Sa'ed Zyoud | An-Najah National University (original) (raw)
Papers by Sa'ed Zyoud
International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 2012
A convenience sample of 400 students were recruited to investigate gender differences in sleep ha... more A convenience sample of 400 students were recruited to investigate gender differences in sleep habits and sleeprelated problems using a self-administered questionnaire. Univaraiate analysis showed that females went to bed earlier (p < 0.01) and rose earlier (p < 0.01), had longer sleep duration (p < 0.01), more nightmares (p < 0.01), lesser snoring (p < 0.01), lesser nocturnal awakening caused by eating (p < 0.01), and had poorer sleep quality than males on the night of examination (p < 0.01). Gender differences in sleep habits and sleep problems were found and were different than those reported from other cultures.
Globalization and Health, 2015
Publication of scientific articles related to khat (Catha edulis) in peer-reviewed journals is co... more Publication of scientific articles related to khat (Catha edulis) in peer-reviewed journals is considered a measure of research productivity. The principal objectives of this study were to quantify the research contribution related to khat at the global level, as well as to determine its relative growth rate, collaborative measures taken, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals publishing on the topic. On the basis of title words related to khat, publications were identified for all data in Scopus bibliographic database&amp;#39;s history up to December 31, 2014. The research productivity for the top 10 countries was evaluated in relation to the population size and gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013. The criteria were met by 651documents published in 51 countries. The largest number of articles associated with khat was from the UK (15.2 %), followed by Yemen (10.3 %), the USA (9.7 %) and Ethiopia (9.1 %). Ethiopia, Yemen, and Kenya had the highest productivity of publications after standardization by population size and GDP. Furthermore, Yemen achieved the highest number of collaborations, by having researchers from 19 countries. Ethiopia followed, having researchers from 16 countries. This bibliometric study provides a demonstration for the worldwide research activity regarding khat. The number of articles related to khat has increased rapidly over the last 10 years. The present study is a good starting point to evaluate research activity in the field of khat. Although the data shows a promising increase in the research activity, the quantity of khat-related research is still too little compared to the massive use of khat in certain countries.
Journal of family medicine and primary care, 2014
Identifying factors associated with adherence is of great value in clinical practice. The objecti... more Identifying factors associated with adherence is of great value in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to investigate medication adherence, beliefs about medicines held by people with chronic illness and whether beliefs influence medication adherence. The study was carried out at primary health care clinic of the Palestinian Medical Military Services in Nablus, Palestine. The beliefs about medicines questionnaire was used to assess beliefs and Morisky medication adherence scale was used to assess adherence. A total of 187 patients were interviewed. Most participants (79.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that their medications were necessary for their current health. However, 58.2% of the participants were concerned about having to take their medicines on a regular basis and 57.8% were concerned about becoming dependent on their medicines. None of the demographic and clinical variables was significantly associated with medication adherence. However, multivariate analysis s...
Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, 2010
Intravenous N-acetylcysteine is usually regarded as a safe antidote. However, during the infusion... more Intravenous N-acetylcysteine is usually regarded as a safe antidote. However, during the infusion of the loading dose, different types of adverse drug reactions (ADR) may occur. The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between the incidence of different types of ADR and serum acetaminophen concentration in patients presenting to the hospital with acetaminophen overdose. This is a retrospective study of patients admitted to the hospital for acute acetaminophen overdose over a period of 5 years (1 January 2004 to 31 December 2008). Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to test differences between groups depending on the normality of the data. SPSS 15 was used for data analysis. Of 305 patients with acetaminophen overdose, 146 (47.9%) were treated with intravenous N-acetylcysteine and 139 (45.6%) were included in this study. Different types of ADR were observed in 94 (67.6%) patients. Low serum acetaminophen concentrations were significantly associated with cutaneous anaphylactoid reactions but not other types of ADR. Low serum acetaminophen concentration was significantly associated with flushing (p < 0.001), rash (p < 0.001) and pruritus (p < 0.001). However, there were no significant differences in serum acetaminophen concentrations between patients with and without the following ADR: gastrointestinal reactions (p = 0.77), respiratory reactions (p = 0.96), central nervous reactions (p = 0.82) and cardiovascular reactions (p = 0.37). In conclusion, low serum acetaminophen concentrations were associated with higher cutaneous anaphylactoid reactions. Such high serum acetaminophen concentrations may be protective against N-acetylcysteine-induced cutaneous ADR.
