ABSTRACT
Aim: In this study, we aimed to assess the frequency of patient emergency visits to the Otorhinolaryngology (ORL) Department during coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and compare it with that before coronavirus COVID-19. Material(s) and Method(s): A retrospective comparative study was performed at Al-Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif (Saudi Arabia), and data regarding various diagnoses of ORL cases were collected from medical records of patients who visited/admitted to ORL-ED during the lockdown (Group 1) and those who visited/ admitted to ORL-ED before the pandemic (Group 2). Result(s): Group 2 had a significantly higher percentage of cases who had no ENT-related disorders, hypertrophy inferior turbinate (HIT), stridor, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), epistaxis and who had no complications, had general ENT, foreign body ingestion-aspiration, trauma, otology and who had more than one disorder and Group 1 had a significantly higher percentage of those having nasal obstruction, tonsil hypertrophy grade 3, had emergency head and neck cancer, had deep neck space infections and who had complicated. Discussion(s): During coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic period, cold ENT visits were much less and foreign body ingestion remains the highest reason for ENT visits. Additionally, telemedicine has been shown to be effective in reducing ED visits during the pandemic period. Furthermore, older cases with chronic ENT problems who had regular follow-up ENT visits were less likely to visit ED during the pandemic.Copyright © 2022, Derman Medical Publishing. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Both healthcare personnel and patients have been impacted negatively by the COVID-19 epidemic, which has had a substantial effect on the healthcare sector. The healthcare workforce consists of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Objective(s): To assess the psychological impact of COVID19 pandemic among different healthcare providers by assessing the depression, stress level, and anxiety related to COVID19 pandemic and the effect it had on their practice and psychological well-being. Methodology: To learn more about the experiences of healthcare professionals and to ascertain the effects of COVID-19 on their practice, a cross-sectional observational study including 311 practicing physicians, pharmacists, nurses, dentists, lab technicians, and other hospital staff members was carried out across Saudi Arabia. A pretested semi-structured QuestionPro questionnaire that was sent electronically via social media, email, and phones was used to collect responses from study participants. It was cleaned up before being examined with SPSS program 28. Frequency and percentage displays were used to illustrate quantitative data. Spearman's correlation was used to calculate the association between stress score, anxiety score, and depression score. Appropriate statistical tests of significance were used to determine the association between stress scores and various background characteristics. Statistical significance was set at the 0.05 level for P-value. Result(s): Over half of the medical staff had expertise in caring for COVID-19 patients, and approximately two out of every five trial participants had a history of COVID-19 infection previous to immunisation. The vaccine could minimise the infection, according to 3/4 of them. Among those surveyed, just 33% had a history of chronic diseases. The majority of participants believed they had dealt with difficult events at some time in the preceding week for all of the categories. Similar to this, depression was sometimes experienced for 4 items but never for 3 when there were the most participants. It could be deduced that the majority of participants had normal Anxiety (33.8%), Stress (36%), and Depression (38.6%) scores. The median psychological assessments were considerably higher among those who were between the ages of 35 and 56, divorced, were already infected with the COVID-19 virus previous to immunisation, and had a history of chronic disease. Conclusion(s): The study's findings led to the conclusion that stress and anxiety are significant COVID-19 effects on both healthcare professionals and patients. The epidemic has also highlighted the significance of the need for appropriate safety equipment, practices, and support for the physical and mental well-being of medical personnel.Copyright © 2023, Codon Publications. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This paper outlines a framework to prevent the COVID19 like pandemics for visitors to buildings or sites that receive many visitors. The proposed system is used to detect visitors who have not worn a facemask, or visitors with high body temperature, communicate daily visitor data to the security officer, sound an alarm to notify the officer, and screen the visitors with the results of the measurements. Also, the proposed solution uses deep learning and computer vision techniques to detect the facemask. Further, a testbed is designed based on an Arduino microcontroller connected to a PC for collecting, processing, and storing the data. Furthermore, the proposed system used a contactless infrared temperature sensor to avoid any chance to transfer the COVID-like disease to normal visitors. Finally, we tested the system by passing many subjects with and without face masks and high temperatures. The accuracy of the system shows that the system accurately detects each subject with and without a face mask and with high temperatures. