Background: Medical research is increasingly recognized as crucial for career progression, prompting institutions to embed research into curricula. Despite these efforts, barriers continue to impede medical students’ engagement in meaningful research. This comprehensive nationwide study explores medical students’ research perceptions, attitudes, and challenges across UAE medical universities, capturing insights from a significant and diverse student population. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized an online self-administered questionnaire distributed to medical students enrolled at seven medical colleges across the UAE. Data collection was conducted over 6 months from May to October 2024. The questionnaire comprised 53 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale and was organized into four key domains: demographics, prior research experience, attitudes toward research, and perceived barriers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize participant characteristics and inferential analyses, including multivariate linear regression, to explore associations and predictors of research attitudes, experiences, and barriers. A p -value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 612 medical students participated (68.8% male; 66.5% pre-clinical). While 68.3% reported prior research experience, only 15.7% had published. Most students agreed research should be integrated into medical curricula (91.0%) and is crucial for careers (88.4%), yet 19.8% found existing curricula insufficient. Primary barriers included lack of funding (46.4%), insufficient mentorship (35.6%), statistical skills deficits (47.7%), and limited protected research time (39.5%). Younger students (≤ 21 years) were curriculum vitae (CV)-driven and cited mentorship gaps ( p = 0.009), while older students (≥ 24 years) reported funding constraints ( p < 0.001) but achieved higher publication rates ( p = 0.001). Males more frequently reported financial barriers ( p = 0.007); females cited limited mentorship ( p = 0.044). Senior students published more ( p < 0.001) but struggled with balancing research with academics ( p < 0.001). Multivariate regression identified age, research barriers, nationality, medical college, cumulative grade point average (CGPA), and prior publication as significant predictors of research attitudes and participation (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Medical students in the UAE demonstrate positive attitudes toward research but face significant structural barriers, including inadequate funding, limited mentorship opportunities, and insufficient institutional support. Early structured research training, formal mentorship programs, and protected research time are essential interventions. Institutions should embed these elements longitudinally to cultivate a robust research culture and enhance undergraduate research outputs.

Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) affects approximately 1.8% of adolescent females and 0.3% of males, with onset typically between ages 12 and 16 years. Image-based social media platforms and algorithmic content curation have created digital environments that may influence appearance-related psychopathology in vulnerable youth, yet no synthesis has examined these mechanisms with attention to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) practice.Methods: This narrative review synthesised evidence on associations between social media use and BDD symptoms in adolescents through searches of PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar (January 2015 to December 2025), focusing on algorithmic mechanisms, emerging digital phenomena, gender-specific presentations, and clinical implications.Results: Cross-sectional evidence demonstrates platform-specific effects, with image-based platforms showing significant associations with BDD symptoms. Appearance-motivated social media use is more predictive than total screen time, and intolerance of uncertainty may moderate this relationship. Algorithmic personalisation may create filter bubbles increasing appearance-focused content exposure, while variable-ratio reinforcement maintains compulsive engagement. Gender differences are evident: females predominantly experience skin and weight concerns amplified by filtered imagery, while males increasingly present with muscularity preoccupations linked to "looksmaxxing" communities. Emerging phenomena include Zoom dysmorphia and AI-powered appearance tools.Conclusions: This review proposes the Algorithmic Amplification Model of Digital BDD and introduces the Digital BDD Screening Tool for Adolescents (DBST-A) for CAMHS assessment. Cognitive-behavioural therapy requires adaptation incorporating digital exposure hierarchies and algorithmic literacy psychoeducation. Clinicians should routinely enquire about platform-specific behaviours, editing practices, and engagement with AI tools and appearance communities.

