Objectives: The global refugee crisis, exacerbated by the Syrian war, has placed tremendous strain on Jordan’s healthcare system and infrastructure, notably impacting nurses working in refugee camps. The aim to identify factors influencing nurses’ Quality of life at work (QWL) and understand their significance in crisis healthcare environments. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in multiple healthcare facilities within Syrian refugee camps. A convenient sample of 166 nurses participated, and data were collected using the Brook’s Quality of Nursing Work Life Survey. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential (one-way ANOVA) statistics. Significance level was set at 0.05. Results: Nurses in this study generally reported a moderate QWL, with an average score of 152.85, indicating that their overall work experience falls into the moderate range. The study found that nurses perceived their work-life/home-life balance (mean score 25.79), work design (mean score 35.71), work context (mean score 71.37), and work world (mean score 19.96) at levels indicative of moderate satisfaction. There were no statistically significant differences in QWL among participating nurses, suggesting that factors other than demographic characteristics may play a more influential role in determining nurses' QWL in the unique context of refugee caregiving. Conclusion: This study underscores that working within refugee healthcare missions and recommends targeted interventions to enhance their well-being.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has been an extraordinarily stressful situation in recent years. Stress is a physiological reaction to negative stimuli that is regulated by different neuroendocrine pathways. The female reproductive function is maintained by the menstrual cycle, which is negatively affected by hyperstimulation of stress signals. Objectives: This study evaluates the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak on menstrual function and mental health, exploring the relationship between them. Design: The current study uses a cross-sectional, survey-based design. Methods: During this cross-sectional study, an online self-completion questionnaire was conducted among a sample of 385 Jordanian female medical students during the pandemic. The survey compared menstrual characteristics, depression, anxiety, and stress 10 months after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic with 10 months prior. Paired t-test, McNemar’s test, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regression model were employed to analyze data using SPSS software. Results: The mean age of female medical student respondents was 19.89 years. Data showed that the menstrual cycle length significantly increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic compared with 10 months prior (32.23 days versus 30.02 days, p = 0.019). The average number of heavy bleeding days also increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (2.82 days versus 2.42 days, p = 0.002). The proportion of females with heavy bleeding amount was more than doubled during the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 compared with before (27.3% versus 10.4%, p = 0.000). Unpleasant menstrual signs such as nausea and/or vomiting, breast pain, and urinary urgency were significantly increased during the pandemic ( p = 0.000, p = 0.008, and p = 0.024, respectively). During coronavirus disease 2019, a positive association between total Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 Questionnaire score and heavy bleeding was identified ( p < 0.05). The findings also indicated that mental disorders and the incidence of amenorrhea, nausea and/or vomiting, and urinary urgency were positively correlated during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The multiple regression analysis revealed associations between several menstrual characteristics such as amenorrhea and severity of bleeding with coronavirus disease 2019-related depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusion: This study revealed that the stress related to the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 could affect the female menstrual cycle and hence the quality of women’s life. Therefore, this study could serve as a baseline for planning and introducing stress mitigation interventions in crisis situations to improve the physiological and mental well-being of females and improve their quality of life.

Background. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major bacterial pathogen. Aim. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of MRSA infections among kidney dialysis patients and the antibiotic susceptibility patterns and investigate the prevalence of mecA gene among MRSA isolates. Materials and Methods. A total of 83 nasal sterile cotton swabs samples were obtained from hemodialysis patients from Al-Karak Governmental Hospital, Al-Karak, Jordan. Collected and cultured on nutrient agar and mannitol salt agar and incubating at 37C for 2448hours, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strains were identified by gram stain, coagulase test, and catalase tests. The MRSA isolates were tested for the presence of MecA and SCCmec genes using the Xpert SA Nasal Complete assay real-time PCR. Factors such as age and gender were included in the study. The antibiotic profile tested by using the disc diffusion method tested all MRSA isolates. Results. This study showed that 10.8 of the cultures growth was S. aureus and 9.6 of all the patients were infected with MRSA, with no relationship between the number and frequency of MRSA according to the patients gender or age. All MRSA (100) isolates have both genes (MecA genes and SCCmec genes), and all samples were resistant to oxacillin, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, aztreonam, and ampicillin. Conclusion. The MRSA prevalence was determined among kidney dialysis patients in the hospital. All positive samples were resistant to oxacillin, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, aztreonam, and ampicillin, which is a very rare finding, and this will give the scientists and doctors a dangerous indication about health-care centers in the Al-Karak city of Jordan.