International Information & Library Review, 2014
ABSTRACT Palestine is a small newly established state in the Middle East. The objective of this s... more ABSTRACT Palestine is a small newly established state in the Middle East. The objective of this study was to assess the quantity and quality of research output from Palestine after Oslo peace accords. The data used for this study were retrieved from Scopus database (officially known as Sciverse Scopus). Bibliometric analysis was used to identify the pattern of publication, relative growth rate, authorship pattern, collaborative measures, author's productivity, most prolific authors, and most prolific journals. A total of 3,585 published documents were retrieved from Palestine. A steady increase was observed after 2001. The h-index of the retrieved documents was 57. Fifty-three (1.48%) documents were published in Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, whereas 52 (1.45%) and 49 (1.37%) documents were published in Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology and Asian Journal of Chemistry, respectively. Half of the top 20 journals in which Palestinian researchers had published their articles were un-indexed in Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) web of knowledge. The highest number of documents published by a Palestinian researcher was 79. The main subject area of published documents from Palestine was medicine (717; 20.00%), followed by chemistry (551, 15.37%), and engineering (530, 14.78%). The top countries involved in research collaboration with Palestine were the United States (422, 11.70%), followed by Germany (381; 10.71%), and the United Kingdom (208; 5.83%). There was a significant correlation between number of collaborating countries with Palestine in one hand, and quantity and quality of research activity in Palestine on the other hand. The number of collaborating countries with Palestine increased almost ten-fold from 1995 to 2012. Research output from Palestine showed steady growth since the Oslo peace accords. Research output was high from certain scientific disciplines while was lagging from others. Future emphasis on joint research, international collaboration, and publishing in indexed journals is needed.
BMC Pediatrics, 2015
In primary health care centres, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in children are common... more In primary health care centres, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in children are commonly encountered by physicians. Viruses cause most URTIs, but parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; attitudes often represent an important reason for antibiotic abuse, which leads to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The goal of this study was to examine parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) about antibiotic use for children with URTIs in Palestine. A cross-sectional study was performed in primary health care centres in Nablus city from 1 June to 31 October 2012. A questionnaire was developed and administered to determine parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; KAP regarding antibiotic use for their children with URTIs. Three hundred and eighty-five parents completed the questionnaire. A total of 79.7 % of the parents were attentive to the truth that antibiotic misuse is responsible for bacterial resistance. Only 18.9 % of parents thought that antibiotics did not have any harmful side effects. Fifty nine per cent of parents did not agree that URTIs are mostly viral in origin and are self-limited. Almost 73 % of parents choose antibiotics as a treatment for URTIs, while earache (68 %) and fever (64 %) were the most common reasons for which parents expected antibiotics. However, more than 38 % of the parents never asked the paediatrician to prescribe antibiotics, and only 6 % congratulated their paediatricians for not prescribing antibiotics. Although there is a trusted relationship between parents and paediatricians, Palestinian parents have insufficient knowledge related to antibiotic use for URTIs in children, which results in inappropriate attitudes and practices. Educational interventions for both parents and physicians will reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and resistance.
SpringerPlus, 2015
Bibliometric studies, which involve the use of statistical methods, are increasingly being used f... more Bibliometric studies, which involve the use of statistical methods, are increasingly being used for research assessment. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the publication pattern of methaemoglobinaemia research output at the global level based on the Scopus database. We analysed selected documents with &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;methemoglobinemia&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;, or &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;methaemoglobinaemia&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; as a part of the title and reported the following parameters: trends of publication output, country of publication, journal pattern, collaborative measures, citations pattern, and institute productivity. A total of 1770 articles were published worldwide. The time trend for the number of articles showed an increase after 2000. The highest number of articles related to methaemoglobinaemia was from the USA (24.8 %), followed distantly by the UK (4.5 %), India (3.7 %), and France (3.7 %). No data related to methaemoglobinaemia were published from 152 countries. The total number of citations at the date of data collection was 10,080, with an average of 5.7 citations per document. The USA and UK had the highest h-index of 31 and 14, respectively, and six countries had an h-index of 9-14. It is notable that Canada was ranked eighth in the number of publications but fourth in h-index and India was ranked third in the number of publications but eighth in h-index. Furthermore, Canada produced the most internationally collaborated papers out of the total number of publications for each country (16.1 %), followed by the UK (13.9 %). This bibliometric analysis provides data contributing to a better understanding of the methaemoglobinaemia research field. The number of publications on methaemoglobinaemia increased significantly after 2000. The USA was the most productive country as measured by total publications. The USA and UK achieved the highest h-index in the field of methaemoglobinaemia research, signifying a higher quality of research than other countries.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015
