A Comparison of the Conditions of Iran Public Libraries with the IFLA Standards

This study aimed to compare the conditions of the public libraries in Iran with the standards of IFLA. Iran is a country in the southwest of Asia. With 1,648,669 square kilometers, it is the 18th country in the world and has a population of 79,926,270. There are more than 3000 public libraries in Iran. Under Iran’s law, the Iran public libraries Foundation, which is a non-governmental entity, is responsible for the task of establishing, constructing, equipping, developing, managing, and monitoring the public libraries across the country. In this study, the five indicators of resources, Stack space, the space of the reading hall and public library staff are compared with the IFLA standards to determine the difference between the current conditions and the standards. The methodology of the research is comparative. Data collection instrument is a checklist, based on which the number of public libraries in different indices will be extracted and compared with IFLA standards. This study presents a clear portrait of the conditions of public libraries in a country and can be a model for other developing countries to compare the conditions of public libraries with IFLA standards. Presenting this article and sharing its results, the authors also hope to benefit from the opinions of other expert participants for the further improvement of public library activities

Model-Agnostic Syntactical Information for Pre-Trained Programming Language Models

Pre-trained Programming Language Models (PPLMs) achieved many recent states of the art results for many code-related software engineering tasks. Though some studies use data flow or propose tree-based models that utilize Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), most PPLMs do not fully utilize the rich syntactical information in source code. Still, the input is considered a sequence of tokens. There are two issues; the first is computational inefficiency due to the quadratic relationship between input length and attention complexity. Second, any syntactical information, when needed as an extra input to the current PPLMs, requires the model to be pre-trained from scratch, wasting all the computational resources already used for pre-training the current models. In this work, we propose Named Entity Recognition (NER) adapters, lightweight modules that can be inserted into Transformer blocks to learn type information extracted from the AST. These adapters can be used with current PPLMs such as CodeBERT, GraphCodeBERT, and CodeT5. We train the NER adapters using a novel Token Type Classification objective function (TTC). We insert our proposed work in CodeBERT, building CodeBERTER, and evaluate the performance on two tasks of code refinement and code summarization. CodeBERTER improves the accuracy of code refinement from 16.4 to 17.8 while using 20% of training parameter budget compared to the fully fine-tuning approach, and the BLEU score of code summarization from 14.75 to 15.90 while reducing 77% of training parameters compared to the fully fine-tuning approach.Comment: 11 pages, 5 Figures, Has been accepted on ICSE 202

Molecular evaluation of hepatitis B virus infection and predominant mutations of pre-core, basal core promoter and S regions in an Iranian population with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a case–control study

This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence, genotypic patterns, and predominant mutations of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among diabetic patients. Methods Serum samples were obtained from 733 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 782 non-diabetic controls. The presence of HBsAg and HBcAb was determined by ELISA. Nested PCR, targeting S and pre-core regions of the HBV genome, followed by sequencing was carried out to determine HBV genotypes and predominant mutations in the S, basal core promoter (BCP), and pre-core regions of the HBV genome. Results Of 733 diabetic patients, 94 cases (12.82%) were positive for HBcAb, 28 cases (3.82%) were positive for HBsAg, and 19 cases (2.59%) had HBV-DNA with genotype D, sub-genotype D1/D3 and subtype ayw2. An occult HBV infection was found in one of the HBV DNA-positive samples, which was positive for HBcAb but negative for HBsAg. P120T/G145R, G1896A/G1899A, and A1762T/G1764T were the most frequent point substitution mutations detected in the S, pre-core, and BCP regions of the HBV genome, respectively. P120T and G145R mutations were associated with low levels or undetectable levels of HBsAg in serum. Therefore, routine tests based on HBsAg detection cannot detect HBsAg-negative infected patients. Conclusions Relatively high prevalence of HBV infection was found in diabetic patients, while all of the HBV-infected patients were unaware of their infection. Therefore, screening for HBV infection should be included in the management program of diabetes for timely diagnosis and treatment of infected but asymptomatic patients

The effect of motion formation on cooperative navigation

The effect of formation movement on the performance of cooperative navigation is investigated in this paper. First, the inertial navigation system of each agent with a certain accuracy is modeled and simulated. Initial results showed that the navigation error of each agent increased individually over time, and this problem is more severe for agents equipped with a weaker system. Cooperative navigation is implemented for the agents to resolve this problem. It is shown that the total navigation errors are improved by observing and participating the relative distance between the agents. Various simulations and experimental tests using two real agents supported this assertation. The performance of cooperative navigation can be improved further through appropriate formation. Proper formations are investigated and evaluated through simulations. The collective covariance matrix is employed to form an objective function using an extended Kalman filter (EKF). This function has been minimized using Newton’s method, which could be the solution for the formation. The simulation results show that better accuracy can be achieved by applying the optimal formation trajectory

Bibliometric Analysis of the Journal of Hospital Librarianship

The Journal of Hospital Librarianship is the most influential journal in the field of hospital libraries. This study, using bibliometric and visualization methods, provides a comprehensive analysis of the Journal of Hospital Librarianship. The results of the bibliometrics indicated that the citation received by papers was ascending, and the average citation for each document was 1.06. Helen-Ann Brown Epstein with 26 documents, is the most prolific author. About 86 percent of the documents were published by authors from the United States. The LSU Health Sciences Center, with 14 documents, is the most active institution. The article entitled "Gray literature: Its emerging importance" is considered the most highly cited article in the journal receiving 79 citations. Visualizing and clustering the important terms in the title and the keywords of the articles using the VOSviewer software suggests that these terms form seven clusters. Hospital library, information need, and hospital librarian were the most important terms in the title of the articles, and hospital libraries, libraries and internet were the most important keywords. In addition, visualizing the abstract of the articles showed that "hospital libraries", "survey research", "health information," and "evidence-based medicine" are the main four clusters of articles. The publishing trends in this journal have been accompanied by ups and downs and the United States has been one of the main countries contributed to this journal. The results of this study can be a road map for researchers and editors of this journal

A retrospective observational study on characteristics, treatment patterns, and healthcare resource use of patients with myasthenia gravis in England

Background: There are limited data on the real-world healthcare resource use (HCRU) and management costs of myasthenia gravis (MG) in England. Objective: This study aims to assess the burden of disease for patients with MG in England. Design: A retrospective, observational cohort study of adult patients diagnosed with MG, using data from the Hospital Episode Statistics data warehouse. Methods: Patients with a first-ever recorded diagnosis of MG between 30 June 2015 and 30 June 2020 were followed up until 30 June 2021 or death, whichever occurred first. Post-diagnosis patient characteristics, treatment patterns, HCRU, and costs were described. Costs were evaluated using National Health Service reference costs. Results: A total of 9087 patients with a median follow-up time of 2.9 years (range, 1.7–4.3 years) were included. The mean age at diagnosis was 66.5 years and 53% of the patients were male. A large proportion of patients (72.8%) were admitted as inpatients during follow-up with a mean number of 1.3 admissions. Patients hospitalized for MG-related complications spent a mean of 9.7 days per patient-year in the hospital. During follow-up, 599 (6.6% of the total cohort) and 163 (1.8%) patients had a record of rescue therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and plasma exchange (PLEX), respectively. Rituximab was administered to 81 (0.9%) patients and 268 (2.9%) patients underwent thymectomy. In those patients receiving rescue therapy or rituximab, >10% received at least three cycles of the same treatment. The average annual cost of hospital admissions across all patients treated with IVIg, PLEX, and rituximab were £907,072, £689,979, and £146,726, respectively. Conclusion: A majority of MG patients required hospitalization or accident and emergency attendance, resulting in high HCRU and costs. A subset of patients required rescue therapy (including IVIg and PLEX), rituximab administration, ventilation, or thymectomy

