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Biomedical subjects

A A al-Meshari

Publications and source records attributed to A A al-Meshari.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Consanguinity among the Saudi Arabian population.

This study was conducted on 3212 Saudi families to investigate the prevalence of consanguineous marriages. The families were interviewed and the information on the relationship between the husband and wife was obtained. The overall rate of consanguinity shows that 57.7% of the families screened were consanguineous. The most frequent were first cousin marriages (28.4%) followed by distant relative marriages (15.2%) and second cousin marriages (14.6%). The families were grouped according to the province of their origin and the consanguinity rates were calculated accordingly. There were slight differences in the consanguinity rates in the five provinces, which ranged from 52.1% to 67.7%. In each province first cousin marriages were the most frequently encountered pattern, ranging from 17.9% to 40.9%. The inbreeding coefficient (F) was calculated for each province and ranged from 0.020 to 0.030. Within each province, there were several significant differences among the populations in the different areas. The highest rate of consanguinity was 80.6% in Samtah and the lowest rate was around 34% in Abha in the South Western province. These results place Saudi Arabia among the countries of the world with a high rate of consanguinity. The possible consequences of increased consanguinity are presented and discussed.

Consanguinity↗

Pregnancy outcome in women with antiphospholipid antibodies.

The association of antiphospholipid antibodies (APA) or lupus anticoagulant (LA) and recurrent fetal loss (RFL) is well established; however, the spectrum of pregnancy outcome in relation to various therapeutic approaches versus placebo is unknown. We studied 49 women with RFL, 14 with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) 13 of whom without a history of RFL, and 32 controls (all in the first trimester of pregnancy) for the presence of APA. Tests for APA were positive in 15/49 women with RFL (30%), 6/14 ITP (43%) and 2/32 controls (6%). Treatment in the APA positive patients consisted of: no treatment for the 8 patients who had no history of RFL (Group A; all 34 previous pregnancies successful), aspirin alone (Group B, 5 patients; all 30 previous pregnancies unsuccessful), aspirin with prednisolone (Group C, 9 patients; 69/80 previous pregnancies unsuccessful), or aspirin, prednisolone and immunoglobulin G for resistant cases (Group D, 4 patients, previously in Group C). 10/11 (90.9%), 3/7 (43%), 7/13 (53.8%) and 4/7 (57.1%) pregnancies were successful in Group A, B, C and D, respectively. There was a total of 19/45 (42%) failures including 3 pregnancies in one patient who failed to respond to all forms of therapy. This open study with small subgroups of patients draws attention to a wide range of pregnancy outcome in women with APA and to the fact that APA may serve only as a marker for a wide range of pathological conditions with variable degrees of disease severity. More studies are, however, needed to explore the real mechanism of RFL in women with APA and RFL, especially those who are resistant to therapy.

Abortion, Habitual↗

Ovarian pregnancy.

Ovarian ectopic pregnancy occurs very rarely; the reported incidence is only 1:7000-40,000 deliveries, despite various reports in recent years. We present four cases of primary ovarian pregnancy which were managed in the King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) over a 5-year period representing a prevalence rate of 19.9 per 100,000 deliveries. All four cases complied with the four criteria of Spiegelberg. None of the patients were known to have used an intrauterine contraceptive device which had been suggested as the cause of ovarian pregnancies in several studies. Fertility after surgery in these cases was unaffected.

Adult↗

Post partum thyroiditis in Saudi women.

Two hundred and seventy seven Saudi women were prospectively evaluated post-partum to determine the frequency of post-partum thyroiditis. Four to six weeks after delivery, 12 (4.3%) had positive antimicrosomal antibodies and 8 (2.9%) had positive antithyroglobulin antibodies. At 6-8 weeks post-partum, out of 82 subjects followed up, 4 (4.9%) had positive antimicrosoMal antibodies and 1 (1.2%) had positive antithyroglobulin antibodies. At 8-12 weeks post-partum, out of 70 subjects, antimicrosomal antibodies were detected in 5 (3.5%) subjects and antithyroglobulin in 2 (1.4%). Their routine thyroid function tests (T3, T4, and TSH) remained within the normal range. There was no clinical evidence of hyper- or hypothyroidism in any of the patients during the follow up. Post-partum thyroiditis, appears to be relatively uncommon in Saudi Arabia. It does not produce any clinical illness or cause significant subclinical thyroid dysfunction.

Adult↗

Separation of beta- and gamma-tocopherols in serum by high performance liquid chromatography.

A simple and sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) in serum with UV detection is described. In normal phase mode excellent separation of positional isomers (beta and gamma) was achieved by adjusting the proportion of isopropanol in the mobile phase. Detection limits for both beta and gamma were 0.62 mg/L and 0.42 and 1.2 mg/L for alpha and delta isomers, respectively. Measurement of all the tocopherol structural isomers (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) in a sample required only 400 microL of serum and each run was completed in less than 22 min.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

Screening for toxoplasmosis in pregnancy.

Randomly collected sera from 386 pregnant women attending obstetric and gynecology clinics at Kind Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were examined for toxoplasma antibodies by five serological methods, i.e. latex agglutination test (LAT), two indirect hemagglutination tests (IHAT) (Carter-Wallace, USA and Ismunit, Italy), enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). The percentage of sensitivity, specificity and coincidence value of these tests were compared with IFAT which was used as a reference test. For routine screening of toxoplasmosis, LAT has proved in this study to be the most suitable test. The LAT is cost effective and easy to perform. In this study of the three tests (IFAT, EIA, immunosorbent agglutination assay) to demonstrate specific IgM for toxoplasmosis, the EIA test proved to be the most satisfactory because of its 99% specificity. If EIA equipment is available, it can be used for routine screening (IgG) as well as IgM determination. The incidence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women varied between 25.4% and 36.3% depending on the method used.

Female↗

Computed tomographic changes of the brain in toxaemia of pregnancy.

Four cases of toxaemia of pregnancy examined with computed tomography scans of the brain are reported. A review of the literature reveals 19 other cases with previously reported CT brain scans. The review shows intracerebral oedema as the main finding. Haemorrhage, massive or punctate was noted in four cases. The pathogenesis of the CT changes and the clinico-radiological correlation of the visual disturbances are discussed.

Adult↗