Bibliometric analysis is increasingly employed as a useful tool to assess the quantity and qualit... more Bibliometric analysis is increasingly employed as a useful tool to assess the quantity and quality of research performance. The specific goal of the current study was to evaluate the performance of research output originating from Arab world and published in international Integrative and Complementary Medicine (ICM) journals. Original scientific publications and reviews from the 22 Arab countries that were published in 22 international peer-reviewed ICM journals during all previous years up to December 31(st) 2013, were screened using the Web of Science databases. Five hundred and ninety-one documents were retrieved from 19 ICM journals. The h-index of the set of papers under study was 47. The highest h-index was 27 for Morocco, 21 for Jordan, followed by 19 for each Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Egypt, and the lowest h-index was 1 for each of Comoros, Qatar, and Syrian Arab Republic. No data related to ICM were published from Djibouti, and Mauritania. After adjusting for economy and population power, Somalia (89), Morocco (32.5), Egypt (31.1), Yemen (21.4), and Palestine (21.2) had the highest research productivity. The total number of citations was 9,466, with an average citation of 16 per document. The study identified 262 (44.3 %) documents with 39 countries in Arab-foreign country collaborations. Arab authors collaborated most with countries in Europe (24.2 %), followed by countries in the Asia-Pacific region (9.8 %). Scientific research output in the ICM field in the Arab world region is increasing. Most of publications from Arab world in ICM filed were driven by societal use of medicinal plants and herbs. Search for new therapies from available low cost medicinal plants in Arab world has motivated many researchers in academia and pharmaceutical industry. Further investigation is required to support these findings in a wider journal as well as to improve research output in the field of ICM from Arab world region by investing in more national and international collaborative research project.
Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 2015
Environmental and health-related effects of solid waste material are considered worldwide problem... more Environmental and health-related effects of solid waste material are considered worldwide problems. The aim of this study was to assess the volume and impact of Arab scientific output published in journals indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) on solid waste. We included all the documents within the SCI whose topic was solid waste from all previous years up to 31 December 2012. In this bibliometric analysis we sought to evaluate research that originated from Arab countries in the field of solid waste, as well as its relative growth rate, collaborative measures, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals. A total of 382 (2.35 % of the overall global research output in the field of solid waste) documents were retrieved from the Arab countries. The annual number of documents published in the past three decades (1982-2012) indicated that research productivity demonstrated a noticeable rise during the last decade. The highest number of articles associated with solid waste was that of Egypt (22.8 %), followed by Tunisia (19.6), and Jordan (13.4 %). the total number of citations over the analysed years at the date of data collection was 4,097, with an average of 10.7 citations per document. The h-index of the citing articles was 31. Environmental science was the most researched topic, represented by 175 (45.8 %) articles. Waste Management was the top active journal. The study recognized 139 (36.4 %) documents from collaborations with 25 non-Arab countries. Arab authors mainly collaborated with countries in Europe (22.5 %), especially France, followed by countries in the Americas (9.4 %), especially the USA. The most productive institution was the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, with 6.3 % of total publications. Despite the expected increase in solid waste production from Arab world, research activity about solid waste is still low. Governments must invest more in solid waste research to avoid future unexpected problems. Finally, since solid waste is a multidisciplinary science, research teams in engineering, health, toxicology, environment, geology and others must be formulated to produce research in solid waste from different scientific aspects.
Fertility Research and Practice, 2015
The main goal of this study was to assess worldwide research activity in emergency contraception ... more The main goal of this study was to assess worldwide research activity in emergency contraception (EC) using bibliometric indicators.
Drug Safety
2 Clinical Pharmacy Program, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), ... more 2 Clinical Pharmacy Program, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia Objectives: Intravenous N-acetylcysteine (IV-NAC) is widely re-cognized as the antidote of choice for acetaminophen overdose. [1] However, its use is not without adverse drug reactions (ADR) which might affect therapeutic outcome or lead to treatment delay. [2,3] The aims of this study were to investigate the type and incidence of ADR induced by IV-NAC in patients treated for acetaminophen overdose and to assess the causality of individual ADR to IV-NAC using Nar-anjo's algorithm. [4] Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients admitted to the hospital for acute acetaminophen overdose over a period of 5 years (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008). The primary outcome of interest in this study was the occurrence of ADR during NAC ad-ministration. The probability of an ADR was assessed using the Naranjo algorithm, which consists of 10 questions), and has been u...
