Online social networks have established virtual platforms enabling people to express their opinions, interests and thoughts in a variety of contexts and domains, allowing legitimate users as well as ...spammers and other untrustworthy users to publish and spread their content. Hence, it is vital to have an accurate understanding of the contextual content of social users, thus establishing grounds for measuring their social influence accordingly. In particular, there is the need for a better understanding of domain-based social trust to improve and expand the analysis process and determining the credibility of Social Big Data. The aim of this paper is to determine domain-based social influencers by means of a framework that incorporates semantic analysis and machine learning modules to measure and predict users’ credibility in numerous domains at different time periods. The evaluation of the experiment conducted herein validates the applicability of semantic analysis and machine learning techniques in detecting highly trustworthy domain-based influencers.
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CEKLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, UL, UM, UPUK
Online Social Networks(OSNs) have established virtual platforms enabling people to express their opinions, interests and thoughts in a variety of contexts and domains, allowing legitimate users as ...well as spammers and other untrustworthy users to publish and spread their content. Hence, the concept of social trust has attracted the attention of information processors/data scientists and information consumers/business firms. One of the main reasons for acquiring the value of Social Big Data (SBD) is to provide frameworks and methodologies using which the credibility of OSNs users can be evaluated. These approaches should be scalable to accommodate large-scale social data. Hence, there is a need for well comprehending of social trust to improve and expand the analysis process and inferring the credibility of SBD. Given the exposed environment's settings and fewer limitations related to OSNs, the medium allows legitimate and genuine users as well as spammers and other low trustworthy users to publish and spread their content. Hence, this paper presents an approach incorporates semantic analysis and machine learning modules to measure and predict users' trustworthiness in numerous domains in different time periods. The evaluation of the conducted experiment validates the applicability of the incorporated machine learning techniques to predict highly trustworthy domain-based users.
The wealth of Social Big Data (SBD) represents a unique opportunity for organisations to obtain the excessive use of such data abundance to increase their revenues. Hence, there is an imperative need ...to capture, load, store, process, analyse, transform, interpret, and visualise such manifold social datasets to develop meaningful insights that are specific to an application domain. This paper lays the theoretical background by introducing the state-of-the-art literature review of the research topic. This is associated with a critical evaluation of the current approaches, and fortified with certain recommendations indicated to bridge the research gap.
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic might add to the stressors experienced by people living with rheumatic diseases. This study aimed to examine rheumatic patients’ functional and psychosocial states ...during the pandemic and assess its impact on their quality of life.
Methods
Our time-series study included a patient-centered electronic survey, sampling adult rheumatic patients living in Saudi Arabia at different time points from March to August 2020. Patient-reported outcomes included physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, ability to participate in social roles, and pain interference domains were measured using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS-29 Profile v2.1).
Results
A total of 1278 respondents were enrolled. Results showed significant variation in patients’ experiences. Our analyses revealed that the physical well-being of rheumatic patients was significantly impacted, and such effect was persistent over time irrespective of public health measures to control the COVID-19 outbreak.
Conclusion
Our findings consistently demonstrated the need for psychological and social consideration to improve rheumatic patients’ quality of life. Nevertheless, there is still a lot to be learned about the extent of COVID-19 impact on rheumatic patients and the implications it has on long-term disease outcomes.
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CEKLJ, DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, VSZLJ, ZAGLJ
PRéCIS:Glaucoma drainage devices (GDDs) are effective for the management of silicone oil-induced glaucoma. Although cyclophotocoagulation (CPC) has the advantage of shorter operative time and ...repeatability, it carries a higher risk of failure, blindness, and phthisis.
BACKGROUND/AIMS:To compare the surgical outcome of GDD implantation and diode laser CPC in the management of refractory glaucoma following vitrectomy with silicone oil (SO) injection.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:In total, 56 eyes with refractory glaucoma after SO tamponade that underwent either CPC or GDD implantation were retrospectively evaluated. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination and intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement at baseline and 1 day, 1 week, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. The rates of complete success and qualified success (for IOP between ≥5 and ≤21 mm Hg) were analyzed.
RESULTS:A total of 17 eyes underwent GDD implantation and 39 eyes underwent CPC. The preoperative IOP was 35.7±7.9 mm Hg and 27.8±8.4 mm Hg for the CPC and GDD groups, respectively (P=0.001), with a worse baseline visual acuity (P=0.01) and a higher proportion of SO-filled eyes in the CPC group (P<0.01). The IOP at 1 year postoperatively was 23.5±11.5 mm Hg and 15.3±5.9 mm Hg for the CPC and GDD group, respectively (P=0.01). Both groups achieved a reduction in IOP and number of medications at 1 year (P<0.001). The success rate in the GDD group was 94.1% (16/17), and 53.8% (21/39) in the CPC group at 12 months (P<0.005). Five eyes and 1 eye lost light perception vision in the CPC and GDD groups, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:GDD implantation may carry a higher surgical success rate than CPC. However, CPC retains the advantage of being technically easier and repeatable.
