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The chapter aims to recognize the use of distance education in confronting the challenges of education in light of Corona crisis. It discusses the following topics: introduction. Objectives. and significance of the chapter. Its terms and distance education (its concepts. Characteristics. Technologies. Norms of choosing and the challenges of implementing in light of corona crisis and the needs of its success). The international experience in implementing electronic and distance education after and during corona crisis, analyzing and evaluating the experience of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia universities to confronting the educational crisis during corona pandemic., designing questionnaire as a tool for collecting data of sample reaches. (352) members were selected randomly from the teaching staff in governmental universities in Saudi Arabia in (1441/1442). In addition to the document analysis card which was developed by the Ministry of Education and Saudi Arabia governmental universities to analyze documents related to distance education. The study reached at many results, including: A complete shift of Saudi governmental universities to distance learning during Corona crisis. The research sample agrees with a high degree that the distance education policy in the universities of Saudi Arabia is clear. The most important reasons for the success of distance education in the experience of Saudi universities: regulation, clarity of the educational policy among universities in the field of using distance education and preparing good technical infrastructure, the training of teaching staff members on the use of distance education in teaching through learning management system (Blackboard), the training of students on the learning management system (Blackboard), the use of control and motivation for learners to ensure their interaction, providing electronic guidance for students, as well as providing technical support for all university employees. The study came out with many recommendations, most notably: Getting benefit from successful international experiences in the field of distance education and the need to harmonize and resettle them according to the Saudi environment and students' needs, switching all traditional courses to electronic courses, and training university teaching staff to design and produce electronic courses, create an administration specialized in educational design made up of qualified cadres of educational technology specialists working on formulating and designing courses, studying reality, designing scenarios, and directing, producing and evaluating them. In addition to the need to pay attention to the technical infrastructure of universities Key words: Distance education, Corona crisis, Experience of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, challenges of education.

Foetal complications due to abnormal Alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP) levels are becoming a serious matter. The risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) is substantially greater in the raised maternal serum-alpha fetoprotein (MS-AFP) group than in the normal MS-AFP groups. The top three APOs in terms of occurrence rate in the increased MS-AFP group were structural foetal abnormalities, spontaneous abortion, and premature delivery. Low levels of AFP in the maternal may indicate a risk of Down syndrome. This is a critical matter that needs to be investigated and dealt with seriously, based on the systems thinking approach. This research aims to investigate screening methods on AFP foetal based on system thinking approach. The main purpose of the study is to provide an analytical and integrated approach to deal with foetal complications due to AFP level. This integrated approach comprises various analytical aspects, including conceptual framework, data analysis, evaluation of the screening methods. How systems thinking can contribute to improve all these aspects of foetal complications will be investigated. The methodology will enable to conduct a detailed explanation to the major problems of AFP in the form of a causal loop diagram based on the holistic view of the systems thinking approach. It is expected that the application of a systems approach could provide an effective method of analysis for understanding and managing the foetal abnormalities by considering all aspects in a holistic manner and clearer methods of intervention to reduce the cases.

Background: The role of the voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) in the follow-up of children with posterior urethral valves (PUVs) post-ablation has been considered a standard practice. The urethral ratio and gradient of change have proven to be useful. Objectives: We aimed to review the role of the ‘ideal’ ratio on predicting residual PUV post-ablation. Methods: A systematic review of the PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases was performed (April 2019). The search terms included ‘Urethral Ratio and Posterior urethral valve ablation’. All cited reference lists were further evaluated for additional inclusive studies. Results: Eleven studies were identified, of which nine were relevant to the topic. Case reports, comments and adult and animal studies were excluded, leaving four studies for critical review. In total, 338 patients were assessed. The control group consisted of 167 age-matched, male children. Study regions included India and Australia. The ages ranged from 15 days to 3.4 years. Ablation methods included the use of a resectoscope with cutting diathermy, cold knife or Bugbee electrode. The mean urethral ratios in the control group ranged from 1.04 to 1.73. The suggested predictive urethral cut-off ratios recommended include 2.2 ( p = 0.001), 2.5–3 and 3.5. Conclusion: Although the precise cut-off ratio could not be clearly defined in this review, a urethral ratio less than a range of 2.2–3.5 has proven to be a beneficial predictor of ablation success and should thus be incorporated into standard VCUG reporting templates in the follow-up of PUVs in male children in resource-limited settings.

