The role of Ibn Sina (Avicenna)'s medical poem in the transmission of medical knowledge to medieval Europe.

PubMed

Abdel-Halim, Rabie El-Said

2014-01-01

The Medical Poem ("Al-Urjuzah Fi Al-Tibb") of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037), is the subject of this primary-source study evaluating its scientific value, poetics and pedagogical significance as well as assessing its role in the transmission of medical knowledge to Medieval Europe. In addition to one original manuscript and two modern editions, the English translation by Krueger was also studied. Ibn Sina's poem on medicine consisting of meticulously classified 1326 verses, can be considered as a poetic summary of his encyclopedic textbook: The Canon of Medicine; hence its popularity in the East then the West as a tool in the process of transmitting medical knowledge from master to student. Since first translated by Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) in the middle of the 12(th) century, the Latinized poem was frequently published in Medieval Europe either independently or combined with the Latinized Canon of Medicine or with the Articella; the famous collection of Greco-Roman and Latinized Arabian medical treatises in use in the universities of Salerno, Montpelier, Bologna and Paris up to the 17(th) century. The study of the Krueger's English edition revealed few places where the full meanings of the original Arabic text were not conveyed. A list of those places is given together with the suggested corrections.

[Skin grafting in the treatment of hand burns sequelae in relation to 152 cases. Report from Department of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital Ibn Sina].

PubMed

El Mazouz, S; Fejjal, N; Hafidi, J; Cherkab, L; Mejjati, H; Belfqih, R; Gharib, N; Abbassi, A

2010-03-31

La main est fréquemment exposée aux brûlures, entraînant des séquelles esthétiques et fonctionnelles. Le traitement de ces séquelles est surtout chirurgical et consiste en la greffe de peau, dont le type dépend de la localisation de la brûlure et du type des séquelles. Dans ce travail rétrospectif, nous rapportons une série de 152 cas de brûlures des mains colligés au service de chirurgie plastique du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn-Sina de Rabat sur une période de dix ans, allant de 1998 à 2007. Les indications thérapeutiques dépendent du type de séquelles et de la localisation de la brûlure. En tout, 97 patients ont bénéficié d'une greffe cutanée, dont 76% par greffe de peau totale, 21% par greffe de peau demi-épaisse et 3% par peau fine. Les séquelles des brûlures des mains posent un problème thérapeutique majeur, malgré la diversité des procédés chirurgicaux, d'où l'intérêt de la prévention.

Medical care of children during the golden age of Islamic medicine.

PubMed

Modanlou, Houchang D

2015-04-01

During the Sassanid Empire in Persia (226-652 AD), there was a renaissance of humanistic sciences, including medicine, in the city of Gondi-Shapur. When the Islamic center of power moved to Baghdad in about 750 AD, physicians of Gondi-Shapur, including the dean of the medical school (a Nestorian Christian), gradually moved to Baghdad constructing hospitals and medical schools. Aided by the Persian and Nestorian Christians, the Islamic civilization ushered in what is considered to be the Golden Age of Islam from the 8th to 13th century AD. During this period, there were remarkable achievements in humanistic sciences including medicine by many physicians/authors whose medical textbooks were used for centuries in burgeoning medical schools in Europe. The medical texts written during the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine contain sections and chapters about the clinical conditions, diseases and medical care of children. It was during this era that the first treatise was written on the diseases of children and their care. This essay will describe, in brief, the writings about the conditions and diseases of children and their medical care, by three prominent Persian physicians of the Golden Age of Islamic Medicine: 1) Abubakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria Razi, Rhazes (865-925 AD); 2) Ali ibn-al-Abbas al-Majusi or Haly Abbas (949-994 AD); and 3)  Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina or Avicenna (980-1037 AD).

Sleep apnea syndrome: experience of the pulmonology department in Ibn Sina Hospital, Rabat, Morocco

PubMed Central

Jniene, Asmaa; el Ftouh, Mustapha; Fihry, Mohamed Tawfiq el Fassy

2012-01-01

Introduction Sleep apnea syndrome is a highly prevalent disorder that is still underdiagnosed and undertreated and whose obstructive form is the most common. The diagnosis is suspected on clinical signs collected by interrogation and questionnaires (Berlin questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale), then confirmed by objective sleep study findings (polygraphy or polysomnography). It is necessary to conduct studies in each context on the characteristics and management of sleep apnea syndrome comprising the testing of reliability of the questionnaires. Methods Prospective and descriptive study of 104 patients addressed to sleep consultation at pulmononology Department of Ibn Sina Hospital, Morocco over a period of 5 years (January 2006 to December 2010), agreed to participate in the study, responded to a predetermined questionnaire, and benefited from clinical examination and paraclinical tests including a polygraphy or a polysomnography Results 59(56.7%) patients had an obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome with a similar prevalence in both sexes. 32.2% of patients were obese and 28,8% had cardio-vascular diseases. Snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and witnessed apnea were found in respectively 79.7%, 50.8% and 16.9%. Berlin questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale had an acceptable internal consistency against apnea hypopnea index with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient respectively 0.79 and 0.78. Depending on severity, clinical impact and results of investigations, the adequate treatment has been proposed based on the 2010 recommendations for clinical practice. Conclusion This study has provided an idea about the profile and the management of patients having an obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome and showed that both Berlin questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale are two simple and reliable methods in our context. A larger and further study across the country should be considered. PMID:23308333

Sleep apnea syndrome: experience of the pulmonology department in Ibn Sina Hospital, Rabat, Morocco.

PubMed

Jniene, Asmaa; el Ftouh, Mustapha; Fihry, Mohamed Tawfiq el Fassy

2012-01-01

Sleep apnea syndrome is a highly prevalent disorder that is still underdiagnosed and undertreated and whose obstructive form is the most common. The diagnosis is suspected on clinical signs collected by interrogation and questionnaires (Berlin questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale), then confirmed by objective sleep study findings (polygraphy or polysomnography). It is necessary to conduct studies in each context on the characteristics and management of sleep apnea syndrome comprising the testing of reliability of the questionnaires. Prospective and descriptive study of 104 patients addressed to sleep consultation at pulmononology Department of Ibn Sina Hospital, Morocco over a period of 5 years (January 2006 to December 2010), agreed to participate in the study, responded to a predetermined questionnaire, and benefited from clinical examination and paraclinical tests including a polygraphy or a polysomnography 59(56.7%) patients had an obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome with a similar prevalence in both sexes. 32.2% of patients were obese and 28,8% had cardio-vascular diseases. Snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and witnessed apnea were found in respectively 79.7%, 50.8% and 16.9%. Berlin questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale had an acceptable internal consistency against apnea hypopnea index with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient respectively 0.79 and 0.78. Depending on severity, clinical impact and results of investigations, the adequate treatment has been proposed based on the 2010 recommendations for clinical practice. This study has provided an idea about the profile and the management of patients having an obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome and showed that both Berlin questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale are two simple and reliable methods in our context. A larger and further study across the country should be considered.

Prehospital burn management in a combat zone.

PubMed

Lairet, Kimberly F; Lairet, Julio R; King, Booker T; Renz, Evan M; Blackbourne, Lorne H

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide a descriptive study of the management of burns in the prehospital setting of a combat zone. A retrospective chart review was performed of U.S. casualties with >20% total-body-surface-area thermal burns, transported from the site of injury to Ibn Sina Combat Support Hospital (CSH) between January 1, 2006, and August 30, 2009. Ibn Sina CSH received 225 burn casualties between January 2006 and August 2009. Of these, 48 met the inclusion criteria. The mean Injury Severity Score was 31.7 (range 4 to 75). Prehospital vascular access was obtained in 24 casualties (50%), and 20 of the casualties received fluid resuscitation. Out of the 48 casualties enrolled, 28 (58.3%) did not receive prehospital fluid resuscitation. Of the casualties who received fluid resuscitation, nearly all received volumes in excess of the guidelines established by the American Burn Association and those recommended by the Committee for Tactical Combat Casualty Care. With regard to pain management in the prehospital setting, 13 casualties (27.1%) received pain medication. With regard to the prehospital fluid resuscitation of primary thermal injury in the combat zone, two extremes were noted. The first group did not receive any fluid resuscitation; the second group was resuscitated with fluid volumes higher than those expected if established guidelines were utilized. Pain management was not uniformly provided to major burn casualties, even in several with vascular access. These observations support improved education of prehospital personnel serving in a combat zone.

The Monteggia fracture: series of 20 cases

PubMed Central

Chagou, Aniss; Rhanim, Abdelkarim; Berrada, Mohammed Saleh

2014-01-01

The Monteggia fracture is one of the pitfalls of conventional diagnosis of upper limb trauma. Through a retrospective study of 20 cases diagnosed at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, University Hospital Center, Ibn Sina, Mohamed V University, Rabat, Morocco, between 2010 and 2014, we have tried to do an update on the management of Monteggia fractures either at of paraclinical exams or the surgical management. We support the idea that the dislocation of the radial head should be sought systematically to any isolated fracture of the ulna, for not to miss fracture Monteggia authentic. Rehabilitation of the upper limb must be done as soon as possible. PMID:25667713

Avicenna's (Ibn Sina) the Canon of Medicine and saffron (Crocus sativus): a review.

