Application of Quantum Natural Language Processing for Language Translation

In this paper, we develop compositional vector-based semantics of positive transitive sentences using quantum natural language processing (Q-NLP) to compare the parametrized quantum circuits of two synonymous simple sentences in English and Persian. We propose a protocol based on quantum long short-term memory (Q-LSTM) for Q-NLP to perform various tasks in general but specifically for translating a sentence from English to Persian. Then, we generalize our method to use quantum circuits of sentences as an input for the Q-LSTM cell. This enables us to translate sentences in different languages. Our work paves the way toward representing quantum neural machine translation, which may demonstrate quadratic speedup and converge faster or reaches a better accuracy over classical methods

The needs of parents of preterm infants in Iran and a comparison with those in other countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Context: Proper accountability to needs of preterm infants� parents requires recognition of these needs and how they change in different conditions. The aim of this study was to assess the needs of parents of preterm infants in Iran, as compared to those in other regions in the world. Evidence Acquisition: A search of Iranian databases (IranMedex, Magiran, and SID) and international resources (PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar) was conducted, with no time limitations, to 5 October 2014. Using standard tools, all quantitative studies that considering the parental needs of preterm infants and parental support were extracted. The STROBE checklist was used for the evaluation of the studies. Thirty-one studies were extracted in the qualitative evaluation, of which 17 were included in the metaanalysis. The variance between the studies was analyzed using tau-squared (Tau2) and review manager 5 software. Results: The results obtained using the nurse-parent support tool (NPST) showed that mothers considered that all the fields of support were of great importance. The parental needs in Iran were similar to those of parents in other regions worldwide. However, the mean score for Iranian parents� assessment of the support they received was 2.20 ± 0.06, whereas it was 3.84 ± 0.72 for other countries. The mean scores for parents� assessment of the provision of emotional, informational appraisal, and instrumental support in Iran were 1.73±0.06, 2.1±0.06, 1.54±0.6, and 3.44±0.04, respectively, compared to 3.18±1.34, 4.11±0.5, 4.26±0.18, and 4.51±0.14, respectively, in other countries. Conclusions: Parents always prefer the priorities of their babies to their individual needs. Given the lower scores for the parental assessment of received support in Iran, it is important to focus on these specific items in providing interventions to meet the needs of Iranian parents. © 2016, Growth & Development Research Center

Development of a support system for parents of premature infants

Background: The concept of family-centered care is increasingly being recognized at the international level. Objectives: Development of a support system for parents of premature infants (PPI), based on family-centered care and scientific evidences. Methods: The method is based on four key steps. 1) Explaining parents� needs, including comprehensive review of quantitative studies, meta-synthesis of qualitative studies conducted in Iran by search of Iranian databases (IranMedex, Magiran, and SID) and international resources (PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar) and comparative study. 2) A comprehensive review to identify effective interventions in supporting PPI and ranking interventions. 3) Designing a model to support PPI. 4) Evaluating designed system for supporting the PPI. Results: The results of this study identified five critical steps which the PPI experienced and 14 effective interventions to support them. Preconception: care before the next pregnancy; prenatal: preparing parents to see their baby for the first time, supporting parents in breastfeeding (BF), kangaroo care (KC) and infant massage; neonatal: spiritual self-care, individualized behavioral and developmental care programs, using scales to assess infant�s behavior, supporting parents in BF, KC and infant massage, support forums for parents, relieving parents� stress, sharing information and communication, family nurture interventions, supporting parents in transferring between neonatal units (NU), facilitating collaborative care in NU; discharge: discharge planning, support forums for parents, sharing information and communication and home: home support programs, individualized behavioral and developmental care programs, supporting parents in BF, KC and infant massage. Support forums for parents, sharing information and communication. Conclusions: Our proposed system provides a parent-centered system which can be implemented to provide high-quality care for PPI. © 2017, Iranian Journal of Pediatrics

The need for support and not distress evoking: A meta-synthesis of experiences of iranian parents with premature infants

Context: Proper accountability to needs of premature infants' parents requires recognition of these needs and how they change in different conditions. Objective: This Meta-synthesis was conducted to understand the needs of Iranian parents with premature infants through their experiences in order to promote family-centered care. Data Sources: The search was conducted through the Iranian database (Iran Medex, Magiran, SID) and international resources (PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar), without time limitation to April 12, 2015. Study Selection: The inclusion criteria for this study included the qualitative studies conducted in Iran on parents with premature infants. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ) were used to assess the quality of articles. Data Extraction: This study is a meta-synthesis of 16 qualitative studies based on Noblit and Hare's (1988) methodology. Results: The meta-synthesis presented 5 correlated metaphors derived from 13 categories and 78 integrated codes. The metaphors indicated the most important needs of parents who have premature infants for emotional, instrumental, spiritual, appraisal, informational, and communicational support. In most cases, these needs overlapped with blur boundaries. The categories included: cultural challenges of parental role, parental development versus psychological stress, psychological stress stimuli, economic challenges of parental role, physical irritation, the need for family-centered care, the need for policy making regarding the constant presence of parents in the NICU, spiritual prosperity vs. spiritual alienation, spiritual self-care vs. spiritual self-harm, guided participation in caring for the infant, the efforts to meet parental role, informational challenges of parents, and informationalcommunicational supports. Conclusions: This Meta-synthesis provided a better understanding of the experiences of Iranian parents with premature infants and different areas of their needs. These findings could be used to design a comprehensive support system for such parents, which incorporate a holistic view of patient concerns, including religion and spirituality. © 2017, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

The need for support and not distress evoking: A meta-synthesis of experiences of iranian parents with premature infants

