Designing a Model for Evaluating Marketing Channels based on the Fuzzy Best-Worst and Fuzzy EDAS Methods

Objective: Evaluation of marketing channels is a very important and complex task, so far no comprehensive model has been presented in this regard. The present study aims to provide a decision framework for evaluating marketing channels. Methods: With extensive study of literature, effective indicators were identified in the evaluation of marketing channels. Then, the newest multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy best-worst method was used to calculate the relative importance of indices. In addition, Fuzzy EDAS technique was applied as a multi-attribute decision-making method to rank distribution strategies in marketing channels. The statistical population of this research consists of directors and experts in the food industry, which due to their limited number, sampling was not performed. Results: Eight criteria were identified for evaluating marketing distribution channels, including trust, conflict, display, delivery, information exchange, product return cost, coordination cost, and profitability as well. Six types of marketing channels are: highlighting the importance of the sales team, expanding the sales team, distributing value added, ordinary distributors, the exclusive web channel, and the shared web channel. Conclusion:According to the result of research conducted by a food company, the strategy of expanding the sales team has first ranked among other strategies

Rectal bleeding as a symptom of solitary rectal ulcer syndrome mimicking rectal neoplasm on colonoscopy: A case report

Key Clinical Message Patients complaining of rectal bleeding, constipation, and a suspicious mass in colonoscopy should undergo biopsy. Histological features such as fibromuscular obliteration in the lamina propria favor SRUS, a benign disorder

Evaluation of the Educational Nutrition Intervention\'s Effects on Healthy Nutritional Behaviors Promotion in Elderly of Sanandaj: Application BASNEF Model

Introduction Poor nutrition is the underlying cause of many diseases in the elderly and imposes enormous costs to the governments. Education of proper nutrition has an important role in health promotion of elderly persons. This study is conducted to assess the effect of education based on the BASNEF model on promotion of healthy nutritional behaviors in elderly, Sanandaj. Materials and Methods This was a quasi-experimental study that conducted on 110 elderly people in health centers, Sanandaj. Data collected through a researcher-made questionnaire consisted of two parts: the basic and demographic questions and questions related to the BASNEF model. After selecting two groups of Intervention and control randomly, questionnaires were completed and required data received. Then, intervention was administered to the control group. The control group received no intervention. 6 weeks after the intervention, the questionnaire was completed by two groups. Finally, information received from the two groups was compared before and 6 weeks after the intervention. The data obtained was analyzed by SPSS16. The results in less than 0.05 were considered as significant results. Results Based on the findings of this study, after the intervention, the mean score of knowledge, behavioral beliefs, attitude toward the behavior, and subjective norms significantly increased in the intervention groups compared to the control, however, mean score of normative Beliefs, enabling factors and intention in the intervention groups was not significantly than the control group. Conclusion The results of this study showed that nutritional education based on the BASNEF model can be effective on promote healthy nutritional behaviors in elderly

Poremećaji neurokognitivne funkcije, mentalnoga zdravlja i razine glukoze u zemljoradnika izloženih organofosfornim pesticidima

