ABSTRACT
Background: In early 2020, a global pandemic (COVID-19) broke out and severely affected the progress of education in various countries’ universities and institutions, which promoted the progress of online courses at the same time. This article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of teacher-student surveys between online live teaching and traditional off-line teaching, and explore the direction of medical education reform in colleges and universities.Methods: Surveys among teachers and students were conducted on live broadcast courses and traditional offline courses by Guanghua School of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Teachers were investigated from the three aspects including preparation before the class, the experience of teaching during the class, and evaluation after the class, while the students were performed investigations and statistical analysis from the aspects of class experience, learning effect, evaluation of the teachers and curricula.Results: Both teachers and students fully recognized the orderly organization and management of online live-streaming teaching, and that online courses have a positive and powerful role in improving the quality of teaching. However, teachers and students agree that the overall teaching experience and learning effect of online courses are inferior to offline, so the traditional offline courses or the mixation of online and offline modes are tended for teaching.Conclusions: The effective and proper use of online education in stomatology can help improve teaching effect significantly, but it is impossible to replace the traditional classroom. In the future, with the addition of online teaching, stomatological education could adopt a new mode of the combination of online and offline teaching as well as the integration of inside and outside the classroom.
Subject(s)
COVID-19ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND Remdesivir, an inhibitor of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, has been identified as a candidate for COVID-19 treatment. However, the therapeutic effect of remdesivir is controversial. METHODS We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, from inception to June 11, 2020 for randomized controlled trials on the clinical efficacy of remdesivir. The main outcomes were discharge rate, mortality, and adverse events. This study is registered at INPLASY (INPLASY202060046). RESULTS Data of 1075 subjects showed that remdesivir significantly increased the discharge rate of patients with COVID-19 compared with the placebo (50.4% vs. 45.29%; relative risk [RR] 1.19 [95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.34], I2 = 0.0%, P = 0.754). It also significantly decreased mortality (8.18% vs. 12.70%; RR 0.64 [95% CI, 0.44-0.92], I2 = 45.7%, P = 0.175) compared to the placebo. Data of 1296 subjects showed that remdesivir significantly decreased the occurrence of serious adverse events (RR 0.77 [95% CI, 0.63-0.94], I2 = 0.0%, P = 0.716). CONCLUSION Remdesivir is efficacious and safe for the treatment of COVID-19. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER This study is registered at the International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols (INPLASY202060046).
Subject(s)
COVID-19ABSTRACT
Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused an ongoing pandemic and bring heavy burden globally. We retrospectively investigated the effect of glucocorticoids on clinical symptoms, course of disease, and negative change of nucleic acid detection in patients with severe COVID-19.Methods Individual demographics data, CT images, clinical outcomes, laboratory investigations, treatment of patients with severe COVID-19 were collected from electronic medical records of the Central Hospital of Wuhan, from January 28 to February 28, 2020.Results Eighteen severe cases of COVID-19 received low-dose of glucocorticoid treatments. They were initially treated with 40 mg methylprednisolone with gradually reduced doses and changed into oral prednisolone. The courses of glucocorticoid treatments ranged from 4 to 30 days. The pulmonary infections were absorbed to different degrees in 16 cases, one case deteriorated in CT imaging and one had no significant change. All cases had fever regression. Fifteen cases could respire without oxygen supply. Two were still inhaled oxygen through nasal catheters and one with high flow oxygen gradually transferred to face mask for oxygen supply. Five cases discharged. Twelve cases who were in stable conditions for treatment remained in hospital. One case was still in critical condition. The results of three re-examinations of SARS-Cov-2 nucleic acids by RT-PCR were negative.Conclusions The early use of low-dose glucocorticoid therapy in severe COVID-19 infection may have a positive effect on the prevention and treatment of disease deterioration.