Chinese University Students’ Experience of WeChat-Based English-Language Vocabulary Learning

The outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide in 2020 has posed tremendous challenges to higher education globally. Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is among the many areas affected by the pandemic. The unexpected transition to online teaching has increased challenges for improving and/or retaining students’ language proficiency. WeChat, a popular social application in China, was widely used for TEFL at Chinese universities before COVID-19. However, it remains unclear whether the use of WeChat can facilitate Chinese university students’ English-language lexical proficiency during the pandemic. To fill this gap, the aim of the present study was two-fold: (1) it initially explored the relationship between the variables including students’ academic years, genders, and academic faculties/disciplines, and their lexical proficiency;and (2) it evaluated the effectiveness of a WeChat-assisted lexical learning (WALL) program in facilitating learning outcomes of English-language vocabulary. One hundred and thirty-three students at a university in Northern China participated in the WALL program for three weeks. As the results indicated, the independent variables had no correlation with the students’ lexical proficiency. More importantly, the students had a decline in the test scores after using the program, compared to their initial test scores. Moreover, the difference was reported to be medium. The findings further proposed questions on applying WeChat to vocabulary teaching in a large-scaled transition. The study is expected to provide insights for tertiary institutions, language practitioners, and student stakeholders to troubleshoot the potential problems regarding implementing WeChat-based TEFL pedagogies.

Successful treatment of a kidney transplant patient with COVID-19 and late-onset Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (preprint)

Background: Solid transplant patients are susceptible to Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP). While the vast majority of PJP cases occur within the first 6 months after transplantation, very few PJP cases are seen beyond 1 year post transplantation (late-onset PJP). PJP and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19, caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2) share quite a few common clinical manifestations and imaging findings, making the diagnosis of PJP often underappreciated during the current COVID-19 pandemic. To date, only 1 case of kidney transplantation who developed COVID-19 and late-onset PJP has been reported, but this patient also suffered from many other infections and died from respiratory failure and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. A successful treatment of kidney patients with COVID-19 and late-onset PJP has not been reported. Case presentation: We present a case of a 55-year-old male kidney transplant patient with COVID-19 who also developed late-onset PJP. He received a combined strategy, including specific anti-pneumocystis therapy, symptomatic supportive therapy, adjusted immunosuppressive therapy, and use of antiviral/antibiotics drugs, ending with a favorable outcome. Conclusions: This case highlights the importance of prompt and differential diagnosis of PJP in kidney transplant patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further studies are required to clarify if kidney transplant patients with COVID-19 could be prone to develop late-onset PJP and how these patients should be treated.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) During Pregnancy: A Case Series (preprint)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new viral respiratory disease and whether pregnant women are at increased risk of infection is unknown. Viral pneumonia is an important indirect cause of maternal death. Little is known about the effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during pregnancy. Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in pregnancy and their newborn infant, and we sought to explored whether the SARS-CoV-2 can be intrauterine vertically transmitted. Study Design: The study was a case series study conducted in the obstetric ward of Tongji Hospital affiliated to Huazhong University of science and technology, Wuhan, China. Demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological profiles of the SARS-CoV-2 infection case series. A systematic testing procedure for SARS-CoV-2 infection using oropharyngeal swab, placenta tissue, vaginal mucus, and breast milk of mothers. and oropharyngeal swab, umbilical cord blood, and serum of newborns was conducted. Results: We have conducted the most thorough virological assessment to date, and we include a longer clinical observation in mother-infant dyads during hospitalization. The clinical course and outcomes of three pregnant women who acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection late pregnancy are described in mother-infant dyads. Two had caesarean delivery in their third trimester. All patients showed an uneventful perinatal course, and a successful outcome. No infants became infected by vertical transmission or during delivery. Conclusion: No evidence to suggest the potential risk of intrauterine vertical transmission in the case series and further in-depth study is needed. Both the pregnancy woman and infant showed fewer adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.