Human & Experimental Toxicology
Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) were the most common agents associated with a significant morbidi... more Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) were the most common agents associated with a significant morbidity and mortality rate. The main objective of this study was to examine the publication pattern related to CCBs poisoning at the global level using bibliometric analysis of articles published in SciVerse Scopus online database. Data were searched for documents that contained specific words regarding CCB poisoning as keywords in the title. No time period limitations were specified in the search regarding the starting year. The ending date of the search was 31 December 2012. The criteria were met by 713 publications from 53 countries. The largest number of articles associated with CCBs was from the United States (30%), followed by the United Kingdom (7.4%), Japan (6%), and Germany (5.6%). No data related to CCBs were published from 159 (75%) of 212 countries registered in World Bank online database. There was no correlation between the number of published articles in the country and its pop...
Maternal and Child Health Journal
Parental concern about childhood fever and consequent use of antipyretics is increasing. Little i... more Parental concern about childhood fever and consequent use of antipyretics is increasing. Little is known about childhood fever management among Arab parents. No scales to measure parents’ fever management practices in Palestine are available. The aim of this study was to validate the Arabic version of the Parent Fever Management Scale (PFMS) using a sample of parents in Palestine. A standard “forward–backward” procedure was used to translate PFMS into Arabic language. It was then validated on a convenience sample of 402 parents between July and October 2012. Descriptive statistics were used, and instrument reliability was assessed for internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Validity was confirmed using convergent and known group validation. Applying the recommended scoring method, the median (interquartile range) score of the PFMS was 26 (23–30). Acceptable internal consistency was found (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.733) and the test–retest reliability value was 0.92 (P &l...
Health expectations: an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy
Evaluation of the association between treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life (... more Evaluation of the association between treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) may enable health-care providers to understand the issues that influence quality of life and to recognize the aspects of hypertension treatment that need improvement to enhance the long-term treatment outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between HRQoL and treatment satisfaction in a sample of Palestinian hypertensive patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted, adopting the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4) for the assessment of treatment satisfaction and using the European Quality of Life scale (EQ-5D-5L) for the assessment of HRQoL. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to describe socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics of the patients. All analyses were performed using SPSS v 15.0. Four hundred and ten hypertensive patients were enrolled in the study. This study findings indicate a positive ...
SpringerPlus
steoporosis is an important health problem with serious consequences. Evaluation of osteoporosis ... more steoporosis is an important health problem with serious consequences. Evaluation of osteoporosis scientific output from Arab countries has not been explored and there are few internationally published reports on research activity about osteoporosis. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the research output originating from Arab countries and 3 Middle Eastern non-Arab countries, particularly Israel, Turkey and Iran in the field of osteoporosis. Original scientific articles or reviews published from the 21 Arab countries, Israel, Turkey and Iran about "osteoporosis" were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. The time frame for the result was up to year 2012. The total number of original and review research articles published globally about osteoporosis was 43,571. The leading country in osteoporosis research was United States of America (14,734; 33.82%). Worldwide, Turkey ranked 16th while Israel and Iran ranked 24th and 31st respectively. Among Arab co...
SAGE Open
An-Najah National University (ANNU) is a Palestinian university that was established more than 35... more An-Najah National University (ANNU) is a Palestinian university that was established more than 35 years ago. The objective of this study was to do a bibliometric assessment of research output, which describes the growth, contribution, and impact of research carried out by the faculty members, researchers, or students of ANNU in the past 35 years. The data used for this study were retrieved from Scopus database. Bibliometric analysis was used to identify the pattern of publication, relative growth rate, authorship pattern, collaborative measures, author’s productivity, most prolific authors, and most prolific journals. A total of 791 published documents were retrieved for ANNU. Seventeen documents (2.1%) were published in Acta Crystallographica Section E Structure Reports Online, whereas 16 (2.0%) were published in Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Environmental Science and Engineering, and 10 (1.3%) were published in International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology ...
SpringerPlus
Reducing nutrition-related health problems in Arab countries requires an understanding of the per... more Reducing nutrition-related health problems in Arab countries requires an understanding of the performance of Arab countries in the field of nutrition and dietetics research. Assessment of research activity from a particular country or region could be achieved through bibliometric analysis. This study was carried out to investigate research activity in "nutrition and dietetics" in Arab countries. Original and review articles published from Arab countries in "nutrition and dietetics" Web of Science category up until 2012 were retrieved and analyzed using the ISI Web of Science database. The total number of documents published in "nutrition and dietetics" category from Arab countries was 2062. This constitutes 1% of worldwide research activity in the field. Annual research productivity showed a significant increase after 2005. Approximately 60% of published documents originated from three Arab countries, particularly Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Tun...
