Online information seeking during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-country analysis

The aim of this study was to investigate the coronavirus-related web-searching patterns of people from the 10 most affected nations in September 2020. The authors extracted all searches for the sample nations, consisting of the two words ‘COVID-19’ and ‘coronavirus’ and their variations, from Google Trends for the complete year of 2020. The results showed a discrepancy due to the priority of the language used during searches for coronavirus-related information. The time span of the attention level of citizens towards coronavirus-related information was relatively short (about one month). This supports the assumption of the activation model of information exposure that information which generates a negative affect is not welcomed by users. The findings have practical implications for governments and health authorities in, for example, launching information services for citizens in the early months of a pandemic and them remaining as the preferred source of information for citizens.publishedVersio

A new mathematical model for single machine batch scheduling problem for minimizing maximum lateness with deteriorating jobs

This paper presents a mathematical model for the problem of minimizing the maximum lateness on a single machine when the deteriorated jobs are delivered to each customer in various size batches. In reality, this issue may happen within a supply chain in which delivering goods to customers entails cost. Under such situation, keeping completed jobs to deliver in batches may result in reducing delivery costs. In literature review of batch scheduling, minimizing the maximum lateness is known as NP-Hard problem; therefore the present issue aiming at minimizing the costs of delivering, in addition to the aforementioned objective function, remains an NP-Hard problem. In order to solve the proposed model, a Simulation annealing meta-heuristic is used, where the parameters are calibrated by Taguchi approach and the results are compared to the global optimal values generated by Lingo 10 software. Furthermore, in order to check the efficiency of proposed method to solve larger scales of problem, a lower bound is generated. The results are also analyzed based on the effective factors of the problem. Computational study validates the efficiency and the accuracy of the presented model

Factors associated with parental awareness of dental caries in preschool children in Shiraz, Iran, in 2014

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Parents have an important role in making decisions about their children's oral health problems and their awareness of children’s oral health status may affect their care-seeking behaviors. The aims of this study were to determine parental awareness about the presence and absence of dental caries in preschool children and factors associated with their awareness. METHODS: The participants of this cross-sectional study were 3 to 6-year-old children and their parents who were recruited from 10 randomly selected kindergartens in Shiraz, Iran. Normative and perceived caries status of the children was assessed through a dental examination and parental assessment, respectively. Parents' awareness was determined by comparing their perception of presence and absence of caries (perceived status) and the actual caries status of their child (normative status). Factors associated with parental awareness were determined using univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Among the 396 parents, who completed the questionnaire, 56% were aware of presence and 76% were aware of absence of caries. Awareness of presence was associated with children’s previous dental visit (P < 0.001) and experience of caries (P = 0.007). Parents who considered their child’s teeth unclean (P = 0.005) and their overall oral health status not good (P < 0.001) were more likely to be aware of presence of caries. Parents who perceived their child’s teeth clean (P = 0.030) and overall oral health status good (P < 0.001) were more likely to be aware of absence of caries. CONCLUSION: Many parents were not aware of the presence of dental caries, which may result in them deferring the seeking of care for their children. Having a dental visit increased parental awareness. Regular dental visits, therefore, should be promoted for young children for early detection of dental caries and to enhance parental awareness of children’s oral health condition. KEYWORDS: Parents; Awareness; Dental Caries; Childre

Potential use of algae for heavy metal bioremediation, a critical review

Algae have several industrial applications that can lower the cost of biofuel co24 production. Among these co-production applications, environmental and wastewater bioremediation are increasingly important. Heavy metal pollution and its implications for public health and the environment have led to increased interest in developing environmental biotechnology approaches. We review the potential for algal biosorption and/or neutralization of the toxic effects of heavy metal ions, primarily focusing on their cellular structure, pretreatment, modification, as well as potential application of genetic engineering in biosorption performance. We evaluate pretreatment, immobilization, and factors affecting biosorption capacity, such as initial metal ion concentration, biomass concentration, initial pH, time, temperature, and interference of multi metal ions and introduce molecular tools to develop engineered algal strains with higher biosorption capacity and selectivity. We conclude that consideration of these parameters can lead to the development of low-cost micro and macroalgae cultivation with high bioremediation potential