PubMed

Hosseinzadeh, Hossein; Nassiri-Asl, Marjan

2013-04-01

In this review, we introduce the traditional uses of saffron and its pharmacological activities as described by either Avicenna in Book II, Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi al-tib) or from recent scientific studies. Modern pharmacological findings on saffron are compared with those mentioned in Avicenna's monograph. A computerized search of published articles was performed using MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science databases as well as local references. The search terms used were saffron, Crocus sativus, crocin, crocetin, safranal, picrocrocin, Avicenna and 'Ibn Sina'. Avicenna described various uses of saffron, including its use as an antidepressant, hypnotic, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, bronchodilatory, aphrodisiac, inducer of labour, emmenagogue and others. Most of these effects have been studied in modern pharmacology and are well documented. The pharmacological data on saffron and its constituents, including crocin, crocetin and safranal, are similar to those found in Avicenna's monograph. This review indicates that the evaluation of plants based on ethnobotanical information and ancient books may be a valuable approach to finding new biological activities and compounds. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mechanical complications of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis: Experience at the Ibn Sina University Hospital.

PubMed

Flayou, Kaoutar; Ouzeddoun, Naima; Bayahia, Rabia; Rhou, Hakima; Benamar, Loubna

2016-01-01

Peritoneal dialysis is a new renal replacement therapy recently introduced in Morocco since 2006. Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis has proven to be as effective as hemodialysis. However, it is associated with several complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of complications in patients treated with peritoneal dialysis at our center. The nature of non-infectious complications was noted during follow-up in these patients. Fiftyseven complications were noted among 34 patients between June 2006 and June 2014. Catheter migration was the most common complication (36.8%), followed by obstruction (14%), dialysate leaks (14%), hemorrhagic complications (10.5%) and, finally, hernia (12.2%), catheter perforation (5.2%) and externalization (3.5%).

Why historians of medicine called Ibn al-Nafis second Avicenna?

PubMed

Masic, Izet; Dilic, Mirza; Solakovic, Emir; Rustempasic, Nedzad; Ridjanovic, Zoran

2008-01-01

At the end of IX and beginning of the X century begins development and renaissance of the medicine called Arabic, and which main representatives were: Ali at-Taberi, Ahmed at-Taberi, Ar-Razi (Rhazes), Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Magusi (Haly), ibn al-Baitar, ibn al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), ibn Sina (Avicenna), ibn al-Haitam (Alhazen), ibn Abi al-Ala Zuhr (Avenzor), ibn Rushd (Averroes) and ibn al-Nafis. Doctors Taberi, Magusi and Razi were born as Persians. Each of the listed great doctors of the Arab medicine in their own way made legacy to the medical science and profession, and left lasting impression in the history of medicine. Majority of them is well known in the West well and have their place in the text-books as donors of significant medical treasure, without which medicine would probably, especially the one at the Middle dark century, be pale and prosaic, insufficiently studied and misunderstood, etc. Abdullah ibn Sina (Avicenna) remained unsurpassed in the series of above listed. Close to him can only come Alauddin ibn al-Nafis, who will in mid-XII century rebut some of the theories made by Avicenna and all his predecessors, from which he collected material for his big al-Kanun fit-tibb (Cannon of medicine). Cannon will be commended for centuries and fulfilled with new knowledge. One of the numerous and perhaps the best comments-Excerpts is from Nafis-Mugaz al-Quanun, article published as a reprint in War Sarajevo under the siege during 1995 in Bosnian language, translated from Arabic by the professor Sacir Sikiric and chief physician Hamdija Karamehmedovic in 1961. Today, at least 740 years since professor from Cairo and director of the Hospital A-Mansuri in Cairo Alauddin ibn Nefis (1210-1288), in his paper about pulse described small (pulmonary) blood circulatory system and coronary circulation. At the most popular search engines very often we can find its name, especially in English language. Majority of quotes about al-Nafis are on Arabic or Turkish language, although Ibn Nafis discovery is of world wide importance. Author of this article is among rare ones who in some of the indexed magazines emphasized of that event, and on that debated also some authors from Great Britain and USA in the respectable magazine Annals of Internal medicine. Citations in majority mentioning other two "describers" or "discoverers" of pulmonary blood circulation, Miguel de Servet (1511-1553), physician and theologian, and William Harvey (1578-1657), which in his paper "An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Hearth and Blood in Animals" published in 1628 described blood circulatory system. Ibn Nafis is due to its scientific work called "Second Avicenna". Some of his papers, during centuries were translated into Latin, and some published as a reprint in Arabic language. Significance of Nafis epochal discovery is the fact that it is solely based on deductive impressions, because his description of the small circulation is not occurred by in vitro observation on corps during section. It is known that he did not pay attention to the Galen theories about blood circulation. His prophecy sentence say: "If I don't know that my work will not last up to ten thousand years after me, I would not write them" Sapient sat. Searching the newest data about all three authors: Alauddin ibn Nafis (1210-1288), Michael Servetus (1511-1533) and William Harvey (1628) in the prestige Wikipedia I manage to link several most relevant facts, based on which we can in more details explain to whom from these three authors the glory and the right to call them self first describer of the pulmonary and cardiac circulation belongs. About Servetus and Harvey there is much more data than on ibn Nafis, about which on Google there are mainly references in Arabic and Turkish language, and my four references on Bosnian, with the abstracts in English. Probably the language barrier was one of the key reasons that we know so little about Nafis and so little is written, although respectable professor Fuat Sezgin from Frankfurt in 1997 published comprehensive monograph about this great physician, scientist and explorer, in which papers we can clearly recognize detailed description of the pulmonary and cardiac circulation. Also, I personally published separate monographs about this scientist, and which can be found on www. avicenapublisher.org.

Ibn Sina, Abu Ali [known as Avicenna] (980-1037)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murdin, P.

2000-11-01

Islamic philosopher and scientist, born in Kharmaithen, near Bukhara (now Uzbekistan). Avicenna's life was marked by swings of fortune, from physician and favored scholar of a Samanid prince, to peripatetic country doctor when the Samanid regime fell. He became court physician in Hamadan (Iran), where he was for a time imprisoned as a political prisoner. He ended his life in a peaceful, contem...

The Evolution of Military Trauma and Critical Care Medicine: Applications for Civilian Medical Care Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

evidence - based medicine . Like great leaders in medicine such as Ibn Sina, war and conflict have also been credited with advances in medical and surgical therapy throughout the centuries. Like in previous conflicts, many authors note that innovations in trauma and critical care evolving from the current global war on terrorism may significantly impact civilian trauma care, critical

Electrical burns in Kuwait: a review and analysis of 64 cases.

PubMed

Gang, R K; Bajec, J

1992-12-01

Sixty-four patients with electrical burns were admitted to the Department of Plastic Surgery, Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait during the past 6 years. There were 1202 admissions during this period, the incidence of electrical burns being 5.3 per cent. Sixty-nine per cent of the patients sustained injury from direct contact with live electrical wire, the remaining 31 per cent sustained flash burns. The incidence of low voltage injury was much higher as compared to high voltage. Forty-four per cent of these injuries were not work related. Less than 10 per cent of the body surface area was involved in about 80 per cent of the patients. A total of 65 operations was carried out in 39 patients. Twenty of these patients had repeated debridements until the wound was ready for coverage. All 64 patients survived.

Relationships between Static and Dynamic Balance and Anticipation Time, Reaction Time in School Children at the Age of 10-12 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bozkurt, Sinan; Erkut, Oya; Akkoç, Orkun

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between anticipation time, reaction time and balance characteristics in school children at the age of 10-12 years. 11 males and 12 females, 23 students in total, studying at Istanbul Sancaktepe Ibn-i Sina Elementary School, whose average age was 11.06 years, average height was 142.78 cm and…

Contributions of Ibn Al-Nafis (1210-1288 AD) to the progress of medicine and urology. A study and translations from his medical works.

PubMed

Abdel-Halim, Rabie E

2008-01-01

This primary-source study of 4 medical works of the 13th century Muslim scholar Ibn Al-Nafis confirmed that his Kitab Al-Mujaz Fi Al-Tibb was authored as an independent book meant to be a handbook for medical students and practitioners not as an epitome of Kitab Al-Qanun of Ibn Sina as thought by recent historians. His huge medical encyclopedia, Al-Shamil, represents a wave of intense scientific activity that spread among the scholars of Cairo and Damascus following the massive destruction of books by Hulako's Army during the devastation of Baghdad in 1258. Like his predecessors in the Islamic Era, Ibn Al-Nafis critically appraised the views of scholars before him in the light of his own experimentation and direct observations. Accordingly, in his books Sharh Tashreeh Al-Qanun, Risalat al-Aadaa and Al-Risalah Al-Kameleyyah, we find the first description of the coronary vessels and the true concept of the blood supply of the heart as well as the correct description of the pulmonary circulation and the beginnings of the proper understanding of the systemic circulation. Those discoveries of Ibn Al-Nafis, translated to Latin by Andreas Alpagus printed in Venice in 1547, appeared, 6 years later, in the Christianismi Restituto of Servetus and, in 1555, in the De Fabrica Humani Corporis of Vesalius 2nd edition then in the works of Valvarde 1554, Columbus 1559, Cesalpino 1571, and finally Harvey in 1628. Furthermore, this study documented several other contributions of Ibn Al-Nafis to the progress of human functional anatomy and to advances in medical and surgical practice.

La Greffe de Peau dans le Traitement des Sequelles de la Main Brulee. A Propos de 152 Cas - Experience du Service de Chirurgie Plastique du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn-Sina, Rabat, Maroc

PubMed Central

El Mazouz, S.; Fejjal, N.; Hafidi, J.; Cherkab, L.; Mejjati, H.; Belfqih, R.; Gharib, N.; Abbassi, A.

