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Refractive errors, including myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, are a leading cause of visual impairment among children worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of these conditions among school-age children and adolescents remains poorly understood, with significant variations reported across studies. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide a comprehensive estimate of the pooled prevalence of refractive errors in this population and explored factors influencing their distribution. A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Observational studies reporting the prevalence of refractive errors among Saudi school-aged children and adolescents were included. Data extraction and quality assessment were conducted using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Pooled prevalence estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model, and heterogeneity was assessed with the I² statistic. Nine studies including over 15,000 participants were analyzed. The pooled prevalence of myopia was 6.7% (95% CI: 3.0% to 14.2%), hyperopia was 3.6% (95% CI: 1.3% to 9.8%), and astigmatism was 7.7% (95% CI: 2.5% to 20.9%). Subgroup analysis revealed regional disparities, with the highest myopia prevalence reported in Taif (33.3%) and Bisha (22.5%), and the lowest in Medina (1.6%). Studies conducted after 2018 showed a significantly higher pooled myopia prevalence (16.4%, 95% CI: 8% to 30.5%) compared to those published before 2018 (3.3%, 95% CI: 1.4% to 7.5%) (p < 0.001). While studies using cycloplegic refraction reported a slightly higher myopia prevalence (7.2%, 95% CI: 4.7% to 11%) than those using non-cycloplegic methods (6.7%, 95% CI: 2.4% to 17.5%), the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.9). No significant difference was observed between studies with smaller or larger sample sizes, although high heterogeneity persisted across all subgroups. Refractive errors, particularly astigmatism, represent a significant and growing public health issue among Saudi school-aged children and adolescents. The findings underscore the urgent need for standardized diagnostic protocols, including the use of cycloplegic refraction, and the implementation of school-based vision screening programs.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) present a formidable challenge for healthcare institutions, resulting in heightened mortality, morbidity, and economic burden. Within healthcare settings, various equipment and materials, including mobile phones, can potentially act as sources of infection. This study sought to examine the occurrence of bacterial contamination on mobile phones utilized by healthcare workers (HCWs) in intensive care units (ICUs), pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and cardiac care units (CCUs) within a central hospital (CH) and two peripheral hospitals (PHs) situated in the southwestern province of Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: We collected a total of 157 samples from mobile phones utilized by HCWs across all ICUs in the CH and PHs. These samples underwent bacteriological analysis to evaluate the degree of bacterial contamination. Results: We found that 45 out of 55 samples from physicians (81.81%) and 58 out of 77 samples from nurses (75.32%) showed bacterial contamination. Contamination rates on HCWs’ mobile phones in the ICU, PICU, and NICU departments of the CH were observed at 69.56%, 80.95%, and 70.27%, respectively. Furthermore, the overall contamination rates in the ICUs, NICUs, and CCUs of the PHs were 78.26%, 88.88%, and 66.66%, respectively. The overall contamination rates of mobile phones in the CH and PHs were 72.11% and 81.13%, respectively. Conclusion: These findings underscore the necessity of routinely disinfecting the mobile phones of HCWs to mitigate the risk of cross-contamination. Implementing robust disinfection protocols can significantly contribute to curtailing the propagation of bacterial pathogens and reducing the incidence of HAIs in healthcare settings.

