Background: Various risk factors have been proposed for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); nonetheless, the prognostic role of serum electrolytes has not been widely studied. Objectives: The present study aimed to identify the potential prognostic role of electrolyte imbalance in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. The medical records of all COVID-19 patients admitted to the emergency department from May to August 2020 were evaluated. Demographic data and clinical findings upon admission were collected. Disease severity, lung involvement severity on imaging, inflammatory serum biomarkers, admission to the intensive care unit, and serum levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium (corrected by serum albumin level), and phosphorus were documented. Results: Most patients (60%) were male, and the mean age of the total population was 58.87 ± 1.82 years. Severe COVID-19 was detected in most cases (94.9%) who were significantly older (P = 0.037), had hypertension (P = 0.032), ischemic heart disease (P = 0.033), and higher serum urea (P = 0.001) and serum potassium (P < 0.001). Patients with poor prognosis based on computed tomography (CT) scores had significantly higher serum urea (P = 0.002) and magnesium (P = 0.035) than patients with good prognosis, while serum calcium was significantly higher in the latter group (P = 0.007). Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between COVID-19 severity and serum potassium (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Abnormal serum electrolytes are correlated with COVID-19 severity. Moreover, serum potassium level is a predictor of severe disease.
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has greatly impressed medical education by shifting traditional educational methods to e-learning. Objectives: This study evaluated the undergraduate medical students' attitudes toward e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic Methods: This cross-sectional study included undergraduate medical students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, in the academic year 2020 - 21 by census sampling method, whose attitude toward e-learning was evaluated based on the Ghanizadeh et al. scale. Categorical variables were demonstrated with frequency and percentage, and quantitative variables were described using the mean and standard deviation. An independent-sample t test was run to study the hypothesis. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to compare pre-clinical and clinical groups' attitudes toward e-learning after gender control. Statistical analyses were performed by SPSS 23. Results: The study enrolled 528 undergraduate medical students. The findings indicated that 85.4% of the students agreed with the necessity of more effective e-learning in medical education, and 95.5% believed that e-learning should play a complementary role in medical education. It was found that clinical students had a marginally statistically significantly better attitude toward e-learning than pre-clinical students (t = -2.04, df = 526, P = 0.041). Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed between the two groups after gender control (t = 2.87, P = 0.091). It was shown that males had more positive attitudes toward e-learning than females (t = 2.28, df = 526, P = 0.023). Conclusions: The results revealed acceptable attitudes toward e-learning. Although many students declared e-learning's usefulness and confirmed its complementary role in medical education, some announced that it could not replace in-person training.
Background: Optimal duration for medical therapy of liver hydatid cysts before surgery in not certainly defined yet. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of 2 weeks preoperative albendazole in decreasing viable cysts. Methods: Patients referring to Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran with a diagnosis of hepatic hydatid cyst were randomly divided into intervention (44 patients) and control (46 patients) groups. The case group were treated with oral albendazole before surgery and the control group underwent surgery without albendazole therapy. Efficacy of albendazole on the reduction of prevalence and viability of the protoscoleces was finally evaluated. Results: A number of 90 patients were included in the final analysis. Protoscoleces were reported alive in 10 (22.7%) and 17 (36.9%) of patients in the case and control group, respectively. The decrease of live protoscoleces in case group was not statistically significant (P=0.14). Conclusion: Decrease in the viability of protoscoleces in hepatic hydatid cysts after 2 weeks administration of oral albendazole at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day preoperatively, is not significant. Optimal duration of medical treatment before surgery seems to be 4 weeks or more.
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