Information-Seeking Behavior of the Elderly in the Health Area: A Case Study in Golestan Province

Introduction: The information-seeking behavior of the elderly, the information needs of this group regarding health, and the problems and barriers to accessing this information are of great importance and play an influential role in the self-management process of the elderly. This study aims to investigate the health information-seeking behavior of the elderly in Golestan Province. Methods: In this survey study, 239 elderly individuals from Golestan Province were included. The Medlock questionnaire used for data collection. The study participants were selected using a convenience sampling method. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis, including correlation and Poisson regression tests. All analyses were performed using SPSS 26 software at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The results revealed that the most used and reliable sources by the elderly were “Direct contact with health professionals” (29.29%) and “Television” (19.75%). The highest information searches were in scientific care, nutrition, physical activities, specific disease symptoms and causes, prescribed medications, coping with a disease, side effects of treatment, disease prediction, and treatment methods. A high correlation was found between Trust in Friends/Acquaintances (0.656), Television (0.641), and Radio (0.632) as sources of health information. In contrast, a low correlation was observed between Trust in educational courses and lectures (0.324) and Books/Encyclopedias (0.274) for obtaining health information. Conclusion: It is necessary to establish a direct communication infrastructure between health professionals and the public through expanding programs such as family physicians and developing evidence-based television programs with a knowledge translation approach

Mapping Global Research in Emergency Medicine; a Bibliometric Analysis of Documents Indexed in the Web of Science Database

Introduction:Emergency medicine is a relatively new and rapidly growing specialty, and its research monitoring is important for future policies. This study aimed to analyze the published literature related to emergency medicine, to create a documented research perspective for this field. Methods: This research is a bibliometric study that analyzes the research outputs of the subject area of emergency medicine indexed in the Web of Science database from the beginning to 2023. VOSviewer software was used to visualize and predict the trends in research on the topic. Results: The findings showed that the University of California, The Journal of Neurotrauma and Brain Injury, Elsevier, and the USA were the most prolific units in the cycle of scientific productions in the field of emergency medicine. Results showed that most scientific productions in this field fall into 6 clusters: psychological impressions, injuries caused by traumatic events and the effects of traumas on children, pathophysiology and nervous system issues and related diseases, complications of traumatic events and injuries, biomechanics and complications caused by sports injuries, and consciousness. Conclusion: In addition to interventions and clinical complications, research in the field of emergency medicine has also focused on psychological structures. So, based on various measurement indicators, the subjects of this field have been the focus of researchers' attention

Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibodies Spectrum Disorders

Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein (MOG) is an adhesive molecule responsible for myelin sheath structural integrity and maintenance. Patients with spectrum of inflammatory demyelinating disease particularly in central nervous system are reported to have antibodies against this protein. Diseases such as multiple sclerosis, clinically isolated syndrome, neuro-myelitis optica (NMO) spectrum disorders, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, transverse myelitis and Optic neuritis seemed to have a correlation with anti-MOG antibodies. MRI findings of seropositive cases revealed spinal lesions, particularly in lower segments. For treatment of these patients methotrexate and azathioprine are suggested. Plasmaphresis and intravenous immunoglobulin may be useful too. However fingolimod and interferons can deteriorate the conditions. Finally it is concluded that anti-MOG antibodies can be a biomarker for CNS demyelinating disorders

Impact of flexibility on the aggregation of polymeric macromolecules

Dependence of the dimerization probability and the aggregation behavior of polymeric macromolecules on their flexibility is studied using Langevin dynamics simulations. It is found that the dimerization probability is a non-monotonic function of the polymers persistence length. For a given value of inter-polymer attraction strength, semiflexible polymers have lower dimerization probability relative to flexible and rigid polymers of the same length. The threshold temperature of the formation of aggregates in a many-polymer system and its dependence on the polymers persistence length is also investigated. The simulation results of two- and many-polymer systems are in good agreement and show how the amount of flexibility affects the dimerization and the aggregation behaviors of polymeric macromolecules

Modification of Clinoptilolite as a Robust Adsorbent for Highly-Efficient Removal of Thorium (IV) from Aqueous Solutions

