Multiple shoot regeneration of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) via shoot apex culture system

Induction of multiple shoots of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plant in two commercial varieties (Sahel and Varamin) using shoot apex was done. Explants were isolated from 3 - 4 days old seedlings, then they were cultured on a shoot induction media, modified MS nutrient agar with combinations: 1- Kinetin (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 mg l-1) and 6-benzyaminopurine (BAP) (0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 mg l-1), 2- α- naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) (0.0, 0.1, 1.0 mg l-1) and BAP (0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 mg l-1). After 1.5 - 2 months, multiple shoot induction medium with 0.1 mg l-1 NAA and 0.1 mg l-1 BAP resulted in the highest number of regenerated shoots per explant (3 - 4 shoots per explant) for the two cultivars. Elongation of multiple shoots was obtained on modified MS nutrient agar without any phytohormone. In vitro shoots were rooted on half-strength agar-solidified MS basal medium supplied with 0.1 mg l-1 Iidole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and MS vitamins.Key words: Cotton, Shoot apex, multiple shoot

A Hyper-heuristic for Multi-objective Integration and Test Ordering in Google Guava

Integration testing seeks to find communication problems between different units of a software system. As the order in which units are considered can impact the overall effort required to perform integration testing, deciding an appropriate sequence to integrate and test units is vital. Here we apply a multi-objective hyper-heuristic set within an NSGA-II framework to the Integration and Test Order Problem (ITO) for Google Guava, a set of open-source common libraries for Java. Our results show that an NSGA-II based hyper-heuristic employing a simplified version of Choice Function heuristic selection, outperforms standard NSGA-II for this problem

Developing performance indicators for clinical governance in dimensions of risk management and clinical effectiveness

Objective: This study has been designed and conducted to develop domestic indicators for evaluating the performance of clinical governance in dimensions of risk management and clinical effectiveness. Design: This study implemented a 5-stage process including conducting a comprehensive literature review, expert panel (~1000 h per person per session, 11 experts), semi-structured interviews, a 2-round Delphi study (33 experts were in attendance) and a final expert panel (8 experts were in attendance). Setting: East Azerbaijan-Iran Province. Participants: Fifty-six specialists and experts in different fields of medical sciences. Main Outcome Measures: Importance and applicability of indicators. Results: Using a thorough literature review, 361 indicators (129 risk management indicators in 4 dimensions and 232 clinical effectiveness indicators in 18 dimensions) were found. After conducting expert panels and interviews, the number of indicators decreased to 168 cases (65 risk management indicators in 4 dimensions and 103 clinical effectiveness indicators in 12 dimensions). Two rounds of Delphi identified four indicators that were omitted. The members of the final expert panel agreed on 113 indicators (43 risk management indicators in 4 dimensions and 70 clinical effectiveness indicators in 11 dimensions). Conclusion: In this study, indicators for assessing clinical governance in domains of risk management and clinical effectiveness were designed that can be used by policy-makers and other authorities for improving the quality of services and evaluating the performance of clinical governance. Those indicators can be used with slight modifications in other countries having healthcare systems similar to that of Iran. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved

Территориальная организация и проблемы рекреационного лесопользования в Крыму

В статье рассмотрены ресурсный потенциал, пространственная организация, экологические проблемы рекреационного лесопользования в Крыму, предложены принципы устойчивого развития лесных рекреационных территорий.У статті розглянуто ресурсний потенціал, просторова організація, екологічні проблеми рекреаційного лісокористування в Криму, запропоновано принципи стійкого розвитку лісових рекреаційних територій.The recreational potential, the space organization, ecologic problems of the recreational forest management in Crimea are considered in this article. Principles of the sustainable development of forest recreational territories are proposed

Experts� perspectives on the application of public-private partnership policy in prevention of road traffic injuries

