Arabic Language Teachers’ Perceptions of a Standards-based Educational Reform in the UAE

Arabic language curriculum has been undergoing reforms across the Arab world to improve Arab students’ acquisition of their mother tongue. Reform initiatives including internationally funded projects have been aimed recently at reforming and modernizing the teaching and learning of the Arabic language. Many Arab countries have adopted a standards-based instruction model. However, there is a lack of vision regarding how this model can be successfully implemented at a national level. This article examines how standards-based curricular mandates have been translated into practice and how teachers perceive implementing the standards-based Arabic curriculum in public schools in Abu Dhabi. The study employs qualitative purposeful sampling and an exploratory methodology to collect experiences of Arabic teachers who implemented the curriculum from 2010 to 2017. The findings of the study uncover the main characteristics, successes, and challenges of the standards-based teaching model as perceived by teachers. The findings also display a consensus for implementing the standards-based Arabic curriculum among teachers. Additionally, the findings show that the educational model requires intense professional development that is rigorous, continuous and collaborative, mentorship and coaching in the classroom, integrated reformative efforts to change ineffective pedagogical practices and capacity building in the UAE

Assessment of a nutrition education program designed to enhance mothers’ attitudes on infants and young children feeding in sudan

AIM: The objective of the study was to assess the effect of a designed nutrition education program (NEP) on maternal attitudes. METHODS: A control two groups, quasi-experimental and pre-and post-experimental, were adopted. Data were collected through personal interviews of two groups using a validated questionnaire. The NEP was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 was the pre-evaluation, Phase 2 was the program’s implementation, and Phase 3 entailed post-evaluation of the program. RESULTS: The results supported the efficient role of the NEP intervention in raising mothers’ attitudes toward nutritional care of under 2 years in Sennar Locality, Sudan. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the controlled variables; mother age, mother education, mother occupation, husband occupation, number of children less than 5 years, family size, and child’s age, which indicate that the two groups were homogenous, that is, no significant difference between mothers’ attitude of the two groups before applying the NEP. The results showed the effectiveness of the NEP in developing experimental group mother’s attitudes, comparing post-test with pre-test in favor of post-test to be statistically significant. NEP has a huge impact in developing the mother’s awareness post-test, measuring and developing the mother’s attitudes compared to post-test with pre-test. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The nutrition education intervention demonstrated its effectiveness in maternal attitude. The study provided valuable baseline information to develop appropriate training courses and NEP to raise maternal awareness and attitudes toward infants and young children’s nutrition

Emotion detection using physiological signals EEG & ECG

Emotion modeling and identification has attracted substantial interest from disciplines including computer science, cognitive science and psychology. Despite the fact that a lot of qualitative studies have been carried out on emotion, less investigated aspects include the quantifying of physiological signals. This paper presents two physiological signals which are ECG and EEG and shows analysis of its emotional properties. A solution based on the short Fourier transform is proposed for the recognition of dynamically developing emotion patterns on ECG and EEG. Features extraction that are used in this paper are Kernel Density Estimation known as (KDE) and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients known as MFCC. The classifier that is used in this work is Multi-layer Perceptron known as MLP, classification features are based on the valence and arousal. The experimental setup presented in this work for the elicitation of emotions is based on passive valence /arousal. The results shows that the ECG signal has direct relationship with the arousal factor rather than the valence factor. Also, EEG signal using 19 channels reported high accuracy results for determining emotions

Evaluation of the Predictive value of C-reactive Protein, Interleukin-6 and their derived immune-inflammatory indices in COVID-19 Egyptian patients

Background: In coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), finding sensitive biomarkers is critical for detecting severe cases early and intervening effectively. Aim of the work:  To compare and evaluate the value of pretreatment c-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and their derived immune-inflammatory indices (CRP/albumin (CRP/alb), lymphocyte/CRP (L/CRP), and lymphocyte/IL-6 (L/IL-6)) in the prediction of COVID-19 severity and in-hospital mortality. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 85 confirmed COVID-19 patients, their complete blood count with differential, as well as albumin and IL-6 levels on the day of their hospital admission, were assessed and compared. We followed all patients till their in-hospital death or discharge from the hospital. Results: On admission levels of CRP, IL-6, and CRP/alb were significantly higher (p < /em>=0.001) in severe patients and non-survivors, but L/CRP and L/IL-6 were significantly lower (p < /em>=0.001) compared to non-severe patients and non-survivors. CRP/alb and L/CRP at cut-offs of 1.65 and 260.86, respectively, were the best predictors for COVID-19 severity, while IL-6 and L/IL-6 at cut-offs of 120 pg/ml and 5.40, respectively, were the best predictors for COVID-19 in-hospital mortality. IL-6 was an independent risk factor associated with severe disease development (odds ratio (OR): 1.033; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.002-1.066). Conclusions: Pretreatment levels of CRP, IL-6, and their derived indices should be included in the diagnostic work-up of COVID-19 to determine the severity and predict the outcome