International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 2012
A convenience sample of 400 students were recruited to investigate gender differences in sleep ha... more A convenience sample of 400 students were recruited to investigate gender differences in sleep habits and sleeprelated problems using a self-administered questionnaire. Univaraiate analysis showed that females went to bed earlier (p < 0.01) and rose earlier (p < 0.01), had longer sleep duration (p < 0.01), more nightmares (p < 0.01), lesser snoring (p < 0.01), lesser nocturnal awakening caused by eating (p < 0.01), and had poorer sleep quality than males on the night of examination (p < 0.01). Gender differences in sleep habits and sleep problems were found and were different than those reported from other cultures.
Globalization and Health, 2015
Publication of scientific articles related to khat (Catha edulis) in peer-reviewed journals is co... more Publication of scientific articles related to khat (Catha edulis) in peer-reviewed journals is considered a measure of research productivity. The principal objectives of this study were to quantify the research contribution related to khat at the global level, as well as to determine its relative growth rate, collaborative measures taken, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals publishing on the topic. On the basis of title words related to khat, publications were identified for all data in Scopus bibliographic database&amp;#39;s history up to December 31, 2014. The research productivity for the top 10 countries was evaluated in relation to the population size and gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013. The criteria were met by 651documents published in 51 countries. The largest number of articles associated with khat was from the UK (15.2 %), followed by Yemen (10.3 %), the USA (9.7 %) and Ethiopia (9.1 %). Ethiopia, Yemen, and Kenya had the highest productivity of publications after standardization by population size and GDP. Furthermore, Yemen achieved the highest number of collaborations, by having researchers from 19 countries. Ethiopia followed, having researchers from 16 countries. This bibliometric study provides a demonstration for the worldwide research activity regarding khat. The number of articles related to khat has increased rapidly over the last 10 years. The present study is a good starting point to evaluate research activity in the field of khat. Although the data shows a promising increase in the research activity, the quantity of khat-related research is still too little compared to the massive use of khat in certain countries.
Journal of family medicine and primary care, 2014
Identifying factors associated with adherence is of great value in clinical practice. The objecti... more Identifying factors associated with adherence is of great value in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to investigate medication adherence, beliefs about medicines held by people with chronic illness and whether beliefs influence medication adherence. The study was carried out at primary health care clinic of the Palestinian Medical Military Services in Nablus, Palestine. The beliefs about medicines questionnaire was used to assess beliefs and Morisky medication adherence scale was used to assess adherence. A total of 187 patients were interviewed. Most participants (79.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that their medications were necessary for their current health. However, 58.2% of the participants were concerned about having to take their medicines on a regular basis and 57.8% were concerned about becoming dependent on their medicines. None of the demographic and clinical variables was significantly associated with medication adherence. However, multivariate analysis s...
Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, 2010
Intravenous N-acetylcysteine is usually regarded as a safe antidote. However, during the infusion... more Intravenous N-acetylcysteine is usually regarded as a safe antidote. However, during the infusion of the loading dose, different types of adverse drug reactions (ADR) may occur. The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between the incidence of different types of ADR and serum acetaminophen concentration in patients presenting to the hospital with acetaminophen overdose. This is a retrospective study of patients admitted to the hospital for acute acetaminophen overdose over a period of 5 years (1 January 2004 to 31 December 2008). Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to test differences between groups depending on the normality of the data. SPSS 15 was used for data analysis. Of 305 patients with acetaminophen overdose, 146 (47.9%) were treated with intravenous N-acetylcysteine and 139 (45.6%) were included in this study. Different types of ADR were observed in 94 (67.6%) patients. Low serum acetaminophen concentrations were significantly associated with cutaneous anaphylactoid reactions but not other types of ADR. Low serum acetaminophen concentration was significantly associated with flushing (p < 0.001), rash (p < 0.001) and pruritus (p < 0.001). However, there were no significant differences in serum acetaminophen concentrations between patients with and without the following ADR: gastrointestinal reactions (p = 0.77), respiratory reactions (p = 0.96), central nervous reactions (p = 0.82) and cardiovascular reactions (p = 0.37). In conclusion, low serum acetaminophen concentrations were associated with higher cutaneous anaphylactoid reactions. Such high serum acetaminophen concentrations may be protective against N-acetylcysteine-induced cutaneous ADR.
