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The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted all aspects of people's lives, including pedagogy and instruction at universities, where its impact was felt globally, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no exception. This paper discusses and compares the academic results during the conventional mode of learning (spring semester of 2019) and during the online mode of learning (spring semester of 2020), which was throughout the pandemic period. Specifically, the study considers two Saudi groups of fifty students who were enrolled in the Department of Health Information Management and Technology at the University of Hafr Al-batin in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The students' accumulative marks in six first-year courses in two semesters were analyzed and compared by calculating the passing/failure percentages, descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, maximum, minimum, and range), and the p-value of an inferential t-test. Additionally, the students filled out a six-category survey about their experiences and level of satisfaction with online learning compared to the regular learning mode. It was concluded that more students passed with higher grades in the year 2020 in five theoretical courses. Differently, it was deduced that practical courses such as computer applications had similar passing averages in the two years;the course required students to submit continuous assignments and projects in a fixed time period. Additionally, the participants revealed in their filled online survey that they preferred many features of the remote learning mode and the online assessment methodology. They inclined toward online learning for its flexibility and effectiveness, even though they confessed to having less interaction and focus during online sessions. Thus, the results imply to authorities in the Ministry of Higher Education to carefully and gradually embed online teaching for selected subjects with exam validation measures such as time strict limits, question banks, randomizations, and other security features. © 2023 by the authors.
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The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many if not all aspects of our lives, including the way we handle money. This paper takes mobile payments as an example to show how COVID-19 affected the United Arab Emirates. Many researchers rushed into writing their first impressions in response to the pandemic to produce early study results. This paper uses these early electronic articles and blogs as valuable data sources for a first-level analysis. It attempts to assess the impact of COVID-19 on mobile payment services in the post-pandemic world from the demand and supply perspective in the UAE. The previous literature has been reviewed to understand the scope of the services present in the UAE before the onset of the pandemic. Further, an online questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions was used to gather data from 125 vendors capable of receiving mobile payments. Regression analysis with two time periods has been included to develop a better perception of mobile payment services before and after the spread of the coronavirus. It was found that COVID-19 has created a suitable environment for mobile payments, with significant positive relationship in both periods. The reasons for using mobile payments during the pandemic were to apply social distancing and to avoid physical touch, a requirement in the COVID-19 period, resulting in a move towards creating a positive attitude towards a cashless society. © 2023 by the authors.
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Asthma is a chronic respiratory illness associated with sudden attacks of shortness of breath that require emergency visits. Asthmatic patients were harmed by the pandemic because they were unable to receive regular follow up. This cross sectional study was conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to assess emergency visit differences before and during the pandemic. An online survey of asthma control tests and other demographic information about the people who took part was also used to measure how well asthma was controlled. The results highlighted that there's no difference between pre and during pandemic emergency visits. Additionally most patients were poorly controlled according to the asthma control test. Asthma control test results in Riyadh come in the mid-range if compared to studies at other locations in the kingdom. There was a link between smoking and increasing emergency visits and not doing well on control tests. Asthmatic patients should be told to stop smoking for their own health and to make it easier on health authorities.
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Introduction: Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is highly purified single-stranded messenger RNA (mRNA) produced using a cell-free in vitro transcription from the corresponding DNA templates indicated for preventing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. Olfactory hallucination is a condition in which a person perceives odors that aren't present. Some might notice the odor in just one nostril, while others have it in both [2]. Objective(s): The purpose of this review is to assess the risk of olfactory hallucinations from the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and, if necessary, make regulatory recommendations. Method(s): The Signal Detection (SD) team at SFDA performed a signal review using the National Pharmacovigilance Center (NPC) database and World WHO database, VigiBase, with literature screening to retrieve all related information to assess the causality between olfactory hallucinations and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine use. The search was conducted on January 4th, 2022. The disproportionality of the observed and the expected reporting rates for drug/adverse drug reaction pair was estimated using an information component (IC), a tool developed by WHO-UMC to measure the reporting ratio. Positive IC reflects higher statistical association, while negative values indicate less statistical association. Result(s): Local Cases: The SD team at SFDA has searched the NPC database for individual case safety reports (ICSR) reporting olfactory hallucinations in association with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The search resulted in one ISCR and, on the basis of WHOUMC causality assessment criteria, olfactory hallucinations were considered probably associated with the vaccine. Global Cases: A search was conducted in the WHO database (Vigibase) to retrieve all reported cases using a signal detection tool (Vigilyze) [3]. The search yielded 59 ICSRs. The signal detection team applied the WHO-UMC causality assessment tool on cases with a completeness score of (0.8) and above (n = 13). 11 cases were found supportive of the association, with 10 being probable and one being possible. Literature: Late November 2021, a case report of a 57-year-old woman seeking medical care after complaining of ''smelling smoke'' after receiving her second dose of the vaccine was published [4]. Datamining: The results of (IC = 1.9) revealed a positive statistical association for the vaccine/ADR combination. Conclusion(s): The weighted cumulative evidence identified from local and global cases is sufficient to suggest a causal association between the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and olfactory hallucinations. While a more thorough review of safety data is needed to confirm the risk, health care professionals should be aware of the risk that could happen after vaccination.
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Introduction: Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is highly purified single-stranded messenger RNA (mRNA) produced using a cell-free in vitro transcription from the corresponding DNA templates indicated for preventing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. Olfactory hallucination is a condition in which a person perceives odors that aren't present. Some might notice the odor in just one nostril, while others have it in both [2]. Objective: The purpose of this review is to assess the risk of olfactory hallucinations from the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and, if necessary, make regulatory recommendations. Methods: The Signal Detection (SD) team at SFDA performed a signal review using the National Pharmacovigilance Center (NPC) database and World WHO database, VigiBase, with literature screening to retrieve all related information to assess the causality between olfactory hallucinations and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine use. The search was conducted on January 4th, 2022. The disproportionality of the observed and the expected reporting rates for drug/adverse drug reaction pair was estimated using an information component (IC), a tool developed by WHO-UMC to measure the reporting ratio. Positive IC reflects higher statistical association, while negative values indicate less statistical association. Results: Local Cases: The SD team at SFDA has searched the NPC database for individual case safety reports (ICSR) reporting olfactory hallucinations in association with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The search resulted in one ISCR and, on the basis of WHO-UMC causality assessment criteria, olfactory hallucinations were considered probably associated with the vaccine. Global Cases: A search was conducted in the WHO database (Vigibase) to retrieve all reported cases using a signal detection tool (Vigilyze) [3]. The search yielded 59 ICSRs. The signal detection team applied the WHO-UMC causality assessment tool on cases with a completeness score of (0.8) and above (n = 13). 11 cases were found supportive of the association, with 10 being probable and one being possible. Literature: Late November 2021, a case report of a 57-year-old woman seeking medical care after complaining of "smelling smoke" after receiving her second dose of the vaccine was published [4]. Datamining: The results of (IC = 1.9) revealed a positive statistical association for the vaccine/ADR combination. Conclusion: The weighted cumulative evidence identified from local and global cases is sufficient to suggest a causal association between the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and olfactory hallucinations. While a more thorough review of safety data is needed to confirm the risk, health care professionals should be aware of the risk that could happen after vaccination.
