Flavonoids have been shown to have antioxidant factors and effective against hepatotoxicity. This in vivo study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of flavonoids rich extracts in a model of chemicalinduced liver cell injury. Materials and Methods: Flavonoids were extracted from leaves and flowers of Arbutus pavarii using Microwave assisted extraction method. Different concentrations of extracted flavonoids (200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000mg/kg bw) were evaluated up to two weeks on mice model. The hepatoprotective effects of the extracts were examined using mice pretreated orally with 200 and 400 mg/kg bw of flavonoids extracted from leaves and flowers as well as their combination (200 mg/kg; 1:1) for 28 days. At day 28, the mice were received orally a single dose of 1ml/kg CCl4 in corn oil. Forty-eight hours after Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) treatment, the animals were sacrificed and their liver and blood samples were collected for determination of biochemical parameters (Alkaline phosphatase (ALT), Aspartate-aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine-aminotransferase (ALP)), histopathological investigation and antioxidant status. Results: Treatment of the mice with a daily dose of flavonoids extracts up to 5 g/kg bw did not cause mortality and did not show hepatotoxicity. Pretreatment with extracts decreased the increased serum levels of ALT, AST, and ALP, decreased lipid peroxidation and maintained the levels of glutathione and antioxidant enzymes status in the CCl4 treated mice, especially in the group treated with combined extracts. The hepato-protcitve effects were confirmed by histopathological examinations. Conclusion: The results shown by the extracted flavonoids need further investigation.
Rabia Alghazeer, Sana Elgahmasi, Abdul Hakim Elnfati, Mohamed Elhensheri, Mohamed A. Al-Griw, Nuri Awayn, Mariuma El- Nami(3-2018)

Introduction: Smoking is a major avoidable cardiovascular risk factor and is a cause of premature death worldwide. Objectives: To study the prevalence, pattern, and awareness of health hazards of smoking among Libyan diabetic male patients in Tripoli Medical Center, Tripoli, Libya. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional, clinic-based study using a predesigned questionnaire, the participants were interviewed by the author. The interview covered personal data, and questions about their smoking status, and their awareness of smoking hazards. Results: The overall prevalence of current smoking was 26.4% and past smoking 40.3%. The mean age was 50.8 ± 14.4 years (range 18–75 years). The mean age at which smoking started was 18.6 ± 5.3 years; all current smokers were cigarette smokers. Main reason for quitting smoking was related to health issues while social and religious considerations were the main reasons for never smoking. Conclusions: The prevalence of smoking among Libyan diabetic patients was high; this calls for incorporating smoking cessation services within the diabetes care clinics
Hawa Juma El‑Shareif(12-2019)

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic, relapsing, itchy, skin condition occurring in patients with a personal or family history of atopy, and there is clinical association among different allergic disease in a way that treating one of them will improve the other. Many studies worldwide showed presence of AD in asthmatic children with different prevalence among countries and showed clinical improvement in asthma control on treatment of atopic dermatitis. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of atopic dermatitis among Libyan asthmatic children. Methods: This is an observational cohort study on asthmatic Libyan children who were treated and followed up at Tripoli children hospital in Tripoli, Libya. It carried out on 300 children suffering from asthma admitted from pediatric outpatient department as well as from emergency department and asthma clinic over a period of 24 months; from December 2017 to December 2019. The parents were asked to complete a questionnaire to collect the needed information after their consent being taken. To assure the accuracy and consistency of the methodology (sampling procedure, measurements, and a collection of the data), a standardized protocol was prepared. Data were entered in SPSS statistical package and consequently were analyzed and presented as descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of atopic dermatitis among asthmatic Libyan children was 16.7% in our study. The results showed significant relationship between address and prevalence of atopic dermatitis. Conclusion. Further studies are required to address the ethnicity, environmental factors, skin type and others attributed to this problem and we recommend all pediatricians to look for AD in asthmatic children and treat it accordingly arabic 7 English 56
Hisham Alrabty, Munera Addala(5-2020)