Abdel Halim Abdel Fattah Salem

Arabian Gulf University · Department of Anatomy

In the last two decades, researchers in the medical field have attempted to predict academic success in undergraduate medical programs. Previous literature suggests several factors that predict academic success among Doctor of Medicine (MD) students, including metacognitive awareness, motivation, and emotional intelligence. However, the roles of di...

Human anatomy is an essential component of the medical curricula. Anatomy education has been significantly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to explore student’s perceptions on a blended learning approach using Checklist-based Active Learning in Anatomy Demonstration Sessions (CALADS) as a method in comparison to the...

Iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) is considered an autosomal recessive iron deficiency anemia due to mutations in the transmembrane protease serine 6 (TMPRSS6) gene. Variations in iron parameters and a higher risk of iron deficiency have been linked to the TMPRSS6 mutations. Furthermore, human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) ide...

Background: World Health Organization Collaborating Centres (WHOCCs) cooperate with the WHO on a range of strategic areas such as nursing, nutrition, mental health, chronic diseases, education, and health technologies, depending on their speciality areas. As of 2021, WHO has 47 CCs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) collaborating on diverse...

The objective of our study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on learning anatomy and to compare the students’ perceptions of “face-to-face” and “online” anatomy teaching, and to assess their impact on student’s performance. We used a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study that focused on a single cohort of undergraduat...

Several mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) have been reported in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) from different ethnicities. To further study the involvement of LHON mtDNA mutations in MS in the Arab population, we analyzed sequencing data of the entire mitochondrial genome from 47 unrelated Saud...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all spheres of society including medical education and healthcare systems. In response to the pandemic, there has been a transition in medical education practice from traditional forms of teaching to online instruction delivery and virtual learning. Effective clinical microbiology education involves a c...

Purpose: Currency seems to represent an important vehicle for transmission of pathogenic microorganisms, thus a potential in affecting the public health. Digital transactions are more common in developed countries; however, handling cash currency is still very common in many countries including Bahrain. A recent study from Australia reported that S...

Purpose: Currency seems to represent an important vehicle for transmission of pathogenic microorganisms, thus a potential in affecting the public health. Digital transactions are more common in developed countries; however, handling cash currency is still very common in many countries including Bahrain. A recent study from Australia reported that S...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to profound restrictions on the face-to-face learning and assessment in all educational institutions, particularly the medical schools. The College of Medicine and Medical Sciences of the Arabian Gulf University (CMMS-AGU) conducted the final exams, both theoretical and clinical components, for its MD students...

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a sudden shift from face-to-face to distance learning. We explored medical students' views of online learning during this pandemic at the Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of students in years two, three and four (n= 559) using an electronic questionnaire. Dat...

Background: COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to adopt online methods which were inevitable to keep continuity of education across all academia after suspension of traditional educational systems. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of faculty and students of online and face-to-face learning, and their preference of...

Background: Faculty development is essential for enhancing medical education. The World Health Organization in 2013, promoted faculty development based on moderate quality of evidence and conditional recommendations. Aims: To conduct systematic review of faculty development programmes in medical education in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR...

Background: Demanding careers like medicine requires a lot of motivation and the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) developed by Vallerand et al. (1992) is an instrument to measure motivation. This study evaluated the validity and reliability of AMS among medical students in the Middle East. Materials and methods: This was a methodological research...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to adopt online methods which were inevitable to keep the continuity of education across all academia after the suspension of traditional educational systems. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of faculty and students of online learning and their preference of the mo...

Background: While online education is by no means a new concept, it was recently thrust into the spotlight after school campuses all over the world were forced to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden need to shift revealed emerging challenges to online teaching, both logistic and personal. One important challenge is the ability to as...

The challenges imposed by the ongoing outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 affects every aspect of our modern world, ranging from our health to our socio-economic needs. Our existence highly depends on the vaccine's availability, which demands in-depth research of the available strains and their mutations. In this work, we ha...

Objective/background Mutations in transmembrane protease serine 6 (TMPRSS6) gene induce high hepcidin level, which causes iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) by preventing duodenal iron absorption. This study aims to identify the common genetic variations of the TMPRSS6 gene that affect iron levels among Saudi female patients with iron d...

Clin. Teach. 2020;00:1-7. | 1 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tct 1 | INTRODUC TI ON The COVID-19 pandemic has tremendously affected higher education institutions, that started, as a result of the pandemic to transition into more convenient options for teaching and assessment. 1 While medical schools around the globe are putting all their efforts to...

Background: For many years, the primary criterion used to select medical school applicants worldwide has been cognitive measures of high school educational attainment. Yet academic assessment alone may not necessarily select the candidates who possess the behavioral or non-cognitive attributes thought important in medical students and doctors: hone...

