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Background Reflection is an essential feature of the learning process in all medical education and training fields. While writing the logbooks has been considered to improve learners’ reflection in several disciplines, it is unknown whether writing reflective logbooks improves the learning perception of dermatology residents. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess the role of the reflective logbook in improving the residents’ perception of reflective learning in the dermatology residency program. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on 32 dermatology residents from year two (R2) to year four (R4) enrolled in different hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A baseline electronic survey was emailed to all residents before and after implementing the reflective logbook for six months. The survey included 28 close-ended questions assessing their point of view on a Likert scale, and responses varied from agreeing to disagreeing strongly. Frequencies and proportions were generated for the categorical variables such as sex and level of residency. The graphs were generated to assess the proportion of residents correctly responding to the knowledge questions. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results Almost 80% of dermatology residents considered reflection as an important element of their learning, and 47% of the residents agreed that a reflective log book increases understanding in medical education. About 44% of the residents agreed that the reflective logbook assisted in their learning, and about 19% strongly agreed on the same. However, only 37.5% agreed that logbooks helped them acquire theoretical knowledge, and 9.4% and 18.8% agreed that they helped them acquire practical and research skills, respectively. Almost 68% of the residents had support in writing the logbook, and 34.4% agreed that logbooks helped them address their patient’s needs and enhance their diagnostic skills. Conclusion The study findings revealed that dermatology residents perceived reflection and writing a reflective logbook as important and potentially beneficial. However, knowing the importance of reflection and what reflection means was not optimal. Not all dermatology residents were aware of the reflection and reflective logbooks as tools for reflective learning. Thereby warranting regular workshops or fostering continuous medical education on the importance of reflection.

To evaluate the association between psychological stress and skin symptoms among medical students.  Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between January and June 2015. Electronic survey consists of Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and Self-Reported Skin Complaints Questionnaire were distributed to all 1435 undergraduate students at College of Medicine, King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results: Final analysis was performed on data from 529 (36.9%) students. Students were divided into three groups: least stressed students, n=135, PSQ index less than 0.39; highly stressed students, n=136, PSQ index greater than 0.61; and moderately stressed students, n=258. Older age, female gender, during exam weeks, and fourth and fifth years of medical school (all p less than 0.01) were associated with the highest perceived stress levels. When compared to least stressed students, highly stressed students suffered from more oily, waxy patches or flakes on scalp (p≤0.0001), dry/sore rash (p≤0.0001), warts (p≤0.0001), pimples (p≤0.0001), itchy skin (p≤0.0001), hands itchy rash (p≤0.0001), hair loss (p≤0.0001), pull-out own hair (p=0.008), scaly skin (p=0.012), troublesome sweating (p=0.016), nails biting (p=0.028), and other rashes on face (p= 0.028).  Conclusion: Various common skin conditions could appear in context of psychological stress among medical students.

Reflection is an essential feature of the learning process in all medical education and training fields. While writing the logbooks has been considered to improve learners' reflection in several disciplines, it is unknown whether writing reflective logbooks improves the learning perception of dermatology residents. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess the role of the reflective logbook in improving the residents' perception of reflective learning in the dermatology residency program. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 32 dermatology residents from year two (R2) to year four (R4) enrolled in different hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A baseline electronic survey was emailed to all residents before and after implementing the reflective logbook for six months. The survey included 28 close-ended questions assessing their point of view on a Likert scale, and responses varied from agreeing to disagreeing strongly. Frequencies and proportions were generated for the categorical variables such as sex and level of residency. The graphs were generated to assess the proportion of residents correctly responding to the knowledge questions. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Almost 80% of dermatology residents considered reflection as an important element of their learning, and 47% of the residents agreed that a reflective log book increases understanding in medical education. About 44% of the residents agreed that the reflective logbook assisted in their learning, and about 19% strongly agreed on the same. However, only 37.5% agreed that logbooks helped them acquire theoretical knowledge, and 9.4% and 18.8% agreed that they helped them acquire practical and research skills, respectively. Almost 68% of the residents had support in writing the logbook, and 34.4% agreed that logbooks helped them address their patient's needs and enhance their diagnostic skills. The study findings revealed that dermatology residents perceived reflection and writing a reflective logbook as important and potentially beneficial. However, knowing the importance of reflection and what reflection means was not optimal. Not all dermatology residents were aware of the reflection and reflective logbooks as tools for reflective learning. Thereby warranting regular workshops or fostering continuous medical education on the importance of reflection.

