Removal of lead ions from industrial wastewater: A review of Removal methods

Background and aims: The removing of (potential) toxic heavy metal ions from sewage, especially in industrial and mining waste effluents, has been widely studied in recent years. The aim of present study was to investigate the various methods for lead removal of lead ions from industrial wastewater. Methods: This study was a review research. Data were collected through different databases in various articles. The various methods for lead removal from industrial wastewater were compared to each other. Results: The present study showed the various methods for lead removal from industrial wastewater including chemical precipitation, electrochemical reduction, ion exchange, reverse osmosis, membrane separation, and adsorption. Technical applicability, plant simplicity and cost-effectiveness are the key factors that play major roles in the selection of the most suitable treatment system for inorganic effluents. Conclusions: Adsorption is proposed as an economical and effective method for the retention of lead ions from aqueous industrial wastes because it is simple, effective and economic in removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution

Semi-Quantitative Dermal Exposure Assessment of Lead with DREAM Model in a Lead Mine in Iran

Occupational exposure to toxic substances occurs in a variety of ways. The DREAM model is suggested for assessing skin exposure using preset values. The purpose of this study is to investigate the exposure of lead in workers at a mine lead using the DREAM model. This research was done in several steps. First, collect information about people and the work environment. Then design the model in Excel2016 by the authors. This research was descriptive-analytic research and included 46 miners. The DREAM model has a total of 33 variables included. In the DREAM model, exposure assessment was performed for 9 body parts at task level 2. The DREAM model was completed for 5 jobs. Jobs were in the lab, tunnel-74, tunnel-34, entrance to the tunnel and flotation workshop. The results were calculated for each of the 9 parts of the site for propagation, transfer, deposition, and potential and actual exposures, and eventually total exposures. The DREAM model, in comparison with similar methods, estimates the skin exposure level in a semi-quantitative fashion. This method has been used to estimate skin exposure in a variety of industries. This method was used to assess the skin exposure of workers in a mine, which resulted in training workers and providing personal protective equipment appropriate to the environment

The Efficacy of Ivabradine of Beta Blockers in Comparison of Atenolol and Metoprolol in Patients with Mitral Stenosis in Sinus Rhythm: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction The Mitral Stenosis is a common disease, which increased heart rate can be a sign of deterioration. Patient heart rate regulation, especially during exercise, is very important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Ivabradine in comparison with Atenolol and Metoprolol beta-blockers by examining Maximum exercise heart rate in patients with Mitral Valve Stenosis. Methods and Results In order to evaluate the efficacy of Ivabradine in comparison with beta-blockers, the systematic search was conducted using PICO keywords in the most important electronic databases, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, CRD, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The articles were selected separately by reviewing the titles, abstract and full text of the articles, and extracting unrelated and repetitive articles by two individuals. Extracting the article information based on the measured outcome of Maximum exercise heart rate was done by two individuals independently.  In cases where there was disagreement, the decision was made by a third person. To evaluate the quality of the articles, the Cochrane tool and the Revman software version 5.3 were used. The I2 index was used to investigate the heterogeneity of the products. The publication bias between studies was evaluated using a Funnel Plot and Egger's Regression Test. The results of the fixed effects model were used to combine the results and the mean difference with 95% confidence interval for the consequences was calculated. This meta-analysis was performed using the Meta Package R software. Finally, four studies entered meta-analysis. The total number of patients treated with Ivabradine and beta-blockers was 128 and 132, respectively. Homogeneity between studies was not significant (I2 = 36%; P-value = 0.20). The results of meta-analysis showed that the difference in mean Max Exercise HR of patients was 3.73, which was statistically significant (Mean Difference = 3.73; 95% CI: 1.52; 5.94; P-value = 0.001). Conclusions The administration of Ivabradine, in contrast to Atenolol and Metoprolol, greatly increases the ability of a person to test exercise, administration of this drug in patients with mitral valve stenosis can lead to a decrease in heart rate, which in turn causes reducing the risk of heart attacks in these patients

Breastfeeding, motherhood and employment: the experience of breastfeeding mothers returning to work in Qatar

