December 2009/ January 2010- Volume 3, Issue 5

Abdul Abyad, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Editor) Abdul Abyad, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Editor) Abyad Medical Center & Middle East Longevity Institute Azmi Street, Abdo Center, 2nd Floor PO BOX 618, Tripoli LEBANON Tel & Fax: 961 6 443684/5/6 Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb Web: www.amc-lb.com

This is the last issue this year of the journal. The journal is gradually gaining recognition in the region. We are grateful for our authors, readers, reviewers, and the editorial board. In addition we can not forget the production team headed by Lesley Pocock.

A paper from Bangladesh looked at residential field site training (RFST) is an approach to community based education (CBE) in undergraduate medical curriculum in Bangladesh. It was a questionnaire survey carried out among 4th year undergraduate medical students and teachers. Most of the students (78-98%) and teachers (88-96%) felt that RFST provides students an opportunity to aware of common rural health problems, develop a caring attitudes and assists to develop their generic skills. The authors concluded that as an approach to CBE, RFST provides a real life exposure and helps to develop generic skills in future doctors.

A cross sectional descriptive study from Nigeria attempted to assess the awareness and knowledge about diabetes mellitus (DM) amongst nursing students in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. A total of 144 students were enrolled for the study. 85% of the respondents know that DM is a chronic disease and caused by insulin deficiency. The authors concluded that knowledge and awareness of certain aspects of diabetes amongst nursing students is poor. More health education is needed to address these deficiencies in order to equip them with the knowledge to positively help their community to reduce the burden of the DM on the society.

A case control study from Iran looked at the relationship of thrombophilia with intrauterine fetal growth restriction. 43 women with IUGR affected embryos as a group and 20 women with healthy fetuses as controls were studied and evaluated . Data showed that the relationship between IUGR Thrombophilia and significant, but to reach more definitive results further studies seem necessary.

Mohammadi S & Dadkhah A looked at coping mechanisms of Iranian adolescent population. A negative relationship between Solving Problem and Reference to Others coping styles and severity of behavioral disorder were observed. The results indicated that solving Problem and Non-productive Coping styles (and consequently coping strategies of these two coping styles) can significantly predict severity of behavioral problem.

Azar Aghamohammadi A & Nooritajer M did a descriptive comparative study of pregnancy outcomes in primiparous and multiparous women with age raise. The authors concluded that mother`s high age can be independent factor for pregnancy outcomes. The primiparous women are exposed to more affectivity of age .As a matter of fact the aged women can have a natural vaginal delivery with a term infant and the over age mustn`t be a contraindication for pregnancy.