D-DIMER AND FIBRINOGEN TRENDS IN PATIENTS WITH AUTOIMMUNE RHEUMATIC DISEASES INFECTED WITH SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS 2: A RETROSPECTIVE COMPARATIVE STUDY

BackgroundD-dimer and fibrinogen elevation has been observed in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) infection which is associated with higher incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and higher mortality rates. [1-3]. Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases (ARDs) are associated with higher rates of VTE compared to general population [4]. Whether patients with ARDs infected with SARS-CoV2 have similar D-dimer and fibrinogen trends compared to patients without ARDs is unknown.ObjectivesCompare D-dimer and fibrinogen levels in patients with ARDs infected with SARS-CoV2 to patients without ARDs.MethodsPatients with ARDs infected with SARS-CoV2 were identified retrospectively from the electronic medical records (EMR) of Hamad Medical Corporation and matched (age and sex) to controls (1:3). D-dimer and fibrinogen levels were extracted electronically from EMR and stratified into six-time intervals defined in table 1. Day 0 was defined as the date of positive nasopharyngeal polymerase chain reaction swab test. 2 Independent Samples test (Mann-Whitney U) was used to compare the median (25th - 75th interquartile range [IQR]) level of D-dimer and fibrinogen between both study groups at the defined intervals.ResultsThe study included 203 cases and 551 controls with a mean (SD) age of 45.3 (11.7) and 44 (12.5) years, females were (122 [60.1%] vs. 297 [53.9%], p = 0.129), respectively.Distribution of ARDs was rheumatoid arthritis 86 (42.4%), spondyloarthropathy 33 (16.1%) and systemic lupus erythematosus 31 (15.7%) cases. 67% were on conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (Cs-DMARDs), 15.8% on biological DMARDs and 4.9% on rituximab. About 83% of the ARDs group were in remission or low disease activity and 13% were in moderate or high disease activity.The median (25th - 75th IQR) level of D-dimer and fibrinogen were comparable between study groups in all defined intervals with insignificant p values except at interval 4, fibrinogen was significantly higher in the cases, p 0.006. Table 1ConclusionThere was no significant difference in the trend of D-dimer and fibrinogen levels during SARS-CoV2 infection between patients with ARDs and those without ARDs. Additional studies are needed to quantify the actual risk of VTE in patients with ARDs during SARS-CoV2 in correlation with serum markers of VTE.References[1]Eljilany I, Elzouki AN. D-Dimer, Fibrinogen, and IL-6 in COVID-19 Patients with Suspected Venous Thromboembolism: A Narrative Review. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2020;16:455-62.[2]Li JY, Wang HF, Yin P, Li D, Wang DL, Peng P, et al. Clinical characteristics and risk factors for symptomatic venous thromboembolism in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: A multicenter retrospective study. J Thromb Haemost. 2021;19(4):1038-48.[3]Zhan H, Chen H, Liu C, Cheng L, Yan S, Li H, et al. Diagnostic Value of D-Dimer in COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2021;27:10760296211010976.[4]Lee JJ, Pope JE. A meta-analysis of the risk of venous thromboembolism in inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Arthritis Res Ther. 2014;16(5):435.Table 1.Differences in D-dimer and fibrinogen during SARS-CoV2 infection between patients with ARDs and those without at the defined intervals.Case N = 203Control N = 551P valueMedian (25th - 75th IQR), D-dimer (mg/L)(0 to < 3 days)0.56 (0.34 – 1.31)0.86 (0.54 – 1.41)0.096(≤ 3 to < 6 days)0.67 (0.35 – 2.58)1.11 (0.44 – 1.11)0.340(≤ 6 to < 9 days)0.81 (0.33 – 5.12)1.12 (0.56 – 3.28)0.299(≤ 9 to 12 days)0.94 (0.72 – 5.44)5.20 (1.0 – 15.05)0.058(≤ 12 to < 15 days)2.88 (0.72 – 5.53)4.96 (0.57 – 9.98)0.681(≤ 15 to 18 days)1.81 (0.89 – 2.55)5.56 (2.60 – 15.1)0.086Median (25th – 75th IQR), fibrinogen (mg/L)(0 to < 3 days)6.53 (2.0 - 6.53)5.65 (3.75 – 7.17)1.000(≤ 3 to < 6 days)6.25 (3.72 – 8.3)4.6 (4.1 – 5.6)0.385(≤ 6 to < 9 days)3.53 (3.29 – 4.62)3.4 (3.2 – 3.92)0.328(≤ 9 to 12 days)4.3 (2.82 – 4.78)2.2 (1.65 – 3.05)0.006(≤ 12 to < 15 days)4.4 (2.37 – 5.13)3.1 (1.7 – 4.45)0.170(≤ 15 to 18 days)3.6 ( – 5.7)3.7 (2.0 – 4.88)0.524Acknowledgements:NIL.Disclosure of InterestsNone Declared.

