Online learning basketball using social media to enhance learners' performance of some fundamental skills

BACKGROUND: Online learning is the newest and most popular form of distance education today; within the past decade it has had a major impact on education. The aim of the present study was to know the effect of online learning basketball using social media on learners' performance of some fundamental skills in basketball and determine difference between online learning and in-person learning, knowing which one is better than the other. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present experimental study was conducted in Sports Academy for Basketball in Zagazig-Egypt during March–April 2022. Thirty two female junior basketball players volunteered to participate in the study from Sports Academy for Basketball (age: 16.23 ± 0.66 years; body height: 164.5 ± 3.32 cm; body mass: 65.25 ± 3.22 kg). They were divided into two equally sized experimental groups, online learning (ONL) group (n = 16) and in-person learning (INL) group (n = 16), to perform (15) educational sessions for (5) weeks, (3) sessions per week, and the session time was 90 minutes. Junior basketball players were assessed before and after five-week training period. Data were collected by Basketball Passing test, Dribbling Skill test, Lay Up Shoot test, Speed Spot Shooting, and Free-Throw Shooting test. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 software using the descriptive statistical test. The level of significance was set at P ≤0.05. RESULTS: The results showed that the two groups made significant improvements in all variables but INL group had significantly greater improvements than ONL group. The percentage of improvement ranged from 13% to 223% for INL group versus 8% to 158% for ONL group. CONCLUSION: We conclude that in-person basketball learning was better than online learning basketball. Therefore, teachers and trainers must rely primarily on in-person learning and not rely on distance learning, especially with regard to learning motor skills, except in emergency cases

Investigating the Antibacterial Activity of Biphenylthiazoles against Methicillin- and Vancomycin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA and VRSA)

Phenylthiazoles were reported previously as a new scaffold with antibacterial activity against an array of multidrug-resistant staphylococci. However, their promising antibacterial activity was hampered in large part by their short half-life due to excessive hepatic clearance. Close inspection of the structure–activity-relationships (SARs) of the phenylthiazoles revealed two important structural features necessary for antibacterial activity (a nitrogenous and a lipophilic component). Incorporating the nitrogenous part within a pyrimidine ring resulted in analogues with a prolonged half-life, while the biphenyl moiety revealed the most potent analogue <b>1b</b>. In this study, advantageous moieties have been combined to generate a new hybrid scaffold of 5-pyrimidinyl­biphenyl­thiazole with the objective of enhancing both anti-MRSA activity and drug-like properties. Among the 37 tested biphenylthiazoles, piperazinyl-containing derivatives <b>10</b>, <b>30</b>, and <b>36</b> were the most potent analogues with MIC values as low as 0.39 μg/mL. Additionally, <b>36</b> exhibited significant improvement in stability to hepatic metabolism

Arylthiazole antibiotics targeting intracellular methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that interfere with bacterial cell wall synthesis

The promising antibacterial potency of arylthiazole antibiotics is offset by their limited activity against intracellular bacteria (namely methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)), similar to many clinically-approved antibiotics. The failure to target these hidden pathogens is due to the compounds' lack of proper characteristics to accumulate intracellularly. Fine tuning of the size and polar-surface-area of the linking heteroaromatic ring provided a new series of 5-thiazolylarylthiazoles with balanced properties that allow them to sufficiently cross and accumulate inside macrophages infected with MRSA. The most promising compound 4i exhibited rapid bactericidal activity, good metabolic stability and produced over 80% reduction of intracellular MRSA in infected macrophages

Promoting students' health awareness and higher order thinking skills using E-projects strategy in learning physical and health education

BACKGROUND: Health awareness and higher-order thinking skills have become important requirements for higher education students because these skills make students effective problem-solvers. So, this study aimed to promote students' health awareness and higher-order thinking skills through the E-projects strategy in learning physical and health education.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The experimental study was conducted at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, KSA, from September 5 to December 23, 2021. The study was conducted on 250 students (age: 18.23 ± 0.66 years). They were divided into 10 groups each group prepared a different E-project according to the intended learning outcomes of the physical and health education course. To collect data, two scales were designed, the first to measure health awareness and the second to measure higher-order thinking skills. Moreover, the ADDIE model was used during the implementation of the E-projects strategy in learning. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 software. The level of significance was set at P ≤ 0.05.RESULTS: The results showed that there were statistically significant differences between pre and post-measurement in all studied variables in favor of post-tests for the experimental group, as the mean differences in health awareness were (29.33) and ranged from (8.63: 10.01) in higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), the percentages of improvement for health awareness was 14.66%. While the rates of improvement in the higher-order thinking skills ranged between 26.28% to 48.78%.CONCLUSION: The major conclusion drawn from this study was that the application of the E-projects strategy in learning physical and health education using the ADDIE model significantly influences the improvement of students' health awareness and higher-order thinking skills in higher education

