration with other disciplines (60%), especially with physicians (65%). Conclusion: Nursing research in Qatar has dramatically developed and improved over the last 15 years. However, nurses need to be more motivated to conduct and publish research in collaboration with national, regional, and international research bodies. Implications for Nursing & Health Policy: Building and sustaining nursing research infrastructure considered as a top priority for nursing leaders, academic, and ministry of public health in Qatar. Furthermore, preparing nurses with higher academic degrees is an essential step in advancing research utilization in Qatar and the region.

Thalidomide is widely used in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). In recent years, several cases of pulmonary hypertension have been reported following treatment with thalidomide. The aim of this review was to evaluate the published literature on multiple myeloma patients with pulmonary hypertension following thalidomide treatment. A literature search was performed between 2000 and 2016. A total of 7 eligible studies were identified and deemed eligible, including 11 cases-approximately 37% (4 cases) with IgA (k), 27% (3 cases) with IgG (λ) MM, 27% (3 cases) with IgG (k) MM, and one case (9%) with primary plasma cell leukemia (PPCL). The vast majority of cases-82% (9 cases)-are associated with thalidomide, while only 18% (2 cases) are related to thalidomide derivatives (lenalidomide and pomalidomide). In conclusion, pulmonary hypertension induced by thalidomide or derivatives in multiple myeloma (MM) patients is related to a multifactorial etiology including the pathophysiology of the disease, thromboembolic events, preexisted cardiovascular conditions, comorbidities, and combination with other chemo-or bio-therapeutic agents. MM patients should be evaluated for signs and symptoms underlying cardiopulmonary disease before initiating, and during treatment with thalidomide.

This study aimed to determine the barriers to research utilization from HMC registered nurses' perspectives. This quantitative descriptive study used a newly developed 25-item questionnaire. The questions were categorized into three domains: Nurse-related, System-related and Research-related Barriers. The questionnaire was distributed electronically via e-mail service to all registered nurses in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) (N = 5000). About 901 responses were collected (response rate = 18%). Of the total responses, 430 met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that System-related barriers domain scored the least average among the three domains. Followed by research and nurse-related barriers domains respectively. Lack of access to research experts (51%), lack of physicians' support to change practice (52%), lack of protected time for research (55%) and lack of other disciplines' support to change practice (57%) were reported as top system-related barriers. The difficulty of utilizing research findings in clinical practice was reported as a research-related barrier (57%). Moreover, results showed a significant relationship (P-value 0.005) between access to research experts and the support from other disciplines with the hospital where the nurses work within HMC. Otherwise, no significant relationship between the identified barriers and demographic characteristics was determined. The findings provided baseline information for an organizational research utilization program, necessary measures such as; protected time, accessibility to research mentors or experts and evidence-based practice units are highly recommended by the frontline nurses through a review of the successful research governance models within HMC.

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