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Background. After COVID-19 emergence, medical education witnessed a shift from face-to-face education to digital education, which inevitably affected medical students. Globally, due to the closure of schools and universities, medical education was shifted to electronic learning (E-learning). This paper aimed to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education and determine medical students' knowledge, attitude, and practices towards E-learning in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.Materials and Methods. An online cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 undergraduate students of seven medical colleges in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, in November 2021, to assess their state during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this affected their education.Results. There were 50.6% of males and 49.4% of females. The mean age was 20.6 ( +/- 1.5 SD) years. Approximately 17% of participants mentioned having financial issues, while 19.2% of students experienced health-related problems. As many as 67% of participants reported that the Internet quality was good or very good, whereas 46.8% of students disagreed that E-learning was a possible substitute for traditional learning. About two-thirds of participants agreed or were neutral that downloadable content was better than live content;however, only 19.2% of students agreed that E-learning could be used in the clinical aspect. A total of 52.2% of participants disagreed that E-testing could replace traditional learning methods. Surprisingly, 86.4% of students stated that they regularly used the Internet in their study.Conclusions. E-learning was the main adjustment made in the educational system, including medical education. The study concluded with insights into how different circumstances could have different conse-quences on the efficacy of medical education. E-learning showed effective results in continuing learning until the educational system switched to a blended system. Training programs for medical education personnel are vital in effective E-learning opportunities.
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Objectives: The aim of this paper was to investigate the impact of different variables on the production of antibodies in patients who were infected with Covid-19.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Duhok City, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The study was conducted between January 2021 and March 2022. Demographic data were collected via face-to-face interview. Antibody levels were determined using Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2.Results: The levels of antibody were studied in 138 patients. A significant association was found between antibody levels and the age of the participants (r = 0.175;P = 0.04). Besides, a significant correlation was found between antibody levels and the duration of symptoms (r = 0.206;P = 0.015). The antibody levels were not associated with gender;history of chronic diseases;marital status or time interval before testing.Conclusion: Different variables that may impact the levels of antibody were studied. Significant associations were found between antibody levels and both age and duration of symptoms. Our results can be used by healthcare providers to focus on patients who are at risk of low antibody production.
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Concerns about an increase in cases during the COVID-19 pandemic have been heightened by the emergence of a new Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 that joined the previously reported BF.7 as a source of public health concern. COVID-19 cases have been on the rise intermittently throughout the ongoing pandemic, likely because of the continuous introduction of SARS-CoV-2 subtypes. The present study analyzed the Indian citizen's perceptions of the latest covid variants XBB.1.5 and BF.7 using the natural language processing technique, especially topic modeling and sentiment analysis. The tweets posted by Indian citizens regarding this issue were analyzed and used for this study. Government authorities, policymakers, and healthcare officials will be better able to implement the necessary policy effectively to tackle the XBB 1.5 and BF.7 crises if they are aware of the people's sentiments and concerns about the crisis. A total of 8,54,312 tweets have been used for this study. Our sentiment analysis study has revealed that out of those 8,54,312 tweets, the highest number of tweets (n = 3,19,512 tweets (37.3%)) about COVID variants XBB.1.5 and BF.7 had neutral sentiments, 3,16,951 tweets (37.1%) showed positive sentiments and 2,17,849 tweets (25.4%) had negative sentiments. Fear of the future and concerns about the immunity of the vaccines are of prime concerns to tackle the ongoing pandemic. Copyright © The Author(s) 2023.
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Background: After 4 months we have shown, that DLCO is lower in severe COVID-19 patients compared to nonsevere (Guler SA, et al. Eur Respir J. 2021 Apr 29;57(4):2003690). Contributing factors are unclear. Calprotectin is an inflammatory marker released by activated neutrophils and is increased in acute severe COVID-19. Aim(s): We hypothesized that circulating calprotectin correlates with persistent lung functional impairment after COVID-19. Method(s): Calprotectin serum levels were measured in 124 patients (50% male) 4 months after COVID-19 (NCT04581135). Calprotectin was correlated with clinical parameters (Spearman's correlation). Multivariate linear regression (MLR) was performed to evaluate the independent association of calprotectin in different models. Result(s): Post-ICU patients (72% male) compared to non-ICU were significantly older (age 59.4 +/- 13.6 vs 49.2 +/- 13.1 years) and more obese (BMI 28.7 +/- 4.5 vs 25.2 +/- 6.0 kg/m2) (p=0.001, each) compared to non-ICU. DLCO was lower in post-ICU patients (75.96 +/- 19.05 %-predicted) compared to non-ICU (p<0.01). Calprotectin was significantly higher in post-ICU patients (2.74 +/- 1.15 mug/ml) compared to non-ICU (1.81 +/- 0.94 mug/ml, p<0.001). In unadjusted analysis, calprotectin correlated with DLCO (r=-0.350, p<0.001) and FVC (r=-0.417, p<0.001). In MLR adjusted for age, sex and BMI, calprotectin correlates with DLCO (R2=0.276, p<0.001). Calprotectin significantly predicted DLCO (beta=-6.463, p=0.001). Conclusion(s): Serum calprotectin is higher in post-ICU patients compared with non-ICU 4 months after COVID-19. The relationship between calprotectin levels and DLCO suggests a potential role for calprotectin in persisting lung functional impairment.
