The effect of socioeconomic status on ambulance requests

Introduction: Emergency medical events are not randomly distributed over a certain area. Many hidden patterns may influence this distribution due to several socioeconomic, demographic, and geospatial factors. Identifying these patterns will help health policy makers have a better planning for emergency medical services (EMS) in finding high-risk places, and people at high risk. Methods: Mashhad city EMS calls records have been analyzed retrospectively. The privacy of the data was considered by eliminating the identification information such as the name or phone number of the patients. To recognize the location of the requests all the recorded addresses were mapped into a single number representing the municipality region of the address. To express the relationship between the predictors, correlation coefficient has been employed.   Results: 154528 calls in a citywide registry from March 21, 2013, to March 20, 2014, were investigated. The average of age was 42.43 years (S.D = 21.7) with 50.5% male, 40.7% female and 8.8% of the sex were not registered. 64% of the calls were medical related and the remaining 36% were trauma-related requests. Aside from traffic accident that was the top most in all regions, other top five reasons for ambulance request including weakness, seizure, unconsciousness, nervous stress, and dyspnea were recognized. Although the regions with lower socioeconomic status are more vulnerable, they request ambulances less frequently than the regions with higher socioeconomic status. Conclusion: There is a relationship between the socioeconomic status of people and their calls to EMS. The results of this study can help policymakers in finding people in potentially high-risk locations and provide facilities to reduce mortality and morbidity

A comprehensive protocol for evaluating health, safety, and environmental risks of hospital solid waste through FMEA technique

This protocol outlines a comprehensive approach to evaluating hospital solid waste levels and assessing associated health, safety, and environmental (HSE) risks using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) methodology. The study focuses on Imam Khomeini Hospital (RA) and employs both quantitative and qualitative methods. Over a 3-month period, waste production and potential risks are assessed, with specific attention to household, infectious, medicinal, and sharps waste. Through FMEA, potential failure modes and associated risks in waste management sectors are identified, enabling targeted interventions for risk mitigation. The protocol emphasizes the importance of aligning waste management practices with international standards and highlights the need for comprehensive training, awareness campaigns, and effective waste management methods to ensure the safety and environmental responsibility of hospital waste management practice

Influence of pulsed microwave on betacyanins, betaxanthins and physical properties during drying of red beetroot

This study aimed to investigate the effect of pulse ratio and microwave power during drying of red beetroot using combined intermittent microwave – hot air at low temperature (40˚C). A significant decrease in drying time was observed by increasing the microwave power from 360 to 900 W and decreasing the pulse ratio from 6 to 2. The highest Deff was obtained at a microwave power of 900 W and a pulse ratio of 6. Dried red beetroots at the microwave power of 900 W and a pulse ratio of 6 had the lowest shrinkage and the highest rehydration. Moreover, the apparent density of the dried samples decreased by increasing the microwave power and pulse ratio. The specific energy consumption was reduced by increasing the microwave power and the pulse ratio. By increasing microwave power and pulse ratio, the content of betacyanins and betaxanthins increased up to 79.47 and 44.20%, respectively. Furthermore, the samples dried at the power of 900 W and a pulse ratio of 6 showed the lowest microstructural collapse. In total, the results of this study showed that industrial dried products with good quality could be produced by considering an appropriate pulse ratio and applied power

Creation in Ancient Elam based on Royal Elamite Inscriptions and Rock Reliefs

Royal Elamite inscriptions offer valuable insights into a range of themes related to ancient Iran. However, to date, no Elamite creation myth has been recovered. Nonetheless, there exist indirect references in the inscriptions and rock reliefs that can be used to reconstruct such an account. This study aims to partially reconstruct the Elamite genesis by examining the linguistic and iconographical clues. It is important to note, however, that this primary investigation provides only limited insights into the creation myth in ancient Elam

Impact of magnetic assisted freezing in the physicochemical and functional properties of egg components. Part 1: Egg white

Effects of freezing assisted with magnetic fields (MFs) in a Cell Alive System (CAS) commercial unit at –50 ºC, with a static MF only (0% CAS) and with a static MF plus oscillating MF (10% CAS) on egg white (W) was investigated. W samples were from commercial eggs from three strains of laying hens (two of them living in fortified cages and the third one in liberty at outdoor). The main goal was to follow the protein thermal denaturation involved in W processing. Thermal denaturation enthalpy was markedly affected (~50% total protein in comparison with fresh sample) but similar for both MFs processes, where 0% CAS was taken as Control freezing treatment. MFs effects were predominantly thermal in nature and constituted the factor with the highest influence on thermal behavior, as well as on the majority of the functional properties exhibited by MFs samples. Rheology and free Sulfhydryl content were studied complementarily to Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) data. Some important functional properties as Foaming parameters and Texture of W gel were also determined. The hen strains-feeding factor did not practically influence the physical or functional behaviors of both untreated and processed W samples.Financial support to the Spanish MINECO through the Project AGL2012-39756-C02-01. S.D. acknowledges a Ph. Student fellowship from Iranian Ministry of Science.Peer reviewe

An Absence of Time: Remarks on the Temporal Mode of Being in Royal Elamite Inscriptions

