Association of Maternal Working Condition with Low Birth Weight: The Social Determinants of Health Approach

Background: The socioeconomic conditions have made more job opportunities available to women. This has created interest to conduct studies on the effect of working lifestyle on pregnancy outcomes. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim to assess the relationship between mothers’ working status as a social determinant and the incidence of low birth weight (LBW) of the newborn. Subjects and Methods: This case–control study was conducted on 500 women with normal weight infants (control group) and 250 women with LBW infants (case group) in selected hospitals in Tehran. Data were collected using a researcher‑made questionnaire, designed to assess the effect of mothers’ prenatal lifestyle, as a social determinant, on LBW of the newborn. A section of the questionnaire involved assessment of mother’s working condition in terms of the work environment, activities, and job satisfaction. Data were analyzed using Chi‑square and logistic regression tests. Results: LBW among employed mothers was 5 times more likely than unemployed ones (odds ratio = 5.35, P < 0.001). Unfavorable work conditions such as humid environment, contact with detergents, and being in one standing or sitting position for long hours were significantly associated with LBW (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The present study showed that unfavorable work conditions were associated with LBW; therefore, they need special attention.Keywords: Low birth weight, Pregnancy, Socioeconomic factors, Working condition

Fixed-Mobile Convergence in the 5G era: From Hybrid Access to Converged Core

The availability of different paths to communicate to a user or device introduces several benefits, from boosting enduser performance to improving network utilization. Hybrid access is a first step in enabling convergence of mobile and fixed networks, however, despite traffic optimization, this approach is limited as fixed and mobile are still two separate core networks inter-connected through an aggregation point. On the road to 5G networks, the design trend is moving towards an aggregated network, where different access technologies share a common anchor point in the core. This enables further network optimization in addition to hybrid access, examples are userspecific policies for aggregation and improved traffic balancing across different accesses according to user, network, and service context. This paper aims to discuss the ongoing work around hybrid access and network convergence by Broadband Forum and 3GPP. We present some testbed results on hybrid access and analyze some primary performance indicators such as achievable data rates, link utilization for aggregated traffic and session setup latency. We finally discuss the future directions for network convergence to enable future scenarios with enhanced configuration capabilities for fixed and mobile convergence.Comment: to appear in IEEE Networ

Comparing the Effects of Hot Pack and Lukewarm-Water-Soaked Gauze on Postoperative Urinary Retention; A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: Urinary retention is a common postoperative complication that mandates urinary catheterization. Urinary catheterization is associated with different physical, mental, and financial problems for both patients and healthcare systems. The patient inconvenience, urinary tract infections, and increase in hospital stay and expenses are common problems of urinary retention and urinary catheterization. Therefore, alternative ways of relieving urinary retention, preferably noninvasive interventions, are of great interest. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of placing hot pack and lukewarm-water-soaked gauze on the suprapubic region on male patients with postoperative urinary retention. Patients and Methods: This was a three-group, randomized, controlled trial. A convenience sample of 126 male patients who had undergone general, orthopedic, or urologic surgeries were recruited. The block randomization method was used for allocating patients to either the two experimental groups (the hot pack and the lukewarm-water-soaked gauze groups) or the control one. Patients in the experimental groups were treated by placing either hot pack or lukewarm-water-soaked gauze on the suprapubic region. All patients were monitored for 20 minutes for urinary retention relief. If they did not experience urinary retention relief (starting urine flow and bladder evacuate), urinary catheterization would be performed. The data was collected using information sheet. Elimination of urinary retention was compared among study groups. The one-way analysis of variance and the Chi-square tests were used for analyzing data. Results: Respectively, 59.5%, 71.4%, and 7.1% of patients in the hot pack, the soaked gauze, and the control groups experienced relief from urinary retention and the bladder was emptied. There was a significant difference among study groups in percentage of patients who experienced urinary retention relief. However, the difference between the two experimental groups was not significant. The time to urinary retention relief in hot pack, soaked gauze, and control groups was 15.45 ± 3.15, 13.83 ± 3.80, and 14.59 ± 3.29 minutes, respectively. The difference among the study groups in time to urinary retention relief was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Both the lukewarm-water-soaked gauze and the hot pack techniques had significant effects on postoperative urinary retention and significantly reduced the need for urinary catheterization. Using these two simple and cost-effective techniques for managing postoperative urinary retention is recommended

Experience of Anti-VEGF Treatment and Clinical Levels of Depression and Anxiety in Patients With Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration

PURPOSE: To investigate detailed patient experiences specific to receiving vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (anti-VEGF) for wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), and to acquire a snapshot of the frequency of clinically significant levels of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress among patients and levels of burden in patients’ carers. DESIGN: Observational cross-sectional mixed-methods study. METHODS: Three hundred patients with wAMD receiving anti-VEGF treatment and 100 patient carers were recruited. Qualitative data on patients’ experience of treatment were collected using a structured survey. Standardized validated questionnaires were used to quantify clinically significant levels of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress, as well as cognitive function and carers’ burden. RESULTS: Qualitative data showed that 56% of patients (n =132) reported anxiety related to antiVEGF treatment. The main sources of anxiety were fear of going blind owing to intravitreal injections and concerns about treatment effectiveness, rather than around pain. From validated questionnaires, 17% of patients (n= 52) showed clinical levels of anxiety and 12% (n =36) showed clinical levels of depression. Depression levels, but not anxiety, were significantly higher in patients who received up to 3 injections compared with patients who received from 4 to 12 injections (analysis of variance [ANOVA] P = .027) and compared with patients who received more than 12 injections (ANOVA P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Anti-VEGF treatment is often experienced with some anxiety related to treatment, regardless of the number of injections received. Clinical levels of depression seem to be more frequent in patients at early stages of anti-VEGF treatment. Strategies to improve patient experience of treatment and minimize morbidity are suggested

Distinct neurocomputational mechanisms support informational and socially normative conformity

A change of mind in response to social influence could be driven by informational conformity to increase accuracy, or by normative conformity to comply with social norms such as reciprocity. Disentangling the behavioural, cognitive, and neurobiological underpinnings of informational and normative conformity have proven elusive. Here, participants underwent fMRI while performing a perceptual task that involved both advice-taking and advice-giving to human and computer partners. The concurrent inclusion of 2 different social roles and 2 different social partners revealed distinct behavioural and neural markers for informational and normative conformity. Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) BOLD response tracked informational conformity towards both human and computer but tracked normative conformity only when interacting with humans. A network of brain areas (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ)) that tracked normative conformity increased their functional coupling with the dACC when interacting with humans. These findings enable differentiating the neural mechanisms by which different types of conformity shape social changes of mind

Development of fuzzy anti-roll bar controller for improving vehicle stability

The main objective of this paper is to develop active control mechanism based on fuzzy logic controller (FLC) for improving vehicle path following, roll and handling performances simultaneously. At the first stage, 3DOF vehicle model which includes yaw rate, lateral velocity (lateral dynamic) and roll angle (roll dynamic) are developed. The controller produces optimal moment to increase stability and roll margin of vehicle by receiving the steering angle as an input and vehicle variables as a feedback signal. The effectiveness of proposed controller and vehicle model are evaluated during fishhook and single lane-change maneuvers. Simulation results demonstrate that FLC by reducing roll angle, lateral velocity and acceleration, vehicle roll resistance and handling properties are improved. Finally the sensitivity and robustness analysis of developed controller for varying longitudinal speeds are investigated