ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a massive effect on education. The education sector quickly transforms its curriculum to address the need of both teachers and students. Online learning has become the mode of instructional delivery;however, not everyone can fully participate in and benefit from this modality. A similar experience has taken place with the Pre-Service Teachers doing their teaching internship. In the Philippines, a teaching internship is a required component of all teacher education programs. Student teachers must undergo practice teaching in a real classroom setting. Due to the transition of instructional delivery from face-to-face to online learning, Pre-service teacher need also to adapt to this. They have to observe classes online and perform their teaching demonstrations remotely. Hence, this study aimed to determine the perceived teaching competency of the pre-service science teachers in terms of pedagogical skills, student performance assessment skills, and classroom management skills. It also described the teaching internship performance level in the new learning environment. Furthermore, this also served to investigate the significant relationship between perceived teaching competency and teaching internship performance of Pre-service Science Teachers. This study employed a descriptive- correlational design. It was conducted on 55 Pres-service Science Teachers in one of the Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) of Iligan City, Philippines. The findings of the study indicated that pre-service science teachers were perceived to be very competent in their pedagogical skills, student performance assessment skills, and classroom management skills. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the teaching internship performance level and their perceived teaching competency in terms of their pedagogical skills.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To evaluate the humoral immune response to the third dose (booster) of vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases who were seronegative after a two-dose regimen. Method(s): Observational study. Patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases who had not achieved seroconversion after a two-dose vaccine schedule against SARS-CoV-2 were included. To assess the humoral immune response, anti-RBD IgG (S protein receptor binding domain) neutralizing antibody titers were determined by ELISA (cutoff titer 200). The determination was made between 30 to 45 days after the third dose. Result(s): From 66 patients who received SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, 18 patients (29.5%) were seronegative after a two-dose schedule. 61% had SLE, 77% had comorbidities (61% with hypertension, p = 0.03). Patients were on treatment: 10 with prednisone (8 with doses greater than 10 mg/d, p = 0.01), 10 with hydroxychloroquine, one with methotrexate, one with leflunomide, four with azathioprine, five with my cophenolatemofetil and five with rituximab (they are the total number of non-responders on biological treatment, p = 0.03). Regarding the primary vaccination regimen, 11 received BBIBP-CorV (p = 0.01), 5 AZD1222, 1 Gam-COVID-Vac and 1 mRNA1273/Gam-COVID-Vac heterologous scheme. Of these 18 non-responders, 14 received a third dose;nine patients (62%) presented anti-RBD IgG detectable. Of the five patients who did not respond to the booster vaccination, three had received BBIBP-CorV as the initial schedule and the vaccines applied as a third dose were Ad5-nCoV (1), BNT162b2 (1), AZD 1222 (2) and Gam-COVID-Vac (1). They were being treated with: rituximab (2), azathioprine (2) and mycophenolate mofetil (1). Treatment with higher doses of prednisone was the only factor associated with non-seroconversion to the third dose (8 +/- 4.5;p 0.02). Conclusion(s): The third dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine allowed to improve the serological response to vaccination, achieving a seroconversion of 62% in this group of patients.