The economic behavior of general hospitals of Iran

Background and aim: Economic analysis should be applied to hospitals for optimization. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the economic behavior (production-cost) of general hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences from 1997 to 2004. Methods: Data was collected using appropriate questionnaire and analyzed by t-test. In this research, Cobb-Douglas function and its T form was used for evaluation of production and cost, respectively. Results: The marginal production of hospital labor for physician was 57, for nurse was 24, and for other personal was 0.04 of the patient admission. The marginal product of capital agent was 18 patient admissions. The personnel and non-personnel costs were 62 and 38 percent of the overall operatic costs respectively. Cost elasticity of overall expense to labor price, capital rate and production was 0.69, 0.48 and 0.32, respectively. Conclusion: The hospitals can be on the decreasing part of LRAC (Long Run Average Cust) care and can decrease the unit cost of production with increasing economic agents

The economic behavior of general hospitals of Iran

چکیده: زمینه و هدف: بیمارستان به عنوان یکی از سازمان‌های اصلی ارائه دهنده خدمات بهداشتی و درمانی، حساسیت و اهمیت ویژه‌ای در اقتصاد و بهداشت دارد و به منظور بهینه‌سازی مفید آن به عنوان یک بنگاه اقتصادی باید از تحلیل‌های اقتصادی استفاده نمود. این مطالعه به منظور بررسی رفتار اقتصادی (تولید- هزینه) بیمارستان‌های علوم پزشکی ایران در طی سال‌های 1376 تا 1383 انجام گرفت. روش بررسی: این پژوهش یک مطالعه توصیفی- تحلیلی است که در سال 1384 انجام شد. جامعه پژوهش شامل 6 بیمارستان عمومی - آموزشی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی ایران بود. برای جمع‌آوری داده‌های مورد نیاز از پرسشنامه تولید- هزینه استفاده گردید در این پژوهش اطلاعات از طریق فرم‌های اطلاعاتی جمع‌آوری گردید و با استفاده از نرم‌افزار SPSS و با بهره‌گیری از آزمون t تجزیه و تحلیل شد. شکل تابع برای تولید از نوع کاب داگلاس و برای هزینه از نوع فرم‌ تبعی کاب داگلاس بود. یافته ها: تولید نهایی عوامل تولید نیروی کار برای: پزشک 53، پرستار 24 و سایر پرسنل 4/0- پذیرش بستری بود و تولید نهایی عامل سرمایه (تخت فعال) 18 پذیرش بستری بود. هزینه‌های پرسنلی 62 درصد و هزینه‌های غیر پرسنلی 38 درصد کل هزینه‌های عملیاتی را تشکیل می‌دادند. حساسیت هزینه کل به نرخ نیروی کار، نرخ سرمایه و تولید به ترتیب 69/0، 48/0 و 32/0 بود. نتیجه گیری: از لحاظ رفتار تولیدی و هزینه‌ای، بیمارستان‌های مورد مطالعه در منطقه کارآمد اقتصادی قرار داشتند و می‌توانند در بلند مدت با افزایش عوامل اقتصادی (نیروی کار و سرمایه) هزینه واحد تولید را کاهش دهند و در قسمت نزولی منحنی هزینه بلند مدت واقع شوند

Полиморфизм вставки/делеции гена АПФ связан с глиобластомой у населения Ирана: исследование случай-контроль

