Evaluating urban environmental quality using multi criteria decision making

In the urban environment, the quality refers to the capacity that provides and fulfills the material and spiritual needs of inhabitants. In order to improve the quality of urban life and standard of living for their citizens, planners and managers strive to raise Urban Environmental Quality. The objective of this study is to evaluate the quality of urban environment through the spatial analysis of a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method utilizing CRITIC. This research is conducted in district 4 and district 2 of the Tabriz Metropolis Municipality. In order to determine the quality of an urban environment, air pollution, vegetation coverage, land surface temperature, production of waste, population density, noise pollution, health care per capita, green spaces per capita, recreational spaces per capita, and distance from fault lines are used. After evaluating and producing environmental quality maps in two separate districts, 10 indicators were tested for significance and a comparative evaluation of two districts was conducted in order to determine which district was in better condition based on a statistical analysis of the T-test results. In accordance with the CRITIC method, there are significant differences between averages of waste production, population density, noise pollution, distance from fault lines, Land Surface Temperature, Normalized difference vegetation index, and distance from fault lines between the two districts. It appears that recreational space, air pollution, health care per capita, and green space per capita are not meaningfully different on averages. The preparation of environmental quality maps reveals the importance of meaningful indicators at the neighborhood level in two urban districts. In both districts by strengthening the continuity of the landscape through the development of ecological corridors and an increase in per capita can contribute to the improvement of the quality of the urban environment.

The Effect of Local Heat Therapy versus Cold Rub Gel on Pain and Joint Functions in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

This study was compared the effect of local heat therapy versus cold rub gel on pain and joint function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. One hundred seventeen patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to cold rub gel, local heat therapy, and control group. Data were collected by knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score at a week prior to the interventions and on weeks of 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the interventions. A significant difference was found between the three groups in terms of pain severity (p = .001), joint symptoms (p = .001), ADL function (p = .001), Sport and Recreation function (p = .001), except Knee related QOL (p = .3). Cold rub gel and heat therapy were both effective in improving pain and joint function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Nurses' caring behaviour and its correlation with moral sensitivity

BACKGROUND

Different and contradictory results have been reported for nurses' caring behaviour and moral sensitivity.

AIMS

The present study aimed to examine the correlation between nurses' caring behaviour and moral sensitivity.

METHODS

The research was a descriptive, correlational study. Data were collected using moral sensitivity (range: 0-100) and caring behaviour (range: 24-144) questionnaires. A total of 250 nurses who worked in the clinical wards of Yasuj teaching hospitals in 2018, were selected by systematic random sampling. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 19 for descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation tests.

RESULTS

Seventy-four percent of nurses had moderate moral sensitivity (50-74). Nurses' moral sensitivity and caring behaviour mean scores were reported to be 59.5 ± 11.1 (range: 31-87) (Potential range 0--100) and 110.99 ± 17.99 (range: 69-94) (Potential range 22-144), respectively. The Pearson test showed a positive correlation between nurses' caring behaviour and moral sensitivity at a 99% level (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses' moral sensitivity and caring behaviour were found to be moderate and good, respectively. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between moral sensitivity and caring behaviour in nurses, that is, nurses provided better caring behaviour as levels of moral sensitivity increased.

Oral Mucositis: Examining the Combined Solution of Grape Vinegar and Rose Water Versus Chlorhexidine Mouthwash

BACKGROUND

Studies have reported contradictory findings regarding the efficacy of chemical mouthwashes for chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis.

OBJECTIVES

This study sought to compare the effect of the combined solution of grape vinegar and rose water versus chlorhexidine mouthwash on chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis.

METHODS

60 patients were randomly assigned to either chlorhexidine or the vinegar and rose water solution. Fifty-three patients completed the study. Patients rinsed their mouths with mouthwash three times a day for 14 days.

FINDINGS

Chlorhexidine mouthwash and the grape vinegar and rose water solution decreased chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. The therapeutic property of the grape vinegar and rose water solution was similar to that of chlorhexidine mouthwash in treating oral mucositis.

Deep Learning for Stock Market Prediction

The prediction of stock groups values has always been attractive and challenging for shareholders due to its inherent dynamics, non-linearity, and complex nature. This paper concentrates on the future prediction of stock market groups. Four groups named diversified financials, petroleum, non-metallic minerals, and basic metals from Tehran stock exchange were chosen for experimental evaluations. Data were collected for the groups based on 10 years of historical records. The value predictions are created for 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 days in advance. Various machine learning algorithms were utilized for prediction of future values of stock market groups. We employed decision tree, bagging, random forest, adaptive boosting (Adaboost), gradient boosting, and eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and artificial neural networks (ANN), recurrent neural network (RNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM). Ten technical indicators were selected as the inputs into each of the prediction models. Finally, the results of the predictions were presented for each technique based on four metrics. Among all algorithms used in this paper, LSTM shows more accurate results with the highest model fitting ability. In addition, for tree-based models, there is often an intense competition between Adaboost, Gradient Boosting, and XGBoost.

Strengths of Iran for internationalization of medical sciences education

INTRODUCTION

Internationalization of higher education involves mutual exchanges as well as a consensus based. Political, economic, sociocultural, and scientific reasons recommend the need to move toward the internationalization of higher education. The current study highlights the strengths of the internationalization of Iran's medical sciences education.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This descriptive exploratory study was carried out in 2016-2017 in Iran. The techniques used for data collection included review of articles, interview with subject experts, and the focus group and the nominal technique group to explore the views of various stakeholders. The data were analyzed with the qualitative content analysis method.