Participation of women in employment in Qatar has increased significantly over the past 10 years, from 12.4% in 2011 to 37% in 2020, with 64.1% of working women also being married (Planning and Statistics Authority, Qatar). Their professional commitments notwithstanding, most of these women are also mothers, with many breastfeeding. The Quran demands that mothers breastfeed their children for the first two years of their lives. This thesis explores this tension between a rapid increase in mothers entering the labour market, and the specific historic, cultural and religious expectations upon mothers in Qatar, which create challenges for mothers, employers and policy makers that are different from those of working mothers in the Global North and need further consideration. This thesis employed a qualitative research methodology in which a total of 50 breastfeeding, professional, working mothers in the public and private sectors of Qatar were interviewed. The thesis adopts a multifaceted theoretical framing. First, matricentric feminism (O’Reilly, 2016) and Hay’s concept of intensive mothering are considered in terms of their applicability, and expanded upon in seeking to make sense of the tensions and challenges the women experienced as they returned to work following birth and a relatively short maternity leave of only 50 and 60 days, in the private and public sectors respectively, within this particular context in the Global South. Second, the theory of the gendered institution, as proposed by Acker in 1990, posits that breastfeeding mothers cannot embody the ‘ideal worker’ construct due to considerations such as the roles they can handle, interpersonal interactions, self-efficacy, and culture. Third, under maternal bodies at work theory by Gatrell, Cooper and Kossek's (2017), breastfeeding mothers are perceived as social pollutants. According to this theory, women's experiences are influenced by the perspective that maternal bodies belong in the private sphere and that their presence in the workplace is repugnant to other workers. Finally, the experiences of breastfeeding women are analysed from the perspective of their embeddedness in multiple layers of contexts, in line with the theorisation of Lewis and Den Dulk (2008). There are four layers of contexts taken into account the global, national/regional and institutional layers. Under this theoretical position, the thesis appreciates the reality that different factors interact to produce magnified or suppressed effects. Through the lens of this multifaceted theoretical framework, the findings from the interviews are analysed through thematic analysis.This thesis therefore significantly contributes to the literature on working mothers through its location in an Islamic country, and through its orientation and exploration of the significance of the religious context at the intersection of gender and employment in particular, which remains underexplored. The findings show how the mothers’ return to work is complicated by the ways in which employment policies on pregnancy, maternity and breastfeeding are not aligned with Islamic doctrine on what is expected of women seeking to conform to ideas of being a ‘good Muslim mother’ In line with matricentric feminism, the findings show that Qatari women have displayed increased propensity to seek opportunities under professional employment as a way of advancing their interests as women and mothers, while also taking care of their families. The participation of women in the workplace has magnified the effects of intensive mothering, whereby women are expected to pursue professional acheivements in the workplace, while also being a good mother in accordance with the guidelines by Islam. These guidelines impose two years breastfeeding period after the birth of a baby, in addition to other domestic responsibilities. However, the novel work-related responsibilities have made fulfilling this mandate challenging for these women. The limitations arise from circumstances that can be explained through elements of the gendered organisation since most workplaces are not set up to facilitate breastfeeding. Similarly, women are found not to fit the ‘ideal worker’ image, thus limiting the extent to which they can exercise agency. It is also apparent from the resrach findings that the maternal body of the Qatari breastfeeding women in the study is perceived as a pollutant and repugnant in most workplaces and public spaces. While providing breastfeeding facilities in the workplace and accommodating breastfeeding activities could solve some of these challenges, most of the workplaces where the women interviewed work have not taken such measures. Finally, there is evidence that most breastfeeding mothers' experiences can be linked to multiple factors based on layers of contexts, starting with the global, national/regional and finally at the institutional level. The effects of the failure by Qatar to ratify the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) has played a role in subsequent actions such as the provision of insufficient leave days. Furthermore, institutions have not been mandated to accommodate the interests of breastfeeding mothers by providing the necessary facilities, such as private rooms for breastfeeding or for the expression of milk. These circumstances function to cause and magnify the challenges that breastfeeding mothers experience in practice upon their return to work. It also highlights the different ways they sought to overcome these challenges. It highlights how women in Qatar find themselves in a situation in which they are compelled to adhere to religious guidelines and organisational policies that are in conflict with each other. The implications of these findings for theory, policy and practice are explored from a feminist perspective in the final discussion and conclusion. The proposal for policy changes focus on adjustments to the limited maternal leave days to provide breastfeeding mothers with more time to take care of the infant. Changes to Human Rresources policies in the workplace such as job-sharing can also provide stop-gap measures to accommodate the interests of breastfeeding mothers. For practice, it is necessary for a multi-stakeholders and multi-sector approach to developing solutions to the challenges that contribute to the negative experiences of Qatari mothers who breastfeed at work

The Use of Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy to Maintain a Hopeless Tooth With a Periodontic-Endodontic Lesion: A Case Report

