A multinational study on the factors influencing university students' attitudes and usage of ChatGPT.

Artificial intelligence models, like ChatGPT, have the potential to revolutionize higher education when implemented properly. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing university students' attitudes and usage of ChatGPT in Arab countries. The survey instrument "TAME-ChatGPT" was administered to 2240 participants from Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan. Of those, 46.8% heard of ChatGPT, and 52.6% used it before the study. The results indicated that a positive attitude and usage of ChatGPT were determined by factors like ease of use, positive attitude towards technology, social influence, perceived usefulness, behavioral/cognitive influences, low perceived risks, and low anxiety. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the adequacy of the "TAME-ChatGPT" constructs. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the attitude towards ChatGPT usage was significantly influenced by country of residence, age, university type, and recent academic performance. This study validated "TAME-ChatGPT" as a useful tool for assessing ChatGPT adoption among university students. The successful integration of ChatGPT in higher education relies on the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, positive attitude towards technology, social influence, behavioral/cognitive elements, low anxiety, and minimal perceived risks. Policies for ChatGPT adoption in higher education should be tailored to individual contexts, considering the variations in student attitudes observed in this study.

A comprehensive overview of substance abuse amongst Syrian individuals in an addiction rehabilitation center.

Objectives: This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of substance abuse amongst Syrian individuals in an addiction rehabilitation center. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional survey-based study, from patients receiving treatment in an addiction rehabilitation center in Damascus. Syria. The study was conducted over a period of nine months. Results: A total of 82 participants were recruited, the majority of them were males (n = 78.95.1%). More than half of those investigated reported multi-level failure (n = 46, 56.1%) during their education. Most of the participants (n = 44, 53.7%) started to use drugs at a friend's home. The family was shown to play a positive role in stopping the initial drug taking trials at early stages (33/56, 58.9%). Again, friends' effect was the main reason for the return of abusing drugs (20/56, 35.7%). Sources of drugs were mainly from drug promoters for most of the participants (n = 58, 70.7%) followed by friends (n = 28, 34.1%). Participants revealed that taking drugs were mostly accompanied by additional habits such as cigarette smoking before using their drugs (n = 65, 79.3%), or drinking alcohol (57.3%). Surprisingly, participants believed that drug abuse does not lead to addiction (n = 52, 63.4%). The most common experienced feeling was depressed, desperate, or sad (n = 47, 57.3%), followed by anxiety and the desire to escape reality and resort to imaginations (n = 44, 53.7%). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate the need of policymakers to give more attention, in developing preventive strategies, to friends, as a main cause of addiction, in addition to the family influences on individual's drug abuse, addiction behaviors, and mindsets. Understanding the influencing factors could spot the light on the key to solve the addiction problem. A realist rehabilitation programs must be well designed and implemented as the level of individuals, institutions and communities to face this problematic addiction disaster.

Patterns of antibiotic use, knowledge, and perceptions among different population categories: A comprehensive study based in Arabic countries.

Background: Antibiotics are essential for the treatment of bacterial infections and are considered among the most commonly sold drug classes from the community pharmacy in the developing countries without a prescription in most cases. Purpose: This study aims to explore the knowledge, practices, and attitudes regarding antibiotic use. Materials and methods: This study employs a cross-sectional descriptive design that used a pre-validated survey. The participants were classified into three main mutually exclusive groups: healthcare professionals, medical students, and other adults in the community. Results: Of the 10,226 participants, 1157 (11%) were healthcare professionals; 2322 (23%) were medical students and 6747 (66%) were other adults in community. The majority of participants used antibiotic at least once during the past year. A total of 838 (72.4%) healthcare professionals and 800 (34.5%) medical students had prescribed an antibiotic during the last 6 months.Almost half of the medical students and adults in the community and almost one-third of healthcare professionals reported that the aim of antibiotics use is for fever. Furthermore, around one-quarter of participants reported that the aim of antibiotics use is for viral infection. Around one-quarter of respondents stated that the antibiotic will always be effective in the treatment of the same infection in the future. Around one-quarter of participants stated that 21 to 50% of antibiotics are considered to be unnecessary or inappropriate prescriptions. Different factors were perceived as being very important causes of antibiotic resistance among the participants. Conclusions: These findings indicated that this study participants showed unsatisfactory knowledge and perceptions of proper antibiotic use. Therefore, there is a requirement for a comprehensive and effective antibiotic-stewardship program to promote rational antibiotics use, and compensate for knowledge and perceptions gaps to prevent antibiotic resistance development.

