18 research outputs found
Thoracoscopic division of vascular rings in infants and children
No full textAuthors: Al-Bassama Abdulrahman, Saquib Mallick, Al-Qahtani, Aayed, & Al-Tokhais, Tariq, , From the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery,
Author: Al-Boukai, Ahmed From the Department of Radiology,
Author: Thalag Ahmed, From Department of Anaesthesia,
Author: Aksaadu Muslem, From Department of Surgery, King Khalid University Hospital and College of Medicine, King Saud University, PO Box 86572,
Riyadh 11632, Saudi ArabiaObjective: Traditionally vascular rings in infants and children are treated through an open thoracotomy.
Recently, thoracoscopic surgery has been used for these complex procedures. This study reports our
early experience with thoracoscopic division of vascular rings and evaluates the efficacy and safety of
this approach.
Material and Methods: Patients who underwent thoracoscopic division of vascular rings at King Khalid
University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December 2004 to January 2006 are included. Their
data were carefully analyzed looking at demographics, clinical presentation, diagnostic modality, type of
the anomaly, operative details, complications, and outcome.
Results: A total of 9 patients underwent thoracoscopic division of vascular rings. Age at surgery ranged
between 2 and 108 months (mean, 24 months). Weight varied between 5.3 and 32 kg (mean, 10.3 kg).
All patients were symptomatic. Computed tomographic scan was diagnostic and accurately defined the
type of anomaly in all the patients. Four patients had a right aortic arch with an aberrant left subclavian
artery and left ductus/ligamentum arteriosum, 2 had double aortic arches, and 3 had a right aberrant
subclavian artery. One patient developed right-sided pneumothorax on the contralateral site, and another
one developed apnea 12 hours after surgery, requiring mechanical ventilation. There was no mortality.
Operative time ranged between 50 and 145 minutes, the mean being 107 minutes. The average hospital
stay was 4 days. Five patients had their preoperative symptoms completely resolved, and the rest are
showing steady improvement. The average follow-up period is 6 months
Strategy to combat obesity and to promote physical activity in Arab countries
No full textAbdulrahman O Musaiger1, Hazzaa M Al Hazzaa2, Aayed Al-Qahtani3, Jalila Elati4, Jasem Ramadan5, Nebal A AboulElla6, Najat Mokhtar7, Hashem A Kilani81Arab Center for Nutrition, Bahrain; 2,3King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, 4National Institute of Nutrition, Tunisia; 5University of Kuwait, Kuwait; 6National Nutrition Institute, Egypt; 7Ibn Tofail University, Morocco; 8Sultan Qaboos University, OmanAbstract: Obesity has become a major public health problem in the Arab countries, creating a health and economic burden on these countries’ government services. There is an urgent need to develop a strategy for prevention and control of obesity. The third Arab Conference on Obesity and Physical Activity was held in Bahrain in January 2010, and proposed the Strategy to Combat Obesity and Promote Physical Activity in Arab Countries. This strategy provides useful guidelines for each Arab country to prepare its own strategy or plan of action to prevent and control obesity. The strategy focused on expected outcomes, objectives, indicators to measure the objectives, and action needs for 9 target areas: child-care centers for preschool children, schools, primary health care, secondary care, food companies, food preparation institutes, media, public benefit organizations, and the workplace. Follow-up and future developments of this strategy were also included.Keywords: obesity, physical activity, strategy, Arab countrie
Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding in Adolescent: Safety and Efficacy
No full textBackground: Obesity prevalence is rapidly increasing among children and adolescents worldwide. It is
considered one of the most alarming public health issues facing the world today. The adult experience
has demonstrated that surgery is the only effective means of achieving persistent weight loss in obese
patients. However, little is known about bariatric surgery in children and adolescents. The aim of this
study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) in this
group of patients.
Methods: A retrospective review included all children and adolescents who underwent LAGB from
January 2003 to December 2005.
Results: Fifty-one patients underwent LAGB. The mean age was 16.8 years (range, 9-19), and the mean
body mass index was 49.9 kg/m2 (range, 38-63). Mean excess weight loss was 42% at 6 months and
60% at 1 year follow-up. The most prevalent comorbidities were obstructive sleep apnea, limited
physical activities, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Band adjustments were performed under
fluoroscopic guidance in 5 patients and direct access as a clinic procedure in the remaining. One
patient required port repositioning under fluoroscopic guidance. The mean follow-up was 16 months
(range, 3-34). There was no mortality or significant postoperative complications.