2010-01-01

Summary La main est fréquemment exposée aux brûlures, entraînant des séquelles esthétiques et fonctionnelles. Le traitement de ces séquelles est surtout chirurgical et consiste en la greffe de peau, dont le type dépend de la localisation de la brûlure et du type des séquelles. Dans ce travail rétrospectif, nous rapportons une série de 152 cas de brûlures des mains colligés au service de chirurgie plastique du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn-Sina de Rabat sur une période de dix ans, allant de 1998 à 2007. Les indications thérapeutiques dépendent du type de séquelles et de la localisation de la brûlure. En tout, 97 patients ont bénéficié d'une greffe cutanée, dont 76% par greffe de peau totale, 21% par greffe de peau demi-épaisse et 3% par peau fine. Les séquelles des brûlures des mains posent un problème thérapeutique majeur, malgré la diversité des procédés chirurgicaux, d'où l'intérêt de la prévention. PMID:21991196

Islamic Civilization in Spain - a Magnificient Example of Interaction and Unity of Religion and Science.

PubMed

Halilović, Safvet

2017-04-01

Islam and its followers had created a civilization that played very important role on the world stage for more than a thousand years. One of the most important specific qualities of the Islamic civilization is that it is a well-balanced civilization that brought together science and faith, struck a balance between spirit and matter and did not separate this world from the Hereafter. This is what distinguishes the Islamic civilization from other civilizations which attach primary importance to the material aspect of life, physical needs and human instincts, and attach greater attention to this world by striving to instantly satisfy desires of the flesh, without finding a proper place for God and the Hereafter in their philosophies and education systems. The Islamic civilization drew humankind closer to God, connected the earth and heavens, subordinated this world to the Hereafter, connected spirit and matter, struck a balance between mind and heart, and created a link between science and faith by elevating the importance of moral development to the level of importance of material progress. It is owing to this that the Islamic civilization gave an immense contribution to the development of global civilization. Another specific characteristic of the Islamic civilization is that it spread the spirit of justice, impartiality and tolerance among people. The result was that people of different beliefs and views lived together in safety, peace and mutual respect, and that mosques stood next to churches, monasteries and synagogues in the lands that were governed by Muslims. This stems primarily from the commandments of the noble Islam according to which nobody must be forced to convert from their religion and beliefs since freedom of religion is guaranteed within the Islamic order. The Islamic civilization in Spain encompasses many fields that left a profound imprint in the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. The cultural climate of Spain in the era of Muslim rule (711-1492) brought about a prospering of different aspects of science and culture. Numerous schools and libraries were established and books were procured due to which the majority of the people were literate. Literature and art flourished. Buildings were constructed and Islamic art with its specific qualities was cultivated. As a result of that movement, Cordoba became the civilization capital of both Spain and the West in general. Many schools were established in it, such as medical and technical schools in addition to the general education and other vocational schools. Hospitals, chemical plants and observatories were also built. The university in Cordoba was a beacon of thought, education and culture, and it made Cordoba the home of science and of a great number of scholars and scientists in medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics and botany. Scholarly disciplines such as philosophy and logic were also studied and busy translation activities were underway. For that reason travelers and people in quest for knowledge and science from different European countries used to come to Cordoba. This scientific and civilizational movement was not limited to Cordoba alone, but also spread into other cities of Spain, such as Granada, Toledo and other cities under Islamic rule. Relevant historical sources state that young men from Europe, particularly from Italy and France, competed to enroll some of the Islamic universities in Andalusia. One of the students of the university in Cordoba was Gerbert, who later became known as Pope Sylvester II. He introduced science of mathematics and Arabic numerals in Italy. The same historical sources also read that Europe was acquainted with Aristotle's manuscripts via the city of Toledo which was a center of bustling translation work from the Arabic into the Latin language. It was in Toledo that many works of Plato and Galen were translated, as were the philosophy manuscripts by Ibn Sina, al-Farabi, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Bajjah and Ibn Rushd, and the medical manuscripts by Ibn Sina and al-Razi. These manuscripts quickly spread all over Europe and became a mandatory literature at great European universities. Ibn Sina's Al-Qānūn fi al-tibb was considered the fundamental reference book in studies of medicine in Europe for nearly six centuries and was called The Canon of Medicine. This paper cites numerous examples of interaction and unity of religion and science in the times when Islamic culture and civilization flourished in the Iberian Peninsula, the era that lasted for almost eight centuries.

[Electrical burns suffered by copper thieves].

PubMed

Belmir, R; Fejjal, N; Achbouk, H; El Mazouz, S; Gharib, N; Abassi, A; Belmahi, A

2011-06-30

Thefts of copper appear to have been on the increase for some time owing to its high resale price. This has led to an increase in the number of high-voltage electrical accidents (HVEA). Such accidents are very serious because they cause deep burns along the neurovascular axis. A report is presented describing a series of nine patients presenting HVEA admitted to the Ibn Sina Hospital Plastic Surgery and Burns Division in Rabat, Morocco, with a study of the epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic aspects. The patients all belonged to the young and active sector of the population. The burns were secondary to contact with high-voltage cables occurring during the attempted stealing of copper by stripping electric conductors in transformers (67% of the cases) and in attempts to cut overhead lines supplying electric trains on the railway network (33%). Electrothermal treatment of the lesions required repeated surgery with amputation and disarticulation of necrotic limb segments (67% of the cases), the consequences of which were marked by disabling functional sequelae. Preventing this type of HVEA remains fundamental.

Medicinal Behavior in Persian Literature by Emphasis on Ibn-Sina Popular Literature

PubMed Central

Kolahdouzan, Akbar; Vahabi, Fataneh

2013-01-01

Content of Persian literature comes from innocents, has special effect on social and individual people life. We understand worth of medical science, physician and sick people relationship in society and impact of religion behavior in treatment. Persian literature contains some recommendation that improve belief, trust, and secretary in medical society. In this article we chose some Persian literature about medicinal behavior and discuss trough: physician relationship with GOD and its impact on treatment, and sick people with others. We hope by studying this article physician can work better and sick people obey their orders more. PMID:23687466

Outcome, Cost, and Oversight of Iraq Reconstruction Contract W914NS-04-D-0006

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-28

Minerals HQs Building $7,928,993 2% 03 Modernize Maternity & Pediatric Hospital – Ibn Al Baladi $8,814,353 3% 04 Ministry of Health – Healthcare...Ministerial buildings 8,257,981 8,258,377 Completed Terminated for Convenience 3 Renovate Ibn Al Baladi Hospital 9,585,023 9,365,516 4 Design and...7,331,585 237,490 688,906 8,257,981 8,258,377 8,258,377 3 Renovate Ibn Al Baladi Hospital 8,251,610 320,820 1,012,593 9,585,023 9,585,023

[Immunological monitoring in kidney transplantation: 13 years experience of a Moroccan histocompatibility laboratory].

PubMed

Brick, C; Atouf, O; Essakalli, M

2016-05-01

The quality of the immunological monitoring is crucial because it determines the success of the kidney transplantation. The scope of this work is to describe the experience of the department of immunological unity of the Ibn Sina university hospital in Rabat regarding the immunological monitoring of patients transplanted between 2001 and 2014. Patient samples were collected from nephrology services of different public and private hospitals of Morocco. The tests conducted in the context of immunological monitoring are ABO typing, HLA-A, B, DR, DQ typing, anti-HLA antibodies detection and identification and cross-match. One hundred and fourteen benefited from a pre- and post-transplant immunological monitoring in our laboratory. The percentage of recipients having between 2 and 5 stored sera is 60.5 before transplantation and 56.1 after transplantation. Immunized patients account for 22.8% before the transplant and 17.6% after transplantation. Ninety-seven patients still have a functional graft, while 4 of them had DSA of low intensity before transplantation. Five immunological rejections were reported while the cross-match were negative and no DSA was identified before transplantation. Patient survival and graft at 1 year was 98.2% and 92.7% respectively. Conducting regular immunological monitoring is sometimes difficult in our context, however, the results are satisfactory in terms of graft and patients survival. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A comparison between transabdominal ultrasonographic and cystourethroscopy findings in adult Sudanese patients presenting with haematuria.

PubMed

Ahmed, Feras O; Hamdan, Hamdan Z; Abdelgalil, Hani B; Sharfi, Abdulrauf A

2015-02-01

Gross and microscopic haematuria both are a common cause of referral to urology clinics. It has a wide spectrum of differential. In many occasions, it is a presentation of underlining serious urological problems. Evaluation of gross and significant microscopic haematuria is of paramount importance. This study was conducted to assess and compare the findings and diagnostic competency of transabdominal ultrasonography (US) versus cystourethroscopy in patients with haematuria of lower urinary tract origin. Prospective hospital-based study done at Ibn Sina Specialized and Omdurman Military Hospitals from June 2012 to March 2013. The study included 109 patients. Structured questionnaires were used to gather data from patients. All patients were evaluated by transabdominal US before cystourethroscopy examination. One hundred and nine patients were studied. Patients' mean (SD) age was 57.9 (18.8) years. Fifty-four patients (49.5 %) presented with macroscopic haematuria, while 55 patients presented with microscopic haematuria. The sensitivity and specificity of the US in detecting prostate enlargement, vesical stones, bladder wall tumour, cystitis and schistosomiasis were [(84, 80 %); (82.6, 97.7 %); (64.7, 92.1 %); (15.3, 96.8 %); and (15.3, 98.9 %)], respectively, as compared to cystoscopic finding as the gold standard. Ultrasonography is accepted only as a first-line imaging tool for evaluation of haematuria in poor settings, but cannot replace or became as good as cystoscopy, which remains the gold standard.

Epidemiology and mortality of 162 major burns in Kuwait.

