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This predictive, cross-sectional study aimed to determine the metacognitive online reading and navigational strategies and their relation to the reading performance of Grade 11 HUMSS Students of Pedro T. Mendiola Sr. Memorial National High School. Furthermore, the study also investigated which factors of metacognitive online reading and navigational strategies significantly influence the respondents' reading performance. One hundred twenty-five (125) students selected through simple random sampling participated in the study. Data were gathered using a Google Form and reading fluency test. Descriptive Statistics such as weighted mean, Pearson-Product correlation, and regression analysis were used to interpret the data. The students' extent of the metacognitive online reading and navigational strategies is high, while the students' reading performance is instructional. The metacognitive online reading strategy is strongly related to reading performance. The navigational strategy is moderately related to reading performance. All indicators of metacognitive online learning strategy significantly predict reading performance. Only mixed overview as an indicator of navigational strategy significantly predicts the reading performance. Senior High school students who used metacognitive online reading navigational strategies had definite reading goals in mind and knew how to accomplish them. Students need teacher support at the instructional reading performance level. The metacognitive and navigational strategies significantly predict and influence the respondents' reading performance.

COVID-19 has substantially affected the majority of work capabilities. Higher education is responsible for preparing graduates for employment and well-rounded individuals with varied talents. This study determined the acquired attributes of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) graduates and whether it is anchored to the required attributes by the industry. Descriptive and comparative research designs of the quantitative research method were used in this study. This study had two sets of participants. Data on acquired attributes were gathered from the BSIT graduates from 2017-2020 of the Private Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Santiago City, Philippines, who are presently employed. At the same time, required graduate attributes were provided by the representatives from the industry partners of the Private HEI. A total of 45 BSIT graduates and 26 companies participated in the study. Data were collected using a modified questionnaire through online surveys and drop and collect method. Through confirmatory factor analysis, mean scores, t-tests, and ANOVA, rankings, findings revealed the six-factor result, which tallies the latent variables used for this study. BSIT graduates confirmed that they acquired the necessary attributes to be competitive in the IT industry according to the prescribed attributes for BSIT graduates. The Graduates and the Industry agreed that Modern tool usage and resiliency are essential in these challenging times in the workplace. According to the findings, graduates' university-acquired skills and competencies considerably increased their opportunities in national and global markets and sectors, making them timely and relevant during COVID-19 and beyond.

The study determined the problem-solving performance and skills of prospective elementary teachers (PETs) in the Northern Philippines. Specifically, it defined the PETs' level of problem-solving performance in number sense, measurement, geometry, algebra, and probability; significant predictors of their problem-solving performance in terms of sex, socio-economic status, parents' educational attainment, high school graduated from, and subject preference; and their problem-solving skills. The PETs' problem-solving performance was determined by a problem set consisting of word problems with number sense, measurement, geometry, algebra, and probability. A mixed-method research design was employed. Senior PETs purposively served as a sample where they mostly preferred to teach other subjects than mathematics. PETs who preferred math performed satisfactorily, while prospective teachers who opted for other subjects performed unsatisfactorily. The PETs' unsatisfactory output indicates the need for remediation to advance the mathematical material skills and enrich the problem-solving abilities of these primary schools' potential teachers. Besides, results showed that subject preference strongly affected and predicted the problem-solving success of the PETs. PETs who preferred to teach mathematics performed significantly better than their counterparts; hence, mathematics as a field of specialization in the Bachelor of Elementary Education program may be considered by teacher education institutions. Further, most PETs displayed lack of problem-solving skills; thus, a Problem-Solving course is recommended for them.

This study developed a framework that can be used to build a forum environment, referred to as a Collaborative Interaction Management System (CIMS) that incorporates an automated method of assessing student's individual contributions and group collaborative learning. The framework was fine-tuned by conducting a survey that identified 20 major features that faculty and students from various universities in the National Capital Region of the Philippines mostly prefer to be included in a forum environment. A web-based prototype software was then developed that implements the framework along with the assessment method and the 20 top features. To determine the validity of the main feature of CIMS (i.e., the assessment method), sample forum data consisting of 28 threads with a total of more than 1000 messages spanning various topic domains was collected from the Slashdot forum and the numeric ratings assigned to messages in this data was used to measure accuracy and reliability of the numeric ratings assigned by CIMS by analyzing it using Cohen's Kappa. Based on the results of the survey, the overall means have identified that both faculty and students feel that the prototype software are functional, reliable, and usable enough.

Higher education students are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of being successful in oral academic presentations (OAP) in their academic endeavors. For English as a second language students in English-medium institutions, it also provides them with opportunities for language socialization. However, succeeding in the delivery of an OAP comes with various challenges emerging from linguistic and psychological factors. This small-case study explores OAPs as an oral academic socialization activity by documenting the strategies that 13 international undergraduate students in a large private Philippine university use to cope with the difficulties facing them in preparing and presenting an OAP. Using language socialization as the theoretical framework and semi-structured interviews to gather data, it identifies and explains eight personal strategies (six still employed and two no longer used) and discusses various factors that play a vital role in applying these strategies. The three most commonly used strategies are adopted to ensure a successful and acceptable OAP, typically a graded task. The two least frequently used ones are yet to be employed successfully. In applying these strategies, students not only perform the required academic task but are also engaged in different levels and frequencies of language socialization before and during the delivery of an OAP. Pedagogical implications in the use of OAPs as an academic task for language socialization in higher education are also discussed.