Discovery of a Novel Dibromoquinoline Compound Exhibiting Potent Antifungal and Antivirulence Activity That Targets Metal Ion Homeostasis

Globally, invasive fungal infections pose a significant challenge to modern human medicine due to the limited number of antifungal drugs and the rise in resistance to current antifungal agents. A vast majority of invasive fungal infections are caused by species of <i>Candida</i>, <i>Cryptococcus</i>, and <i>Aspergillus</i>. Novel antifungal molecules consisting of unexploited chemical scaffolds with a unique mechanism are a pressing need. The present study identifies a dibromoquinoline compound (<b>4b</b>) with broad-spectrum antifungal activity that inhibits the growth of pertinent species of <i>Candida</i> (chiefly <i>C. albicans</i>), <i>Cryptococcus</i>, and <i>Aspergillus</i> at a concentration of as low as 0.5 μg/mL. Furthermore, <b>4b</b>, at a subinhibitory concentration, interfered with the expression of two key virulence factors (hyphae and biofilm formation) involved in <i>C. albicans</i> pathogenesis. Three yeast deletion strains (<i>cox17</i>Δ, <i>ssa1</i>Δ, and <i>aft2</i>Δ) related to metal ion homeostasis were found to be highly sensitive to <b>4b</b> in growth assays, indicating that the compound exerts its antifungal effect through a unique, previously unexploited mechanism. Supplementing the media with either copper or iron ions reversed the strain sensitivity to <b>4b</b>, further corroborating that the compound targets metal ion homeostasis. <b>4b</b>’s potent antifungal activity was validated in vivo, as the compound enhanced the survival of <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> infected with fluconazole-resistant <i>C. albicans</i>. The present study indicates that <b>4b</b> warrants further investigation as a novel antifungal agent

Common surgical procedures in pilonidal sinus disease: A meta-analysis, merged data analysis, and comprehensive study on recurrence

Abstract We systematically searched available databases. We reviewed 6,143 studies published from 1833 to 2017. Reports in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish were considered, as were publications in other languages if definitive treatment and recurrence at specific follow-up times were described in an English abstract. We assessed data in the manner of a meta-analysis of RCTs; further we assessed non-RCTs in the manner of a merged data analysis. In the RCT analysis including 11,730 patients, Limberg & Dufourmentel operations were associated with low recurrence of 0.6% (95%CI 0.3–0.9%) 12 months and 1.8% (95%CI 1.1–2.4%) respectively 24 months postoperatively. Analysing 89,583 patients from RCTs and non-RCTs, the Karydakis & Bascom approaches were associated with recurrence of only 0.2% (95%CI 0.1–0.3%) 12 months and 0.6% (95%CI 0.5–0.8%) 24 months postoperatively. Primary midline closure exhibited long-term recurrence up to 67.9% (95%CI 53.3–82.4%) 240 months post-surgery. For most procedures, only a few RCTs without long term follow up data exist, but substitute data from numerous non-RCTs are available. Recurrence in PSD is highly dependent on surgical procedure and by follow-up time; both must be considered when drawing conclusions regarding the efficacy of a procedure

The ESC ACCA EAPCI EORP acute coronary syndrome ST-elevation myocardial infarction registry

Aims: The Acute Cardiac Care Association (ACCA)-European Association of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (EAPCI) Registry on ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) of the EurObservational programme (EORP) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) registry aimed to determine the current state of the use of reperfusion therapy in ESC member and ESC affiliated countries and the adherence to ESC STEMI guidelines in patients with STEMI. Methods and results: Between 1 January 2015 and 31 March 2018, a total of 11 462 patients admitted with an initial diagnosis of STEMI according to the 2012 ESC STEMI guidelines were enrolled. Individual patient data were collected across 196 centres and 29 countries. Among the centres, there were 136 percutaneous coronary intervention centres and 91 with cardiac surgery on-site. The majority of centres (129/196) were part of a STEMI network. The main objective of this study was to describe the demographic, clinical, and angiographic characteristics of patients with STEMI. Other objectives include to assess management patterns and in particular the current use of reperfusion therapies and to evaluate how recommendations of most recent STEMI European guidelines regarding reperfusion therapies and adjunctive pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments are adopted in clinical practice and how their application can impact on patients' outcomes. Patients will be followed for 1 year after admission. Conclusion: The ESC ACCA-EAPCI EORP ACS STEMI registry is an international registry of care and outcomes of patients hospitalized with STEMI. It will provide insights into the contemporary patient profile, management patterns, and 1-year outcome of patients with STEMI