PubMed

Bang, R L; Ghoneim, I E

1996-09-01

The burns intensive care unit at IBN Sina Hospital reopened in July 1991, following the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and the Gulf War. Epidemiology and mortality of 162 burn patients with 30 per cent and over total body surface area (TBSA) burns, treated from July 1991 to December 1994, is presented. There were 91 males and 71 females with a ratio of 1.3 to 1. The median age was 30 years (range 4 months to 93 years) and 44 per cent of the patients were 15-40 years of age. 124 (76.5 per cent) accidents occurred at home and the flame burn was the commonest involving 131 (80.9 per cent) patients. The median burn surface area was 45.5 per cent and the majority of them sustained deep burns. The hospital stay of the surviving patients ranged from 11 to 174 days (median 38 days), while the day of the death was from 1 to 134 days. Forty-six deaths represent an overall mortality rate of 28.4 per cent amongst our patients. All the patients whose Baux score was 130 and above died. Burn shock was responsible for 10 deaths, and out of them eight were not actively resuscitated due to high Baux score. Sixteen deaths occurred within 48 h postburn. Septicaemia and its related effects were responsible for the majority of the deaths.

The demographic and clinical characteristics of leprosy in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Alotaibi, Mohammad H; Bahammam, Salman A; Ur Rahman, Saeed; Bahnassy, Ahmed A; Hassan, Imad S; Alothman, Adel F; Alkayal, Abdulkareem M

2016-01-01

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Although the occurrence of leprosy has declined in Saudi Arabia, it has not yet been eradicated. To our knowledge, this descriptive retrospective study is the first to assess the clinical presentation of leprosy at the time of diagnosis in Saudi Arabia. All study subjects were leprosy patients admitted to Ibn Sina hospital, the only referral hospital for leprosy in Saudi Arabia, between January 2000 and May 2012. A total of 164 subjects, the majority of whom (65%) were between 21 and 50 years of age, were included, and the male-to-female ratio was 2.8:1. Of these 164 patients, 63% were Saudis, and 77% of all admitted patients were from the western region. Lepromatous leprosy was observed most frequently (33%), and 31% of cases had a positive history of close contact with leprosy. At the time of diagnosis, 84% of all subjects presented with skin manifestation. The prevalence of neurological deficit at the time of diagnosis was 87%. Erythema nodosum leprosum (E.N.L.) developed in only 10% of all subjects. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical characteristics pertaining to each type of leprosy in the region, and training courses in caring for and diagnosing patients with leprosy should be organized for health workers. Copyright © 2016 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

What did Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980-1037A.D.) look like?

PubMed

Erolin, Caroline; Shoja, Mohammadali M; Loukas, Marious; Shokouhi, Ghaffar; Rashidi, Mohammada Reza; Khalili, Majid; Tubbs, R Shane

2013-09-01

We present a reconstruction of Avicenna's face from the only photograph of his skull available today. The photograph is more than 50 years old, and was obtained during the exhumation of Avicenna's tomb in Hamadan for relocation. The reconstruction procedure was performed by the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, UK. This is probably the first scholarly attempt to reconstruct Avicenna's face. Historians and clinicians who are interested in the history of medicine may find the current craniofacial analysis of Avicenna and the final output interesting and worth recording. The life, achievements and contributions of Avicenna to medical sciences and the influence of his "Canon" on Renaissance medicine are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Management of spontaneous pneumothorax: about 138 cases].

PubMed

Habibi, Bouchra; Achachi, Leila; Hayoun, Sohaib; Raoufi, Mohammed; Herrak, Laila; Ftouh, Mustapha El

2017-01-01

Pneumothorax is a collection of air in the pleural cavity. We conducted a retrospective study of patients with spontaneous pneumothorax in the Department of Pneumology at the Ibn Sina Hospital in Rabat (2009-2011) with the aim to determine the epidemiological, clinical, radiological, therapeutic and evolutionary manifestation of spontaneous pneumothorax. The study involved 138 patients: 128 men and 10 women (17-83 years), with an average age of 44.5 +/- 17.4 years and sex ratio of 12/8. 81.2% of patients were smokers. Clinical symptomatology was chest pain (92%), dyspnea (60%). Chest radiograph showed total unilateral (110 cases); partial (10 cases); localized (6 cases); bilateral (4 cases); right (51.4%) or left (45.7%) PNO (pneumothorax). During our study period we found that 70% of patients had spontaneous primitive pneumothorax and 30% had PNO secondary to Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (44%) and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) (39%). Initial management included patients hospitalization, chest drainage (95%), needle exsufflation (1%), rest and O 2 (4%). It enables the lung to stick to the chest wall within 10 days in 63% of patients. Evolution was favorable in 89% of patients. Immediate complications included: subcutaneous emphysema (5 cases); infection (6 cases) and 3 deaths (cardiorespiratory arrest). Late complications included: recurrences in 11.6%; the first recurrence occurred in 13 cases (chest drainage in 11 cases and oxygen therapy in 2 cases) while the second recurrence occurred in 3 cases (surgery). This study shows the role of chest drainage and monitoring in the management of pneumothorax to avoid complications and especially to prevent recurrences, with a possible need to resort to surgery.

The concept of lifestyle factors, based on the teaching of avicenna (ibn sina).

PubMed

Choopani, Rasool; Emtiazy, Majid

2015-01-01

According to the definition stated in the beginning of the "Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb" (the Qanun of Medicine); medicine is a science, from which one learns the states of the human body; health and disease and what causes them, in order to preserve good health when it exists, and restore it when it is lacking. Based on this issue, Avicenna believes that medical science belongs to all human without any limitation, and maintenance of health is one of its prime objectives. He states that many disorders are related to errors in the 6 factors, which are essential for maintaining health and preventing diseases. Avicenna described these six essential factors (lifestyle factors) in his masterpiece, Qanun of Medicine, as "Asbab-e-Settah-e-Zaruriah." Based on the teaching of Avicenna, the first step for maintaining health and approaches to treatment is modification of lifestyle factors, including of nutrition, physical activity, etc.

Renal oncocytoma: experience of Clinical Urology A, Urology Department, CHU Ibn Sina, Rabat, Morocco and literature review.

PubMed

Benatiya, Marwane Andaloussi; Rais, Ghizlane; Tahri, Mounir; Barki, Ali; El sayegh, Hachem; Iken, Ali; Nouini, Yassine; Lachkar, Azzouz; Benslimane, Lounis; Errihani, Hassan; Faik, Mohammed

2012-01-01

Renal oncocytoma is a rare and benign renal tumor. Only few cases have been reported in Moroccan populations. In the present study, we report our experiences in the diagnosis, management and follow-up of this disease. We report on six cases of renal oncocytoma indentified between 1990 and 2008 in the urology department of "CHU Ibn Sina" in Rabat. These six cases are listed among 130 kidney tumors reported during the study period. We assess the clinical, radiological and therapeutic features of the patients and we review literature. Six cases of renal oncocytoma, representing 4.6% of all primitive kidney tumors treated in our institution during the study period. The mean age was 53 ±9.7 years (range 34 to 61 years). One patient was asymptomatic at presentation, five patients (83%) had flank pain and two (33%) had macroscopic hematuria. The tumor was right sided in 4 cases (66%) and left sided in 2 cases (33%). All patients underwent CT scan which showed, in three cases, a centrally located stellate area of low attenuation. The clinical suspicion of oncocytoma was made preoperatively in only 3 patients by imaging studies, but the suspicion of renal cell carcinoma persist and all patients were treated with radical nephrectomy. Definitive diagnosis was made in all cases postoperatively. All the tumors were well circumscribed but unencapsulated. The mean tumor size was 8,75±2,04 cm. Four patients were classified at stage pT2 and two at stage p T1. Most of the pathological features in our patients were typical of this entity. Predominant cell type was a typical oncocytoma with general low mitotic activity. No extension to peri-nephric fat tissue or lymphovascular invasion was observed. After a mean follow-up of 36 months (range 26-62 months), there was neither recurrence nor death from oncocytoma. Accordingly, the disease-specific survival was 100%. Renal oncocytoma has a benign clinical course with excellent long-term outcomes. In our series, it happened mostly in females and is more frequently symptomatic. Although radical nephrectomy is the usual treatment, a conservative approach should be considered whenever there are signs of clinical and radiological presumptions.

A report of 3 soldiers returned to full duty after lumbar radiofrequency facet denervation in a theater of war.

PubMed

Dragovich, Anthony; Trainer, Robert J

2011-04-01

To provide the advanced interventional procedure of zygapophysial joint neurotomy to soldiers meeting the diagnostic criteria in a combat environment and thus reduce medical evacuations of soldiers from a theater of war. Retrospective chart review was performed on three consecutive soldiers who received neuroablation of the lumbar ZP joint. Patients received single MBB with 1 cc of 1% lidocaine at the b/l L3-L5 levels considered diagnostic if >50% analgesia was achieved concordant with duration of anesthetic.   All procedures were co-performed by the two authors at the Ibn Sina hospital in Baghdad, Iraq over a 3-month period. Three consecutive patients with >50% pain relief from diagnostic medial branch blocks were treated with radiofrequency ablation of the bilateral L3-L4 medial branch nerves and L5 posterior primary ramus. Sensory test stimulation at 50 Hz and motor stimulation at 2 Hz were performed at each level. The nerves were then lesioned at 80° Centigrade for 90 seconds after injection of lidocaine and methylprednisolone. Procedure was considered successful if patients were able to wear body armour without significant discomfort (at least 1 hour/day). Medical evacuation from Iraq was prevented and all soldiers returned to rigorous combat duties including the wearing of body armour daily. We believe to be the first to report on the use of RF nerve ablation in a war time setting and with this functional outcome. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Serum levels of Selenium and C-reactive protein in comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury during the first week of hospitalization: case-control study.

