Diversity of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii population in a major hospital in Kuwait

Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the most important opportunistic pathogens that causes serious health care associated complications in critically ill patients. In the current study we report on the diversity of the clinical multi-drug resistant (MDR) A. baumannii in Kuwait by molecular characterization. One hundred A. baumannii were isolated from one of the largest governmental hospitals in Kuwait. Following the identification of the isolates by molecular methods, the amplified blaOXA-51-like gene product of one isolate (KO-12) recovered from blood showed the insertion of the ISAba19 at position 379 in blaOXA-78. Of the 33 MDR isolates, 28 (85%) contained blaOXA-23, 2 (6%) blaOXA-24 and 6 (18%) blaPER-1 gene. We did not detect blaOXA-58, blaV IM, blaIMP, blaGES, blaV EB, and blaNDM genes in any of the tested isolates. In three blaPER-1 positive isolates the genetic environment of blaPER-1 consisted of two copies of ISPa12 (tnpiA1) surrounding the blaPER-1 gene on a highly stable plasmid of ca. 140-kb. Multilocus-sequence typing (MLST) analysis of the 33 A. baumannii isolates identified 20 different STs, of which six (ST-607, ST-608, ST-609, ST-610, ST-611, and ST-612) were novel. Emerging STs such as ST15 (identified for the first time in the Middle East), ST78 and ST25 were also detected. The predominant clonal complex was CC2. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and MLST defined the MDR isolates as multi-clonal with diverse lineages. Our results lead us to believe that A. baumannii is diverse in clonal origins and/or is undergoing clonal expansion continuously while multiple lineages of MDR A. baumannii circulate in hospital ward simultaneously

Efficacy of wheat-based biscuits fortified with microcapsules containing ferrous sulfate and potassium iodate or a new hydrogen-reduced elemental iron: a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial in Kuwaiti women

Adverse sensory changes prevent the addition of highly bioavailable ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) to most wheat flours. Poorly absorbable reduced Fe powders are commonly used. Encapsulation of FeSO4 can overcome these sensory changes, but the particle size of commercial compounds is too large to be used by flour mills. The first objective of the study was to measure the efficacy in wheat flour of two newly developed Fe compounds, an H-reduced Fe powder (NutraFine™ RS; North America Höganäs High Alloys LLC, Johnstown, PA, USA) and small particle-sized (40μm) encapsulated FeSO4. As a second objective, the microcapsules were evaluated as a vehicle for iodine fortification. A randomised, double-blind controlled intervention trial was conducted in Kuwaiti women (n 279; aged 18-35 years) with low body Fe stores (serum ferritin (SF) <25μg/l) randomly assigned to one of three groups (20mg Fe as NutraFine™ RS, 10mg Fe as encapsulated FeSO4 and 150μg iodine, or no fortification Fe) who consumed wheat-based biscuits 5d per week. At baseline and 22 weeks, Hb, SF, transferrin receptor, urinary iodine and body Fe stores were measured. Relative to control, mean SF in the encapsulated FeSO4 group increased by 88% (P<0·001) and body Fe stores increased from −0·96 to 2·24mg/kg body weight (P<0·001), while NutraFine™ RS did not significantly increase SF or body Fe stores. The median urinary iodine concentration increased from 140 to 213μg/l (P<0·01). NutraFine™ RS added at double the amount of Fe as FeSO4 was not efficacious in improving Fe status. The newly developed microcapsules were highly efficacious in improving both Fe stores and iodine statu

Public-Private Partnerships in Tourism Development: An Analysis of the Kuwait Experience

Tourism and recreation has become one of the important and influential sectors in most of the modern economies. This sector has been accepted as one of the alternative sources of national income, employment, and foreign exchange. The state of Kuwait has many potentialities in tourism and recreation, and exploitation of this leads to more diversification of the economy besides augmenting its contribution to the GDP. Because Kuwait is an import oriented economy, it requires hard currencies (foreign exchange) to meet the import cost as well as to maintain stability in the international market. To compensate for the revenue fall stemmed from fluctuations in oil prices—where the agriculture, fisheries, and industrial sectors are too immune and inelastic—the only alternative solution is the regeneration of the tourism and recreation to surface. This study envisages the characteristics of tourism and recreation, the economic and social importance for the society, the physical, and human endowments as well as the tourist pattern and plan for promoting and sustaining tourism in the country. The study summarizes many recommendations including the necessity of establishing an authority or a council for tourism, linking the planning of tourism development with the comprehensive planning for economic and social development in Kuwait, and to encourage the investors to develop new touristic and recreation projects

