No abstract

Patients with cardiac conditions may suffer from anxiety related to prognosis and further rehabilitation. Anxiety could be exacerbated by different factors including miscommunication, which could be attributed to the linguistic barrier, that exists among health care providers. At Saud Al-Babtain Cardiac Center (SBCC), nurses who are non-native Arabic speakers could have difficulty communicating disease-related information at different stages of nursing care. Is it possible to identify the language barrier as a source of anxiety for admitted patients with cardiac diseases? In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, 50 patients were included following the diagnosis of cardiac disease and post-cardiac surgery. A questionnaire that measures anxiety level showed that patients who were handled by Arabic-speaking nurses reported less collective mean for the anxiety domain statements of (20.08) versus those who were handled by Non-Arabic-speaking nurses (28.55, P value = .041). Our finding indicates that anxiety levels increased when there was a language barrier between nurses and patients, which could affect the quality of care delivery at SBCC.

No abstract

MRI, specially contrast enhanced MRI study, is the modality of choice in the diagnosis of non-invasive fungal sinusitis when CT is not conclusive, as well as invasive fungal sinusitis with its intraorbital, intracranial and soft tissue extensions. As well as to add DWI and SWI to all cases of suspected fungal sinusitis as they both can help in the diagnosis of fungal sinusitis and detection of complications.This study included 31 patients (11 males, 20 females with mean age 51) suffering from fungal sinusitis who are presented to Alexandria main university hospital, 5 patients had non-invasive types (3 cases had fungal ball and 2 cases had Allergic fungal sinusitis), 26 cases of invasive fungal sinusitis (5 cases of early invasive fungal sinusitis and 21 cases of late invasive fungal sinusitis), All the patients were subjected to:•Full history taking •Thorough Clinical examination by ENT physicians.•MRI study including:-Conventional T1W and T2W -Susceptibility weighted image -Diffusion weighted image Postcontrast T1W fat sat image whenever it is possible to give intravenous gadolinium

Background At present, the prevalence of pregestational diabetes is 2.2% with an overall prevalence of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy of about 16.2%. Fetuses of diabetic mothers are at risk of functional cardiac abnormalities without structural cardiac anomalies especially in the third trimester. The main aim of this study was to assess the association of diabetes with different fetal echocardiographic parameters. Methods A case control study comprising a total of 120 pregnant women (60 cases and 60 controls). The cases group included fetuses of mothers known to have pre-gestational type 2 diabetes (DM group) while the control group included fetuses of euglycaemic healthy pregnant women. They were examined twice at 23–24 weeks' gestation (visit 1) and followed up at 27–28 weeks’ gestation (visit 2). The Modified Myocardial Performance Index (Mod MPI) was obtained in all fetuses. Also, M-mode echocardiography was used to measure the interventricular septum thickness at diastole in a transverse four chamber view. Results There was a significant increase in Iso-volumetric contraction time (ICT) (45.4 ms ± 8.9), Iso-volumetric relaxation time (IRT) (54.7 ms ± 11.22), Interventricular septal thickness (IVST) (4.08 mm ± 0.8), aortic acceleration time (AAT) (54.16 ms ± 12.77) and MPI (0.64 ± 0.09) in the diabetic group compared to the normal control group ICT (38.5 ms ± 9.59), IRT (46.13 ms ± 10.29), IVST (3.17 mm ± 0.6), AAT (49.73 ms ± 10.68) and MPI (0.5 ± 0.1) (all P values were < 0.001). When comparing parameters assessed at both visits among diabetic patients, there was a significant increase in IVST in the second visit (4.74 ± 0.78 mm) compared to the first visit (4.08 ± 0.8 mm) (P value < 0.05). The incidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in the control group. This is was observed in both first and second visit (33.4% and 56.7%) (P value < 0.001). Conclusions Fetuses of diabetic pregnant females show a significant increase in MPI, decrease in E\A ratio and HCM. These alterations in cardiac functions and structure were found to be continuous throughout the period of time between the two visits.