Patients with Cancer Receiving Radiotherapy Health Education: Integrative Literature Review

Background: Currently, radiotherapy is a backbone of cancer therapy and provides cure or palliative care for large numbers of cancer population. Patient information and education are important aspects of treatment which vary depending on the treatment site, length of the treatment, and type of the treatment. Purpose: Assess the effectiveness of patient's educational intervention on the health status and correlated symptoms in patients with cancer undergoing radiotherapy treatment. Methods: An integrative literature review design is used. A literature search is performed using three databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE via PubMed, and Cochrane Library using the combination of four key words. Nine articles were reviewed and considered in this review. Findings: In the reviewed articles, there was a positive relationship between educational interventions and the patient's health status and associated symptoms regarding radiotherapy treatment. There was a consistency in the articles regarding the best time for education to be delivered, the most appropriate formatting for the education interventions, role of nurses regarding the effectiveness of delivering education, and the limitations which came across these studies. Conclusion: Patient education has a positive effect on the general health status for the patient with cancer, and on the related-symptoms associated with radiotherapy. Implications: The role of oncology nurses must be expanded to include nurse educators who are responsible for appropriate education of patient with cancer from the early diagnosis to the late stages of cancer. Recommendations: Further investigations are required toward the patient's understanding about radiotherapy treatment and its related symptoms. Keywords: patient education, health promotion, radiotherapy, cance

MEDICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS OF ACTIVATED CHARCOAL: REVIEW ARTICLE

This review article purposes to focus on the roles associated with activated charcoal (AC). While AC is mainly associated with treatment of poisoning substances, it has other important roles in the treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease which enhances the outcome of renal dialysis. We also indicated to the use of AC in providing protection for workers against vapors in working atmosphere through the use of charcoal cartridge. AC has potential roles in removal of heavy metals from environment particularly water. AC has therapeutic and environmental applications due to its large surface area. Taken together, AC various applications which have to taken seriously to offer benefits other than being used for treating poisoning substances

Instructors’ Digital Competencies for Innovative Learning: Human Resource Management Perspectives

Purpose: This paper reviews related literature, including models and frameworks that focus on the skills of the digital instructor in the innovative learning environment. The study also tries to identify, key areas and missing factors, and thus locate digital skills and future avenues for education and satisfy the needs of digital-age learners.   Theoretical framework: Information technology will  have  a  significant  impact  on education  if  operated  properly  by  competent  and  capable  instructors. The accelerated application and investment in technology have altered education, and instructors play a crucial role in the transition to 21st-century learning standards and methods. This is especially important because the future will be dominated by artificial intelligence (AI), advanced technology, and automation, which will require the next generation of employees to be tech-savvy. Therefore, this study will locate digital skills for instructors and provide recommendations and a road map that support both the advanced technological tools and the new innovative learning strategies in the context of human resource management.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The researchers took a literature review as a method to determine the current situation, success factors of online learning, instructors’ skills in the context of HRM. In addition, a qualitative analysis was conducted in the form of a focus group discussion, to spotlights on issues related to instructors needs to practice their roles in the e-learning environment.   Findings: The results of this study have provided evidence that instructors' proficiency in IT “Digital Instructors” will transform teaching and learning to satisfy the 4th industrial revolution which is based on digital skills and contribute to the digital economy.   Originality/Value: The results of this  study  are  expected  to  be  useful  input  for policymakers in education  to  be  more  courageous in  making  decisions  when  investing  in  IT resources and human resources “Instructors” in order to create superior and competitive teaching and learning environment.  A framework is proposed in this study with consideration of HRM issues that will work effectively to enhance the role of digital education in society and contribute to the development of the educational process

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EMPLOYEES' PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM: KUWAIT CASE STUDY

