A Cross- Sectional Assessment of Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine on Menstrual Cycle of Pharmacy and Medical Students of Qassim University, Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To determine the relationship between the COVID-19 vaccine and the menstruation and to determine the factors associated with menstrual abnormalities after COVID-19 Vaccine. Method(s): Female students from the Unaizah College of Pharmacy and Medicine at Qassim University who were over the age of menarche, had received the vaccine, were not pregnant or nursing, were not using contraceptives, did not have a history of primary ovarian insufficiency, hypothalamic menopause, or had undergone a hysterectomy were invited to participate. A universal sampling method was used to collect the data using an online method. Consequently, a total of 299 enrolled students participated in the survey. Result(s): Out of 329 registered students, 299 agreed to participate, giving a response rate of 90.88%. The mean age of the participants was 22.1 +/- 1.70, majority were unmarried (n=255;85.3%) and were from PharmD (n=206;69.8%). A total of 70(26.1%) reported to have COVID-19 infection. About 258(86.2 %) reported menstrual symptoms post-vaccination, of which 108(41.8%) reported irregular, 94(36.4 %)length of menstruation changed, for 56(21.7%) mensuration completely stopped. Only 16(6.20%) required a hospital visit to resolve post COVID vaccination menstrual symptoms. Previous COVID 19 infection significantly influenced the incidence of mensural abnormalities (p=0.03). After the second dose of the vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech (91.3%) followed by Johnson and Johnson (66.7%), there were significant variations in the menstrual abnormalities across different vaccination types (p = 0.014). Conclusion(s): The study showed a possible link between the COVID-19 vaccine and menstrual abnormalities which needs further investigation regarding its impact on their quality of life.Copyright © 2023

COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessment of Behavior and Attitudes in Medical Waste Management Among Healthcare Workers in Kuwait

The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting world economies, business revenues, and the livelihood of many individuals, and has also resulted in accumulated medical waste. Countries, governments, and health workers are striving to contain this virus by applying different strategies and protocols. This research investigates and identifies the significant determinants that influence the acceptance and Adoption of non-hazardous medical waste recycling behaviour in Kuwait. This article questions whether healthcare workers in Kuwait are actually behaving differently regarding non-hazardous medical waste recycling during the pandemic as opposed to previously. The study uses a deductive research approach involving a quantitative methodology by applying the theory of planned behaviour as a framework. From an overall perspective, individuals have positive intentions and behaviours toward recycling. However, COVID-19 and the fear of spreading the virus had a positive impact on the healthcare workers' recycling behaviour in public hospitals in Kuwait. © 2022 IGI Global. All rights reserved.

Longitudinal analysis of electrolyte prolife in intensive care COVID-19 patients

Introduction: According to a substantial body of research, electrolyte abnormalities are a common manifestation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and are associated with adverse outcomes. This study aimed to investigate electrolyte imbalances in COVID-19 patients and assess their relation to mortality. Method(s): Adult COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the Security Forces Hospital in Saudi Arabia from June 8th till August 18th, 2020 were enrolled in this retrospective observational study. We examined baseline characteristics, comorbidities, acute organ injuries, medications, and electrolyte levels including sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, bicarbonate, phosphate, and magnesium on ICU admission, as well as every following day of ICU stay, until death or discharge. Patients were stratified according to survival, and differences in variables between groups were compared using Mann-Whitney's U test or Fisher's exact test. Longitudinal electrolyte profiles were modeled using random intercept linear regression models. Result(s): A total of 60 COVID-19 patients were enrolled. Compared to survivors, non-survivors had significantly higher sodium and phosphate on admission and death, higher potassium and magnesium at death, and significantly lower calcium at death. Abnormalities in admission levels of chloride and bicarbonate were also more frequently observed in non-survivors. Furthermore, in the deceased group, we observed a daily increase in potassium and phosphate levels, and a daily decrease in sodium and chloride. Finally, calcium increased in non-survivors over time, however, not as significantly as in the survivor group. Conclusion(s): Admission levels of electrolytes and changes over the course of ICU stay appear to be associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance data during the Delta and Omicron waves at a Saudi tertiary referral hospital.

BACKGROUND: Studying the genomic evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may help determine outbreak clusters and virus transmission advantages to aid public health efforts during the pandemic. Thus, we tracked the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 by variant epidemiology, breakthrough infection, and patient characteristics as the virus spread during the Delta and Omicron waves. We also conducted phylogenetic analyses to assess modes of transmission. METHODS: Nasopharyngeal samples were collected from a cohort of 900 patients with positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results confirming COVID-19 disease. Samples underwent real-time PCR detection using TaqPath assays. Sequencing was performed with Ion GeneStudio using the Ion AmpliSeq™ SARS-CoV-2 panel. Variant calling was performed with Torrent Suite™ on the Torrent Server. For phylogenetic analyses, the MAFFT tool was used for alignment and the maximum likelihood method with the IQ-TREE tool to build the phylogenetic tree. Data were analyzed using SAS statistical software. Analysis of variance or t tests were used to assess continuous variables, and χ2 tests were used to assess categorical variables. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were preformed to estimate odds ratios (ORs). RESULTS: The predominant variants in our cohort of 900 patients were non-variants of concern (11.1 %), followed by Alpha (4.1 %), Beta (5.6 %), Delta (21.2 %), and Omicron (58 %). The Delta wave had more male than female cases (112 vs. 78), whereas the Omicron wave had more female than male cases (311 vs. 208). The oldest patients (mean age, 43.4 years) were infected with non-variants of concern; the youngest (mean age, 33.7 years), with Omicron. Younger patients were mostly unvaccinated, whereas elderly patients were mostly vaccinated, a statistically significant difference. The highest risk for breakthrough infection by age was for patients aged 30-39 years (OR = 12.4, CI 95 %: 6.6-23.2), followed by patients aged 40-49 years (OR = 11.2, CI 95 %: 6.1-23.1) and then 20-29 years (OR = 8.2, CI 95 %: 4.4-15.4). Phylogenetic analyses suggested the interaction of multiple cases related to outbreaks for breakthrough infections, healthcare workers, and intensive care unit admission. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study highlighted several major public health ramifications, including the distribution of variants over a wide range of demographic and clinical variables and by vaccination status.