Assessing the efficiency of the training process within the ministry of social affairs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Training is the main goal of any organization that has to apply itself to achieve objectives, and it can be helpful to change the whole work environment by developing the human resources of the organization. Training presents the harmony between the progress of the organization and the development of the employees, which means that whenever there is a training programmes implemented within the organization, there is a progress and increased high performance for both organization and employees. This study examines the training process of the Ministry of Social Affairs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and demonstrates the training procedures used in this Ministry. Its purpose is to present recommendations and suggestions of the way to improve the efficiency of training programmes within the Ministry based on the results of the evaluation process of this study. It shows that the sample of this study is the employees of the Ministry only, non managers or supervisors. The questionnaire method used in this study, and the questionnaires were distributed on the employees by using self-administrated technique which will enable the researcher to get much responses. This indicates that the descriptive statistical analysis was employed in this study in the form of frequencies and percentages. The statistical analysis SPSS was used in this study to analyze the results of the questionnaires, which demonstrates that the training process of the Ministry is not affective and not performing sufficiently, and presents that there are some obstacles that stand against the development of the training in the Ministry

Crystal structure of 3-(adamantan-1-yl)- 4-(4-chlorophenyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole- 5(4H)-thione

The title compound, C18H20ClN3S, is a functionalized triazoline- 3-thione derivative. The benzene ring is almost perpendicular to the planar 1,2,4-triazole ring [maximum deviation = 0.007 (1) A ° ] with a dihedral angle of 89.61 (5)� between them and there is an adamantane substituent at the 3-position of the triazolethione ring. In the crystal, N—H� � �S hydrogenbonding interactions link the molecules into chains extending along the c-axis direction. The crystal packing is further stabilized by weak C—H� � �� interactions that link adjacent chains into a two-dimensional structure in the bc plane. The crystal studied was an inversion twin with a 0.50 (3):0.50 (3) domain ratio

The use of Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) for less plastic in Dubai

Plastic pollution is affecting negatively on the environment, it affects trees, animals, marine life, and even humans. One of the most common plastic types is plastic bags, it is widely spread due its special characteristics such as light weigh, and cheap price. In Dubai City, plastic bags are widely used especially in the supermarkets, with the increase in the population of Dubai, the number of plastic bags will increase and the impacts will be more appearance. Dubai City is a leading city in the region for its ability to change and adapt with new strategies that serves the citizen and the environment as a whole. In this project, plastic bags issue in Dubai will be studied and analyzed, beside suggesting a possible solution for this problem. The research will focus on the size of the problem and how it is affecting the environment from different aspects. Moreover, the study will use a descriptive analysis to provide a deep look at the problem. Furthermore, a secondary study will be used to help with supporting the solution. The suggested solution in this study is using reverse vending machines (RVM) in one of the biggest supermarkets in Dubai, which is Union-Coop supermarket. The research focuses on a solution that matches the vision of Dubai, towards utilizing and harnessing the technology to make citizens life easier, and save the environment from misuse of resources

The Impact Of Using Multi-Sensory Approach For Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using the Multi-Sensory Approach for teaching students with learning disabilities on the sixth grade students' achievement in mathematics at Jordanian public schools. To achieve the purpose of the study, a pre/post-test was constructed to measure students' achievement in mathematics. The test consisted of twenty items on mathematics. The sample of the study comprised (117) sixth grade students in Ruqaya bent Al Rasoul School for girls and Fatima bent el Yaman school for girls in Irbid the first directorate of Education and was distributed into four sections, which were selected purposefully. The sample of the study was divided into four groups (two experimental and two control groups). The experimental group was taught using multi-sensory approach while the control group was taught using the current approach. The sample of the study was (62) students in the experimental group and (55) students in the control group. Those groups were distributed into four purposefully selected sections in Ruqaya bent Al Rasoul School for girls and Fatima bent el Yaman school for girls in Irbid the first directorate of Education. Descriptive statistical analyses were used (Means and Standard Deviation) for the pre and post- tests of students' mathematics test to experimental and control groups. The findings of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the post- test between the control and the experimental groups in favor of the experimental group. The researcher proposed some recommendations to enhance the importance of parental involvement on students' achievement in English language such as conducting further studies on other populations and for a longer time

