Developing the Job Description for Diabetes Nurse Specialists: A Modified Delphi Approach

Background: The first step to establish a new academicmajor is the need assessment and extraction of professional and specialized tasks. Objectives: The current study aimed to identify and describe the duties of diabetes nurse specialists. Methods: This needs assessment study was performed using modified Delphi technique in Isfahan in 2014 - 2015. The study population consisted of patients with diabetes and their families, nurses, endocrinologists, diabetologists and nursing faculty members. The study was conducted in three rounds: first, through qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, the duties and tasks of diabetes nurse specialists were extracted, then a questionnaire was designed and in two consecutive rounds, the experts expressed their opinions about the tasks. Results: The first round of modified Delphi technique resulted in 500 initial codes. According to these codes, 164 duties were classified into seven categories. In the second round of Delphi approach, the experts reached to 100% consensus in 126 tasks. According to the participants, 74 of the 126 duties were similar, overlapping and inappropriate, and thus were eliminated. In the last round of the study according to the opinions of the experts, 15 more tasks were added to the previous list. Finally, job description for diabetes nurse specialist was developed in six tasks on professional responsibilities, 17 tasks on the area of education, 25 tasks regarding caring and treatment, 6 tasks on society and 13 tasks on management. Conclusions: This study led to identification and classification of diabetes nurse specialist duties. The findings can help nursing faculties and other institutes to develop task based educational programs for nurses in diabetes management

Design and Advanced Manufacturing of NU-1000 Metal–Organic Frameworks with Future Perspectives for Environmental and Renewable Energy Applications

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a relatively new family of materials that attract lots of attention thanks to their unique features such as hierarchical porosity, active metal centers, versatility of linkers/metal nodes, and large surface area. Among the extended list of MOFs, Zr-based-MOFs demonstrate comparably superior chemical and thermal stabilities, making them ideal candidates for energy and environmental applications. As a Zr-MOF, NU-1000 is first synthesized at Northwestern University. A comprehensive review of various approaches to the synthesis of NU-1000 MOFs for obtaining unique surface properties (e.g., diverse surface morphologies, large surface area, and particular pore size distribution) and their applications in the catalysis (electro-, and photo-catalysis), CO2 reduction, batteries, hydrogen storage, gas storage/separation, and other environmental fields are presented. The review further outlines the current challenges in the development of NU-1000 MOFs and their derivatives in practical applications, revealing areas for future investigation

Archaeogenetic analysis of Neolithic sheep from Anatolia suggests a complex demographic history since domestication

Sheep were among the first domesticated animals, but their demographic history is little understood. Here we analyzed nuclear polymorphism and mitochondrial data (mtDNA) from ancient central and west Anatolian sheep dating from Epipaleolithic to late Neolithic, comparatively with modern-day breeds and central Asian Neolithic/Bronze Age sheep (OBI). Analyzing ancient nuclear data, we found that Anatolian Neolithic sheep (ANS) are genetically closest to present-day European breeds relative to Asian breeds, a conclusion supported by mtDNA haplogroup frequencies. In contrast, OBI showed higher genetic affinity to present-day Asian breeds. These results suggest that the east-west genetic structure observed in present-day breeds had already emerged by 6000 BCE, hinting at multiple sheep domestication episodes or early wild introgression in southwest Asia. Furthermore, we found that ANS are genetically distinct from all modern breeds. Our results suggest that European and Anatolian domestic sheep gene pools have been strongly remolded since the Neolithic

An advanced composite with ultrafast photocatalytic performance for the degradation of antibiotics by natural sunlight without oxidizing the source over TMU-5@Ni–Ti LDH: Mechanistic insight and toxicity assessment

Pharmaceuticals are considered as emerging organic contaminants that have become a serious environmental problem, which endanger human health and environmental bio-diversity. Several studies have attempted to develop new technologies for the efficient removal of these contaminants from the water cycle. Among these, the photocatalytic degradation of contaminants is considered as a sustainable and economical option. Herein, we have designed and engineered a Zn(ii)-based metal-organic framework@Ni-Ti layered double hydroxide (Zn-TMU-5@Ni-Ti LDH) composite as a well-organized photocatalyst to degrade the antibiotic compound sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) via natural solar light irradiation. It was found that the Zn-TMU-5@Ni-Ti LDH composite significantly improved the removal efficiency of SMZ in comparison with bare Ni-Ti LDH. In particular, with 0.1 g L-1 dose of the optimized Zn-TMU-5@30%Ni-Ti LDH material, the photocatalytic efficacy was increased by >98% in 45 minutes. The formation of OH radicals over the Zn-TMU-5@30%Ni-Ti LDH composite has been proved by employing a terephthalic acid probe in photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. In addition, the catalytic process is accompanied by effective mineralization of the products to be degraded. The exceptional photocatalytic performance of the composite may be ascribed to the synergistic impact of Ni-Ti LDH and Zn-TMU-5, which results in the increased absorption of solar light, effective segregation of photoinduced charge carriers, and fast charge transfer to the reaction sites/conduction band potential of Ni-Ti LDH and Zn-TMU-5. Moreover, the Zn-TMU-5@Ni-Ti LDH composite exhibited good reusability of up to 5 cycles. Thus, the findings demonstrate that the Zn-TMU-5@Ni-Ti LDH composite is an efficient photocatalyst for large-scale SMZ removal via solar light, which can be further applied for the removal of other types of drugs and new toxic-organic pollutants. </p