Assessing Educational Needs of Emergency Medical Technicians

مقدمه: امروزه بهسازی منابع انسانی به عنوان یکی از استراتژی های اصلی موفقیت سازمان ها محسوب می شود که گسترش سریع زمینه های علمی و تحقیقاتی بر اهمیت آن می افزاید. فوريت هاي پزشکي یکی از بخش های مراقبتی-درمانی است که از این تغییرات مصون نمانده است. فوريت هاي پزشکي نیز برای افزایش کیفیت خدمات خود به آموزش و بهسازی منابع انسانی نیازمند است که لازمه آن، نیازسنجی می باشد. مطالعه حاضر با هدف نیازسنجی آموزشی تکنسین های اورژانس پیش بیمارستانی انجام گرفت. روش کار: مطالعه توصیفی حاضر در مرکز فوریت های پزشکی کرمان با نمونه گیری به روش در دسترس انجام گرفت. ابزار گردآوری داده ها پرسشنامه پژوهشگر ساخته ای حاوی 39 سوال بود که نیازهای آموزشی تکنسین های فوریت پزشکی در 3 بعد دانش، مهارت و نگرش بر حسب مقیاس لیکرت مورد ارزیابی قرار داد. يافته ها: در مجموع 170 نفر با میانگین سنی 51/5 ± 21/31 در مطالعه شرکت کردند که همگی مرد بودند. در بعد دانش، بیشترین نیاز آموزشی تکنیسین های اورژانس به آیتم «دانش و اطلاعات مربوط به اطلاعات دارويي وعوارض احتمالي مصرف آن ها» با 9/25 درصد، در بعد مهارت به آیتم «توانایی و مهارت در جاگذاری لوله داخل تراشه» با 8/28 درصد و در بعد نگرش به آیتم «علاقه مندی به شرکت در دوره‌هاي آموزش ضمن خدمت برای ارتقاي سطح علمي‌خود در زمينه مهارت هاي عملي» با 8/71 درصد مربوط شد. نتیجه گیری: بر اساس یافته های مطالعه حاضر، اغلب تکنیسین های فوریت های پزشکی بیان کردند که نیاز آنها در بعد دانش به آیتم «اطلاعات دارويي و عوارض احتمالي مصرف آنها»، در بعد مهارت به «توانایی و مهارت در جاگذاری لوله داخل تراشه» و در بعد نگرش به «علاقه مندی به شرکت در دوره‌هاي آموزش ضمن خدمت برای ارتقاي سطح علمي‌خود در زمينه مهارت هاي عملي» می باشد.Introduction: Currently improvement of human resources is considered a major strategy for success of the organizations and rapid development of scientific and research fields emphasizes its importance. Medical emergencies are a part of care and treatment that has not been immune to these changes. Medical emergency centers need education and improvement of human resources to enhance the quality of their service, which in turn require assessment of needs. The present study was carried out aiming to assess the educational needs of pre-hospital emergency technicians. Methods: The present observational study in medical emergencies center of Kerman, Iran, was carried out using convenience sampling. The tool used for gathering data was a questionnaire designed by the researcher, which consisted of 39 questions that evaluated educational needs of emergency medical technicians from 3 aspects of knowledge, skill, and attitude based on the Likert scale. Results: A total of 170 individuals with the mean age of 31.21 ± 5.51 years participated in the study, all of which were male. The most important educational need of the emergency technicians regarding knowledge was “knowledge and information regarding drugs and probable side effects of using them” with 25.9%; in the skill item, it was “ability and skill of performing endotracheal intubation” with 28.8%; and in the attitude section, it was “taking interest in participating in training courses during service to improve their knowledge regarding practical skills” with 71.8%. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, most medical emergency technicians expressed that their need regarding knowledge is “drug information and their side effects” from skills aspect, it is “ability and skill of performing endotracheal intubation” and from the aspect of attitude, it is “taking interest in participating in training courses during service to improve their knowledge regarding practical skills”.

Global Research Trends in Pediatrics from 1990 to 2020: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: This bibliometric analysis and visualization aimed at depicting bibliometric indicators of papers published globally in pediatrics during the recent three decades. Methods: Using Web of Knowledge database, all papers published on pediatrics during 1990-2020 were retrieved. Bibliometric data on paper type, language, and publishing year, and publishing journal, country of origin, affiliated institutes, and subject areas were extracted. Using visualization techniques in VOSviewer software package, the collaboration / co-authorship networks, co-citation maps and keyword co-occurrence maps were depicted. Results: Top hot papers were mainly on childhood overweight and obesity, cerebral palsy, and body-mass index. David Isaacs, Prem Puri and Anne were the top most productive authors. Seetha Shankaran from Wayne State University, USA, ranked first in citation counts. Top publishing journals were Pediatric Research, Pediatric Blood and Cancer and Pediatrics, respectively. Highly-productive countries were the USA and UK, respectively. Among research areas, neurosciences neurology, oncology and surgery were heavily considered and had top h-indices, respectively. Five subject clusters focused on diseases, metabolism, neurology, psychiatry and immunology. These clusters cover all main research areas in the field, each with its own research methodologies and highlighted keywords. Conclusions: Global research on pediatrics found its way and ever-increasingly develops as its bibliometric indicators clearly show

Development of a prediction model for future risk of radiographic hip osteoarthritis

Objective: To develop and validate a prognostic model for incident radiologic hip osteoarthritis (HOA) and determine the value of previously identified predictive factors. Design: We first validated previously reported predictive factors for HOA by performing univariate and multivariate analyses for all predictors in three large prospective cohorts (total sample size of 4548 with 653 incident cases). The prognostic model was developed in 2327 individuals followed for 10 years from the Rotterdam Study-I (RS-I) cohort. External validation of the model was tested on discrimination in two other cohorts: RS-II (n = 1435) and the Cohort Hip and Cohort Knee (CHECK) study (n = 786). Results: From the total number of 28 previously reported predictive factors, we were able to replicate 13 factors, while 15 factors were not significantly predictive in a meta-analysis of the three cohorts. The basic model including the demographic, questionnaire, and clinical examination variables (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.67) or genetic markers (AUC = 0.55) or urinary C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type II collagen (uCTX-II) levels (AUC = 0.67) alone were poor predictors of HOA in all cohorts. Imaging factors showed the highest predictive value for the development of HOA (AUC = 0.74). Addition of imaging variables to the basic model led to substantial improvement in the discriminative ability of the model (AUC = 0.78) compared with uCTX-II (AUC = 0.74) or genetic markers (AUC = 0.68). Applying external validation, similar results were observed in the RS-II and the CHECK cohort. Conclusions: The developed prediction model included demographic, a limited number of questionnaire, and imaging risk factors seems promising for prediction of HOA