Peritonsillar abscess (PTA) is an accumulation of pus between the fibrous capsule of the palatine tonsils and the superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle. Bilateral PTA (BPTA) is a rare disease. ...Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is a congenital abnormality of the distal ileum associated with failed vitelline duct closure. Spontaneous MD rupture during the management of PTA never happened before. In this article, the authors present a case of BPTA-developed MD rupture. We present a case involving an 18-year-old male who presented to the emergency department (ED) for a 2-day history of worsening sore throat, trismus, fever, and odynophagia; a diagnosis of bilateral severe PTA was made. During the management of the BPTA, the patient developed severe acute abdominal pain which was diagnosed later as a case of MD rupture. In ED, the patient underwent computerized tomography (CT) scan of the neck that showed bilateral hypodense masses, consistent with BPTA. Conservative management was started on IV antibiotics, IV fluids, and IV analgesia at the time of diagnosis in the ED. The patient then underwent two attempts of needle aspiration using 18-gauge needles that showed evidence of aspirated pus. Later on, the patient developed severe abdominal pain, which is evaluated by the general surgery department (GS), and underwent ultrasonography (US) and CT scan; then, the diagnosis of rupture MD was made. The patient underwent diagnostic laparoscopy performed by the GS team and improved thereafter. In this article, the authors present a case of BPTA-developed MD rupture.
The aim of this study is to identify burnout prevalence among ophthalmology residents and the predisposing factors associated with higher levels of burnout.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on ...all ophthalmology residents in Saudi Arabia using Maslach Burnout Inventory in January 2018. Associations between Emotional Exhaustion scores and other continuous variables were evaluated using Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Logistic regression model was constructed, and results were reported as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. The significance level was set at p < 0.05.
A total of 117 residents responded to the survey with a 70% response rate. The response rate was above 65% for each training programs by region. 41% of ophthalmology residents scored a positive burnout result on the common subscales (Emotional Exhaustion and/or Depersonalization). Further sub-analysis of data showed positive Spearman’s correlation with number of call days per month and EE subscale (r 0.195). Multivariate logistic regression of the sample yielded significant results with satisfaction with work/life balance and choosing medicine again as a graduate level major p ≤ 0.05. The regression model also showed the Southern program had significantly higher burnout on the common subscales p ≤ 0.05.
Prevalence of burnout among ophthalmology residents was lower when compared to plastic surgery and otolaryngology residents in Saudi Arabia. Work hours and on call days were associated with higher burnout. Actions must be taken to ensure that all training programs implement work hour limitations. Special attention should be given to the Southern region program due to its significantly higher levels of burnout.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Power systems experience many changing and challenging conditions, such as load increases and capacities losses (contingences). This paper will experiment the IEEE 14 bus system behavior under load ...increase, N-1 contingency and wind penetrations. The optimization method used is the Differential evolution algorithm, and the power flow techniques are Fast-Decoubled and Gauss-Seidel.
Interaction between physicians and pharmaceutical sales representative (PR) is a major component of the promotional activities by pharmaceutical companies. The lack of studies examining the magnitude ...of this interaction in Saudi Arabia is evident. The objective of this study is to estimate the magnitude and associated characteristics of physician-PR interaction.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among physicians working in the different regions of Saudi Arabia between March and July of 2012.
A cross-sectional study was undertaken between March and July of 2012 in the different regions of Saudi Arabia. A self-administrated questionnaire was developed and handed to all participants, both in paper and electronic formats.
A total of 663 participants completed the questionnaire. The participation rate was 66.3% (663/1000). The majority of the participants (72.9%) reported interaction with PRs. This was lower among residents/interns compared to higher ranking employees (55.6% vs 83.6%, P < .001). Approximately half (48.3%) of the interactions occurred at a rate of more than once a month. A majority of the participants (72.1%) occasionally accepted gifts such as stationery (57%), drug samples (54%), meals (38%), and sponsorship of educational activities (30%). The following characteristics were independently associated with physician-PR interaction: non-Saudi nationals, a higher monthly income, Western medical education, working in a private hospital, being a specialist or registrar (rather than resident or intern), working on certain specialties (such as psychiatry and family medicine), and having limited number of patients with high socioeconomic status.
Although lower than seen in many parts of the world, a high prevalence of physician-PR inter.action in Saudi hospitals is reported. Delineating associated characteristics may assist with future interventions. Further research should focus on ethical, clinical, prescription, and economic impact of interaction as well as determining the best strategy to reduce negative impact.
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