International Information & Library Review, 2014
ABSTRACT Palestine is a small newly established state in the Middle East. The objective of this s... more ABSTRACT Palestine is a small newly established state in the Middle East. The objective of this study was to assess the quantity and quality of research output from Palestine after Oslo peace accords. The data used for this study were retrieved from Scopus database (officially known as Sciverse Scopus). Bibliometric analysis was used to identify the pattern of publication, relative growth rate, authorship pattern, collaborative measures, author's productivity, most prolific authors, and most prolific journals. A total of 3,585 published documents were retrieved from Palestine. A steady increase was observed after 2001. The h-index of the retrieved documents was 57. Fifty-three (1.48%) documents were published in Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, whereas 52 (1.45%) and 49 (1.37%) documents were published in Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology and Asian Journal of Chemistry, respectively. Half of the top 20 journals in which Palestinian researchers had published their articles were un-indexed in Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) web of knowledge. The highest number of documents published by a Palestinian researcher was 79. The main subject area of published documents from Palestine was medicine (717; 20.00%), followed by chemistry (551, 15.37%), and engineering (530, 14.78%). The top countries involved in research collaboration with Palestine were the United States (422, 11.70%), followed by Germany (381; 10.71%), and the United Kingdom (208; 5.83%). There was a significant correlation between number of collaborating countries with Palestine in one hand, and quantity and quality of research activity in Palestine on the other hand. The number of collaborating countries with Palestine increased almost ten-fold from 1995 to 2012. Research output from Palestine showed steady growth since the Oslo peace accords. Research output was high from certain scientific disciplines while was lagging from others. Future emphasis on joint research, international collaboration, and publishing in indexed journals is needed.
BMC Pediatrics, 2015
In primary health care centres, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in children are common... more In primary health care centres, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in children are commonly encountered by physicians. Viruses cause most URTIs, but parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; attitudes often represent an important reason for antibiotic abuse, which leads to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The goal of this study was to examine parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) about antibiotic use for children with URTIs in Palestine. A cross-sectional study was performed in primary health care centres in Nablus city from 1 June to 31 October 2012. A questionnaire was developed and administered to determine parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; KAP regarding antibiotic use for their children with URTIs. Three hundred and eighty-five parents completed the questionnaire. A total of 79.7 % of the parents were attentive to the truth that antibiotic misuse is responsible for bacterial resistance. Only 18.9 % of parents thought that antibiotics did not have any harmful side effects. Fifty nine per cent of parents did not agree that URTIs are mostly viral in origin and are self-limited. Almost 73 % of parents choose antibiotics as a treatment for URTIs, while earache (68 %) and fever (64 %) were the most common reasons for which parents expected antibiotics. However, more than 38 % of the parents never asked the paediatrician to prescribe antibiotics, and only 6 % congratulated their paediatricians for not prescribing antibiotics. Although there is a trusted relationship between parents and paediatricians, Palestinian parents have insufficient knowledge related to antibiotic use for URTIs in children, which results in inappropriate attitudes and practices. Educational interventions for both parents and physicians will reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and resistance.
SpringerPlus, 2015
Bibliometric studies, which involve the use of statistical methods, are increasingly being used f... more Bibliometric studies, which involve the use of statistical methods, are increasingly being used for research assessment. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the publication pattern of methaemoglobinaemia research output at the global level based on the Scopus database. We analysed selected documents with &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;methemoglobinemia&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;, or &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;methaemoglobinaemia&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; as a part of the title and reported the following parameters: trends of publication output, country of publication, journal pattern, collaborative measures, citations pattern, and institute productivity. A total of 1770 articles were published worldwide. The time trend for the number of articles showed an increase after 2000. The highest number of articles related to methaemoglobinaemia was from the USA (24.8 %), followed distantly by the UK (4.5 %), India (3.7 %), and France (3.7 %). No data related to methaemoglobinaemia were published from 152 countries. The total number of citations at the date of data collection was 10,080, with an average of 5.7 citations per document. The USA and UK had the highest h-index of 31 and 14, respectively, and six countries had an h-index of 9-14. It is notable that Canada was ranked eighth in the number of publications but fourth in h-index and India was ranked third in the number of publications but eighth in h-index. Furthermore, Canada produced the most internationally collaborated papers out of the total number of publications for each country (16.1 %), followed by the UK (13.9 %). This bibliometric analysis provides data contributing to a better understanding of the methaemoglobinaemia research field. The number of publications on methaemoglobinaemia increased significantly after 2000. The USA was the most productive country as measured by total publications. The USA and UK achieved the highest h-index in the field of methaemoglobinaemia research, signifying a higher quality of research than other countries.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015