The natural zeolite has been modified with sulphate and phosphate. The adsorption of thorium from the aqueous solutions by using the natural and modified zeolites has been investigated via a batch method. The adsorbent samples were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption (BET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Modification of natural zeolite with sulphate and phosphate was found to increase its adsorption capacity of thorium but reduced its specific surface area (SBET). The adsorption experiments were expressed by Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevitch (D–R) isotherm models and the results of adsorption demonstrated that the adsorption of thorium onto the natural and modified zeolites correlated better with the Langmuir isotherm model than with the Freundlich isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity (Qo) was determined using the Langmuir isotherm model at 25 °C and was found to be 17.27, 13.83, and 10.21 mg/g for phosphate-modified zeolite, sulfate-modified zeolite, and natural zeolite, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that phosphate-modified zeolite can be utilized as an effective and low-cost adsorbent material for the removal of thorium from aqueous solutions

Risk Management in Construction Projects Considering the Cross-Dependency Project Risks: Utility Maximization

Nowadays, risk management is a good way to deal with the risks that may occur in a project. In risk response analysis, risks are often assumed to be interdependent. In fact, the risks affect each other in project. Implementing and managing various projects, including construction projects, has a lot of ambiguous cases. Such cases, called uncertainty, change the outcome sometimes better, and sometimes worse than anticipated. Complexity, challenge and uncertainty are more common in building projects with different interactions between the pillars inside and outside it. Therefore, in order to realize the quantitative and qualitative goals of these projects, it is necessary to use a framework for identifying risks, monitoring and controlling them in relation to the activities and complexity of their communications .In this article, first we consider a construction project and then, with experts' opinions and a brain storm meeting, we identified the risks involved, then, according to experts, we determined the strategy for each risk. Finally, we have used an optimal model for choosing risk response strategies with respect to the risks’ interdependence. The main finding through the analysis of the project is that the low attention or neglect of the interdependence of risk, reduces the expected utility and increases the implementatio

Identification and Ranking the Risks of Green Building Projects Using the Hybrid SWARA-COPRAS Approach: (The Case: Amol County)

Green building has attracted widespread attention in recent years. Increasing building projects in Iran has had significant environmental impacts and green building implementation is an appropriate approach to reduce the environmental risks. Green building projects facing with risks unwittingly which, reduce their efficiency. Therefore, identifying and ranking the risks can play a significant role in the success of green building projects. Due to the few studies in this area in Iran, this study aims to provides a new comprehensive framework of all the criteria and risks of green building projects. For this purpose, the first step aims to identify and screen the risks from the viewpoint of experts in green building projects and introducing the risk assessment criteria. After that, the next step is to apply the SWARA method to obtain the weight of the criteria. Finally, Ranking of the risks of green building projects has been done using the COPRAS method. This is the first attempt to solve a green building project using a hybrid of SWARA and COPRAS through a case study (Amol). The results show that risks of: the low quality of materials and equipment, the stakeholder resistance to approve the green ideas and lack of realistic goals are very important. The proposed framework can help stakeholders of green building projects in developing countries to manage project risks more efficiently

Ultra-effective modified clinoptilolite adsorbent for selective thorium removal from radioactive residue

Abstract This study investigated the efficacy of using phosphate-modified zeolite (PZ) as an adsorbent for removing thorium from aqueous solutions. The effects of various factors such as contact time, adsorbent mass, initial thorium concentration, and pH value of the solution on the removal efficiency were analyzed using the batch technique to obtain optimum adsorption condition. The results revealed that the optimal conditions for thorium adsorption were a contact time of 24 h, 0.03 g of PZ adsorbent, pH 3, and a temperature of 25 °C. Isotherm and kinetics parameters of the thorium adsorption on PZ were also determined, with equilibrium studies showing that the experimental data followed the Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity (Qo) for thorium was found to be 17.3 mg/g with the Langmuir isotherm coefficient of 0.09 L/mg. Using phosphate anions to modify natural zeolite increased its adsorption capacity. Furthermore, adsorption kinetics studies demonstrated that the adsorption of thorium onto PZ adsorbent fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model. The applicability of the PZ adsorbent in removing thorium from real radioactive waste was also investigated, and nearly complete thorium removal was achieved (> 99%) from the leached solution obtained from cracking and leaching processes of rare earth industrial residue under optimized conditions. This study elucidates the potential of PZ adsorbent for efficient removal of thorium from rare earth residue via adsorption, leading to a reduction in waste volume for ultimate disposition