Improvement in Activity of Daily Living and Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: the Impact of Nutrition Education

Background: Fatigue is one of the most common complications of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, a few studies are available on the effect of nutrition education on fatigue and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in patients with MS. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the effect of nutrition education on fatigue and ability to perform ADL in patients with MS. Methods: This quasi-experimental one group, pretest and posttest study was performed on 40 patients with MS, who were conveniently recruited among patients, registered at the Iranian MS Society. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), a standard ADL scale, and a 24-hour food recall for two days. The instruments were completed at the start and two months after the intervention. Descriptive statistics and paired t test were used to analyze the data. Results: Sixty percent of the patients had severe fatigue before the intervention while, 90% of them reported mild fatigue after the intervention. The mean posttest ADL was increased by 12.45 units after the intervention when compared with the pretest value (P<0.001). Moreover, the daily intake of vitamin D and E, calcium and omega3 were lower than 75% of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) in most of the patients. Conclusions: The present study showed the beneficial effects of nutritional training on fatigue and ADL in patients with MS. Therefore, nurses and dietitians should regularly assess the patients’ dietary pattern and train them and their families about appropriate diet

Intensive care unit, cardiac care unit, and emergency department nurses' perceptions of medical device-related pressure injuries: a cross-sectional study

Background Nurses' perception of medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPIs) may affect their performance, but there is a lack of studies in this area. Purpose The current study aimed to examine intensive care unit (ICU), cardiac care unit (CCU) and emergency department nurses' perception of proper prevention of MDRPIs and care for individuals with such injuries. Methods This descriptive study was conducted in 4 general hospitals in Iran in 2021. All nurses (N = 310) working in ICUs, CCUs and emergency departments of these facilities were invited to complete a researcher-made demographic checklist and an 11-item questionnaire to assess attitudes toward MDRPIs. The questionnaire item responses were scored from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) with the total score for the 11 items ranging from 11 to 55. A score of 11 to 25 was categorized as indicating a negative attitude toward proper prevention of MDRPIs and care for such patients; a score of 26 to 40 indicated a neutral attitude, and a score >40 indicated a positive attitude. Results A total of 260 nurses fulfilled the data collection tool. The response rate was 83.8%. The mean total score of attitude toward MDRPIs was 41.7. No significant relationship was observed between the total score of nurses' attitudes and their demographic variables. Of the 260 participants, 159 stated they had not received any trainings on MDRPIs at nursing schools during their education, 212 stated they had not participated in any scientific workshops on MDRPIs, and 167 described their knowledge about the prevention and care of MDRPIs as insufficient. Conclusion Among ICU, CCU, and emergency nurses in Iran, most had a positive attitude toward the prevention and care of MDRPIs, but steps should be taken to offer more opportunities for nurses to increase their knowledge in this area

Network Topology Effecton QoS Delivering in Survivable DWDM Optical Networks, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2009, nr 1

The quality of service (QoS) is an important and considerable issue in designing survivable dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) backbones for IP networks. This paper investigates the effect of network topology on QoS delivering in survivable DWDM optical transport networks using bandwidth/load ratio and design flexibility metrics. The dedicated path protection architecture is employed to establish diverse working and spare lightpaths between each node pair in demand matrix for covering a single link failure model. The simulation results, obtained for the Pan-European and ARPA2 test bench networks, demonstrate that the network topology has a great influence on QoS delivering by network at optical layer for different applications. The Pan-European network, a more connected network, displays better performance than ARPA2 network for both bandwidth/load ratio and design flexibility metrics

Cryptanalysis of the Fast Lightweight Mutual Authentication Protocol

Security counts as a critical barrier to continuing growth of RFID industry due to lack of a proper high performance lightweight protocol-based solution. Amongst recent developments the Fast Lightweight Mutual Authentication Protocol (FLMAP) has been accepted for its superior speed and low complexity features. Here we examine the security strengths of FLMAP through systematic cryptanalysis tests. Outcome of our investigation show that in spite of its superior speed and power saving features FLMAP shows some serious design gaps and shortfalls against two specifically selected desynchronization and ID disclosure attacks. Finally, we propose solutions to fix the FLMAP designing and security flaws

Two-stage uncertainty incorporating in optical core networks

In guaranteed-type applications the bandwidth planning and cost management are two important issues in deployment of optical core networks. A two-stage fuzzy-based approach is proposed for accommodating long-term demand uncertainties in dense wavelength division multiplexing optical networks. Here, the uncertainties are modelled using the Gaussian fuzzy membership functions. First, the forecasted part of demand matrix is introduced to Dijkstra shortest path-based routing algorithm. Then, the available wavelengths are assigned to demand uncertainties. Unlike existing algorithms, different bandwidth cost factors are assigned to the links of a lightpath according to network and links state information. The performance of proposed approach is evaluated on a typical optical link for uncertain traffic loads in Erlang mode. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy-based approach is up to 29% cost-effective for accommodating network demands in real-world applications comparing to existing algorithms

Editorial: ultra wideband systems technologies and applications

Orthogonal technological competition allows the introduction of constructive new products that will allow a minimum interaction with those already in use. Radio technology has the potential for making use of unlimited untapped frequency resources up to terahertz level. The radio technology behind this Special Issue, so called impulse radio (IR) or ultra-wideband (UWB) is approaching its prime and will compete with narrowband RF technology in wireless communications. This will also enable us to make use of traditional pulse techniques to devise suitable solutions for new civil and commercial applications. It is expected that the UWB market for shortrange applications will grow to a quarter of a billion units in the next 5 years

Opportunistic spectrum access framework for video over ad hoc wireless networks

The opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) over wireless networks, ad hoc wireless networks in particular, opens up use of licensed spectrum to unlicensed users for higher capacity and better commercial values enabling bandwidth-hungry content applications like video services. The existing solution's serious practical problems for the primary and secondary users include fairness, utilisation, collision and unfair spectrum access strategy. In this study the authors propose a new analytical framework for more effective implementing the OSA over ad hoc networks for which we integrate the spectrum access assignment with selective physical layer transmission characteristics enhanced with the service traffic information. For this we first define a distance-tree model to generate an available degree (AD) list for all primary and secondary users. Then, a new fairness-driven utility function is defined to control the spectrum efficiency and fairness for the secondary users. Finally, the authors propose some access strategies for the video applications using the cross-layer design