Utjecaj prirodnog izlaganja vremenskim utjecajima na svojstva kompozita od drvnog brašna i recikliranog polipropilena

In this study, the effect of natural weathering on the physical and mechanical properties of wood plastic composites (WPC) made from virgin and recycled polypropylene (PP) was studied. To prepare the recycled PP, virgin PP was thermo-mechanically degraded by extrusion under controlled conditions in a single-screw extruder at a router speed of 60 rpm and temperature of 190 °C. PP (virgin and recycled), wood flour, compatibilizer, and UV absorbent were physically blended, and the samples were manufactured by a twin-screw extruder. The samples were exposed to natural weathering for 270 days. The surface characteristics of the samples were investigated before and after weathering. According to the results, the composites from recycled PP exhibited a higher weathering resistancethan those from virgin PP. The use of a UV absorber improved the flexural strength and modulus of the composites, but it could not significantly prevent the flexural properties loss and discoloration of the composites after weathering.U ovom je istraživanju proučavan utjecaj prirodnog izlaganja vremenskim utjecajima na fizička i mehanička svojstva drvno-plastičnih kompozita (WPC) izrađenih od čistoga i recikliranog polipropilena (PP). U postupku pripreme recikliranog polipropilena čisti je polipropilen termomehanički razgrađen ekstruzijom s jednim pužem u konstantnim uvjetima i pri brzini vrtnje od 60 okr./min te pri temperaturi od 190 °C. Pomiješani su čisti i reciklirani polipropilen, drvno brašno, kompatibilizator i UV apsorber, a uzorci su proizvedeni ekstruderom s dva puža. Uzorci su bili 270 dana prirodno izloženi vremenskim utjecajima. Svojstva površine uzoraka ispitana su prije i nakon izlaganja tim utjecajima. Iz rezultata je vidljivo da su kompoziti od recikliranog polipropilena pokazali veću otpornost na vremenske utjecaje nego kompoziti od čistog polipropilena. Upotreba UV apsorbera poboljšala je čvrstoću na savijanje i modul elastičnosti kompozita, ali nije značajno spriječila slabljenje svojstava savijanja i promjenu boje kompozita nakon izlaganja vremenskim utjecajima

Patient absconding from emergency department and its financial burden: a study in a large public hospital, Tehran

Background and Aims: Patient absconding is a major health issue with economic, social, and health costs and consequences. The present study aimed to investigate the absconding rate from a emergency department and its financial burden in a public hospital in Tehran, IRAN.Materials and Methods: This retrospective and descriptive study was carried out in the emergency department of a large public and teaching hospital in Tehran. Data were collected using the absconded patient records from 23 September 2013 to 22 September 2014. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.Concerns about medical ethics, including patient’s confidentiality and hospital name were observed at all stages of study.Results: The results of this study indicate that 774 patients had left the hospital without permission or a notice to staff, so the absconding rate in this study was about 2.4 percent. Young, male, married and uninsured patients were more absconded. Average billing per absconded patient was 1,449,738 Iranian Rials (IRR). The hospital was consequently incurred financial losses amounted to 1,122,097,212 IRR as a result of patientabsconding.Conclusion: In order to preventing and reducing the abscond rate, the following strategies are recommended: the identification of high-risk patients for further care, regular monitoring of emergency departments, good communication and interaction with the patient and his family, introducing the discharge against medical advice (DAMA) policy to patients, accurate recording of patient information to reduce the risk of abscond oraccess to him/her after the absconding.Key words: Patient Absconding, Emergency Department, Retrospective Study*Correspondin

Hospital Triage Standards: A Qualitative Study and Content Analysis based on Experts’ Experiences in Iran

Introduction: The lack of a fixed and clear protocol causes confusion for nurses resulting in care performance delay in the emergency room (ER). Given that the purpose of triage is to examine the patient upon arrival in ER for the rapid classification and prioritization of emergency patients in need of treatment, it seems that the development and implementation of hospital triage standards can greatly affect this purpose. Objective: The present study was conducted to review the experiences of experts in hospital triage in terms of determining the standards of hospital ER triage. Methods: This qualitative research was conducted through content analysis method based on Donabedian model. Participants include experts (Politician, Nurse Supervisor, Nurse, Midwife, Faculty of Nursing, Emergency Medicine Specialist) working in educational and private hospitals and single-specialized ERs. Data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews lasting between 25-60 minutes. The main interview questions were: What are the structural standards of a good triage?  What are the process standards for a good triage?  What are the standards of a good triage? Data analyzed through Content Directed Analysis with Shannon and Hsieh approach. Results: Totally, 21 experts the mean age of 46.9±1.8 (ranged from 30 to 57) years and the mean work experience of 18.9± 8.21 years were participated, of whom 16 (76.2%) persons were male. From the analysis, we extracted 48 codes, 14 subcategories and 3 main categories of "structural standards", "process standards" and "outcome standards". Conclusions: Guidelines are needed so that the nurse in charge of triage can quickly and accurately undertake the important responsibility of patient triage. Additionally, having structure and process and outcome standards improves triage performance

