Routine CSF parameters as predictors of disease course in multiple sclerosis: an MSBase cohort study.

Background: It remains unclear whether routine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) parameters can serve as predictors of multiple sclerosis (MS) disease course.

Methods: This large-scale cohort study included persons with MS with CSF data documented in the MSBase registry. CSF parameters to predict time to reach confirmed Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores 4, 6 and 7 and annualised relapse rate in the first 2 years after diagnosis (ARR2) were assessed using (cox) regression analysis.

Characteristics of SLE patients with symptomatic COVID-19: Single centre experience at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital over a 30-month period.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic was declared by WHO in March 2020. Severity of disease varied from asymptomatic to fatal infection. Severe disease was found to be associated with hyperinflammation syndrome.

Neurosurgery Services in the Sultanate of Oman: Evolution, Current State, and Future Development.

During the past 4 decades, the Sultanate of Oman has undergone a remarkable change in all the fields of civilization and modernization, including education, health care, social services, and many other improvements. In the present article, we address the history of neurosurgery in the Sultanate of Oman from the early beginning to the present time. Neurosurgery Departments in the Sultanate of Oman have come a long way to reach their current status.

Geriatric Neuro-Oncology in the Middle East: A Sultanate of Oman Experience.

Brain tumors are primary or metastatic malignancies of the central nervous system (CNS) with significant morbidity and mortality. The overall prevalence of cancer including brain cancer has increased by more than 10% according to the National Institute of cancer statistics. The average percent increase in primary brain tumor incidence for ages 75-79, 80-84, and 85 and older were 7%, 20.

Successful term pregnancies after laparoscopic excision of poorly differentiated Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor of the ovary.

Ovarian Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors are rare sex cord-stromal tumors, accounting for less than 1% of ovarian tumors. Majority of these tumors are benign and unilateral, only 3-5% are bilateral. These patients present with clinical features of virilization due to excessive secretion of testosterone from the tumor, however 50% may have no endocrine symptoms.

[Vitreoretinal surgery in Oman].

Purpose: Vitreoretinal diseases in Middle Eastern countries currently rank in importance behind cataract, trachoma and glaucoma. This study reports on the most frequent causes of vitreoretinal diseases and the results of vitreoretinal surgery in Oman in order to gain insights into requirements in training and equipment.

Methods: Demographic data and biomicroscopic examinations were performed over a 5-year period.

Visual rehabilitation by scleral fixation of posterior chamber intraocular lenses in Omani children with aphakia.

Background And Objective: To report indications and outcomes of scleral-fixated posterior chamber intraocular lenses (PC IOLs) in Omani children with aphakia.

Patients And Methods: Patients with aphakia who were younger than 16 years, unsuitable for spectacle or contact lens correction, and without capsular support underwent an anterior vitrectomy and 10-0 polypropylene inside-out scleral fixation ofa PC IOL.

Results: Scleral-fixated PC IOLs were implanted in 28 eyes of 24 patients.

In vivo morphometry of corneal endothelial cells in pseudoexfoliation keratopathy with glaucoma and cataract.

Background: This study was designed to define correlations between in vivo morphometric and demographic data of pseudoexfoliation (PEX) keratopathy patients from Omani Arab origin with cataract and glaucoma.

Methods: In a non-randomized controlled comparative case series, 69 adult patients (43 males and 26 females) with 78 cataract and 48 glaucoma eyes with corneal PEX material were assessed by confocal biomicroscopy (Confoscan 2, Nidek) and values compared to normative US and Omani Arab population values. Descriptive statistics.

[Ipsilateral autorotational keratoplasty and cataract extraction in patients with trachoma and trauma in Oman. Report on visual rehabilitation].

Aim: To report on the results of visual rehabilitation by ipsilateral rotational keratoplasty (IRK) and cataract extraction in 17 patients with trachoma and with trachoma and trauma in Oman over 3 years.

Patients: Of 25 patients operated from 2001-2004 with IRK, extracapsular cataract extraction, and intraocular lens implantation, 17 eyes of 17 patients with cicatricial trachoma (WHO stage CO) could be followed up after 1 year. Group 1 comprised 11 eyes with ciatricial trachoma.

Visual rehabilitation by scleral fixation of posterior chamber intraocular lenses in amblyopic aphakic children.

Background/aims: To report on the outcome of scleral fixated posterior chamber intraocular lens (S-IOL) implantation in aphakic amblyopic children after 1 year.