About 25 million agricultural workers in the developing world suffer from at least one episode of poisoningeach year, mainly by anticholinesterase-like organophosphates (OPs). The objective of this cross-sectional study was to establish the OP toxicity in 187 occupationally exposed farmers in terms of neurocognitive impairment, mental health status, clinical symptoms, diabetes, and haematological factors. The exposed group was compared to 187 healthy age-, sex-, and education-matching controls. Neurocognitive impairment was measured using the Subjective Neurocognition Inventory (SNI) and mental health status using the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). The subjects were also tested for fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), cholesterol (CL), triglycerides (TG), creatinine, oral glucose tolerance test (GTT), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). The exposed farmers showed higher FBG (p<0.001), BUN (p=0.007), CL (p<0.001), oral GTT (p<0.001), and lower AST (p<0.001), ALP (p<0.001), and creatinine (p=0.004) than controls. The rates of anxiety/insomnia and severe depression were also significantly higher in the farmers than in controls (p=0.015 and p<0.001, respectively). Meanwhile, the rate of social dysfunction was signifi cantly lower than in controls (p<0.001). Disorders affecting psychomotor speed, selective attention, divided attention, verbal memory, nonverbal memory, prospective memory, spatial functioning, and initiative/energy were all lower in the farmers (p<0.001). Farmers showed clinical symptoms eczema, saliva secretion, fatigue, headache, sweating, abdominal pain, nausea, superior distal muscle weakness, inferior distal muscle weakness, inferior proximal muscle weakness, breath muscle weakness, hand tingling, foot tingling, epiphoria, polyuria, miosis, dyspnoea, bradycardia, and rhinorrhoea, which all signifi cantly correlated with the number of working years. These fi ndings indicate that farmers who work with OPs are prone to neuropsychological disorders and diabetes.Oko 25 milijuna zemljoradnika iz zemalja u razvoju imalo je barem jednu epizodu trovanja na godinu, uglavnom antikolinesteraznim organofosfatima. Cilj ovoga križnog ispitivanja bio je utvrditi u 187 profesionalno izloženih zemljoradnika toksično djelovanje organofosfata na neurokognitivnu funkciju, mentalno zdravlje, kliničke simptome, dijabetes i hematološke parametre. Izložena je skupina uspoređena s odgovarajućom kontrolnom skupinom od 187 ispitanika odgovarajuće dobi, spola i obrazovanja. Neurokognitivni poremećaj mjeren je s pomoću Inventara za subjektivnu procjenu neurokognitivne funkcije (izv. Subjective Neurocognition Inventory, krat. SNI), a mentalno zdravlje ocijenjeno s pomoću Upitnika o općem zdravstvenom stanju s 28 stavki (izv. General Health Questionnaire-28, krat. GHQ-28). Ispitanicima su također napravljene pretrage glukoze u krvi natašte (FBG), ureje u krvi (BUN), kolesterola (CL), triglicerida (TG), kreatinina, zatim test podnošljivosti oralne glukoze (GTT), lipoproteina visoke gustoće (HDL), aspartat aminotransferaze (AST), alanin aminotransferaze (ALT) i alkalne fosfataze (ALP). Izloženi zemljoradnici imali su značajno više nalaze FBG-a (p<0,001), BUN-a (p=0,007), CL-a (p<0,001) i GTT-a (p<0,001) te značajno niže nalaze AST-a (p<0,001), ALP-a (p<0,001) i kreatinina (p=0,004) od kontrolnih ispitanika. Također su u odnosu na kontrolu značajno češće imali tjeskobe/nesanice, odnosno snažnu depresiju (p=0,015, odnosno p<0,001). S druge strane, učestalost poremećaja socijalne funkcije bila je značajno manja nego u kontrolnih ispitanika (p<0,001). Svi poremećaji koji utječu na brzinu psihomotornog odgovora, selektivnu pažnju, podijeljenu pažnju, verbalno pamćenje, neverbalno pamćenje, prospektivno pamćenje, prostornu funkciju te inicijativu/energiju bili su slabije izraženi u zemljoradnika (p<0,001). Zemljoradnici su iskazali kliničke simptome poput ekcema, slinjenja, umora, glavobolje, znojenja, boli u trbuhu, mučnine, slabosti gornjih i donjih, distalnih i proksimalnih mišića te respiratornih mišića, trnaca u šakama i stopalima, epiforije, poliurije, mioze, dispneje, bradikardije i curenja iz nosa, a svi su simptomi bili značajno povezani s godinama staža. Ovi rezultati ispitivanja upućuju na to da su zemljoradnici koji rade s organofosfatima skloniji neuropsihološkim poremećajima i dijabetesu

Expression Analysis of MALAT1, GAS5, SRA, and NEAT1 lncRNAs in Breast Cancer Tissues from Young Women and Women over 45 Years of Age

Breast cancer, as the most common cancer in women worldwide, represents about 30% of all cancers affecting women. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in the regulation of several biological processes, and their dysregulation in cancer has well been documented. To investigate possible age-dependent variations in expression profiles of lncRNAs, we evaluated the expression levels of four lncRNAs, i.e., MALAT1, GAS5, SRA, and NEAT1, in breast cancer (BC) samples obtained from younger (45 years) women. Tumor samples (n = 23) and 15 normal tissues were collected from BC patients. All tumor and normal samples were morphologically confirmed by a pathologist. RNA was extracted from the tissues and cDNAs were then synthesized. The lncRNA expression levels were evaluated by qRT-PCR. The changes in the expression levels were determined using the ΔΔCt method. Compared to normal tissues, BC tissues from both age groups (women under 45 years of age and women above 45 years of age) showed upregulation of MALAT1 (p = 0.003 and p = 0.0002), SRA (p = 0.005 and p = 0.0002), and NEAT1 (p = 0.010 and p = 0.0002) and downregulation of GAS5 (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0005). Additionally, our analysis showed significant and direct correlation between the age and the expression levels of three of the four lncRNAs studied in this work. All four lncRNAs were overexpressed in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 cell lines (p = 0.1000). Our data show that MALAT1, GAS5, SRA, and NEAT1 lncRNAs are dysregulated in BC samples. However, except for MALAT1, the expression levels of all of these lncRNAs were significantly lower in cancers developed in younger cases, where poorer prognosis is suggested. Of note, GAS5 reduced expression has been documented to correlate with tumor progression. Keywords: breast cancer, lncRNAs, MALAT1, GAS5, SRA, NEAT1, age, Ira