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The number of COVID-19 cases has continued to rise since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a global pandemic in March 2020. At this time, WHO has received reports of about 460 million confirmed illnesses and over 6 million deaths. In Saudi Arabia, the number of confirmed cases has nearly surpassed 750 thousand, with COVID-19 responsible for approximately 9,000 deaths. Vaccination is the most effective approach to prevent this pandemic, and persons who have had three doses are better protected than those who have not. The goal of this study is to look into the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccine after the third booster dosage in Saudi Arabian healthcare personnel. Between November 2021 and April 2022, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using simply a questionnaire. Pain at injection site was the commonest side effect, followed by fatigue and headache. There is a temperature and edema at the injection site, respectively. 27.71 percent of female participants experienced menstrual cycle changes such as delayed or menorrhagia. The side effects are comparable to those experienced after the first and second COVID-19 vaccination doses. More research on long-term side effects, as well as studies into the relationship between menstrual cycle changes and COVID-19 vaccination, is needed.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, has resulted in an ongoing vicious pandemic. COVID-19 has a wide range of clinical outcomes ranging from no clinical symptoms to severe respiratory disease and death. Disease severity has been linked to old age and other co-morbidities. In children and infants, the infection has typically a milder and often asymptomatic course. However, Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) has been recognized as a pediatric complication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infections. It is a state of hyperinflammation that typically presents 4-6 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 acute infection with high fever, organ dysfunction, and raised inflammatory markers leading to multiorgan failure and shock. Family clusters of MIS-C have been reported suggesting heritable traits predisposing to severe infection. The underlying cause of phenotypic heterogeneity, susceptibility, and disease severity among affected individuals is still unclear. It has been thought that both viral and host genetic variations could be probable factors influencing the disease severity and susceptibility. To this end, we have studied the clinical and genetic characteristics of children with MIS-C in Kuwait. Utilizing 28 large kindreds with familial MIS-C clustering, we report, here, the preliminary results obtained from three families. Methods: Children aged ≤ 12 years who met the World Health Organization (WHO) MIS-C diagnostic criteria were identified from the national Pediatric COVID-19 Registry in Kuwait (PCR-Q8). Detailed demographic and clinical phenotype data were obtained from medical charts. All subjects and their families were invited for blood molecular genetic testing. Genetic analysis using genome sequencing at 30x depth has been performed on the affected individuals and their parents. In this , we present preliminary results from three families. Results: Sixty-seven children with MIS-C were identified in the period between April 2020 and October 2021. So far, molecular genetic testing was performed on 28 subjects and their biological parents. Genetic analysis (genome sequencing) of 3 families was completed. All of the three children were previously healthy, non-obese, with no known co-morbidities, and no family history of MIS-C. They all had evidence of recent SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive RT-PCR result and positive IgG antibody detection). One child aged 9 years developed myocarditis as a complication of MIS-C. He presented with hypotension, hemodynamic instability, and required inotropic support. All three kids have fully recovered after receiving respiratory support in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Consanguinity was observed in two families. Probands harbored various homozygous variants in the BTNL8, IL17RA, and IRS4 genes will be presented and discussed. Conclusion: This is the first study to review the demographic, clinical, epidemiological, and genetic characteristics of children with MIS-C in Kuwait. Although familial clustering of severe COVID-19 infection has not been observed in our cohort, our data shows that utilizing a family-based study allows for significant enrichment for homozygous genetic variants that may impact our understanding of MIS-C.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has caused the closure of schools around the world. According to the Global World Forum, more than 1.2 billion students have dropped out of classrooms worldwide. As a result, education has transformed dramatically with the extensive rise in elearning where teaching is delivered remotely through technological solutions and platforms. Even though successful transitions among many universities have taken place, the users' expectations of e-learning systems are still poor due to this rapid movement. Therefore, e-learning systems need to be investigated from a perspective of quality in order to ensure its effectiveness. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the role of quality factors in influencing the effectiveness of e-learning systems from the perspective of academic staff. A quantitative approach was adopted using a web-based questionnaire. A total of 129 valid questionnaires were obtained through simple random sampling techniques. The results of the study indicated that all examined factors, namely, System Quality (SQ), Information Quality (IQ), Service Quality (SEQ), Technical Support Quality (TSQ), Course Design Quality (CDQ), and Learner Quality (LQ), influenced E-learning System Effectiveness significantly. The proposed factors explained a significant percentage with 90.8 percent of the total variance of E-learning Effectiveness. Furthermore, the results of multiple regressions using stepwise analysis indicated that the top three contributing factors were Service Quality, Learner Quality, and System Quality respectively. Moreover, the results revealed that Attitude partially mediated the relationship between Service Quality and E-learning System Effectiveness. Several implications and recommendations were proposed for future research.