The present study was carried out to develop cisplatin-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CCNP) and cisplatin-loaded chitosan nanoparticle surface linked to rituximab (mAbCCNP) as targeted delivery formulations. The two formulations (CCNP and mAbCCNP) exhibited significant physicochemical properties. The zetapotential (ZP) values of CCNP and mAbCCNP were 30.50 ± 5.64 and 26.90 ± 9.09 mV, respectively; while their particle sizes were 308.10 ± 1.10 and 349.40 ± 3.20 z.d.nm, respectively. The poly dispersity index (PDI) of CCNP was 0.257 ± 0.030 (66.6% PDI), while that of mAbCCNP was 0.444 ± 0.007 (57.60% PDI). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that CCNP had endothermic peaks at temperatures ranging from 135.50 to 157.69 °C. A sharp exothermic peak was observed at 95.79 °C, and an endothermic peak was observed at 166.60 °C. The XRD study on CCNP and mAbCCNP revealed distinct peaks at 2θ . Four peaks at 35.38°, 37.47°, 49.29°, and 59.94° corresponded to CCNP, while three distinct peaks at 36.6°, 49.12°, and 55.08° corresponded to mAbCCNP. The in vitro release of cisplatin from nanoparticles followed zero order kinetics in both CCNP and mAbCCNP. The profile for CCNP showed 43.80% release of cisplatin in 6 h (R 2  = 0.9322), indicating linearity of release with minimal deviation. However, the release profile of mAbCCNP showed 22.52% release in 4 h (R 2  = 0.9416), indicating linearity with sustained release. In vitro cytotoxicity studies on MCF-7 ATCC human breast cancer cell line showed that CCNP exerted good cytotoxicity, with IC 50 of 4.085 ± 0.065 µg/mL. However, mAbCCNP did not elicit any cytotoxic effect. At a dose of 4.00 µg/mL cisplatin induced early apoptosis and late apoptosis, chromatin condensation, while it produced secondary necrosis at a dose of 8.00 µg/mL. Potential delivery system for cisplatin CCNP and mAbCCNP were successfully formulated. The results indicated that CCNP was a more successful formulation than mAbCCNP due to lack of specificity of rituximab against MCF-7 ATCC human breast cancer cells.

The occurrence of fungal infections has increased over the past two decades. It is observed that superficial fungal infections are treated by conventional dosage forms, which are incapable of treating deep infections due to the barrier activity possessed by the stratum corneum of the skin. This is why the need for a topical preparation with advanced penetration techniques has arisen. This research aimed to encapsulate fluconazole (FLZ) in a novasome in order to improve the topical delivery. The novasomes were prepared using the ethanol injection technique and characterized for percent entrapment efficiency (EE), particle size (PS), zeta potential (ZP), drug release, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and antifungal activity. The FN7 formulation with 94.45% EE, 110 nm PS and −24 ZP proved to be the best formulation. The FN7 formulation showed a 96% release of FLZ in 8 h. FTIR showed the compatibility of FLZ with excipients and DSC studies confirmed the thermal stability of FLZ in the developed formulation. The FN7 formulation showed superior inhibition of the growth of Candida albicans compared to the FLZ suspension using a resazurin reduction assay, suggesting high efficacy in inhibiting fungal growth.

This study investigated the bioactive components and explored the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the methanolic leaf extracts of Cadaba glandulosa (MLCG). The observed activity is related to the diverse chemical composition of the extract as determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, which tentatively identified 18 distinct compounds. Notable compounds include methyl dodecanoate, methyl tetradecanoate, 9,12-octadecadienoyl chloride, hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, palmitoleic acid, anethole, brefeldin A and oleic acid. The antioxidant tests showed a significant scavenging activity of 88.2% at a concentration of 381.5 µg/mL, which underlines the effectiveness of the extract in neutralizing free radicals. The total phenolic content in MLCG was found to be 79.5%, corresponding to 250.8 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/ mL.The antibacterial activity of MLCG showed variability between bacterial strains, with the strongest inhibition observed against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes , both Gram-positive bacteria. The extract showed moderate activity against Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa , while the least activity was observed against Klebsiella pneumoniae . In this study, the impressive antioxidant and antibacterial properties of MLCG underline the therapeutic potential of Cadaba glandulosa as a natural source of antioxidant and antibacterial agents.

