Verbal Probability Terms for Communicating Clinical Risk - a Systematic Review.

Verbal probability expressions such as 'likely' and 'possible' are commonly used to communicate uncertainty in diagnosis, treatment effectiveness as well as the risk of adverse events. Probability terms that are interpreted consistently can be used to standardize risk communication. A systematic review was conducted.

Global Epidemiology of Urticaria: Increasing Burden among Children, Females and Low-income Regions.

Urticaria has a high socioeconomic burden worldwide. However, the global epidemiology of urticaria and its geographical and temporal trends are not well studied. Using the Global Burden of Disease dataset, the aim of this study was to analyse the age-standardized prevalence, incidence, years lived with disability, and mean duration of urticaria in 195 countries from 1990 to 2017.

Relationships and boundaries: Learning needs and preferences in clerkship medical environments.

Purpose: Relationship boundaries recognition is an essential element of medical practice. The aim of the study was to assess final year medical students' perceived need for education regarding professional boundaries.

Materials And Methods: This was a cross-sectional study.

Burden of Breast Cancer in the Arab World: Findings from Global Burden of Disease, 2016.

Epidemiology of breast cancer in the Arab region is understudied as compared with Western countries. We aimed to examine breast cancer epidemiology in Arab countries from 1990 to 2016. We analyzed the Global Burden of Disease, 2016 data for breast cancer among women in 22 Arab countries.

Informed consent learning: Needs and preferences in medical clerkship environments.

Purpose: Limited information exists regarding students' routine educational needs in support of ethics and professionalism practices faced in real clinical practice. As such the authors aimed to explore medical students learning needs and preferences for informed consent and relevant ethical issues in the clerkship environments.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered, printed survey distributed to final year clinical clerks.

A Definition of Family Medicine and General Practice.

Definitions of general practice and family medicine have tended to be difficult to understand. We propose a new definition that is brief and clear. General practice / family medicine is defined as the medical specialty that manages common and long-term illnesses in children and adults, focusing on overall health and well-being.

Ethics teaching in a medical education environment: preferences for diversity of learning and assessment methods.

Background: Ethics and professionalism are an integral part of medical school curricula; however, medical students' views on these topics have not been assessed in many countries.

Objective:  The study aimed to examine medical students' perceptions toward ethics and professionalism teaching, and its learning and assessment methods.

Design: A self-administered questionnaire eliciting views on professionalism and ethics education was distributed to a total of 128 final-year medical students.

Knowledge of diabetes among patients in the United Arab Emirates and trends since 2001: a study using the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test.

Knowledge of diabetes among patients with the disease in the United Arab Emirates is essential for effective self-management. We assessed the level of diabetes-related knowledge among patients and compared it with that found in previous studies in the same city. A cross-sectional study, using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, was conducted at two clinics in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Patient-Centered Communication: Basic Skills.

Communication skills needed for patient-centered care include eliciting the patient's agenda with open-ended questions, especially early on; not interrupting the patient; and engaging in focused active listening. Understanding the patient's perspective of the illness and expressing empathy are key features of patient-centered communication. Understanding the patient's perspective entails exploring the patient's feelings, ideas, concerns, and experience regarding the impact of the illness, as well as what the patient expects from the physician.

Principles of family medicine and general practice - defining the five core values of the specialty.

The principles of general practice and family medicine are the defining characteristics of the speciality. The five principles are: compassionate care - a caring attitude towards patients and their families shown as kindness and a desire to help; generalist approach - a perspective on the whole person and the context of illness including family, culture and society; continuity of relationship - the interpersonal bond of trust and respect between family physicians, patients, and their families that develops over the life course; reflective mindfulness- doctors' awareness of their thoughts and emotions manifested as a sense of presence and attentiveness towards self and others; and lifelong learning - a commitment to personal and professional development by participating in learning activities and practice-based research that leads to better patient outcomes. Concepts such as care coordination, preventive care, access to care, professional competence, resource management and community-based care, are part of the principles above.

Basal Ganglia Calcification in Psychiatric Inpatients: A Case-Control Study.

Background And Objective: Several case reports have noted basal ganglia calcification (BGC) as an incidental radiologic finding in patients presenting with psychiatric manifestations. In this study, we examined the clinical correlates of mental disorders in two groups of psychiatric patients, one with BGC and one with normal radiologic studies.

Methods: In a retrospective cross-sectional case-control study of patients admitted to the psychiatric ward in Al Ain Hospital between January 2011 and December 2013, we compared all 15 patients diagnosed with BGC and 30 control patients who had normal radiologic findings.

Deficiency of mitochondrial modulator MCJ promotes chemoresistance in breast cancer.

Despite major advances in early detection and prognosis, chemotherapy resistance is a major hurdle in the battle against breast cancer. Identifying predictive markers and understanding the mechanisms are key steps to overcoming chemoresistance. Methylation-controlled J protein (MCJ, also known as DNAJC15) is a negative regulator of mitochondrial respiration and has been associated with chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity in cancer cell lines.

Burden of virus-associated liver cancer in the Arab world, 1990-2010.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is amongst the top three cancer causes of death worldwide with hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV/HCV) as the main etiological agents. An up-to-date descriptive epidemiology of the burden of HBV/HCV-associated HCC in the Arab world is lacking. We therefore determined the burden of HBV/HCV- associated HCC deaths in the Arab world using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 dataset.

Outcome of manipulation under anaesthesia in adhesive capsulitis patients.

Frozen shoulder although considered self remitting disease causes significant level of pain and stiffness. This study was planned to determine the immediate outcome of manipulation under anaesthesia (MUA) in patients with adhesive capsulitis in terms of gain of range of movement (ROM) and pain relief. Diagnosed cases of adhesive capsulitis (30 in number), who had symptoms of pain and stiffness lasting more than 2 months eventually underwent MUA.

Role of a poison center in reducing unintentional childhood ingestion by targeting pre-event risk factors.

Objectives: Unintentional poisoning is a frequent presentation in the pediatric emergency care settings. We sought to determine the current incidence of unintentional poison ingestions in children who present to the emergency care in the city of Al Ain in United Arab Emirates, to create a profile of the products ingested, and to compare our data with a previous study conducted before the inception of a poison and drug information center.

Methods: We reviewed all cases of unintentional poisoning in children 10 years or younger, who presented at 2 tertiary level emergency care centers during January-December 2010.

Making evidence-based medicine (EBM) doable in developing countries: a locally-tailored workshop for EBM in a Pakistani institution.

Objective: To demonstrate that evidence-based medicine (EBM) training can be imparted in developing countries using minimal resources.

Design: Development of a minimal cost workshop with validation of gain in EBM skills using the Berlin questionnaire.

Setting: Teaching hospital in Pakistan.

Training in reference management software--a part of new medical informatics workshops in Pakistan.

Background: Researchers in Pakistan can increase writing productivity, reduce errors in manuscripts and improve quality of their papers by hands-on workshops on bibliographic reference software.

Methods: A workshop was conducted in an interactive tutorial format using an overhead projector to show screenshots of software at each step. Our Workshop included: starting the Endnote program (www.

Paving the way for evidence-based medicine in Pakistan.

Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) is the process of systematically reviewing, appraising and using clinical research findings to aid the delivery of optimal clinical care to patients. EBM has become popular due to: the need for valid information about diagnosis, prognosis, therapy and prevention during patient care; traditional sources such as textbooks and expert opinion being frequently out-of-date; and knowledge of current best evidence declining with time from graduation from medical college. EBM has become feasible for practicing clinicians due to: new strategies for appraising studies; availability of systematic reviews (summaries) of current best evidence; and information technology (computers with Internet access).