Incidence, Pattern, and Possible Risk Factors for Nasopharyngeal Cancer in the Qassim Region.

Objective To evaluate and assess the incidence, patterns, and possible risk factors for nasopharyngeal cancer among the Qassim population. Methods A retrospective study was conducted at Dr. Suliman Al-Habib Hospital in Qassim. The study included all previously confirmed cases of nasopharyngeal neoplasms between 2016 and 2022. Data was collected retrospectively from the hospital's health record, including the patient's demographics, clinical presentation, and comorbidities. IBM Corp. Released 2017. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. was used for data entry, management, and analysis. Results A total of 84 records of patients were included in the study. Males (n=55, 65.5%) were more than females (n=29, 34.5%). The majority of the patients (n=51, 62%) were aged 31-60 years. About 32 (38.0%) patients were obese. Most of the patients (n=49, 58%) presented with malignant neoplasms of the nasopharynx. The most frequent clinical presentations were nasal obstruction, runny nose, hearing loss, and neck mass. Conclusion The incidence rate of nasopharyngeal cancer was significantly higher in males compared to females (p=.003). There was no statistically significant association between age and comorbidity and the development of nasopharyngeal cancer.

Risk Factors Associated With Hearing Impairment in Infants and Children: A Systematic Review.

The purpose of the present systematic review was to synthesize evidence on associated risk factors of hearing loss (HL) in children. Evidence-based research articles on HL published between January 2013 and December 2022 using PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus databases were searched. The study included children between zero and three years of age who have permanent bilateral/unilateral HL (BHL/UHL) by employing case-control studies, randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized studies, prospective or retrospective cohort studies, and studies with or without comparison groups. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklist for longitudinal and cross-sectional studies were used to rate the quality of the chosen studies. The studies that would be considered were reviewed by two independent authors, and a third author was contacted if there was a dispute. A preliminary literature search uncovered 505 articles from the electronic search and 41 studies by hand searching. Duplicate records were eliminated, leaving 432 records. The abstract and title were read, and 340 studies were eliminated. There were 92 articles in total that qualified for full-text screening. Among these, 75 articles were disregarded since they lacked information or failed to assess the risk factors for HL. The qualitative synthesis, therefore, included 17 articles. Most often, cross-sectional study designs were used in the studies that were reviewed, which were then followed by longitudinal studies. Three of the studies that were reviewed used a prospective cohort design. The quality of all the included studies was rated to be good. The current review revealed that the primary statistically significant risk factors for HL included ventilator support; craniofacial anomalies; low birth weight (LBW); forceps delivery; loop diuretics; meningitis; asphyxia; intensive care; consanguinity; sepsis; Apgar scores between 0 and 4 at one minute; toxoplasmosis, other agents, rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes (TORCH) infections; and hyperbilirubinemia.

A Brief Review of Demographic and Clinical Correlates of Cholesteatoma Surgery in the Qassim Region.

Background Cholesteatoma is described as the accumulation of squamous epithelium and keratinocytes within and around the middle ear cleft. There is a paucity of information regarding demographic and treatment outcomes for cholesteatoma in Saudi Arabia. An evaluation of the prevalence of comorbidities, complications and associations, of surgical treatment and demographics in the Qassim region was conducted. Methods This was a six-year retrospective review of patients treated for cholesteatoma at a private health facility, from August 2016 to July 2022. Data for age, gender, nationality, presence of comorbidities, type of surgery, type of anesthesia, and associated complications were collected from the electronic medical records and analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. Results A total of 60 participants records were retrieved. The average age of the study population was ([43.2 ±SD] 21.8) years. There was a slightly higher male preponderance (males 51.7% and females 48.3%). Hypertension was the most commonly reported comorbidity (31.7%), followed by diabetes mellitus (25%). Age and gender were not statistically significantly associated with type of surgery or complications. Conclusion Demographic variables were not significantly associated with clinical correlates, however, further studies with larger sample sizes, robust clinical information, and long-term follow-up are required.

Mouth Breathing and Speech Disorders: A Multidisciplinary Evaluation Based on The Etiology.

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the most common speech impairments among mouth breathing (MB) children and to assess the relationship between them in terms of etiology, gender, clinical symptoms, clinical findings, and dental traits. Materials and Methods: A total of 498 mouth-breathers, both male and female, aged 9-17 years, were screened for allergic rhinitis (AR), adenoid hypertrophy (AH), and/or functional mouth breathing (FM). The subjects were assessed by a team that included an otorhinolaryngologist, an allergologist, an orthodontist, and a speech pathologist. Results: MB was associated with AR, AH, FM, and orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMD). AR was the most common etiology, followed by FM. Further, 81.7% of the children had speech disorders such as speech sound problems, fluency disorders, and voice disorders. A statistically significant association was found between etiology, OMD, and speech alterations. Males had a statistically highly significant frequency of speech abnormalities than females. Frontal lisp was found in 36.1%, followed by stuttering (19.2%). In 10.6% of the children, two or more speech impediments occurred simultaneously. There was also a statistically significant association between various speech abnormalities and malocclusion. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggested that articulation disorders were frequently associated with MB children. It emphasizes the necessity of monitoring MB children through a multidisciplinary approach to prevent the adverse effects of MB and improve the overall development of individuals.

Mechanical and Tribological Behavior of Functionally Graded Unidirectional Glass Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites.

This paper aims to assess experimentally the mechanical and tribological behavior of conventional and functionally graded (FG) polymeric matrix composites reinforced with continuous glass fibers. The small punch test (SPT) and a pin-on-disc device were used in the present work to examine the mechanical and wear behavior, respectively. The hand lay-up technique was used in the present investigation to manufacture the conventional and FG composites. Various wooden looms with different nailed spacing were employed to manufacture the FG composites. According to test type, the FG composite is composed of four and ten layers, with a different glass fiber volume of fraction (Vf%) for each layer. In addition, the finite element simulation based on Hashin's failure criterion and cohesive zone modeling was used to show the progressive failure and give more explanation regarding the flexural behavior of such composites. The present results indicate that the wear rate of an FG composite could be affected by many factors, including the disk speed, applied load, the composite layers number, and average glass fiber volume fraction. On the other hand, the arrangement of layers in the composite materials by variation of Vf% for each layer can improve the wear rate and value of the ultimate load before the fracture of the composite material when subjected to SPT. The experimental and numerical results for all SPT specimens showed that the fracture of the SPT specimens began beneath the punch tip and grew along the fiber direction. The ultimate flexural capacity of FG composites increased by 30% compared with the conventional composites.

Dynamic Fracture Behavior of Steel Fiber Reinforced Self-Compacting Concretes (SFRSCCs).

Three-point bending tests on notched beams of three types of steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) have been performed by using both a servo-hydraulic machine and a drop-weight impact instrument. The lo ading rates had a range of six orders of magnitude from 2.20 × 10-3 mm/s (quasi-static) to 2.66 × 10³ mm/s. These SFRSCCs had the same matrix, but various types of steel fiber (straight and hooked-end) and contents (volume ratios), 0.51%, 0.77% and 1.23%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the fracture energy and the flexural strength increase as the loading rate increases. Moreover, such tendency is relatively moderate at low rates. However, at high rates it is accentuated. For the 0.51% fiber content, the dynamic increase factors of the flexural strength and the fracture energy are approximately 6 and 3, while for the 1.23% fiber content, they are around 4 and 2, respectively. Thus, the higher the fiber content the less rate sensitivity there is.