Covid-19 Symptoms Detection System for Campus Access using WSN

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of dramatic changes to the international education system. Regardless of the advantages of the online-based education system, the conventional on-campus education system has a lot of benefits that cannot be ignored, especially for lab-based courses. The main goal of this proposed paper is to either mitigate or eliminate the hazards of the Covid-19 virus's spreading between students and staff, so they can attend on-campus events and activities safely. In this paper, we proposed an Arduino-based solution to automate the detection of the Covid-19 symptoms of students and staff within a campus. The proposed solution consists of two separate sub-systems. The first sub-system is the Covid-19 Symptoms Detection System (Covid-19 SDS), which is responsible for detecting Covid-19 symptoms by measuring the temperature and heart rate. The second sub-system is the Campus Authenticator Sign-on System (CASS), which is responsible for checking whether the person is authorized to have access or not to the campus. We used Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Near Field Communication (NFC) for the data exchange between the nodes. The experiments showed an acceptable reading precision with an error margin of around ± 1.35. © 2022 IEEE.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on quality of partner relationship and sexual activity among COVID positive males: a cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to assess sexual activity, partner relationships among males who had been infected with COVID-19, to study the impact of COVID-19 infection on partner relationship and to find out the association between partner and sexual relationship during lockdown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia through social media platforms via online questionnaire between December 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021 among 871 participants after a pilot study among 20 participants of which 497 were included in the study. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20.0 (IBM Inc., Armonk, NY, USA). Responses were presented as frequencies and percentages and the association was studied using Chi squared test/Fisher's exact test. The value of p ≤ .05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Out of the total study participants, nearly 85% of them belonged to the age range of 18 to 39 years, more than half of the participants were married. In the six months prior to the study being conducted, 268 respondents (53.9%) did not have sexual relationships. Respondents with positive COVID-19 infection reported that their partner lived with them in the same house during home isolation and was also found to be significantly associated with having intact sexual relationships in the last six months of the lockdown period (p-value < .001). Moreover, respondents who reported having good relationships with their partners during the pandemic were found to be significantly associated with having intact sexual relationships during the pandemic lockdown (p-value < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Among the COVID-19-positive respondents, sexual activity and partner relationships were largely found to be intact during the pandemic lockdown period.

Vaccine Acceptance and Adherence to Precautionary Measures among Majmaah Population, Major Challenges for Control of New Strains

Background: Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) continues to have serious effects causing high mortality and morbidity worldwide with developments of several new strains. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and adherence to precautionary measures among the Majmaah community. Methodology: A Cross-Sectional study was conducted among Majmaah population using a self-administered online questionnaire, collected during 7th of February to 5th of March 2021. The questionnaire collected socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, use of precautionary measures and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. Individuals residing in the city of Majmaah aging 18 years old or more of both sexes were involved in the study. Data analysis was performed by SPSS, version 24. Results: Of the 457 participants surveyed, majority of the participants were female (69.6%) as compared to the males (30.4%,). About half of the participants (48.8%) had good knowledge. In addition, 55.1% showed low positive attitude toward COVID-19. There was significant association of COVID-19 attitude with participants' socio-demographics according to gender (p<0.05). The use of precautionary measures identified in the study were high (46.4%) and 67.8% of participants were willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: The study concluded that majority of the participants in the study were female who had a low positive attitude towards COVID-19. The application of precautionary measures varied with age and the level of education. Two third of participants showed acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. Those who had good knowledge, moderate positive attitude, and high positive application of precautionary measures towards COVID-19 were willing to get the vaccine. More education programs to the community of Majmaah city about COVID-19 precautionary measures and efficacy of vaccine are recommended.

Incidence risk and cumulative risk of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers over the first year of the pandemic

Objectives: To analyze the spread rate and the cumulative risk of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) over the first year of the pandemic. Method: An online, cross-sectional study involved HCWs who were in-service during the first year of COVID-19 crisis, including all healthcare institutions of Jeddah. History and date of COVID-19 infection were collected to estimate the COVID-19-free time, by reference to 03 March 2020, when the first case in Saudi Arabia was identified. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression methods were used to analyze the cumulative risk of COVID-19 infection and the associated factors.

Awareness and commitment towards precautionary measures against COVID-19 among residents of Majmaah City, Saudi Arabia

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

"LONG COVID": an insight.

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.

Certain Investigations on IoT system for COVID-19

Corona Viruses are a group of viruses that can cause diseases such as colds, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). A new type of corona virus has been discovered after it was identified as the cause of the spread of one of the diseases that started in China in 2019. This disease is considered one of the most dangerous things in the world, which directly affected many areas and led to high financial losses. The risk in this disease lies in its wide spread and the difficulty in dealing with and responding to it. So remote control technologies is the best solution for monitoring the patient's condition and monitoring the change of symptoms. The internet of thing one of modern technology which aims to shares files, software, programs and other tools to allow user to uses the devises with each other to apply the communication between them. it includes many devices communication between them by intelligent decisions. building modern IOT system based smart devices and sensors is the best solution to detect the patient of COVID-19 at real time. The study shows how effective device to detect of COVID-19 patient in IOT system. © 2020 IEEE.