Sense of community and citizen participation in neighborhood council in Iran

This paper was explored to understand the effects of sense of community on citizen participation in Neighborhood Councils of Tehran city, Iran. There is a variation in study results regarding citizen participation, therefore understanding the effective factors (e.g. sense of community) can help to make citizen participation efforts successful in neighborhood organization. The analysis of data uses SEM to determine the effects of sense of community on citizen Participation in neighborhood organization. The findings revealed that 66% variance in citizen participation explained by sense of community. The findings of the study imply that residents who have a sense of community with their neighbors are more likely to participate in neighborhood associations

Cost effectiveness of different cervical screening strategies in Islamic Republic of Iran: a middle-income country with a low incidence rate of cervical cancer

Objective: Invasive cervical cancer (ICC) is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. Cervical screening programs have reduced the incidence and mortality rates of ICC. We studied the cost-effectiveness of different cervical screening strategies in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Muslim country with a low incidence rate of ICC. Methods: We constructed an 11-state Markov model, in which the parameters included regression and progression probabilities, test characteristics, costs, and utilities; these were extracted from primary data and the literature. Our strategies included Pap smear screening and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing plus Pap smear triaging with different starting ages and screening intervals. Model outcomes included lifetime costs, life years gained, quality-adjusted life years (QALY), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). One-way sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the stability of the results. Results: We found that the prevented mortalities for the 11 strategies compared with no screening varied from 26% to 64%. The most cost-effective strategy was HPV screening, starting at age 35 years and repeated every 10 years. The ICER of this strategy was $8,875 per QALY compared with no screening. We found that screening at 5-year intervals was also cost-effective based on GDP per capita in Iran. Conclusion: We recommend organized cervical screening with HPV DNA testing for women in Iran, beginning at age 35 and repeated every 10 or 5 years. The results of this study could be generalized to other countries with low incidence rates of cervical cancer

COMPARISON OF POSTEROLATERAL AND LATERAL APPROACH FOR TOTAL HIP REPLACEMENT IN AVASCULAR NECROSIS OF FEMORAL HEAD: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 46 CASES.

Aim: A retrospective study was conducted to compare the lateral approach and posterolateral approach in total hip arthroplasty in term of the Harris hip score, duration of surgery, length of incision and blood loss. Methods: The study were done totally on 46 patients aged between 42 to 80 years. 23 patients were operated through the direct lateral hardinge approach while the other 23 patients were operated through the posterolateral approach. Those patients were operated in between years of 2012 to 2017 in the first Jiamusi university hospital. The data were collected from the medical records of the patients and direct contact with them. The collected data were analyzed with Spss 21.0 version software. The Chi-square test was used to make the comparison between the two groups. Results: There was no significant difference in age, gender, duration of surgery, blood loss and size of incision. The p-value was greater than the ? = 0.05. However, there was significantly difference in Harris hip score between both groups and the p value was 0,043which is statistically significantly difference between the two groups. Conclusion: In our study, patients treated with direct lateral approach had a better postoperative outcome with less complication than the patients treated with a standard posterolateral approach

Tasks in explicit L2 pronunciation instruction: FonF vs. FonFS in improving phonemic accuracy and comprehensibility

The effects of focusing second/foreign language (L2) learners’ attentions on phonological forms while communicating in meaningful discourse has recently attracted attention in L2 pronunciation research. One such treatment is focus-on-form (FonF) instruction wherein L2 learners practice and notice pronunciation features in communicative tasks rather than in decontextualized exercises and drills (i.e., focus-on-forms [FonFS]). Given this, the current study investigated the differential effects of FonF and FonFS instructions on improving Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ pronunciation of the most problematic English consonants. After identifying the problematic English consonants (i.e., /θ/, /ð/, /w/, /ŋ/) via remedial and expert judgment approaches, 45 pre-intermediate learners embarked on an 8-hour course. The experimental group received FonF, the comparison group received FonFS, and the control group had a free conversation class minus any feedback on the target consonants. Learners’ pronunciations were measured in terms of phonemic accuracy and comprehensibility in controlled and spontaneous tasks. The results of immediate and delayed post-test for phonemic accuracy revealed that whereas both FonF and FonFS were equally effective in controlled tasks, only FonF instruction proved effective up to the delayed post-test in spontaneous tasks; no such improvements, however, were observed for the control group. Results also showed that improvements in phonemic accuracy led to overall comprehensibility enhancements in EFL learners’ speech. The article concludes with some pedagogical implications of the findings

Skills, Capabilities, and Requirements of Hospital Managers: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: The hospital, as the most important organization in the delivery of health care services, requires effective and efficient management more than other organizations. Therefore, the skills and capabilities of hospital managers are important issues. The aim of this study was to determine the skills, capabilities, and requirements of hospital managers. Method: This qualitative study was conducted in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, in 2015. The study population was composed of teaching hospital managers, senior managers, faculty members, and postgraduate students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Sampling was conducted through purposive sampling method and continued until data saturation. In this study, interview and focus group discussion were used for data collection, and data analysis was performed using content analysis method. Results: The skills and capabilities of hospital manager were classified into 7 themes (communication, work experience, managerial knowledge, knowledge of the hospital, motivation and interest, systemic thinking and problem solving, individual characteristics and integrity) and 24 sub-themes. For the enhancement of these skills and capabilities, 2 themes (empowerment before and after obtaining the managerial post) and 8 sub-themes were identified. Conclusion: Hospital management requires specific skills and capabilities. Decision makers and policy makers in the health sector should select hospital manager based on these skills. Keywords: Capabilities, Manager, Hospital, Qualitative stud