Bibliometric analysis is increasingly employed as a useful tool to assess the quantity and qualit... more Bibliometric analysis is increasingly employed as a useful tool to assess the quantity and quality of research performance. The specific goal of the current study was to evaluate the performance of research output originating from Arab world and published in international Integrative and Complementary Medicine (ICM) journals. Original scientific publications and reviews from the 22 Arab countries that were published in 22 international peer-reviewed ICM journals during all previous years up to December 31(st) 2013, were screened using the Web of Science databases. Five hundred and ninety-one documents were retrieved from 19 ICM journals. The h-index of the set of papers under study was 47. The highest h-index was 27 for Morocco, 21 for Jordan, followed by 19 for each Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Egypt, and the lowest h-index was 1 for each of Comoros, Qatar, and Syrian Arab Republic. No data related to ICM were published from Djibouti, and Mauritania. After adjusting for economy and population power, Somalia (89), Morocco (32.5), Egypt (31.1), Yemen (21.4), and Palestine (21.2) had the highest research productivity. The total number of citations was 9,466, with an average citation of 16 per document. The study identified 262 (44.3 %) documents with 39 countries in Arab-foreign country collaborations. Arab authors collaborated most with countries in Europe (24.2 %), followed by countries in the Asia-Pacific region (9.8 %). Scientific research output in the ICM field in the Arab world region is increasing. Most of publications from Arab world in ICM filed were driven by societal use of medicinal plants and herbs. Search for new therapies from available low cost medicinal plants in Arab world has motivated many researchers in academia and pharmaceutical industry. Further investigation is required to support these findings in a wider journal as well as to improve research output in the field of ICM from Arab world region by investing in more national and international collaborative research project.
Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 2015
Environmental and health-related effects of solid waste material are considered worldwide problem... more Environmental and health-related effects of solid waste material are considered worldwide problems. The aim of this study was to assess the volume and impact of Arab scientific output published in journals indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) on solid waste. We included all the documents within the SCI whose topic was solid waste from all previous years up to 31 December 2012. In this bibliometric analysis we sought to evaluate research that originated from Arab countries in the field of solid waste, as well as its relative growth rate, collaborative measures, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals. A total of 382 (2.35 % of the overall global research output in the field of solid waste) documents were retrieved from the Arab countries. The annual number of documents published in the past three decades (1982-2012) indicated that research productivity demonstrated a noticeable rise during the last decade. The highest number of articles associated with solid waste was that of Egypt (22.8 %), followed by Tunisia (19.6), and Jordan (13.4 %). the total number of citations over the analysed years at the date of data collection was 4,097, with an average of 10.7 citations per document. The h-index of the citing articles was 31. Environmental science was the most researched topic, represented by 175 (45.8 %) articles. Waste Management was the top active journal. The study recognized 139 (36.4 %) documents from collaborations with 25 non-Arab countries. Arab authors mainly collaborated with countries in Europe (22.5 %), especially France, followed by countries in the Americas (9.4 %), especially the USA. The most productive institution was the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, with 6.3 % of total publications. Despite the expected increase in solid waste production from Arab world, research activity about solid waste is still low. Governments must invest more in solid waste research to avoid future unexpected problems. Finally, since solid waste is a multidisciplinary science, research teams in engineering, health, toxicology, environment, geology and others must be formulated to produce research in solid waste from different scientific aspects.
Fertility Research and Practice, 2015
The main goal of this study was to assess worldwide research activity in emergency contraception ... more The main goal of this study was to assess worldwide research activity in emergency contraception (EC) using bibliometric indicators.
Drug Safety
2 Clinical Pharmacy Program, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), ... more 2 Clinical Pharmacy Program, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia Objectives: Intravenous N-acetylcysteine (IV-NAC) is widely re-cognized as the antidote of choice for acetaminophen overdose. [1] However, its use is not without adverse drug reactions (ADR) which might affect therapeutic outcome or lead to treatment delay. [2,3] The aims of this study were to investigate the type and incidence of ADR induced by IV-NAC in patients treated for acetaminophen overdose and to assess the causality of individual ADR to IV-NAC using Nar-anjo's algorithm. [4] Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients admitted to the hospital for acute acetaminophen overdose over a period of 5 years (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008). The primary outcome of interest in this study was the occurrence of ADR during NAC ad-ministration. The probability of an ADR was assessed using the Naranjo algorithm, which consists of 10 questions), and has been u...
