Factors that cause second language anxiety in speaking among form four students and ways to reduce them / Syazza ‘Atrah Abu Bakar

This research was conducted to analyze the causes of anxiety of Form Four students of SMK Bandar Baru Uda, Johor Bahru. A total of 30 students and 10 teachers were involved as respondents of the research. Students’ language anxiety was measured using a previous research done Tanveer (2008) questionnaire The research findings showed that most of the students experienced a great deal of anxiety when they used the target language inside as well as outside of the classroom. From the two subscales of communication apprehension and fear of negative evaluation, it is known that the causes of students’ anxiety were among all derived from negative self perceptions, fear of peer, language teacher’s as well as public’s evaluations and the fear of making mistakes in using the language. It was also found that there are various ways suggested by students and teachers in controlling and reducing the second language anxiety among the ESL learners

Saliva as an Alternative Specimen for Molecular COVID-19 Testing in Community Settings and Population-Based Screening.

PURPOSE: With the easing of restriction measures, repeated community-based sampling for tracking new COVID-19 infections is anticipated for the next 6 to 12 months. A non-invasive, self-collected specimen like saliva will be useful for such public health surveillance. Investigations on the use of saliva for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR have largely been among COVID-19 in-pa\tients and symptomatic ambulatory patients with limited work in a community-based screening setting. This study was carried out to address this paucity of data and reported discrepancies in diagnostic accuracy for saliva samples. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 29th June to 14th July 2020, adults presenting for COVID-19 testing at a community-based screening facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates were recruited. Clinical data, nasopharyngeal swab in universal transport media and drooling saliva in sterile containers were obtained. Reverse transcriptase PCR amplification of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and N genes was used to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. RESULTS: Of the 401 participants, 35 (8.7%) had viral detection in at least one specimen type and the majority (n=20/35; 57.1%) were asymptomatic. Both swab and saliva were positive in 19 (54.2%) patients, while 7 (20.0%) patients had swab positive/saliva negative results. There were 9 (25.7%) patients with saliva positive/swab negative result and this included 5 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients undergoing repeat screening. Using the swab as the reference gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of saliva were 73.1% (95% CI 52.2-88.4%) and 97.6% (95% CI 95.5-98.9%) while the positive and negative predictive values were 67.9% (95% CI 51.5-80.8%) and 98.1% (95% CI 96.5-99.0%), respectively. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest good diagnostic accuracy for saliva and feasibility of utilization of specimen without transport media for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR. Saliva represents a potential specimen of choice in community settings and population-based screening

On the Dark Side of Therapies with Immunoglobulin Concentrates: The Adverse Events

Therapy by human immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrates is a success story ongoing for decades with an ever increasing demand for this plasma product. The success of IgG concentrates on a clinical level is documented by the slowly increasing number of registered indication and the more rapid increase of the off-label uses, a topic dealt with in another contribution to this special issue of Frontiers in Immunology. A part of the success is the adverse event (AE) profile of IgG concentrates which is, even at life-long need for therapy, excellent. Transmission of pathogens in the last decade could be entirely controlled through the antecedent introduction by authorities of a regulatory network and installing quality standards by the plasma fractionation industry. The cornerstone of the regulatory network is current good manufacturing practice. Non-infectious AEs occur rarely and mainly are mild to moderate. However, in recent times, the increase in frequency of hemolytic and thrombotic AEs raised worrying questions on the possible background for these AEs. Below, we review elements of non-infectious AEs, and particularly focus on hemolysis and thrombosis. We discuss how the introduction of plasma fractionation by ion-exchange chromatography and polishing by immunoaffinity chromatographic steps might alter repertoire of specificities and influence AE profiles and efficacy of IgG concentrates

Alternative management of Covid-19 infection

Cytokine storm is a life-threatening complication of Covid-19 infection. Excessive cytokines are the products of hyperactive immune inflammatory response mounted by the host against the virus. There is no agreed treatment for cytokine storm. Three therapeutic agents with proven immune-modulatory properties in regular use in a wide range of inflammatory disorders (high dose intravenous immunoglobulin, Rituximab and thalidomide) are proposed for the treatment of cytokine storm. Safety and efficacy of the proposed treatment should be assessed by randomised controlled clinical trials. The use of the proposed treatment is expected to reduce the mortality rate and alter the overall management of the pandemic.</jats:p

Iron Status in Hypogammaglobulinemia

Iron, transferrin and ferritin were measured in serum samples from 16 patients with primary hypogammaglobulinemia. Transferrin saturation was low in 12 patients (75%) and serum ferritin was low in 9 patients (56.25%). Both parameters were low, confirming the state of iron deficiency, in 6 patients (37.5%). These figures are highly significant ( P &lt; 0.01) when compared with the prevalence of iron deficiency in the general population. Eight patients were maintained on intravenous immunoglobulin infusions and the rest on intramuscular immunoglobulin injections, their mean serum IgG being 4.4 g/l and 2.6 g/l respectively. There was no difference in the prevalence of iron deficiency between the two groups.</jats:p