This study examined the effects of water scarcity on rural household economy in El Fashir Rural Council / North Darfur State- western Sudan. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used as to get a deeper understanding of the impact of water scarcity on the rural house economy in the study area. 174 households out of 2017 were selected from 45 villages which were distributed in eight village councils forming the study area. Statistical methods were used to manipulate the data of the study. The obtained results revealed that water scarcity negatively affected the rural household economy in the study area in many features. These include the followings: much family efforts and time were directed to fetch for water consequently, reducing time on farming activities and off-farm income- generating activities especially in summer season. Also scarcity of water negatively affects the household budget allocation in the sense that considerable portion of family income was devoted to meet human and animal water needs or in medical treatments from water related diseases due to consumption of unfit water. But the biggest impact of water scarcity is its adverse effect on the rural household food security due to the reduction of the stable and cash crops productivity or increasing food prices as a fall in the rural household income due to the declining of the annual rainfalls. Finally, water scarcity has resulted in increasing school dropout rates, especially girls, in order to help their families in fetching water for both human and animal consumption which, in the long-run, affect the household economy by jeopardizing the rural household’s human capital

Background Rapid diagnostic and prognostic tests for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are urgently required. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic ability of breath analysis using gas chromatography–ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Methods Between February and May 2021, we took 1 breath sample for analysis using GC-IMS from participants who were admitted to the hospital for COVID-19, participants who were admitted to the hospital for other respiratory infections, and symptom-free controls, at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, United Kingdom. Demographic, clinical, and radiological data, including requirement for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ventilation as a marker for severe disease in the COVID-19 group, were collected. Results A total of 113 participants were recruited into the study. Seventy-two (64%) were diagnosed with COVID-19, 20 (18%) were diagnosed with another respiratory infection, and 21 (19%) were healthy controls. Differentiation between participants with COVID-19 and those with other respiratory tract infections with GC-IMS was highly accurate (sensitivity/specificity, 0.80/0.88; area under the receiver operating characteristics curve [AUROC], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74–0.96). GC-IMS was also moderately accurate at identifying those who subsequently required CPAP (sensitivity/specificity, 0.62/0.80; AUROC, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.53–0.87). Conclusions GC-IMS shows promise as both a diagnostic tool and a predictor of prognosis in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and should be assessed further in larger studies.

Background: Elevated oxidant levels and low antioxidant levels in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) play a significant role in the development of endothelial dysfunction, atherogenesis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). A deficiency in vitamin D (Vit.D) is also suggested to be responsible for the generation of oxidative stress (OS) and CVD. Among dialysis patients, conflicting data exist concerning the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and OS. We studied the relationship between 25Vit.D level, HCV infection, and plasma 8 iso-prostaglandin F2 α (8-ISO-PGF2α) as an OS marker in an Egyptian hemodialysis (HD) cohort.Methods: One hundred and twenty ESRD patients on HD were initially recruited to the study but only 88 patients have met the inclusion and none of the exclusion criteria. Midweek predialysis session blood samples were collected for the measurement of 25(OH) Vit.D, plasma 8-ISO-PGF2α, high sensitivity C – reactive protein (hs-CRP), and intact parathyroid hormone (intact PTH). Patients were stratified into two groups according to the presence or absence ofserum antibodies against HCV and their plasma 8-ISO-PGF2α were compared.Results: Vit.D deficiency was noted in 93% of the participants; the median 8-ISO-PGF2α level was 382 pg/mL. No significant correlation between Vit.D and 8-ISO-PGF2α levels was found. Thirty-two participants (36%) were HCV+ and their 8-ISO-PGF2α levels were significantly lower relative to in the seronegative group (median 171 vs. 647 pg/mL; P < 0.006).Conclusion: In this Egyptian HD cohort, Vit D deficiency was highly prevalent, yet failed to show any correlation with F2-isoprostanes. HCV+ HD patients might be shielded from OS.

Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin e. V., Bd. 28 (2017): Der Antike Sudan