Background: Insomnia is a highly prevalent complaint among elderly; it is associated with significant morbidity and is often a persistent problem, particularly in older adults. Aim of the study: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of insomnia and its effect on quality of life among elderly. Design: a cross-sectional descriptive design was utilized to conduct this study. Sample: a stratified random sample of 107 elderly subjects attending the two geriatric social clubs in Zagazig city. Tools: Four tools were used in the present study; a structured interview questionnaire, Athens insomnia scale, The Geriatric Depression Scale: short form, and The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results: The prevalence of insomnia among the studied elderly was 33.6%, while difficulty initiating sleep was the most prevalent insomnia symptoms among them. Unmarried status, depressive status, smoking, eating before bedtime, daytime long naps, irregular sleep hours were significantly associated with insomnia. Suffering from asthma, nocturia, apnea, and total number of daily medications were significantly associated with insomnia. Insomniac elderly had significantly lower scores in all quality of life domains, except the social functioning domain. Conclusion: One-third of the studied elderly was suffering insomnia which was associated with many different factors. Insomnia was associated with worse quality of life in older adults. Recommendations: Health instructions and educational programs should be conducted for elderly individuals with insomnia to improve their sleeping pattern and quality of life.

BackgroundNon-invasive methods for assessment of hepatic fibrosis are increasingly needed. Recent studies showed that combined elevation of tumor markers CA 19-9 and CA 125 is predictive of severe hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis with high specificity.ObjectivesWe aimed at developing a new panel of surrogate biomarkers for prediction of the stage of hepatic fibrosis by combining tumor markers with other known biomarkers of hepatic fibrosis.Patients and MethodsA total of 92 patients with different types of chronic liver diseases (chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C and autoimmune hepatitis), were prospectively enrolled in our cohort. They were subjected to: ALT, AST, GGT, ALP, total bilirubin, INR, total cholesterol, albumin, platelet count, cancer antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9), cancer antigen 125 (CA 125), cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3), haptoglobin, alpha-2-macroglobulin, apolipoprotein A1, abdominal ultrasound, liver biopsy and histological staging of hepatic fibrosis using the METAVIR system.ResultsCombined elevation of CA 19-9 and CA 125 with a summated value > 37 U/mL is predictive of severe hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis (stage F3-F4 METAVIR) with a probability of 77.6%. Multivariate analysis showed that the most relevant collection of biomarkers for prediction of stage of hepatic fibrosis is: CA 19-9, age, alpha-2- macroglobulin, total bilirubin, platelet count & albumin. We developed a new score, named the “Egy-Score”, using a regression equation composed of this panel of biomarkers. Egy-Score could differentiate no or early fibrosis (stage F0-F2 METAVIR) from severe fibrosis or cirrhosis (stage F3-F4 METAVIR) with 83.7% accuracy.ConclusionsNon-invasive assessment of hepatic fibrosis could be done using the Egy-Score. Egy-Score could differentiate no or early fibrosis (stage F0-F2 METAVIR) from severe fibrosis or cirrhosis (stage F3 - F4 METAVIR) with 83.7% accuracy.

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection produces substantial morbidity in hospitalized patients including discomfort, fever, malaise and unnecessary antibiotic use, which may become an important source of antibiotic resistant organisms. Further, the catheterized urinary tract acts as a reservoir for the dissemination of these drug resistant organisms to other patients. Aim of the study: was to improve the safety of intensive care unit (ICU) patients with urinary catheter via decreasing the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) at Zagazig University Hospital through assessment of knowledge and practice of ICU staff about catheter associated infection and assessment of the incidence of CAUTI among ICU patients in Zagazig University Hospital and implementation of Infection Control Program in the selected ICUs. Subjects and methods: An interventional study (one-group pre-test post-test design) was conducted during the period from 2016 to 2018 at Zagazig university Hospital in two ICUs; surgical and emergency intensive care units. The study was carried out through two phases; the first included the followings: active electronic surveillance for (CAUTI); assessment of health care providers' knowledge about CAUTI before and after intervention through constructed questionnaire and assessment of health care providers' practice before and after intervention by using performance observation checklist. The second phase, included implementation of infection control program based on the conceptual model of Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP). Results: There was a high statistical significant increase in knowledge of resident physicians and nurses about guidelines for prevention of catheter associated urinary tract infection in the studied intensive care units after intervention (P ˂0.01). There was high statistical significant improvement in urinary catheterization practice in the studied intensive care units after intervention (P ˂0.01). Regarding incidence of CAUTI, before intervention, CAUTI incidence was 10.6 per 1000 urinary catheter days. After intervention, CAUTI incidence significantly dropped to 5.4 per 1000 urinary catheter days. Risk of CAUTI before intervention was approximately twice that after intervention. The intervention reduced risk of CAUTI by 49.1%. Regarding isolated pathogens associated with reported CAUTI, the most frequent isolated pathogens were Klebsiella spp. (31.4%), followed by Candida albicans (21.4%), Pseudomonas spp. (14.3%) and E. coli (12.9%) Conclusion: At Zagazig university hospitals' ICUs, implementation of infection control program on CAUTI was noticed to be associated with improvement in healthcare providers' knowledge and practice and decrease in CAUTI incidence. Sustainability is required to maintain such improvement. So. It is recommended to keep continuous training of ICU staff and upgrade ICU protocols according to recent guidelines.

Background and Aims:Egy-Score is a new noninvasive score for prediction of severe hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases. The aim of this study was to validate Egy-Score as a noninvasive score for predicting stage of hepatic fibrosis in a group of Egyptian chronic hepatitis C patients.Patients and Methods:One hundred Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C were enrolled. Mean age was 40.25 ± 9.39 years. They were subjected to CA19-9, alpha-2-macroglobulin, total bilirubin, platelet count and albumin, liver biopsy, and histopathological staging of hepatic fibrosis according to METAVIR scoring system as part of their assessment for treatment. Egy-Score was calculated according to the following formula: Egy-Score = 3.52 + 0.0063 × CA19-9 + 0.0203 × age + 0.4485 × alpha-2-macroglobulin + 0.0303 × bilirubin – 0.0048 × platelet – 0.0462 × albumin. Egy-Score results were correlated to the stage of hepatic fibrosis.Results:Egy-Score correlates positively with the stage of hepatic fibrosis (F0–F4). Egy-Score was able to differentiate significant hepatic fibrosis, severe hepatic fibrosis, and cirrhosis accurately. Cutoff values of Egy-Score were 2.91850 (for significant fibrosis), 3.28624 (for severe fibrosis), and 3.67570 (for cirrhosis). Sensitivity, specificity, and areas-under-ROC curve (AUROCs) were 75.8%, 68.42%, and 0.776 (for significant fibrosis “≥F2”), 91.67%, 77.63%, and 0.875 (for severe fibrosis “≥F3”), and 81.82%, 86.52%, and 0.874 (for cirrhosis “F4”), respectively.Conclusion:Egy-Score is a useful noninvasive panel of surrogate biomarkers that could accurately predict different stages of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.