Logic programming and artificial neural networks in breast cancer detection

About 90% of breast cancers do not cause or are capable of producing death if detected at an early stage and treated properly. Indeed, it is still not known a specific cause for the illness. It may be not only a beginning, but also a set of associations that will determine the onset of the disease. Undeniably, there are some factors that seem to be associated with the boosted risk of the malady. Pondering the present study, different breast cancer risk assessment models where considered. It is our intention to develop a hybrid decision support system under a formal framework based on Logic Programming for knowledge representation and reasoning, complemented with an approach to computing centered on Artificial Neural Networks, to evaluate the risk of developing breast cancer and the respective Degree-of-Confidence that one has on such a happening.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope UID/CEC/00319/2013

Relationship Between the Distribution and Biodiversity of Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) With the Incidence of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Endemic Foci of Golestan Province, Iran

Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) is prevalent in Golestan Province, Iran. The current study determined the relationship between the distribution and biodiversity of sand flies with cutaneous leishmaniasis at 14 villages in plain and hillsides areas. In each village from July to September 2017, 60 sticky traps and 2 CDC light traps were laid. Spearman and Mann-Whitney tests were used to determine the relationship between the incidence of ZCL and the abundance of different species of sand flies. Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, Evenness, and Margalef indices were calculated to estimate the diversity of species. A total of 5,295 phlebotomine sand flies were collected, comprising 10 species of the genus Phlebotomus (3,947 flies) and 7 species of genus Sergentomyia (1,248 flies). The abundance of sand flies and incidence of ZCL in plain areas were greater than that of hillsides areas (P = 0.013, P = 0.002). There was a significant correlation between the incidence of ZCL and the abundance of Phlebotomus papatasi (r = 0.72, P = 0.004) and P. caucasicus groups (P = 0.006; 0.022). In the Shannon-Wiener index, the rest of the biodiversity indices were reduced in higher-altitude areas. Increasing Shannon-Wiener index showed higher diversity of sand flies in higher-altitude areas. Data of the reported cases of leishmaniasis in plain areas can reveal the relationship between less diversity index (Shannon-Wiener), higher dominant diversity index (Simpson), and incidence of leishmaniasis in these areas. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]

Susceptibility to COVID-19 in pregnant and breastfeeding women

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1559910Existing studies of cost growth in defense acquisition have been predominantly descriptive rather than explanatory. However, recent studies have highlighted the importance of decision-making by government officials as a factor affecting cost growth. While observers of defense acquisition acknowledge the role of social, cultural and institutional factors on program performance, few studies are focused there. Thus, informed by the literatures on cost growth, behavioral finance, group decision-making, and organizational failure, a research agenda is developed to consider factors affecting cost growth beyond those traditionally studied. Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development framework can be the foundation of a stream of research including both field studies and laboratory/computational experiments that may provide fresh insights into the cost growth phenomenon and—more importantly—aid in the design of more effective policy interventions

Staff perspectives on the relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health in selected educational hospitals in Tehran

INTRODUCTION: Knowledge management enhances efficiency, empowers employees, and enhances organizational health. Social capital provides a good basis for more productive human resources, and training hospitals also play a key role in the health-care system. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health in selected educational hospitals of Tehran in 2018. METHODS: This analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 310 medical staff of hospitals using proportional sampling method. The data gathering tools consisted of three standard questionnaires of knowledge management, social capital, and organizational health. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 22 software. RESULTS: Most participants in this study were male (8/66) and in the age group 31-36 years. The mean of knowledge management and organizational health were 3.43 and 3.49, respectively. There is a significant direct relationship between knowledge management components and organizational health. Moreover, there is a significant but weak direct relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health dimensions (P � 0.05). CONCLUSION: Considering the relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health, enhancing the level of organizational health can help to improve the dimensions of knowledge management and social capital. It is suggested that hospital managers, using knowledge management and social capital components, enhance organizational health so that the hospital is more prepared to adapt to the complexities and changes in the market providing services. © 2020 Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Prevalence of leishmania major yakimoff and schokhor (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in sandflies in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an important parasitic and vector-borne disease in Iran and can be transmitted to humans and animals through bites of infected female sand flies. The present study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of Leishmania major in sand flies in Iran. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed in the present study, so that databases, namely PubMed, Web of Sciences, Science Direct, ProQuest, Embase, Cochrane Reviews, and Scopus as well as IranDoc, SID, Elmnet, and Magiran were searched for finding Persian articles. Inclusion criteria of study contained the study in Iran and investigation of L. major parasite in sand flies. The quality of studies was examined by Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for studies that reported prevalence data; and the data were analyzed by Stata 14 software. In total, 42 studies were evaluated, all of which had investigated the infection of Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli (Diptera: Psychodidae). The infection of Phlebotomus caucasicus group was investigated in 13 studies, Phlebotomus ansarii Lewis in four studies, Phlebotomus salehi Mesghali and Rashti in five studies, and the infection of other species of sandflies in seven studies. According to the meta-analysis, the pooled prevalence of Ph. papatasi, Ph. caucasicus group, Ph. salehi, and Ph. ansarii were equal to 2.4, 6.2, 1.6, and 9.2, respectively, with 95 confidence interval. According to reports of different rates of sand fly infection in different regions, all studies should have certain and standard forms and formats to determine the pooled prevalence of sand fly infection. © 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved