Synthesis and characterization of azo-containing organometallic thin films for all optical switching applications

International audienceNovel photoresponsive materials based on azo-containing bifunctional ruthenium-acetylides have been synthesized. All optical switching based on the Optical Kerr Effect in the organometallic thin films based on ruthenium(II) acetylides containing an azobenzene moiety as a photochromic unit in the main pi-conjugated system dispersed in a poly(methyl methacrylate) matrix has been observed. The excitation beam was delivered from a picosecond laser at wavelength 532 nm while dynamics of induced sample birefringence was probed by a non-absorbed linearly polarized beam of cw He-Ne laser (632.8 nm). The influence of ruthenium part on dynamics of molecular motions has been shown

Patient safety climate and its affecting factors among rehabilitation health care staff of hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Iran-Tehran

Objectives: Hospitals and clinical centers are concerned about patient safety. Safety climate is a perceived value of safety in an organization that could improve the safety of workers and patients. The present research was conducted to study the safety climate of patients in the hospitals and rehabilitation centers affiliated to the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 300 nurses and nurse's aides (healthcare staff) who were selected by stratified sampling method, from two hospitals and three clinics, in 2017. Data collection tools included Patient Safety Climate Scale presented by Kudo and a demographic data questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS using descriptive statics like frequencies and percentages. Furthermore, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyze the obtained data and compare the mean scores, respectively. Results: The Mean±SD age and work experience of study participants were 36.7±6.79 and 9.46±5.8 years, respectively. The patient safety climate sub-factors were significantly different between males and females (P 0.05). Patient safety climate was only different in nursing condition (P=0.013) among studied healthcare centers. Also, only fatigue reduction was different among various studied wards (P=0.035), where intensive care unit had the lowest score (2.12±2.0). Discussion: Overall, the poor condition of patient safety climate was found in the studied rehabilitation centers. Therefore, it is recommended to improve nurses' attitudes with the assistance of hospital managers, to enhance patient safety. © 2019 University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

Guidelines for the establishment and functioning of Animal Ethics Commitees (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees) in Africa.

Animals are used for scientific purposes across Africa to benefit humans, animals or the environment. Nonetheless, ethical and regulatory oversight remains limited in many parts of the continent. To strengthen this governance framework, the Pan-African Network for Laboratory Animal Science and Ethics brought together experts from 12 African countries to create an Africa-centric practical guide to facilitate the establishment and appropriate functioning of Institutional Animal Ethics Committees across Africa. The Guidelines are based on universal principles for the care and use of sentient animals for scientific purposes, with consideration of the cultural, religious, political and socio-economic diversity in Africa. They focus on 11 key elements, including responsibilities of institutions and of the Institutional Official; composition of the Committee; its responsibilities, functioning and authority; ethical application and review processes; oversight and monitoring of animal care and use and of training and competence; quality assurance; and the roles of other responsible parties. The intent is for African institutions to adopt and adapt the guidelines, aligning with existing national legislation and standards where relevant, thus ensuring incorporation into practice. More broadly, the Guidelines form an essential component of the growing discourse in Africa regarding moral considerations of, and appropriate standards for, the care and use of animals for scientific purposes. The increased establishment of appropriately functioning animal ethics committees and robust ethical review procedures across Africa will enhance research quality and culture, strengthen societal awareness of animals as sentient beings, improve animal well-being, bolster standards of animal care and use, and contribute to sustainable socio-economic development

The effects of the manner of carrying the bags on musculoskeletal symptoms in school students in the city of Ilam, Iran

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders are a major public health problem. Recently, there has been an increase in musculoskeletal disorder complaints among school students. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the factors affecting students' physical stature and the manner of carrying bags by them in Ilam, Iran. Materials and Methods: A total of 244 students were randomly selected to participate in the study. A questionnaire was designed to collect required data. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to find out complaints related to back, neck, and shoulder disorders. The height was measured using a portable stadiometer. A digital scale was used to measure the weight of students and their bags. Results: About 50 of the primary students reported discomforts in shoulder. The weights of bags carried by 66.4 of students were lighter than 10 of their body weight. Most students with different physical problems had tarpaulin bags. There was a significant relationship between the manner of carrying bags and their design (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The manner of carrying bags is an important factor among primary school children because carrying of heavy bags is clearly the effective factor and may be ignored as a physical stressor for primary students

Investigation of relationship between occupational stress and cardiovascular risk factors among nurses

Background: One of the major causes of various work-related health problems among nurses is occupational stress. Hence, the main purpose of the present research was to find association between occupational stress of nurses and risk factors of cardiovascular disease. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the Osipow job stress questionnaire was employed to assess the occupational stress among the 250 nurses in Emam Khomeini hospital of Tehran in 2018. Based on stress score for partici-pants, subjects divided into two groups: Scoring of group one was 60-179 (mild and average stress) and group two between 180 and 300 (average to acute and acute stress). Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were recorded for subjects after 10hrs fasting. Then the blood samples were collected to measure cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose levels. For determining the association between education level, job experience and study groups, the Chi-square test and for comparing job stress between two groups of study the Mann�Whitney U test was used. Results: Subjects with job stress in group one was 70(28) and group two was 180(72). The association between level of education and two study groups was not significant (P=0.129) while between job experience and two study groups was significant (P=0.004). Mean of Blood glucose levels for group I (98.0± 37.5), was higher than group II (82.5±12.0) and statistically significant (P=0.001). No significant difference was found between two groups of study for other parameters. Conclusion: High level of work-related stress among subjects affected the values related to blood glucose level, but no significant relationship was found between other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and occupational stress among nurses. © 2020, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All rights reserved

