Policies and Programs for Prevention and Control of Diabetes in Iran: A Document Analysis

Trend analysis in 2005 to 2011 showed high growth in diabetes prevalence in Iran. Considering the high prevalence of diabetes in the country and likely to increase its prevalence in the future, the analysis of diabetes-related policies and programs is very important and effective in the prevention and control of diabetes. Therefore, the aim of the study was an analysis of policies and programs related to prevention and control of diabetes in Iran in 2014. This study was a policy analysis using deductive thematic content analysis of key documents. The health policy triangle framework was used in the data analysis. PubMed and ScienceDirect databases were searched to find relevant studies and documents. Also, hand searching was conducted among references of the identified studies. MAXQDA 10 software was used to organize and analyze data. The main reasons to take into consideration diabetes in Iran can be World Health Organization (WHO) report in 1989, and high prevalence of diabetes in the country. The major challenges in implementing the diabetes program include difficulty in referral levels of the program, lack of coordination between the private sector and the public sector and the limitations of reporting system in the specialized levels of the program. Besides strengthening referral system, the government should allocate more funds to the program and more importance to the educational programs for the public. Also, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the private sector should involve in the formulation and implementation of the prevention and control programs of diabetes in the future

The impact of injury on match running performance following the return to competitive match-play over two consecutive seasons in elite European soccer players

Based on the assessment and diagnosis, the rest period following a moderate/severe injury may lead to deconditioning for the injured player and therefore an association with a prolonged rehabilitation, re-conditioning and return to sport is observed post-injury. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of all injuries on match running performance following the return to competitive match-play over two consecutive seasons in elite European soccer players. A retrospective analysis was conducted utilizing data related to a player’s injury and match running performance. A club physiotherapist consistently recorded availability and injury data in a standardized format. Linear mixed modelling analysis revealed no difference between PRE and POST1, POST2, and POST3 for total distance, running distance, high-intensity distance, and sprint distance (all p >0.05). Although, maximum speed was significantly (p<0.05) lower in POST1 and POST2 when compared to PRE, in both cases with a large (ES = 1.88) effect. No significant difference was observed for maximum speed between PRE and POST3 (p=0.07). There were very low correlations between the number of days absent and changes in maximum speed between POST1 and PRE (r = 0.09, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.56), and POST2 and PRE (r = 0.10, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.57), respectively. In conclusion, no variation in distance variables were found regardless of one, two or three matches post-injury compared to pre-injury status. Moreover, maximum speed was lower during the first three matches post-injury, although the mean value was slightly lower. Finally, a low correlation between absent days and maximum speed loss between pre-injury and following one and two matches were foun

Oral manifestations of COVID-19 and its management in pediatric patients: a systematic review and practical guideline

Objectives: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory infection that has spread worldwide and is responsible for a high death toll. Although respiratory symptoms are the most common, there is growing evidence that oral signs of COVID-19 can also be seen in children. The purpose of this systematic review is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the available data on the oral manifestations of COVID-19 in children and to recommend appropriate methods of diagnosis and treatment. Methods: A systematic search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases was done to discover relevant papers published between their establishment and January 2023. Articles detailing oral symptoms in pediatric patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection were included, and data on clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes were extracted and evaluated. Results: A total of 24 studies involving 2112 pediatric patients with COVID-19 were included in the review. The most common presentations are oral lesions, taste and smell disorders, oral candidiasis, hemorrhagic crust, tongue discoloration, lip and tongue fissuring, gingivitis, and salivary gland inflammation. These manifestations were sometimes associated with multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) or Kawasaki disease (KD). Management strategies varied depending on the severity of the oral manifestation and ranged from symptomatic relief with topical analgesics to systemic medications. Conclusion: Oral symptoms of COVID-19 are relatively prevalent in juvenile patients and can be accompanied by severe systemic diseases, such as MIS-C or Kawasaki illness. Early detection and adequate care of these oral symptoms are critical for the best patient results. Understanding the underlying pathophysiology and developing targeted treatments requires more investigation.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Free-breathing Pulmonary (1)H and Hyperpolarized (3)He MRI: Comparison in COPD and Bronchiectasis.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: In this proof-of-concept demonstration, we aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively compare pulmonary ventilation abnormalities derived from Fourier decomposition of free-breathing (1)H magnetic resonance imaging (FDMRI) to hyperpolarized (3)He MRI in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All subjects provided written informed consent to a protocol approved by a local research ethics board and Health, Canada, and they underwent MRI, computed tomography (CT), spirometry, and plethysmography during a single 2-hour visit. Semiautomated segmentation was used to generate ventilation defect measurements derived from FDMRI and (3)He MRI, and these were compared using analysis of variance and Pearson correlations. RESULTS: Twenty-six subjects were evaluated including 12 COPD subjects (67 ± 9 years) and 14 bronchiectasis subjects (70 ± 11 years). For COPD subjects, FDMRI and (3)He MRI ventilation defect percent (VDP) was 7 ± 6% and 24 ± 14%, respectively (P \u3c .001; bias = -16 ± 9%). In COPD subjects, FDMRI was significantly correlated with (3)He MRI VDP (r = .88; P = .0001), (3)He MRI apparent diffusion coefficient (r = .71; P \u3c .05), airways resistance (r = .60; P \u3c .05), and RA950 (r = .80; P \u3c .01). In subjects with bronchiectasis, FDMRI VDP (5 ± 3%) and (3)He MRI VDP (18 ± 9%) were significantly different (P \u3c .001) and not correlated (P \u3e .05). The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) for FDMRI and (3)He MRI ventilation was 86 ± 7% for COPD and 86 ± 4% for bronchiectasis subjects (P \u3e .05); the DSC for FDMRI ventilation defects and CT RA950 was 19 ± 20% in COPD and 2 ± 3% in bronchiectasis subjects (P \u3c .01). CONCLUSIONS: FDMRI and (3)He MRI VDP were strongly related in COPD but not in bronchiectasis subjects. In COPD only, FDMRI ventilation defects were spatially related with (3)He ventilation defects and emphysema

