Clinical learning environments across two different healthcare settings using the undergraduate clinical education environment measure.

Background: The clinical placements of our medical students are almost equally distributed across private and public sectors. This study aims to assess medical students' perceptions of their Clinical learning Environment (CLE) across these two different healthcare settings, using the Undergraduate Clinical Education Environment Measure (UCEEM).

Methods: 76 undergraduate medical students (Year 5 and 6), were invited to participate.

The relationship of online pre-recorded neurology mini-lectures to medical student assessment: a pilot study.

Introduction: eLearning has become an essential part of medical education. However, there is a lack of published research on student engagement with online pre-recorded mini-lectures and its relation to assessment. The aim of this pilot study is to explore the relationship between newly introduced neurology pre-recorded mini-lectures and undergraduate medical students engagement and assessment.

Guillain-Barré syndrome in Arab countries: a systematic review.

Systematic review of the frequency and clinical pattern of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in Arab countries was initiated by a keyword search of PubMed, Medline and Embase and examination of references in all relevant papers. Seven articles were included from Iraq (n=1), Kuwait (n=1), Libya (n=2), and Saudi Arabia (n=3). The only incidence report from the Arab world, a 1987 study from Libya, gives an incidence of 1.

Consultation on the Libyan health systems: towards patient-centred services.

The extra demand imposed upon the Libyan health services during and after the Libyan revolution in 2011 led the ailing health systems to collapse. To start the planning process to re-engineer the health sector, the Libyan Ministry of Health in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other international experts in the field sponsored the National Health Systems Conference in Tripoli, Libya, between the 26th and the 30th of August 2012. The aim of this conference was to study how health systems function at the international arena and to facilitate a consultative process between 500 Libyan health experts in order to identify the problems within the Libyan health system and propose potential solutions.

Neurology expertise and postgraduate training programmes in the Arab world: a survey.

Neurological disorders are increasingly recognised as a major public health problem, especially in the developing world. Having adequate neurology expertise to tackle this issue is essential. A 17-item survey was conducted to gather information about the number, training and location of neurologists and supportive facilities available to them in the 16 middle- and high-income Arab countries.

Frequency and clinical patterns of stroke in Iran - Systematic and critical review.

Background: Cerebrovascular disease is the second commonest cause of death, and over a third of stroke deaths occur in developing countries. To fulfil the current gap on data, this systematic review is focused on the frequency of stroke, risk factors, stroke types and mortality in Iran.

Methods: Thirteen relevant articles were identified by keyword searching of PubMed, Iranmedex, Iranian University index Libraries and the official national data on burden of diseases.

LRRK2 G2019S in the North African population: a review.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder, for which environmental and/or genetic factors are postulated as possible causes. Over the past decade there has been a substantial increase in the knowledge of the genetics of PD. Mutations in Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) are the most frequent genetic causes of PD, and the common G2019S mutation has been identified in various ethnic groups with variable frequency.

Differentiating vascular parkinsonism from idiopathic Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

Vascular parkinsonism (VP) remains a loose constellation of various clinical features. We systematically reviewed studies comparing clinical, neuroimaging and other investigations that might distinguish VP from idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). Medline, Embase, Cinahl (R), and PsycINFO were searched by querying appropriate key words.

The Libyan doctors' brain drain: an exploratory study.

Background: Medical emigration from developing to developed countries is a well established phenomenon of substantial importance. Though Libya is classified as an upper-middle income country, it has been affected by this trend. This study was undertaken to identify some of the possible reasons behind the emigration of Libyan doctors and factors that might motivate them to return.

Epidemiology of headache in Arab countries.

The epidemiology of headache in Arab countries was systematically reviewed through Medline identification of four papers reporting headache prevalence in the Arab nations of Qatar, Saudi Arabia (2 papers) and Oman. The prevalence of headache varied from 8 to 12% in Saudi Arabia to 72.5% in Qatar and 83.

Medical education in Libya: the challenges.

The history of medical education in Libya spans over a period of 40 years. Medical schools had a good and promising start in the 1970s. The graduates of the first few classes had a good impact on the health services in Libya.

A negative trend of biomedical research in Libya: a bibliometric study.

Background: It is well established that Libya is lagging behind its peers in biomedical research. The aim of this study is to analyse all the original biomedical publications affiliated with Libya from 1973 to 2007.

Methods: PubMed and the Science Citation Index Expanded were searched for 'original research' biomedical studies affiliated with Libya.

The neurology map of the Arab world.

The Arab world covers a large geographical area over two continents, Africa and Asia and includes 23 countries ranging from low-to-high income. The estimated total population of the Arab world was around 318 million in 2005 and is projected to increase to 480 million in 2030. The percentage of people above the age of 60 will change from an average of 5.

Stroke in Arab countries: a systematic literature review.

Stroke is second only to ischaemic heart disease as a cause of death, and over a third of stroke deaths occur in developing countries. Arab countries constitute populations with a similar lifestyle and diet that may influence stroke risk, type and survival after stroke, as well as other characteristics in comparison to Western and Oriental populations. Therefore, a review of published reports of stroke in Arab countries was undertaken to provide a background for designing future stroke studies in Arab populations.

A systematic review of the epidemiology of epilepsy in Arab countries.

In this report the epidemiologic aspects of epilepsy in Arab countries are systematically reviewed. MEDLINE and Embase were searched, and six papers were identified: one incidence report from Qatar and five prevalence reports (two from Sudan, and one from each of Libya, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia). An incidence of 174 per 100,000 persons in 2001 was reported in a hospital-based study from Qatar.

Arab nations lagging behind other Middle Eastern countries in biomedical research: a comparative study.

Background: Analysis of biomedical research and publications in a country or group of countries is used to monitor research progress and trends. This study aims to assess the performance of biomedical research in the Arab world during 2001-2005 and to compare it with other Middle Eastern non-Arab countries.

Methods: PubMed and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded) were searched systematically for the original biomedical research publications and their citation frequencies of 16 Arab nations and three non-Arab Middle Eastern countries (Iran, Israel and Turkey), all of which are classified as middle or high income countries.

Frequency and clinical patterns of multiple sclerosis in Arab countries: a systematic review.

The susceptibility of various populations to multiple sclerosis (MS) and the clinical patterns of the disease are thought to be different. Nineteen articles related to incidence, prevalence and clinical patterns of MS in Arab populations were identified by keyword searching of Medline and Embase, and review of references in all relevant papers. Data were only available for the Kuwaiti, Jordanian, Libyan, Saudi, Iraqi, Palestinian (including Arabs living in Israel), and Omani populations.

Parkinson's disease is overdiagnosed clinically at baseline in diagnostically uncertain cases: a 3-year European multicenter study with repeat [123I]FP-CIT SPECT.

Overdiagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is suggested by specialist review of community diagnosis, and in postmortem studies. In specialist centers 4 to 15% of patients entered into clinical trials as early PD do not have functional imaging support for a PD diagnosis. In a European multicenter, prospective, longitudinal study, we compared clinical diagnosis with functional SPECT imaging using [123I]FP-CIT (DaTSCAN, GE Healthcare).