Use of Digital Library of Medicine by Faculty Members and its Effect on Scientific Production

This study evaluated the use of digital library of medicine by ZUMS faculty members and its effect on their scientific production. This study was a descriptive survey. Data was collected by a researcher-made questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire was estimated at 0.87 using Cronbach's alpha. The studied population consisted of ZUMS faculty members. Krejcie-Morgan table was used to determine the sample size (171). Results were analyzed using SPSS-20 software. the most used databases were Scopus and Elsevier. The results showed that the use of digital library of medicine was effective on knowledge production. Chi-square test showed that faculty members significantly had scientific production. Faculty members used digital library to produce research papers in foreign languages (66.7%) and Farsi (58.5%), present papers at national conferences (64.3%) and international conferences (56.1 %). the results showed that faculty members did not use all facilities of digital library; however, this limited use had a very important role in their scientific production

Internet Information-Seeking Behaviour of Students at the University of Medical Sciences in Zahedan Based on Kuhlthau Model

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the information-seeking behaviour of students of General Medicine, odontology and post-graduate students of various fields of medicine who has admitted their theses in 2011-2012 based on Kuhlthau information-seeking behaviour. This study is an analytic survey. The studied group includes 210 theses admitted in the Research Committee of the University which were selected by census method. Crocker standardized questionnaire was used to assess the feelings and thoughts of the Kuhlthau six-stage information-seeking model using a five-choice Likert scale. The present study shows that the studied students pass the various stages of Kuhlthau model by slight differences in different stages of their theses. Their feelings and ideas are more or less similar to the learned pattern except that the fifth and sixth stages which are inconsistent with the model. The Chi-square test and exact Fisher test showed a significant relationship between male and female students in terms of feelings and ideas during different stages of Kuhlthau information seeking model

Evaluation of Quality Services in Zahedan Public Libraries

The present study evaluates the quality of services in public libraries of Zahedan, using the SERVQUAL software. This study is a practical survey. The studied group includes all clients of two public libraries of Zahedan, Kafami and Imam Hussein, with 17000 active and semi-active clients. The sample size was 250 randomly selected. SERVQUAL questionnaire was used to collect data. As the findings show, the studied libraries provided reasonable services in terms of empathy, responsiveness and appropriate environment. However, the quality of services was not reasonable. Measuring the quality of services by customer-focused software SERVQUAL plays an important role in understanding of the quality of services provided by users. A quantitative measure of quality is a rare way to measure services of public institutions, including public libraries. The above software measures the expectations of clients from different aspects of quality services. Improvements in line with expectations will lead to the dynamism and vitality of libraries

Prenatal diagnosis of Sex determining region Y -box transcription factor 2 anophthalmia syndrome caused by germline mosaicism using next-generation sequencing: A case report

Background: Sex determining region Y box transcription factor 2 (SOX2) mutations lead to bilateral anophthalmia with autosomal dominant human inheritance. SOX2 mutations could result in severe ocular phenotypes usually associated with variable systemic defects. Most patients described with SOX2 anophthalmia syndrome possessed de novo mutations in this gene. Case Presentation: In this case report, we describe 2 brothers with mental retardation and bilateral anophthalmia caused due to SOX2 germline mosaicism in unaffected parents. Next-generation DNA sequencing was carried out to determine the family’s possible cause of genetic mutation. Sanger sequencing was performed on the patients and their parents. Prenatal diagnosis was done in both pregnancies of the older brother’s wife via chorionic villus sampling. A novel heterozygous pathogenic frameshift deletion variant (exon1:c.58_80del:p.G20fs) was identified in the SOX2 gene, which was confirmed by Sanger sequencing in both affected brothers and did not exist in healthy parents, indicating germline mosaicism. Conclusion: Most SOX2 mutations known look to arise de novo in probands and are diagnosed through anophthalmia or microphthalmia. Prenatal diagnosis should be offered to healthy parents with a child with SOX2 mutation every pregnancy. Key words: Anophthalmos, SOX2 anophthalmia syndrome, Mosaicism

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

The effects of shrub pruning and fruit thinning on seed germination and seedling of tomato in the next generation (lycopersicon esculentum mill)

Seed is the main principle of agricultural products and it has a key role as first consumable input to transfer genetic Characters. In this investigation the effects of cultivar, shrub pruning and fruit thinning on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of tomato (seed and seedling) have been evaluated. Experiment was performed by factorial analysis (3×2×3) with 5 replications in completely randomized design (CRD). First treatment was three cultivars of tomato, second treatment was two styles of shrub pruning, in which all of subsidiary branches are removed (Type 1) and one cluster and leaf on subsidiary branches are remained and then extras removed (Type 2) and Third treatment was fruit thinning. Each tomato cultivar was fruit thinned to three different levels (4, 5 and 6 fruit for each plant). The results showed that all treatments had significant influence on weight of 1000 seeds for the next generation. The effects of cultivar and fruit thinning were significant on germination percentage. But shrub pruning did not affect the germination percentage of seeds. Also effects of cultivar and fruit thinning were considerable on fresh and dry weight of seedling root and stem. The effect of fruit thinning and cultivar were significant on height and the number of seedling leaflet. Totally fruit thinning and shrub pruning had a vital role in increasing qualitative and quantitative characteristics of seed and seedling

Spatiotemporal Surveillance of COVID-19 Based on Epidemiological Features: Evidence from Northeast Iran