Meta-analysis Study of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Iran

Objective Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are one of the major causes of lost working time, increased costs, human injuries and burnout. The International Labor Organization estimates that about 160 million work-related illnesses occur worldwide each year, where the highest prevalent illnesses are musculoskeletal disorders. Several studies have been conducted In Iran to investigate the prevalence of these disorders, each providing different statistics. Therefore, considering the importance of these disorders, it is necessary to obtain accurate results with high statistical power and validate them. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Iran in order to obtain more accurate results by conducting a meta-analysis. Materials & Methods For this meta-analysis, searching was conducted in SID, MagIran, Iran-Medex, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases using the keyword "work-related musculoskeletal disorders" in both Persian and English on studies conducted during 2001-2016 in various cities of Iran. Inclusion criteria were: investigating the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in a period of one year, being a cross-sectional or descriptive-analytical study, publication in Persian or English, availability of full-texts, assessment using standard methods (e.g. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire) and considering the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders throughout the body (upper and lower extremities). The heterogeneity of the articles was evaluated using the I-2 statistics and the data were analyzed in STATA software using meta-analysis and random-effects model. Results In this study, 45 papers on work-related musculoskeletal disorders were studied. The overall sample size of these studies was 9813, with a mean number of 218 for each study. Most of studies were descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional. In all of them, the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in different parts of the body had been investigated. According to their results, the most prevalent workrelated musculoskeletal disorder in lower extremity was low back pain (0.49) and in upper extremity, it was neck pain (39.3). The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in other parts of the body were 39.32 in the neck, 36.9 in shoulders, 36.8 in the back, 34 in the wrist, 26.9 in legs, 20.5 in thighs and hips, and 16.2 in elbows. Conclusion There is a relatively high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in lower extremity (lower back) and upper extremity (neck and shoulders) of workers in Iran which is more acute compared to other countries, and need further studies to determine its causes. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the of the health of employees, and ergonomic intervention programs should be designed by managers and officials of organizations to prevent musculoskeletal disorders at workplaces. Since the workers in Iran are young, there may not be high musculoskeletal complaints at the present time, but in the future it will create some problems for them. Therefore, reducing working hours, changing workplace design such that the design of ordered chairs tables be in accordance with ergonomics principles and body dimensions, scheduling time for employees to exercise, and providing training courses for them to maintain proper physical condition at work are suggested as strategies to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders

Effect of metal complexation on the nonlinear optical response of a conjugated ligand

International audienceOrganic nonlinear optical materials are widely investigated materials for fabricating optoelectronic devices. Particularly organic π-conjugated systems as well as transition metal complex compounds are studied in this direction because of the strong electronic coupling between the ligand and the metal, their excellent chemical stability, and their rich photochemical and photophysical properties. In this work, comparative studies of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of a bipyridine ligand (4-(N,N-dibutylamino)-4′-(5-ethynyl-2,2′-bipyridine)-azobenzene (A) and of the corresponding heteroleptic ruthenium complex (Ru(bpy)2(La)(PF6)2 (B) (La signifies the ligand) are presented. The NLO properties were investigated by means of the Z-scan technique using a 30 ps mode-locked Nd-YVO4 laser at 532 nm with a repetition rate of 10 Hz. Our results show that the introduction of the metal in the organic complex results in a significant modification of the third-order nonlinear optical response

[Genetic aspects of growth hormone deficiency].

International audienceCongenital growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a rare cause of growth delay. It should be suspected when other causes of hypopituitarism (sellar tumor, postsurgical or radioinduced hypopituitarism, etc.) have been ruled out. GHD can be isolated (IGHD) or associated with at least one other pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) including thyrotroph, lactotroph, corticotroph, or gonadotroph deficiencies. CPHD is caused by mutations of genes coding for pituitary transcription factors involved in pituitary ontogenesis or in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Clinical presentation varies, depending on the type and severity of GHD, the age at diagnosis, the association with other pituitary hormone deficiencies, or extrapituitary malformations. Clinical, biological, and radiological work-up is very important to determine for which transcription factor the patient should be screened. There is a wide variety of phenotypes depending on the transcription factor involved: PROP1 (somatolactotroph, thyrotroph, gonadotroph, and sometimes corticotroph deficiencies ; pituitary hyper- or hypoplasia), POU1F1 (somatolactotroph and thyrotroph deficiencies, pituitary hypoplasia), HESX1 (variable pituitary deficiencies, septo-optic dysplasia), and less frequently LHX3 (somatolactotroph, thyrotroph, and gonadotroph deficiencies, deafness, and limited head and neck rotation), LHX4 (variable pituitary deficiencies, ectopic neurohypophysis, cerebral abnormalities), and OTX2 (variable pituitary deficiencies, ectopic neurohypophysis, ocular abnormalities). Mutations of PROP1 remain the first identified cause of CPHD, and as a consequence the first to be sought. POU1F1 mutations should be looked for in the postpubertal population presenting with GH/TSH deficiencies and no extrapituitary malformations. Once genetic diagnosis has been concluded, a strict follow-up is necessary because patients can develop new deficiencies (for example, late-onset corticotroph deficiency in patients with PROP1 mutations). Identification of gene defects allows early treatment of pituitary deficiency and prevention of their potentially lethal consequences. If untreated, the main symptoms include short stature, cognitive alterations, or delayed puberty. An appropriate replacement of hormone deficiencies is therefore required. Depending on the type of transmission (recessive transmission for PROP1 and LHX3, dominant for LHX4, autosomal dominant or recessive for POU1F1 and HESX1), genetic counseling might be proposed. Genotyping appears highly beneficial at an individual and familial level