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Purpose: To assess the efficacy of interferon-beta1b (INF-beta1b) in combination with favipiravir in early treatment of patients with COVD-19 pneumonia. Methods: This prospective non-controlled study was performed on admitted patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease to Amir-Alam hospital. The diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia was based on positive RT-PCR test from nasopharyngeal samples and typical spiral chest CT scan findings. At the time of this study, there was the shortage of efficient anti-COVID drugs especially “Remdesivir” due to sanction of Iran. All the patients received subcutaneous IFN-beta1b plus favipiravir. The patients with severe infection received intravenous dexamethasone. Those who underwent invasive or noninvasive mechanical ventilation, at the admission onset, were excluded from the study. Results: One hundred and eighty-two patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia were included in this study. Among182 patients, 90 cases had moderate and 92 had severe pneumonia. Twenty-one cases with severe pneumonia and 14 cases with moderate pneumonia were transferred to ICU to receive invasive or non-invasive mechanical ventilation. The mean duration of hospital ward admission and ICU stay was 10.69±7.54 and 5.45±2.72 days, respectively. One hundred and seventy-four patients (80.7 %) recovered completely and discharged without need to ICU admission. The response rate was the same in patients with moderate and severe pneumonia. Nine cases (4.9 %) were passed away. Diabetic patients had higher mortality rates. Conclusion: This study showed the efficacy of IFN-beta1b plus favipiravir in early treatment of patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia who did not need to mechanical ventilation.

Background and Objective: Innovation, evaluating, and stabilizing the desirable educational practices are important tasks of the educational system. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the effect of in-person and teacher-centered education with virtual education in learning the history of Islamic culture and civilization course of Hamadan Medical Sciences students. Materials and Methods: This is an applied study in terms of nature and purpose and a quasi-experimental study. The statistical population consisted of 30 female medical students of Medical Sciences University of Hamadan who chose the book of History of Islamic Culture and Civilization in 2018; they were divided into two groups of 15 to participate in the process of in-person and teacher-centered education, and virtual education for teaching and learning Chapter 10 (Introduction to the basics of Iranian traditional medicine) by simple random allocation method. The evaluation criterion in the learning dimension of the course was the score obtained in the test. The validity of the questionnaire of their attitude toward these two educational methods were evaluated by the professors and experts in this field, and its reliability was confirmed by conducting a guide study and calculating the Cronbach's alpha. Results: The findings indicated that the students' academic test scores in this course, social cohesion and instructor had been in a better position in-person and teacher-centered teaching method. The mean of other elements such as success, negative affection, spontaneity in learning, opportunity and even overall satisfaction in the in-person method had been higher than the virtual teaching method. The findings show that in the virtual teaching method, the mean of social cohesion and students' satisfaction with the course instructor had been lower than the criterion mean. Conclusion: From the students' point of view, the presence and interaction with the professor is an essential and important element in the teaching and teaching methods that this interaction will lead to the development of relationships and social cohesion between the students and professor. In addition, the high mean of the test scores in the in-person and teacher-centered methods compared to the virtual method can indicate the shared role of the professor and student in learning.