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Introduction: Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are growing problems worldwide. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has proven benefits for patients with CRDs, but programmes need to be adapted to low resource settings, in the context of the recent COVID-19, to home-based delivery. Aim(s): To evaluate the feasibility of delivering home-based PR for patients with CRDs in Malaysia. Method(s): We recruited people with CRD from two hospitals in Klang Valley, Malaysia to home-based PR programme. Patients were provided education sessions, and assessments [functional exercise capacity {6-Minutes walking test (6MWT)}] and [Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) {COPD Assessment Test (CAT)}] were made at centres prior to the start of programme. They performed exercise at least 5 sessions per week for 8 weeks at home and were supervised weekly via phone calls. Post PR, we assessed the attendance and retention rate and measured 6MWT and CAT at centre. Result(s): We recruited 30 patients. The retention rate was 93.3%;2 dropped out due to hospitalization. However, only 11(36.7%) attended post PR assessment at centres, of these 9 (81.8%) had performed all 40 sessions of home exercises. The attendance for post- PR assessment was limited due to COVD-19 restrictions that forbade travel in Malaysia at that time. Data from the 11 patients showed significant change in CAT scores, 5.09;pre: 22.45, post: 17.36(95% confidence interval (CI) 1.48, 8.70, p=0.01) but no significant change in 6MWT distance -24.36;pre: 276.36, post: 300.72(95% CI -80.52,-31.79, p=0.356). Conclusion(s): Home-based PR is feasible and can be a valuable method to deliver PR remotely.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has strained an already fragile Iraqi healthcare system. Globally, the pandemic affected the emergence and re-emergence of infectious illnesses. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Iraqi healthcare system was further exhausted when the country reported cases of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever and Cholera. Mpox is a zoonotic viral disease caused by the MPOX virus. In Iraq, as all resources are directed towards these three outbreaks, Mpox becomes extremely negligible. Failure to prevent the spread of this disease will have a catastrophic effect on the Iraqi healthcare system. Efforts should be made to increase population awareness regarding transmission routes and symptoms of Mpox. Training programs should be provided to healthcare workers to distinguish Mpox from other rash illnesses concisely. Effective surveillance programs and providing diagnostic tools to detect unknown or suspected cases should be the priority of the health authorities. Lessons must be learned from these three outbreaks.
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Background: After infection with SARS-Cov-2 or vaccination against COVID-19, some patients develop kidney diseases, including minimal change nephrotic syndrome and IgA Nephropathy (IgAN). Here we characterized renal injury and inflammatory response in biopsies from patients with new onset IgAN diagnosed promptly after COVID-19 disease or vaccination. Method(s): Eleven kidney biopsies from patients who developed IgAN after SARSCov-2 infection and 6 from patients with new onset IgAN after vaccination against COVID-19 were diagnosed at Dep. of Nephropathology, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. Biopsies from patients with IgAN who had no prior COVID-19 disease (n=10) and zero-time biopsies from transplants (ZB;n=6) served as controls. Serum creatinine was assessed and kidney injury by analysis of podocyte loss, detection of Pax-8 positive parietal epithelial cells on the glomerular tuft and IF/TA. Macrophages and granulocytes were detected by triple staining of CD68, CD163 and myeloperoxidase. Result(s): Significant podocyte loss, as assessed by nephrin staining, was observed in all three IgAN groups compared to ZB, as well as Pax8-positve parietal epithelial cells on glomerular tuft. The serum creatinine, as a marker of kidney function, was on average 1.8-3.5-fold higher in the IgAN groups compared to ZB, but did not reach significance level due to small sample numbers. IF/TA was below 20% in most investigated biopsies. No significant differences in renal function or injury were observed between different IgAN groups. While CD68+CD163+MPO+, CD68+CD163-MPO+ and CD68+CD163+MPO-(M2c-like macrophages) inflammatory cells were significantly increased in both COVID-19 IgAN groups, significant increase of CD68-CD163+MPO-cells compared to ZB control was restricted to IgAN w/o COVID-19 group (11.7+/-8.1 vs 0.8+/-0.9 cells / mm2). CD68+CD163-MPO-M1-like macrophages and CD68-CD163-MPO+ neutrophils tended to be higher in all IgAN groups but failed to reach the level of significance. Conclusion(s): Changes in kidney function and renal damage was comparable in all three investigated IgAN groups independent on experience of COVID-19 or vaccination. Renal macrophage and neutrophil invasion tended to by higher in COVID-19 IgAN groups. However, no significant differences in inflammatory were observed in direct comparisons of IgAN groups.
