Synchronous occurrence of gastrointestinal stromal tumor and gastric adenocarcinoma: a case report.

Only a few cases of synchronous occurrence of gastric adenocarcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumour are reported in literature. We report a case of 70 years old lady who presented with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain and weight loss. Barium meal examination showed stricture of the body and antrum.

Solvation parameters for the 209 PCBs: calculation of physicochemical properties.

Descriptors in the Abraham equations for all the 209 PCBs have been obtained from literature chromatographic data. The six descriptors suffice for the prediction of water to octanol partitions, and for the prediction of various water to solvent and gas to solvent partitions, solubility in water, and water to micelle partition. For water to octanol, gas to dry octanol, gas to wet octanol, solubility of the solid PCBs in water, and gas to water processes, our predictive values agree excellently with the adjusted experimental values of Li et al.

Apathy and depression in cross-cultural survivors of traumatic brain injury.

The disturbance of motivation and its relationship to depression continues to spark contradictory findings among European and North American populations. Could a cross-cultural study shed some light on the situation? This study aims to detect the prevalence of apathy and to test whether the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) can spot the presence or absence of depression in survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Oman. Eighty subjects who sustained a TBI were given an Arabic version of the AES and were also interviewed with the semistructured Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

Editing and publishing of a medical journal. Success of an unconventional workflow.

Regional journals often face constraints that threaten their growth, calling for novel coping strategies. This paper outlines the problems and challenges in editing and publishing the SQU Journal for Scientific Research: Medical Sciences, the only peer-reviewed medical journal in the Sultanate of Oman. These included the absence of secretarial support and the consequent need to reduce paperwork, the fact that most papers required substantial editing even after peer review, and the lack of a single workflow for creating documents for the press and the Internet.

Crohn's disease and cheilitis.

A five-year-old boy presented to his family physician with painless swelling of both lips. One year later he developed abdominal pain, nonbloody diarrhea, weight loss and joint pains. Colonoscopic examination demonstrated patchy erythema, friability and multiple aph-thous ulcers consistent with the appearance of Crohn's colitis, and treatment with prednisone was initiated.

A strange type of Pica.

Pica, where the patient eats non-food items such as mud, clay, varnish etc., is a common behavioural problem seen in children, pregnant women and the mentally retarded. However sponge pica is a very rare variation.

Profile of child and adolescent psychiatry in Oman.

Objective: To find the common behavioral problems in youth, their co-morbidity, treatment, and other variables in Oman.

Methods: All patients who attended the child psychiatric clinic in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, (the only child psychiatry clinic in Sultanate of Oman) for a 3-month period were investigated for behavioral problems, particularly hyperactivity (by Conners' Questionnaire). The diagnosis was based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition.

Solvation descriptors for N-nitrosodialkylamines; calculation of some of their properties of environmental significance.

Literature data on various physicochemical properties of N-nitrosodialkylamines have been analyzed using our general solvation equations, to yield properties or descriptors for these compounds, viz. S the dipolarity/ polarizability, A hydrogen bond acidity, B the hydrogen-bond basicity, and L the logarithm of the gas-hexadecane partition coefficient. Descriptors for 35 nitrosocompounds have been evaluated.

Deliberate self-poisoning in Oman.

Objective: To describe the demographics, precipitating factors, substances and methods used for deliberate self-harm in Oman.

Methods: Data were extracted from the Accident and Emergency (A & E) records of patients treated at the A & E units in Muscat from 1993 to 1998. Data were obtained form the history, and clinical findings resulting form deliberate self-harm.

Psychosocial aspects of epilepsy in Oman: attitude of health personnel.

Purpose: To assess with a questionnaire the awareness and attitudes of the doctors in Oman toward epilepsy. Attitudes of society toward epilepsy have a wide-ranging influence, affecting issues as diverse as compliance with treatment and doctor--patient communication. Recent studies in both developing and developed countries suggest that within the medical profession, there is a lack of knowledge and negative attitudes toward people with epilepsy (PWE).

A case of bilateral ptosis with unsteady gait: suggestibility and culture in conversion disorder.