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Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging infection causing a widely spread pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The continuous spread of COVID-19, strict isolation measure, delays in starting colleges, attending offline classes, facing challenges to conduct high school grades for medical students across the country is expected to influence the psychological health and academic yielding of the students of colleges of medicine in Saudi Arabia. Objectives: This study aims to assess the psychological and academic impact of COVID-19 among the students of colleges of medicine in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This cross-sectional study conducted from October 2020-March 2021 in which a survey conducted among medical students from 10 colleges of medicine in Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire was conducted using social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Twitter, as well as email. The survey requested demographic and socioeconomic information, in addition to 4-point Likert Scale to assess the psychological and academic impact. Results: There were 661 responses in total. Most of the participants were female 51% (n=332), from Majmaah University 20.6% (n=134), and from the sixth year 26.3% (n=171). Majority of the participants were between the ages of 18 and 23 years 59.6% (n=388). The prevalence of COVID-19 among the participants was only 11.06% (n=72). During the height of the pandemic, 39.6% of the participants (n=258) stated that their GPA had risen. The extent of psychological distress was calculated using a 4-point Likert Scale, and the majority of the students (n=328) had moderate psychological distress. Similarly, most of the students had moderate academic impact 34.87% (n=227) due to COVID-19. There were a significant association between the degree of psychological distress and gender with male students reporting more mild 7.2% and moderate distress 23% while female students reported more moderately severe 20.1% and the severe distress 4.3%. In addition, there were an association between the level of stress and the academic performance. Conclusion: The result suggest that the COVID-19 has a moderate psychological distress and also moderate academic impact among students of colleges of medicine in Saudi Arabia.
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Background: Covid-19 virus has caused unparalleled hastening of infection transmission to healthcare workers including dental professionals worldwide. This study examined dental professional's knowledge, awareness, and practice during the Covid-19 outbreak in Riyadh. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among dental professionals of government and private dental hospitals and medical centers in the Riyadh region through an electronic survey. A self-designed questionnaire designed in English and comprised of a series of questions pertaining to socio-demographic characteristics, the awareness of dental professionals towards COVID-19, and infection control in dental clinics. Knowledge, awareness, and practice scores were considered as primary outcome variables. The data were imported into SPSS and the p-value was set at < 0.05 as significant statistically. Results: Out of 381, 171 (44.88%) were aged >45 years and the respondents were predominantly females 247 (64.83%) compared to males134 (35.17%). More than half of the respondents were dentists 234 (61.42%) and 258 (67.72%) having experience of >10 years. Most of the respondents 270 (70.90%) were practicing under COVID-19 guidelines. Age >45 years, females, dental profession, years of working experience, and dental professionals working in a military hospital under the government sector were statistically significant (p<0.001) for good knowledge, awareness, and practice scores. Conclusion: Dental professionals of Riyadh had excellent knowledge, positive awareness, and good practices regarding COVID-19 measures to be taken in dental clinics.
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Introduction: Parallel to past technological revolutions, along with existing pandemic crises has made digitally assisted tools, and formats for e-learning an essential component of medical Curriculam. This current study objectives were to find out the opinion of the students about the use and efficacy of the distance learning tools during the Covid-19 crises and its impact on learning and academic achievements among medical students of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted among 1021 medical college students of Saudi Arabia by developing a survey questionnaire composed of sociodemographic characteristics of participants, study habits assessment including teacher engagement and student-teacher interactions, assessment of distance teaching approaches such as availability of internet services at home, the usefulness of live sessions or recorded videos, number of hours one can attend the sessions and stay motivated, assessment of academic performance, evaluation of respondents experience and technical infrastructure, psychosocial assessment of respondents, and their coping with COVID-19 crises. Results: Among 1021 students, 503 (49%) were males and 518 (51%) females. 64% agree that distance teaching tools used by the teachers were easy to understand and use, and 55% responded that they are very much satisfied with E-learning provided by their institute. There was no significant difference observed between students on the usefulness of different approaches in facilitating learning experience except 'Self-study using text and/or video materials provided by the teacher approach' (P=0.043). Conclusion: The findings showed satisfactory results, showing that Saudi Arabia's respective medical universities offered good online support and orientation to overcome COVID 19 crises, and students found distance learning tools easy to use and understand as the support provided by the medical universities staff. Future steps would be taken based on the observed results, and further improvement would be implemented to make the learning process easier for medical students.