Purpose: Successful application experiences on public-private partnership (PPP) in different countries, suggest that PPP could be an option in road traffic injury (RTI) prevention. The present study aims at investigating the applicability of PPP policy in RTI prevention in Iran based on the experts� perspectives. Methods: This is a qualitative study with grounded theory approach which has been conducted in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2018. The participants were 22 experts in the field of RTIs selected using purposive sampling method. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed with content-analysis method. Results: The results were classified under 5 main themes (applicability, scopes and services, challenges, advantages, and strategies) for applying PPP policy and 37 sub-themes. Due to the prevalence of RTIs, the present challenges in public sector, existence of qualified private sector, and successful experiences in other areas, there are opportunities for private sector partnership in prevention of RTIs. Private sector could participate in different scopes and services regarding RTI prevention, including road construction and maintenance, maintenance and provision of vehicles safety and public education. The main challenges including legislation issues, ambiguities in collaboration, political and organizational unsustainability, government's financial hardship and lack of experienced experts in the field of RTI. However, there are significant advantages including high efficiency in program implementation, covering the weaknesses of public sector, effective and efficient management on application of PPP in RTI prevention. The strategies include identifying and prioritizing the assignable activities, identifying the qualified private sector, developing PPP policies and legal frameworks, creating a common language between public and private parties, trying to meet the expectations of the private sector by public sector, developing a comprehensive and sound contract, and cultivating public culture to accept private sector in the field of RTI prevention. Conclusion: This study sought to determine whether PPP could be used as strategy to reduce the burden of RTIs in Iran. But it requires a lot of preliminary studies to provide the context and conditions for applying this policy. © 2020 Chinese Medical Associatio

Caregiver-related predictors of thermal burn injuries among Iranian children: a case-control study

Purpose Burns are a common and preventable cause of injury in children. The aim of this study was to investigate child and caregiver characteristics which may predict childhood burn injuries among Iranian children and to examine whether confounding exists among these predictors. Methods A hospital based case-control study was conducted using 281 burn victims and 273 hospital-based controls, which were matched by age, gender and place of residence (rural/urban). The characteristics of the children and their caregivers were analyzed using crude and adjusted models to test whether these were predictors of childhood burn injuries. Results The age of the caregiver was significantly lower for burn victims than for the controls (P<0.05). Further, the amount of time the caregiver spent outdoors with the child and their economic status had a significant positive association with the odds of a burn injury (P<0.05). A multivariate logistic regression found that Type A behaviour among caregivers was independently associated with the child's odds of suffering a burn injury (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04–1.21). The research also found that children with ADHD (Inattentive subscale: Crude OR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.16–3.95, Adjusted OR = 5.65, 95% CI: 2.53–12.61; Hyperactive subscale: Crude OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.23–2.41, Adjusted OR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.65–3.87) also had increased odds of suffering a burn injury. However, several variables were identified as possible negative confounder variables, as the associations were stronger in the multivariate model than in the crude models

Epidemiological Patterns of Road Traffic Crashes During the Last Two Decades in Iran: A Review of the Literature from 1996 to 2014

Context: Despite considerable attention given to health statistics of road traffic crashes (RTCs), the epidemiological aspects of injuries resulting from RTCs are not fully understood in Iran and other developing countries. The aim of this review was to study the epidemiological pattern and issues arising due to RTCs in Iran. Evidence Acquisition: The scope of this study involves data from a broad range of published literature on RTCs in Iran. Data collection for this study was conducted by searching for keywords such as traffic accidents, traffic crashes, motorcycle accidents, motorcycle crashes, motorcycle injury, motor vehicle injury, motor vehicle crashes and motor vehicle accidents, Iran and Iranian in various databases such as Embase, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Magiran, Iranian scientific information database (SID) and IranMedex. Results: This study comprised of 95 articles. It is evident from this review that a large number of severe RTCs occur due to collision of two or more vehicles and most of the victims are males aged between 30 and 39 years. Male pedestrian, drivers and passengers are more likely to be severely injured in comparison to females. One of the most prevalent causes of death among adults involved in the RTCs are head injuries and the majority of deaths occur prior to hospitalization. Mortality rates for RTCs are higher in summer, especially during midnight among all age groups. The most common individual and environmental risk factors associated with RTCs include lack of attention, getting trapped in the car, listening to music, fatigue and sleepiness, duration and distance and negligence of seatbelt usage while driving. Conclusions: The findings of the current study will be beneficial in prevention of RTCs and its associated complications and hence will be vital for policy makers, health service managers and stakeholders

