Parental willingness to pay for child safety seats in Mashad, Iran

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Iran has one of the highest rates of road traffic crash death rates throughout the world and road traffic injuries are the leading cause of years of life lost in the country. Using child car safety seats is not mandatory by law in Iran. The purpose of this research was to determine the parental willingness to pay (WTP) for child restraints in Mashad, the second most populated city in Iran with one of the highest rates of road traffic-related deaths.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We surveyed 590 car-owner parents of kindergarten children who were willing to participate in the study in the year 2009. We asked them about the maximum amount of money they were willing to pay for car safety seats using contingent valuation method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age of children was 33.5 months. The median parental WTP for CSS was about $15. Considering the real price of CSSs in Iran, only 12 percent of responders could be categorized as being willing to pay for it. Family income level was the main predictor of being willing to pay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The median parental WTP was much lower than the actual price of the safety seats, and those who were of lower socio-economic class were less willing to pay. Interventions to increase low-income families' access to child safety seats such as providing free of charge or subsidized seats, renting or health insurance coverage should be considered.</p

Invasão do reto por carcinoma prostático avançado com disseminação linfática simulando câncer retal: relato de caso Invasive prostate carcinoma to the rectum with lymphatic dissemination simulating a rectal cancer: case report

O carcinoma da próstata é uma doença freqüente em idosos e em casos avançados pode invadir o reto, simulando um carcinoma primário deste órgão. Nestas situações, a maioria dos pacientes apresenta sintomas retais exuberantes e sintomas urinários leves ou ausentes. É relatado um caso de um paciente com diagnóstico de tumor de próstata localmente agressivo, concomitante a um tumor viloso retal, que foi diagnosticado e tratado erroneamente como um tumor primário do reto. Tal lesão, curiosamente, apresentava comportamento biológico compatível com câncer retal, inclusive com disseminação linfática típica desta doença. A incidência relatada de invasão do reto por tumores de próstata avançados varia entre 1 e 11% em diferentes séries. O aspecto do tumor de próstata com envolvimento retal traz dificuldades em diferenciá-lo de um tumor primário. Exames radiológicos e ou endoscópicos podem não esclarecer o diagnóstico, enquanto o exame histopatológico em ambos os tumores costuma revelar adenocarcinoma pouco diferenciado. A diferenciação diagnóstica entre estes dois tumores é essencial, uma vez que o tratamento é absolutamente diferente para as duas doenças. A alta incidência do carcinoma prostático o torna importante para que todos os médicos estejam atentos à possibilidade deste tumor invadir o reto e simular um tumor primário deste órgão.<br>Prostate carcinoma is a frequent disease in the elderly and in advanced cases it can cause rectal invasion mimicking a primary rectal carcinoma. Most of patients present with significant rectal symptoms and mild to absent urinary tract symptoms. We report a case of a patient with a very aggressive locally invasive prostate carcinoma with a concomitant rectal villous tumor which was misdiagnosed and inadequately treated as a rectal cancer. The reported incidence of rectal invasion in advanced prostate cancer has varied between 1 to 11 per cent in different series. The appearance of the prostate tumor with involvement of the rectum causes difficulties in differentiating it from primary rectal carcinoma. Neither radiological nor endoscopic examination of the rectum or lower urinary tract provides a definitive diagnosis. Histopathology in both primary prostate carcinoma invasive to the rectum and primary rectal carcinoma usually is poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.The differentiation of rectal involvement from prostatic carcinoma is essential, since therapy is quite different for the two diseases. The high incidence of prostatic carcinoma makes it important for all physicians are aware of frequency in which it involves the rectum and mimic a primary rectal neoplasm

Preparation of biodegradable microspheres and matrix devices containing naltrexone

In this study, the use of biodegradable polymers for microencapsulation of naltrexone using solvent evaporation technique is investigated. The use of naltrexone microspheres for the preparation of matrix devices is also studied. For this purpose, poly(L-lactide) (PLA) microspheres containing naltrexone prepared by solvent evaporation technique were compressed at temperatures above the Tg of the polymer. The effect of different process parameters, such as drug/polymer ratio and stirring rate during preparation of microspheres, on the morphology, size distribution, and in vitro drug release of microspheres was studied. As expected, stirring rate influenced particle size distribution of microspheres and hence drug release profiles. By increasing the stirring speed from 400 to 1200 rpm, the mean diameter of microspheres decreased from 251 μm to 104 μm. The drug release rate from smaller microspheres was faster than from larger microspheres. However, drug release from microspheres with low drug content (20% wt/wt) was not affected by the particle size of microspheres. Increasing the drug content of microspheres from 20% to 50% wt/wt led to significantly faster drug release from microspheres. It was also shown that drug release from matrix devices prepared by compression of naltrexone microspheres is much slower than that of microspheres. No burst release was observed with matrix devices. Applying higher compression force, when compressing microspheres to produce tablets, resulted in lower drug release from matrix devices. The results suggest that by regulating different variables, desired release profiles of naltrexone can be achieved using a PLA microparticulate system or matrix devices

Bioinformatics and molecular biology for the quantification of closely related bacteria

10.1007/s00253-013-4943-5Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology97146489-6502AMBI