Background: In spite of some advances in periodontal generative methods, it is impossible to stop progressive Loss of supporting alveolar bone in some end-stage periodontitis. The aim of this study is to report a kind of treatment modality which was seemed to be successes full in maintaining teeth. In this case-report, a hopeless tooth was saved by combined non-surgical periodontal-endodontal treatment and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT).Case Report: A 58-year-old male presented with a chief complaint of pain and mobility of tooth number 38. Clinical examinations revealed a periodontic-endodontic lesion with clinical attachment loss exceeding 10 mm and grade III mobility. To preserve the tooth, we operated non-surgical periodontal treatment including scaling and root planning (SRP) plus root canal therapy (RCT) combined with intra-root canal non-aPDT laser decontamination. Then we applied laser pocket therapy with and without aPDT. Following 6 months of the aPDT treatment, the mobility and pocket depth of the tooth improved from grade III to I and from 10 to 3 millimeters respectively.Conclusion: aPDT is a novel adjunctive therapy that can be used for various conditions with microbial etiology. This case report demonstrated that aPDT might be effective in the treatment of periodontic-endodontic lesions in a hopeless tooth

Development of structural equation model for human resource management in health sectors

Background: To achieve sustainable productivity, creativity and innovation, proper quality of organizational performance, and effective management of human resources is essential. The aim of this study was to determine the structural equation model of human resources management in healthcare centers. Methods: This study was a descriptive-correlational. Library search method was used to review the literature. The statistical population of the study included staff of health centers and experts in different departments of Hormozgan health centers (n=420). According to the Cochran's formula, the sample size was 200 people who were selected by random sampling. To collect data by reviewing the research literature and surveys of experts. A researcher-made questionnaire was prepared that includes 50 items in the form of 6 categories, including contextual, interventional, core concept, the strategies and the consequences. To analyze the data, structural equation modeling was used in PLS software. Results: Causal factors have had an effect on strategies with a rate of 0.705 in the main category (employment and retention of hospital employees) and the main category (recruitment and retention of hospital employees) with a rate of 0.379 with a confidence level of 95%. Intervening factors with a rate of 0.129, background factors on strategies with a rate of 0.457, and finally strategies with a rate of 0.849 had an effect on the results. Conclusion: Strategic human resource management has been presented as the only way to the success of health centers in the new era

Private membership test protocol with low communication complexity

Ramezanian S, Meskanen T, Naderpour M, Junnila V, Niemi V. Private membership test protocol with low communication complexity. Digital Communications and Networks. 2019 May 13.We introduce a practical method to perform private membership tests. In this method, clients are able to test whether an item is in a set controlled by the server without revealing their query item to the server. After executing the queries, the content of the server's set remains secret. One use case for a private membership test is to check whether a file contains any malware by checking its signature against a database of malware samples in a privacy-preserving way. We apply the Bloom filter and the Cuckoo filter in the membership test procedure. In order to achieve privacy properties, we present a novel protocol based on some homomorphic encryption schemes. In our protocol, we rearrange the data in the set into N-dimensional hypercubes. We have implemented our method in a realistic scenario where a client of an anti-malware company wants to privately check whether a hash value of a given file is in the malware database of the company. The evaluation shows that our method is feasible for real-world applications. We also have tested the performance of our protocol for databases of different sizes and data structures with different dimensions: 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, and 4-dimensional hypercubes. We present formulas to estimate the cost of computation and communication in our protocol.Peer reviewe

Health technology assessment of Bevacizumab compare with combination of Bevacizumab with Erlotinib for treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Introduction: Effective and efficient treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that can increase survival rate with limited side effects, is important. The purpose of this study was health technology assessment of Bevacizumab compare with combination of Bevacizumab with Erlotinib for treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Methods and Results:In the present investigation first a systematic review on finding the studies was conducted. To reach this goal a comprehensive search in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, CRD, American Society of Clinical Oncology and European Society for Medical Oncology databases using the PICO based keywords was performed. Then, a retrieved study by means of two independent and expert reviewer during several steps (based on title, abstract and full-text, excluding of duplicated or unrelated cases) was chosen and non-qualified studies was exiled from the study. After that, 20 chosen randomized trial studies were evaluated by two experienced evaluators by Cochrane tool in terms of types of Bias. Eventually obtained data from the investigation was meta-analyzed by Revman5.3 software and safety, effectiveness and economical evaluation of the device were studied based on this data. To calculate the expenses of Bevacizumab and Erlotinib, Cost-effectiveness Analysis with the perspective of the service provider in the public sector was performed. In total, three randomized controlled trials with 682 patients met the inclusion criteria.  The combination of Bevacizumab with Erlotinib for maintenance therapy of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer improved progression free survival by 0.19 and overall survival by 0.22. Degree three and four side effects of developed during treatment were limited and manageable. The combination of the two drugs was cost effective from the perspective of the service provider. Conclusions:Based on current evidence, prescribing the combination of Bevacizumab and Erlotinib in the maintenance treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer patients is cost effective from the perspective of service provider in the public sector, and the use of this combination in the health system is economically viable