Comparison of knowledge, attitude and practice of Urban and rural households toward iron deficiency anemia in three provinces of Iran

Background: Lack of nutritional knowledge is one of the most important reasons of nutritional problems and consequently improper practice, which can lead to several complications. This study has been designed in order to compare knowledge, attitude and practices of the urban and rural households regarding iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in Boushehr, Golestan and Sistan & Balouchestan provinces in 2004. Methods: The sampling method at household's level in each province was the single-stage cluster sampling with equal size clusters. The necessary data were gathered with a structured questionnaire and via the interviews between the questioners and the eligible people in each household. Comparison of frequency of variables between urban and rural areas were tested by chi square test. Results: A total of 2306 households were selected as overall sample size. In urban areas, people recognized iron food sources better than rural areas. Knowledge level of respondents about vulnerable group for IDA and the favorite attitude of households toward IDA were better in urban areas of Sistan & Blouchestan and Golestan provinces. In Sistan & Balouchestan and Golestan, rural households who drank tea immediately before or after meal was more than urban ones. The majority of pregnant and lactating mothers (except for rural areas of Bushehr) did not take iron supplement regularly. Less than 60 percent of children used iron drop regularly. Conclusion: Knowledge, attitude, and practice levels of households toward IDA were not acceptable. One of the best ways of improving nutritional practice is nutritional education with focus on applying available food resources

Should I stay or should I go? Skilled immigrants' perceived brain-waste and social embeddedness

Purpose: Drawing on embeddedness theory, we examine how skilled immigrants' perceived brain-waste affects their social embeddedness. Social embeddedness facilitates the acquisition of host country-specific human capital, which, in return, can accelerate the transfer of immigrants' human capital in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 397 skilled immigrants in Australia participated in this study. We applied a set-theoretic approach to decode the complexity and interplay among the key concepts used in this study. Findings: We found the impacts of psychological workplace wellbeing and workplace discrimination on social embeddedness differ between skilled immigrants who experience perceived brain-waste and skilled immigrants whose skills were recognized by employers. The results suggest that job satisfaction is the most critical factor contributing to social embeddedness among skilled immigrants who did not report brain-waste. Furthermore, we found that married skilled male immigrants who reported brain-waste still could embed socially if they did not directly experience workplace discrimination. Originality/value: The majority of previous studies have compared skilled immigrants with their local-born colleagues, but we compared two groups of skilled migrants in the current study. We adopted fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to test how unique configurations of several variables can ease their social embeddedness into the host society

A Simple Connectivity Scheme for Sparse Coding in an Olfactory System

Recent studies, using unbiased sampling of neuronal activity in vivo, indicate the existence of sparse codes in the brain. These codes are characterized by highly specific, associative (i.e., dependent on combinations of features) and often invariant neuronal responses. Sparse representations present many advantages for memory storage and are, thus, of wide interest in sensory physiology. Here, we study the statistics of connectivity in an olfactory network that contributes to the generation of such codes: Kenyon cells (KCs), the intrinsic neurons of the mushroom body (a structure involved in learning and memory in insects) receive inputs from a small population of broadly tuned principal neurons; from these inputs, KCs generate exquisitely selective responses and, thus, sparse representations. We find, surprisingly, that KCs are on average each connected to about 50% of their input population. Simple analysis indicates that such connectivity indeed maximizes the difference between input vectors to KCs and helps to explain their high specificity

Extended Functionalities of Photovoltaic Systems with Flexible Power Point Tracking:Recent Advances

The power system is experiencing an ever-increasing integration of photovoltaic power plants (PVPPs), which leads demand on the power system operators to force new requirements to sustain with quality and reliability of the grid. Subsequently, a significant quantity of flexible power point tracking (FPPT) algorithms have been proposed in the literature to enhance functionalities PVPPs. The intention of FPPT algorithms is to regulate the PV power to a specific value imposed by the grid codes and operational conditions. This will inevitably interfere the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation of PV systems. Nevertheless, the FPPT control makes PVPPs much more grid-friendly. The main contribution of this paper is to comprehensively compare available FPPT algorithms in the literature from different aspects and provide a benchmark for researchers and engineers to select suitable FPPT algorithms for specific applications. A classification and short description of them are provided. The dynamic performances of the investigated algorithms are compared with experimental tests on a scaled-down prototype. Directions for future studies in this area are also presented.MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)Accepted versio