Potential antiviral effects of pantethine against SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 interacts with cellular cholesterol during many stages of its replication cycle. Pantethine was reported to reduce total cholesterol levels and fatty acid synthesis and potentially alter different processes that might be involved in the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle. Here, we explored the potential antiviral effects of pantethine in two in vitro experimental models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, in Vero E6 cells and in Calu-3a cells. Pantethine reduced the infection of cells by SARS-CoV-2 in both preinfection and postinfection treatment regimens. Accordingly, cellular expression of the viral spike and nucleocapsid proteins was substantially reduced, and we observed a significant reduction in viral copy numbers in the supernatant of cells treated with pantethine. In addition, pantethine inhibited the infection-induced increase in TMPRSS2 and HECT E3 ligase expression in infected cells as well as the increase in antiviral interferon-beta response and inflammatory gene expression in Calu-3a cells. Our results demonstrate that pantethine, which is well tolerated in humans, was very effective in controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection and might represent a new therapeutic drug that can be repurposed for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 and long COVID syndrome.

Understanding Students' Online Learning Performance during Covid-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

Academic performance of students is the measurement of their academic achievement, which is influenced by various factors. This study aims to investigate the antecedents that affected Students' online learning performance during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh. The current study is a quantitative cross-sectional study that has been conducted by performing an online survey on 408 university students in Bangladesh. The study found that perceived satisfaction mediated e-learning quality and metacognitive strategies with the students' academic performance partially and fully, respectively, and made an indirect relationship between home environment and performance. The present study provides practical and theoretical implications by developing a framework and providing information to the stakeholders. Finally, this study has been concluded by mentioning a few limitations and giving direction for future research. © 2022 IEEE.

Frequency of skin diseases in Egyptian population during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a hospital-based cross-sectional study

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in remarkable changes in the profiles of diseases including dermatologic conditions. Aim To investigate the patterns of skin diseases in Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and methods In this cross-sectional study, we reviewed the data of patients who visited dermatology clinics between August 2020 and January 2021 and compared them with the data from the same clinics in the previous year. Results The total number of patients who attended the dermatology clinics between August 2020 and January 2021 was 803 as compared with 1611 patients in the corresponding period of the previous year (49.84% reduction). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in the frequency of allergic contact dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis, pityriasis rosea, alopecia areata, erythema multiforme, vasculitis, herpes zoster, and chicken pox (P < 0.05). On the contrary, some dermatological conditions such as urticaria and nonscarring hair loss had significantly decreased frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic (P < 0.05). Several skin diseases had unchanged frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. These included skin infections (other than viral infections), bullous disorders, some eczematous skin diseases, papulosquamous disorders, and disorders of skin pigmentation. Conclusion This study indicates a significant reduction in the total number of patients attending dermatology clinics in Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic. The frequency of some skin diseases increased significantly, whereas other skin diseases decreased significantly or remained unchanged during the pandemic. Periodic evaluation of the epidemiologic characteristics of skin diseases is required at different stages of evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Post-COVID-19 acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis: a systematic radiological approach in the light of clinico-surgical characteristics