Spatiotemporal analysis of COVID-19 cases based on epidemiological characteristics leads to more refined findings about health inequalities and better allocation of medical resources in a spatially and timely fashion. While existing literature has explored the spatiotemporal clusters of COVID-19 worldwide, little attention has been paid to investigate the space-time clusters based on epidemiological features. This study aims to identify COVID-19 clusters by epidemiological factors in Golestan province, one of the highly affected areas in Iran. This cross-sectional study used GIS techniques, including local spatial autocorrelations, directional distribution statistics, and retrospective space-time Poisson scan statistics. The results demonstrated that Golestan has been facing an upward trend of epidemic waves, so the case fatality rate (CFR) of the province was roughly 2.5 times the CFR in Iran. Areas with a more proportion of young adults were more likely to generate space-time clusters. Most high-risk clusters have emerged since early June 2020. The infection first appeared in the west and southwest of the province and gradually spread to the center, east, and northeast regions. The results also indicated that the detected clusters based on epidemiological features varied across the province. This study provides an opportunity for health decision-makers to prioritize disease-prone areas and more vulnerable populations when allocating medical resources

Spatiotemporal Surveillance of COVID-19 Based on Epidemiological Features: Evidence from Northeast Iran

Spatiotemporal analysis of COVID-19 cases based on epidemiological characteristics leads to more refined findings about health inequalities and better allocation of medical resources in a spatially and timely fashion. While existing literature has explored the spatiotemporal clusters of COVID-19 worldwide, little attention has been paid to investigate the space-time clusters based on epidemiological features. This study aims to identify COVID-19 clusters by epidemiological factors in Golestan province, one of the highly affected areas in Iran. This cross-sectional study used GIS techniques, including local spatial autocorrelations, directional distribution statistics, and retrospective space-time Poisson scan statistics. The results demonstrated that Golestan has been facing an upward trend of epidemic waves, so the case fatality rate (CFR) of the province was roughly 2.5 times the CFR in Iran. Areas with a more proportion of young adults were more likely to generate space-time clusters. Most high-risk clusters have emerged since early June 2020. The infection first appeared in the west and southwest of the province and gradually spread to the center, east, and northeast regions. The results also indicated that the detected clusters based on epidemiological features varied across the province. This study provides an opportunity for health decision-makers to prioritize disease-prone areas and more vulnerable populations when allocating medical resources

Spatial Modeling of COVID-19 Prevalence Using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System

This study is dedicated to modeling the spatial variation in COVID-19 prevalence using the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) when dealing with nonlinear relationships, especially useful for small areas or small sample size problems. We compiled a broad range of socio-demographic, environmental, and climatic factors along with potentially related urban land uses to predict COVID-19 prevalence in rural districts of the Golestan province northeast of Iran with a very high-case fatality ratio (9.06%) during the first year of the pandemic (2020–2021). We also compared the ANFIS and principal component analysis (PCA)-ANFIS methods for modeling COVID-19 prevalence in a geographical information system framework. Our results showed that combined with the PCA, the ANFIS accuracy significantly increased. The PCA-ANFIS model showed a superior performance (R2 (determination coefficient) = 0.615, MAE (mean absolute error) = 0.104, MSE (mean square error) = 0.020, and RMSE (root mean square error) = 0.139) than the ANFIS model (R2 = 0.543, MAE = 0.137, MSE = 0.034, and RMSE = 0.185). The sensitivity analysis of the ANFIS model indicated that migration rate, employment rate, the number of days with rainfall, and residential apartment units were the most contributing factors in predicting COVID-19 prevalence in the Golestan province. Our findings indicated the ability of the ANFIS model in dealing with nonlinear parameters, particularly for small sample sizes. Identifying the main factors in the spread of COVID-19 may provide useful insights for health policymakers to effectively mitigate the high prevalence of the disease

Spatio-Temporal Modeling of COVID-19 Spread in Relation to Urban Land Uses: An Agent-Based Approach

This study aims to address the existing gaps in evidence regarding spatio-temporal modeling of COVID-19 spread, specifically focusing on the impact of different urban land uses in a geospatial information system framework. It employs an agent-based model at the individual level in Gorgan, northeast Iran, characterized by diverse spatial and demographic features. The interactions between human agents and their environment were considered by incorporating social activities based on different urban land uses. The proposed model was integrated with the susceptible–asymptomatic–symptomatic–on treatment–aggravated infection–recovered–dead epidemic model to better understand the disease transmission at the micro-level. The effect of various intervention scenarios, such as social distancing, complete and partial lockdowns, restriction of social gatherings, and vaccination was investigated. The model was evaluated in three modes of cases, deaths, and the spatial distribution of COVID-19. The results show that the disease was more concentrated in central areas with a high population density and dense urban land use. The proposed model predicted the distribution of disease cases and mortality for different age groups, achieving 72% and 71% accuracy, respectively. Additionally, the model was able to predict the spatial distribution of disease cases at the neighborhood level with 86% accuracy. Moreover, findings demonstrated that early implementation of control scenarios, such as social distancing and vaccination, can effectively reduce the transmission of COVID-19 spread and control the epidemic. In conclusion, the proposed model can serve as a valuable tool for health policymakers and urban planners. This spatio-temporal model not only advances our understanding of COVID-19 dynamics but also provides practical tools for addressing future pandemics and urban health challenges