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Introduction: COVID-19 has a higher infection rate among health care professionals due to heavy viral load. The medical students and interns are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 owing to being relatively new in the field and the lack of knowledge and behavioural adaptation. Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge level and adoption of preventive behavioural practices of medical students in Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among 180 medical students studying at Qassim University, Qassim Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the medical students using an online platform. The questionnaire includes;basic demographic characteristics (age, gender, and academic year level), knowledge, and preventive behavior questionnaires. Data were tabulated in MS Excel and all data analyses were performed using SPSS version 26. Results: The most common sources of COVID-19 information were social media (52.2%), healthcare workers (51.1%), and official sites (48.3%). Overall, 51.1% of the medical students had low knowledge toward COVID19 potential source of transmission, risk factors, and virulence while good knowledge was accounted for 48.9%. For preventive behavior, most of them were classified into high preventive behavior levels with 89.4% and only 10.6% were low levels. It is important to note that the knowledge level of males was significantly better than females (Z=-1.958;p=0.050). Conclusion: Despite optimistic preventive behavior, the knowledge of medical students toward the potential transmission, risk factors, and virulence seems to be lacking. Male students seem to have better knowledge than female students.
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Introduction: The continued explosive spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 worldwide is a crucial problem for all countries. Even though it is becoming increasingly difficult to stop the spread of the virus according to the World Health Organisation, countries need to enforce strict measures to minimise its effects. This study attempts to assess the awareness and compliance of the local population for following the precautionary measures against. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at different districts of Majmaah city, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional survey study was carried out at different districts of Majmaah city, Saudi Arabia, and 502 individual's respondents were included in the study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire for noting compliance towards protective measures. All participants were informed about the nature of the study and given an informed consent form. Data were collected and analysed using SPSS@ 25 (SPSS Version 25.0. Armonk, Newyork: IBM Corp). Categorical variables were expressed as frequencies and percentages. t-test was applied to compare mean scores.Results: There were 502 people who participated in this study, among them 260 (51.8%) were males and 242 (48.2%) females. This study highlighted that the population awareness was good and residents showed strong commitment towards coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) precautionary measures. The overall mean scores for awareness and commitment levels were 6.68 +/- 1.04 and 4.00 +/- 1.13. Conclusions: Most participants in the study had a positive perception of COVID-19 prevention and control. Residents of Saudi Arabia responded well to the threat imposed by COVID-19 and are following their government and health regulatory body's instructions. It is therefore suggested that this would also be a valuable resource for policymakers of Saudi Arabia
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We aimed this systematic review to analyze and review the currently available published literature related to long COVID, understanding its pattern, and predicting the long-term effects on survivors. We thoroughly searched the databases for relevant articles till May 2021. The research articles that met our inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed and reviewed by two independent researchers. After preliminary screening of the identified articles through title and abstract, 249 were selected. Consequently, 167 full-text articles were assessed and reviewed based on our inclusion criteria and thus 20 articles were regarded as eligible and analyzed in the present analysis. All the studies included adult population aged between 18 and above 60 years. The median length of hospital stay of the COVID-19 patients during the acute infection phase ranged from 8 days to 17 days. The most common prevalent long-term symptoms in COVID-19 patients included persistent fatigue and dyspnea in almost all of the studies. Other reported common symptoms included: shortness of breath, cough, joint pain, chest pain or tightness, headache, loss of smell/taste, sore throat, diarrhea, loss of memory, depression, anxiety. Associated cardiovascular events included arrhythmias, palpitations and hypotension, increased HR, venous thromboembolic diseases, myocarditis, and acute/decompensated heart failure as well. Among neurological manifestations headache, peripheral neuropathy symptoms, memory issues, concentration, and sleep disorders were most commonly observed with varying frequencies. Mental health issues affecting mental abilities, mood fluctuations namely anxiety and depression, and sleep disorders were commonly seen. Further, diarrhea, vomiting, digestive disorders, and Loss of appetite or weight loss are common gastrointestinal manifestations. Therefore, appropriate clinical evaluation is required in long COVID cases which in turn may help us to identify the risk factors, etiology, and to my help, we treat them early with appropriate management strategies.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/complications , SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19/epidemiology , Humans , Post-Acute COVID-19 SyndromeABSTRACT
Introduction: Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an immune mediated disease that often manifests clinically after an infectious process. Patients with GBS classically present with progressive, ascending symmetrical flaccid paralysis with diminished or lost deep tendon reflexes. Case report: we report a case of 36-year-old healthy male who developed bilateral progressive distal extremity numbness, change in speech and bilateral facial weakness within 3 weeks of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patient was diagnosed with GBS and treated with Intravenous immune globulin with significant improvement in his complaints. Discussion: The exact mechanism of GBS formation in patients with COVID-19 is yet to be determined. However, prevailing theories suggested that inflammatory cells are stimulated by COVID-19 leading to production of inflammatory cytokines which therefore creates an immune mediated process. Conclusion: proper neurologic assessment is recommended whenever there is a suspicion of GBS following GI and/or respiratory infection.
