Prevalence of Strox Smoking among University Students in Cairo, Egypt

Prevalence of Strox Smoking among University Students in Cairo, Egypt

 

Ahmed M. M. Hashim (1), Ahmed M. Hassan (1), Ghada Essam El-Din Amin (1) and Mohamed Farouk Allam (1,2)

 

1. Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

2. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cordoba, Córdoba, Spain.

 

The Open Public Health Journal 2020;13:425-429.

DOI: 10.2174/1874944502013010425, 2020, 13, 425-429

 

Abstract:

Background: In Egypt, the prevalence rate of New Psychoactive Substances (NPSs) use is severely underestimated. In the last 5 years, several non-scientific reports have demonstrated the presence of an emergent, cheap NPSs that has taken the name of “Strox” or “Egyptian Spice”. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence rate of Strox smoking among undergraduate students attending Ain Shams University (ASU), Cairo (Egypt).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in five non-medical colleges of ASU, namely, Law, Commerce, Computer Science, Engineering, and Literature. Participants were recruited using a convenient sampling method and were asked about NPSs use. Data were collected using the Marijuana Smoking History Questionnaire (MSHQ) developed by Bonn-Miller and Zvolensky (2009). The questionnaire was translated and modified to reflect Egyptian slang and culture.

Results: This study included 558 students, 422 (75.6%) males and 136 (24.4%) females. The results showed that 189 (33.9%) were current tobacco smokers, 51 (9.1%) were smokers of substances other than tobacco, 45 (8.1%) were cannabis smokers, 38 (6.8%) were Strox smokers, and 3 (0.5%) were Voodoo smokers. When students were asked about their reasons for smoking Strox, they cited the following motivations: to achieve a feeling of euphoria(28.9%), depression (23.7%), experimentation (23.7%), peer pressure (21.1%), and having excess money (2.6%). The results showed a clear association between tobacco and cannabis smoking and consumption of Strox.

Conclusion: Although the prevalence rates of NPSs usage as observed in this study were not high, higher rates could be expected in other communities outside of the university. Community-based studies are needed to estimate the magnitude of NPSs use in Egypt and the associated risk factors.

 

Keywords: Smoking, Cannabis, Strox, Voodoo, Drug use, Prevalence.

 

The Open Public Health Journal, 2020, 13: 425-429

https://benthamopen.com/FULLTEXT/TOPHJ-13-425

 

Scoring System for the Diagnosis of COVID-19

Scoring System for the Diagnosis of COVID-19

 

Mohamed Farouk Allam

Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

 

The Open Public Health Journal 2020;13:413-4.

 

DOI: 10.2174/1874944502013010413, 2020, 13, 413-414

 

Abstract:

Due to the international spread of COVID-19, the difficulty of collecting nasopharyngeal swab specimen from all suspected patients, the costs of RT-PCR and CT, and the false negative results of RT-PCR assay in 41% of COVID-19 patients, a scoring system is needed to classify the suspected patients in order to determine the need for follow-up, home isolation, quarantine or the conduction of further investigations. A scoring system is proposed as a diagnostic tool for suspected patients. It includes Epidemiological Evidence of Exposure, Clinical Symptoms and Signs, and Investigations (if available). This scoring system is simple, could be calculated in a few minutes, and incorporates the main possible data/findings of any patient.

 

Keywords: Nasopharyngeal swab, COVID-19, diagnosis, RT-PCR, CT, Score system.

 

The Open Public Health Journal 2020;13:413-4.

https://benthamopen.com/FULLTEXT/TOPHJ-13-413

Predictive factors for nutritional behavior among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic in 6th of October City

 

Doaa A Nasrallah (1), Hanan S Ez-Elarab (2), Eman A Sultan (3), Mohamed Farouk Allam (1)

1. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

2. Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and at Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah, KSA.

3. National Nutrition Institute, Cairo, Egypt.

Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene 2020; 61: E186-E193

https://doi.org/10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2020.61.2.1302

Background: Good maternal nutrition during pregnancy is important to ensure health for both the mother and the foetus. This study aimed to assess nutritional knowledge and behavior among a  group  of  Egyptian  pregnant  women  in  addition  to  identify  the factors influencing both their nutritional knowledge and behavior.

Methods: This  comparative  cross  sectional  study  included  300 pregnant  women  attending  the  antenatal  care  clinics  in  6th  of October  University  private  hospital  and  El-Hussary  primary health care (PHC) unit. The data was collected through a modified nutritional survey that was translated from Spanish to Arabic and revised by language experts for clarity.

Results: Almost  all  of  the  women  attending  the  private  hospital were  university  educated  while  about  half  of  the  women  attending  the  PHC  unit  were  graduated  from  technical  education.  In general, the level of knowledge about food requirements of both groups was satisfactory good; however,  neither  of  them  fulfilled the  WHO  recommendations  of  food  intake  during  pregnancy  or the optimum number of meals per day. The mean of random blood glucose was higher among the women attending the PHC unit; the BMI, mid  arm  circumference  and  subcutaneous  fat  were  higher among  the  same  group  as  well.  In  regard  to  fulfilling  the WHO recommended  servings  per  day,  only  starch  and  fat  items  were fulfilled by both groups, whereas the other three items (vegetables, fruits  and  dairy  products)  were  merely  included  in  the  diets  of both groups.

Conclusions: Healthy  behavior  among  pregnant  women  in  both group  were  influenced  by  their  educational  level,  occupation  as well as their pre-gestational BMI. Those were the only three significant predictive factors, where women with higher education showed an active lifestyle. In addition, women starting with normal BMI before pregnancy had better healthy behaviours including the choice of healthy diets

Keywords: Pregnancy, Nutrition, Life-style behavior, Eating habits, Antenatal care.

Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene 2020; 61: E186-E193

https://www.jpmh.org/index.php/jpmh/article/view/1302/765

Brain Cancer Risk Factors: Sun Exposure and/or Smoking?

Brain Cancer Risk Factors: Sun Exposure and/or Smoking?

Amin GED (a), Abou Seif HA (a) , Abd Elaziz KM (a) and Allam MF (a,b)

a. Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

b. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Journal of Community Medicine and Health Research 2020;2(1):120.

Abstract

Background: An ecological study was conducted to evaluate the associations among brain cancer, cutaneous malignant melanoma and lung cancer in 40 European countries. Methods: Incidence rates were obtained from the database of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 2012. We analyzed age-adjusted and gender-stratified incidence rates for cutaneous malignant melanoma, lung cancer and brain cancer in 40 European countries that had registration systems that fulfilled the IARC quality criteria. Before calculating the correlations among cutaneous malignant melanoma, lung cancer and brain cancer, the normal distribution of the variables was examined using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Results: There was no significant correlation between the overall rates (males and females combined) of cutaneous malignant melanoma and lung cancer (r=0.128; P=0.4), cutaneous malignant melanoma and brain cancer (r=-0.045; P=0.7), or brain cancer and lung cancer (r= 0.229; P=0.1). Conclusion: Brain cancer had no positive correlation with cutaneous malignant melanoma or lung cancer, rejecting the hypothesis that sun exposure and smoking could be risk factors for brain cancer. New analytical and genetic studies are needed to identify the risk factors for brain cancer.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Ecological; Brain Cancer; Melanoma; Lung Cancer

Citation: Amin GED, Abou Seif HA, Abd Elaziz KM, Allam MF (2020). Brain Cancer Risk Factors: Sun Exposure and/or Smoking?. J Community Med Health Res 2(1): 120

https://www.pubtexto.com/pdf/?brain-cancer-risk-factors-sun-exposure-andor-smoking

Persecutory Subtype Of Delusional Disorder. Descriptive Study Of 129 Cases.

Subtipo Persecutorio Del Trastorno Delirante: Estudio De Series De 129 Casos.

Persecutory Subtype Of Delusional Disorder. Descriptive Study Of 129 Cases.

Francisco Mármol Bernal (1), Rogelio Luque Luqueb (2), Mohamed Farouk Allam (3), Rafael Fernández-Crehuet Navajas (4)

(1) Delegación Territorial de Salud, Córdoba, España.

(2) Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía. Universidad de Córdoba, España.

(3) Área de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Córdoba, España.

Rev Chil Neuro-Psiquiat 2020; 58 (2): 116-126

Summary

Objective. The objective of this study is to investigate the demographic, environmental, psychosocial and clinical characteristics of the persecutory subtype in a group of patients with delusional disorder (DD). Methodology. Retrospective descriptive study of DD cases registered at Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene Clinic of Cordoba according to DSM-IV-TR criteria was conducted. We obtained a sample of 261 DD patients who met the inclusion criteria; of them 129 cases has persecutory subtype. Data and variables collected were divided into 4 groups: I. Socio-demographic and general data. II. DD risk factors (personal and family). III. DD clinical picture and diagnosis (presentation, symptoms, disability, use of health care resources, treatment, and evolution). Results. The proportion of males versus females of the persecutory subtype was of 1.04. Only 5.4% of patients had primary level of education. At the first visit of the psychiatry clinic, 65.9% of the patients were married and about half of them shared home. About 14.7% of patients had a past history of alcohol consumption, and only 0.8% consumed other drugs. Ideas of reference and of persecution were found in 98.4% and 99.2% respectively. Conclusions. It is necessary to conduct future prospective studies to investigate the risk factors associated with the persecutory subtype of DD.

Key words: delusional disorder, paranoia, persecutory subtype, retrospective study, case series.

Resumen

Objetivo. El objetivo de este estudio es conocer las características demográficas, factores ambientales, factores de riego psicosociales, y clínicas del subtipo persecutorio en un grupo de pacientes con trastorno delirante (TD). Metodología. Estudio epidemiológico retrospectivo sobre un Registro de Casos en el Dispensario de Psiquiatría e Higiene Mental de Córdoba sobre pacientes con TD según criterios DSM-IV-TR. Aquellos pacientes que cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión definidos constituyeron nuestra muestra final de 261 casos, de ellos 129 casos presentaban el subtipo persecutorio. Las variables sobre las que se recogió información en base a protocolos, fueron agrupadas con el orden siguiente: I. Variables de los datos sociodemográficos y generales. II. Variables de los Factores de riesgo del TD (familiares y personales). III. Variables del Cuadro Clínico y el Diagnostico del TD (Presentación, sintomatología delirante, funcionalidad y discapacidad, utilización de los recursos sanitarios, tratamiento, problemas psicosociales, evolución y curso). Resultados. La proporción hombres versus mujeres en el subtipo persecutorio fue de 1,04. Solo el 5,4% de estos pacientes tenía estudios primarios. Un 65,9%, al realizar la primera consulta psiquiátrica, se encontraba casado y el 50,4% convivían en el hogar. Un 14,7% consumió previamente alcohol y un 0,8% otras sustancias. Las ideas de referencia y de persecución se presentaron el 98,4% y en el 99,2% de los casos respectivamente. Conclusiones. Son necesarios futuros estudios prospectivos para investigar los factores de riesgo del subtipo persecutorio del TD.

Palabras clave: Trastorno delirante, paranoia, subtipo persecutorio, estudio retrospectivo, series de casos.

Rev Chil Neuro-Psiquiat 2020; 58 (2): 116-126

https://scielo.conicyt.cl/pdf/rchnp/v58n2/0717-9227-rchnp-58-02-0116.pdf