Background: Egypt’s population aged 60 years and above is projected to increase from 9.2% (2021) to 20.8% (2050). Dementia affects approximately 3–4% of older adults in Egypt, with regional projections indicating a 367% increase in cases by 2050. This review synthesizes evidence on dementia epidemiology, risk factors, service provision, and health system challenges in Egypt to inform policy development and service planning. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, WHO Institutional Repository, and Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, supplemented by Arabic-language journals, Egyptian government reports and other grey literature. Searches used English and Arabic terms combining Egypt with dementia, cognitive impairment, late-life mental disorders, services, and caregivers. Results: Among adults aged ≥ 60 years, estimated dementia prevalence ranges from 1.96% to 5.07%, mild cognitive impairment from 32% to 37.7%, and late-life depression prevalence is approximately 64.6%. Public awareness of dementia remains low. Egypt’s mental health infrastructure comprises 18 hospitals and centres distributed across 13 of 27 governorates, with approximately 1,100 psychiatrists serving 105 million people. Memory clinics and psychogeriatric services are concentrated in urban academic centres, with limited availability in rural and underserved governorates. Caregiver burden is substantial, with 50% experiencing mild-to-moderate and 30% moderate-to-severe burden; 43% report anxiety and 33% depression. Long-term care facilities serve fewer than 0.06% of older adults. Egypt currently lacks a national dementia strategy or dedicated funding mechanism, in contrast to regional neighbours including Qatar, Kuwait, and Iran. Conclusions: Large gaps persist in services, workforce capacity, public awareness, and caregiver support despite rising dementia burden. Key priorities include establishing a costed national dementia strategy, implementing primary-care cognitive screening, expanding task-sharing models, scaling evidence-based psychosocial interventions, and developing community-based services embedded within non-communicable disease programmes and the Universal Health Insurance rollout.

Background: Persecutory delusions have long mirrored prevailing cultural and technological concerns. Beliefs involving implanted devices, internet surveillance, hacked smartphones, algorithmic targeting, and AI-mediated control are increasingly visible in contemporary psychosis. However, we identified no prior review dedicated specifically to synthesizing technology-themed delusional content across historical and contemporary clinical contexts. Objective: This narrative review aimed to trace the historical evolution of technology-themed delusions, characterize their contemporary clinical phenomenology, examine relevant neurocognitive and sociocultural mechanisms, and discuss implications for psychiatric assessment and intervention. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and APA PsycInfo were searched without date restrictions, supplemented by backward citation tracking and targeted identification of historical primary sources. Eligible sources included original research, case reports and case series, reviews, and relevant conceptual or historical publications addressing delusional content involving technology. A narrative synthesis approach informed by the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) framework was used. The final search was completed on May 1, 2026. Results: Forty-three sources were included in the narrative synthesis, comprising 9 case reports or case series, 14 empirical studies, 8 reviews, and 12 historical or conceptual sources. Technology-themed delusions appeared as pathoplastic variants of enduring persecutory, control, and referential motifs, clustering into 5 overlapping categories: surveillance and hacking beliefs, implant and control delusions, Truman Show–type broadcast phenomena, social media–specific referential ideas, and emerging algorithmic and AI-mediated themes. In the largest contemporary cohort (228 patients with psychosis), technology-themed delusions were described by 104 of the 201 (51.7%) patients with delusional thought content, and the odds of technology-themed delusions rose by approximately 15% per admission year (odds ratio 1.15, 95% CI 1.01-1.31; P =.04). Cognitive models of persecutory ideation, the aberrant salience hypothesis, technological unfamiliarity, digital immersion, and wider sociocultural narratives all appeared relevant to these presentations. Pandemic-era conspiracy material, including 5G and vaccine-microchip narratives, further illustrated how culturally available technological explanations may scaffold delusional elaboration in vulnerable individuals. Conclusions: Technology-themed delusions represent contemporary expressions of enduring delusional motifs shaped by digital culture. Their assessment requires psychiatric expertise combined with sufficient technological literacy to distinguish proportionate privacy concerns, overvalued conspiracy beliefs, and fixed delusional convictions. Future research should use prospective cohort designs, cross-cultural comparisons, and targeted evaluation of cognitive behavioral and digital literacy–informed interventions, while monitoring emerging AI-mediated phenomena.