Detection and identification of carriers of white spot virus in wild shrimps and crabs in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea (Hormozgan province)

More than 20 viruses have been reported as pathogenic to shrimp.WSV has been found to be highly pathogenic not only to penaeid shrimps, but also to a wide range of hosts which include marine crabs , copepods, freshwater crabs and prawns. Main objective of this study was detection and identification of white spot virus from wild shrimp and crabs population on the coastal waters of Hormozgan Province.The samples were collected from three area seasonally include: coastal waters of Qeshm Island, Hengam Island and Jask. In this survey have been examined 1080 shrimp from each species of P.indicus, P.semisulcatus, P.merguiensis, Metapenaeus affinis and 1080 crabs (gill organs) by PCR and histopathological methods. Diagnostic kit for this survey have been prepared from Genesis Biotechnology CO.in Malaysia, so called "Single-Tube Nested PCR for WSSV". The analysis results revealed that all samples which examined from these area were free from WSV. Following PCR tests that were negative for all samples so no observed any damages of histology due to WSV on gills

Verbal Autopsy: Reliability and Validity Estimates for Causes of Death in the Golestan Cohort Study in Iran

BACKGROUND: Verbal autopsy (VA) is one method to obtain valid estimates of causes of death in the absence of valid medical records. We tested the reliability and validity of a VA questionnaire developed for a cohort study in Golestan Province in northeastern Iran. METHOD: A modified version of the WHO adult verbal autopsy was used to assess the cause of death in the first 219 Golestan Cohort Study (GCS) subjects who died. The GCS cause of death was determined by two internists who independently reviewed all available medical records. Two other internists ("reviewers") independently reviewed only the VA answers and classified the cause of death into one of nine general categories; they repeated this evaluation one month later. The reliability of the VA was measured by calculating intra-reviewer and inter-reviewer kappa statistics. The validity of the VA was measured using the GCS cause of death as the gold standard. RESULTS: VA showed both good validity (sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV all above 0.81) and reliability (kappa>0.75) in determining the general cause of death independent of sex and place of residence. The overall multi-rater agreement across four reviews was 0.84 (95%CI: 0.78-0.89). The results for identifying specific cancer deaths were also promising, especially for upper GI cancers (kappa = 0.95). The multi-rater agreement in cancer subgroup was 0.93 (95%CI: 0.85-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: VA seems to have good reliability and validity for determining the cause of death in a large-scale adult follow up study in a predominantly rural area of a middle-income country

Predictive models for charitable giving using machine learning techniques.

Private giving represents more than three fourths of all U.S. charitable donations, about 2% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Private giving is a significant factor in funding the nonprofit sector of the U.S. economy, which accounts for more than 10% of total GDP. Despite the abundance of data available through tax forms and other sources, it is unclear which factors influence private donation, and a reliable predictive mechanism remains elusive. This study aims to develop predictive models to accurately estimate future charitable giving based on a set of potentially influential factors. We have selected several factors, including unemployment rate, household income, poverty level, population, sex, age, ethnicity, education level, and number of vehicles per household. This study sheds light on the relationship between donation and these variables. We use Stepwise Regression to identify the most influential variables among the available variables, based on which predictive models are developed. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and machine learning techniques, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) are used to develop the predictive models. The results suggest that population, education level, and the amount of charitable giving in the previous year are the most significant, independent variables. We propose three predictive models (MLR, ANN, and SVR) and validate them using 10-fold cross-validation method, then evaluate the performance using 9 different measuring criteria. All three models are capable of predicting the amount of future donations in a given region with good accuracy. Based on the evaluation criteria, using a test data set, ANN outperforms SVR and MLR in predicting the amount of charitable giving in the following year

An Analysis of Special Needs Student Busing

Population growth can lead to public school capacity issues as well as increased school bus utilization, which, in turn, can result in longer school bus transport times for regular and special needs students. Special needs or medically fragile students are children with special health care needs who are at increased health and safety risk. It is common practice to provide special needs students with specially-equipped buses and/or special classroom environments with specific facilities or services. However, the assignment of student services to schools is regularly made without regard to bus transportation considerations for special needs students. Considering the potentially negative impact of long school bus rides on these students, we present the first systematic, integrated analyses of special needs student busing and classroom assignments. We provide models and algorithms for maintaining administration-based transportation financial performance measures while simultaneously designing smarter transportation networks considering both student geographical location and service needs

The Status of Professional Nursing Roles in Nursing MSc Theses

Introduction: Nursing theses are among the most important sources to generate knowledge for nursing practice. Consideration of the five professional nursing roles is necessary for professional development of the field. This study aimed to assess the level of consideration of professional nursing roles in nursing MSc theses and how it has changed during 2002-14. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study reviewed nursing MSc theses written during 2002-14 in Mashhad School of Nursing and Midwifery. Theses’ titles were reviewed in terms of the five nursing roles including caregiving, educational, communicative, advocating and managerial roles. Data collection tool was a researcher-made checklist for identifying the themes of theses according to the five research topics. Results: A total of 160 theses had been written in this period. Of these, 37.5% were related to caregiving role, 18.75% to educational role, 1.8% to communicative role, 6.25% to advocating role and 5.7% were related to managerial role while 30% addressed issues other than these roles. During these years, nursing MSc theses have been focused more on the caregiving role and the communicative role has received the least attention. The communicative, managerial and educational roles have gradually received further attention in this period; however, the number of miscellaneous topics has gone up too. Conclusion: Given the importance of addressing the five nursing roles to contribute to the professional development of this field, it is necessary that future nursing theses should be more focused on and related to these roles

The Relationship between Diaphragmatic Movements in Sonographic Assessment and Disease Severity in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Introduction: Pulmonary hyperinflation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can increase the breathing rate and reduce diaphragmatic movements by pushing the diaphragms downward and limiting their movements; this, in fact, can affect the breathing process. The purpose of this study was to compare diaphragmatic movements in COPD patients and healthy ones and to evaluate the relation of diaphragmatic movements and COPD severity in patients. Materials and Methods: This cross- sectional study was performed in Ghaem hospital,Mashhad Iran. Twenty-five COPD patients (case group) were selected, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics along with factors related to pulmonary function were recorded. Patients were referred for sonography after pulmonary evaluation. The status of the left portal vein or one of its branches at the end of a deep expiration and a deep inspiration was considered as a marker. Twenty-five healthy non-smoker subjects, who were matched with the patients in terms of age and sex, were studied as the control group for the comparison of sonographic findings of the diaphragms. Results: The current study included 25 healthy subjects and 25 COPD patients, with the mean age of 59.2±12 years; approximately 84% of the subjects were males. Evaluation of the rate of diaphragmatic movements by sonography showed the mean of 42.08±12.15mm and 73.28±15.19mm in the case and control groups, respectively, which showed a statistically significant difference between them (P=0.02). Statistical analysis indicated the relationship between the rate of diaphragmatic movements with factors related to airway obstruction. However, no relationship was observed between the rate of diaphragmatic movements and the factors associated with pulmonary hyperinflation or air retention. Conclusion: The rate of diaphragmatic movements as a parameter for determining exercise capacity in COPD patients could help with a better understanding of activity limitations in these patient