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Aim: In this study, we aimed to assess the frequency of patient emergency visits to the Otorhinolaryngology (ORL) Department during coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and compare it with that before coronavirus COVID-19. Material and Methods: A retrospective comparative study was performed at Al-Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif (Saudi Arabia), and data regarding various diagnoses of ORL cases were collected from medical records of patients who visited/admitted to ORL-ED during the lockdown (Group 1) and those who visited/ admitted to ORL-ED before the pandemic (Group 2). Results: Group 2 had a significantly higher percentage of cases who had no ENT-related disorders, hypertrophy inferior turbinate (HIT), stridor, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), epistaxis and who had no complications, had general ENT, foreign body ingestion-aspiration, trauma, otology and who had more than one disorder and Group 1 had a significantly higher percentage of those having nasal obstruction, tonsil hypertrophy grade 3, had emergency head and neck cancer, had deep neck space infections and who had complicated. Discussion: During coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic period, cold ENT visits were much less and foreign body ingestion remains the highest reason for ENT visits. Additionally, telemedicine has been shown to be effective in reducing ED visits during the pandemic period. Furthermore, older cases with chronic ENT problems who had regular follow-up ENT visits were less likely to visit ED during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The doctrine of Sustainability is known to be a holistic approach and there is an increased recognition that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are linked to one another. Within less than two decades, the present pandemic (COVID19) is the third emerged highly pathogenic and deadly human coronaviruses. Hence, risk of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) is a key component of the sustainable development approach. In order to determine knowledge, awareness and attitude, an online questionnaire-based survey was conducted in a total of 114 members of Saudi Arabian's staff. Results about knowledge and awareness varied between 98.2 % and 38.59%. About 77.21% (Mean value) of the participants are well awarded about the subject of the study. The constant collation of the showed that the majorities of the correlation between variables were very strong (20.87%) or strong (38.46%). Synthetically, themes such as human impact on the environment, human health and global stability, SDGs and pandemics, human susceptibility for diseases and uses of drugs were found to be interdepend in the perception of the academic staff in the Saudi Arabian universities. It is suggested that there is a need to introduce time-oriented policy, and implement awareness plans in the country for the future generation.
ABSTRACT
Background: Anxiety is seen among students even during normal times. The COVID-19pandemic is believed to have increased anxiety and depression among the students. Purpose: An investigation was done to assess the anxiety levels and coping strategies of nursing students in Saudi Arabia. The influence of demographics on the anxiety levels and coping strategies were also determined. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire through Google forms. The questionnaire had items related to demographics such as age, sex, etc., along with a question to know about the confidence of students to work as nurses. A GAD-7 scale was used to assess anxiety levels and BriefCope was used to determine coping strategies. Statistics were performed using non-parametric tests, factorial analysis, and linear regression. Results: More than half of the participating students experienced moderate to severe anxiety. The anxiety levels were not influenced significantly by demographics except the young age. More than 50% of the students were reluctant to work as nurses and this affected the anxiety score significantly. Factorial analysis grouped variables into six factors. Linear regression showed a positive correlation of these factors with anxiety. Conclusion: Anxiety score revealed that Saudi nursing students had moderate to severe anxiety. The combined number of students reluctant or scared to work was more than those who were confident to work as nurses. A positive association was observed between factor variables with mild and moderate anxiety.