Process-oriented ontology building methodology for solving unbalanced competency of the ontology.

During two last decades, many ontology building methodologies have been introduced. Since these methodologies are based on the society's lexicon, rather than society's process, the purpose, scope and required entities of the ontology cannot be clearly defined. Therefore, the obtained ontology is either incompetent or over-competent. Hence, this research addresses the problem of the unbalanced competency of the ontology by proposing Process-Oriented Ontology Building methodology (POOB-Methodology). The proposed method defines and express the purpose and scope of the ontology as the ontological concepts. Since the proposed method is process-oriented, and all the societies have a finite number of the processes, the boundary of the ontology can be clearly defined which helps the ontology builder to be concentrated on the main concepts in order to obtain the required entities. Therefore as a result, the obtained ontology is neither incompetent nor over-competent, but enough competent in solving the society's problem. This research contributes by clearly determining the first step of ontology building, providing more coordination between ontology builder and domain experts

The Incidence of Brain Tumours in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Brain tumours (BTs) constitute approximately 88% of all central nervous system tumours. The present study aimed to determine the age-standardised rate (ASR) of BTs in Iran. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted on all studies of BTs incidence using Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Google Scholar and Web of Sciences as international databases and Scientific Information Database, MagIran, IranMedex and IranDoc as Iranian databases until April 2018. This systematic review was done based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Results: The primary search yielded 312 relevant studies. A total of 17 studies were included after more detailed retrieval. The results of the random-effect model were demonstrated the ASR of BTs was 4.16 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.20-5.12) for males and 3.40 (95% CI, 2.67-4.13) for females. Conclusion: The incidence of BTs is lower in Iran compared to other parts of the world. The incidence of nervous system cancers is increasing base on region, geographical, and economic conditions in Iran. Hence, training programmes can be considered to reduce the risk factors, complications of nervous system cancers and early diagnosis of nervous tumor

Survival rate of prostate cancer in asian countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most common health issues among men, especially older men. In recent years, incidences of prostate cancer is increasing. Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive estimate of the survival of prostate cancer in Asian countries. Methods: We searched five international databases including Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Knowledge and ProQuest until June 1, 2018. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment was used to evaluate the quality of selected papers. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019117044). Results: A total of 714 titles were retrieved. Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on the random-effect model one-year, five-year and ten-year survival rate of prostate cancer were 81 (95 CI 77.8�84.2), 61.9 (95 CI 59.5�64.3) and 36.2 (95 CI 9.2�63.2) respectively. Survival rates based on HDI level for five-year were 30.07, 43.43 and 70.84 percent for medium, high and very high levels, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of our study, the prostate cancer survival rate in Asian countries is relatively lower than in Europe and North America. © 2020 The Author(s)

The therapeutic role of carotenoids in diabetic retinopathy: A systematic review

Background: Carotenoids are a large group of natural pigments that occur in many foods, fruits, and vegetables. Several studies have shown a number of biological properties of carotenoids, particularly beneficial impacts on cancer, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular diseases. However, recent evidence has shown that these compounds could prevent, delay, and ameliorate diabetic retinopathy (DR). The aim of current study was to review the therapeutic effects of carotenoids in the treatment of DR and discuss the molecular mechanisms that are behind these pharmacological activities. Methods: Six online databases (Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Embase, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest) were searched until September 2019. The systematic review was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. Results: A total of 25 studies were included after the final retrieval. A relationship was observed between carotenoids and management of DR. Findings also demonstrated that the underlying mechanism of beneficial effects of these compounds was antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, and neuroprotective properties. Conclusion: Carotenoids potentially delay the initiation and prevent the progression of DR; however, ample preclinical studies are required to confirm their effect, and adequate clinical trials are needed to really understand how well these compounds influence DR among humans. © 2020 Fathalipour et al

The incidence of prostate cancer in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men. There are various estimates of prostate cancer incidence from different geographical areas in Iran. In addition, no systematic reviews are available regarding the incidence rate of prostate cancer in Iran. Therefore, the present systematic review aimed to address this epidemiological gap. Method: This systematic review was performed based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses in July 2017. In doing so, the researchers searched Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar for international articles and four Iranian databases (Scientific Information Database, MagIran, IranMedex, and IranDoc) for Persian articles. Result: A total of 274 titles were retrieved in the initial search of the databases. Further refinement and screening of the retrieved studies produced a total of 21 studies. Based on the random-effect model, the age-standardized rate of prostate cancer was 9.11 and 95% confidence interval was 8.19–10.04. Besides, the results of Cochran's test indicated the heterogeneity of the studies (Q = 1457.8, df = 46.0, I2 = 96.8%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The incidence of prostate cancer was lower in Iran than in the other parts of the world. Yet, establishing cancer registries covering a broader perspective of the population and conducting further studies are required to map out the exact incidence rate and trend of prostate cancer in Iran. Keywords: Epidemiology, Incidence, Iran, Prostate cance

Puerarin as potential treatment in diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most prevalent microvascular complications of diabetes, and the most leading cause of visual loss around the world. The lack of effective and approved treatment in DR is a major challenge for diabetic patients. Nowadays, natural compounds have got attention of the researchers for management of DR. Many evidences suggest that puerarin as a natural polyphenol exerts advantageous effects against DR. In the present review, we summarized the protective effects of puerarin against DR, and discussed the underlying mechanisms of these effects. Puerarin attenuates retinal neovascularization and neurodegeneration in diabetes mellitus, and the underlying mechanisms are related to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties of the compound. In conclusion, puerarin might be a potential adjuvant agent for the prevention and treatment of DR. However, comprehensive studies are necessary to show its effectiveness and safety, particularly in human

Ontology-based, process-oriented, and society-independent agent system for cloud computing

IT systems are used to help organizations to manage and automate their processes. However, most of today's systems are not reusable because of mixing the society's knowledge with the process's knowledge. Since the societies’ knowledge is different to each other, the applications are not reusable. Hence, this paper address the dependency of the applications on the societies by separately defining process's ontology, the agent's knowledge, the society's ontology, and the society's knowledge. This research introduces an ontology-based, process-oriented, and society-independent agent system which allows all the organizations to utilize it by defining and importing their societies’ ontology and some process patterns, which can be instantiated from the process's ontology, into the system. The proposed system can be applied to cloud computing platform. The proposed system has been evaluated from two perspectives, the quality by using the cohesion and the coupling measures for measuring the degree to which the system focuses on solving a particular problem and the applicability by evaluating the manageability and the automatebility of the seven processes from three different societies. We believe that our proposed system will improve when we apply some methods to find the best process patterns and perform parallel processe

The incidence of kidney cancer in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The incidence of kidney cancer from different areas of Iran was reported. Nevertheless, there is no available systematic reviews in this regard. Therefore, the present systematic review carried out to estimate the incidence rate of kidney cancer among Iranian people. Method: This systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) in September 2017. A search was concluded using Medline/ PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google scholar for international papers and four national databases (Scientific Information Database, MagIran, IranMedex, and IranDoc) for Persian papers. The incidence rate of kidney cancer was calculated using random effect model. Result: An aggregate of 159 papers were retrieved in the primary search of the databases. Further screening and advanced refinement of the retrieved studies produced 15 studies totally. The age-standardized rate (ASR) of kidney cancer was 1.94, 95% CI (1.62-2.55) and 1.36, 95 % CI (1.09-1.62) in males and females, respectively. Conclusion: In comparison to other parts of the world, the incidence of kidney cancer was lower in Iran. Afterwards, further studies are necessary to outline the exact incidence rate and the trend of kidney cancer in Iran