Trends of infodemiology studies: a scoping review

Introduction: The health care industry is rich in data and information. Web technologies, such as search engines and social media, have provided an opportunity for the management of user generated data in real time in the form of infodemiology studies. The aim of this study was to investigate infodemiology studies conducted during 2002�2016, and compare them based on developed, developing and in transition countries. Methods: This scoping review was conducted in 2017 with the help of the PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, Wiley and Springer databases were searched between the years 2002 and 2016. Finally, 56 articles were included in the review and analysed. Results: The initial infodemiology studies pertain to the quality assessment of the hospital's websites. Most of the studies were on developed countries, based on flu, and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Conclusion: The infodemiology approach provides unmatched opportunities for the management of health data and information generated by the users. Using this potential will provide unique opportunities for the health information need assessment in real time by health librarians and thereby provide evidence based health information to the people. © 2018 Health Libraries Grou

Comparing the diagnostic accuracy of five common tumour biomarkers and CA19-9 for pancreatic cancer: a protocol for a network meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy

Introduction: Surgical resection is the only curative treatment for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, 80%–85% of patients present with locally advanced or metastatic unresectable pancreatic cancer at the time of diagnosis. Detection of pancreatic cancer at early stages remains a great challenge due to lack of accurate detection tests. Recommendations in existing clinical practice guidelines on early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer are inconsistent and based on limited evidence. Most of them endorse measuring serum CA19-9 as a complementary test, but also state that it is not recommended for diagnosing early pancreatic cancer. There are currently no other tumour-specific markers recommended for diagnosing early pancreatic cancer. This study aims to evaluate and compare the accuracy of five common tumour biomarkers (CA242,carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA)), CA125, microRNAs and K-ras gene mutation) and CA19-9 and their combinations for diagnosing pancreatic cancer using network meta-analysis method, and to rank these tests using a superiority index. Methods and analysis: PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials will be searched from inception to April 2017. The search will include the above-mentioned tumour biomarkers for diagnosing pancreatic cancer, including CA19-9. The risk of bias for each study will be independently assessed as low, moderate or high using criteria adapted from the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2. Network meta-analysis will be performed using STATA V.12.0 and R software V.3.4.1. The competing diagnostic tests will be ranked by a superiority index. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval and patient consent are not required since this study is a network meta-analysis based on published studies. The results of this network meta-analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication

Investigating Effective Strategies on Drinking Water Demand Management in Birjand City

Water is considered a passive defense means. One of the strategies of enemy invasion, especially in the border areas of the country (such as South Khorasan) is to dominate the minimal water resources in the region. Also, the growth in demand and the constant volume of renewable fresh water resources has led to water scarcity which in turn has provided the grounds for the development of science and economics theories on the issue of scarce resources allocation. The purpose of this study was to investigate effective factors on drinking water consumption pattern for scarce resources using experts' opinions and employing Analytical Hierarchy and Topsis Analysis (TOPSIS) techniques. The results showed that the strategies of applying tariffs in accordance with the conditions and costs of producing and distributing, preparing and applying water efficiency labels on all equipment and household appliances, using educational catalogs and advertising warnings to reduce water consumption, installing equipment for water use in schools and educational centers and some mosques, and comprehensive water resources (which we lack in Iran) are the best strategies among drinking water consumption patterns in arid regions. The results of this study indicated that the combination of the Hierarchical Analysis Process model and the Ideal Likelihood Option (TOPSIS) can be used to examine and prioritize the patterns of drinking water consumption

Investigation of Axial and Angular Sampling in Multi-Detector Pinhole-SPECT Brain Imaging

We designed a dedicated multi-detector multi-pinhole brain SPECT scanner to generate images of higher quality compared to general-purpose systems. The system, AdaptiSPECT-C, is intended to adapt its sensitivity-resolution trade-off by varying its aperture configurations allowing both high-sensitivity dynamic and high-spatial-resolution static imaging. The current system design consists of 23 detector heads arranged in a truncated spherical geometry. In this work, we investigated the axial and angular sampling capability of the current stationary system design. Two data acquisition schemes using limited rotation of the gantry and two others using axial translation of the imaging bed were also evaluated concerning their impact on image quality through improved sampling. Increasing both angular and axial sampling in the current prototype system resulted in quantitative improvements in image quality metrics and qualitative appearance of the images as determined in studies with specifically selected phantoms. Visual improvements for the brain phantoms with clinical distributions were less pronounced but presented quantitative improvements in the fidelity (normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE)) and striatal specific binding ratio (SBR) for a dopamine transporter (DAT) distribution, and in NRMSE and activity recovery for a brain perfusion distribution. More pronounced improvements with increased sampling were seen in contrast recovery coefficient, bias, and coefficient of variation for a lesion in the brain perfusion distribution. The negligible impact of the most cranial ring of detectors on axial sampling, but its significant impact on sensitivity and angular sampling in the cranial portion of the imaging volume-of-interest were also determined