Purpose: Performance appraisal systems have become a crucial tool for organizations in evaluating and maximizing the effectiveness of their employees. It is the main goal of this study to find out how well the employees' performance appraisal system for employees works in Kuwait, paying special attention to how employees and managers feel about it in both private and public sectors.   Theoretical Framework: Performance appraisal systems play a critical role in enhancing organizational performance, employee development, and overall job satisfaction. However, the effectiveness of such systems can vary based on organizational cultures, contextual factors, and the alignment of appraisal practices with local norms. A literature review was a vital step, it established a foundation for this study and guides its design, implementation, and interpretation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gather insights from a diverse sample of employees and managers across various institutions in Kuwait in both of its sectors. The research design allows for the collection of both quantitative data, offering statistical trends and patterns, and qualitative data, providing nuanced perspectives and in-depth understanding. Findings: Findings reveals a moderate level of agreement, satisfaction, or endorsement of the performance appraisal system in their organizations. Results also demonstrate significant differences between respondents from government and private sectors, in favor of private. Originality/Value: This research also shed lights on the strengths and areas requiring improvement in such systems which is valuable insights for organizations looking to improve their performance management processes, leading to improved employee performance, engagement, and decision-making

Validation of the Arabic version of medication adherence report scale questionnaire and beliefs about medication -specific questionnaire: A factor analysis study

Medication Adherence Report Scale questionnaire (MARS-5) and the Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire-specific (BMQ-specific) are well known tools to assess adherence to medication and beliefs of chronic patients. However, validated Arabic versions of such questionnaires are lacking. We aim to validate the Arabic versions of BMQ-specific and MARS-5. In this study, a cross-sectional study was performed between November 2019 and March 2020. Participants were reached from secondary and tertiary care clinics in Jordan. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to validate the employed questionnaires on the tested sample. The internal consistency of the questionnaires was assessed by calculating Cronbach's alpha, and Cronbach's alpha if item is deleted. A total of 485 patients who met the inclusion criteria were recruited. The mean age of the participants was 57.14 years (22-82 years); and 39% of the participants were older than 65 years. The most common chronic diseases reported by participants were hypertension and diabetes mellitus, 35.7 and 32.2% respectively. EFA suggested two-factor model for BMQ-specific and one-factor model for MARS-5 which was confirmed by CFA analyses. The resulted Cronbach's alphas of the questionnaires ranged from 0.89-0.93. Both analyses showed that the Arabic versions of both MARS-5 and BMQ-specific are valid and can be used for the suggested study population. Further validation-based research may enhance the transcultural adaptation of such questionnaires

Protective role of nanoemulsion containing roman chamomile oil against mitomycin C-induced toxicity in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma bearing mice

Mitomycin-C (MC), an anticancer agent, induces oxidative stress in normal tissues causing severe toxicity. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the side effects of MC may be diminished by the incorporation of MC into nanoemulsion containing Roman chamomile oil (RCM-NE). Fifty mice were equally divided into five groups. The first and second groups were the control and the untreated Ehrlich ascites carcinoma bearing mice (EAC), respectively, while the other three groups were EAC-bearing mice treated once intraperitoneally with a dose of 200 µL of RCM-NE, 1 mg/kg−1 MC/200 µL normal saline, and 1 mg/kg−1 MC/200 µL RCM-NE. The protective effect of the RCM-NE was examined by measuring the alterations in complete blood count, organs weight indices, and levels of serum biochemical parameters. The oxidative stress was assessed by measuring lipid peroxidation and enzyme activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and thioredoxin reductase-1. MC-RCM-NE has significantly reduced the toxicity of MC on the white blood cells and platelets. It improved the renal and cardiac biomarker levels and the antioxidants of the kidney, heart, and thymus. The protective effect of the RCM-NE on the blood and organs against MC toxicity was associated with the decreasing of oxidative stress and maintaining the activity of the antioxidants

Protective role of nanoemulsion containing roman chamomile oil against mitomycin C-induced toxicity in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma bearing mice

