Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in Relation with Job Stress and Life Satisfaction in Nurses of Imam Hossein Hospital

Abstract: Background and Aim: Considering that the level of quality of life in nurses has important role on their function and plays major role at the level of giving services to patients and the health system, Current study aimed to investigate the relationship between job stressors and self-efficacy with life satisfaction in nurses of Imam Hossein Hospital.Materials and Methods: Current study is based on structural equation modeling. The samples consisted of 120 nurses from Imam Hossein Hospital who were randomly selected. Research tools were a checklist for demographic information and two other valid and reliable the Sherer General Health Inventory, Hospital Job Stress (HSS) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) questionnaires. To evaluate the model, structural equation modeling and coefficient Pearson correlation were applied. Finally, the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software.Results: There was significant relationship, the direct effect of self-efficacy on life satisfaction (p<0.01), direct effect of occupational stress on self-efficacy (p<0.01) and Indirect effect of job stress on satisfaction with life (p<0.05) variables.Conclusion: Self-efficacy reduces the effects and negative symptoms of stress, and increases individual's ability to cope with stress and this causes lack of individual's discomfort and his calm in face of problems and increases his/her level of happiness and satisfaction with life

QR-SACP: Quantitative Risk-based Situational Awareness Calculation and Projection through Threat Information Sharing

When a threat is observed, one of the most important challenges is to choose the most appropriate and adequate timely decisions in response to the current and near future situation in order to have the least consequences and costs. Making the appropriate and sufficient decisions requires knowing what situations the threat has engendered or may engender. In this paper, we propose a quantitative risk-based method called QR-SACP to calculate and project situational awareness in a network based on threat information sharing. In this method, we investigate a threat from different aspects and evaluate the threat's effects through dependency weight among a network's services. We calculate the definite effect of a threat on a service and the cascading propagation of the threat's definite effect on other dependent services to that service. In addition, we project the probability of a threat propagation or recurrence of the threat in other network services in three ways: procedurally, network connections and similar infrastructure or services. Experimental results demonstrate that the QR-SACP method can calculate and project definite and probable threats' effects across the entire network and reveal more details about the threat's current and near future situations.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Mechanisms of Cellular Uptake of Cell-Penetrating Peptides

Recently, much attention has been given to the problem of drug delivery through the cell-membrane in order to treat and manage several diseases. The discovery of cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) represents a major breakthrough for the transport of large-cargo molecules that may be useful in clinical applications. CPPs are rich in basic amino acids such as arginine and lysine and are able to translocate over membranes and gain access to the cell interior. They can deliver large-cargo molecules, such as oligonucleotides, into cells. Endocytosis and direct penetration have been suggested as the two major uptake mechanisms, a subject still under debate. Unresolved questions include the detailed molecular uptake mechanism(s), reasons for cell toxicity, and the delivery efficiency of CPPs for different cargoes. Here, we give a review focused on uptake mechanisms used by CPPs for membrane translocation and certain experimental factors that affect the mechanism(s)

Effects of repeated intravitreal bevacizumab administration on anterior segment parameters and limbal stem cells

Background: Macular edema (ME) is fluid accumulation in the macula caused by vascular leakage. Repeated intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections are extensively used to treat ME of different origins, are well tolerated, and have few side effects. This study evaluated the effects of repeated IVB injections on the anterior segment parameters and limbal stem cells (LSCs) in eyes with ME. Methods: This before–after study involved patients with ME of different causes who underwent repeated IVB injections at the Imam Khomeini Ophthalmology Center in Kermanshah, Iran. Before and after repeated IVB injections, anterior segment parameters were measured using anterior segment optical coherence tomography, and the LSCs were assessed using impression cytology. Results: We enrolled 42 eyes of 42 patients with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 59.6 (7.6) years, of whom 25 (59.5%) were men and 17 (40.5%) were women. The underlying diseases included diabetic ME in 30 eyes (71.4%), central (5 [11.9%]) or branch (3 [7.1%]) retinal vein occlusion, and choroidal neovascularization in 4 eyes (9.5%). The right eye was affected in 22 (52.4%) participants. The mean (SD) number of IVB injections was 4.3 (1.3). After repeated injections, the mean central corneal thickness (CCT) increased, whereas the mean anterior chamber angle (ACA) and anterior chamber depth (ACD) decreased (all P<0.001). Three patients developed LSC deficiency after repeated IVB injections for diabetic ME. Conclusions: We observed a significant increase in the mean CCT and a decrease in the mean ACA and ACD after repeated IVB injections in our series. Three patients developed LSC deficiency after repeated IVB injections for diabetic ME management. The observed effect on LSC may cast doubt on the safety of repeated IVB injections; however, this finding must be verified in multicenter clinical trials with longer follow-up periods and larger study samples

Brucella Antibody Levels in Preschool Children in the North East of Iran

Background: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of humans and animals that has affected worldwide. Iran is one of the endemic areas infected with brucellosis. Early diagnosis of this disease may protect the affected children from disabilities and mortalities. This study aimed to evaluate the Brucella antibody levels in preschool children of the Shahroud city in Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated 850 participants, in particular, school children from the Shahroud city. General information was collected by interviewing the children’s parents. Moreover, a 5 ml of blood sample was collected from all the children. The samples were studies using standard tube agglutination test (Wright) and 2-Mercaptoethanol. Thereafter, IgG and IgM levels were determined by the ELISA method.Results: A total of 850 children were enrolled, of which 51.2% were boys and 48.8% were girls, with a mean age of 5.17±1.55 years. Of the all children evaluated, 839 (97.5%) children had a titer <1/80 and 21 children (2.5%) had a titer ≥1/80. A significant difference was observed between the antibody titers in terms of gender (P=0.012), whereas no significant association was found among antibody titers with other variables such as age, history of nonpasteurized foods, exposure to animals, history of brucellosis disease, and parental occupation.Conclusions: The antibody titer for suspected brucellosis in preschool children of Shahroud was very low. According to the results of our study, in particular, in the endemic areas, a Wright’s titer of 1/80 in suspected cases for brucellosis can be considered as a diagnostic titer

Brucella Antibody Levels in Preschool Children in the North East of Iran

Background: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of humans and animals that has affected worldwide. Iran is one of the endemic areas infected with brucellosis. Early diagnosis of this disease may protect the affected children from disabilities and mortalities. This study aimed to evaluate the Brucella antibody levels in preschool children of the Shahroud city in Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated 850 participants, in particular, school children from the Shahroud city. General information was collected by interviewing the children’s parents. Moreover, a 5 ml of blood sample was collected from all the children. The samples were studies using standard tube agglutination test (Wright) and 2-Mercaptoethanol. Thereafter, IgG and IgM levels were determined by the ELISA method.Results: A total of 850 children were enrolled, of which 51.2% were boys and 48.8% were girls, with a mean age of 5.17±1.55 years. Of the all children evaluated, 839 (97.5%) children had a titer <1/80 and 21 children (2.5%) had a titer ≥1/80. A significant difference was observed between the antibody titers in terms of gender (P=0.012), whereas no significant association was found among antibody titers with other variables such as age, history of nonpasteurized foods, exposure to animals, history of brucellosis disease, and parental occupation.Conclusions: The antibody titer for suspected brucellosis in preschool children of Shahroud was very low. According to the results of our study, in particular, in the endemic areas, a Wright’s titer of 1/80 in suspected cases for brucellosis can be considered as a diagnostic titer

Maximum Wireless Power Transmission Using Real-Time Single Iteration Adaptive Impedance Matching

Wireless power transfer (WPT) systems’ efficiency is significantly impacted by non-monotonic variations in the coupling coefficient. For very short distances or strong-coupling cases, the WPT efficiency is minimal at the natural resonant frequency, with two peaks around this frequency, known as the frequency splitting phenomenon. On the other hand, WPT capability decreases for long distances or weak coupling cases. Therefore, adaptive matching is required for WPT systems with varying distances, like wireless charging systems for electric vehicles (EVs). This paper first presents a detailed analysis of the frequency splitting phenomenon by studying the root locations of the WPT system’s transfer function. Then, a real-time fixed-frequency adaptive impedance matching (IM) method is proposed, in which the amplitude and phase of the input impedance is estimated using the average active power, the average reactive power, and the amplitude of input voltage. Unlike traditional search-and-find techniques, the proposed method calculates the optimal IM network parameters only in a single iteration, which improves the convergent speed. A scaled-down 20-Watt prototype controlled by the TMSF2812 is fabricated and used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method over a wide range of coil-to-coil distances