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Factors associated with overweight and obesity in Lebanese male patients with schizophrenia
No full textInternational audiencePurpose: To assess the influence of lifestyle factors, antipsychotic medications, and psychosis symptoms on obesity in a group of male patients with schizophrenia in Lebanon.Design/methods: A cross-sectional study conducted between May and July 2018 enrolling 149 male patients with chronic schizophrenia.Results: We found that 59.1% of the patients were obese/overweight. Older age and higher negative and total positive and negative syndrome scale scores were significantly associated with lower body mass index values.Practice implications: This study shed light on some factors associated with obesity in male patients with schizophrenia, which may be targeted for the prevention and management of obesity. Some interventions were proposed such as focusing on patients' physical health, psychiatric treatment, and maintaining a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle
Validation of the Arabic version of the “12-item short-form health survey” (SF-12) in a sample of Lebanese adults
No full textInternational audienceAbstract Background In clinical practice, quality of life measures can be used alongside some types of assessment to give valuable information that can identify areas that influence an individual and help the clinician make the best healthcare choices. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the 12-item short-form health survey (SF-12) in a sample of Lebanese adults. Methods This cross-sectional study performed between July and November 2019 recruited 269 participants. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of the SF-12 questionnaire, and a factor analysis using the principal component analysis was performed to confirm its construct validity. Results The mean score for the “physical component summary (PCS-12)” was 50.27 ± 8.94 (95 % CI: 49.18–51.36) and for the “Mental component summary (MCS-12)” was 44.95 ± 12.17 (95 % CI: 43.47–46.43). A satisfactory Cronbach’s alpha was found for the two components: MCS (α = 0.707) and PCS (α = 0.743). The principal component analysis converged over a two-factor solution (physical and mental), explaining a total variance of 55.75 %. Correlations between the SF-12 scales and single items were significant, showing a good construct validity. The “physical functioning”, “role physical”, “bodily pain”, and “general health” subscales were highly associated with “PCS-12”, while the “vitality”, “social functioning”, “role emotional”, and “mental health” subscales were more associated with MCS-12. Conclusions The Arabic version of the SF-12 is a reliable, easy-to-use, and valid tool to measure health-related quality of life in the general population. Future studies using a larger sample size and focusing on questionnaire psychometric properties are necessary to confirm our findings
Association of problematic internet use with depression, impulsivity, anger, aggression, and social anxiety: Results of a national study among Lebanese adolescents
No full textInternational audienceImportance: Several studies conducted worldwide (mostly in Western countries) highlighted the negative effects of problematic internet use, particularly among adolescents aged 12 to 17, including depression, impulsivity, aggression, and social fear and avoidance. In Lebanon, literature on the prevalence and impact of problematic internet use among adolescents is limited.Objective: This study aim was to study the association between problematic internet use and depression, impulsivity, anger, aggression and social phobia among Lebanese adolescents.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 1103 young adolescents (14-17 years), recruited from October 2017 till April 2018. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) was used to evaluate the level of problematic internet use. Data were analyzed using the MANCOVA analysis. The main independent variable of interest was the IAT, while the dependent variables included the psychological scales.Results: The multivariate analysis taking the psychological scales as the dependent variables and the problematic internet use (IAT score) as an independent variable, showed that problematic internet use was associated with higher depression, impulsivity, aggression, anger, hostility and social anxiety.Interpretation: Problematic internet use has become an important health issue that should not be overlooked, particularly because of the increased use of the internet by adolescents. Educational programs on early exposure to the internet should be developed
Change Detection Types of Buildings in Aleppo Citadel Urban Area During Syrian Crisis Using Self-Organizing Maps Neural Networks and VHR Quickbird & Worldview-2 Satellite Images
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The healthcare costs of antimicrobial resistance in Lebanon: a multi-centre prospective cohort study from the payer perspective