The study purpose was to investigate the effect of Phaseolus Vulgaris (PV) on urinary biochemical parameters among patients with kidney stones. We conducted a randomized controlled study among 60 patients with kidney stones (size < 10 mm) in the nephrology unit of both government and private hospitals, Al-Ahsa. Urinary volume, calcium, magnesium, potassium, oxalate, uric acid, and power of hydrogen (pH) were assessed before and after the intervention of giving 250 g of PV consumption as an extract thrice weekly (2.2 L to 2.5 L per week) for 6 weeks, which was compared with control. A ‘t’ test was used with the significance at 5%. Mean score of age was 44.5 ± 10.16 in PV group and 43.73 ± 9.79 in control. Four (13.3%) and two (6.7%) had family history of kidney stones. Body mass Index (BMI) mean was 26.44 ± 2.7 and 26.36 ± 2.65 in pre and post-test, respectively, which were significant (p = 0.01017). There were significant changes (p = 0.000) in urine volume from 1962 ± 152.8 to 2005 ± 148.8, calcium 205.4 ± 11.99 to 198.4 ± 12.52, potassium 44.07 ± 3.66 to 52.15 ± 4.37, oxalate 37.12 ± 5.38 to 33.02 ± 5.71, and uric acid 6.88 ± 0.7 to 6.31 ± 0.58. In conclusion, PV is effective management for the patients with kidney stones as it increases the urinary volume and enhances the elimination of small kidney stones.

Background There is a growing perception that the left handed (LH) medical students are facing difficulties while performing the clinical tasks that involve psychomotor skill, although the evidence is very limited and diverse. The present study aimed to evaluate the clinical psychomotor skills among Right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) medical students. Methods For this study, 54 (27 left handed and 27 right handed) first year medical students were selected. They were trained for different clinical psychomotor skills including suturing, laparoscopy, intravenous cannulation and urinary catheterization under the supervision of certified instructors. All students were evaluated for psychomotor skills by different instructors. The comparative performance of the students was measured by using a global rating scale, each selected criteria was allotted 5-points score with the total score of 25. Results There were no significant differences in the performance of psychomotor skills among LH and RH medical students. The global rating score obtained by medical students in suturing techniques was: LH 15.89 ± 2.88, RH 16.15 ± 2.75 ( p =  0.737), cannulation techniques LH 20.44 ± 2.81, RH 20.70 ± 2.56 ( p =  0.725), urinary catheterization LH 4.33 ± 0.96 RH 4.11 ± 1.05 ( p =  0.421). For laparoscopic skills total peg transfer time was shorter among LH medical students compared to RH medical students (LH 129.85 ± 80.87 s vs RH 135.52 ± 104.81 s) ( p =  0.825). However, both RH and LH students completed their procedure within the stipulated time. Conclusions Among LH and RH medical students no significant difference was observed in performing the common surgical psychomotor skills. Surgical skills for LH or RH might not be a result of innate dexterity but rather the academic environment in which they are trained and assessed. Early laterality-related mentoring in medical schools as well as during the clinical residency might reduce the inconveniences faced by the left-handed medical personnel.

