BACKGROUND: In March 2020, nursing schools in Indonesia were forced to abruptly shift from face-to-face learning to fully online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, fully online learning was still not widely used in Indonesian nursing education. AIM: This study aimed to identify barriers in online learning among Indonesian nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design and involved 530 undergraduate nursing students from five universities in Indonesia participated in this study. The authors sent an online self-administered questionnaire to nursing students from October to December 2020. The questionnaire consisted of four sections to obtain the following data: (1) Sociodemographic characteristic, (2) information about online learning, (3) platform used for online learning, and (4) perceived barriers in online learning. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data with frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviations. RESULTS: Nursing students in Indonesia were confronted by various barriers during the implementation of abrupt online learning in the current pandemic situation. Most frequently barriers encountered by nursing students during online learning were high costs for online learning, poor internet connection, lack of motivation toward online learning, lack of skill in using the online learning platforms, and lack of training and assistance to use the platforms. CONCLUSION: High cost for online learning, poor internet connection, low learning motivation, lack of skill in using the online learning platforms, and lack of training and assistance to use the platforms were identified as the most frequent barriers encountered by nursing students.

Ovarian cancer is a lethal disease. One of the problems faced by patients with ovarian cancer is the lack of symptoms in its early stages, which results in it only being detected when it is at an advanced stage. Therefore, there is an urgent need for biomarkers that can predict ovarian cancer precisely. The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of microRNA-21 as a predictive biomarker candidate in both early- and advanced-stage ovarian cancer. This was a cross-sectional study using the blood plasma of 21 healthy control subjects and 37 blood plasma samples from patients with ovarian cancer. Blood plasmas were collected, from which the RNA was isolated. Based on the RNA, the cDNA was synthesized and run through qPCR, the results of which were analyzed using the Livak method. The results showed an upregulation of microRNA-21 in the advanced stage by 2.14 fold compared with the early stage, and 6.13 fold compared with the healthy controls (p < 0.05). The upregulation of microRNA-21 in early-stage ovarian cancer was 2.86 fold compared with the healthy control subjects (p < 0.05). In addition, there was an increase in the expression of microRNA-21 in ovarian cancer by 4.14 fold compared with the healthy controls (p < 0.05). Based on these results, it can be concluded that the expression of microRNA 21 upregulated with the severity of the disease.

Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a lethal disease due to late diagnosis and lack of effective screening methods. MicroRNA (miR/miRNA) plays an important role in ovarian carcinogenesis and may serve as a non-invasive biomarker for EOC. This study aimed to assess miR-141 expression in the blood plasma of patients with EOC and healthy subjects and determine its association with the clinical stage of EOC. Methods: This cross-sectional study used blood plasma from 30 newly diagnosed untreated patients with EOC and 25 healthy subjects. The mean age was 47.73 (SD = 10.29) years for EOC and 44.48 (SD = 16.14) years for healthy subject. The total RNA was isolated from blood plasma and reversed transcribed to obtain cDNA. The expression of miR-141 was measured by real- time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and calculated using 2-∆∆Ct methods. The data were analysed using Mann-Whitney test. Results: The expression of miR-141 was upregulated 8.41 fold in the blood plasma of EOC patients compared to healthy controls (P < 0.001). Expression of miR-141 in the advanced stage was upregulated 4.2 fold compared to the early stage (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The miR-141 was upregulated in the blood plasma of EOC and associated with an advanced stage of disease, suggesting it has potential as a biomarker for EOC detection.

Background. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is marked by oxidative stress, inflammation, and vascular dysfunction that caused diabetic nephropathy that resulted in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Vascular dysfunction is characterized by an imbalance in vasoconstrictor and vasodilator agents which underlies the mechanism of vascular injury in DM. Additionally, diminished podocytes correlate with the severity of kidney injury. Podocyturia often precedes proteinuria in several kidney diseases, including diabetic kidney disease. Centella asiatica (CeA) is known as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and has neuroprotective effects. This research aimed to investigate the potential effect of CeA to inhibit glomerular injury and vascular remodeling in DM. Methods. The DM rat model was induced through intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin 60 mg/kg body weight (BW), and then rats were divided into 1-month DM (DM1, n = 5), 2-month DM (DM2, n = 5), early DM concurrent with CeA treatment for 2 months (DMC2, n = 5), and 1-month DM treated with CeA for 1-month (DM1C1, n = 5). The CeA (400 mg/kg BW) was given daily via oral gavage. The control group (Control, n = 5) was maintained for 2 months. Finally, rats were euthanized and kidneys were harvested to assess vascular remodeling using Sirius Red staining and the mRNA expression of superoxide dismutase, podocytes marker, ACE2, eNOS, and ppET-1 using RT-PCR. Results. The DM groups demonstrated significant elevation of glucose level, glomerulosclerosis, and proteinuria. A significant reduction of SOD1 and SOD3 promotes the downregulation of nephrin and upregulation of TRPC6 mRNA expressions in rat glomerular kidney. Besides, this condition enhanced ppET-1 and inhibited eNOS and ACE2 mRNA expressions that lead to the development of vascular remodeling marked by an increase of wall thickness, and lumen wall area ratio (LWAR). Treatment of CeA, especially the DMC2 group, attenuated glomerular injury and showed the reversal of induced conditions. Conclusions. Centella asiatica treatment at the early stage of diabetes mellitus ameliorates glomerulosclerosis and vascular injury via increasing antioxidant enzymes.

BACKGROUND: Patients’ illness perceptions are thought to be associated with anxiety undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). AIM: This study aimed to determine the association between illness perception and anxiety undergoing PCI in patients with ACS. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design and enrolled 50 hospitalized patients with ACS who underwent elective PCI between December 2019 and March 2020. The study instruments were the Brief-Illness Perception Questionnaire to evaluate illness perception and the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale to evaluate patients’ anxiety. Statistical analysis was performed using the Pearson correlation test with significance set as p < 0.05. RESULTS: This study showed that 56% of respondents had positive perceptions toward their disease. The majority of respondents (94%) also indicated a low level of anxiety undergoing PCI. The Pearson correlation test results revealed a significant association between illness perception and the level of anxiety undergoing PCI in patients with ACS (p = 0.043; r = 0.287). CONCLUSION: There is a significant association between illness perception and anxiety undergoing PCI in patients with ACS. The positive perceptions led to lower patients’ anxiety, and vice versa.