Cross-Border Accreditation in the Caribbean: A Potential Threat to the Integrity of the Accreditation Process?

According to the World Directory of Medical Schools, the Caribbean region hosts around 100 medical schools, leading to variations in education programs and student performance. Accreditation is crucial for maintaining educational standards. The proliferation of accrediting agencies recognized by the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) has led to cross-border accreditation practices and market-driven competition.

Design and challenges of a randomized controlled trial for reducing risk factors of metabolic syndrome in Mexican women through water intake.

Objective: To describe the design, methods, and challenges encountered during a randomized clinical trial aimed to promote water intake for reducing risks of metabolic syndrome in Mexican women.

Materials And Methods: In a randomized clinical trial in Cuernavaca, Mexico, overweight and obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 25 < 39) women, 18 - < 45 years old with an intake of sugar-sweetened beverages ≥ 250 kilocalories per day (kcal/day) were randomly allocated to the water and education provision group (n = 120) or the education provision only group (n = 120).

Results: We screened 1 756 women.

Prediction of dissolved oxygen in the Mediterranean Sea along Gaza, Palestine - an artificial neural network approach.

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are flexible tools which are being used increasingly to predict and forecast water resources variables. The human activities in areas surrounding enclosed and semi-enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean Sea always produce in the long term a strong environmental impact in the form of coastal and marine degradation. The presence of dissolved oxygen is essential for the survival of most organisms in the water bodies.

To evaluate and compare the effects of first generation anti-histamine (chlorpheniramine maleate) and second generation anti-histamine (loratadine) on isolated trachea of rabbit.

Objective: The incidence of respiratory allergy has increased gradually over the past several years and current estimates suggest that allergic rhinitis affects approximately 20% of the population. Large scales population surveys indicate that up to 38% of patients with rhinitis have asthma. The allergic response in the airways is an important pathogensis to cause bronchoconstriction owing to increased responsiveness of tracheo bronchial tree to various stimuli and also causes the release of histamine and other chemical mediators from mast cells.