Lipid profile variations and their associations with kidney injury in patients with COVID-19

Background: COVID effects different people in different ways. Acute kidney injury and variations in lipid profile are frequent complications among patients hospitalized for Covid-19. Severely infected patients with Covid-19 have higher frequency of kidney injury and hypolipidemia, resulting in higher mortality rate. Objectives: The current study was designed to explore variations in lipid profile and estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) in Covid-19 patients, and to evaluate the association of eGFR with lipid parameters in Covid-19 patients (confirmed cases) and healthy controls. Methodology: This comparative cross sectional study was carried out at pathology lab of MACCA Diagnostic, Multan from Oct 2020 to Jan 2021. We enrolled 225 Covid-19 patients as test group and 225 healthy subjects (negative for Covid-19) as control group. Fasting blood samples of Covid-19 and control group were collected to test lipid profile and eGFR. Estimated GFR was calculated from the value of serum creatinine, age, gender and ethnicity of all participants by applying Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation.

The internalization of immersive virtual teaching approach in management ethics and corporate governance course at sultan idris education university: A panacea to teaching and learning issues during COVID-19 pandemic

Our study examines the impact of immersive virtual teaching style on student’s performance in Management Ethics and Corporate Governance course at Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia. We perform learning activities in Management Ethics and Corporate Governance course using (1) Interactive Teaching Video (2) Edutainment Video (3) Massive Open Online Course & Facebook Group (4) Kahoot, as well as (5) Outside learning activities. We acknowledge that an issues on student’s engagement and performance are always become the center of attraction for many practitioners of e-learning, especially during COVID-19 pandemic where school and universities need to be closed and e-learning is taking over all of the traditional face to face classroom method. We therefore, intend to compare the performance of students that have been taught using (i) traditional approach of “chalk and talk” in Management Ethics and Corporate Governance course and (ii) Immersive Virtual Teaching approach where blended learning is widely executed in delivering and conveying the knowledge to the students. Our sample comprises of 71 students in Semester A171 and 134 Students in Semester A172, where in Semester A171 sample, students were exposed with traditional “chalk & talk” teaching approach, while in the Semester A172, an Immersive Virtual learning approach has been employed. Our result exhibit that the student’s performance in Semester A172 is significantly higher in the various assessment evaluation that had been conducted when compared to the performance of the students in Semester A171. We also document that the utilization of Immersive Virtual Teaching approach increases student’s engagement, improve student’s motivation and boost up student’s excitement to learn more about the course. © 2021 Karadeniz Technical University. All rights reserved.