Background. The insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene has recently been reported to be associated with the pathogenesis and development of human cancers.This study aimed to assess the potential association between ACE (I/D) polymorphism and glioblastoma in an Iranian population.Material and Methods. This case-control study was conducted on 80 patients with glioblastoma and 80 healthy blood donors as controls. Gap-polymerase chain reaction (Gap-PCR) was used to determine the ACE (I/D) genotypes. PCR products were separated and measured by electrophoresis on a 2 % agarose gel.Results. Analysis of demographic data showed a significant difference in the family history of cancer between the case and control groups (p=0.03). The distribution of ACE gene variants including II, ID, and DD genotypes was also calculated, and significant differences were seen in the DD genotype (p=0.03) and D allele (p=0.04) between the glioblastoma cases and controls.Conclusion. ACE gene polymorphism was associated with glioblastoma in the study population. Further studies are needed to approve this finding.Актуальность. Недавно сообщалось, что инсерционно-делеционный (I/D) полиморфизм гена ангиотензин-превращающего фермента (АПФ) связан с патогенезом и развитием рака человека.Целью исследования была оценка потенциальной связи между I/D полиморфизмом гена АПФ и глиобластомой у населения Ирана.Материал и методы. В исследовании случай-контроль участвовали 80 пациентов с глиобластомой и 80 здоровых доноров в качестве группы контроля. Полимеразная цепная реакция (Gap-PCR) использовалась для определения генотипов I/D полиморфизма гена AПФ. ПЦР-продукты разделяли и измеряли электрофорезом в 2 % агарозном геле.Результаты. Анализ демографических данных показал значительную разницу в семейной истории рака между основной и контрольной группами (p=0,03). Было рассчитано распределение вариантов гена АПФ, включая генотипы II, ID и DD, и были обнаружены значительные различия в генотипе DD (p=0,03) и аллеле D (p=0,04) между группой больных с глиобластомой и контрольной группой.Заключение. Полиморфизм гена AПФ был связан с глиобластомой в исследуемой популяции. Необходимы дальнейшие исследования, чтобы подтвердить эти данные

Blind identification of FIR channels with multiple users via spatio-temporal processing

A new method is proposed for blind identification of possibly nonminimum phase FIR channels with multiple users. The technique exploits the structure of the signals received by an antenna array in both the temporal and spatial frequency domains. Although in the single antenna case it is necessary to use cyclostationary signals or higher order statistics to identify the magnitude and phase of the channel, the present authors circumvent such a requirement by exploiting certain multichannel features of the array. They show that if multiple users are present, the nonminimum phase channels associated with each user can still be identified from the second-order statistics, provided additional spatial structure exists

Reliability estimation of reinforced slopes to prioritize maintenance actions

Geosynthetics are extensively utilized to improve the stability of geotechnical structures and slopes in urban areas. Among all existing geosynthetics, geotextiles are widely used to reinforce unstable slopes due to their capabilities in facilitating reinforcement and drainage. To reduce settlement and increase the bearing capacity and slope stability, the classical use of geotextiles in embankments has been suggested. However, several catastrophic events have been reported, including failures in slopes in the absence of geotextiles. Many researchers have studied the stability of geotextile-reinforced slopes (GRSs) by employing different methods (analytical models, numerical simulation, etc.). The presence of source-to-source uncertainty in the gathered data increases the complexity of evaluating the failure risk in GRSs since the uncertainty varies among them. Consequently, developing a sound methodology is necessary to alleviate the risk complexity. Our study sought to develop an advanced risk-based maintenance (RBM) methodology for prioritizing maintenance operations by addressing fluctuations that accompany event data. For this purpose, a hierarchical Bayesian approach (HBA) was applied to estimate the failure probabilities of GRSs. Using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations of likelihood function and prior distribution, the HBA can incorporate the aforementioned uncertainties. The proposed method can be exploited by urban designers, asset managers, and policymakers to predict the mean time to failures, thus directly avoiding unnecessary maintenance and safety consequences. To demonstrate the application of the proposed methodology, the performance of nine reinforced slopes was considered. The results indicate that the average failure probability of the system in an hour is 2.8 ≥ 105 during its lifespan, which shows that the proposed evaluation method is more realistic than the traditional methods

Immune-inflammation gene signatures in endometriosis patients

To determine if the molecular profiles of endometriotic lesions contain informative measures of inflammation and immune dysfunction that may contribute to better understanding of the interplay between immune dysfunction and inflammation and their contribution to endometriosis pathogenesis