Publications by authors named "Baccar M"

Purpose: Understanding the impact of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic social restrictions on the lives of children and adolescents is of utmost importance to enable timely diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of anxiety, sleep bruxism, temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and change in dietary and brushing habits and their association with COVID-19 social restrictions.

Methods: Parents of fit and healthy Qatari children and adolescents were recruited and interviewed by the research team, whereby validated questioners were used to assess the prevalence of children's/adolescents' anxiety, sleep bruxism and TMD.

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Article Synopsis
  • Abortion in sheep flocks is a significant economic concern in Tunisia, but there's limited knowledge about the agents causing these abortions, specifically Brucella spp, Toxoplasma gondii, and Coxiella burnetii.
  • A study tested blood samples from 793 sheep across 26 flocks, revealing seroprevalence rates of 19.7% for Toxoplasma, 17.2% for Coxiella, and 16.1% for Brucella, with mixed infections present in all flocks.
  • The study identified several risk factors—such as flock management practices and neighborhood abortion history—that could increase infection rates, indicating a need for further research to develop effective prevention strategies.
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Rift Valley fever (RVF) has been reported in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, Egypt and Arabian Peninsula - Yemen and Saudi Arabia, over the past 20 years and is a threat to both the animal and human populations in Tunisia. Tunisia is considered as a high-risk country for the introduction of RVF due to the informal movements of diseased animals already reported in the neighboring countries. The objective of this study was to assess the status of RVF in small ruminants and camels in Tunisia.

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Rabies is one of the most important zoonosis in Tunisia. In the last 6 years, a dramatic increase in the number of cases in animals had raised concern about the transmission dynamics of rabies and the effectiveness of established control measures. For a better understanding of the epidemiological features of rabies in Tunisia, data on animal and human rabies cases and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) protocol, for the period from 2012 to 2018, were analysed to describe the spatial and the temporal distributions of the disease and to guide targeted rabies control measures.

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The fight against tuberculosis remains a priority for world leaders: a re-emerging disease in developed countries, endemic elsewhere, it was declared in 1993, as a "world emergency" by the World Health Organization (WHO). The aim of programs is to prevent infection from spreading and perpetuating; the recommended strategies were the subject of common consent by expert committees convened by international agencies, primarily the WHO. As a result, programs of the Maghreb countries have great similarities.

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Background Lung cancer is the main cause of death from cancer in the world. The 5-year survival is about 15%. Despite the progress of medicine the mortality rate decreased only marginally.

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Background: The spread of smoking among women in Tunisia has reached alarming proportions because of increasing smoker rate, the younger age of smoking initiation and therefore its duration.

Aim: Identify predictors of success or failure of smoking cessation, Methods: we conducted a retrospective study (January 2008-June 2011), including 101 female smokers (19.8%) among 510 smokers of both sexes undergoing smoking cessation interventions.

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The aim of this article is to give practicing physicians a practical approach to the treatment of latent and active tuberculosis. Most patients follow TB standard treatment recommended by WHO that depend on category of patient. It is a combination of four essential tuberculosis drugs of the first group: isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamid and ethambutol; in some cases streptomycin can replace ethambutol.

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Background: Since few years, the data describing the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have changed and new concepts have emerged.

Aim: To study the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with COPD in a Tunisian population.

Methods: It is a retrospective study including 150 patients with COPD admitted at the pulmonary department of Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis, during a period of ten years.

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Unlabelled: Lung mycosis is rare. Diagnosis and treatment must be done the earliest possible.

Methods: It is about a retrospective study on clinical records including patients hospitalized for lung infection.

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Article Synopsis
  • Severe obesity (BMI >30) can lead to obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS), often associated with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), characterized by low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
  • A study over four years involving 62 obese patients with OSAS showed that while both groups had similar demographics and OSAS severity, those with OHS had significantly higher levels of obesity (BMI >40) and more severe blood gas disturbances.
  • The findings suggest that the degree of obesity is a key factor in developing OHS among patients with OSAS, indicating that while OHS and OSAS can occur together, OHS is a separate condition that is not solely dependent on the severity of OSAS
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Bronchopulmonary sequestration is a rare malformation characterized by lung tissue fed by one or several aberrant systemic arteries. The authors present the case of a 35-year-old woman in whom extralobar sequestration was fortuitously detected at the time of persistent pleuropneumopathy. Computed tomography was used in the diagnosis of pulmonary sequestration.

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Background: Aorto/ilio enteric Fistula (AEF) is defined as a communication between the aorta or iliac artery and any adjacent segment of the bowel. It may be primary or secondary. The former occurs in patients with intestinal or vascular disease and mostly complicates abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), whereas secondary aorto-enteric fistula is a dreadful complication of aortic reconstruction with vascular prosthesis.

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Acute rhabdomyolysis is a clinical and biological syndrome generally with a toxic or traumatic cause. Only 5% of cases are infectious, and rarely in relation to a pneumococcal infection. We report two cases of acute rhabdomyolysis which developed in patients with severe Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia.

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