Neuropathic pain is a common phenomenon that affects millions of people worldwide. Maxillofacial structures consist of various tissues that receive frequent stimulation during food digestion. The unique functions (masticatory process and facial expression) of the maxillofacial structure require the exquisite organization of both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Neuralgia is painful paroxysmal disorder of the head-neck region characterized by some commonly shared features such as the unilateral pain, transience and recurrence of attacks, and superficial and shock-like pain at a trigger point. These types of pain can be experienced after nerve injury or as a part of diseases that affect peripheral and central nerve function, or they can be psychological. Since the trigeminal and glossopharyngeal nerves innervate the oral structure, trigeminal and glossopharyngeal neuralgia are the most common syndromes following myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome. Nevertheless, misdiagnoses are common. The aim of this review is to discuss the currently available diagnostic procedures and treatment options for trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, and myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome.

Background and Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a predominant inflammatory autoimmune disorder. The incidence and prevalence of RA is increasing with considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. The pathophysiology of RA has become clearer due to many significant research outputs during the last two decades. Many inflammatory cytokines involved in RA pathophysiology and the presence of autoantibodies are being used as potential biomarkers via the use of effective diagnostic techniques for the early diagnosis of RA. Currently, several disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs are being prescribed targeting RA pathophysiology, which have shown significant contributions in improving the disease outcomes. Discussion: Even though innovations in treatment strategies and monitoring are helping the patients to achieve early and sustained clinical and radiographic remission, the high cost of drugs and limited health care budgets are restricting the easy access of RA treatment. Both direct and indirect high cost of treatment are creating economic burden for the patients and affecting their quality of life. Conclusion: The aim of this review is to describe the updated concept of RA pathophysiology and highlight current diagnostic tools used for the early detection as well as prognosis - targeting several biomarkers of RA. Additionally, we explored the updated treatment options with side effects besides discussing the global economic burden.

Blood transfusion is a fundamental and life-saving procedure where the consequence of errors can be fatal. Nurses’ knowledge plays an essential role in ensuring quality and safety in blood transfusion. The objective of this study was to assess blood transfusion-associated knowledge of tertiary hospital nurses on the east coast of Malaysia. This was a cross-sectional study with 200 registered nurses involved in blood transfusion procedures at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. The knowledge of the nurses was evaluated by using the routine blood transfusion knowledge questionnaire based on five parts, and <50%, 50–74%, or ≥75% of the knowledge was considered as poor, moderate, or high, respectively. Based on the scoring system, the overall knowledge of blood transfusion among Malaysian nurses (33.2 ± 8.4 years) was estimated to be 54.9 ± 7.6%. In individual items, the scoring was 81.0%, 45.4%, 49.2%, 63.0%, and 90.0% in knowledge prior to blood transfusion, on pre-transfusion, on post-transfusion, on complications, and on transfusion policy, respectively. The findings of this study indicated that most of the nurses’ overall knowledge of blood transfusion was at a moderate level; therefore, training courses and continuous medical education are warranted to improve knowledge and skills of the nurses to ensure good practices of blood transfusion.

Objective. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of laser application in temporomandibular joint disorder. Methods. PubMed, SCOPUS, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Google Scholar electronic databases were searched systematically with restricting the languages to only English and year (January 2001 to March 2020), and studies were selected based on the inclusion criteria. Study quality and publication bias were assessed by using the Robvis, a software package of R statistical software. Results. This systematic review included 32 studies (1172 patients) based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Most of the studies reported significant reduction of pain by the use of the laser during TMD treatment. Two-thirds of the study (78.13%) found a better outcome comparing with conventional one. According to Robvis, 84.4% of the studies were high methodological studies with low risk of bias. Conclusion. TMD patients suffer with continuous pain for long time even after conventional treatment. Laser therapy shows a promising outcome of pain reduction for TMD patients. Therefore, laser therapy can be recommended for the TMD patients’ better outcome. This trial is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020177562).

Mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) such as dengue, malaria, and chikungunya are common in Bangladesh, with frequent outbreaks in the rainy season. Analysis of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of people toward any crisis is fundamental to addressing any gap. Here, we conducted a cross-sectional study mainly focusing on the northern, southern and central parts of Bangladesh to understand the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of people regarding MBDs, mosquito habitats, or control measures. A total of 1720 participants were involved in the study from 33 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh, of which 56.9% were male. While most of them knew about dengue (97.1%), chikungunya (81.4%), and malaria (85.2%), only half of them were aware of filaria (53.3%), which is endemic to the northern region. A knowledge score (0–8, low), (9–16, moderate), (17–24, high), and attitude score (0–4, poor), (5–8, moderate), and (9–13, high) were assigned. While poor and moderate attitudes were considered negative, good attitudes were considered positive. About 45% of the respondents had a moderate knowledge score (50–70); however, about 67.9% of participants showed a good attitude score (>70) towards the control of MBDs. It was found that the knowledge and attitude of the responders were related to their profession (knowledge p < 0.001; attitude, p = 0.002), residential area (knowledge p < 0.001; attitude, p < 0.001), and education level (knowledge p < 0.001; attitude p = 0.004). A mosquito is a kind of nuisance bug, and about 79.8% of responders admitted that they kill mosquitoes as soon as they notice them. They also use bed nets (93.7%) followed by mosquito coils (85.7%) as a preventive method. Interestingly, 73.2% of the responders were reluctant to contact the local government during an increase in mosquito numbers. Overall, the people of Bangladesh have a positive attitude towards the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases. It is highly recommended that the government creates more knowledge regarding this issue and develops collaborative approaches with local people to implement robust preventive measures against mosquito-borne diseases.

Asthma causes chronic coughing, wheezing, dyspnea, and chest pressure. This study assessed asthmatic patients’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) of bronchial asthma and proper education on its meaning, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, management, and prevention practices. We performed a cross-sectional interventional asthma KAP survey in Erbil, Iraq. We adapted a validated study questionnaire from KAP studies in other nations to the Erbil situation and culture. In Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq, two major hospitals’ asthma clinics were studied. We chose 250 asthmatic patients from October 2018 to July 2019. Health education was comprehensive. The health education program used a Kurdish PowerPoint with a printout. Twenty-five groups received two weeks of one-hour health education pre-intervention. Each group was questioned before, 2 weeks after, and 12 weeks after health education. All data were analyzed by SPSS v26. The mean age of the respondents was 37.52 ± 15.16, with 48.7% of the respondents having a positive family history of asthma. After 2 weeks of health education intervention, respondents had a higher knowledge score and positive attitudes compared to pre-education, and after 12 weeks of education, there was a significant difference (p < 0.001) with improvised prevention practice. Health education programs led to considerable improvements in asthmatic patients’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding their condition. After receiving health education for a period of two weeks, the majority of the participants answered correctly regarding asthma, its causes, and the elements that trigger asthma attacks.