An analysis of material consumption culture in the Muslim world

In this paper, we examine the notion of material consumption culture in Islamic societies. We differentiate between institutionalised religion and religion as culture. We contest the Orientalist portrayal of Islam as a fanatic ideology opposed to Western Modernity’s features of secularism, individualism, and pluralism. With reference to the Qur’anic text, we discuss that such qualities are embedded with Islam. We do not interpret the Qur’an from a theological perspective; rather, we seek to demonstrate the possibilities of its multiple interpretations. We argue that, in their everyday life consumption practices, Muslims (re)interpret religious guidelines in different ways and refer to Islam, as a transcendental set of guidelines, to make better sense of their cultural practices in different ways. We summarise our discussion by highlighting the importance of analysing the culture of consumption from the lens of insiders and offer directions for future research

"Growth Chart Study in Children Under 5 Years Old in Rural Area of Khoramabad Province"

Growth chart is the best measure for weight monitoring of children. Most factors that affect child heath show their effect on child weight. This cross sectional and descriptive analytical study was achieved to estimate malnutrition prevalence and effective factors in children under 5 years old in rural area of Khoramabad province. 555 girls and 570 boys were chosen from health houses by cluster sampling. Data were gathered through questionnaires. verbal interviews and child weighing. Nutritional status was estimated via weight/age index and the data were analysed by chi-square test. The results show 7.7% malnutrition among the children in this area. Factors that influence the nutritional status were: Frequency of diarrhea and acute respiratory infection, birth weight, duration of breast feeding and milk formula

Investigating the effect of several factors on concentrations of bioaerosols in a well-ventilated hospital environment

This study characterized and quantified the bacterial and fungal bioaerosols in nine wards of the Razavi Hospital (Mashhad, Iran) that is equipped with an advanced heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system including HEPA filters for air cleaning. In this study, 432 samples were taken from the indoor air of multiple hospital wards during the morning and afternoon shifts during summer and autumn. The particle number concentrations with sizes of > 0.3, > 0.5, > 1, > 2, > 5, and > 10 μm were measured using a 6-channel handheld particle counter. A greater diversity of bioaerosol types were observed during the morning shifts and during summer. The microbial load was not affected significantly by the temperature, relative humidity, working shift, season, and number of visitors, indicating the effectiveness of a well-designed ventilation system to eliminate site-specific variations. For microbial number concentrations, a significant correlation was only observed between the number of particles with a diameter of > 10 μm and the airborne microbial loading. Thus, passive sampling may not properly reflect the actual concentrations of smaller bioaerosols. In conclusion, HEPA filters in the HVAC system successfully decreased the bioaerosol concentrations in the hospital environment. Additionally, we recommend that active sampling be used in cases where a well-functioning HVAC system exists. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of Spinal Cord Independence Measure-III

Study design: This is a multicenter, prospective study