Using laboratory parameters as predictors for the severity and mortality of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore association of initial laboratory parameters of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, with the severity and death incident. Methods: In this retrospective study, patients were classified based on mortality outcome (survivor and non-survivor) and disease severity (non-severe, severe, and critical). The initial laboratory data (within the first two days of hospital admission) were compared between these categories. Results: Of 362 COVID-19 patients hospitalized between January-2021 and May-2021, 39.0% were non-severe, 32.2% severe, and 28.7% critical. 77.3% were lived and 22.7% died in hospital. Non-survivors were significantly older than survivors. There was a statistically significant association between exceeding the cut-points of laboratory parameters and the severity of the disease or even death. These laboratory parameters included D-dimer, C-reactive protein, prothrombin time, ferritin, white blood cells, neutrophil count, aspartate aminotransferase, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, lymphocyte count, and albumin. Also, exceeding the cut-points of these parameters showed high odds of death. The highest odds ratio was reported for albumin <3.5 g/dL (OR=14.318 [4.784-42.851], p<0.001). Conclusion: The cut-points of the laboratory parameters could effectively be used as predictors to assess the severity and risk of death to improve the management of COVID-19 patients.

Public knowledge, beliefs, psychological responses, and behavioural changes during the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Middle East.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge, believes, psychological and behavioural impact of COVID-19 on the general population in the Middle East, exploring how it impacted public lives. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional online survey was sent to a convenience sample in the Middle East through social media (Facebook and WhatsApp) between 16th of June and 30th of June 2020. The questionnaire was designed to collect the demographic, participant's source of information regarding COVID-19, knowledge and believes about COVID-19, the psychological consequences of COVID-19, impact of COVID-19 on participant's behaviour. The final version of the questionnaire was further tested for content validity by experts in the field. RESULTS: A total of 2,061 participants completed the survey, with the majority being females (n=1394, 67.6%), from urban areas (n=1896, 92%) and the majority were from countries of The Levant (n=1199, 58.1%), followed by the Arabian Peninsula (n=392, 19.1%), Iraq (n=300, 14.6%) and Egypt (n=138, 6.7%). Few participants (3.0%) reported to have been infected and many (n=1847, 89.6%) were committed to quarantine at home. Social media platforms were the most common sources of information (41.2%). Many (63%) believed that COVID-19 is a biological weapon and were afraid of visiting crowded places (85%). The majority avoided public facilities (86.9%) such as prayer places and believed that the news about COVID-19 made them anxious (49.5%).

Investigation of the potential application of sodium bentonite as an excipient in formulation of sustained release tablets.

In this study, the application of sodium bentonite (SB) in formulation of tablets prepared by direct compression for oral administration was tested. Three different model drugs with different solubilities: paracetamol, diclofenac sodium and metformin HCl were tested. Each drug was mixed with SB at ratio of 50% and the mixtures were subsequently compressed. Compatibility studies were conducted using both Deferential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The dissolution profile for each drug was determined in USP-buffers at different time intervals. Diclofenac sodium in pH 6.8 buffer and paracetamol in both pH 6.8 and pH 4.5 buffers showed extended release. However, metformin HCl showed immediate release at the different pH values. The study showed that using SB was possible to prepare tablets with different release profiles. However, these profiles differ depending on dissolution media and drug type.