Human & Experimental Toxicology
Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) were the most common agents associated with a significant morbidi... more Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) were the most common agents associated with a significant morbidity and mortality rate. The main objective of this study was to examine the publication pattern related to CCBs poisoning at the global level using bibliometric analysis of articles published in SciVerse Scopus online database. Data were searched for documents that contained specific words regarding CCB poisoning as keywords in the title. No time period limitations were specified in the search regarding the starting year. The ending date of the search was 31 December 2012. The criteria were met by 713 publications from 53 countries. The largest number of articles associated with CCBs was from the United States (30%), followed by the United Kingdom (7.4%), Japan (6%), and Germany (5.6%). No data related to CCBs were published from 159 (75%) of 212 countries registered in World Bank online database. There was no correlation between the number of published articles in the country and its pop...
Maternal and Child Health Journal
Parental concern about childhood fever and consequent use of antipyretics is increasing. Little i... more Parental concern about childhood fever and consequent use of antipyretics is increasing. Little is known about childhood fever management among Arab parents. No scales to measure parents’ fever management practices in Palestine are available. The aim of this study was to validate the Arabic version of the Parent Fever Management Scale (PFMS) using a sample of parents in Palestine. A standard “forward–backward” procedure was used to translate PFMS into Arabic language. It was then validated on a convenience sample of 402 parents between July and October 2012. Descriptive statistics were used, and instrument reliability was assessed for internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Validity was confirmed using convergent and known group validation. Applying the recommended scoring method, the median (interquartile range) score of the PFMS was 26 (23–30). Acceptable internal consistency was found (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.733) and the test–retest reliability value was 0.92 (P &l...
Health expectations: an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy
Evaluation of the association between treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life (... more Evaluation of the association between treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) may enable health-care providers to understand the issues that influence quality of life and to recognize the aspects of hypertension treatment that need improvement to enhance the long-term treatment outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between HRQoL and treatment satisfaction in a sample of Palestinian hypertensive patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted, adopting the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4) for the assessment of treatment satisfaction and using the European Quality of Life scale (EQ-5D-5L) for the assessment of HRQoL. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to describe socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics of the patients. All analyses were performed using SPSS v 15.0. Four hundred and ten hypertensive patients were enrolled in the study. This study findings indicate a positive ...
SpringerPlus
steoporosis is an important health problem with serious consequences. Evaluation of osteoporosis ... more steoporosis is an important health problem with serious consequences. Evaluation of osteoporosis scientific output from Arab countries has not been explored and there are few internationally published reports on research activity about osteoporosis. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the research output originating from Arab countries and 3 Middle Eastern non-Arab countries, particularly Israel, Turkey and Iran in the field of osteoporosis. Original scientific articles or reviews published from the 21 Arab countries, Israel, Turkey and Iran about "osteoporosis" were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. The time frame for the result was up to year 2012. The total number of original and review research articles published globally about osteoporosis was 43,571. The leading country in osteoporosis research was United States of America (14,734; 33.82%). Worldwide, Turkey ranked 16th while Israel and Iran ranked 24th and 31st respectively. Among Arab co...
SAGE Open
An-Najah National University (ANNU) is a Palestinian university that was established more than 35... more An-Najah National University (ANNU) is a Palestinian university that was established more than 35 years ago. The objective of this study was to do a bibliometric assessment of research output, which describes the growth, contribution, and impact of research carried out by the faculty members, researchers, or students of ANNU in the past 35 years. The data used for this study were retrieved from Scopus database. Bibliometric analysis was used to identify the pattern of publication, relative growth rate, authorship pattern, collaborative measures, author’s productivity, most prolific authors, and most prolific journals. A total of 791 published documents were retrieved for ANNU. Seventeen documents (2.1%) were published in Acta Crystallographica Section E Structure Reports Online, whereas 16 (2.0%) were published in Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Environmental Science and Engineering, and 10 (1.3%) were published in International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology ...
SpringerPlus
Reducing nutrition-related health problems in Arab countries requires an understanding of the per... more Reducing nutrition-related health problems in Arab countries requires an understanding of the performance of Arab countries in the field of nutrition and dietetics research. Assessment of research activity from a particular country or region could be achieved through bibliometric analysis. This study was carried out to investigate research activity in "nutrition and dietetics" in Arab countries. Original and review articles published from Arab countries in "nutrition and dietetics" Web of Science category up until 2012 were retrieved and analyzed using the ISI Web of Science database. The total number of documents published in "nutrition and dietetics" category from Arab countries was 2062. This constitutes 1% of worldwide research activity in the field. Annual research productivity showed a significant increase after 2005. Approximately 60% of published documents originated from three Arab countries, particularly Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Tun...