There is a growing perception that the left handed (LH) medical students are facing difficulties while performing the clinical tasks that involve psychomotor skill, although the evidence is very limited and diverse. The present study aimed to evaluate the clinical psychomotor skills among Right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) medical students. For this study, 54 (27 left handed and 27 right handed) first year medical students were selected. They were trained for different clinical psychomotor skills including suturing, laparoscopy, intravenous cannulation and urinary catheterization under the supervision of certified instructors. All students were evaluated for psychomotor skills by different instructors. The comparative performance of the students was measured by using a global rating scale, each selected criteria was allotted 5-points score with the total score of 25. There were no significant differences in the performance of psychomotor skills among LH and RH medical students. The global rating score obtained by medical students in suturing techniques was: LH 15.89 [+ or -] 2.88, RH 16.15 [+ or -] 2.75 (p = 0.737), cannulation techniques LH 20.44 [+ or -] 2.81, RH 20.70 [+ or -] 2.56 (p = 0.725), urinary catheterization LH 4.33 [+ or -] 0.96 RH 4.11 [+ or -] 1.05 (p = 0.421). For laparoscopic skills total peg transfer time was shorter among LH medical students compared to RH medical students (LH 129.85 [+ or -] 80.87 s vs RH 135.52 [+ or -] 104.81 s) (p = 0.825). However, both RH and LH students completed their procedure within the stipulated time. Among LH and RH medical students no significant difference was observed in performing the common surgical psychomotor skills. Surgical skills for LH or RH might not be a result of innate dexterity but rather the academic environment in which they are trained and assessed. Early laterality-related mentoring in medical schools as well as during the clinical residency might reduce the inconveniences faced by the left-handed medical personnel.

In comparison to physicochemical and chemical methods, microbial dye biosorption is regarded as an eco-effective and economically viable alternative and is a widely applied method due to its high efficiency and compatibility with the environment. Therefore, the idea of this study is to clarify to what extent the viable cells and the dry biomass of Pseudomonas alcaliphila NEWG-2 can improve the biosorption of methylene blue (MB) from a synthetic wastewater sample. The array of Taguchi paradigm has been conducted to ascertain five variables affecting the biosorption of MB by broth forms of P. alcaliphila NEWG. The data of MB biosorption were familiar to the predicted ones, indicating the precision of the Taguchi model’s prediction. The maximum biosorption of MB (87.14%) was achieved at pH 8, after 60 h, in a medium containing 15 mg/ml MB, 2.5% glucose, and 2% peptone, with sorting the highest signal-to-noise ratio (38.80). FTIR spectra detected various functional groups (primary alcohol, α, β-unsaturated ester, symmetric NH 2 bending, and strong C–O stretching) on the bacterial cell wall that participated in the biosorption of MB. Furthermore, the spectacular MB biosorption ability was validated by equilibrium isotherms and kinetic studies (the dry biomass form), which were derived from the Langmuir model (q max  = 68.827 mg/g). The equilibrium time was achieved in about 60 min, with 70.5% of MB removal. The biosorption kinetic profile might be adequately represented by pseudo-second order and Elovich models. The changes in the bacterial cells before and after the biosorption of MB were characterized using a scanning electron microscope. As realized from the aforementioned data, the bacterium is a talented, effective, eco-friendly, and low-cost bio-sorbent for the decolorization and remedy of an industrial effluent containing MB from an aqueous environment. The current outcomes in the biosorption of MB molecules promote the use of the bacterial strain as viable cells and/or dry biomass in ecosystem restoration, environmental cleanup, and bioremediation studies.