Sequence learning in Associative Neuronal-Astrocytic Network

The neuronal paradigm of studying the brain has left us with limitations in both our understanding of how neurons process information to achieve biological intelligence and how such knowledge may be translated into artificial intelligence and its most brain-derived branch, neuromorphic computing. Overturning our fundamental assumptions of how the brain works, the recent exploration of astrocytes is revealing that these long-neglected brain cells dynamically regulate learning by interacting with neuronal activity at the synaptic level. Following recent experimental evidence, we designed an associative, Hopfield-type, neuronal-astrocytic network and analyzed the dynamics of the interaction between neurons and astrocytes. We show that astrocytes were sufficient to trigger transitions between learned memories in the neuronal component of the network. Further, we mathematically derived the timing of the transitions that was governed by the dynamics of the calcium-dependent slow-currents in the astrocytic processes. Overall, we provide a brain-morphic mechanism for sequence learning that is inspired by, and aligns with, recent experimental findings. To evaluate our model, we emulated astrocytic atrophy and showed that memory recall becomes significantly impaired after a critical point of affected astrocytes was reached. This brain-inspired and brain-validated approach supports our ongoing efforts to incorporate non-neuronal computing elements in neuromorphic information processing.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Psychometric properties of the 12-item WHODAS applied through phone survey: an experience in PERSIAN Traffic Cohort

Background Due to limited capability to function in post-injury daily life injury, survivors need to be reliably assessed without need to commute more than necessary. The key action is to determine the level of functioning difficulties. Having the opportunity of conducting a national post-crash traffic safety and health cohort study, we aimed to translate into Persian and assess the psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) through phone surveys six month post injury. Methods First, having World Health Organization permission, we tested the translation validity by forward translation, expert panel evaluation, back-translation, pre-testing and cognitive interviewing, and finalizing the Persian WHODAS. Then, through a psychometric study within a national cohort platform, the validity, reliability and applicability of the 12-item WHODAS was assessed through phone surveys. We included data of 255 road traffic injury patients enrolled from the cohort at six-month follow-up. The psychometric assessment (internal consistency reliability and stability reliability) was conducted on test-retest data of 50 patients with an average 7-day time span. An exploratory factor analysis tested the construct validity using extraction method of principal component factor and oblique rotation on data from 255 patients. Regarding the multiple criteria including an eigenvalue > 0.9, Cattell's scree test, cumulative variance, and the theoretical basis, the minimum number of factors were retained. Data were analyzed using STATA statistical software package. Results The respondents were mostly male (81%), employed (71%), educated (87%), and with a mean age of 37.7(14.9). The Persian version had high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93) and excellent stability reliability (ICC = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.92-0.98). An exploratory factor analysis retained four factors defining 86% of all the variance. Factors of Self-care, Mobility, and Cognition were completely retained. Conclusions The brief Pesrian WHODAS 2.0 was highly reliable and valid to be applied through phone interviews post injury

Risk factor investigation for cardiovascular health through WHO STEPS approach in Ardabil, Iran

Objectives: Reliable evidence is the keystone for any noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention plan to be initiated. In this study we carried out a risk factor investigation based on the WHO Stepwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS). Methods: The study was conducted on 1000 adults between 15 and 64 years of age living in Ardabil province, north-west Iran during 2006, based on the WHO STEPS approach to surveillance of risk factors for NCD. At this stage only the first and second steps were carried out. Data were collected through standard questionnaires and methods analyzed using STATA version 8 statistical software package. Results: 29.0% of men and 2.6% of women were current daily tobacco smokers. The mean number of manufactured cigarettes smoked per day was 18.9 among current daily smokers. Smoking was most prevalent among men of low-income families and those of lower education The mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.6 kg/m2, and was significantly correlated with systolic blood pressure. 58.9% were overweight or obese; 18.0% had raised blood pressure and 3.7% had isolated systolic hypertension. The mean number of servings of fruit consumed per day was 1.1; 33.1% had low levels of activity. Combined risk factor analysis showed that 4.1%of participants were in the low-risk group (up to 5.1% among men and 3.2% among women).Those in the high-risk group comprised 25.6% in the 25- to 44-year age group and 49.7%in the 45- to 64-year age group. Mean BMI increased by age in both sexes at least at the firstthree decades of adult life. Conclusion: Based on observed status of risk for cardiovascular health, burden of cardiovascular diseases is expected to increase if an effective prevention strategy is not undertaken