PubMed

Belatar, Bahia; Laidi, Fatna; Abidi, Abdelah El; Eljaoudi, Rachid; Mamouch, Fouzia; Kabbaj, Saad; Maazouzi, Wajdi

2018-01-01

Mortality and morbidity related to traumatic brain injuries still remain high in patients. Many authors reported the importance of Selenium in maintaining the integrity of brain functions. This fact is supported by clinical evidence that therapy with selenium supplementation could help patients suffering from brain disorders like neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between Selenium concentration in serum and evolution of comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury, in the first week of admission, and the correlation between selenium and C-reactive protein. This case-control study was conducted with 64 comatose patients with TBI, in the Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, IbnSina University Hospital and Hospital of specialties in Rabat-Morocco, and healthy volunteers recruited in Blood transfusion center of Rabat. Blood sampling was collected from TBI patients, in the first week (3h after admission and each 48h during one week), and from healthy volunteers one time. Concentration of Se in serum was determined by electrochemical atomic absorption spectrometry. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical software (SPSS) and the cases and controls were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. A P-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Comparison selenium concentration in the first day (D0), third day (D2) and fifth day according to the death and survival statue in patients did not show statistical significance (p > 0.05). Selenium concentration of D0 in patients and Selenium concentration in control group also did not show statistical significance (p > 0.05). Similarly, we did not report a correlation between selenium and C-reactive protein. According to our data selenium and CRP may not play a role in progression of coma state in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

[Management by objectives: an experience by transfusion and immunology service in Rabat].

PubMed

Essakalli, M; Atouf, O; Ouadghiri, S; Bouayad, A; Drissi, A; Sbain, K; Sakri, L; Benseffaj, N; Brick, C

2013-09-01

The management by objectives method has become highly used in health management. In this context, the blood transfusion and haemovigilance service has been chosen for a pilot study by the Head Department of the Ibn Sina Hospital in Rabat. This study was conducted from 2009 to 2011, in four steps. The first one consisted in preparing human resources (information and training), identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the service and the identification and classification of the service's users. The second step was the elaboration of the terms of the contract, which helped to determine two main strategic objectives: to strengthen the activities of the service and move towards the "status of reference." Each strategic objective had been declined in operational objectives, then in actions and the means required for the implementation of each action. The third step was the implementation of each action (service, head department) so as to comply with the terms of the contract as well as to meet the deadlines. Based on assessment committees, the last step consisted in the evaluation process. This evaluation was performed using monitoring indicators and showed that management by objectives enabled the Service to reach the "clinical governance level", to optimize its human and financial resources and to reach the level of "national laboratory of reference in histocompatibility". The scope of this paper is to describe the four steps of this pilot study and to explain the usefulness of the management by objectives method in health management. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Psychometric Properties of an Arabic Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale-20 (PASS-20) in Healthy Volunteers and Patients Attending a Physiotherapy Clinic.

PubMed

Tashani, Osama A; AlAbas, Oras A; Kabil, Raafat A M; Johnson, Mark I

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the PASS-20 questionnaire for use in Libya. Participants were 71 patients (42 women) attending the physiotherapy clinic, Ibn Sina Hospital, Sirt, Libya for management of persistent pain and 137 healthy unpaid undergraduate students (52 women) from the University of Sirt, Libya. The English PASS-20 was translated into Arabic. Patients completed the Arabic PASS-20 and the Arabic Pain Rating Scales on two occasions separated by a 14-day interval. Healthy participants completed the Arabic PASS-20 on one occasion. The internal consistency (ICC) for pain patient and healthy participant samples yielded a good reliability for the total score, cognitive anxiety, fear of pain, and physiological anxiety. The test-retest reliability of the Arabic PASS-20 score showed high reliability for the total score (ICC = 0.93, p < 0.001), escape/avoidance (ICC = 0.93, p < 0.001), fear of pain (ICC = 0.94, p < 0.001), and physiological anxiety subscales (ICC = 0.96, p < 0.001) and good reliability for the cognitive anxiety (ICC = 0.85, p < 0.001). Inspection of the Promax rotation showed that each factor comprised of five items were consistent with the theoretical constructs of the original PASS-20 subscales. The Arabic PASS-20 retained internal consistency and reliability with the original English version and can be used to measure pain anxiety symptoms in both pain and healthy individual samples in Libya.

Contributing risk factors for orthopedic device related infections in sina hospital, tehran, iran.

PubMed

Hadadi, A; Zehtab, M J; Babagolzadeh, H; Ashraf, H

2011-02-01

In spite of decreasing incidence of orthopedic device-related infections to 1%, nowadays, device-related infection still remains a diagnostic, therapeutic and cost-related problem. The objective of this study is to evaluate the contributing risk factors for orthopedic device-related infections in Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Three hundred and thirty patients who underwent orthopedic device implantation from 2002-2006 were enrolled; among them, 110 patients were complicated with infection. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the risk factors for device related infections. Patients with infection were older compared to those without infection. The Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism. A correlation was observed between wound infection and external fixation, an underlying health condition, and addiction which were independent risk factors for a device related infection. Orthopedic device-related infection puts a great financial burden on patients and hospital resources and could lead to morbidity and mortality in patients. So, appropriate pre and postoperative wound care for dirty wounds, especially when external fixators are used, and in patients with poor conditions or addiction should be done with more caution.

Orthopaedic techniques of Sabuncuoğlu in the 15th century Ottoman period.

PubMed

Sarban, Sezgin; Aksoy, Sahin; Uzel, Ilter; Işikan, Uğur E; Atik, Sahap

2005-10-01

Serefeddin Sabuncuoğlu (1385-1468) was the author of the surgical textbook Cerrahiyyetü'l-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery). It was the first illustrated surgical textbook in the Turkish-Islamic medical literature. Cerrahiyyetü'l-Haniyye is significant because it includes Sabuncuoğlu's color illustrations of surgical procedures, incisions, fracture dislocation reduction techniques, and instruments. There are only three handwritten copies. Two originally were written by Sabuncuoğlu and are exhibited in Paris and Istanbul. The book was rediscovered in 1936, but some parts are suspected to be missing. The book currently consists of three chapters divided into 193 sections. The third chapter includes orthopaedics and traumatology, reduction techniques of lower and upper extremities, fractures and dislocations, and relevant Greek, Arabic, and Persian textbooks are cited. Sabuncuoğlu also wrote about surgical treatment of congenital hand anomalies. He was the first to advise placing a wooden splint under the palmar side after hand surgery. We reviewed the sections of Cerrahiyyetü'l-Haniyye related to orthopaedics and traumatology. Compared with previous writings by Hippocrates, Ibn-i Sina, and Al-Zahrawi, there are no major differences in the treatment of fracture dislocations.

The Banana Fruit SINA Ubiquitin Ligase MaSINA1 Regulates the Stability of MaICE1 to be Negatively Involved in Cold Stress Response.

PubMed

Fan, Zhong-Qi; Chen, Jian-Ye; Kuang, Jian-Fei; Lu, Wang-Jin; Shan, Wei

2017-01-01

The regulation of ICE1 protein stability is important to ensure effective cold stress response, and is extensively studied in Arabidopsis . Currently, how ICE1 stability in fruits under cold stress is controlled remains largely unknown. Here, we reported the possible involvement of a SEVEN IN ABSENTIA (SINA) ubiquitin ligase MaSINA1 from banana fruit in affecting MaICE1 stability. MaSINA1 was identified based on a yeast two-hybrid screening using MaICE1 as bait. Further yeast two-hybrid, pull-down, bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and co-immunoprecipitation (CoIP) assays confirmed that MaSINA1 interacted with MaICE1. The expression of MaSINA1 was repressed by cold stress. Subcellular localization analysis in tobacco leaves showed that MaSINA1 was localized predominantly in the nucleus. In vitro ubiquitination assay showed that MaSINA1 possessed E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. More importantly, in vitro and semi- in vivo experiments indicated that MaSINA1 can ubiquitinate MaICE1 for the 26S proteasome-dependent degradation, and therefore suppressed the transcriptional activation of MaICE1 to MaNAC1, an important regulator of cold stress response of banana fruit. Collectively, our data reveal a mechanism in banana fruit for control of the stability of ICE1 and for the negative regulation of cold stress response by a SINA E3 ligase via the ubiquitin proteasome system.

The early history of glaucoma: the glaucous eye (800 BC to 1050 AD)

PubMed Central

Leffler, Christopher T; Schwartz, Stephen G; Hadi, Tamer M; Salman, Ali; Vasuki, Vivek

2015-01-01

To the ancient Greeks, glaukos occasionally described diseased eyes, but more typically described healthy irides, which were glaucous (light blue, gray, or green). During the Hippocratic period, a pathologic glaukos pupil indicated a media opacity that was not dark. Although not emphasized by present-day ophthalmologists, the pupil in acute angle closure may appear somewhat green, as the mid-dilated pupil exposes the cataractous lens. The ancient Greeks would probably have described a (normal) green iris or (diseased) green pupil as glaukos. During the early Common Era, eye pain, a glaucous hue, pupil irregularities, and absence of light perception indicated a poor prognosis with couching. Galen associated the glaucous hue with a large, anterior, or hard crystalline lens. Medieval Arabic authors translated glaukos as zarqaa, which also commonly described light irides. Ibn Sina (otherwise known as Avicenna) wrote that the zarqaa hue could occur due to anterior prominence of the lens and could occur in an acquired manner. The disease defined by the glaucous pupil in antiquity is ultimately indeterminate, as the complete syndrome of acute angle closure was not described. Nonetheless, it is intriguing that the glaucous pupil connoted a poor prognosis, and came to be associated with a large, anterior, or hard crystalline lens. PMID:25673972

Analysis of the drug formulary and the purchasing process at a Moroccan university medical center.