In an increasingly diverse and digital society, understanding changes in contemporary communication practices that both draw from and extend beyond traditional principles of composition serves as an apt construct for exploring the nexus among youth, literacy and technology. This article will examine instances of urban youth exchanges in digital platforms; and, within that, consider the shifting role of authorship and writing among transnational youth. Drawing data from a three-year ethnography, the focus of this article will be given to analysing digital platforms as sites social language development. As digital platforms increasingly involve "transduction" and "transformation" of text making, the multimodal means for meaning making and the social factors shaping multimodal ensembles will be highlighted. The analytic approach will combine ethnographic, multimodal and sociocultural theories, method and description for accessing digital data and environments. Findings from this study will be used to explore implications for pedagogically working with students of varied participation backgrounds and to generate curricular potentials that integrate digital tools for developing collaborative and differentiated learning environments.

Objective: The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is exacerbating optimal antibiotic stewardship and the promotion of bacterial resistance due to the over-prescribing of antibiotics for patients with COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of antibiotic therapy in patients with COVID-19 infection and explore the association of antibiotic prescribing with patients' demographics and clinical characteristics. Methods: A retrospective analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital and training institution in Baguio City, the Philippines from March 2020 to March 2021. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression was used to compare COVID-19 patients who were prescribed antibiotics with those who were not. Results: Of the 157 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection, 90 (57.3%) received antibiotics, with only three (1.9%) having confirmed bacterial coinfection. Among those prescribed antibiotics, azithromycin was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic (43.3%), followed by ceftriaxone (33.1%), piperacillin-tazobactam (15.3%), ceftazidime (5.1%), moxifloxacin (1.3%), amikacin (0.6%), ampicillin and sulbactam (0.6%), cefuroxime (0.6%), metronidazole (0.6%) and penicillin (0.6%). Antibiotic use was associated with factors such as having bilateral infiltrates on chest X-ray, the severity of COVID-19 infection and high white blood cell counts. Discussion: Antibiotic use was high among patients with confirmed COVID-19 despite a low prevalence of confirmed bacterial coinfection. This may be due to the similarities in the clinical manifestations of both viral and bacterial infections. Judicious use of antibiotics in the treatment of COVID-19, as well as other viral infections (for example, influenza), is required to prevent antibiotic resistance in accordance with the principles of antimicrobial stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of environmental management zones is an important strategy for biodiversity conservation. However, identifying and assigning appropriate zones is a challenging task that is critical to the management's success. The Environmentally Critical Areas Network (ECAN) of the Palawan province is among the management strategies being implemented in the western Philippines. Under this strategy, natural resources needing the highest degree of protection are designated as core zones (CZ). Our study revisited this strategy to assess the current placement of the core zones with respect to species distributions and vegetation types. We conducted a series of field surveys in four municipalities of Palawan to assess the status of biodiversity. Gathered data was used to identify potential critical habitats by generating species distribution models and performing vegetation analysis using land satellite images. The placement of the CZ was evaluated using the identified critical habitats. Our assessments show that many Palawan endemic species persist despite increasing pressures from anthropogenic activities. We also found that a considerable extent of natural forest remains, generally confined in high elevations and steep terrains. The assessment of critical habitats and CZ revealed vital gaps in protection, suggesting that a revision is necessary to accommodate important habitats of threatened and endemic species. Overall, our study highlights the significance of integrating biodiversity data in improving conservation and management strategies, which has been overlooked in the current ECAN zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 
(SARS-CoV-2), primarily targets the respiratory system. This study describes the characteristics associated with mortality among patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 at a single hospital in Baguio City, Philippines., Methods: We reviewed medical records (including history, laboratory results and treatment regimen) of 280 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to a single hospital during March-October 2020. Clinical characteristics and outcomes (frequency and type of complication, recovery rate and mortality) were evaluated. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse factors associated with mortality., Results: The mean age of COVID-19 patients was 48.4 years and the female-to-male ratio was 1.8:1. Hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes were the most frequent comorbidities reported. Common presenting symptoms were respiratory and constitutional, with 41% of patients not reporting symptoms on admission. Patients with moderate, severe and critical disease comprised 45%, 8% and 4%, respectively. A total of 15% had complications, health care-associated pneumonia being the most frequent complication. The recovery rate was 95%; 5% of patients died, with multiorgan failure being the most common cause. The presence of CVD, chronic kidney disease, prolonged prothrombin time and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were associated with mortality., Discussion: Most COVID-19 patients in our population had asymptomatic to moderate disease on admission. Mortality from COVID-19 was associated with having CVD, chronic kidney disease, elevated LDH and prolonged prothrombin time. Based on these results, we emphasize that people should take all necessary precautions to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2., ((c) 2021 The authors; licensee World Health Organization.)