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* Dr. Shihab Ghanem received news from London, UK for winning the sustainability leader of the year award which is the top prize in the inaugural IEMA (Institute Environmental Management and Assessment) awards event. The institute is the most important independent environmental institution in the UK. The institute was established by a royal decree in the UK. It is the equivalent of chartered institute of different discipline engineers but for enviromentalists.
* Dr. Muhammad Ali AlBar  emphasised the dangers of Dengue disease and sent an article of a seminar which was held to discuss the subject. He said, " This is an important article on dengue fever, its causes, the extent of its spread in the world, its risks and its treatment. Unfortunately, there has no successful vaccine yet and no cure for dengue virus so far, which is increasing rapidly in tropical regions.
The disease has reached Europe and the United States and elsewhere. It is transmitted by the Egyptian "Edis" mosquito. It is a serious disease, although the mortality rate is not high.
The article says that, "Dengue is an acute arthropod-borne viral infection that places a heavy socioeconomic and disease burden on many tropical and subtropical regions, and is the most frequent arboviral disease globally.
1 The Global Burden of Disease study reported that dengue is increasing at a higher rate than any other communicable disease, with a
400% increase over just 13 years (2000–13).
2 Although dengue is still listed as a neglected tropical disease, investments in vaccine development and novel vector control measures have increased exponentially in the past decade.
3 The article reviewed recent updates and insights into dengue prevention and control measures, its pathogenesis relevant for vaccines and therapeutics, its clinical manifestations, and patient management."
Read more here.
* Alumnus Farooq Murshed  sent a warning about the spread of Dengue disease and the prevention from being inflicted by the disease.
He explained, ''Leptospirosis is endemic in most areas where dengue virus is transmitted and may be mistaken for dengue, which is typically more common. It is important to consider leptospirosis when dengue is diagnosed in a severely ill patient, because early antibiotics are beneficial in the treatment of leptospirosis and are not given for dengue virus infection. Co-infection occurs in up to 8% of cases.
Transmission of leptospires to humans typically occurs by invasion across mucosal surfaces or non-intact skin. Infection may occur via direct contact with infected animals or their tissues or urine or through contact with contaminated water and soil.
*Common in summer and after rainfall
*The clinical spectrum is broad, as I know of-ranging from asymptomatic illness to classic asymptomatic of Weil's disease.
*Leptospirosis is a zoonosis. Mammalian reservoir hosts are live stock and rodents
*In a set up like in Yemen, we have to always consider Occupational etiology. Leptospirosis is an Occupational zoonosis. With collection of cesspool of drainage water as in mansoora and Crater, even a person who walks through have a risk of getting the infection through abraded skin. Sewers and garbage collectors are more prone for this disease. If you go to upcountry, agricultural farming and poor housekeeping pose an important public health risk. In the situation as in Aden now (garbage accumulation and collection of drainage water) we can expect outbursts of cases. The disease can be endemic here. We should remember that it's a notifiable disease.
*Elsewhere, I read that recreational sports is another factor eg swimming in contaminated pools or rivers.
*Don't forget the go-down and supermarket workers where rodents are abundant
*Incubation period:6 days to 1 month
*While history taking, in addition to regular questions about the symptoms, always ask for :
-Where are you coming from
-What's your job nature
-When was the possible exposure, eg. swimming in contaminated water or working in the field, cattle or go downs
-Injuries to extremities
-Anybody else affected
-origin proof symptoms
*Collection of urine, blood and CSF (if necessary). Serological diagnosis will pinpoint. (Korthof media and subculture in Stuart's media for minimum of four weeks
*in doubtful cases, start broad spectrum antibiotics Always look for Jarish Hexheimer like reaction with hypotension and anaphylaxis following administration of antibiotics and be prepared to handle.
*Chemo prophylaxis is Doxy."
To read more on the subject click here.