PubMed

Lachhab, Z; Serragui, S; Hassar, M; Cherrah, Y; Errougani, A; Ahid, S

2018-05-31

To give an overview of the pharmaceutical policy in the largest medical center in Morocco, a developing country in socio-economic transition. This is an analytical descriptive study of the drug formulary and the purchasing process carried out at the Ibn Sina University Medical Center. Our formulary included 830 drugs belonging to 14 classes according to the Anatomical, Therapeutic and Chemical (ATC) Classification System. There was a respective predominance of class N (21.8%), class B (13.5%), and class J (12.6%). Injectable route was dominant (46%). Drugs had a significant actual benefit in 70% (according to the French Data), reimbursable in 42.8%, essential in 29.2% according to World Health Organization (WHO) list, and in 36.9% according to the Moroccan list. The calls for tenders included 542 drugs representing 65% of the formulary, and the attribution rate was 71%. The main reason for non-attribution was the lack of offers. Generics accounted for 45% by volume and 26.5% by value. With this first study, we were able to identify key indicators on drugs used in the largest medical center in Morocco. The current challenge is to introduce pharmacoeconomics in decision making concerning the updates of the drug formulary.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Belmir, R; Fejjal, N; El Omari, M; El Mazouz, S; Gharib, N; Abassi, A; Belmahi, A

2008-09-30

Les accidents électriques par haute tension (AEHT) provoquent des brûlures profondes par effet Joule le long des axes vasculo-nerveux entre les points d'entrée et de sortie, qui sont le siège de lésions délabrantes. Les Auteurs rapportent une série de dix cas d'AEHT admis au service de chirurgie réparatrice et de brûlés de l'Hôpital Ibn Sina de Rabat à travers laquelle ils étudient les caractéristiques épidémiologiques, cliniques et thérapeutiques. Tous les patients étaient des adultes de sexe masculin dont l'âge moyen était de 31 ans. Dans 70% des cas, ces brûlures étaient secondaires à un contact avec les distributeurs d'électricité avec une surface brûlée inférieure à 20%. Le traitement des lésions électrothermiques a nécessité des interventions itératives avec amputation des segments de membres nécrosés dans 70% des cas, dont les suites étaient marquées par des séquelles fonctionnelles invalidantes. La prévention des AEHT, en particulier pour les accidents du travail au sein des professions exposées, reste fondamentale.

The ubiquitin ligase SEVEN IN ABSENTIA (SINA) ubiquitinates a defense-related NAC transcription factor and is involved in defense signaling.

PubMed

Miao, Min; Niu, Xiangli; Kud, Joanna; Du, Xinran; Avila, Julian; Devarenne, Timothy P; Kuhl, Joseph C; Liu, Yongsheng; Xiao, Fangming

2016-07-01

We recently identified a defense-related tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) NAC (NAM, ATAF1,2, CUC2) transcription factor, NAC1, that is subjected to ubiquitin-proteasome system-dependent degradation in plant cells. In this study, we identified a tomato ubiquitin ligase (termed SEVEN IN ABSENTIA3; SINA3) that ubiquitinates NAC1, promoting its degradation. We conducted coimmunoprecipitation and bimolecular fluorescence complementation to determine that SINA3 specifically interacts with the NAC1 transcription factor in the nucleus. Moreover, we found that SINA3 ubiquitinates NAC1 in vitro and promotes NAC1 degradation via polyubiquitination in vivo, indicating that SINA3 is a ubiquitin ligase that ubiquitinates NAC1, promoting its degradation. Our real-time PCR analysis indicated that, in contrast to our previous finding that NAC1 mRNA abundance increases upon Pseudomonas infection, the SINA3 mRNA abundance decreases in response to Pseudomonas infection. Moreover, using Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression, we found that overexpression of SINA3 interferes with the hypersensitive response cell death triggered by multiple plant resistance proteins. These results suggest that SINA3 ubiquitinates a defense-related NAC transcription factor for degradation and plays a negative role in defense signaling. © 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust.

Novel Rhenium(III, IV, and V) Tetradentate N2O2 Schiff Base Mononuclear and Dinuclear Complexes

PubMed Central

Rotsch, David A.; Reinig, Kimberly M.; Weis, Eric M.; Taylor, Anna B.; Barnes, Charles L.

2013-01-01

Reaction of (Bu4N)[ReOCl4] with the tetradentate Schiff base ligand α, α’-[(1,1-dimethylethylene)dinitrilo]di-o-cresol (sal2ibnH2) yields cis-[ReVOCl(sal2ibn)], which quickly forms trans-[μ-O(ReVO(sal2ibn))2] in solution. The dinuclear complex can also be isolated by the addition of base (Et3N) to the reaction mixture. Conversely, the mononuclear complex can be trapped as cis-[ReVO(NCS)(sal2ibn)] by addition of (Bu4N)SCN to the reaction mixture. Reduction of cis-[ReVO(NCS)sal2ibn] with triphenylphosphine gives the unique trans-[ReIII(NCS)(PPh3)(sal2ibn)] and rare μ-oxo Re(IV) dimer trans-[μ-O(ReIV(NCS)(sal2ibn))2]. All of the complexes were characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), cyclic voltammetry and single crystal X-ray diffraction. PMID:23824208

SINA: A test system for proximity fuses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruizenaar, M. G. A.

1989-04-01

SINA, a signal generator that can be used for testing proximity fuses, is described. The circuitry of proximity fuses is presented; the output signal of the RF circuit results from a mixing of the emitted signal and received signal that is Doppler shifted in frequency by the relative motion of the fuse with respect to the reflecting target of surface. With SINA, digitized and stored target and clutter signals (previously measured) can be transformed to Doppler signals, for example during a real flight. SINA can be used for testing fuse circuitry, for example in the verification of results of computer simulations of the low frequency Doppler signal processing. The software of SINA and its use are explained.

Ab initio investigation on the valence and dipole-bound states of CNa - and SiNa -

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalcher, Josef; Sax, Alexander F.

2000-08-01

CNa - and SiNa - have been studied by the CAS-ACPF method. The 3Σ- ground states have binding energies of 5420 and 7517 cm -1, respectively. The 5Σ- excited states are 494 and 1551 cm -1 above the respective ground states. The 1Δ , 3Π , and 1Π valence-excited states for SiNa - should be at least metastable. CNa - and SiNa - possess dipole-bound 5Σ- and 3Σ- states. Binding energies of these states in CNa - are 217 and 236 cm -1, respectively. SiNa - has two stable 5Σ- dipole-bound states, whose binding energies are 246 and 118 cm -1, respectively.

Determination of antibiotics consumption in buali-sina pediatric hospital, sari 2010-2011.

PubMed

Salehifar, Ebrahim; Nasehi, Mohammadmehdi; Eslami, Gohar; Sahraei, Sima; Alizadeh Navaei, Reza

2014-01-01

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a major health-care problem worldwide. WHO recommends DID (daily defined dose per 100 Inhabitant per day) as a standard tool for measurement of antibiotic consumption. Since there was not any information regarding the antibiotics usage pattern in the north of Iran, the aim of this study was determine this in our centre. This cross-sectional study was performed in Buali Sina hospital. Using the health information system (HIS) database, records of patients hospitalized during 22 Sep 2010 - 21 Sep 2011. Data of different wards including Neonatal, NICU, PICU, Pediatrics and Pediatric surgery were separately extracted and analyzed. Drug consumption data were expressed as DID. SPSS 16 software was used for statistical analysis. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the quantitative variables. A total of 4619 in-patients records during 1 year of study including 2494 patients in fall and winter and 2125 patients in spring and summer were evaluated. The most hospitalized patients were in Pediatric ward (43.9 %). The highest DID value were obtained for ceftriaxone (21.7), ampicillin (6.05) and vancomycin (4.7), while the lowest value was for gentamicin (0.01). In both cold and warm seasons, Ceftriaxone was the most frequent prescribed antibiotic. The rate of antibiotics consumption especially Ceftriaxone in our setting was significantly higher than the other centers. Strategies for more justified administration of antibiotics especially broad -spectrum ones are necessary.

Genome-wide analysis of SINA family in plants and their phylogenetic relationships.

PubMed

Wang, Meng; Jin, Ying; Fu, Junjie; Zhu, Yun; Zheng, Jun; Hu, Jian; Wang, Guoying

2008-06-01

SINA genes in plants are part of a multigene family with 5 members in Arabidopsis thaliana, 10 members in Populus trichocarpa, 6 members in Oryza sativa, at least 6 members in Zea mays and at least 1 member in Physcomitrella patens. Six members in maize were confirmed by RT-PCR. All SINAs have one RING domain and one SINA domain. These two domains are highly conserved in plants. According to the motif organization and phylogenetic tree, SINA family members were divided into 2 groups. In addition, through semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of maize members and Digital Northern analysis of Arabidopsis and rice members, we found that the tissue expression patterns are more diverse in monocot than in Arabidopsis.

The United States and Saudi Arabia: A Special Relationship; Its Birth, Evolution and Reapportionment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-01

state begins in its most concise form in 1932. On September 18 of that year, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud assumed the title of king and proclaimed his domain...dawn raid with less than fifty men, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (commonly known in the West as Ibn Saud) reconquered Riyadh from the Rashids. Thus began the...period of consolidation, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud declared his realm on September 18, 1932, to be called the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Those foundations of

Ibn al-Haytham (965-1039 AD), the original portrayal of the modern theory of vision.