In vitro studies of lactic acid bacteria against the causative agent of papaya dieback disease

Papaya is an economically significant fruit crop grown in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the outbreak of Papaya Dieback disease has caused major threats to the papaya plantation for almost a decade as effective treatment found to date has been limited. Endophytic bacteria have been used as biological control agent against several plant diseases. This study proposed that bacterial endophytes isolated from papaya plant might be used as biological alternative to synthetic bactericide to restrain this disease. The aim of this study is to find an effective microorganism to suppress Papaya Dieback disease. In this study, a total of 230 bacterial endophytes with antagonistic activities against Erwinia mallotivora were isolated from seeds and sarcotesta of two papayas (Carica papaya L.) collected from Sabak Bernam (PPS) and Perak (PPK) through rapid screening using Agar Overlay method. Twenty-eight pure isolates from the respective PPS and PPK showed significant inhibitory effect against Erwinia mallotivora as revealed by Agar Disc Diffusion technique. PPKSD19 showed the highest value of inhibition zone at 21.7 mm during in vitro screening on MRS agar. The isolates were characterized as Gram-positive rods, cocci or coccobacilli, catalase - negative and positive in acidity test, suggesting that they are potentially Lactic Acid Bacteria. API 50 CH profiles and 16S rRNA sequencing allowed identification of bacteria as Weissella sp. and Lactococcus sp. The selected high-performing endophytic bacteria will be investigated for their synergistic activities and bacteriocin-production. Their effects on infected papaya plant will be tested under greenhouse experiment. Our findings suggest that Carica papaya L. seed-borne bacterial endophytes could potentially be applied as biological control agent to inhibit Papaya Dieback disease

Seasonal Variances in General Urine Examination Findings among Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital Patients

Background: Urinalysis is a common test done for several reasons; for instance, in UTI looking for, hematuria or pseudo-hematuria, pyuria, crystalluria and also looking for different microorganisms (etc...), many laboratories perform either a regular test light microscopy, or examine varying dilutions of urine sediment and fields of view with or without the use of stains or polarization, while other laboratories used analysis of urine using automated system. As being a human; the biological sex(female or male) and broadly influences diverse immune phenotypes, including immune responses to diseases at mucosal surfaces, all contribute to how an organism will respond to diseases of the urinary tract, on the other hand, a close relationship between four seasons and the incidence of UTI has been detected in various areas of the world, where the seasons alternate in a year, and the temperature fluctuates widely among these seasons. Methods: present study was conducted on midstream sample was collected for acquiring accurate results from (68899) individuals (40800 females and 28099 males), these subjects were clinically suspected to have UTI, who were referred to the Department of Teaching Laboratories in AL-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital at Baghdad / Iraq, between January 2020 and December 2023, which examined by; Urilyzer 500 PRO (Analyticon) with Urine strips (dipstick) and Optical Microscope BA 210 (Motic). Results: A total of 68899 urine specimens were tested, of which 28099 male (40.8%) and 40800 female (59.2%) with the highest percentage of urinalysis in 2022 (33.2%), furthermore, the higher percentage of urinalysis parameters was scored in 2021 as follows;  pus cells 9012 (49.3%), red blood corpuscles 5284 (48.9%) and crystalluria 3956 (44.2%) with the most common type of crystal was amorphous urate 5032 (56.2%), while highest percentages of microorganisms 1050 (40.3%) in year 2022 , and Bacteria was exhibited the highest percentages 2036 (78.1%). Current study recorded significantly differences between males and females in all urine parameters which was higher percentage in female than male and in the Seasons of (Summer and Autumn) , during the four years of this study. Conclusion: This study registered more accurate diagnostic results of UTI according to the urinary parameters  in the microscopic routine urinalysis(centrifugation at 300xg at 5 min) when compared to machines (Urilyzer 500 PRO test/Urine strips) which frequently miss that , in addition,  hot season in Iraq could affect to increase the seasonally variable incidence of UTI , as well,  increased percentages and frequency of urinary parameters which observed in 2021-2022 out of four study years may indicates,  high likelihood side effects of Covid-19 pandemic disease  in study persons involved

EEG-based emotion recognition while listening to Quran recitation compared with relaxing music using Valence-arousal model

Relaxation and calmness are two emotions that people always seek for. One popular method people used to do in order to reduce their level of tension and pressure is listening to some types of relaxing music. On the other hand, Quran is Allah’s words that are ultimately given to us human to benefit of. Although, Muslims are strongly believed that listening to Quran or reading it brings them to comfort, pleasure and confidence. Scientific evidence is still required to prove that scientifically. Human emotion can be recognized from voice, text, facial expression or body language. But those methods are susceptible to change and are not really accurate. Recently, electroencephalograms (EEG) allowed researchers to evoke the inner emotions. This paper aims to study human emotions while listening to Quran recitation compared with listening to relaxing music. To evoke emotions, some stimuli should be used; in this research we implemented International Affective Picture System (IAPS) database. And for the emotion classification technique we followed two-dimensional Arousal- Valence emotion model. Finally the emotion model was implemented to recognize four basic emotions Happy, Fear, Sad and Calm with an average accuracy of 76.81 %. The data collected while listening to Quran and music were tested and the result generally showed that both Quran and Music are classified more into positive valence

Estimating the Prevalence of Foodborne Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni in Chicken and Its Control via Sorghum Extracts

Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative bacterium which is considered as the most reported cause of foodborne infection, especially for poultry species. The object of this work is to evaluate the occurrence of C. jejuni in chicken meat as well its control via three types of sorghum extracts (white sorghum (WS), yellow sorghum (YS), and red sorghum (RS)); antibacterial activity, antioxidant power, and cytotoxicity of sorghum extracts were also assessed. It was found that C. jejuni is very abundant in chicken meat, especially breast and thigh. WS extract showed more effectiveness than both yellow and red ones. Lyophilized WS extract offered high total phenolic compounds (TPCs) and total flavonoid compounds (TFCs) of 64.2 ± 0.8 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE/g) and 33.9 ± 0.4 mg catechol equivalent (CE)/g, respectively. Concerning the antibacterial and antioxidant activities, WS showed high and significant antibacterial activity (p < 0.001); hence, WS displayed a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 6.25%, and revealed an inhibition zone of 7.8 ± 0.3 mm; it also showed an IC50 at a concentration of 34.6 μg/mL. In our study, different samples of chicken fillet were collected and inoculated with pathogenic C. jejuni and stored at 4 °C. Inoculated samples were treated with lyophilized WS extract at (2%, 4%, and 6%), the 2% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 10th day, the 4% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 8th day, while the 6% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 6th day. Additionally, 2%, 4%, and 6% WS extracts were applied on un-inoculated grilled chicken fillet, which enhanced its sensory attributes. In sum, WS extract is a promising natural preservative for chicken meat with accepted sensory evaluation results thanks to its high antibacterial and antioxidant potentials

Biological control of Erwinia mallotivora, the causal agent of papaya dieback disease by indigenous seed-borne endophytic lactic acid bacteria consortium

Dieback disease caused by Erwinia mallotivora is a major threat to papaya plantation in Malaysia. The current study was conducted to evaluate the potential of endophytic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from papaya seeds for disease suppression of papaya dieback. Two hundred and thirty isolates were screened against E. mallotivora BT-MARDI, and the inhibitory activity of the isolates against the pathogen was ranging from 11.7–23.7 mm inhibition zones. The synergistic experiments revealed that combination of W. cibaria PPKSD19 and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis PPSSD39 increased antibacterial activity against the pathogen. The antibacterial activity was partially due to the production of bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances (BLIS). The nursery experiment confirmed that the application of bacterial consortium W. cibaria PPKSD19 and L. lactis subsp. lactis PPSSD39 significantly reduced disease severity to 19% and increased biocontrol efficacy to 69% of infected papaya plants after 18 days of treatment. This study showed that W. cibaria PPKSD19 and L. lactis subsp. lactis PPSSD39 are potential candidate as biocontrol agents against papaya dieback disease

Effect of Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major cause of recurrent hospitalization and death worldwide. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors including Dapagliflozin are anti-diabetic drugs with promising cardiovascular (CV) effects. We performed systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of Dapagliflozin in heart failure patients. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases. A total of 1,567 studies from January 2017 to September 10, 2022, were screened. After applying exclusion criteria, 22 studies were retrieved for full-text screening, and 9 of them were eligible for this meta-analysis. Effect estimates for dichotomous variables were expressed as risk ratio (RR) and 95% CI. The primary outcomes were the incidence of all-cause mortality, hospitalization due to HF and CV death. This review was registered on PROSPERO with ID CRD42022347793. Results: A total of 14,032 patients were included. The overall risk ratio of all-cause mortality favored the dapagliflozin group over the placebo/standard therapy group (RR= 0.89, 95% CI: 0.82 - 0.97, P=0.006) and the pooled studies were not heterogenous (I2= 0%). Additionally, Dapagliflozin significantly reduced the hospitalization due to heart failure (RR= 0.76, 95% CI: 0.70 – 0.84, P> 0.00001, I2= 0%), cardiovascular death (RR= 0.87, 95% CI: 0.78 – 0.97, P= 0.01, I2= 0%) and their composite outcomes. Conclusion: Dapagliflozin reduces the risk of all-cause mortality, heart failure hospitalizations and cardiovascular death in a wide range of heart failure patients