Background: Dry Eye Disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease of the interpalpebral ocular surface and tear film that leads to discomfort, fatigue and disturbance in vision. DED affects patients' quality of life and leads eventually to decrease of productivity. Moreover, it has a considerable socioeconomic burden. It is a growing underdiagnosed health issue and the possible associated risk factors are very common and keep growing worldwide. Purpose: To assess the prevalence of DED and potential associated risk factors in the Northern West Bank of Palestine. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in 16 selected towns in Northern West Bank governorates during December 2016 to September 2017. An interviewer-assisted Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire was used to study DED symptoms in the study population. Further evaluation of clinical signs of DED was performed using the following objective tests: tear film break-up time (TBUT), fluorescein corneal staining (FL/S) and Schirmer test. Subjects with an OSDI score of 13 or above were considered symptomatic of DED, and DED was defined if an OSDI score ≥ 13 is accompanied by at least one of the following signs in the worse eye: TBUT ≤10 s, Schirmer score ≤ 5 mm and fluorescein corneal staining ≥ grade 1. Results: Seven hundred sixty-nine subjects were recruited from the general non-clinical population in the West Bank. The mean age of participants was 43.61 ± 18.57 years ranging from 18 to 90 years. Females constitute 52.7% of the study population. Based on the diagnostic criteria, the prevalence of DED was 64% (95% confidence interval 60.6-67.3). DED was significantly associated with female gender p = (0.001) and older age p = (0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of DED is high in the study population. Older age and female gender were associated risk factors with the development of DED.

Through history, Arabs and Muslims have made valuable contribution to medicine and science. The main objective of this study was to assess the contribution of Arab researchers to ophthalmology using bibliometric indicators. Published articles in “Ophthalmology” authored by Arab researchers were screened and analyzed using ISI Web of Science database. Worldwide research productivity in ophthalmology was 216,921 documents while that from Arab countries; Israel, Turkey and Iran were 2083, 2932, 3027 and 859 documents respectively. Those from Arab countries were published in 85 peer-reviewed ophthalmology related journals with 280 (13.44%) documents published in Journal Francais d Ophtalmologie. Among Arab countries, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had the highest (828 (39.75%)) research output followed by Egypt (461 (22.13%)) and Tunisia 210 (10.08). Countries with highest collaboration with researchers in Arab world in ophthalmology research were USA; (397; 19.06%) followed by England (92; 4.42%) and Spain (91; 4.37%). The most research productive organization in Arab countries was King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital (396; 19.01%). Ophthalmology articles authored or co-authored by an Arab researcher had a total citation f 21098 with an average citation of 10.13 per document and an h-index of 51. In conclusion, the present data show promising increase but relatively low ophthalmology research productivity from Arab countries. Wide variation in research productivity do exists. Compared with other non-Arab countries in the Middle East, Arab countries showed lesser ophthalmology research activity than Israel and Turkey but higher than that in Iran.

BackgroundKeratoconus (KC) is a multifactorial, degenerative ectatic condition of the cornea. It usually manifests during late adolescence or the early twenties. A painless disease, KC may end with severe visual loss. The prevalence of KC in middle-eastern countries is much higher than in other regions of the world. This may be due to genetic and environmental risk factors and consanguinity. The goal of this study is to explore the demographic profile of Palestinian keratoconic patients.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted in two ophthalmology centres (Tertiary Ophthalmic Centre of An-Najah National University Hospital and An-Noor Centre at the Specialized Arab Hospital). All medical charts of keratoconic patients attending both centres over the period from 2009 to 2016 were reviewed. These patients were diagnosed by ophthalmologists depending on history, examination and Pentacam. Severity was determined using the k median index from the Pentacam map. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS Version 22.ResultsThe medical files of 936 keratoconic eyes of 505 keratoconic patients were reviewed. Their mean age at the time of diagnosis was 23.3 ranging from 8 to 62 years. Approximately 70.1% of them presented after the age of 20 years, and younger age groups were more likely to develop a severe disease stage than older ones (P = 0.001, r = − 0.108). There was a nearly equal distribution of patients between the two sexes (49.5% male, 50.5% female). On initial evaluation, the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was recorded as ≥6/12 in most affected eyes (71.5%). Regarding severity, 62% presented in a mild form, while 9.9% were at a severe stage. About 88.2% presented with bilateralism.ConclusionsMost of the patients in their twenties presented with a mild bilateral form of the disease. This result is compatible with published international reports. It is recommended that the results of this study be considered when establishing a screening program in Palestine. Subsequently, patients will be identified at an appropriate time where action can be taken before disease progression take place.

No abstract

Abstract-The emergence of wearable sensor mobile technologies can have a great change to the conventional healthcare systems improving the quality of life for patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) or heart disease. Our main aim is to build a simple yet accurate mobile application that is capable of real-time monitoring of patients with CAD which is a major cause of death worldwide. Most available mobile healthcare systems focus on the data acquisition part with little attention paid to facilitating real-time. In this work, we build a real-time monitoring application that continuously monitors CAD patients and raises an alarm whenever an emergency occurs. The proposed system is of a light weight, low price and very reliable in the detection of heart problems based on reasoning and computational algorithms. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed system, we conducted two extensive experiments for real and simulated scenarios. Our results show that the proposed monitoring system provides a 100% detection rate.Index Terms-Coronary artery disease, heart disease monitoring, wearable sensors, mobile application.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of ocular manifestations and associated factors in patients on haemodialysis. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 191 patients on haemodialysis from a haemodialysis unit in Nablus, Palestine.  Medical examination for ocular manifestations (intraocular pressure, cataract, retinal changes, and optic neuropathy) was performed using Tono-Pen, portable slit-lamp, and indirect ophthalmoscope. Predictor variables were age, gender, smoking, medical comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and peripheral arterial disease (PAD)), and use of antiplatelet or anti-coagulation medications. Results: The prevalence of any ocular manifestation in at least one eye was 68%. The most common ocular manifestations were retinal changes (58%) and cataract (41%). The prevalence of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), preoperative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), and either NPDR or PDR was 51%,16%, and 65%, respectively. Increase in age by one year was associated with increase in the odds of having cataract by 1.10 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06, 1.14). Patients with diabetes had higher odds of having cataract (odds ratio (OR) 7.43; 95% CI, 3.26, 16.95) and any retinal changes (OR 109.48, 95% CI, 33.85, 354.05) than patients without diabetes. Patients with diabetes and IHD or PAD had higher odds of having NPDR than patients with diabetes and free from IHD or PAD (OR 7.62; 95% CI, 2.07, 28.03). Conclusion: Retinal changes and cataract are very common ocular manifestations among patients on haemodialysis. The findings emphasize the importance of periodic screening for ocular problems this vulnerable population, especially older patients and those with diabetes, to prevent visual impartment and associated disability. Keywords: Kidney Failure, Chronic; Renal Dialysis; Eye Diseases; Eye Manifestations; Cross-Sectional Studies.

No abstract