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Background: Little is known about the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) continuing education (CE) programs on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of primary healthcare physicians (PHPs) in the Arab world. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a diabetes CE program on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of PHPs in Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study using a pre-test and post-test design. PHPs attended a three-day diabetes CE session and completed a standardized questionnaire before and after the training session. Also, their practices were assessed by reviewing the records of patients with DM before the CE program and three months later. Results: A total of 51 PHPs completed the CE program. The sample had a mean (± SD) age of 33.8 ± 6.0 years, and 72.5% were male. The mean knowledge score increased from 14.33 (± 3.37) to 17.61 (± 2.57) (p < 0.001), and the rate of good knowledge increased from 39 (76.5%) before to 51 (100.0%) after (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the mean attitude scores before and after the intervention (3.79 vs 3.86; p = 0.10), respectively. Overall, PHPs' practices related to glycosylated hemoglobin estimation (p = 0.004), foot care (p = 0.02), diet (p < 0.001), exercise (p <0.001), and weight assessment (p < 0.001) significantly improved following the intervention. Conclusion: The CE program for PHPs was effective in addressing knowledge gap of PHPs and in improving their practices towards quality patient care.

Background: Stroke is a spectrum of medical emergencies resulting from a direct insult to the cerebral blood flow. Cerebral computed tomography angiogram (CTA) plays an important role in the diagnostic algorithm of acute stroke. However, the role of CTA in the subacute phase is not well-established. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic role of CTA in subacute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) in identifying underlying etiology. It also aimed to describe the commonly encountered CTA findings in the subacute phase of ischemic events.Methods: This is a retrospective study in which we evaluated the radiologic records of all patients who had a cerebral CTA for subacute stroke and TIA during the period from January 1, 2010 to May 30, 2018. Results:The study included 104 cases diagnosed with subacute ischemic stroke or TIA. Patients' ages ranged from 8 to 96 years with a mean age of 52.9 (18.1) years. Most of the patients were males (68.3%; 71). CTA findings were abnormal in 86 cases (82.7%). Stenosis was diagnosed in 34 (32.7%) cases, followed by acute arterial thrombosis (25; 24%) and chronic occlusion (17; 16.3%). The internal carotid artery was the most affected (57.6%), followed by the vertebrobasilar arteries. Conclusion:The current study revealed that CTA has a high diagnostic yield in the subacute phase of ischemic cerebrovascular events, with an important role in detecting clinically relevant findings in this group of patients.

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