Background: The objective is to describe the radiological imaging findings of post-COVID-19 acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (AIFRS), being familiar with the wide variety of imaging spectrum, thus raising the suspicion for early diagnosis. Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed the imaging findings in 54 patients with proven post-COVID-19 AIFRS who underwent endoscopic/surgical debridement from April 2020 to September 2021. Most of these patients presented with facial or orbital swelling or facial pain. Medical records with a special emphasis on radiological imaging (50 NCCT of the paranasal sinuses and 17 MRIs of the orbit) were reviewed regarding the degree of mucosal disease of sinuses, nasal cavity, and nasopharynx, extra sinus soft tissue infiltration, especially orbital and cerebral extension (parenchymal, cavernous sinus, vascular or neuro-invasion). Results: We reported findings in 54 patients with post-COVID-19 AIFRS, of whom 30 were men and 24 were women with a mean age of 48.06. Unexpectedly, infiltration of pterygopalatine fossa was found to precede mucosal opacification of sinuses nasal cavity and affection of nasopharynx. Out of 54 patients, 49 showed inflammatory changes involving pterygopalatine fossa, 29.6% of patients showed infiltration of orbital tissues, 22 patients suffered from a fungal invasion of the cavernous sinus and 3 patients had carotid artery involvement. Conclusions: Imaging findings of AIFRS significantly vary from subtle mucosal thickening of paranasal sinuses, up to orbital and intracranial extension with vascular thrombosis and neuroinvasion. The hallmark inflammatory tissue infiltration into the pterygopalatine fossa and facial soft tissue may precede mucosal disease.

SARS-COV-2 VIRAL LOAD in PATIENTS with AUTOIMMUNE RHEUMATIC DISEASE, A RETROSPECTIVE COMPARATIVE STUDY

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral load and its impact on disease outcome in patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARD) are lacking. Also, whether patients with ARD receiving immunomodulators have different viral loads compared to the general population is unknown. Objectives: To compare the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 and its trending between patients without and with ARD. Methods: Retrospectively, patients with ARD infected with SARS-CoV-2 were matched by age and sex at a ratio of 1:2 to patients without ARD and not receiving immunosuppression or immunomodulator drugs. Viral load was determined by the cycle threshold (CT) value measured by a number of platforms: (a) Automated Platforms-the Roche Cobas 6800 system using the Cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test targeting the E and orf1a/b genes (Roche, Switzerland) and the Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 targeting the E and N genes (Cepheid, USA);(b) Manual platforms-EZ1 (QIAGEN, USA), QIAsymphony (QIAGEN, USA), and Bioneer ExiPrepTM 96 Virus DNA/RNA kits Catalogue No K4614 (Bioneer, South Korea) extraction with thermal cycling using TaqPath™ PCR COVID-19 Combo Kit targeting the N, S and orf1a/b genes (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) on ABI 7500 thermal cyclers. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the mean CT values of the study groups at baseline and at 5 subsequent intervals (1-5.9, 6-11.9, 12-17.9, 18-23.9 and 24-30 days). Results: Mean age (SD) of 197 cases and 420 controls were 45.2 (11.8) and 44.1 (12.3) years, respectively. Females were predominant in both groups 60% vs. 52%, P=0.053. The most common ARD was rheumatoid arthritis in 82 cases (41.6%), followed by spondyloarthropathy in 33 (16.8%) and systemic lupus ery-thematosus in 31 (15.7%). Of the cases, 67% were on conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), 15.2% on biological DMARDs and 4.6% patients were on rituximab. The mean CT values was signifcantly lower in the ARD group at baseline and persisted till day 24. Conclusion: Compared to patients without ARD, the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with ARD is signifcantly higher at baseline testing and persists till day 24. This fnding may indicate that patients with ARD are at higher risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and prolonged potential transmission. Clinical outcome correlation is needed.

Factors Influencing University Students’ E-Learning Adoption in Bangladesh During COVID-19: An Empirical Study with Machine Learning

The present study investigates the factors that influence Bangladeshi university students’ behavior toward adopting the e-learning system during the COVID-19 emergency. A conceptual framework was developed by adopting the variables from several previously published studies to meet the aims of the study. The current study was conducted in the quantitative approach by performing a survey on 393 university students of Bangladesh. All the obtained data were analyzed by using SPSS, AMOS, and machine learning algorithms. The findings of the study indicate that facilitating condition, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, and social influence affect the behavioral intention of the students to adopt e-learning, and the current study provides both practical and theoretical contributions. Theoretically, it provides a research framework and the literature to analyze the factors that trigger the behavioral intention of Bangladeshi university students. Practically, the findings will assist the policymakers of the education industry in Bangladesh. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Oral Covid-19 Antiviral Candidate LAU-7b Demonstrates 100[percnt] Reduction of the Risk of Progression to Mechanical Ventilation and Death in Hospitalized Moderate-to-Severe Covid-19 Patients