Facial emotion recognition (FER) stands as a pivotal artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology that exploits the capabilities of computer-vision techniques for decoding and comprehending emotional expressions displayed on human faces. With the use of machine-learning (ML) models, specifically deep neural networks (DNN), FER empowers the automatic detection and classification of a broad spectrum of emotions, encompassing surprise, happiness, sadness, anger, and more. Challenges in FER include handling variations in lighting, poses, and facial expressions, as well as ensuring that the model generalizes well to various emotions and populations. This study introduces an automated facial emotion recognition using the pelican optimization algorithm with a deep convolutional neural network (AFER-POADCNN) model. The primary objective of the AFER-POADCNN model lies in the automatic recognition and classification of facial emotions. To accomplish this, the AFER-POADCNN model exploits the median-filtering (MF) approach to remove the noise present in it. Furthermore, the capsule-network (CapsNet) approach can be applied to the feature-extraction process, allowing the model to capture intricate facial expressions and nuances. To optimize the CapsNet model’s performance, hyperparameter tuning is undertaken with the aid of the pelican optimization algorithm (POA). This ensures that the model is finely tuned to detect a wide array of emotions and generalizes effectively across diverse populations and scenarios. Finally, the detection and classification of different kinds of facial emotions take place using a bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network. The simulation analysis of the AFER-POADCNN system is tested on a benchmark FER dataset. The comparative result analysis showed the better performance of the AFER-POADCNN algorithm over existing models, with a maximum accuracy of 99.05%.

Plasma accelerators (Esary et al 2009 Rev. Mod. Phys. 81 1229) are a potentially important source of high energy, low emittance electron beams with high peak currents generated within a relatively short distance. As such, they may have an important application in the driving of coherent light sources such as the Free Electron Laser (FEL) which operate into the x-ray region (McNeil and Thompson 2010 Nat. Photon. 4 814-21). While novel plasma photocathodes (Hidding et al 2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 108 035001) may offer orders of magnitude improvement to the normalized emittance and brightness of electron beams compared to Radio Frequency-driven accelerators, a substantial challenge is the energy spread and chirp of beams, which can make FEL operation impossible. In this paper it is shown that such an energy-chirped, ultrahigh brightness electron beam, with dynamically evolving current profile due to ballistic bunching at moderate energies, can generate significant coherent radiation output via the process of Coherent Spontaneous Emission (CSE) (Campbell and McNeil 2012 Proc. FEL2012 (Nara, Japan)). While this CSE is seen to cause some FEL-induced electron bunching at the radiation wavelength, the dynamic evolution of the energy chirped pulse dampens out any high-gain FEL interaction. This work may offer the prospect of a future plasma driven FEL operating in the high-gain Self Amplified CSE mode.

Background Needle stick injuries (NSIs) pose a significant occupational hazard to healthcare professionals, including dental students. Despite the availability of guidelines and preventive strategies, knowledge, training, and compliance remain inadequate among dental students. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the Prospective gain of an educational pack in reducing NSIs and improving knowledge of attitudes towards, and compliance with NSI prevention and management guidelines among dental students. Methods A prospective audit design was employed over four weeks, involving fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year dental students. The study consisted of three phases: pre-assessment, educational intervention, and post-assessment. Baseline knowledge, attitudes, and practices were evaluated using a structured questionnaire. Self-reported compliance with safe sharps handling practices has been designated as the primary outcome. The educational pack, comprising presentations, comparative data, interactive scenarios, and guidelines, was delivered during the intervention phase. Post-intervention assessments used the same questionnaire to measure changes in outcomes. Data were analysed using SPSS, and statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results Post-intervention, the incidence of NSIs significantly decreased, with self-reported cases reducing from 17.2% to 4.3%. Knowledge scores improved markedly, with the percentage of correct answers to key questions rising from 34.5% to 93.1% among sixth-year students ( p = 0.032). Gender-based analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in scores for both male and female students, with female students achieving higher post-assessment scores for key questions (e.g. 93.8% vs 75.6%, p = 0.014). Students with lower GPAs demonstrated the greatest improvement, with scores increasing from 14.3% to 100% in some areas ( p = 0.022). Conclusion The findings underscore the change following the intervention of structured infection control training in reducing NSIs and improving adherence to guidelines. Integrating such programs into dental curricula is vital for fostering a culture of safety and compliance in clinical practice. This study aligns with Saudi Vision 2030, emphasising the importance of enhancing healthcare quality and occupational safety through targeted educational interventions.