RESULTS

The inductive qualitative content analysis of all data generated 13 categories and 88 subcategories. The categories were geographical and geostrategic position of Iran; the historical, cultural, religious, and tourist attractions of Iran; the security of Iran; priority to internationalization policies and programs in Iran's macro plans; the existence of regulations, laws, and approvals for international activities; same language with neighboring and regional countries; the low cost of studying and living in Iran; the ability of Iranian faculty members and experts for internationalization; the background, reputation, and the progress of medical education, health, and care in Iran; the cheaper forces of Iran and their welcome to foreigners; the existence of motivation, zeal, and belief for internationalization; the existence of proper infrastructure; and the existence of a suitable capacity for internationalization.

CONCLUSIONS

Iran has some positive points that can be used to promote international activities, provided it does some good advertising in this regard. It is suggested that the challenges, opportunities, and threats to Iran's internationalization should be collated from the perspective of the various stakeholders.

Role of appropriate surgery in survival of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVE

Management of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients is largely based on appropriate surgery. The principle treatment of early stage is competence of surgical staging surgery and surgical management of all patients with advance EOC is approach in a similar manner with cytoreduction surgery. We decided to evaluate the impact of appropriate surgery as a scale on 2 and 5-year survival in EOC patients.

METHODS

In a descriptive analytic study a total 186 patients were divided into 62 with early stage of EOC equivocal FIGO stage I and 124 with advanced disease at Vali-e-Asr Hospital affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Science, Iran, from 1998 to 2008. Two and 5-year disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival rates were determined and compared between the two groups using chi-squared test' Kaplan Meier and Cox regression.

RESULTS

Five-year DFS in patients with early stage of disease was 85% for the surgical staging group and 38% for non-surgical staging group (P = 0.037). Two-year DFS and overall survival did not differ between the groups. Also 5-year survival rates in subjects with surgical staging surgery were 42% and 40% for non staging group. For patients assigned to advanced disease group, 5-year DFS in subjects with cytoreductive surgery was 73% and the figure for the remainder was 58%. Five-year overall survival rate in cytoreductive surgery group was 43% in comparison to 38% in the second group.

CONCLUSION

Maximal effort for appropriate surgery appears to be a corner stone for optimal survival.

Rifaximin: a nonabsorbed antimicrobial in the therapy of travelers' diarrhea

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Bacterial enteropathogens, the major cause of travelers' diarrhea, are customarily treated with antibacterial drugs. Rifaximin, a nonabsorbed antimicrobial was examined as treatment for travelers' diarrhea.

METHODS

A randomized, prospective, double-blind clinical trial was carried out in 72 US adults in Mexico. Patients with acute diarrhea received one of three doses of rifaximin (200, 400 and 600 mg t.i.d.) or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX, 160 mg/800 mg b.i.d.) for 5 days. Results were compared with data from 2 placebo-treated historical control populations.

RESULTS

The shortest duration of treated diarrhea was seen in the group receiving 200 mg rifaximin t. i.d (NS). Clinical failure to respond to treatment occurred in 6 of 55 (11%) rifaximin-treated subjects versus 5 of 17 (29%) of TMP/SMX-treated subjects (NS). Sixteen of twenty (80%) of the enteropathogens isolated from the rifaximin-treated subjects and 7 of 7 (100%) from the TMP/SMX group were eradicated by treatment (NS). Sixteen of twenty-four (67%) enteropathogens identified were susceptible to TMP and all 24 were inhibited by</=50 microgram/ml of rifaximin. Rifaximin reduced the number of unformed stools passed during the first 24 h of treatment when compared with 2 control placebo groups (3.3 versus 5.1; p = 0.008 and 0.0001) and led to a reduced duration of post-enrollment diarrhea (mean values of 43.1 versus 68.1 and 81.9 h; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Rifaximin shortened the duration of travelers' diarrhea compared with TMP/SMX and 2 earlier studied placebo-treated groups. A poorly absorbed drug if effective in treating bacterial diarrhea has pharmacologic and safety advantages over the existing drugs.

Prognostic Factors Related to Recovery from Diarrhea among U.S. Students with Diarrhea in Mexico

Background: Medical charts of subjects treated with placebo from five double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trials were reviewed to determine pre-enrollment prognostic factors related to later recovery from diarrhea. Method: Recovery or time from initiation of a placebo until passage of the last unformed stool after being declared well was calculated for each subject. Results: A longer duration of diarrhea was associated with presence of fever (rate ratio = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.2-0.9), presence of an invasive pathogen in the stool (rate ratio = 0.35; 95% CI = 0.2-0.7) or a noninvasive pathogen in stool (rate ratio = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.6-1.0), severe abdominal pain or cramps (rate ratio = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.3-0.9), passage of more than five watery stools per 24 hours (rate ratio = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.4-0.8). Severe vomiting predicted a shorter duration of post-enrollment diarrhea (rate ratio = 2.43; 95% CI = 1.1-5.6). Conclusion: A number of clinical and microbiologic factors found in travelers with diarrhea in the present study predicted duration of untreated diarrhea. The authors suggest the use of antimicrobial therapy in travelers with predictors of a long duration of diarrhea. Data developed in the present study may be used to create a historical control for clinical trials of antidiarrheal compounds using the same study criteria.