The Assessment of Knowledge, Awareness and Practice Regarding Diverticulitis and Its Risk Factors Among the Population of Saudi Arabia.

Background The term "diverticula" refers to the existence of diverticula in the gastrointestinal tract but is mainly located in the sigmoid colon and is used to describe colonic diverticulosis. Diverticula, which are sac-like protrusions in the wall of the large bowel, are becoming more prevalent globally, in both developed and developing nations. This increase in occurrence is primarily attributed to changes in dietary and lifestyle patterns. Raising public awareness can potentially contribute to a decrease in the incidence of the disease and its associated complications. Aim This study aims to assess knowledge and awareness levels among the Saudi Arabian population regarding diverticulitis and its risk factors. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia between 1st January 2024 to 1st April 2024 using an online questionnaire for data collection. The target population consists of individuals who are between 18 years and 45, in Saudi Arabia without a history of diverticulitis. The study questionnaire covered participants' demographic (Western, Central, Southern, Eastern, Northern) regions, knowledge, awareness and practice of diverticulitis. Results A total of 548 eligible participants completed the study questionnaire, most of them (80.3%; 395) were from the Western region including Mecca, Medina and Jeddah. Participants' ages ranged from 18 to more than 40 years with a mean age of 30.5 ± 11.9 years old. A greater percentage (72.3%) of the participants were males compared to the percentage of females, which was 27.7%. The vast majority of the study participants had an inadequate knowledge level about diverticulitis (85.9%; 471) while only 31 (5.7%) had adequate knowledge and awareness about the disease. The most reported sources of information included study courses (6.4%), media (5.3%), and physicians (4.7%) while most respondents (83.6%) had no source. Conclusion In conclusion, aside from preventive strategies, the current study found that the public knew very little about diverticulitis, including its risk factors, clinical presentation, and diagnostic process. The two significant predictors of public awareness level were age and doctors as information sources.

The Outcomes of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy for the Treatment of Obesity: A Single-Center Experience.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a long-standing health issue in Saudi Arabia, known to be associated with various complications. The management of obesity encompasses both non-surgical and surgical interventions, such as sleeve gastrectomy. Although sleeve gastrectomy is one of the effective options for individuals with morbid obesity, it is not without potential complications. This study aims to examine the outcomes of patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. METHODS: A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted on adult patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy at King Fahad General Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between January 2017 and July 2022. RESULTS: Among the 561 adult patients in the study, 53.5% were classified as having class III obesity, and 74.2% had comorbidities. Complications observed following the procedure included leaking (3.2%), symptomatic gallstone disease (2.9%), internal hernia (1.8%), and readmission (2.1%). There were no cases of bleeding, aspiration pneumonia, or mortality reported. Leakage and gallstone disease were more prevalent among patients classified as class I and II obesity, respectively, while internal hernia and readmission were more frequently observed in patients with class III obesity. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is a viable procedure for managing obesity, as it is associated with minimal complications and no recorded mortality.

I'm all ears! Listening to software developers on putting GDPR principles into software development practice.

Previous research has been carried out to identify the impediments that prevent developers from incorporating privacy protocols into software applications. No research has been carried out to find out why developers are not able to develop systems that preserve privacy while specifically considering the General Data Protection Regulation principles (GDPR principles). Consequently, this paper aims to examine the issues, which prevent developers from creating applications, which consider and include GDPR principles into their software systems. From our research findings, we identified the lack of familiarity with GDPR principles by developers as one of the obstacles that prevent GDPR onboarding. Those who were familiar with the principles did not have the requisite knowledge about the principles including their techniques. Developers focused on functional than on privacy requirements. Unavailability of resourceful online tools and lack of support from institutions and clients were also identified as issues inimical to the onboarding of GDPR principles.

Facile Synthesis and Study of Microporous Catalytic Arene-Norbornene Annulation-Tröger's Base Ladder Polymers for Membrane Air Separation.

We report the facile synthesis and study of two soluble microporous ladder polymers, CANAL-TBs, by combining catalytic arene-norbornene annulation (CANAL) and Tröger's base (TB) formation. The polymers were synthesized in two steps from commercially available chemicals in high yields. CANAL-TBs easily formed mechanically robust films, were thermally stable up to 440 °C, and exhibited very high Brunauer-Teller-Emmett surface areas of 900-1000 m2 g-1. The gas separation performance of the CANAL-TBs for the O2/N2 pair is located between the 2008 and 2015 permeability/selectivity upper bounds. After 300 days of aging, CANAL-TBs still exhibited O2 permeability of 200-500 barrer with O2/N2 selectivity of about 5. The polymer with more methyl substituents exhibited higher permeability and slightly larger intersegmental spacing as revealed by WAXS, presumably due to more frustrated chain packing. The facile synthesis, excellent mechanical properties, and promising air separation performance of the CANAL-TB polymers make them attractive membrane materials for various air separation applications, such as aircraft on-board nitrogen generation and oxygen enrichment for combustion.

Thin Composite Carbon Molecular Sieve Membranes from a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity Precursor.

