RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is a major global health problem. Most previous studies focused attention on the significant role of sunlight exposure in the homeostasis of vitamin D and calcium blood levels. Magnesium is pivotal in the proper functioning of vitamin D, and the physiologic functions of different organs require a balanced vitamin D and magnesium status. The relationship between sunlight exposure and blood levels of vitamin D and magnesium has often been overlooked. The aim of this study was to evaluate vitamin D and magnesium status based on sunlight exposure and ethnicity in Bahraini and expatriate workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2018 and September 2019. One hundred and seventy-four subjects participated in this study were subdivided based on their ethnicity and work environment-dependent exposure to sunlight into four groups: (1) Bahraini exposed (n=94), (2) Bahraini non-exposed (n=25), (3) expatriate exposed (n=31), and (4) expatriate non-exposed (n=24). Blood levels of vitamin D and magnesium were evaluated for all the participants. RESULTS: Independent of ethnicity, vitamin D levels were insignificantly different among the studied groups and were all below the normal reference range. Yet, there was still a sunlight-dependent increase in vitamin D level that could be seen only in Bahraini workers. Magnesium levels were significantly higher in expatriates when compared to Bahraini workers. Sunlight-exposed expatriates had significantly higher magnesium levels than their Bahraini counterparts, while there was no significant difference between both ethnicities in the non-exposed groups. CONCLUSION: Country- and ethnic-specific definitions for vitamin D status and sunlight exposure are recommended. The assessment of magnesium status is pivotal in the overall assessment of vitamin D status.
RESUMEN
Purpose: As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, medical education at the Arabian Gulf University was instructed to apply online teaching instead of face-to-face for all phases of teaching at the University. Phase-1 is concerned with basic science courses delivered to year 1 students. We conducted this study to detect if there are any differences in the performance of medical students between online and face-to-face ways of learning. Also, a comparison between male and female performance in scientific courses was carried out in pre and during COVID-19 periods. Methods: The participant were first year students for pre COVID-19 period from 2018 to 2019 and during COVID-19 period from 2020 to 2021. The university used Moodle and Zoom as an online way of teaching. The students' performance in the year 1 (three-semester) -online period of teaching were compared with a three-semester-performance of conventional teaching prior to COVID-19. This is a retrospective study that attempts to shed some light on the efficiency of AGU experience in online learning for year 1 (Phase I) students. This study evaluates the outcome of both, online and face-to-face examinations for scientific courses. Results: The results showed that the mean performance of year one medical students in all basic scientific courses (Phase I) during the coronavirus pandemic was greater than the mean performance before the pandemic with the exception of the Biostatistics course. The results by gender showed that the mean performance of females was better than males across all scientific courses before coronavirus. Also, during the COVID pandemic, the mean performance of females was better than males in all basic science courses. Conclusion: Year -1 students' performance in science courses during the coronavirus period seems better than pre COVID19 era. Females' performance was better than males' in both periods; pre and during COVID -19 periods.
