This study involved collecting fecal specimens from 498 males and 773 females, aged 1

year and older, in Pateros, Philippines. These individuals had not taken metronidazole or
antidiarrheal medication for at least two weeks before sample collection. Blastocystis
sp. was examined in the samples using in vitro cultivation in a diphasic medium. Among
the 1271 human fecal samples, 13.0% were found to be positive for Blastocystis.
Additionally, 145 stool specimens from dogs owned by participants were collected, and
14.5% of them tested positive for Blastocystis.

This revealed a diverse array of Blastocystis subtypes in both human and canine
populations. Identified human subtypes included ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, ST5, and
unspecified subtypes. Likewise, dog samples exhibited the presence of ST1, ST2, ST3,
ST4, ST5, and unspecified subtypes.Furthermore, mixed subtype infections were
observed in both humans and dogs. All specimens with unidentified subtypes tested
positive for Blastocystis sp., as confirmed by SSU-rDNA PCR.

Reference
Belleza, M.L., Reyes, J.C., Tongol-Rivera, P., Rivera W. (June 2016).Parasitology
International(Volume 65, Issue 3). In Subtype analysis of Blastocystis sp. isolates from
human and canine hosts in an urban community in the Philippines (pp.291-294).
 Research title: Effect of asthma and asthma medication on the prognosis of
patients with COVID-19

A. Identify the following:

I. Research Design used in the study
- The research design used in the study of “Effect of asthma and
asthma medication on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19”
was Observational research design because it is used to
examine the association between certain conditions (in this case,
asthma and asthma medication) and outcomes in real-world
settings.
II. Research setting
- The research setting of the research was conducted in Korea,
covering its entire population wherein they included 7590
de-identified patients, who were confirmed to have COVID-19 using
the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA-PCR
tests and 218 (2.9%) of it had underlying asthma.
B. Discuss the following:
I. Sampling Technique used in the study
- The sampling technique used in this study was random purposive
sampling because participants are selected based on specific
criteria determined by the researchers which are covid patients with
underlying asthma.
II. Statistical Analysis
- As the study revealed that the CCI score for assessing
comorbidities and categorized patients based on CCI scores of 0,
1, 2, and ⩾3 points. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis was
employed to identify risk factors for clinical outcomes, with
adjustments made for age, gender, underlying diseases associated
with each CCI score category, and/or the use of asthma
medications. They assessed multicollinearity between variables
using the variance inflation factor. The data analysis was conducted
using SAS Enterprise, with a significance level set at p<0.05.
Reference:
Yong Jun Choi et. al. (2021) European Respiratory Journal. Effect of asthma and
asthma medication on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19.
https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/57/3/2002226

Belleza, M.L., Reyes, J.C., Tongol-Rivera, P., Rivera W. (June

2016).Parasitology International(Volume 65, Issue 3). In Subtype analysis of Blastocystis
sp. isolates from human and canine hosts in an urban community in the Philippines (pp.
291-294).Belleza, M.L., Reyes, J.C., Tongol-Rivera, P., Rivera W. (June
2016).Parasitology International(Volume 65, Issue 3). In Subtype analysis of Blastocystis
sp. isolates from human and canine hosts in an urban community in the Philippines (pp.
291-294).

Belleza, M. L. B., Reyes, J. C. B., Tongol-Rivera, P. N., & Rivera,

W. L. (2016). Subtype analysis of Blastocystis sp. isolates from human and canine hosts in
an urban community in the Philippines. Parasitology International, 65(3), 291-294.
Belleza, M. L. B., Reyes, J. C. B., Tongol-Rivera, P. N., & Rivera,
W. L. (2016). Subtype analysis of Blastocystis sp. isolates from human and canine hosts in
an urban community in the Philippines. Parasitology International, 65(3), 291-294.