An assessment of health research impact in Iran

Background: In recent years, Iran has made significant developments in the field of health sciences. However, the question is whether this considerable increase has affected public health. The research budget has always been negligible and unsustainable in developing countries. Hence, using the Payback Framework, we conducted this study to evaluate the impact of health research in Iran. Methods: By using a cross-sectional method and two-stage stratified cluster sampling, the projects were randomly selected from six medical universities. A questionnaire was designed according to the Payback Framework and completed by the principle investigators of the randomly selected projects. Results: The response rate was 70.4%. Ten point twenty-four percent (10.24%) of the studies had been ordered by a knowledge user organization. The average number of articles published in journals per project was 0.96, and half of the studies had no articles published in Scopus. The results of 12% of the studies had been used in systematic review articles and the same proportion had been utilized in clinical or public health guidelines. The results of 5.3% of the studies had been implemented in the Health Ministry’s policymaking. 62% of the studies were expected to affect health directly, 38% of them had been implemented, and among the latter 60% had achieved the expected results. Concerning the economic impacts, the most common expected impact was the reduction of ‘days of work missed because of illness or disability’ and impact on personal and health system costs. About 36% of these studies had been implemented, and 61% had achieved the expected impact. Conclusion: In most aspects, the status of research impact needs improvement. A comparison of Iran’s ranking of knowledge creation and knowledge impact in the Global Innovation Index confirms these findings. The most important problems identified were, not conducting research based on national needs, and the lack of implementation of research results. Keywords: Research impact assessment, Payback, Health research syste

Establishing research impact assessment in Iran: The first report from a non-high-income country

Background This study presents the first report on research impact assessment (RIA) in non-high-income countries, undertaken as a pilot initiative in 2021. Within it, we aimed to explore the feasibility of employing the ‘payback’ model for evaluating the impact of health research and enhancing the accountability of universities. We focussed on three key impact domains: ‘production of decision support documents and knowledge-based products,’ ‘implementation of research results,’ and ‘health and economic impact.’ Methods We adopted a case study approach to assess the impact of 5334 health research projects conducted by researchers from 18 universities from 2018 to 2020. Researchers were required to submit evidence related to at least one of the specified impact domains; six scientific committees verified and scored claimed impacts at the national level. Results Only 25% of the assessed projects achieved impact in at least one domain, with the production of decision support documents and knowledge products being the most reported impact. Notably, economic impact was verified in only three projects, indicating room for improvement in this area. Technology research exhibited the highest acceptance rate of claimed impact, suggesting a positive correlation between technology-focused projects and impactful outcomes. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of employing a case study approach and the ‘payback’ model to evaluate the impact of health research, even within the constraints of a moderately equipped research infrastructure. These findings underscore the potential of integrating RIA into the governance of health research in Iran and other non-high-income countries, as well as the importance of using RIA to assess the accountability of health research systems, guide the allocation of research funding, and advocate for the advancement of health research. The study sets a precedent for future assessments in similar contexts and contributes to the ongoing global dialogue on the societal impact of health research

Expanding the clinical phenotype of IARS2-related mitochondrial disease.

BACKGROUND: IARS2 encodes a mitochondrial isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, a highly conserved nuclear-encoded enzyme required for the charging of tRNAs with their cognate amino acid for translation. Recently, pathogenic IARS2 variants have been identified in a number of patients presenting broad clinical phenotypes with autosomal recessive inheritance. These phenotypes range from Leigh and West syndrome to a new syndrome abbreviated CAGSSS that is characterised by cataracts, growth hormone deficiency, sensory neuropathy, sensorineural hearing loss, and skeletal dysplasia, as well as cataract with no additional anomalies. METHODS: Genomic DNA from Iranian probands from two families with consanguineous parental background and overlapping CAGSSS features were subjected to exome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. RESULTS: Exome sequencing and data analysis revealed a novel homozygous missense variant (c.2625C > T, p.Pro909Ser, NM_018060.3) within a 14.3 Mb run of homozygosity in proband 1 and a novel homozygous missense variant (c.2282A > G, p.His761Arg) residing in an ~ 8 Mb region of homozygosity in a proband of the second family. Patient-derived fibroblasts from proband 1 showed normal respiratory chain enzyme activity, as well as unchanged oxidative phosphorylation protein subunits and IARS2 levels. Homology modelling of the known and novel amino acid residue substitutions in IARS2 provided insight into the possible consequence of these variants on function and structure of the protein. CONCLUSIONS: This study further expands the phenotypic spectrum of IARS2 pathogenic variants to include two patients (patients 2 and 3) with cataract and skeletal dysplasia and no other features of CAGSSS to the possible presentation of the defects in IARS2. Additionally, this study suggests that adult patients with CAGSSS may manifest central adrenal insufficiency and type II esophageal achalasia and proposes that a variable sensorineural hearing loss onset, proportionate short stature, polyneuropathy, and mild dysmorphic features are possible, as seen in patient 1. Our findings support that even though biallelic IARS2 pathogenic variants can result in a distinctive, clinically recognisable phenotype in humans, it can also show a wide range of clinical presentation from severe pediatric neurological disorders of Leigh and West syndrome to both non-syndromic cataract and cataract accompanied by skeletal dysplasia