Conclusion: The absence of significant nutritional deficiency, the continued adjustability, and potential
reversibility of LAGB make it the safest, least invasive, and most effective bariatric surgery that can be
offered to the young and adolescent population
Minimal access surgery in neonates and infants
No full textBackground: Minimal access surgery (MAS) in small infants carries an important consideration. The tolerance of these small babies and the assumed physiological effect of MAS, in addition to the required
anesthetic and surgical skills, havemade it difficult to performthese types of procedures inmany international
centers. The present article reviews our experience withMAS in neonates and infants in the first year of life. Methods: The medical records of all neonates and infants (b1 year) who underwent MAS over a period of
3 years were retrospectively reviewed for demographic information, procedures, operative time, complications, outcomes, and follow-up. Most of the operations were performed with 3-mm instruments
and scopes and mean insufflation pressure of 10 mm Hg (range, 4-15 mm Hg). Result: Seventy neonates and infants were included in this study: 19 females and 51 males. The weight ranged from 1.3 to 8.2 kg (mean, 4.3 kg). The mean age was 93 days (range, 1 day to 12 months). Twentyfour (34%) were neonates (first 30 days of life). Procedures performed included repair of racheoesophageal fistula, lobectomy, repair of diaphragmatic or hiatus hernias, pull-through for imperforated anus and
Hirschsprung’s disease, plication of the diaphragm, Kasai procedure, excision of choledochal cyst, pyloromyotomy, Ladd’s procedure, and reduction of intussusceptions. There were 2 conversions, both in neonates with tracheoesophageal fistula. All patients tolerated the procedure very well, with lesser degrees in
neonates undergoing thoracoscopic procedures. Two neonates had postoperative hypothermia (b358C) and 1 neonate had high Pco2 postoperatively. There was 1 mortality and no morbidities. The follow-up ranged
from 1 month to 3 years (mean, 19 months).
Conclusion: Minimal access surgery in neonates and infants is safe and well tolerated. Intraoperative
monitoring of end-tidal CO2 and core temperature is essential in avoiding unwanted effects of performing
these procedures, especially in neonates
Elegy in Al-Akhiliya’s and Al-Khansa’s Poems: A Comparative Analytical Study
No full textلا شكَّ في أنَّ المراحل الأولى لبدايات الشِّعر العربي حتَّى استوى على ما هو عليه في الجاهليَّة كانت غامضة، ولكن يقينًا أنَّ الشِّعر قد مرَّ بمراحل مُتعدِّدة وصولًا إلى الموضوعات الشِّعرية والصياغات الكاملة والأغراض المُحكمة.
والرِّثاء غرض من الأغراض الأزليَّة المُتعلِّقة بالنَّفس الإنسانيَّة والحقيقة السَّرمديَّة المُتجلِّية في الموت، عرفه العرب مُنذ وجودهم ومُنذ معرفة مصيرهم المحتوم وهو الموت والفناء، ويتجلَّى فيما قبل الشِّعر بالبُكاء والعويل والصُّراخ على الموتى حتَّى استقرَّ غرضًا شعريًا مُهمًّا بوصفه أصدق الأغراض الشِّعريَّة؛ لأنَّ موضوعه يتعلَّق بقضيَّة الموت، وتأثيره نافذ إلى القلب مُباشرة، إذ أخذ حيِّزًا كبيرًا من نتاج الشُّعراء، فلا يخلو نتاج شاعر منه.
وبما أنَّ الشَّواعر أزخر عاطفة من الشُّعراء وتفجُّعهن أكثر، وبما أنَّ الدوافع الَّتي تُحفِّز الشَّواعر على قول الرِّثاء مُتعدِّدة ومُتنوِّعة فلا تجدها مُتساوية بينهن، فعمدنا إلى اختيار شاعرتين من عصرين مُختلفين إحداهما الخنساء الَّتي مثَّلت الرِّثاء في الشِّعر الجاهلي، والأخرى ليلى الأخيليَّة الَّتي جسَّدت الرِّثاء في العصر الأموي.There is no doubt that the early stages of Arabic poetry until it reached its current state in the pre-Islamic era were obscure, but it is certain that poetry passed through multiple stages until it reached poetic themes, complete formulations, and precise purposes. Elegy is one of the eternal purposes related to the human soul and the eternal truth manifested in death. Arabs have known it since their existence and since they knew their inevitable fate, which is death and annihilation. Before poetry, it was manifested in crying, wailing, and screaming over the dead until it became an important poetic purpose, described as the most sincere of poetic purposes, because its subject is related to the issue of death, and its effect penetrates directly to the heart, as it has taken up a large space in the poets’ production, and no poet’s production is devoid of it.
Since female poets are more emotionally charged and grieve more than male poets, and since the motives that motivate female poets to write elegies are many and varied and you do not find them equal among them, we chose two female poets from two different eras, one of them is Al-Khansa’ who represented elegies in pre-Islamic poetry, and the other is Layla Al-Akhiliya who embodied elegies in the Umayyad era.
 
Effect of Organic Soil Acidity on the Properties of Iraqi Soil
No full textThere are many problems with the constructing over organic soils as the existence of these types of soils always produces geotechnical and engineering problems for regional development. The geotechnical properties of inorganic soil greatly differ from organic soils, which is known for its high water content, low shear strength, high compressibility, acidity and long-term settlement. In this paper, two soils are chosen according to its organic content and acidity content then physical and chemical properties is done to know them characteristics and leaching process is performed to reduce its acidity that affect the properties of it and study the change of leaching on these properties. Dry hydrated lime is added to the natural and leached soils depending on the optimum lime content to improve their performance. From the physical tests, shear strength tests and consolidation test it can be noticed that the soils are behave better after leaching as it reduced in plasticity index, compressibility, and swelling and increase in shear strength. Furthermore, the leached soils are needed less percentage of lime content to produce a pH of 12.4 and the stabilized leached organic soils are behave better than the stabilized natural soils.