33-44Mitomycin-C (MC), an anticancer agent, induces oxidative stress in normal tissues causing severe toxicity. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the side effects of MC may be diminished by the incorporation of MC into nanoemulsion containing Roman chamomile oil (RCM-NE). Fifty mice were equally divided into five groups. The first and second groups were the control and the untreated Ehrlich ascites carcinoma bearing mice (EAC), respectively, while the other three groups were EAC-bearing mice treated once intraperitoneally with a dose of 200 µL of RCM-NE, 1 mg/kg−1 MC/200 µL normal saline, and 1 mg/kg−1 MC/200 µL RCM-NE. The protective effect of the RCM-NE was examined by measuring the alterations in complete blood count, organs weight indices, and levels of serum biochemical parameters. The oxidative stress was assessed by measuring lipid peroxidation and enzyme activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and thioredoxin reductase-1. MC-RCM-NE has significantly reduced the toxicity of MC on the white blood cells and platelets. It improved the renal and cardiac biomarker levels and the antioxidants of the kidney, heart, and thymus. The protective effect of the RCM-NE on the blood and organs against MC toxicity was associated with the decreasing of oxidative stress and maintaining the activity of the antioxidants

SDF2Net: Shallow to Deep Feature Fusion Network for PolSAR Image Classification

Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images encompass valuable information that can facilitate extensive land cover interpretation and generate diverse output products. Extracting meaningful features from PolSAR data poses challenges distinct from those encountered in optical imagery. Deep learning (DL) methods offer effective solutions for overcoming these challenges in PolSAR feature extraction. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) play a crucial role in capturing PolSAR image characteristics by leveraging kernel capabilities to consider local information and the complex-valued nature of PolSAR data. In this study, a novel three-branch fusion of complex-valued CNN, named the Shallow to Deep Feature Fusion Network (SDF2Net), is proposed for PolSAR image classification. To validate the performance of the proposed method, classification results are compared against multiple state-of-the-art approaches using the airborne synthetic aperture radar (AIRSAR) datasets of Flevoland and San Francisco, as well as the ESAR Oberpfaffenhofen dataset. The results indicate that the proposed approach demonstrates improvements in overallaccuracy, with a 1.3% and 0.8% enhancement for the AIRSAR datasets and a 0.5% improvement for the ESAR dataset. Analyses conducted on the Flevoland data underscore the effectiveness of the SDF2Net model, revealing a promising overall accuracy of 96.01% even with only a 1% sampling ratio

University-Industry Partnership in the Arab Word: Case of Jordan

This study aims to identify the actual partnership level between the Jordanian public universities and the industrial sector. To achieve this objective, a sequential exploratory design was used: First, a qualitative exploratory study included in-depth interviews with both higher education and industry experts were conducted. The outcomes of these interviews were used to develop two questionnaires. Second: The study sample consists of administrative academics and executive directors of the public universities and industrial companies under investigation. Findings show that, academics and industrialists differently evaluate the level of partnership. Mani factors that affect this partnership are level of interest and confidence, communication channels, organizational structure, corporate characteristics, incentive system, level of conflict, and previous experiences. Most forms of partnership were limited to training, participation in joint-conferences and workshops, and developing entrepreneurial ideas. Moreover, the limited expenditure on scientific research, high bureaucracy, cultural differences, and conflicts of goals, have negative impact over the level of partnership. Finally, several recommendations have been suggested

PATIENT'S SAFETY CULTURE: PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS: REVIEW ARTICLE

This study was conducted to review the literature towards patient's safety culture in terms and applications. Patient's safety is an essential component of healthcare quality. Even with continuous alertness, health care providers face many challenges in today’s health care environment in trying to keep patients safe. Patient's safety is now a required subject that can provide feedback to the healthcare systems with the possibility of implementing improvement measures based on the identification of specific problems. The culture of patient's safety can be analyzed at different levels of the healthcare system, through identifying strengths and weaknesses that configure the way that healthcare professionals think, behave and approach their work. Continuous evolutions in healthcare increase the importance of establishing and maintaining a culture of patient's safety. Therefore research on safety culture is needed to raise awareness about the role of culture in promoting a safer environment. Patient's safety culture examines how the perceptions, behaviors, and competencies of individuals and groups determine an organization’s commitment, style, and proficiency in health and safety management and it is used by organizations to determine targets for interventions to improve patient's safety, evaluate the success of patient's safety interventions, fulfill regulatory requirements, and conduct benchmarking. Patient's safety culture is approached from different perspectives or dimensions such as reporting the frequency and severity of incidents, which so far are not taken into account by hospital staff. In this sense, an ongoing commitment must exist by management to promote and facilitate the culture of patient's safety by providing the necessary tools to identify the most prevalent cultural pattern