PubMed

Daneshfard, Babak; Dalfardi, Behnam; Nezhad, Golnoush Sadat Mahmoudi

2016-05-01

Abū ՙAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, known in the West as Alhazen, was an Arab-Islamic scholar who helped develop the science of ophthalmology during the medieval era. He was the first to reject firmly the extramission theory of vision, which was prevalent during his time, and suggested that the eyes are the source of the light rays responsible for vision. Ibn al-Haytham in his book entitled Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) explained vision based on light emanating from objects. In this study we review Ibn al-Haytham's life and introduce his major contribution to the field of ophthalmology, his theory of vision. © IMechE 2014.

Les Brulures Electriques par Haut Voltage - A Propos de 10 Cas

PubMed Central

Belmir, R.; Fejjal, N.; El Omari, M.; El Mazouz, S.; Gharib, N.; Abassi, A.; Belmahi, A.

2008-01-01

Summary Les accidents électriques par haute tension (AEHT) provoquent des brûlures profondes par effet Joule le long des axes vasculo-nerveux entre les points d'entrée et de sortie, qui sont le siège de lésions délabrantes. Les Auteurs rapportent une série de dix cas d'AEHT admis au service de chirurgie réparatrice et de brûlés de l'Hôpital Ibn Sina de Rabat à travers laquelle ils étudient les caractéristiques épidémiologiques, cliniques et thérapeutiques. Tous les patients étaient des adultes de sexe masculin dont l'âge moyen était de 31 ans. Dans 70% des cas, ces brûlures étaient secondaires à un contact avec les distributeurs d'électricité avec une surface brûlée inférieure à 20%. Le traitement des lésions électrothermiques a nécessité des interventions itératives avec amputation des segments de membres nécrosés dans 70% des cas, dont les suites étaient marquées par des séquelles fonctionnelles invalidantes. La prévention des AEHT, en particulier pour les accidents du travail au sein des professions exposées, reste fondamentale. PMID:21991124

Lambeaux autofermants pour le traitement des brulures electriques du scalp par haut voltage

PubMed Central

Hafidi, J.; El Mazouz, S.; El Mejatti, H.; Fejjal, N.; Gharib, N.E.; Abbassi, A.; Belmahi, A.M.

2011-01-01

Summary Les brûlures électriques par haut voltage sont responsables de gros dégâts tissulaires en immédiat et dans les jours suivant l’accident du fait de la chaleur importante dégagée par effet joule et de la thrombose microvasculaire évolutive. Les pertes de substances du scalp secondaires à ces brûlures nécessitent une couverture par lambeaux vu la destruction du périoste et du calvarium en regard. De juin 1997 à juin 2008, 15 patients ont été traités pour des pertes de substance du scalp secondaires à des brûlures électriques par haut voltage de diamètre allant de 8 à 11 cm et siégeant dans la région tonsurale. Ces patients ont été opérés dans la première semaine suivant l’accident. Les pertes de substance du scalp de taille moyenne secondaires à ces brûlures peuvent être couvertes per primam de façon fiable par des lambeaux locaux axialisés et multiples. Nous relatons l’expérience du Service de Chirurgie Plastique du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn-Sina, Rabat, Maroc, dans la gestion et la prise en charge de ces brûlures. PMID:22262963

Ibn Battuta Mall: Edutaining the World?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chae Ho

2010-01-01

Nakheel, a Dubai World Company has created the world's largest themed mall based on the narrative of Ibn Battuta, a 14th century Muslim explorer whose world travels are well documented. The Ibn Battuta Mall is located in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and utilizes a communication strategy called edutainment: a neologistic…

Knowledge Theory in Ibn Rushd Literature and Reflection Thereof on Its Educational Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Rsa'i, Mohammed

2018-01-01

This study aims to examine Ibn Rushd perceptions in terms of Knowledge and reflection thereof on his educational philosophy. This study reached at a conclusion that Ibn Rushd partaking had its important role in framing the Knowledge theory and maintain it away from deviations and in the same time originated much jurisprudences starting from…

A Smartphone App to Assist Scalp Localization of Superficial Supratentorial Lesions--Technical Note.

PubMed

Eftekhar, Behzad

2016-01-01

Neuronavigation is an established technology in neurosurgery. In parts of the world and certain circumstances in which neuronavigation is not easily available or affordable, alternative techniques may be considered. An app to assist scalp localization of superficial supratentorial lesions has been introduced, and its accuracy has been compared with established neuronavigation systems. Sina is a simple smartphone app that overlaps the transparent patients' computed tomography/magnetic resonance images on the background camera. How to use Sina intraoperatively is described. The app was used for scalp localization of the center of the lesions in 11 patients with supratentorial pathologies <3 cm in longest diameter and <2 cm from the cortex. After localization of the lesion using Sina, the center of the lesion was marked on the scalp using standard neuronavigation systems and the deviations were measured. Implementation of Sina for intraoperative scalp localization is simple and practical. The center of the lesions localized by Sina was 10.2 ± 2 mm different from localization done by standard neuronavigation systems. When neuronavigation is not easily available or affordable, Sina can be helpful for scalp localization and preoperative planning of the incision for selected supratentorial pathologies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Epidémiologie et facteurs de risque des complications respiratoires majeures après chirurgie de l'aorte abdominale au CHU Ibn Sina, Maroc

PubMed Central

Awab, Almahdi; Elahmadi, Brahim; Lamkinsi, Tarik; El Moussaoui, Rachid; El Hijri, Ahmed; Azzouzi, Abderrahim; Alilou, Mustapha

2013-01-01

Introduction L'incidence des complications respiratoires postopératoires (CRPO) reste très diversement appréciées selon les critères diagnostiques retenues dans les différentes études, ce qui la fait varier de 5 à plus de 50%. Les CRPO majeurs après chirurgie de l'aorte abdominale sont responsables d'une grande morbi-mortalité pouvant aller jusqu’à 36%, d'une durée d'hospitalisation et d'un coût plus importants. Ainsi dans l'optique d'améliorer notre prise en charge périopératoire de la chirurgie de l'aorte, nous avons décidé de mener une étude pour dresser le profil épidémiologique et déterminer les facteurs de risque des complications respiratoires dans notre contexte Méthodes Il s'agit d'une étude de cohorte rétrospective du mois de Janvier 2007 au mois de décembre 2011 portant sur l'ensemble des patients opérés pour pathologie aortique au bloc opératoire central de l'hôpital Ibn Sina de Rabat, Maroc. Résultats Cent vingt cinq patients ont été inclus dans notre étude, 24 patients ont été opérés pour anévrysme de l'aorte abdominale et 101 patients pour lésion occlusive aortoiliaque. Dans notre série 22 malades soit 17,6% ont présenté une complication respiratoire majeure avec, une reventilation dans 4,8% des cas, une difficulté de sevrage de la ventilation artificielle dans 3,2% des cas, une pneumopathie dans 4% des cas, un syndrome de détresse respiratoire aigue (SDRA) dans 4% des cas et une nécessité de fibroaspiration bronchique dans 1,6% des cas. En analyse univariée: l’âge, la présence d'une BPCO avec dyspnée stade 3 ou 4, la présence d'une anomalie à l'EFR préopératoire, la présence d'un stade avancé (III ou IV) de LOAI et la reprise chirurgicale étaient statistiquement associés à la survenue d'une complication respiratoire postopératoire. En analyse multivariée, seule une anomalie à l'EFR en préopératoire constituait un facteur de risque indépendant de survenue d'une complication respiratoire postopératoire dans notre série avec un Odds Ratio (OR): 11,5; un Intervalle de Confiance (IC) à 95% de (1,6 - 85,2) et un p = 0,016. Conclusion Au terme de notre étude, il nous parait donc nécessaire pour diminuer l'incidence des CRPO majeurs dans notre population, d'agir sur les facteurs que nous jugeons modifiables tel l'amélioration de l’état respiratoire basal moyennant une préparation respiratoire préopératoire, s'intégrant dans un véritable programme de réhabilitation et associant une rééducation à l'effort, une kinésithérapie incitative ainsi qu'une optimisation des thérapeutiques habituelles. PMID:23504435

On Burst Detection and Prediction in Retweeting Sequence

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-22

We conduct a comprehensive empirical analysis of a large microblogging dataset collected from the Sina Weibo and report our observations of burst...whether and how accurate we can predict bursts using classifiers based on the extracted features. Our empirical study of the Sina Weibo data shows the...feasibility of burst prediction using appropriately extracted features and classic classifiers. 1 Introduction Microblogging, such as Twitter and Sina

Phylogenetic analysis of the SINA/SIAH ubiquitin E3 ligase family in Metazoa.