Pharmacokinetic studies of drug absorption into human skin

PhDOptimum therapeutic outcomes require not only proper drug selection but also effective drug delivery and monitoring. The aim of this thesis was to A) study drug delivery through the skin with a liquid formulated to promote absorption, B) develop and validate methods to analyze the drug in the samples obtained, C) assess appropriate methods to measure the transdermal delivery of drug, and D) apply to pharmacodynamics. The stability of a rectal formulation of diazepam, Diastat®, and a quality control of a topical form, TDS® diazepam, were studied using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet absorption detection (UV). It was found that diazepam at 10 mg/mL was stable in solution at various temperatures for at least 4 weeks. A pharmacokinetic study of diazepam delivery from the TDS® delivery system was compared with delivery of the drug following rectal administration of Diastat® in 12 healthy volunteers. The TDS® diazepam was evaluated for safety and no adverse effects or events were observed. The preparation was found to be able to deliver diazepam systemically in humans, the confidence interval (CI) of the ratios for Cmax and AUC of diazepam from the two formulations A (TDS®): B (rectal) were not contained within the bioequivalence limit 80–125%, Cmax (0–72h): 7.3–14% and AUC0-72h: 20–38%. In addition, the 90% CI of desmethyldiazepam (A:B) ratio were not contained within the bioequivalence limit, Cmax (0–72h): 38–54% and AUC0-72h: 33–58%. Although not bioequivalent to Diastat® these finding suggest that skin may be an alternative method of diazepam delivery but further developments and studies would be required. The development and validation of fast, high throughput methods to evaluate tetracaine from skin tape samples was another challenge. Sensitive and reliable capillary electrophoresis with UV and HPLC-UV methods were developed and validated to measure tetracaine in skin using tape samples from volunteers given 1 mL Ametop gel (4% w/w of tetracaine) to support a pharmacokinetic drug delivery study of Ametop. The results from these validation studies demonstrated an equal ability of the two methods to measure tetracaine concentrations reproducibly and accurately. The Bland Altman test was in a range of ± 1.96 SD from the mean (SD = ± 8.02, Mean = 2.23), and percentage error (± 20%.), which show an acceptable difference. The assays were found to possess both the sensitivity and specificity necessary to measure the analyte in the skin tape stripping at the concentrations range in these tapes. Finally, observation of appropriate methods to measure the transdermal drug in vivo techniques, such as microdialysis (MD) and tape stripping (TS) have been employed by plotting a concentration time profile to investigate the capability of measuring tetracaine (pharmacokinetics) in local tissue, instead of measuring tetracaine by conventional systemic measurements. The results showed that the tetracaine Cmax concentration was higher in the stratum corneum compared with the major metabolites of tetracaine, 4- butylaminobenzoic acid (BABA) by 3 and 10 times in MD and plasma, respectively. TS samples reached the maximum concentration quicker than BABA in dialysate and plasma samples (p = 0.002). The median tmax was higher in plasma (IQR -53minutes, 95% CI: - 30– -105) compared with tape samples. The AUC and Cmax for tetracaine were higher in TS compared with BABA in MD and plasma (Mean AUC0-4h: 88582, 55594 and 13208 nM.min: Mean Cmax (0–4h), 850, 459, 110 nM, respectively). In addition, the AUC and Cmax values demonstrated that data from the TS study showed less variability compared with the data from plasma. The most variable data were for MD (CV%; AUC0-4h, 24, 63, and 85%: Cmax (0–4h), 42, 60, 80%, respectively). AUC and Cmax (Bartlett’s test, p = 0.004 for AUC; and Levene’s test, p = 0.042, and 0.028, respectively) This thesis has demonstrated that 1) diazepam was successfully delivered through the skin into the systemic circulation by the TDS® system, 2) novel methods have been developed for the measurement of tetracaine and its metabolite, and 3) the methods have been successfully applied to three different sample types employed in pharmacokinetic studies