* In its website Aden Observer published a news item about Dr. Omniyat Shaif Abu Bakr Al-Shuaibi. She is a south Arabian doctor who is considered one of the best oncologists in Britain. According to the British press published, Omniyat and a team of scientists headed by him, succeeded in achieving an important scientific achievement in the field of medicine in the discovery of a new drug to treat cancer. Sheffield doctor created a helmet for brain tumour patients to boost drug delivery during treatment.
A magnetic helmet, created by a Sheffield doctor, which could boost drug delivery to the brain is among the ideas being shortlisted for fast-track business development.
Dr Munitta Muthana, a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Oncology and Metabolism, said, "The helmet is being created by a team led by Dr. Munitta Muthana from the University of Sheffield.
It is one of the ideas which has been given support from a new charity partnership aimed at improving outcomes for brain tumour patients.
Dr. David Jenkinson, Chief Scientific Officer for The Brain Tumour Charity.
The Brain Tumour Charity is the first UK charity to team up with The US Center for Advancing Innovation or CAI, called ‘Tinder for start-ups’, to encourage inventors and researchers from around the world to submit their ideas for commercial development by entrepreneurs.
The charity has pledged $600,000, (£450,000), towards The Brain Race, a virtual ‘Dragons’ Den’ style process in which individuals and teams will be matched with potential investors to receive expert guidance in all aspects of bringing a product to market or transforming an idea into reality.
Dr Muthana said: “I am really excited about this project, because no matter what kind of drugs you have to treat brain tumours, you have to find a way to get them to the tumour across the blood-brain barrier.”
Dr Muthana, a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Oncology and Metabolism, has shown previously that anti-cancer drugs attached to iron nanoparticles can be successfully ‘steered’ to the site of a tumour using an external magnetic force.
Her published studies have involved either a small magnet placed on the skin above the site of a tumour or an MRI machine in which magnetic force can be focused on a particular area.
It was, however, while she was undergoing an MRI scan herself for a knee injury in 2017, Dr Muthana wondered whether there might be a what she calls a ‘middle ground’, a way of creating a magnetic field around the brain that would be less uncomfortable and daunting for patients, and less expensive, than an MRI scan.
She and her team have since used a 3D printer to create models of both a human head and a brain tumour to help them establish accurately the strength of magnetic force required to draw these iron nanoparticles towards tumours deep within the brain.
They are now designing a helmet to house the magnet for patients to wear during treatment.
Dr David Jenkinson, Chief Scientific Officer for The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “We’re delighted to have agreed to this partnership, which is the first of its kind between The Center for Advancing Innovation and a UK-based charity.
“We’ve taken this pioneering step because we know how important it is to speed up progress towards more effective treatments for brain tumours, which devastate so many lives worldwide every day.”
Visit www.thebraintumourcharity.org for details.
* Aramco world website published in its recent issues an article about Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin, who published his article in Princeton UP, 978-0-69117-466-2, $29.95, hb.
The article was reviewed by Tom Verde on July 15, 2019.
"This is not so much a traditional biography as an exploration of one of the greatest minds in the history of thought. There are sections on Ibn Khaldun’s education, travels and government postings in North Africa, Egypt and Spain in the 14th and early 15th century. And we learn of shoulder-rubbing with contemporary historians like Fez’s Ibn al-Khatib,
“the single most influential person in Ibn Khaldun’s life,” or Egypt’s al-Maqrizi, who praised his colleague’s groundbreaking analysis of history—the Muqaddimah—as “the cream of knowledge,” composed in a style “more brilliant than a well- arranged pearl.” This study examines Ibn Khaldun’s manifold interests and curiosities (among them nomads, law, astrology and economics), and methodology, particularly “cause and effect,” and “how things work” when they are similar or dissimilar—an unusual approach for a historian of his day. The reflections of modern admirers, from Arnold Toynbee to Mark Zuckerberg, add scaffolding to Irwin’s pursuit of the “sheer depth” of Ibn Khaldun’s thinking."
Read more here.
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