Context: Proper accountability to needs of premature infants' parents requires recognition of these needs and how they change in different conditions. Objective: This Meta-synthesis was conducted to understand the needs of Iranian parents with premature infants through their experiences in order to promote family-centered care. Data Sources: The search was conducted through the Iranian database (Iran Medex, Magiran, SID) and international resources (PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar), without time limitation to April 12, 2015. Study Selection: The inclusion criteria for this study included the qualitative studies conducted in Iran on parents with premature infants. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ) were used to assess the quality of articles. Data Extraction: This study is a meta-synthesis of 16 qualitative studies based on Noblit and Hare's (1988) methodology. Results: The meta-synthesis presented 5 correlated metaphors derived from 13 categories and 78 integrated codes. The metaphors indicated the most important needs of parents who have premature infants for emotional, instrumental, spiritual, appraisal, informational, and communicational support. In most cases, these needs overlapped with blur boundaries. The categories included: cultural challenges of parental role, parental development versus psychological stress, psychological stress stimuli, economic challenges of parental role, physical irritation, the need for family-centered care, the need for policy making regarding the constant presence of parents in the NICU, spiritual prosperity vs. spiritual alienation, spiritual self-care vs. spiritual self-harm, guided participation in caring for the infant, the efforts to meet parental role, informational challenges of parents, and informationalcommunicational supports. Conclusions: This Meta-synthesis provided a better understanding of the experiences of Iranian parents with premature infants and different areas of their needs. These findings could be used to design a comprehensive support system for such parents, which incorporate a holistic view of patient concerns, including religion and spirituality. © 2017, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

The prevalence of right to left shunt in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with increased pulmonary hypertension

Background: One of the important etiologies for cryptogenic stroke is paradoxical embolization secondary to Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO). Foramen ovale can secondarily reopen due to Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) which is common among the older age. PAH is known as a frequent and life threatening complication of COPD. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of PFO between COPD patients with PAH and compare it with the ratio of PFO in non PAH COPD patients by Valsalva Maneuver (VM) following the TCD test. Methods: This study was performed on 55 patients with COPD exacerbation who were admitted to Rasul-Akram Hospital in Tehran, Iran. The patients with high PAH were considered as the case group and the others without PAH were the control group. All patients underwent Trascranial Doppler (TCD) to detect intracardiac right-to-left shut (RLS) related by PFO. The data were collected and analyzed. Results: In the case group, among 45 patients 25 (55.5) males and 20 (44.5) females] with the mean age of 64.68±10.73 years, 31 (68.8) subjects had PFO. In 10 control patients whose PAP were normal during TTE, we detected PFO in 2 (20) patients during VM (p<0.001). There was a significant correlation with the number of microembolic signals (MES) and the increase in PAP (p=0.019). Conclusion: Right to left shunting was significantly more frequent in COPD patients with high PAP. High pulmonary pressure had a cardinal role in increasing the prevalence of RLS among these patients

Minocycline attenuates cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and portal hypertension in a rat model: Possible involvement of nitric oxide pathway

Objective(s): An increase in nitric oxide (NO) production has been reported in cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and, portal hypertension. Since minocycline has been shown to inhibit NO overproduction, we aimed to examine its role in a rat model of CCl4-induced cirrhotic cardiovascular complications. Materials and Methods: Portal pressure and inotropic responsiveness of isolated papillary muscles to isoproterenol were measured in cirrhotic rats, following minocycline (50 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks) treatment. Moreover, isolated papillary muscles were incubated with nonselective and selective nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors, N (�)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and aminoguanidine (AG) respectively, in an organ bath. Ventricular expression and localization of inducible NOS (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and serum nitrite concentration were evaluated. Results: We found a decreased portal hypertension in minocycline-treated cirrhotic rats. Cirrhosis decreased contractility in response to isoproterenol stimulation, which was significantly attenuated by minocycline. Incubation with either L-NAME or AG reversed the impaired contractility in cirrhotic rats. Furthermore, minocycline decreased iNOS expression and localization in cardiomyocytes. A drop in serum nitrite and cardiac TNF-α level were also observed in cirrhotic rat that were treated by minocycline. Conclusion: The results suggest that minocycline may improve impaired cardiac contractility and hyperdynamic state in cirrhotic rats, and this effect could be mediated by NO-dependent mechanism. © 2016, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Genetic profile variation in vaccine strains and clinical isolates of bordetella pertussis recovered from iranian patients

Background: Re-emergence of pertussis has been reported in Iran despite a high rate of vaccination coverage. Low efficacy of the vaccine might be due to the genetic divergence between clinical versus vaccine strains. In the current study, the genetic profiles of clinical isolates and vaccine strains of Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) were assessed by using Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). Methods: Following phenotypic and molecular identification of isolates, XbaIdigested genomic DNA of 5 clinical isolates, 2 vaccine strains and a Tohama I strain were analyzed by PFGE along with B. parapertussis as a control. Results: Seven distinct PFGE profiles were found among all examined isolates/ strains. In 5 clinical isolates, 4 profiles were identified whereas the vaccine strains displayed 2 distinct profiles. The reference strain, Tohama I had a distinct profile. Vaccine and clinical profiles had low similarity, with relatedness of approximately 40. Conclusion: The genetic profiles of B. pertussis were different between circulating isolates and vaccine strains used in the national vaccination programs. Since new genetic profiles of B. pertussis can be disseminated periodically, the profiles of isolates circulating in the population should be monitored over the course of the re-emergence. © 2014, Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology. All rights reserved

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.Peer reviewe

Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050

Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached$8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total,$40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this,$13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and$1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4$2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7$1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe