Preventive and Avoidant Behaviors Followed by Jordanians During COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), individuals' compliance with protective behaviors was the most effective strategy to break the infection chain and prevent disease spread, even with vaccine availability and use. Understanding protective behaviors within the Jordanian context will shape health promotion campaigns and guide decision-makers to facilitate required resources and support Jordanian citizens. The objective of this study was to identify personal protective (preventive and avoidant) measures used by the Jordanian population during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect themselves from infection. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with an exploratory, descriptive design was used to collect data using an online self-reported questionnaire from Jordanian people. The survey included the Protection from Infection Scale and the Infection Avoidance Scale. RESULTS: A total sample of 1053 Jordanian citizens was included in the study. The participants exhibited a moderate level of self-care behaviors and high levels of protective and infection avoidance behaviors. Their most common behaviors were getting enough sleep, wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding travel to infected areas. Contrariwise, the least adopted behaviors were exercising, wearing gloves, and leaving their jobs or schools. CONCLUSIONS: During pandemics, policy-makers must understand public concerns and protective behaviors, then provide them with tailored education through health promotion campaigns to enhance healthy behaviors.

Green microwave synthesis of ZnO and CeO2 nanorods for infectious diseases control and biomedical applications.

Control of Infectious diseases such as; bacteria and viruses, has become a globally critical issue, since the appearance of COVID-19 virus in 2020. In addition to the microbial resistance of the currently available therapeutic drugs as well as, its prolonged side effects make its use is of health care concern. Green nanotechnology approach is a promising solution for controlling such infectious diseases and many biomedical purposes. In the present study, green synthesis approach based on microwave-assisted hydrothermal method is an innovative and environmentally friendly method for preparation of bioactive CeO2 and ZnO nanorod structured materials using Olea europaea (O. e.) leaf plant extract as a natural medicinal capping agent for controlling the shape and size of nano-products. The optical and structural analyses of the obtained nanorod-structures are characterized using; TEM, FTIR, XRD, SBET analyses and particle size analyzer. The green-synthesized ZnO and CeO2 nanorods display an average crystallite size of approximately 15 and 5 nm, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of ZnO and CeO2 nanorods compared with the traditional hydrothermal methods, was examined on six clinical pathogens including; (E. coli Serratia sp., S. aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus mutant, and MRSA). The results indicated superior antimicrobial and anti-tumor activities towards hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (IC50 = 117.24 and 103.50 µg mL-1 for ZnO and CeO2 and LD50 > 3000 mg kg-1). This demonstrates that the green microwave process is a promising approach for the synthesis of effective ZnO and CeO2 nanomaterials applied for many biomedical applications.

Gastric Perforation as a Complication of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Report.

Pulmonary symptoms are the primary manifestation of the COVID-19 disease, which originated in Wuhan in China in December 2019. However, it is now established to show widespread extrapulmonary manifestations, including gastrointestinal involvement. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting are considered the most common gastrointestinal symptoms. Gastric perforation in association with COVID-19 is rarely reported in the literature. Here, we report a case of a 71-year-old male COVID-19-infected patient, medically free, who presented to the emergency department complaining of severe abdominal pain for a one-week duration. He was diagnosed with a case of perforated viscus and septic shock. The patient was shifted to the operating room for exploratory laparotomy. We aim in this report to highlight this fatal complication of COVID-19 infection in order to improve patients' outcomes.

The Side Effects of COVID-19 Vaccines and Its Association With ABO Blood Type Among the General Surgeons in Saudi Arabia.

Introduction The benefits of vaccination outweigh its risks as it protects approximately two to three million individuals from infectious diseases annually. With the emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, new vaccines have been developed. However, it is crucial to follow and recognize the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. Previous studies have shown a relationship between ABO blood groups and coronavirus. Some vaccination side effects, such as muscle pain at the injection site and fatigue, may impair an individual's ability to perform tasks that require fine motor skills, such as those performed by a general surgeon. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the association between ABO blood groups and the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines among general surgeons in Saudi Arabia. Method A cross-sectional online survey-based study regarding the side effects following COVID-19 vaccination was conducted among Saudi and non-Saudi general surgeons working in public and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia who had received one or two doses of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. Results A total of 612 surgeons responded. Approximately, 74.7% of the respondents reported side effects after receiving vaccines. Tiredness was the most commonly reported side effect of the vaccine, followed by severe local pain at the site of injection. Approximately, 16.2% of the participants started showing side effects 12 hours after receiving the vaccine. There was a significant relationship between the type of vaccine administered and the appearance of side effects (p = 0.004). The rate of appearance of side effects was higher in participants who received the Pfizer vaccine. However, there was no significant relationship between the appearance of side effects and age, gender, blood group, number of doses, and past history of COVID-19 infection (p > 0.05). Of the total participants, 256 (41.8%) stated that the side effects of the vaccine affected their work performance. Moreover, there was no significant difference in side effects, symptoms appearing after vaccination, the onset of symptoms, and duration of symptoms between the participants who received one dose and those who received two doses of the vaccine. In addition, there was no significant relationship between the severity of side effects and age, past history of COVID-19 infection, number of doses, and blood type (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant relationship between the severity of side effects and gender and type of vaccine (p = 0.000 and 0.004, respectively). A high percentage of females and those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine stated that their side effects affected their work performance. Conclusion Three-quarters of the participants reported side effects after the COVID-19 vaccination, which affected the work performance of 41% of participating general surgeons. There was no significant relationship between the appearance of symptoms and age, gender, blood group, number of doses, and past history of COVID-19 infection. However, there was a significant relationship between the severity of side effects and gender and type of vaccination. Future large-scale studies are recommended to further evaluate the implication of ABO blood type on COVID-19.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on the Performance of the Islamic Banking Sector in KSA: An Empirical Study of Al Rajhi Bank (preprint)

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of the Islamic banking sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Several issues arose in the financial sector around the world after the COVID-19 crisis. The study looks at Al Rajhi Bank's progress before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Al Rajhi Bank is one of the largest banks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the world, with $ 80 billion in deposits, $ 6.77 billion in paid-up stock, and a large employee base. The findings show that the COVID-19 crisis had only a minor impact on Saudi Arabia's Islamic banking system, especially the bank under investigation, and that Islamic banks are capable of escaping the financial and economic risks associated with the crisis. Islamic banks are distinguished from other commercial banks by their ability to respond quickly to crises such as economic and financial shocks.

Research trends on law subject during 2005 – 2019: A biblio-profile

This study aims to evaluate the research productivity published in fifteen law journals. Data of the survey downloaded from the Scopus-Elsevier database, store, and tabulated in MS Excel to determine the frequency of printed documents, and figure out the number of articles, conference papers, editorials, erratum, letters, notes, review articles, and short surveys yearly. Total 8789 documents published in fifteen law journals from 2005 - 2019, the 6483;74% of documents published in article format, followed by review 1372;16%, and note 387;4%. The Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics published 1240;14.1%, documents as maximum, and minimum 235;2.6% by American Law and Economics Review journals. The research productivity of 8789 documents shows that these fifteen law journals published 586 documents annually and 1.6 papers daily. This colossal contribution of law personals indicated the attachment, affiliation, and association with thinking ideas for society's betterment.

Applying Deep Learning Methods on Time-Series Data for Forecasting COVID-19 in Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is regarded as one of the most imminent disease outbreaks which threaten public health on various levels worldwide. Because of the unpredictable outbreak nature and the virus’s pandemic intensity, people are experiencing depression, anxiety, and other strain reactions. The response to prevent and control the new coronavirus pneumonia has reached a crucial point. Therefore, it is essential—for safety and prevention purposes—to promptly predict and forecast the virus outbreak in the course of this troublesome time to have control over its mortality. Recently, deep learning models are playing essential roles in handling time-series data in different applications. This paper presents a comparative study of two deep learning methods to forecast the confirmed cases and death cases of COVID-19. Long short-term memory (LSTM) and gated recurrent unit (GRU) have been applied on time-series data in three countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, from 1/5/2020 to 6/12/2020. The results show that LSTM has achieved the best performance in confirmed cases in the three countries, and GRU has achieved the best performance in death cases in Egypt and Kuwait.

Impact of pandemic covid-19 on the legal regulation of world trade activity using the example of the medical supplies

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is a theoretical and methodological justification for strengthening the role of international trade in medicines and equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, to establish the benefits of free trade, to develop important international trade policy priorities in this field. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: Legislation of foreign countries and international organizations, statistical data published by international organizations are the materials of the research. Methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization were applied during the research. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: It has been proved that the legal regulation of world trade activity by medical supplies are increasingly playing more important roles in the implementation of international development goals. The authors have offered three priorities to all countries: to cooperate globally around the deployment of life-saving medical supplies, publicly commit all countries not to implement export bans or limits on relevant medical supplies;to control all trade measures countries have taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak;to bring together in a global form measures and procedures to eliminate this phenomenon.