The surviving royal inscriptions from ancient Elam (in the south and southwest of modern Iran) speak of two historical characters who occupy particular positions outside physical time. These are Šilhaha (probably active in the early nineteenth century BC) and Princess Bar-Uli (in the second half of the twelfth century BC). Šilhaha became a prominent figure in Elamite history. His position is known through a legitimizing formula used by several subsequent rulers who claimed to be the ‘son of Šilhaha’s sister’. Thus, Šilhaha became a sempiternal being as his metaphysical existence was necessary for all the future kings who would make such a claim. However, his temporal mode of being changed from sempiternal to omnitemporal when he appeared in a curse formulated in the late twelfth century BC. In this curse, Šilhaha occupies a divine position. To appear in such a position means that his metaphysical existence would become necessary for the future both within and outside physical time. As for B/Par-Uli, she is called the ‘beloved daughter’ and ‘salvation’ of King Šilhak-Inšušinak I (conventionally 1150-1120 BC). Being her father’s ‘salvation’ denotes her role in this world and the hereafter. Moreover, her image, engraved in a mirror-like scene on a chalcedony bead, further emphasises her position and role. Drawing on the terms ‘temporal’, ‘sempiternal’ and ‘omnitemporal’, this paper examines the textual contexts to see how the shift in the temporal modes of being occurred. In the end, the image on the chalcedony bead will be briefly discussed

Impact of high-pressure shift freezing on physicochemical and functional properties of egg edible parts

Effects of high-pressure shift freezing (HPSF) at 200 MPa/-20 °C on physical, functional and thermal properties of egg white and egg yolk from three egg types were studied. The phase transition time in HPSF was shorter compared to atmospheric freezing (about 25% for egg yolk and 56% for egg white) due to the high degree of supercooling. The effect of freezing on functional properties seems to be related to different degrees of protein denaturation depending of the freezing/pressure level. Partial protein unfolding (suggested by higher free sulfhydryl) was observed after freezing at atmospheric pressure, especially for egg yolk. On the other hand, higher protein aggregation due to lower thermal denaturation enthalpy (50% in egg yolk and 70% in egg white) was found in HPSF samples, supported by decrease of protein solubility, disappear of electrophoretic bands and increase in viscoelasticity (G′ and G″ values).This work was partially supported by the State Program to Promote Scientific-Technical Research and its Transfer of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the MALTA CONSOLIDER TEAM Research Network (RED 2022-134388-T). S.D. acknowledges a Ph.D. Student fellowship from Iranian Ministry of Science.Peer reviewe

Films Based on Poly(lactic acid) Biopolymer: Effect of Clay and Cellulosic Nanoparticles on their Physical, Mechanical and Structural Properties

Physical, mechanical and structural properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-basedfilms containing different amounts of nanoclay and cellulose prepared bysolvent casting method were examined. Physical properties including thickness,transparency and color did not change significantly with addition of nanoparticles to the polymer matrix. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed that pure PLA has a semi-crystalline structure and addition of nanoclay into this polymer would produce more regular structure which results in improved crystallization. It also showed that the peak is shifted to lower degrees, with greater interlayer distance of nanoclay giving an intercalated structure. Because of the nature and particle size of the MCC, it did not interact sufficiently with the polymer. Tensile strength, elastic modulus andelongation-at-break of neat PLA were 27.44 MPa, 1.84 GPa and 24.53% which with the addition of 7% of nanoclay, was changed to 40.34, 2.62 and 10.36°C, respectively. As the results of XRD, MCC were indications of no significant effect on mechanical properties, AFM images were used to evaluate the surface morphology and roughness of PLA films. Neat PLA had smoother surfaces and a lower roughness parameter (Sa). This study indicates that PLA has acceptable properties which could be used forpackaging and other applications

Coronary Artery Fistula from Left Circumflex to Coronary Sinus

In this paper, we describe a case of an aneurysmal circumflex artery connected to the coronary sinus through a fistula in a 40-year-old man with a two-year history of palpitation and chest pain. We discussed surgical management for patients with coronary artery fistula (CAF), particularly for asymptomatic patients with a small left-to-right shun

Impact of magnetic assisted freezing in the physicochemical and functional properties of egg components. Part 2: Egg yolk

Effects of freezing assisted with magnetic fields (MFs) in a commercial Cell Alive System (CAS) unit at − 50 °C, with a static MF only (0% CAS) and with a static MF plus oscillating MF (10% CAS), on egg yolk (Y) was investigated. Y samples were obtained from commercial eggs laid by three hen strains (two of them in fortified cages and the third one free outdoors). The main goal was to study the thermal denaturation of protein involved in MF processing. Results showed that freezing treatment was the factor with the highest influence. Thermal denaturation enthalpy of Y was markedly affected (~ 45% total protein in comparison with Fresh sample), but similar for the two MF processes, where 0% CAS was taken as the Control freezing treatment. MF effects were predominantly thermal in nature and were the factor with the highest influence on the thermal behavior (which ran parallel to that of egg white, as described in Part 1), as well as on most of the functional properties exhibited by the MF samples. Rheology and free Sulfhydryl content were studied complementarily to Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) data. Some important functional properties such as Emulsion Ability and Emulsion Stability were also determined. The hen strain feeding factor had practically no influence on the physical or functional behavior of both untreated and processed Y samples, except on their color parameters.Financial support was provided by the Spanish MINECO through Project AGL2012-39756-C02-01. S.D. acknowledges a Ph.D. student fellowship from the Iranian Ministry of Science.Peer Reviewe