Ultra-thin composite carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membranes were fabricated on well-defined inorganic alumina substrates using a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM) as a precursor. Details of the pyrolysis-related structural development were elucidated using focused-beam, interference-enhanced spectroscopic ellipsometry (both in the UV-vis and IR range), which allowed accurate determination of the film thickness, optical properties as well as following the chemical transformations. The pyrolysis-induced collapse of thin and bulk PIM-derived CMS membranes was compared with CMS made from a well-known non-PIM precursor 6FDA-DABA. Significant differences between the PIM and non-PIM precursors were discovered and explained by a much larger possible volume contraction in the PIM. In spite of the differences, surprisingly, the gas separation properties did not fundamentally differ. The high-temperature collapse of the initially amorphous and isotropic precursor structure was accompanied by a significant molecular orientation within the formed turbostratic carbon network guided by the laterally constraining presence of the substrate. This manifested itself in the development of uniaxial optical anisotropy, which was shown to correlate with increases in gas separation selectivity for multiple technologically important gas pairs. Reduction of CMS skin thickness significantly below ∼1 µm induced large losses in permeability coefficients with only small to moderate effects on selectivity. Remarkably, skin thickness reduction and physical aging seemed to superimpose onto the same trend, which explains and strengthens some of the earlier fundamental insights.

A strategy to convert propane to aromatics (BTX) using TiNp4 grafted at the periphery of ZSM-5 by surface organometallic chemistry.

The direct conversion of propane into aromatics (BTX) using modified ZSM-5 was achieved with a strategy of "catalysis by design". In contrast to the classical mode of action of classical aromatization catalysts which are purely based on acidity, we have designed the catalyst associating two functions: One function (Ti-hydride) was selected to activate the C-H bond of propane by σ-bond metathesis to further obtain olefin by ß-H elimination and the other function (Brønsted acid) being responsible for the oligomerization, cyclization, and aromatization. This bifunctional catalyst was obtained by selectively grafting a bulky organometallic complex of tetrakis(neopentyl)titanium (TiNp4) at the external surface (external silanol ([triple bond, length as m-dash]Si-OH) group) of [H-ZSM-5300] to obtain [Ti/ZSM-5] catalyst 1. This metal was chosen to activate the C-H bond of paraffin at the periphery of the ZSM-5 while maintaining the Brønsted acid properties of the internal [H-ZSM-5] for oligomerization, cyclization, and aromatization. Catalyst 2 [Ti-H/ZSM-5] was obtained after treatment under H2 at 550 °C of freshly prepared catalyst 1 ([Ti/ZSM-5]) and catalyst 1 was thoroughly characterized by ICP analysis, DRIFT, XRD, N2-physisorption, multinuclear solid-state NMR, XPS and HR-TEM analysis including STEM imaging. The conversion of propane to aromatics was studied in a dynamic flow reactor. With the pristine [H-ZSM-5300] catalyst, the conversion of propane is very low. However, with [Ti-H/ZSM-5] catalyst 2 under the same reaction conditions, the conversion of propane remains significant during 60 h of the reaction (ca. 22%). Furthermore, the [Ti-H/ZSM-5] catalyst shows a good and stable selectivity (55%) for aromatics (BTX) of time on stream. With 2, it was found that the Ti remains at the periphery of the [H-ZSM-5] even after reaction time.

Protonating polymer oligomers in the gas phase to change fragmentation pathways.

Ionization of polymers in mass spectrometry is usually achieved by forming metal ion adducts. The metal ion has been shown by Wesdemiotis to often play a spectator role in the collision-induced dissociation (CID) chemistry of these species, wherein they fragment according to a free-radical mechanism similar to that found in their pyrolysis. The result is a predominance of low-mass ions in the CID mass spectrum. We have changed this behavior by generating protonated oligomers in the gas phase by first forming proton-bound complexes of the oligomers with amino acids or peptides by electrospray ionization. These complexes dissociate first by loss of the amino acid/peptide to form protonated oligomers, which then undergo a unique fragmentation chemistry. In this article we discuss the results for poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA). Initially, protonated PMMA and PBA lose methanol and butanol, respectively, from the side chains of the respective monomers. The resulting PMMA-derived ion then undergoes a series of neutral losses corresponding to 32 and 28 Da, methanol and carbon monoxide. This continues as collision energy increases until a final, carbon-rich backbone ion is formed, which then undergoes a classic hydrocarbon fragmentation pattern. The PBA-derived ions are proposed to fragment by the loss of butylether molecules to form anhydride rings along the oligomer chain. The number of ether molecules lost corresponded to half the number of available side chains in the oligomer. The resulting poly-anhydride ion dissociates by small molecule loss. Mechanisms have been suggested for the fragmentation chemistry of these two classes of oligomers.

A comparison of electrospray-ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the characterization of synthetic copolymers.

Electrospray ionization (ESI-MS) and matrix assisted laser desorption-ionization (MALDI-MS) were used to determine the composition (monomer ratios) and structure (end group analysis) relative to 1H NMR spectroscopy and theoretical predictions for three different copolymers: poly(butyl acrylate/vinyl acetate) (PBA/PVAc), poly(methyl methacrylate/vinyl acetate) (PMMA/PVAc) and poly(butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate) (PBA/PMMA). We found that the ESI results were in excellent agreement with 1H NMR spectroscopy for PBA/PVAc and PBA/PMMA copolymers whereas there was more divergence in the case of PMMA/PVAc. In the case of PBA/PMMA copolymers similar distributions of products were observe by ESI-MS and MALDI-MS with the two major products classes differing by their end-groups. One class has hydrogen and dodecylthio end groups while in the other the dodecylthio has been replaced by alpha-cyanoisopropyl from the initiator. The relative abundance of these distributions as a function of copolymer conversion for a series of reaction conditions was investigated by both ESI and MALDI. MALDI results consistently underestimated (relative to ESI) the butylacrylate monomer ratio in PBA/PMMA and the abundance of co-polymer oligomers terminated by a dodecylthio group from the chain transfer agent.