A Review on the Effect of Rehabilitation Exercises Based on Core Muscles Stability and ‎Strengthening on the Mechanics of Transitional Movements in People with Non-Specific ‎Back Pain

Purpose: Low back pain is a common problem in world and one of the most common causes of physical disability. The aim of this review study was to investigate the effects of rehabilitation exercises with a central muscle stabilization approach on kinetic, kinematic and electromyographic variables during walking, running, trunk flexion and extension movements in patients with back pain. Methods: Search process for Persian and English articles from the beginning of January 2000 to August 2023 were performed in Google Scholar, ISC, Scopus, Pub Med, WOS, and SID databases. Finally, based on selection criteria, 19 articles were selected for final analysis through detailed reviews. The participants had non-specific back pain. Studies that included exercise protocols and control group were used in the present study. The dependent variables were kinematics and kinetics and muscle activity during transitional movements. Downs and Black questionnaires were used to evaluate the quality of the articles. Results: The results of four articles showed that rehabilitation exercises with muscle endurance approach can improve the electrical activity of muscles and reduce back pain. The results of seven articles showed that strengthening, stretching and massage exercises can be effective in improving pain through correcting the person's vertical alignment. Other articles in a period of at least eight weeks showed that strengthening the central muscles of the body can lead to neuromuscular adaptation and increase muscle fibers recruitment in patients with back pain. Conclusion: The present review have shown  that rehabilitation exercises with the approach of strengthening the central muscles of the body can lead to improving the flexibility of the trunk muscles, correcting the person's vertical alignment and reducing the back pain

An application of analytic network process model in supporting decision making to address pharmaceutical shortage

Background: The present study aimed to develop an Analytic Network Process (ANP) model to assist policymakers in identifying and prioritizing allocation indicators, which are being used or should be used to distribute drugs in short supply among different provinces. Methods: The model encompasses the interactions between various indicators and efficiency, equity, and effectiveness paradigms. Accordingly, a set of clusters and elements, which were associated with the allocation of drugs in short supply in Iran's pharmaceutical system, were detected to develop the model and were then compared in pairs in terms of a specified factor to show the priorities. Results: Equity had the highest priority (0.459) following by Efficiency (0.37), and Effectiveness (0.171). The 4 most important allocation indicator were "number of prescriptions"(0.26) and "total bed occupancy rate"(0.19) related to equity, "total population"(0.21) in efficiency and "the burden of rare and incurable disease"(0.07) in effectiveness paradigm. Conclusions: The capability to overcome inefficient resource allocation patterns caused by both oversupply and undersupply derived from historic resource allocation may be highly limited in the absence of the need indicators. The quality of the decision is related to a careful balancing act of the three paradigms which represents roughly the triple aim of public healthcare systems: clinical improvement (effectiveness), population health improvement (equity and access), and reducing cost (economic aspects -efficiency). © 2020 The Author(s)

The balanced scorecard as a strategic management tool in hospital pharmacies: an experimental study

Purpose: A balanced scorecard (BSC) is an applied tool for implementing strategic management in various organizations. Implementing strategic management using the BSC approach has not received much attention in pharmacy departments. This study aims to provide a model for the strategic management of pharmacy departments using the BSC framework. Design/methodology/approach: This experimental study was conducted from 2015 to 2018 in a 300-bed hospital and regional healthcare centers affiliated with the Petroleum Industry Health Organization in Tehran province, Iran. After carefully reviewing the organization's mission and vision, the strategic objectives were determined via the internal matrix and the external matrix (IE matrix), and the strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats matrix (SWOT matrix) were examined. Then, six BSC measures and interventions were identified, and each was examined from the perspectives of finance, patient satisfaction, internal processes and learning/growth. Finally, the proposed strategy was evaluated. Findings: Results showed significant increases in patient satisfaction and gross profit. The observed increase range, from 0.09 to 0.29, indicates more effective operational management for optimal resource utilization. In addition, the pharmacy department was able to save US $539,137 by implementing prepared protocols for expensive medications. Similarly, the pharmacy department saved$442,899 during the two years of our strategic management plan by implementing the standard mechanism for returning unused medications to the pharmacy department after patients were discharged from various treatment units. Originality/value: This study is among the first studies to demonstrate the simultaneous development, implementation and evaluation of the proposed strategy using the BSC in a pharmacy department in a public healthcare center. The BSC application improved the optimal use of resources and reduced costs while increasing patient satisfaction. It appears that the application of such an intervention may be as valuable to public pharmacies as it is to other private centers

Scholarly publishing depends on peer reviewers

The peer-review crisis is posing a risk to the scholarly peer-reviewed journal system. Journals have to ask many potential peer reviewers to obtain a minimum acceptable number of peers accepting reviewing a manuscript. Several solutions have been suggested to overcome this shortage. From reimbursing for the job, to eliminating pre- publication reviews, one cannot predict which is more dangerous for the future of scholarly publishing. And, why not acknowledging their contribution to the final version of the article published? PubMed created two categories of contributors: authors [AU] and collaborators [IR]. Why not a third category for the peer-reviewer

Scholarly publishing depends on peer reviewers

The peer-review crisis is posing a risk to the scholarly peer-reviewed journal system. Journals have to ask many potential peer reviewers to obtain a minimum acceptable number of peers accepting reviewing a manuscript. Several solutions have been suggested to overcome this shortage. From reimbursing for the job, to eliminating pre-publication reviews, one cannot predict which is more dangerous for the future of scholarly publishing. And, why not acknowledging their contribution to the final version of the article published? PubMed created two categories of contributors: authors [AU] and collaborators [IR]. Why not a third category for the peer-reviewer?Scopu