Background. Diabetes and obesity are very common associated metabolic disorders that are linked to chronic inflammation. Leptin is one of the important adipokines released from adipocytes, and its level increases with increasing body mass index (BMI). Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a cytokine that is released by adipocytes and inflammatory cells in response to chronic inflammation. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is believed to be associated with low-grade chronic inflammation. The current study aims to investigate the involvement of leptin and TNF-α in T2DM associated with obesity. Methodology. This is a cross-sectional study involving 63 healthy volunteers and 65 patients with T2DM. Body composition was measured, and fasting venous blood samples were analyzed for blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), basal insulin, leptin, and TNF-α. HbA1c was measured by the affinity column method. Insulin, leptin, and TNF-α immunoassays were performed by the ELISA technique. Insulin resistance and beta-cell function were assessed using the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR and HOMA-B). Results. Our study showed a significantly higher level of TNF-α in T2DM patients compared to controls (7.51 ± 2.48 and 6.19 ± 3.01, respectively; p=0.008). In obese diabetic patients, the serum level of TNF-α was significantly higher in comparison with nonobese diabetic patients (p<0.018) and obese nondiabetic group (p<0.001). TNF-α correlated positively with HbA1c (r = 0.361, p=0.003) and HOMA-IR (r = 0.296, p=0.017) in patients with T2DM. Conclusion. TNF-α is associated with concurrent obesity and T2DM and correlates with HbA1c. This suggests that TNF-α needs further investigation to explore if it has a role in monitoring the effectiveness of management in individuals with obesity and T2DM.
Prostaglandins (PGs) are important factors in the physiology of human parturition and the control of uterine contractility. We have characterized the expression of 15 genes from all stages of the PG pathway in human pregnant and non-pregnant (NP) myometrium and in other uterine tissues at delivery, and the results show patterns indicative of different capacities for PG synthesis and catabolism in each tissue. In placenta, the PG synthase expression profile favours production of PGD₂, PGE₂ and PGF₂, with high levels of PG transporters and catabolic PG dehydrogenase suggesting rapid PG turnover. Choriodecidua is primed for PGE₂, PGF₂ and PGD₂ production and high PG turnover, whereas amnion expresses genes for PGE₂ synthesis with low levels of PG transporters and dehydrogenase. In umbilical cord, PGI₂ synthase is highly expressed. In pregnant myometrium, PGI₂, PGD₂ and PGF₂ synthases are highly expressed, whereas PG dehydrogenase is underexpressed. Myometrium from women with spontaneous or induced labour had higher expression of the PGH₂ synthase PTGS2 than tissue from women not-in-labour. Myometrium from NP women had lower levels of PG synthases and higher levels of PG dehydrogenase than pregnant myometrium. Discriminant function analysis showed that expression of selected genes in myometrium could distinguish groups of women with different modes of labour from each other and from NP women. In cultured myometrial cells, there was a dose-dependent stimulatory effect of interleukin 1β and tumour necrosis factor α on PTGS2, PTGES and AKR1B1 (PGF synthase) expression.
Objectives: Interprofessional Education (IPE) provides an environment where learners demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitude required to manage the complex clinical scenarios in a collaborative and interprofessional manner. The actual sphere of influence of Interprofessional Education in many medical schools has been limited. Therefore, the present study aim was to evaluate the medical students’ readiness and perception of Interprofessional Education in a medical college in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This questionnaire based cross sectional study was executed in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University during the period September 2016 to December 2017, using the 19-item Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) with four subscales teamwork and collaboration, negative professional identity, positive professional identity and roles and responsibilities. The questionnaire was e-mailed to 1411 medical students and responses were analyzed using 5-point Likert scale. Results: A total of 158 medical students and trainees responded to the survey, 69 (43.6%) were males and 89 (56.4%) were females. The majority of participants 122-148 (77-94%) acknowledged the positive impact of IPE on teamwork and collaboration, more than two thirds 105 (64.45%) disagreed with negative attitude and 110-126 (70-80%) showed positive professional identity. Conclusions: Medical students showed a positive perception and ready to adopt the Interprofessional Educational allied activities in medical schools. The shared academic events would improve in clarifying the roles and responsibilities of medical students in health care professions. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.2214 How to cite this:Alzamil H, Meo SA. Medical students’ readiness and perceptions about Interprofessional Education: A cross sectional study. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.2214 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The study examined the associations between lifestyle habits and overweight/obesity among Saudi females attending health science colleges. A total of 454 female students were randomly recruited from five health science colleges at King Saud University, using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. Body weight and height were measured, and body mass index was calculated. All participants answered a validated questionnaire to assess physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors (SB), sleep duration, and dietary habits. Results showed that the prevalence of overweight (21.4%) plus obesity (8.1%) among female participants was 29.5%. There was no significant difference between overweight/obese and nonoverweight/nonobese females in PA, screen time, sleep duration, or dietary habits. Overall, 50.4% of the participants were physically inactive (activity energy expenditure was <600 metabolic equivalent minutes per week). Active females showed significantly (p < 0.01) higher intakes of vegetables and fruits, lower chocolate/candy consumption (p = 0.05), and higher proportion of sufficient sleeping duration (>8 hours per night) (p < 0.001). It was concluded that half of the Saudi females in this study were physically inactive. Although PA positively impacted some of the lifestyle habits of college females, overweight/obesity was not associated with PA, SB, sleeping time, or dietary habits among the participants. Future research should attempt to elucidate the key factors involved in such relationship.
BACKGROUND:Few studies have reported valid comprehensive data on lifestyle habits of Saudi college females. In addition, studies on sedentary behaviors (SBs) and the duration of sleep of Saudi college students are rare. Saudi females appear to be less physically active and therefore, at a higher risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate lifestyle patterns of Saudi college females, including physical activity (PA), SBs, duration of sleep, and dietary habits.MATERIALS AND METHODS:A cross-sectional study was conducted among females attending health science colleges of King Saud University, using multistage stratified cluster sample (n = 456). Weight, height, PA, SB, sleep, and dietary habits were all assessed using a previously validated questionnaire.RESULTS:Nearly half of the college females were physically inactive. Females exercised mostly at home or alone at no specific time of day. Their activity was for health reasons (43.4%) for weight loss (28.7%); lack of time (71.2%) was the primary reason for inactivity. The majority (>85%) of females spent more time in sedentary activity (>3 h/day) while 95% of females had insufficient sleep (<8 h/night). Over 40% of the participants consumed breakfast or vegetables 5 days or more per week, whereas the corresponding proportions for fruit and milk/dairy products intake were 19.4% and 58.4%, respectively. The proportions of college females who consumed less healthy foods for 3+ days/week were fairly variable, ranging from 21.1% for French fries to 60.4% for chocolates/candy. The predictors of total PA time were increased the duration of sleep and reduced intake of French fries/potato chips.CONCLUSIONS:Unhealthy lifestyle habit appears prevalent among Saudi college females. Efforts toward promoting PA, decreasing SB, and insufficient sleep and improving dietary habits in Saudi females are needed to reduce future risks of NCDs.
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