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The alarming spread of COVID-19 has caused significant social, economic, and commercial changes globally and has altered education. It highlighted the significance of an alternative education model that maintains health and safety during pandemics without disrupting learning. With this rapid transition to distance learning, it became fundamental to ensure the reliability of academic results is maintained through an online exam proctoring tool, providing user authentication, and examinees' monitoring, while ensuring maximum student convenience. In this paper, we propose an AI-powered proctoring system that adequately detects and reports academic malpractice and tackles the most significant distance learning deficiency, which is verifying the online learner's identity. The proposed solution is based on a computing unit equipped with an HD camera running computer vision pipelines that uses the student identification details for user authentication. The system aims to eliminate the possibility of running into technical problems while maintaining minimal human intervention. Hence, it offers a reliable, low-cost, user-friendly solution that saves time and resources. © 2022 IEEE.
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This research proposes a well-being analytical framework using social media chatter data. The proposed framework infers analytics and provides insights into the public’s well-being relevant to education throughout and post the COVID-19 pandemic through a comprehensive Emotion and Aspect-based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA). Moreover, this research aims to examine the variability in emotions of students, parents, and faculty toward the e-learning process over time and across different locations. The proposed framework curates Twitter chatter data relevant to the education sector, identifies tweets with the sentiment, and then identifies the exact emotion and emotional triggers associated with those feelings through implicit ABSA. The produced analytics are then factored by location and time to provide more comprehensive insights that aim to assist the decision-makers and personnel in the educational sector enhance and adapt the educational process during and following the pandemic and looking toward the future. The experimental results for emotion classification show that the Linear Support Vector Classifier (SVC) outperformed other classifiers in terms of overall accuracy, precision, recall, and F-measure of 91%. Moreover, the Logistic Regression classifier outperformed all other classifiers in terms of overall accuracy, recall, an F-measure of 81%, and precision of 83% for aspect classification. In online experiments using UAE COVID-19 education-related data, the analytics show high relevance with the public concerns around the education process that were reported during the experiment’s timeframe. © 2022 by the authors.
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Genetic variations are critical for understanding clinical outcomes of infections including server acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2). The immunological reactions of human immune genes with SARS CoV-2 have been under investigation. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), a group of proteins, are important for microbial detections including bacteria and viruses. TLR4 can sense both bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and endogenous oxidized phospholipids triggered by Covid-19 infection. Two TLR4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile have been linked to infectious diseases. No studies have focused on these SNPs in association with Covid-19. This study aims to reveal the association between Covid-19 infection with these SNPs by comparing a group of patients and a general population. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) were used to identify the TLR4 SNPs in both the general population (n = 114) and Covid-19 patient groups (n = 125). The results found no association between the TLR4 polymorphisms and Covid-19 infections as the data showed no statistically significant difference between the compared groups. This suggested that these TLR4 SNPs may not be associated with Covid-19 infections.
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Uncovering risk factors playing roles in the severity of Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) are important for understanding pathoimmunology of the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV‐2). Genetic variations in innate immune genes have been found to be associated with Covid‐19 infections. A single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in a promoter region of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) gene, TNF‐α −308G>A, increases expression of TNF‐α protein against infectious diseases leading to immune dysregulations and organ damage. This study aims to discover associations between TNF‐α −308G>A SNP and Covid‐19 infection. Polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR‐RFLP) was used for genotyping a general Kurdish population and Covid‐19 patients. The homozygous mutant (AA) genotype was found to be rare in the current studied population. Interestingly, the heterozygous (GA) genotype was significantly (p value = 0.0342) higher in the Covid‐19 patients than the general population. This suggests that TNF‐α −308G>A SNP might be associated with Covid‐19 infections. Further studies with larger sample sizes focusing on different ethnic populations are recommended.
