ABSTRACT
Retinal detachment (RD) is a prevalent cause of blindness that is common after ocular injury to military personnel. Permanent vision loss occurs due to death of photoreceptors and formation of excessive scar tissue, known as proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). There are no effective pharmaceuticals to prevent these problems. The inflammatory protein, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), is produced at high levels in RD and PVR, as well as in excitotoxic (NMDA-mediated) damage, which is important in blast injury. We tested the ability of different clinically-relevant MIF inhibitors to block photoreceptor death after NMDA damage in a chick excitotoxic retinal damage model. These inhibitors, ibudilast, AV1013, and CPSI-1306, are well tolerated in the eye, and treatment with the maximum dose of each drug does not show retinal toxicity. Ibudilast pretreatment significantly reduced the number of TUNEL positive cells in the retina after NMDA damage. CPSI-1306 also reduced TUNEL. AV1013 had no effect. Ibudilast and AV1013 also blocked epithelial mesenchymal transition in the invitro PVR model.
ABSTRACT
This study examines the effect of E-learning during COVID-19 pandemic on the students’ Academic Achievement at Al-Quds Open University. The study has randomly selected 382 students’ GPA from the University's official records. It is mainly based on Statistical Package for Social Sciences program (SPSS.20) to make Paired Samples T-test and to study the hypotheses. The study has revealed that there are statistically significant differences in the students’ Academic Achievements during the implementation of the E-learning strategy in COVID-19 pandemic. This study shows that in general the GPA of students has increased about 2.188 points;but in particular the GPA of male students is affected more than female’s by just a slight difference of 1,198 point. On the other hand, looking at the Program of Study at the University;the Community Service is affected most with an increase by 3,276 points, Then Business Administration, Accounting and Finance are respectively affected more with having 2.6 points more on students’ GPA. However, the greatest effect on GPA is largely noticed on the students whose GPA is low in which the increase is about 6.568 points. The study results shows the importance of the implementation of E-learning strategy in higher education institutions so as to improve the students’ Academic Achievements. In addition, it sheds the light on the necessity of taking into consideration the specific features of some learning programs such as the Arabic Language and the Social Studies. © 2020, Sciedu Press. All rights reserved.