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Background: Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory infection characterized by rapid transmission mainly by close contact with an infected person. To control its spread, Saudi Arabia adopted a very strict control measures including raising public awareness by all available means. The current study investigated the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of Saudi population, towards COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This study was cross-sectional. The study population were Saudis from the five regions of the kingdom. Data were collected by an electronic questionnaire after obtaining an ethics approval and informed consents. Three thousand six hundred and fortytwo subjects were included in the study. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version 23. Results: Most of the participants had average and good knowledge about COVI-19 constituted 52.7% and 44.8% respectively. The population practice and attitude towards COVID-19 was 84.0% and 96.9% respectively. Males had better COVID-19 knowledge compared to females. Nine hundred and ninety-two (48.3%) and 704 (40.9%) of males and females had good knowledge respectively. Females had more positive attitude towards COVID-19 than males (98.4% versus 95.5%). The positive COVI-19 attitude for the single, the married, the divorced and the widow were 95.7%, 98.2%, 97.3% and 96.6% respectively. Conclusion: The level of COVID-19 knowledge of Saudi population is average and the attitude of most population is positive. Males have better COVID-19 knowledge compared to females: however, most females have positive attitude towards the disease compared to males. The level of COVID-19 knowledge increases with age and education level of the population. Population who have higher level of knowledge have positive attitude. The social media (Twitter) is the main source of COVID-19 information for the Saudi population.
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In this work, a novel mathematical model of Coronavirus (2019-nCov) with general population mask use with modified parameters. The proposed model consists of fourteen fractional-order nonlinear differential equations. Grünwald-Letnikov approximation is used to approximate the new hybrid fractional operator. Compact finite difference method of six order with a new hybrid fractional operator is developed to study the proposed model. Stability analysis of the used methods are given. Comparative studies with generalized fourth order Runge–Kutta method are given. It is found that, the proposed model can be described well the real data of daily confirmed cases in Egypt. © 2021 THE AUTHORS
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Background: Patients refrain from seeking medical help in the time of COVID-19 due to the fear of getting infected. Hospitals are overloaded with limited beds, interfering with inpatients stays. Awareness of first aid management of fractures among the general population has been neglected. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the knowledge of the selected population regarding fractures' first aid, and their readiness to seek medical help before and during the time of quarantine. Methodology: Cross sectional vignette-Based study among Saudi population of Al-Ahasa. Data processed via SPSS using two tailed tests. A total of 1005 respondents were included in this study. Results: Good awareness was detected among 520 (51.7%) participants. Before pandemic, (83.7%) reported that they will Call the ambulance immediately, and only (15.1%) Consult a doctor without visiting the hospital (telemedicine). During the pandemic, (41.5%) told that they can call ambulance while the majority (57.3%;576) told that they Consult a doctor without visiting the hospital (telemedicine). Men had significantly good awareness level regarding fracture first aids compared to women. Similarly, health care related participants had significantly good awareness level regarding fracture first aids compared to others.