Hyperpolarized 3He and 129Xe MR imaging in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

PURPOSE: To quantitatively compare hyperpolarized helium 3 (3He) and xenon 129 (129Xe) magnetic resonance (MR) images obtained within 5 minutes in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to evaluate the correlations between 3He and 129Xe MR imaging measurements and those from spirometry and plethysmography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by an ethics board and compliant with HIPAA. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Eight healthy volunteers and 10 patients with COPD underwent MR imaging, spirometry, and plethysmography. Ventilation defect percentages (VDPs) at 3He and 129Xe imaging were obtained by using semiautomated segmentation. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) were calculated from 3He (b=1.6 sec/cm2) and 129Xe (b=12 sec/cm2) diffusion-weighted images. VDPs at hyperpolarized 3He and 129Xe imaging were compared with a two-tailed Wilcoxon signed rank test and analysis of variance; Pearson correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the relationships among measurements. RESULTS: 129Xe VDP was significantly greater than 3He VDP for patients with COPD (P CONCLUSION: In patients with COPD, the VDP obtained with hyperpolarized 29Xe MR imaging was significantly greater than that with 3He MR imaging, suggesting incomplete or delayed filling of lung regions that may be related to the different properties of 129Xe gas and physiologic and/or anatomic abnormalities in COPD

Attribute-Based Symmetric Searchable Encryption

Symmetric Searchable Encryption (SSE) is an encryption technique that allows users to search directly on their outsourced encrypted data while preserving the privacy of both the files and the queries. Unfortunately, majority of the SSE schemes allows users to either decrypt the whole ciphertext or nothing at all. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme based on traditional symmetric primitives, that allows data owners to bind parts of their ciphertexts with specific policies. Inspired by the concept of Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) in the public setting, we design a scheme through which users can recover only certain parts of an encrypted document if and only if they retain a set of attributes that satisfy a policy. Our construction satisfies the important notion of forward privacy while at the same time supports the multi-client model by leveraging SGX functionality for the synchronization of users. To prove the correctness of our approach, we provide a detailed simulation-based security analysis coupled with an extensive experimental evaluation that shows the effectiveness of our scheme

The impact of injury on match running performance following the return to competitive match-play over two consecutive seasons in elite European soccer players

Based on the assessment and diagnosis, the rest period following a moderate/severe injury may lead to de conditioning for the injured player and therefore an association with a prolonged rehabilitation, re-conditioning and return to sport is observed post-injury. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of all injuries on match running performance following the return to competitive match-play over two consecutive seasons in elite European soccer players. A retrospective analysis was conducted utilizing data related to a player’s injury and match running performance. A club physiotherapist consistently recorded availability and injury data in a standardized format. Linear mixed modelling analysis revealed no difference between PRE and POST1, POST2, and POST3 for total distance, running distance, high-intensity distance, and sprint distance (all p >0.05). Although, maximum speed was significantly (p<0.05) lower in POST1 and POST2 when compared to PRE, in both cases with a large (ES = 1.88) effect. No significant difference was observed for maximum speed between PRE and POST3 (p=0.07). There were very low correlations between the number of days absent and changes in maximum speed between POST1 and PRE (r = 0.09, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.56), and POST2 and PRE (r = 0.10, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.57), respectively. In conclusion, no variation in distance variables were found regardless of one, two or three matches post-injury compared to pre-injury status. Moreover, maximum speed was lower during the first three matches post-injury, although the mean value was slightly lower. Finally, a low correlation between absent days and maximum speed loss between pre-injury and following one and two matches were found

Large-scale geo-facial image analysis

While face analysis from images is a well-studied area, little work has explored the dependence of facial appearance on the geographic location from which the image was captured. To fill this gap, we constructed GeoFaces, a large dataset of geotagged face images, and used it to examine the geo-dependence of facial features and attributes, such as ethnicity, gender, or the presence of facial hair. Our analysis illuminates the relationship between raw facial appearance, facial attributes, and geographic location, both globally and in selected major urban areas. Some of our experiments, and the resulting visualizations, confirm prior expectations, such as the predominance of ethnically Asian faces in Asia, while others highlight novel information that can be obtained with this type of analysis, such as the major city with the highest percentage of people with a mustache

Largest ancient fortress of South-West Asia and the western world?:Recent fieldwork at Sasanian Qaleh Iraj at Pishva, Iran

The article presents recent works at Qale Iraj, near Varamin, Iran. My short contribution is on the Middle Persian ostraka found at the site