Methods: Amblyopic children with aphakia after traumatic and congenital cataract surgery unsuitable for spectacle or contact lens correction were operated with an anterior vitrectomy and inside-out double thread scleral fixation of an Alcon CZ70BD pcIOL. Refraction and vision was compared after 12 months.

Visually evoked potentials after panretinal photocoagulation in omani patients with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.

Aim: To report on the changes of latency and amplitudes of the pattern VEP in patients with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus II and I before and after panretinal laser treatment.

Design: Single center hospital based comparative study.

Methods: One hundred eyes of patients with proliferative diabetic vitreoretinopathy, and HbA1C ≥ 10 percent were subjected to Pattern Visually Evoked Potentials (Medtronic keyopint system, Nicolet) prior to and 4 weeks after PRP.

[Post-traumatic inflammation with an intraocular foreign body].

Background: To report on the diagnosis and management of a"firecracker" injury presenting with a post-traumatic intraocular inflammation.

Case Report: A 10-year-old boy sustained a penetrating 16-mm cornea-sclera blast injury to his left eye with uveal prolapse and hemophthalmus and doubtful light perception. The cranial computed tomography revealed a metallic intraocular foreign body (IOFB), retinal detachment, and subretinal and subchoroidal hemorrhage.

'Life in the tropics for Europeans', an unpublished lecture by William Osler.

An unpublished lecture by William Osler given in 1911 to young British administrators going to India gives glimpses of imperial history and travel medicine, and contains echoes of debates current at that time on a healthy tropical lifestyle and also the influence of race and climate on health.

[Microbial keratitis: a 4 year study of risk factors and traditional/complementary medicine in Oman].

Purpose: To determine the risk factors and the influence of complementary/alternative medicines (CAM) for infectious keratitis in a monsoon-free region of the Sultanate of Oman.

Study Design: Retrospective single center cohort study.

Outcome Measures: Demographic data, risk factors, and pathogens.

[Cataract patients with pseudoexfoliation (PEX) syndrome among a population with high prevalence of PEX. Clinical findings and morphological and surgical characteristics].

Background: Cataracts are the most frequent treatable cause of noninfectious blindness in Oman. Therefore, in 2002 a study was performed at our department of ophthalmology to evaluate cataract patients for pseudoexfoliation.

Methods: In a prospective comparative cohort study, 370 age-related cataract eyes out of an evaluable population of 498 cataracts were evaluated by biomicroscopy, confocal corneal analysis, and electron microscopy and followed up after 6 months.

[Patients with secondary open-angle glaucoma in pseudoexfoliation (PEX) syndrome among a population with high prevalence of PEX. Clinical findings and morphological and surgical characteristics].

Background: The second most frequent treatable cause of noninfectious blindness in Oman is high-pressure glaucoma. Therefore, in 2002 a study was performed at our department of ophthalmology to evaluate pseudoexfoliation (PEX) in glaucoma patients.

Methods: In a prospective comparative cohort study, of 204 glaucoma eyes, 135 open-angle glaucomas were evaluated by biomicroscopy, papillometry, and electron microscopy and followed up after 6 months.

Enhancement of solar inactivation of Escherichia coli by titanium dioxide photocatalytic oxidation.

Aims: To improve solar water disinfection using a photocatalysing semi-conductor and to study the mechanisms involved in this process.

Methods And Results: Cells of Escherichia coli were used as the microbiological indicator to study the possibility of improving the efficiency of solar water disinfection using titanium dioxide (TiO2) as a photooxidizing semi-conductor. TiO2 was used either as a suspended powder or in an immobilized form.

Effect of blood substitute, recombinant hemoglobin, on in vivo hematopoietic recovery from AZT toxicity.

We determined the in vivo ability of infused human recombinant hemoglobin 1.1 (hr-Hb) and erythropoietin to rescue the hematopoietic activity from the suppressive effects of AZT in normal and in a murine model of AIDS (MAIDS) mice. Mice were fed with AZT for 8 weeks with or without treatment in the last 4 weeks by administering various concentrations of hr-Hb and/or erythropoietin (Epo).

The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in the Gezira (Sudan).

The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was studied in blood donors and laboratory technical staff from the Gezira area in Sudan. Of a total of 110 donors, 19 (17.3%) were found to be carriers of the antigen and 4 of 33 (12.

Ethics and commerce in live donor renal transplantation: classification of the issues.

Renal transplantation is now very successful. A shortage of kidneys continues to be a problem. Attempts to increase the supply have recently led to unethical practices, but the issues in the discussion of the ethics need clarification.