No full textInternational audienceBackground: Our aim was to examine whether the length of stay, hospital charges and in-hospital mortality attributable to healthcare- and community-associated infections due to antimicrobial-resistant bacteria were higher compared with those due to susceptible bacteria in the Lebanese healthcare settings using different methodology of analysis from the payer perspective .Methods: We performed a multi-centre prospective cohort study in ten hospitals across Lebanon. The sample size consisted of 1289 patients with documented healthcare-associated infection (HAI) or community-associated infection (CAI). We conducted three separate analysis to adjust for confounders and time-dependent bias: (1) Post-HAIs in which we included the excess LOS and hospital charges incurred after infection and (2) Matched cohort, in which we matched the patients based on propensity score estimates (3) The conventional method, in which we considered the entire hospital stay and allocated charges attributable to CAI. The linear regression models accounted for multiple confounders.Results: HAIs and CAIs with resistant versus susceptible bacteria were associated with a significant excess length of hospital stay (2.69 days [95% CI,1.5-3.9]; p < 0.001) and (2.2 days [95% CI,1.2-3.3]; p < 0.001) and resulted in additional hospital charges (889 [95% CI, 378-1400]; p = 0.001) respectively. Compared with the post-HAIs analysis, the matched cohort method showed a reduction by 26 and 13% in hospital charges and LOS estimates respectively. Infections with resistant bacteria did not decrease the time to in-hospital mortality, for both healthcare- or community-associated infections. Resistant cases in the post-HAIs analysis showed a significantly higher risk of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 0.517 [95% CI, 0.327-0.820]; p = 0.05).Conclusion: This is the first nationwide study that quantifies the healthcare costs of antimicrobial resistance in Lebanon. For cases with HAIs, matched cohort analysis showed more conservative estimates compared with post-HAIs method. The differences in estimates highlight the need for a unified methodology to estimate the burden of antimicrobial resistance in order to accurately advise health policy makers and prioritize resources expenditure
Differentiation of COVID‐19 signs and symptoms from allergic rhinitis and common cold: An ARIA‐EAACI‐GA 2 LEN consensus
No full textInternational audienceAlthough there are many asymptomatic patients, one of the problems of COVID-19 is early recognition of the disease. COVID-19 symptoms are polymorphic and may include upper respiratory symptoms. However, COVID-19 symptoms may be mistaken with the common cold or allergic rhinitis. An ARIA-EAACI study group attempted to differentiate upper respiratory symptoms between the three diseases.Methods: A modified Delphi process was used. The ARIA members who were seeing COVID-19 patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the upper airway symptoms of COVID-19, common cold and allergic rhinitis.Results: Among the 192 ARIA members who were invited to respond to the questionnaire, 89 responded and 87 questionnaires were analysed. The consensus was then reported. A two-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in the symptom intensity between the three diseases (p < .001).Conclusions: This modified Delphi approach enabled the differentiation of upper respiratory symptoms between COVID-19, the common cold and allergic rhinitis. An electronic algorithm will be devised using the questionnaire
Emotional eating among Lebanese adults: scale validation, prevalence and correlates
No full textInternational audienceObjectives: The present study aimed at developing an Arabic version of the Emotional Eating Scale (EES) and examining its reliability and validity among a sample of the Lebanese population. The secondary objective was to evaluate the correlation between emotional eating and body dissatisfaction along with depression and/or self-esteem among a representative sample of the Lebanese population.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and May 2018. The sample was drawn proportionately from all Lebanese Mohafazat.Results: All items could be extracted from the list, except items 17 and 19. The EES items converged over a solution of four factors that had an Eigenvalue over 1, explaining a total of 67.06% of the variance (KMO = 0.939; Bartlett's test of sphericity p < 0.001; αCronbach = 0.952). A higher body dissatisfaction was significantly associated with higher emotional eating (β = 0.31) and lower self-esteem (β = - 0.054); however, no significant association was found with depression. Self-esteem and depression were not found to be significantly associated with emotional eating. When introducing depression and self-esteem as mediator factors for body dissatisfaction and emotional eating, body dissatisfaction did not remain significantly associated with emotional eating.Conclusion: In this study, the Emotional Eating Scale was validated in Arabic among the Lebanese adult population, making this scale usable in further Lebanese research. Moreover, our results showed that body dissatisfaction was positively correlated with emotional eating and self-esteem, but not with depression. A positive association between body dissatisfaction and emotional eating was also demonstrated. This research offers new perspectives for the evaluation of emotional eating among the Lebanese adult population
Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: correlation with clinical and genetic factors
No full textInternational audienceAim: Explore the possible association between clinical factors and genetic variants of the dopamine pathways and negative symptoms. Materials & methods: Negative symptoms were assessed in 206 patients with schizophrenia using the Arabic version of the self-evaluation of negative symptoms scale and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Genotyping for COMT, DRD2, MTHFR and OPRM1 genes was performed. Results: Multivariable analysis showed that higher self-evaluation of negative symptoms scale scores were significantly associated with higher age, higher chlorpromazine-equivalent daily dose for typical antipsychotics and in married patients. Higher negative Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores were significantly associated with women and having the CT genotype for MTHFR c.677C>T (β = 4.25; p = 0.008) compared with CC patients. Conclusion: Understanding both clinical/genetic factors could help improve the treatment of patients
LA COVID-19 ET L’INTERNATIONALISATION DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR AU MOYEN-ORIENT
No full textCOMITÉ CONFREMO SUR L’INTERNATIONALISATIONL'internationalisation de l'enseignement supérieur a des racines anciennes au Moyen-Orient, mais ce phénomène ne cesse de se redéfinir. Il se décline selon de nombreuses composantes: il ne s'agit pas seulement de la mobilité des étudiants et des chercheurs, mais d'un processus d'intégration dans une perspective interculturelle et mondiale, dans toutes les activités de recherche et d'enseignement comme les campus délocalisés, l'enseignement à distance, l'apprentissage de langues étrangères, les projets coopératifs internationaux, les échanges de compétences et de savoirs etc. Tout cela contribue à l'internationalisation des Etablissements d'Enseignement Supérieur (EES). Ayant accusé un retard au XX e siècle, les EES du Moyen-Orient ont d'abord passé les deux dernières décennies à combler ce retard et, ensuite, ont dépassé d'autres régions du monde à un rythme effréné, bien que la tendance ait été hétérogène d'un pays à un autre. La crise de la COVID-19 a certainement mis un frein à la composante mobilité internationale et a accru certaines inégalités entre les étudiants d'une part et entre les EES les plus riches et les plus pauvres d'autre part. Pourtant, la pandémie a aussi créé une opportunité pour s'investir dans l'enseignement en ligne, pour réfléchir à l'élargissement et à l'approfondissement de l'offre en cours, et aussi pour se concentrer sur l'internationalisation « à domicile ». Ces deux piliers interdépendants (enseignement à distance et internationalisation « à domicile ») peuvent constituer une nouvelle phase dans l'internationalisation de l'enseignement supérieur au Moyen-Orient
PROLISEAN: A New Security Protocol for Programmable Matter
No full textInternational audienceThe vision for programmable matter is to create a material that can be reprogrammed to have different shapes and to change its physical properties on demand. They are autonomous systems composed of a huge number of independent connected elements called particles. The connections to one another form the overall shape of the system. These particles are capable of interacting with each other and take decisions based on their environment. Beyond sensing, processing, and communication capabilities, programmable matter includes actuation and motion capabilities. It could be deployed in different domains and will constitute an intelligent component of the IoT. A lot of applications can derive from this technology, such as medical or industrial applications. However, just like any other technology, security is a huge concern. Given its distributed architecture and its processing limitations, programmable matter cannot handle the traditional security protocols and encryption algorithms. This article proposes a new security protocol optimized and dedicated for IoT programmable matter. This protocol is based on lightweight cryptography and uses the same encryption protocol as a hashing function while keeping the distributed architecture in mind. The analysis and simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed method and that a supercomputer will need about 5.93 × 1025 years to decrypt the message