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Academic advising plays a vital role in students' academic success;however, it is time consuming and difficult to maintain. Moreover, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the sudden shift of education to the cyberspace, it has become even more challenging and time consuming for advisors to handle the drastically increasing numbers of queries received through online communication channels. To advise an enormous number of newly admitted students, the need arises for solutions that can handle the demands of a large number of students effectively without affecting student's academic success. This paper proposes an efficient, fast, scalable, and cost-effective solution using a serverless chatbot. The proposed Academic Advising chatbot, which can be integrated with Microsoft Teams, implements advanced semantic analysis techniques from Natural Language Processing (NLP) and analyzes the context of the student's queries, and responds accordingly. © 2021 Association for Computing Machinery.
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Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2). The disease resulted in global morbidity and mortality that led to considering as pandemic. The human body response to COVID-19 infection was massively different from being asymptomatic to developing severe symptoms. Host genetic factors are thought to be one of the reasons for these disparities in body responses. Few studies have suggested that Apolipoprotein Epsilon (Apo E) is a candidate gene for playing roles in the development of the disease symptoms. This work aims to find an association between different Apo E genotypes and alleles to COVID-19 infection comparing a general population and a group of COVID-19 patients. For the first time, the results found that Apo E4 is associated with COVID-19 disease in a Kurdish population of Iraq. Further study is required to reveal this association in different ethnic backgrounds all over the world.
Subject(s)
Apolipoprotein E4/genetics , COVID-19/epidemiology , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Polymorphism, Genetic , SARS-CoV-2/pathogenicity , Adult , Aged , Alleles , Apolipoprotein E4/immunology , Asymptomatic Diseases , COVID-19/genetics , COVID-19/immunology , COVID-19/virology , Cohort Studies , Ethnicity , Female , Gene Expression , Gene Frequency , Humans , Iraq/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , SARS-CoV-2/growth & development , Severity of Illness IndexABSTRACT
Background/Objectives: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging viral respiratory disease that has currently reached apandemic status.This study aimed to assessCOVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices among the Kurdishpopulation in Iraq. Methods: This cross-sectional studywas conducted fromJuly 15 to September 15, 2020 among the Kurdish population in Iraq. A total of 885 subjects were interviewed. All subjects were aged 15-75 years. Knowledgescores, attitudes, and practices of subjects were analyzed according to demographic characteristics. Results:The study subjects were largely male,the average age was31.79 years,and 41.92% subjects were from Erbil province. Approximately 85.31% subjectshad enhancedknowledge regarding disease prevention and control. The lowest subscale scores were related toclinical manifestations of the disease. Knowledge scores were significantly associated with age, place of current residence, and level of education.A large number of participants believed COVID-19 would be controlled and the fight against the pandemic would be won.Subjects' attitudes toward success differedsignificantly by demographic characteristics, except marital status. Approximately 40.03% subjects reported that they had not visited a crowded place, and 60.22% of these subjects wore face masks when leaving home. Conclusions: This study foundgood knowledge, positive attitudes, and proper practices among the general populationregarding the COVID-19 pandemic.However, community-based health campaigns in the regionshould encourage optimistic attitudes and appropriate practicesregarding virus containment and dissemination. Our findings may be used as a baseline for planning health education campaigns in the region.
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Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) causes a severe acute respiratory syndrome and is known as coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was first discovered in December, 2019 in Wuhan, China. The question of whether the COVID-19 patients that recover from the disease acquire immunity or are still susceptible to reinfection remains unanswered. Case Presentation: In this study, we presented the case of a 46-year-old male who recovered from the first round of COVID-19 infec-tion. After symptom resolution, two consecutives negative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests confirmed the negativity of the patient. Seven weeks after the first infection, the patient presented with fever and dry cough, and the infection was confirmed using real-time RT-PCR. The reinfection was associated with more severe symptoms, which required antiviral treatment. Conclusions: Our study indicated the possibility of COVID-19 reinfection. If the occurrence of reinfections is confirmed, it may implicate changes in the vaccine and community-based disease prevention strategies. Further studies are required to confirm the possibility of COVID-19 reinfection.
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The importance and benefits of healthcare mobile applications is increasing rapidly, especially when such applications are connected to the internet of things (IoT). This paper describes a smart knowledge-based system (KBS) that helps patients showing symptoms of Influenza verify being infected with Coronavirus, commonly known as COVID-19. In addition to the systems’ diagnostic functionality, it helps these patients get medical assistance fast by notifying medical authorities using the IoT. This system displays patient’s location, phone number, date and time of examination. During the applications’ development, the developers used Twilio, short message service (SMS), WhatsApp, and Google map applications. © 2021 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.