Rationale: LAU-7b is developed as a broadly effective oral COVID-19 therapeutic targeting membrane lipids to exert dual antiviral and inflammation-controlling activity. SARS-CoV-2 reprograms host cellular lipid metabolism to favor entry and replication, a mechanism shared by all lipid-enveloped viruses. LAU-7b decreases host cell membrane lipids fluidity, inhibits de-novo cell lipogenesis, and modulates phospholipid signaling promoting resolution of inflammation. Due to its host-directed mutation-agnostic mechanism, LAU-7b utility could span across future variants, as demonstrated in-vitro against multiple SARS-CoV-2 strains and MERS-CoV. RESOLUTION, a large Phase 2/3 study evaluating LAU-7b in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, is ongoing in the US and Canada, and preliminary Phase 2 results are presented. Methods: RESOLUTION is a placebocontrolled study of oral LAU-7b, once-a-day for 14 days on top of standard of care, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients at risk of developing pulmonary complications. The Phase 2 portion of the study randomized 148 patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 and 84 patients in critical condition, but not on invasive ventilation. Key endpoints included proportion of patients alive and free of respiratory failure at Day 29, rates of progression to mechanical ventilation and all-causes death by Day 60, time to recovery and length of hospitalization. Results: Both study arms were highly comparable in terms of mean age, number of comorbidities and concomitant medications. LAU-7b demonstrated a 100% reduction in the risk of progressing to mechanical ventilation or death by Day 60 in moderate-to-severe COVID-19 patients. None of the 76 patients on LAU-7b required mechanical ventilation and none died, while 5 out of 72 patients on placebo progressed to mechanical ventilation (6.9% difference, p=0.025), and 4 patients died (5.6% difference, p=0.053). LAU-7b group also showed an increase of 6.9% (p=0.055) in the proportion of patients alive and free of respiratory failure at Day 29, versus placebo. Patients on LAU-7b tended to recover more rapidly and leave hospital faster. LAU-7b was well-tolerated, with safety comparable to placebo. Critically ill patients treated with LAU-7b did not show improvement over placebo, suggesting that COVID-19 patients in respiratory failure at baseline are too severely affected to benefit. Conclusion: LAU-7b showed positive results in the trial's Phase 2 portion on both survival and avoidance of mechanical ventilation in moderate-to-severe COVID-19. The confirmatory Phase 3 portion was triggered and received approval from the FDA and Health Canada, focusing on moderate-to-severe COVID-19 and using the “Proportion of patients requiring mechanical ventilation and/or death by Day 60” as primary efficacy endpoint.

B-cell marker expression for recovered COVID 19 patients and vaccinated participants, Comparative study

Immune memory is the source of protective immunity from a subsequent infection and one of the major components of immunological memory to viruses is memory B cells (MBCs).MBCs express typical B cell surface proteins, including CD19+ in humans, CD19+ was essential for primary B-cell activation and differentiation into memory B cells.This cross-sectional study was conducted in Wasit Province/Iraq, the study aim to compare Bcell marker expression (CD19+) for recovered COVID-19 patients and vaccinated participants withBNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) mRNA vaccine who were not infected with COVID-19and have been investigated by Flowcytometry method. A total of 80 blood specimens from male and female were obtained from several hospitals and vaccination centers in thegovernorate and divided in four groups,20 healthy control participants, 20 recoveredpatients frommildly symptomatic COVID-19 (after1-3 months), 20 participants vaccinated with the 1st dose of mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine (after 21 days of 1st dose), and 20 participants vaccinated with the 2nddose of mRNA BNT162b2vaccine(after 20-30 days of 2nd dose), aged between (18-61) years old.The results of this study showed that the vaccinatedgroup with the 2nd dose of mRNA BNT162b2(Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccinewas highest level than other studied groups, overall,our data provide insights regarding the humoral immune response of B lymphocyte marker expression (CD19+) in all studied groups, and this elicits the efficacy of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine when taken two doses.

Potential antiviral effects of pantethine against SARS-CoV-2 (preprint)

SARS-CoV-2 interacts with cellular cholesterol during many stages of its replication cycle. Pantethine was reported to reduce total cholesterol levels and fatty acid synthesis and potentially alter different processes that might be involved in the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle. Here, we explored the potential antiviral effects of pantethine in two in vitro experimental models of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Pantethine reduced the infection of cells by SARS-CoV-2 in both preinfection and postinfection treatment regimens. Accordingly, cellular expression of the viral spike and nucleocapsid proteins was substantially reduced, and we observed a significant reduction in viral copy numbers in the supernatant of cells treated with pantethine. In addition, pantethine inhibited the infection-induced increase in TMPRSS2 and HECT E3 ligase expression in infected cells as well as the increase in antiviral interferon-beta response and inflammatory gene expression in Calu-3a cells. Our results demonstrate that pantethine, which is well tolerated in humans, was very effective in controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection and might represent a new therapeutic drug that can be repurposed for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 and long COVID syndrome.

Successful Recovery of a Child with COVID-19-Induced Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed a significant burden worldwide, manifesting as a severe disease and causing mortality even in children. Severe COVID-19 disease is characterized by cytokine storm with progression to secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH). We describe an 18-month-old boy in Iran, previously healthy, diagnosed with COVID-19-induced sHLH. Three weeks after close contact with COVID-19 confirmed cases, he was admitted with high fever, lethargy, mild respiratory distress, skin rash, and conjunctivitis with swollen eyelids and lips. Laboratory data revealed elevated levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and liver enzymes, and mild thrombocytopenia. His clinical condition rapidly deteriorated, with septic shock, hepatosplenomegaly, and respiratory failure. Laboratory tests showed cytopenia, coagulopathy, hy-perferritinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia, which met the criteria for sHLH diagnosis. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed bilateral infiltrations that suggested acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) of COVID-19 that was confirmed by a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Therefore, the child was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), glucocorti-coid, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, and interferonβ-1a. This therapeutic strategy enabled complete recovery from fever, regaining consciousness, weaning from respiratory support, and resolving shock. Serial chest radiographs showed diminishing infiltrations. Sequential physical examinations revealed an overall significant reduction in spleen and liver span. Laboratory data showed rapid improvement from cytopenia and coagulopathy, normalization of liver enzyme levels, and reduction in hyperinflam-mation markers. Although ARDS is the most common cause of death from COVID-19, other complications such as sHLH may be lethal;thus, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are necessary for saving patients’ lives.

Prevalence of adenoviruses as ocular disease causatives in Saudi Arabia.

Although Human Adenoviruses outbreaks are rare, there still could be a potential chance for those viruses to mutate and spread quickly in human populations with severe public health and socioeconomic consequences. Outbreaks often spread fairly quickly with considerable morbidity/mortality. Saudi Arabia's geopolitical and religious significance bring with it, millions of pilgrims, and tourists yearly. This presents a significant potential for HAdVs epidemics. This review shows that even with the mushrooming serotypes and genotypes, the scholarly knowledge on the nature, structure, transmission, and management of HAdVs is already well-established. Significant research is ongoing on pharmacological interventions, which, presently remain speculative and lacking in effectiveness. This review similarly uncovers a shortage of literature, both recent and dated, on epidemic keratoconjunctivitis in either Saudi Arabia or the Middle East.

COVID-19 neurological manifestations: correlation of cerebral MRI imaging and lung imaging—Observational study

Background: During the current pandemic, there is an increased incidence of neurologic/neuropsychiatric manifestations in patients with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Neurologic manifestations may be coincident or result of disease and its therapy. In the emergency department, orientation of the clinician with this issue is crucial for accurate decision making to limit the spread of infection during neurologic treatment. This study aimed to be familiar with MRI findings in patients with Neuro-COVID. Seventy patients presented with neurologic/neuropsychiatric manifestation either post COVID or during hospitalization underwent cerebral MRI from April 2020 to June 2021 (39 men and 31women;mean age 43.27, age range from 16 to 69 years). Results: Headache (80%), is the most prevalent neurological manifestations followed by smell and taste impairment (62.9%) and stroke symptoms (45.7%). Low mood and anxiety (17.1%), prolonged fatigue (14.3%) and depression (7.1%) are the most common psychiatric symptoms. Infarctions, hematoma and demyelinating disease are the most prevalent findings. There is a week positive correlation between MRI findings and CT chest finding but without statistical significance (P-value 0.2). Conclusions: Cerebrovascular disease and demyelinating lesions are common manifestations of COVID 19. Familiarity of neurologists and radiologist in the emergency department and in-patient with this issue is crucial to avoid misdiagnosis and the spread of infection.