Pre-diabetes represents an intermediate state of altered glucose metabolism between normal glucose levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), and is considered a significant risk factor for the development of T2D and related complications. Early detection of pre-diabetes may allow for the use of timely and effective treatment strategies to prevent...

The challenges imposed by the ongoing outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 affects every aspect of our modern world, ranging from our health to our socio-economic needs. Our existence highly depends on the vaccine's availability, which demands in-depth research of the available strains and their mutations. In this work, we ha...

This toolbox highlights the lessons learned and the tools used to run the online OSCE at the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University (CMMS-AGU) using Zoom™️. The examiners considered the examination to be valid in assessing all clinical skills except for psychomotor skills and students found it to be highly acceptable. We...

Background: Several institutions adopted innovative approaches to ensure continued learning for their students during the COVID-19 pandemic. All curricular innovations should undergo curriculum evaluation; hence, the objective of this paper was to share the salient features of evaluation using faculty and student's feedback on curricular adaptatio...

Arabian Gulf University (AGU) follows a curriculum based on Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a learner-centered approach that empowers students for life-long learning. Students are taught through problems that are designed based on global health problems customized to the local needs. The classroom teaching is complemented through adjunct progr...

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world of medical education, moving it years ahead of time into the future. Many concepts needed to be changed, so did the methodologies. Nevertheless, clinical assessment remained tricky. This work highlights the outcome of the work of College of Medicine and Medical Sciences at the Arabian Gulf University in Bahra...

Objective/background: Mutations in transmembrane protease serine 6 (TMPRSS6) gene induce high hepcidin level, which causes iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) by preventing duodenal iron absorption. This study aims to identify the common genetic variations of the TMPRSS6 gene that affect iron levels among Saudi female patients with iron...

Circulating miRNAs are increasingly suggested as clinical biomarker for diseases. We evaluated the expression of circulating cardiomyocyte-enriched miR-1 and miR-133 by real-time PCR in blood from patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) without and with coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy controls, investigated their association with the risk of...

Lead (Pb) toxicity is known to be a chief environmental health issue, especially for pregnant women and young children. Today, the use of medicinal herbs in the treatment of many diseases and different toxic agents has become highly accepted due to their effectiveness and lower costs. Thymoquinone (TQ), which is extracted from Nigella sativa seeds,...

Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is a hematological malignancy characterized by a minority of neoplastic cells outnumbered by tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). The overexpression of the CD163 antigen by TAMs is considered to be a significant predictive biomarker for risk stratification. This is likely caused by a genetic single-nucleotide polymorphism (S...

Objectives: Iron-refractory iron-deficiency anemia (IRIDA) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the transmembrane protease serine 6 gene (TMPRSS6). The TMPRSS6 gene encodes serine protease matriptase-2, an inhibitor of hepcidin, the major regulator of iron homeostasis. TMPRSS6 mutations induce high hepcidin level, which cause I...

Objective/Background Mutations in transmembrane protease serine 6 (TMPRSS6) gene induce high hepcidin level, which causes iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) by preventing duodenal iron absorption. This study aims to identify the common genetic variations of the TMPRSS6 gene that affect iron levels among Saudi female patients with iron d...

Construct We assessed the validity of the modified System for Evaluation of Teaching Qualities (mSETQ) in evaluating clinical teachers in Bahrain. Background Clinical teacher assessment tools are essential for improving teaching quality. The mSETQ is a teaching quality measurement tool, and demonstrating the validity of this tool could provide a s...

Abstract Introduction Peroneus tertius (PT) is greatly variable muscle and may be absent. PT muscle marks the anterolateral entry during using the ankle arthroscopy, used as a flap to cover defects in the foot soft tissue, tendon transfer and resection surgeries. PT may have a role in ankle joint injuries. The present study was conducted to evaluat...

In Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of specific DNA repair genes have been identified to have an important role in the risk of HL. Consequently, they may also serve an important role in HL prognosis and disease outcome. The present study aimed to define an SNP molecular profile, based on DNA repair genes mutations, as...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has become prevalent in the Arabian Gulf area with high incidence in Bahrain due to environmental influences and genetic susceptibilities, but there is a lack of study into human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types in patients with MS in Bahrain. The present study aimed to study the HLA types expressed in MS patients compared with...

OBJECTIVES: To assess stress and burnout, and identify common stressors, among medical students in the Kingdom of Bahrain. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study with students being evaluated from March to September 2017 at two medical colleges in the Kingdom of Bahrain. METHODOLOGY: Survey conducted on a total sample of 533 clerkship-training stude...

