ABSTRACT
This research aims at investigating the use of social media by students of Kuwait University (KU). Kuwait has been one of the first countries in the Arab world to have recognized the importance of English in the socio-economic development of its people. Accordingly, English enjoys a favorable position in the educational paradigm of Kuwait with it being a compulsory school subject alongside Arabic. With the outbreak coronavirus (COVID-19), Kuwaiti educational authorities, and many other countries, were obliged to enforce closure to all educational institutions and substitute traditional learning with online learning. A large number of tech tools came into prominence to ensure the continuance of education, so great was the desire to innovate that social media platforms came to be exploited for the purpose. Through a quantitative method, this study collects data from 400 students of English at Kuwait University to investigate the nature of change in the use of Social Media in English classrooms before and during the pandemic period. Results show that the students, both male and female, are positively disposed to its use now and in the future in learning, that is gender is not a differentiating variable in the use of SM in learning, a finding which is novel given that it diverges from previous findings in the field. Further, the language learners at Kuwait University recognize the benefits of SM in education implying that, regardless of gender, students share almost equal levels of favorable perceptions. The study importantly concludes that SM has a lot of untapped potential to offer when it comes to being used as part of the educational process. As a result, this study recommends a wider scope of using SM in universities and institutions so as to improve the process of teaching and learning. © 2022 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Teratogenicity and hyperuricemia are considered as the major adverse effects of favipiravir, but less is known about other possible side effects which includes drug-induced liver damage and renal injury. In the current research, assessment of favipiravir-induced liver injury was performed by evaluating liver enzymes among patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 infection. A prospective cohort study was conducted on 66 patients diagnosed with mild to moderate COVID-19 infection who were treated with favipiravir for 5 days. During this period, a baseline assessment of liver enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase - AST, ala-nine transaminase - ALT and alkaline phosphatase - ALP) in addition to bilirubin before initiation of therapy and after 1 day of completion of therapy were carried out. The comparison of all measured parameters among all patients before and after receiving the treatment showed that non-significant differences were obtained in their levels. It was noticed that COVID-19 patients demonstrated high AST levels in which only 16 patients out of the all-subjected cases (66 patients) had AST levels of less than 45 U/L whereas the major-ity of patients showed normal ALT, ALP, and bilirubin levels. It was concluded that 5 days administration of favipiravir in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients who had no previous liver diseases did not affect the liver enzymes significantly and only transient elevations were occurred. Copyright © 2022.
ABSTRACT
The pandemic controlling COVID-19 can cause the deaths of more than 4 million worldwide. Recently the production of the more effective vaccine genetically modified is the suitable solution for managing acute respiratory syndrome, SARS-CoV-2 was a talented emergency use license by FDA by a company of Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) mRNA the CRP and D dimer important blood markers for diagnosis and severity of this disease. The specific antibody SARS-CoV-2 IgG was the measurement titer after (14-20). After the intake first dose of vaccine by VIDAS® (BioMérieux, Marcy-L'Etoile, France), all volunteers have done screening examination by rapid test for detection not exposure to the previous infection, who had negative to SARS-CoV-2 IgG, after the second dose of vaccine, the specific IgG examination by using ELFA technique. CRP and D-dimer were used to monitor the blood markers to assess any side effects (side effects of the vaccine on the lung inflammatory and clotting system), measured after 48h of taking the vaccine in both doses. Ninety-four were included in this study (54 female and 40 male) and divided into two age groups. All the subjects had SARS-CoV-2 IgG after (10 and 20) days following the first dose and (10 and 20) days following the booster dose. The results were shown a non-significant difference in age between males and females. The mean value of the IgG titer against CoV antigen after 2nd dose of immunization is significantly higher than the corresponding value after the 1st dose. There is a non-significant correlation between the ages of immunized subjects with the IgG titer after receiving the second dose of the mRNA vaccine. The titer of IgG increased after the 2nd dose of vaccination while the C-reactive protein significantly decreased. The Pfizer mRNA vaccine gives an excellent active immune response to produce IgG after the booster dose, and results have not recorded any effect of the vaccine on the activity of blood inflammatory markers. © 2022 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Institutions, universities, and schools suspended teaching due to the novel coronavirus called (COVID-19). Covid19 induced educational authorities in Kuwait to find such alternatives to keep the process of teaching and learning going on. They resorted to the use of E-learning by utilizing social media to finalize academic year. Nowadays, E-learning is heavily used in the education field due to the Covid19 pandemic. Kuwait International Law School (KILAW) implemented E-learning to sustain the process of teaching and learning. This research was an attempt to scrutinize the utilization of social media by KILAW students. The study was quantitative in nature. The researcher conducted an online questionnaire for 116 students enrolled in the English department atrial. The responses of the questionnaire were analyzed by using SPSS. The finding showed that KILAW students’ use of SM for learning the English language is increased dramatically due to Covid19. The participants showed a positive attitude towards the use of SM. The future of using SM in the field of education, in general, and in English language learning in particular, is promising in Kuwait. This study recommended universities, schools and institutes to employ SM tools to augment the process of teaching and learning. © 2020, English Language Education Journals. All rights reserved.