The current project was designed to prepare an oil-in-water (oil/water) hypericin nanoemulsion using eucalyptus oil for the preparation of an oil phase with chitosan as an emulsion stabilizer. The study might be a novelty in the field of pharmaceutical sciences, especially in the area of formulation development. Tween® 80 (Polysorbate) was used as the nonionic surfactant. The nanoemulsion was prepared by using the homogenization technique, followed by its physicochemical evaluation. The surface morphological studies showed the globular structure has a nano-sized diameter, as confirmed by zeta size analysis. The zeta potential analysis confirmed a positive surface charge that might be caused by the presence of chitosan in the formulation. The pH was in the range of 5.14 to 6.11, which could also be compatible with the range of nasal pH. The viscosity of the formulations was found to be affected by the concentration of chitosan (F1-11.61 to F4-49.28). The drug release studies showed that the presence of chitosan greatly influenced the drug release, as it was noticed that formulations having an elevated concentration of chitosan release lesser amounts of the drug. The persistent stress in the mouse model caused a variety of depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors that can be counteracted by chemicals isolated from plants, such as sulforaphane and tea polyphenols. In the behavioral test and source performance test, hypericin exhibited antidepressant-like effects. The results show that the mice treated for chronic mild stress had a considerably higher preference for sucrose after receiving continuous hypericin for 4 days (p = 0.0001) compared to the animals administered with normal saline (p ≤ 0.0001) as well as the naïve group (p ≤ 0.0001). In conclusion, prepared formulations were found to be stable and can be used as a potential candidate for the treatment of depression.

Curcumin (CUR) is a polyphenol known for its therapeutic potential, but faces limitations in clinical application due to its poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability. This study envisaged developing stable ternary inclusion complexes of CUR with β-cyclodextrin (βCD) and ascorbic acid (AA) as the ternary substance. Inclusion complexes were prepared by kneading and autoclaving method. Phase solubility studies revealed that the A L type relation between CUR and βCD. We observed The AA improved the stability of the ternary complexes with its stability constant as 138.8M − 1 , complexation efficiency as 0.198, utility number as 3.96 and the bulk as 4.80. The solubilization power improved from − 17.42 to 1.33. Cytotoxicity assays using the A549 lung cancer cell line demonstrated that the ternary complex exhibits potent anticancer activity, comparable to pure CUR. In vitro dissolution tests showed a marked increase in the release rate of CUR from the ternary complex. Our study demonstrates that the inclusion of AA significantly enhances the solubility, stability, and biological efficacy of CUR. The higher stability constant and complexation efficiency of CUR-βCD-AA was due to improved interaction facilitated by AA. The inclusion complexes showed improved antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureas and Staphylococcus epidermis Enhanced dissolution rates and strong cytotoxic effects against A549 lung cancer cells further support the potential of this ternary complex in overcoming CUR’s bioavailability limitations. These results suggest that the CUR-βCD-AA ternary complex effectively enhances curcumin’s solubility, stability, and anticancer activity, offering a promising formulation strategy to overcome curcumin’s bioavailability challenges and improve its therapeutic potential.

Recombinant HBsAg-loaded docosahexaenoic acid nanovesicles were successfully developed, lyophilized (LRPDNV) and characterized for their physico-chemical properties. The zetapotential (ZP) of LRPDNV was −60.4 ± 10.4 mV, and its polydispersity (PDI) was 0.201, with a % PDI of 74.8. The particle sizes of LRPDNV were 361.4 ± 48.24 z. d.nm and 298.8 ± 13.4 r.nm. The % mass (r.nm) of LRPDNV in a colloidal injectable system was 50, its mobility value was −3.417 µm cm/Vs, while the conductivity of the particles was 0.728 (mS/cm). Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analysis showed smooth morphological characteristics of discrete spherical LRPDNV. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of LRPDNV revealed that LRPDNV is thermostable. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies showed a discrete crystalline structure of LRPDNV at 2θ. Nuclear magnet resonance (NMR) studies (1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectrum showed the discrete structure of LRPDNV. The immunogenicity study was performed by antibody induction technique. The anti-HBs IgG levels were elevated in Wistar rats; the antibody induction was observed more in the product (LRPDNV) treatment group when compared to the standard vaccine group. The level of antibodies on the 14th and 30th day was 6.3 ± 0.78 U/mL and 9.24 ± 1.76 U/mL in the treatment and standard vaccine groups, respectively. Furthermore, the antibody level on the 30th day in the treatment group was 26.66 ± 0.77 U/mL, and in the standard vaccine group, the antibody level was 23.94 ± 1.62 U/mL. The LRPDNV vaccine delivery method released HBsAg sustainably from the 14th to the 30th day. The results of this study indicate the successful formulation of DHA nanovesicles which have great potential as an adjuvant system for the delivery of recombinant HBsAg protein.