Numerical modeling on drilling fluid and cutter design effect on drilling bit cutter thermal wear and breakdown

The unconventional reservoir geological complexity will reduce the drilling bit performance. The drill bit poor performance was the reduction in rate of penetration (ROP) due to bit balling and worn cutter and downhole vibrations that led to polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter to break prematurely. These poor performances were caused by drilling the transitional formations (interbedded formations) that could create huge imbalance of forces, causing downhole vibration which led to PDC cutter breakage and thermal wear. These consequently caused worn cutter which lowered the ROP. This low performance required necessary improvements in drill bit cutter design. This research investigates thermal–mechanical wear of three specific PDC cutters: standard chamfered, ax, and stinger on the application of heat flux and cooling effect by different drilling fluids by using FEM. Based on simulation results, the best combination to be used was chamfered cutter geometry with OBM or stinger cutter geometry with SBM. Modeling studies require experimental validation of the results

Detection of Sea, Seb, Sec, Seq genes in staphylococcus aureus isolated from nasal carriers in Tehran province, Iran; by multiplex PCR

Staphylococcus(S.) aureus  produces different extra-cellular protein toxins and virulence factors. One of the most important extra-cellular proteins is an enterotoxin which causes staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) due to their enterotoxins. Different methods have been used to detect this toxin, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. DNA amplification methods, however, can show the presence of enterotoxigenic strains of S. aureus before the expression of enterotoxins on the basis of specific gene sequences. In this study, 150 S. aureus strains isolated from nasal carriers were confirmed by biochemical testing. PCR was used to amplify the staphylococcal enterotoxin A, B, C and Q genes, as well as the staphylococcal nuclease gene.  Among the 150 healthy human isolates from the nasal carrier, 95 were confirmed as S. aureus.  Only 58.9% of the isolates were diagnosed as sea, b, c, q positive. There were 24 (25.3%) isolates associated with the sea gene, 15.8% isolates associated with the seb gene, 9.5% of the isolates were associated with the sec gene, and 8.4% of the isolates associated with the seq gene. Of these isolates, 41% might be possessing additional se genes but they were not see (178 bp) and sed (319 bp) genes.  The nuc gene, which encodes thermo nuclease, was used as a target DNA to identify S. aureus. Additionally, one of these enterotoxigenic isolates carried more than one toxin gene

Early detection of oral bacteria causing gum infections and dental caries in children

Background and Objectives: Periodontal diseases are resulted from gum infections and dental plaques, which are mainly caused by the bacterial agents. Since dental monitoring includes important prognostic roles, the aim of this study was to detect the most common periodontal pathogenic bacteria in children. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 clinical samples were collected from dental plaques and gingival grooves. Target-specific primers were designed for hbpA in Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, fimA in Porphyromonas gingivalis and 16S rRNA in Prevotella intermedia, Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola. Then, a multiplex polymerase chain reaction method was optimized for the highlighted bacterial agents. Results: In general, the highest and the lowest bacterial prevalence rates belonged to Tannerella forsythia (88%) and Porphyromonas gingivalis (13%), respectively. Furthermore, prevalence rates of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia and Treponema denticola were 25, 21 and 45% in samples, respectively. Conclusion: There were significant associations between dental/oral health and microbial community. Metabolism of the oral bacteria, including biofilm formation, can affect gums and develop dental plaques and hence dental caries, especially in children. Early diagnosis of dental caries in children via rapid, accurate molecular methods can increase the diagnostic capacity in clinical cases and therefore prevent periodontal infections in adulthood

2,2′-[(E,E)-1,1′-(2,2-Dimethyl­propane-1,3-diyldinitrilo)diethyl­idyne]diphenol

The title Schiff base, C21H26N2O2, contains two intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups and the nearest imine N atoms, each leading to a six-membered ring. Weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds result in a ladder network running along the a axis. In addition, inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions serve to stabilize the extended structure

Shallow Landslide Prediction Using a Novel Hybrid Functional Machine Learning Algorithm

Coastal wetland mapping plays an essential role in monitoring climate change, the hydrological cycle, and water resources. In this study, a novel classification framework based on the gravitational optimized multilayer perceptron classifier and extended multi-attribute profiles (EMAPs) is presented for coastal wetland mapping using Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) imagery. In the proposed method, the morphological attribute profiles (APs) are firstly extracted using four attribute filters based on the characteristics of wetlands in each band from Sentinel-2 imagery. These APs form a set of EMAPs which comprehensively represent the irregular wetland objects in multiscale and multilevel. The EMAPs and original spectral features are then classified with a new multilayer perceptron (MLP) classifier whose parameters are optimized by a stability-constrained adaptive alpha for a gravitational search algorithm. The performance of the proposed method was investigated using Sentinel-2 MSI images of two coastal wetlands, i.e., the Jiaozhou Bay and the Yellow River Delta in Shandong province of eastern China. Comparisons with four other classifiers through visual inspection and quantitative evaluation verified the superiority of the proposed method. Furthermore, the effectiveness of different APs in EMAPs were also validated. By combining the developed EMAPs features and novel MLP classifier, complicated wetland types with high within-class variability and low between-class disparity were effectively discriminated. The superior performance of the proposed framework makes it available and preferable for the mapping of complicated coastal wetlands using Sentinel-2 data and other similar optical imagery