Utilisation of the health belief model to study the behavioural intentions relating to obesity management among university students: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity are excessive fat accumulations linked with many health problems, including heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Multiple studies have demonstrated that beliefs about overweight, obesity and self-efficacy play essential roles in the success of interventions for obesity management. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the perceptions of university students of overweight and obesity using the health belief model (HBM) and to analyse their association with the body mass index (BMI) categories of the students. DESIGN: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study and a multistage sampling technique were used to ensure the recruitment of students from selected colleges of Jazan University-Saudi Arabia. SETTING: Six colleges of Jazan University were randomly selected to ensure equal representation of health sciences, sciences and humanities colleges. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 579 students completed an online survey between January and April 2023. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were demographic characteristics and HBM constructs. Secondary outcome measures were behavioural intentions relating to obesity management. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that gender and self-reported family history of obesity were significantly correlated with the BMI categories of the students (p <0.001). Students in the underweight category showed the highest mean score for perceived severity (3.62 ±0.08). Perceived self-efficacy in exercise and diet was significantly associated with BMI categories, with adjusted ORs of 2.82 (2.10 to 3.79) and 1.51 (1.09 to 2.09), respectively. Perceived barriers to healthy eating and regular physical activity were significantly related to the behavioural intentions of obesity management. Multivariate logistic regression showed that perceived severity, perceived cues to action, perceived barriers and self-efficacy in dieting and exercise were significant predictors of behavioural intentions for the management of obesity. CONCLUSION: This study underscores the need for tailored health promotion strategies that consider the perceptions and beliefs of people about the management of obesity.

Cancer research in the United Arab Emirates from birth to present: A bibliometric analysis.

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that the incidence of cancer is increasing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This analysis aimed to determine the current cancer research output in the UAE to guide future national research. Methods: The Scopus database was searched for cancer-related bibliographic data from the UAE. The number of publications, citation analysis, co-authorship of the author, institution, and country, keyword co-occurrence, and reference co-citations were analyzed using the R-studio bibliometrics package and VOSviewer software. Results: A total of 1678 journal articles were retrieved from 1981 to 2022. Cancer research in the UAE (UCR) is increasing at a rate of 14.64% (R-squared = 0.75; F = 46.477; P<0.001). The UAE had a 0.06% participation rate in terms of the number of original articles. The rate of international co-authorship is 40.23%. The U.S.A., U.K., Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and Canada had more than 100 co-authored documents from 156 countries that collaborated with the U.A.E. Conclusions: Compared to other nations, the UAE has fewer publications on cancer, although the number is growing. The current report provides an up-to-date and in-depth summary of the trends in UCR. This project is an excellent place for researchers interested in conducting data-mapping work in this field.

Corrigendum: Effectiveness and determinants of smoking cessation in the Saudi Arabian Region of Jazan: A cross-sectional study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.18332/tid/156842.].

Effectiveness and determinants of smoking cessation in the Saudi Arabian Region of Jazan: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking cessation has significant health benefits. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy and related factors of smoking cessation therapies in the Jazan Region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study that took place at smoking cessation clinics in primary healthcare centers between January 2019 and January 2020. RESULTS: This study enrolled a total of 103 people. The success rate for quitting smoking was 36% at three months, with a 13% relapse rate at six months. Age (p=0.017), occupation (p=0.046), daily cigarette intake (p=0.015), and number of visits (p=0.001) were all found to be significant determinants of smoking cessation. In the multivariate analysis, only the number of visits increased the likelihood to quit smoking (AOR=0.31; 95% CI: 0.15-0.63). Self-efficacy was cited as the primary reason for quitting smoking by 71% of the participants, whereas family support, smoking cessation therapies, and friends' support were cited as predictive variables by 18%, 10%, and 1% of the participants, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Smokers who received the smoking cessation intervention package were three times more likely to succeed in giving up smoking when compared to those who received the routine service. Regular follow-up during smoking cessation interventions significantly enhanced the quit rate. It is recommended that pharmacotherapy strategies and intense therapy performed face-to-face with a cessation counselor be combined to improve the quit rate.

Awareness, knowledge and perception of electronic cigarettes among undergraduate students in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia.

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has steadily grown over the past few years, rising in popularity amongst young adults, especially. Owing to the perception that e-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes, some people have resorted to using them as a means of quitting cigarette smoking. This study aimed to assess the awareness, knowledge, perception and use of e-cigarettes among Jazan University students in Saudi Arabia. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted with 775 students. Using stratified random sampling to recruit study participants, the dataset tabling the use of e-cigarettes, as well as knowledge, perception and awareness was collected using a translated and culturally adapted structured Arabic questionnaire. Our results showed that 21.0% of the participants used e-cigarettes and 35.1% of them used them to quit smoking. E-cigarette use was mostly reported by students from the College of Medical Applied Sciences (31.7%). The overall knowledge score was 3.9, with a standard deviation of 1.3 for the score range from zero to seven. About half of the participants correctly identified e-cigarettes as not less addictive' than cigarettes. However, 70.2% of students failed to identify e-cigarettes as a source of second-hand exposure to nicotine. About two-thirds of the sample believed that e-cigarettes could adversely affect health. The perception of using e-cigarettes for smoking cessation was not significantly associated with e-cigarette use. In conclusion, the prevalence of e-cigarette use was similar to that reported in the literature. However, Jazan University students failed to identify the health risks associated with e-cigarette use. Therefore, a strategy to enhance students' awareness of the benefits and harms of e-cigarettes is needed.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling, toxicity, and gene expression responses to mono-methylchrysenes.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) comprise a large family of toxic compounds that come from natural and anthropogenic sources. Chrysene is a PAH with multiple effects, but the toxic potentials of mono-methylchrysenes are less characterized. A comparison of chrysene and six mono-methylchrysenes was performed using assays for cytotoxicity, human aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) reporter gene signaling, and AhR-regulated target gene and protein expression. Sulforhodamine B and trypan blue dye binding assays revealed these chrysenes to be similar in their cytotoxic effects on HepG2 cells. A yeast-based reporter assay detecting human AhR-mediated gene expression identified 4-methylchrysene as being six times more potent and 5-methylchrysene about one-third as potent as chrysene. Other methylchrysenes were more similar to chrysene in the ability to act as AhR ligands. The mono-methylchrysenes all strongly induced CYP1A1 mRNA and protein and moderately induced CYP1B1 expression in HepG2 cells. Levels of CYP1A2 mRNA were induced at higher concentrations of the chrysenes, but protein expression was not significantly altered. The PCR-based gene expression and immunoblotting analyses indicated induced expression differences across the chrysene members were similar to each other. Overall, the effects of methylated chrysenes were comparable to unsubstituted chrysene, suggesting members of this group may be considered approximately equivalent in their effects. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.