This study was planned to explore the protective role of curcumin (Cur) against maternal and fetal oxidative stress and cerebral damage induced by lead (Pb) during pregnancy. Positively pregnant female rats were divided into seven groups: control group, Cur group (300 mg/kg of Cur/b.wt.), DMSO group (50% DMSO), two Pb-treated groups (exposed to 160...

Background: In spite of its indusrial usefulness and varied daily uses, lead (Pb) pollution is a widespread ecological problem that faces the humans in the 21th century. Pb was found to produces a wide range of toxic effects including neurotoxicity especially to the developing and young offspring. Recently, the utilization of herbal plants has rece...

Purpose: There are no published instruments, which measure tutor motivation for conducting small group tutorials in problem-based learning programs. Therefore, we aimed to develop a motivation for tutoring questionnaire in problem-based learning (MTQ-PBL) and evaluate its construct validity. Methods: The questionnaire included 28 items representing...

Background: Anti-epileptics taken during pregnancy might lead to low birth-weight and birth defects which could be associated with neonatal morbidity and mortality. Objective: To evaluate the effects of maternal exposure to therapeutic doses of topiramate on the growth of 20-day rat fetuses. Design: An Experimental Animal Study. Setting: Teratology...

Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown as promising biomarkers for various diseases. We investigated the predictive potential of circulating endothelium-enriched miR-126 in type 2 diabetes patients (T2D) without chronic complications and T2D patients with coronary artery diseases (CAD). The expression levels of circulating miR-126, determin...

Background: Topiramate was classified as pregnancy category D, which means that it possesses a potential risk to the fetus. An increasing evidence points to the risk of development of cleft lip and/or cleft palate (oral clefts) in infants born due to Topamax (topiramate) during pregnancy. Objective: To evaluate the effects of the therapeutic doses...

Background . The morphology and function of anterolateral ligament (ALL) of the knee are not clearly understood even today with all the sophisticated techniques available. There have been differing descriptions of the ALL of the knee in literature, and not all of them have been named or described clearly. Aim . The present study was undertaken to p...

Background: Fibularis tertius (FT) is a variant muscle of the anterior compartment of leg which involves in dorsiflexion and evertion of the foot. Literature shows that the reported prevalence of FT ranges from 49-100%. This study investigates the prevalence of FT in South-eastren population of India using surface anatomy techniques in living subje...

Thrombomodulin is expressed on endothelial cells and monocytes (mTM) where it has an anticoagulant function. Enzymatic cleavage from the cell surface produces soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) in plasma. Abnormal levels of sTM and mutations in the thrombomodulin gene (THBD) are linked to cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate T...

The variant allele of rs3798220 in the apolipoprotein(a) gene (LPA) is used to assess the risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) in Europeans, where it is associated with short alleles of the Kringle IV-2 (KIV-2) copy number variation (CNV) and high lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) concentrations. No association of rs3798220 with CAD was detected in a GWAS o...

submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com Dovepress 27 O r i g i n A l r E s E A r c h open access to scientific and medical research Open Access Full Text Article http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S75830 relationships between the quality of blended learning experience, self-regulated learning, and academic achievement of medical students: a path ana...

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play a major role in the detoxification of various compounds. Polymorphic variants in GST genes were reported for different populations. The main objective of this study was to determine the frequencies of GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotypes in the Sudanese population. GST genotyping was carried out using multiplex PCR....

The retromolar foramen (RMF) is a rare anatomical structure situated in the retromolar fossa behind the third molar tooth. When it is present, the foramen is connected with the mandibular canal and is believed to transmit neurovascular structures that provide accessory source to the mandibular molars and the buccal area. Reports from the literature...

Objective: Intestinal fatty acid binding protein (IFAPB) participates in the uptake, intracellular metabolism and/or transport of long chain fatty acids. A polymorphism at codon 54 in exon 2 of FABP2 gene, which encodes for the IFAPB, exchanges an Alanine for Threonine. FABP2 gene polymorphism could modify the uptake of fatty acids, and it could co...

The aim of this study was to determine the genotype and allele frequencies of MDR1 gene C3435T polymorphism in Jordanian and Sudanese populations, and to compare them with the frequencies established in various ethnic groups. Genotyping was carried out on 116 unrelated Jordanian and 131 Sudanese subjects. The genotypes of polymorphic position C3435...

Background: The geographical location of Egypt at the crossroads of several major cultural areas between North Africa and the Middle East has contributed to its population history. Aim: To analyse the genetic structure of the population living in two geographical parts of Egypt. Subjects and methods: A sample of 112 Egyptians from the North Af...

The palmaris longus (PL) is one of the most variable muscles in the human body. Racial differences in its variation have been documented. Several studies have attempted to correlate PL absence with other anatomical variations. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of absence of PL, correlate it with gender and body side and to determ...