Background. Secondary bacterial and fungal coinfections have been reported among critically ill coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients and are associated with increased disease severity and mortality incidence (MI) rates. Aims. This study aimed to track bacterial and fungal coinfections among COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to assess the impact of these infections on disease prognosis and patient outcomes in Jordan. Materials and Methods. This was a single-center study that enrolled 46 ICU patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Microbiological and antimicrobial susceptibility results and inflammatory biomarker data were retrospectively analyzed. Results. The MI rate attributed to bacterial and fungal coinfections was 84.8%, and the highest rate was reported among patients older than 70 years (66.7%). The MI rate related to bacterial coinfections was 95.2%, whereas that of fungal coinfections was 4.8%. The most commonly isolated bacterium in the blood was a coagulase-negative staphylococcus (41%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae in nasopharyngeal swabs (34%) and Acinetobacter baumannii in sputum samples (31%). Candida species were the sole cause of fungal coinfections in the studied population. In particular, Candida albicans was isolated from 3% of patients with bacteremia, whereas Candida glabrata was isolated from 8% of nasopharyngeal swabs. Klebsiella pneumoniae was considered the major cause of upper respiratory tract infections (34%). Multifactorial infection was significantly associated with increased MI ( value <0.001). Conclusion. COVID-19 MI is associated with respiratory bacterial/fungal coinfections. The ability to predict bacterial and fungal coinfections in ICU patients may be crucial to their survival and prognosis.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) impose significant challenges among patients infected with multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli). The emergence of the extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) strains complicates the treatment and exacerbates life-threatening infections. The comprehensive analysis of the resistance mechanisms combined with identifying the relevant genes amend the implications encountered with the devastating effects generated by the pathogenic microorganisms. This study sought about the prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli in UTIs patients in Jordan, focusing on the prevalence of blaOXA and blaCTX-M resistance genes. A total of 500 urine samples were compiled from patients diagnosed with UTIs between November 2023 and May 2024. The samples were collected from five governmental hospitals distributed in three districts in Jordan (North, Middle, and South). Urine samples were cultured in the microbiology lab and the percentage of E. coli isolates was explored. Later on, isolates were tested for ESBL production using the double disk synergy test. Thus, molecular detection of the blaOXA and blaCTX-M genes was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Statistical analysis was conducted to assess the prognostic correlation between the prevalence of resistance genes and variables such as location, age, and gender. In the current study, we investigated the prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli in UTIs across Jordanian hospitals, focusing on the prevalence of the blaOXA and blaCTX-M genes with the correlation with the epidemiological factors. Our findings revealed an overall prevalence of 18% for ESBL- E. coli isolates, with the highest prevalence in the Northern governorates exhibiting 50% (OR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.103–2.519). Females showed a higher prevalence of the blaOXA gene (62.29%) compared to males (37.7%) (p = 0.008). Moreover, the blaCTX-M gene was universally present in all samples with a prevalence of 98%. The multinomial regression analysis has revealed a significant correlation (p = 0.001) between location on the distribution of the blaOXA gene among the study population. The findings of the current study highlight alarming rates for the prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli in UTIs across Jordan in general and in the northern districts as specific. Emphasizing the crucial need for effective surveillance, antibiotic stewardship, and infection control strategies. The significant regional variations in resistance rates suggest that localized factors, such as antibiotic misuse and environmental influences combined with the widespread of blaCTX-M and blaOXA genes point to the need for targeted antibiotic resistance surveillance in Jordan.

Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal (BPJ) is an international, open access, peer reviewed, quarterly research journal.