Background: Online learning or E-learning are approaches to broadcasting teaching by the means of internet technology and software applications. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is likewise embarking on the rapid growth in online education. The purpose of this study is to investigate the student’s perceptions regarding online teaching and learning during COVID 19. Methods: An online computer-based cross-sectional study was conducted between May and June 2020. A pre-validated questionnaire was used and administrated to health sciences students studying at Dammam Universities through online software QuestionPro. Results: Out of total 281, 68% of the participants were females (n=188) while 31.9% (n=88) were male students with an average age of 23.1(4.5) years. Overall, 176 (62%) of the students expressed their satisfaction with online learning. Conclusion: Findings will help academicians to identify strengths, areas of improvement, and encourage faculty to think deeply to restructure course learning objectives, teaching techniques to engage students and improve learning process.

Background: Continuous evaluation of students and employee’s knowledge and attitude in the clinical laboratory is mandatory to ensure a high level of competency, proper practice and to assess the need for training. This shall be reflected on the quality of laboratory results. Objective: the aim of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of employees and students who belong to the department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences in the standard microbiology laboratory towards the use of laboratory equipment. Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey in which thirty 2nd year students, twenty-six 3rd year students, twenty-four 4th year students in the Clinical Laboratory Sciences department and thirty employees completed a survey comprising 30 questions to assess their knowledge and attitude towards the use of equipment and practice in the microbiology laboratory in order to assess the achievement of past learning outcomes. Results: The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the average scores of all levels students regarding their knowledge, attitude, and practice in the microbiology laboratory. Employees scores were quite poor, as indicated by the lower average results than that of students.  Conclusion: It is concluded that the knowledge, attitude, and practice of students and employees in the microbiology laboratory need to be meticulously monitored and improved using frequent quizzes and continuous education programs to ensure high achievement of learning outcomes and better overall performance in the laboratory.

Background  The presence of Extended-spectrum β-lactamase positive bacteria in hospital setting is an aggravating influential factor for hospitalized patients, and its consequences may be hazardous. Therefore, there is a need for rapid detection methods for newly emerging drug-resistant bacteria. This study was aimed at the molecular characterization of Extended-spectrum β-lactamase -positive  Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates recovered from the patients of a teaching hospital in Sindh, Pakistan.   Methods  A total of 513  K. pneumoniae isolates were obtained from various clinical samples during June 2019 to May 2020. The collected isolates were investigated for antimicrobial susceptibility (antibiogram), and PCR and DNA sequencing were performed to analyse the ESBL genes.   Results  Among the 513 isolates, as many as 359 (69.9%) were Extended-spectrum β-lactamase producers and 87.5% were multi-drug resistant, while none had resistance to imipenem. PCR scored 3% blaTEM, 3% blaSHV, and 60% blaCTX-M-15 genes for the tested isolates.   Conclusion  The study showed that CTX-M-15 was the major prevalent Extended-spectrum β-lactamase type among the isolates. Additionally, all the isolates were susceptible to carbapenems. Screening and detection of Extended-spectrum β-lactamase tests are necessary among all isolates from the enterobacteriaceae family in routine microbiology laboratory to prevent associated nosocomial infections. A larger study is essential to understand molecular epidemiology of Extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing organisms to minimize morbidities due to these multidrug resistant organisms.

The study was designed to investigate the anticancer effect of phenazine-1-carboxamide (PCN) isolated from the bacterium Pantoea agglomerans naturally present in soil. PCN showed cytotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner, and inhibitory concentrations on the cancer cell lines A549, HeLa, and SW480 were between 32 and 40 μM. Significantly increased concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase were found with increasing concentrations of PCN, which resulted in increased destruction of the cancer cell membrane. A significantly increased p53 level was accompanied by the increased production of cytochrome c protein in all cancer cell lines studied. This condition in cells leads to the overexpression of caspase 3 and Bcl-2 family proteins. Upregulation and downregulation of proapoptotic and antiproapoptotic proteins were analyzed for their messenger RNA and protein expression. The activation of caspases and their cleavage compounds paves the way for the complete apoptosis process in cancer cells. We conclude that P. agglomerans-derived PCN acts as an effective anticancer drug or compound.

Background: Query fever (Q fever), caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a highly infectious zoonotic infection to humans and livestock. Despite extensive efforts to develop effective vaccines against this disease, only one vaccine is licensed and available. The aim of this study was to investigate the global research trends, keystone bibliometric parameters, and network visualization mapping in Q fever vaccine from 1941 to 2021.   Methods: A retrospective bibliometric followed by a visualized study was conducted. The searches were conducted in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) Edition of Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The following keywords were used: "Q fever" OR "Query fever" OR "Coxiella burnetii" OR "Coxiella-burnetii" OR "C. burnetii" (Topic) AND "Vaccin*" OR "Immuniz*" OR "Immunis*" (Topic) without any limitation. The data were plotted for co-authorship countries, co-occurrence keywords plus, and bibliographic coupling sources network visualization mapping. The VOSviewer version 1.6.17 was used for network visualization.   Results: The bibliographical search resulted in a total of 478 publications which were included in this study. The publications were mainly published in English (n=436), while the major document types were articles (n=391). The most productive year was 2014 (n=33), while the most cited year was 2020 (n=1026). The extensively studied research areas were immunology and veterinary science, and the most used keywords plus were Q-fever and Coxiella-burnetii. Kazar J (n=17) was the leading author, while the famous journal was Acta Virologica (n=23). The most active institution was the Slovak Academy of Sciences (n=32), and the leading country was the US (n=129).   Conclusion: A rapid increase has been observed in Q fever vaccine publications and citations in the past 20 years. This study might be of great interest to provide standard bibliographic information and keystones parameters in Q fever vaccine research.