Cultural and creative sectors at a crossroad: from a mainstream process towards an active engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a current global health crisis with dreadful repercussions all over the world. A global economic recession is anticipated, with strong impacts in all economic and social sectors, including the cultural sector. Although all sub sectors will be impacted (heritage sites, theatres, museums, operas, art galleries), the cultural built heritage is particularly at stake, as it relies on multiple stakeholders through a wide range of heritage-related activities (tourism, recreation, housing, real estate, construction, craftsmanship, etc.). Sites management and heritage conservation have not only been vulnerable to strong economic and social disruptions, like most of other cultural fields, but have been greatly challenged because heritage values and the paradigm of conservation (50 years after adoption of the UNESCO convention) are being themselves revisited in the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper aims also to consider cultural heritage as part of the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) and how creativity and innovation contribute to post-COVID recoveries through Schumpeter-related creative destruction process. The current crisis might be perceived in a perspective of long wave theory of innovations and economic growth. The economic history is filled with many examples of such transition period when inventions, innovations, and growth reactivate the economic development in an upward long-term trend. In such framework, crisis can trigger innovation and creativity and can be understood as opportunity to increase the CCS resilience and sustainability, as well as harness the universality and the power of creativity. Finally, the paper aims to describe implications of such situation by providing to the CCS ways to learn and experience cultural entrepreneurship, resilient strategies, new sustainable and circular business models applied to the cultural heritage sector and its conservation. © 2021, The Author(s).

Three Probable Pediatrics COVID-19 Cases with Kawasaki-Like Disease: A Case Series with Fallow-Up

The first case of Kawasaki-like disease in children infected with COVID-19 was reported in a preprint case report. In the present case series, three pediatric probable cases with COVID-19, who presented signs and symptoms of Kawasaki-like syndrome, and their three-month follow-up are provided.

A Simple Mask Detection Model Based on A Multi-Layer Perception Neural Network

A global health crisis is appeared due to the rapid transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one of the effective ways to decrease this transmission is wearing masks in crowded places. However, monitoring people by police is a weary and difficult process. Thanks to the improvement in technology and artificial intelligence that make task became easier. In this paper, a simple mask recognition model based on texture and color moments features is proposed. This model is deployed in two stages: first, texture and color moments features from the face image (31 features) are extracted using a hybridization between texture features and color moments features techniques. In order to extract the texture features, the image transformed into Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) then 22 statistical metrics were calculated. So as to extract the color moments features, the first, second and third moments have been calculated from each layer of the RGB image. Second, based on the extracted features, the images are classified using a Multi-Layer Perceptron model (MLP). The dataset used in this research consists of 1787 real images with masks and 1918 without masks. The obtained results showed that the accuracy achieved by the proposed model is 90.58% and the time complexity is 6.7379 seconds for training and 0.0023 seconds for prediction. © 2021 IEEE.

Stress, anxiety and depression among dental students in times of covid-19 lockdown

Introduction: Dental students in their clinical training, face a higher risk of contracting the disease as well as experiencing adverse psychological outcomes. Therefore, this study came to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown on the mental health of dental students during the current pandemic. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among dental students during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic to assess the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress using the standardized DASS-21 scale. In addition demographic, socio-economic, academic performance, source of information about COVID-19, and perception of on-line education difficulties were collected. Results: A total of 436 students completed the online survey (55.18% response rate). In the current sample, 48% (n=209), 76% (n=331), 70% (n=305) showed different levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Students who stated that their family income was impacted by COVID-19 showed signs of depression X2 = 7.3, p=.007 and anxiety, X2=6.1, p=.013. Dental students who faced difficulties in switching to E-learning, reported different levels of depression, X2=14, p<.001, anxiety, X2=9, p=.003 and stress, X2=24, p<.001. Conclusions: In preparation for the next academic year, strategies to support the mental health of dental students in their clinical training and E-learning process should be in place. © Elham KATEEB 2021.

Abdominal signs and symptoms of COVID-19 in children

COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic that is not known well. According to our current knowledge, although respiratory manifestations are the most common symptoms of COVID-19, but non-pulmonary manifestations are also commonly reported, such as rashes, ap-pendicitis, volvulus, diverticulitis, and mesenteric lymphadenitis. In this case series, we introduced four children with COVID-19 who presented with gastrointestinal symptoms.