Concern with COVID-19 pandemic threat and attitudes towards immigrants: The mediating effect of the desire for tightness

Tightening social norms is thought to be adaptive for dealing with collective threat yet it may have negative consequences for increasing prejudice. The present research investigated the role of desire for cultural tightness, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, in increasing negative attitudes towards immigrants. We used participant-level data from 41 countries (N = 55,015) collected as part of the PsyCorona project, a crossnational longitudinal study on responses to COVID-19. Our predictions were tested through multilevel and SEM models, treating participants as nested within countries. Results showed that people’s concern with COVID19 threat was related to greater desire for tightness which, in turn, was linked to more negative attitudes towards immigrants. These findings were followed up with a longitudinal model (N = 2,349) which also showed that people’s heightened concern with COVID-19 in an earlier stage of the pandemic was associated with an increase in their desire for tightness and negative attitudes towards immigrants later in time. Our findings offer insight into the trade-offs that tightening social norms under collective threat has for human groups

National, sub-national, and risk-attributed burden of thyroid cancer in Iran from 1990 to 2019

An updated exploration of the burden of thyroid cancer across a country is always required for making correct decisions. The objective of this study is to present the thyroid cancer burden and attributed burden to the high Body Mass Index (BMI) in Iran at national and sub-national levels from 1990 to 2019. The data was obtained from the GBD 2019 study estimates. To explain the pattern of changes in incidence from 1990 to 2019, decomposition analysis was conducted. Besides, the attribution of high BMI in the thyroid cancer DALYs and deaths were obtained. The age-standardized incidence rate of thyroid cancer was 1.57 (95% UI: 1.33–1.86) in 1990 and increased 131% (53–191) until 2019. The age-standardized prevalence rate of thyroid cancer was 30.19 (18.75–34.55) in 2019 which increased 164% (77–246) from 11.44 (9.38–13.85) in 1990. In 2019, the death rate, and Disability-adjusted life years of thyroid cancer was 0.49 (0.36–0.53), and 13.16 (8.93–14.62), respectively. These numbers also increased since 1990. The DALYs and deaths attributable to high BMI was 1.91 (0.95–3.11) and 0.07 (0.04–0.11), respectively. The thyroid cancer burden and high BMI attributed burden has increased from 1990 to 2019 in Iran. This study and similar studies’ results can be used for accurate resource allocation for efficient management and all potential risks’ modification for thyroid cancer with a cost-conscious view

Trust in government regarding COVID-19 and its associations with preventive health behaviour and prosocial behaviour during the pandemic: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Background. The effective implementation of government policies and measures for controlling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires compliance from the public. This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of trust ingovernment regarding COVID-19 control with the adoption of recommended health behaviours and prosocial behaviours, and potential determinants of trust in government duringthe pandemic.Methods. This study analysed data from the PsyCorona Survey, an international project onCOVID-19 that included 23 733 participants from 23 countries (representative in age andgender distributions by country) at baseline survey and 7785 participants who also completedfollow-up surveys. Specification curve analysis was used to examine concurrent associationsbetween trust in government and self-reported behaviours. We further used structural equation model to explore potential determinants of trust in government. Multilevel linear regressions were used to examine associations between baseline trust and longitudinal behavioural changes.Results. Higher trust in government regarding COVID-19 control was significantly associatedwith higher adoption of health behaviours (handwashing, avoiding crowded space, self-quarantine) and prosocial behaviours in specification curve analyses (median standardised β =0.173 and 0.229, p < 0.001). Government perceived as well organised, disseminating clear messages and knowledge on COVID-19, and perceived fairness were positively associated withtrust in government (standardised β = 0.358, 0.230, 0.056, and 0.249, p < 0.01). Higher trustat baseline survey was significantly associated with lower rate of decline in health behavioursover time ( p for interaction = 0.001).Conclusions. These results highlighted the importance of trust in government in the control of Covid-19

.Using machine learning to identify important predictors of COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors during the early phase of the pandemic

Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine-learning analyses can identify correlates from a larger pool of candidate predictors. We used random forests to rank 115 candidate correlates of infection-prevention behavior in 56,072 participants across 28 countries, administered in March to May 2020. The machine-learning model predicted 52% of the variance in infection-prevention behavior in a separate test sample—exceeding the performance of psychological models of health behavior. Results indicated the two most important predictors related to individuallevel injunctive norms. Illustrating how data-driven methods can complement theory, some of the most important predictors were not derived from theories of health behavior—and some theoretically derived predictors were relatively unimportant