We report a case of a 14-year-old girl who presented, following a sudden onset, with bilateral ptosis, gait disturbance, difficulty swallowing and loss of appetite, right hypochondriacal pain, and frontal headache. Protracted neurological and medical examinations were unremarkable; neither was precipitating psychological stresses evident. The condition, which manifest as typical conversion disorder, lasted for one year.

Vipassana meditation:: A naturalistic, preliminary observation in Muscat.

Objectives: To assess the effects of Vipassana meditation on the physical and psychological health in a multi-ethnic population in the city of Muscat.

Method: The subjects were participants of a Vipassana meditation course taught in a ten-day residential retreat. Self-assessments of health-related parameters and physical and psychological symptomatology were collected from them before and immediately after the course.

Solvation descriptors for the polychloronaphthalenes: estimation of some physicochemical properties.

Solvation descriptors for the 75 polychloronaphthalenes have been derived from literature data on various properties. These descriptors (S, the dipolarity/polarizability; B, the hydrogen bond basicity; L, the logarithm of the gas-hexadecane partition coefficient; E, the excess molar refraction; V, the McGowan volume) have been used to estimate properties that may be environmentally relevant. Thus, for all 75 polychloronaphthalenes, we estimate values for the water-octanol partition coefficient, as log POCT, the aqueous solubility, as log S, the gas-water partition coefficient, as log KW, and the gas-dry octanol partition coefficient, as log KOCT.

Dissociative disorders in the Sultanate of Oman.

Objective: To study the clinical manifestations and psychosocial aspects of dissociative (conversion) disorders (DD) in the Sultanate of Oman.

Method: A retrospective analysis was made of data derived from case records of patients admitted as in-patients to the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman, over a period of 8 years.

Results: A higher prevalence of DD was noted in Oman compared to western countries.

Aboulia: neurobehavioural dysfunction of dopaminergic system?

Recent advances in the understanding of the neural substrates of goal-directed behaviour have created new interest in unlocking the mystery behind those disorders that are characterized by poverty of thought and action. In this review, various studies will be considered which proffer converging evidence that the dopaminergic brain circuitry running from ventral tegmental areas in the midbrain, via nucleus accumbens in the forebrain, to the frontal cortex, tends to produce aboulia when its restitutive function fails. Such aboulic deficits occur in various neurological and psychiatric disorders in which they have profound implications for the patients' management, rehabilitation and social interactions.

Attitudes of Omani physicians to people with epilepsy.

Objective: This study reports the results of a questionnaire design to elicit doctors views about epilepsy.

Methods: Sixty-two percent of medical staff working in different regions of Oman responded. The questionnaire covered certain topics regarding the source of the knowledge of the doctors on seizure disorders and the personalities and behavior of people with epilepsy.

Psychiatric morbidity in Northern Jordan: a ten-year review.

Objective: To study the psychiatric morbidity in the northern part of Jordan and to determine the frequency distribution of various psychiatric disorders, for planning services.

Method: All records of 2,335 psychiatric patients attending the only psychiatric clinic in Northern part of Jordan during a ten-year period from 1984 to 1993 were extensively reviewed and subjected to computerized analysis. Diagnosis was made as per ICD-9.

Intracorneal hemorrhage secondary to aphakic contact lens wear.

Two cases of intracorneal hemorrhage developing as a complication of aphakic contact lens use are reported. Patient 1 had a penetrating keratoplasty to restore vision and therefore the histologic examination could be performed on the corneal button. In patient 2 the contact lens use was discontinued with partial resolution of the intracorneal hemorrhage and the patient then underwent a secondary intraocular lens implantation with good visual results.

Peripheral joint involvement in polymyalgia rheumatica: a clinical study of 56 cases.

A follow-up study of 56 patients with the provisional diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica showed that 12 developed peripheral synovitis during the course of the illness. Five of the 12 were noted to have synovitis on presentation which was characteristically mild, pauci-articular and cleared quickly after commencing prednisolone therapy. The remaining seven had persistent synovitis of peripheral small joints despite an initial brisk response to oral prednisolone.