Liver regeneration in dogs: Morphologic and chemical changes

Forty-four percent and 72% hepatectomy were carried out in dogs and the animals were sacrificed for biochemical and pathologic studies from 0.5 to 6 days later. Compensatory hypertrophy and hyperplasia ("regeneration") were evident within 1 day, reached a maximum in 3 days, and were almost complete by 6 days. Coincident with the histologic events of regeneration were decreases in responsiveness of receptor adenyl cyclase to glucagon stimulation, increases of cyclic AMP, inconsistent changes in plasma insulin, and increases in plasma glucagon. These studies have standardized hepatic resection in dogs and they have focused attention upon some possible mechanisms that will require further study. © 1978 Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reserved

Assessing Survival and Grading the Severity of Complications in Octogenarians Undergoing Pulmonary Lobectomy.

Introduction. Octogenarians are at increased risk for complications after lung resection. With alternatives such as radiation, understanding the risks of surgery and associated survival are valuable. Data grading the severity of complications and long-term survival in this population is lacking. We reviewed our experience with lobectomy in octogenarians, grading complications using a validated thoracic morbidity and mortality schema. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients aged ≥80 undergoing lobectomy between 2004 and 2012. Demographics, clinical/pathologic stage, complications, recurrence, and mortality were collected. Complications were graded by the Seely thoracic morbidity and mortality model. Results. 45 patients (mean age 82.2 years) were analyzed. The majority of patients (28/45, 62%) were clinical stage IA/IB. 62% (28/45) of patients experienced a complication. Only 15.6% (7/45) were considered significantly morbid (≥ grade IIIB) per the Seely model. Perioperative mortality was 2% and half of patients were living at a follow-up of 53 months. Overall five-year survival was 52%. Conclusions. In carefully selected octogenarians, lobectomy carries a 15.6% rate of significantly morbid complications with encouraging overall survival. These data provide the basis for a more complete discussion with patients regarding lobectomy for lung cancer

Relación entre liderazgo directivo y clima organizacional en los docentes de la institución educativa juan xxiii del nivel secundario-cajamarca, 2012

El presente estudio tuvo como propósito determinar la relación entre el liderazgo directivo y el clima organizacional en los docentes de la Institución Educativa Juan XXIII del nivel secundario – Cajamarca. Se trató de una investigación de tipo Descriptivo - correlacional, cuyo diseño fue no experimental de corte transeccional, pues no se manipuló ninguna de sus variables y se midieron en su contexto natural. La población estuvo conformada por todos los docentes que laboran en la Institución Educativa. Para medir la variable Liderazgo Directivo, se utilizó un cuestionario, el cual se elaboró teniendo en cuenta los aportes teóricos de Kotter, Jhon (1990) y otras investigaciones como las de Aguilera Vásquez, Víctor (2011) y García García, Inmaculada (2006), obviamente el instrumento ha sido validado. Respecto a la variable Clima Organizacional, se utilizó el cuestionario elaborado por Stringer (2001), el cual ha sido adaptado y validado nuevamente para el presente estudio. Finalmente, los resultados fueron presentados en tablas lo cual permitió realizar una descripción y documentación detallada de la información obtenida; llegando a la conclusión que existe una relación significativa (p = 0,000 < 0,05) entre el Liderazgo Directivo y Clima Organizacional. Cabe mencionar, que la relación de las variables mencionadas se estableció mediante la Prueba Chi – cuadrado con un nivel de confianza 0,05.Tesi

EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERISATION OF BRUCELLA ABORTUS STRAIN RB51 ROUGH LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE

Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease with considerable impacts on human and animal health. Brucella abortus strain RB51 vaccine is used for prevention of bovine brucellosis in Iran. Due to strain roughness, available serological tests cannot detect vaccinated animals. Detection of serological responses to the vaccine is important to monitor accurate vaccination implementation. Rough lipopolysaccharide (RLPS) of RB51 strain was extracted and characterised to develop serological tests for diagnosis of vaccinated animals. RLPS was extracted using phenol-chloroform-petroleum ether and evaluated by limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID). According to our results, the extracted RLPS caused positive reaction in LAL assay. In SDS-PAGE, a band with a molecular weight around 14 kDa was identified after specific staining using silver nitrate. Double AGID of the RLPS with a hyperimmune serum resulted in a precipitation line formation. Our study showed that the method can be successfully used to extract RLPS from Brucella abortus strain RB51 as confirmed by LAL assay, PAGE and AGID. Key words: brucellosis, RB51 vaccine, rough lipopolysaccharid