METHOD: Four hundred and twenty-three subjects were recruited from center records using a systematic random sampling technique. Subjects who consented were interviewed by telephone using a specially designed semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive as well as comparative analyses were carried out. Differences between groups were tested using the Chi-square test when applicable.
RESULTS: The majority of users surveyed (89.6%) had called the center from within Khartoum State and 10.4% of users had called from other states. Of the enquiries, 36.1% were from pharmacists, 29.5% from physicians, and 22.3% from laypersons. The vast majority (93.1%) of respondents were educated to degree level or higher. Approximately one fifth, one half, and one third of the users surveyed had consulted the center >5 times, 2-5 times, and once, respectively. More than 90% of users rated the services provided as good to excellent and 94.7% declared their probable intention to continue utilizing the center in the future.
CONCLUSION: The center succeeded in satisfying and retaining its users by providing an acceptable quality of service.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty chronic periodontitis patients completed this study and received periodontal treatment comprising scaling and root planing plus ultrasonic debridement. Clinical data were recorded at baseline, 6 weeks (R1) after treatment completion (full-mouth or quadrant-scaling and root planing) and 25 weeks after baseline (R2). Serum samples were taken at each time point and cytokines concentrations determined by ELISA.
RESULTS: Following treatment, statistically significant reductions were noted in clinical parameters. However, IL-17A and IL-17E concentrations were significantly greater than baseline values before- and after-adjusting for smoking. The IL-17A:IL-17E ratio was lower at R1 and R2. Serum IL-6 and TNF levels were significantly lower at R1 only. Also exclusively at R1, serum IL-17A and IL-17E correlated positively with clinical parameters, while the IL-17A:IL-17E ratio correlated negatively with probing pocket depth and clinical attachment.
CONCLUSION: Increased serum IL-17E and a reduced IL-17A:IL-17E ratio may be indicative and/or a consequence of periodontal therapy. Therefore, the role of IL-17E in periodontal disease progression and the healing process is worthy of further investigation.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: IL-17E may be a valuable biomarker to monitor the healing process following periodontal treatment as increased IL-17E levels and a reduced IL-17A:IL-17E ratio could reflect clinical improvements post-therapy. Therefore, monitoring serum IL-17E might be useful to identify individuals who require additional periodontal treatment.
METHODS: We searched for publications that contained specific words regarding methanol poisoning in Scopus database.
RESULTS: A total of 912 articles, with 8,317 citations and with an average of 9.1 citations per document, were retrieved on methanol poisoning, and the bulk of the articles were published from the USA (20.9%), followed by Spain (4.4%), Canada (4.3%), India (3.1%), and France (3.0%). The articles were published belonging to 57 countries. No data related to methanol poisoning were published from 155 (73.1%) out of 212 countries. Twenty-one documents (2.3%) were published in Clinical Toxicology, whereas 18 (2.0%) were published in The Lancet.
CONCLUSIONS: Scientific production related to methanol poisoning is increasing. articles have been published in a wide range of journals with a variety of subject areas, most notably clinical toxicology; and the country with the greatest production was the USA.
METHODS: To retrieve documents related to pharmaceutical wastewater, we used the Scopus database on November 21, 2015. All documents with terms related to pharmaceutical wastewater in the title or abstract were analysed. Results obtained from Arab countries were compared with those obtained from Turkey, Iran and Israel.
RESULTS: Globally, a total of 6360 publications were retrieved while those from Arab countries, Iran, Turkey and Israel, were 179, 113, 96 and 54 publications respectively. The highest share of publications belonged to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with a total of 47 (26.2 %) publications, followed by Egypt (38; 21.2 %), Tunisia (17; 9.5 %) and Morocco (16; 8.9 %). The total number of citations was 1635, with a mean of 9.13 and a median (inter quartile range) of 3 (1.0-10.0). The study identified 87 (48.6 %) documents with 32 countries of international collaboration with Arab countries. It was noted that Arab researchers collaborated mainly with authors in Western Europe (54; 30.2 %), followed by authors from the Asiatic region (29; 16.2 %) and Northern America (15; 8.4 %). The most productive institution was King Saud University, KSA (13; 7.3 %), followed by the National Research Centre, Egypt (10; 7.3 %).
CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that KSA has the largest share of productivity on pharmaceutical wastewater research. Bibliometric analysis demonstrated that research productivity, mainly from Arab countries in pharmaceutical wastewater research, was relatively lagging behind. More research effort is required for Arab countries to catch up with those of non-Arab Middle Easter countries on pharmaceutical wastewater research.