PubMed

Pepper, Ian J; Van Sciver, Robert E; Tang, Amy H

2017-08-07

The RAS signaling pathway is a pivotal developmental pathway that controls many fundamental biological processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, movement and apoptosis. Drosophila Seven-IN-Absentia (SINA) is a ubiquitin E3 ligase that is the most downstream signaling "gatekeeper" whose biological activity is essential for proper RAS signal transduction. Vertebrate SINA homologs (SIAHs) share a high degree of amino acid identity with that of Drosophila SINA. SINA/SIAH is the most conserved signaling component in the canonical EGFR/RAS/RAF/MAPK signal transduction pathway. Vertebrate SIAH1, 2, and 3 are the three orthologs to invertebrate SINA protein. SINA and SIAH1 orthologs are found in all major taxa of metazoans. These proteins have four conserved functional domains, known as RING (Really Interesting New Gene), SZF (SIAH-type zinc finger), SBS (substrate binding site) and DIMER (Dimerization). In addition to the siah1 gene, most vertebrates encode two additional siah genes (siah2 and siah3) in their genomes. Vertebrate SIAH2 has a highly divergent and extended N-terminal sequence, while its RING, SZF, SBS and DIMER domains maintain high amino acid identity/similarity to that of SIAH1. But unlike vertebrate SIAH1 and SIAH2, SIAH3 lacks a functional RING domain, suggesting that SIAH3 may be an inactive E3 ligase. The SIAH3 subtree exhibits a high degree of amino acid divergence when compared to the SIAH1 and SIAH2 subtrees. We find that SIAH1 and SIAH2 are expressed in all human epithelial cell lines examined thus far, while SIAH3 is only expressed in a limited subset of cancer cell lines. Through phylogenetic analyses of metazoan SINA and SIAH E3 ligases, we identified many invariant and divergent amino acid residues, as well as the evolutionarily conserved functional motifs in this medically relevant gene family. Our phylomedicinal study of this unique metazoan SINA/SIAH protein family has provided invaluable evolution-based support towards future effort to design logical, potent, and durable anti-SIAH-based anticancer strategies against oncogenic K-RAS-driven metastatic human cancers. Thus, this method of evolutionary study should be of interest in cancer biology.

Relevance of some of the theories of Ibn Khaldoun in his "Al Muqaddimah" to contemporary medicine. A personal interpretation.

PubMed

Al-Khader, Abdulla A

2002-11-01

The subjects in this paper include Ibn Khaldoun's thoughts on writing, and their implications on today's medical writing. This paper discusses why people write, plagiarism, "Original" and "Copied' writings and where history writing goes wrong and how this can be applied to Medical writing today. The paper also discusses the nature of Science and Knowledge as viewed by Ibn Khaldoun, the anatomy of intelligence, types of thought processes, and effects of environment and craftsmanship on intellect. Ibn Khaldoun's definition of the "Medical" profession and its social standing is discussed as well as his emphasis of the importance of exercise, diet and climate on healthy living. Ibn Khaldoun has clear and advanced concepts on education and methodology of education. He emphasizes 3 stages of coaching, and the importance of travel in consolidating and clarifying knowledge attainment. He abhors coercion as a method of educating the young. Developing the interest of the pupil in the art he is studying, is thought by Ibn Khaldoun to be the central theme of good education. Relevance of all this to contemporary medical education is discussed. Ibn Khaldoun has fascinating ahead-of-time views on the influence of peer pressure and what is now known as "Emotional Intelligence" and he rejects the idea that intelligence is ethnically determined. Instead, he emphasizes the environmental, social and craftsmanship influence on human behavior. He stresses that the method of education has a lot to do with the "apparent" intelligence or "stupidity" of pupils.

Ibn Battuta: A View of the Fourteenth-Century World. A Unit of Study for Grades 7-10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arno, Joan; Grady, Helen

The adventures of Ibn Battuta, the Muslim world traveler, provide a mechanism for teaching about the early 14th century. The study of Ibn Battuta helps students to understand what is known about the past and how it is known, in terms of both history and historiography. The unit can be presented in connection with such commonly taught topics as…

Microblogging violent attacks on medical staff in China: a case study of the Longmen County People's Hospital incident.

PubMed

Tian, Jia; Du, Li

2017-05-19

A violent attack on medical staff in Guangdong Province, in which a female doctor at Longmen County People's Hospital (LCPH) was severely injured by a knife-wielding patient, has drawn significant public attention to the phenomenon of hospital violence and initiated discussions on how to resolve violence in hospitals. Social networking sites, such as Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, have played a role in this public debate. The incident at LCPH provides an opportunity to examine how Weibo has been used in the debate about violence against medical staff in China. Using the Sina Weibo's built-in search tool, we established a dataset of 661 Chinese-language micro-blogs containing the search terms: Longmen ("), doctor ("), and slash (") that were posted between July 15, 2015, the date of the violent incident at LCPH, and August 15, 2015. We performed a content analysis of the micro-blogs to examine: users' demographics, attitudes toward the injured doctor and the attacker, possible reasons for the hospital violence, and proposed measures for preventing doctors from violent incidents. 73.2% of the micro-blogs were sent by individual Weibo users, and 26.8% were posted by organizations. For individual users, around 10.0% described themselves as either doctors or healthcare providers, but users from the legal profession were rarely identified. Moreover, only 3 micro-blogs proposed concrete strategies for preventing hospital violence, and nearly 10.0% of micro-blogs expressed regrets about entering a medical career and attempts to quit medical positions. In general 56.3% of micro-blogs showed sympathy for the injured doctor, while less than 25.0% of micro-blogs explicitly condemned the attacker's behavior. Weibo users played a role in distributing news information about the violent incident at LCPH; however, the legal perspective is inadequately discussed in the debate, and discussion of constructive measures for protecting doctors and preventing hospital violence was rare. Our research suggests that critical challenges for the Chinese health care system will remain or become worse if no effective measures are implemented to prevent hospital violence.

Prevalence of resistance to antibiotics according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) in Boo Ali Sina Hospital of Sari, 2011-2012.

PubMed

Afshar, Parvaneh; Saravi, Benyamin Mohseni; Nehmati, Ebrahim; Farahabbadi, Ebrahim Bagherian; Yazdanian, Azadeh; Siamian, Hasan; Vahedi, Mohammad

2013-01-01

One of the issues in health care delivery system is resistance to antibiotics. Many researches were done to show the causes and antibiotics which was resistance. In most researches the methods of classifying and reporting this resistance were made by researcher, so in this research we examined the International Classification of Diseases 10 the edition (ICD-10). This is a descriptive cross section study; data was collected from laboratory of Boo Ali Sina hospital, during 2011-2012. The check list was designed according the aim of study. Variables were age, bacterial agent, specimen, and antibiotics. The bacteria and resistance were classified with ICD-10. The data were analyzed with SPSS (16) soft ware and the descriptive statistics. Results showed that of the 10198 request for culture and antibiogram, there were 1020(10%) resistance. The specimen were 648 (63.5%) urine, blood 127(12.5%), other secretion 125 (12/3%), sputum 102 (10%), lumbar puncture 8 (0/8%), stool 6 (6/0%) and bone marrow 4 (0.4%). The E coli was the most 413 (40.5%) resistance cause to antibiotics which was coded with B96.2 and the most resistance was to multiple antibiotics 885(86.8%) with the U88 code. The results showed that by using the ICD-10 codes, the study of multiple causes and resistance is possible. The routine usage of coding of the ICD-10 would result to an up to date bank of resistance to antibiotics in every hospitals and useful for physicians, other health care, and health administrations.

[Al-Biruni--a universal scientist].

PubMed

Kujundzić, E; Masić, I

1999-01-01

Al-Biruni's was of Persian descent. He was born in Horesmiya and had studied mathematics, history and medicine. Acquiring knowledge from these sciences, he wrote an outstanding work on chronology of several nations and devoted it to Ziyarit ruler Kabus. He made a chronological overview of calendars from many nations, including Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Jews, Melkitian and Nestorian Christians, Sabeyaans as well as the old Arabs. Data presented in the work, according to the later authors, were taken from very reliable sources. He was contemporary of Ibn-Sina, and thanks to their friendship, they have discussed very much miscellaneous topics. He belonged to the group of scholars, taken by Gaznevian Soultan Mahmud to a long journey to India. Afterwards Al-Biruni wrote and published detailed work "Description of India"--a work on cultural history of India. Due to excellent abilities of Al-Biruni as a philosopher and scholar, there are still significant and reliable notes about buddhistic philosophy, structure of castes and Brahmans' life style. In this Al-Biruni's masterpiece, there are many comparative analysis of Suffism and certain Indian philosophical methods. Al-Biruni's most important work is "Pharmacopoeia"--"Kitab al-saydala", which brilliantly describes all medicaments. This work has been published in many languages. He also wrote few works on astronomy and astrology. In those works he has explained some astrological events through scientific approach in a such peculiar way that nobody has ever explained before. He was also interested in sciences like geology, mineralology, geography, mathematics, psychology and many others.

Type Ibn Supernovae Show Photometric Homogeneity and Spectral Diversity at Maximum Light

DOE PAGES

Hosseinzadeh, Griffin; Arcavi, Iair; Valenti, Stefano; ...

2017-02-16

Type Ibn supernovae (SNe) are a small yet intriguing class of explosions whose spectra are characterized by low-velocity helium emission lines with little to no evidence for hydrogen. The prevailing theory has been that these are the core-collapse explosions of very massive stars embedded in helium-rich circumstellar material (CSM). We report optical observations of six new SNe Ibn: PTF11rfh, PTF12ldy, iPTF14aki, iPTF15ul, SN 2015G, and iPTF15akq. This brings the sample size of such objects in the literature to 22. We also report new data, including a near-infrared spectrum, on the Type Ibn SN 2015U. In order to characterize the classmore » as a whole, we analyze the photometric and spectroscopic properties of the full Type Ibn sample. Here, we find that, despite the expectation that CSM interaction would generate a heterogeneous set of light curves, as seen in SNe IIn, most Type Ibn light curves are quite similar in shape, declining at rates around 0.1 mag day -1 during the first month after maximum light, with a few significant exceptions. Early spectra of SNe Ibn come in at least two varieties, one that shows narrow P Cygni lines and another dominated by broader emission lines, both around maximum light, which may be an indication of differences in the state of the progenitor system at the time of explosion. Alternatively, the spectral diversity could arise from viewing-angle effects or merely from a lack of early spectroscopic coverage. Finally, together, the relative light curve homogeneity and narrow spectral features suggest that the CSM consists of a spatially confined shell of helium surrounded by a less dense extended wind.« less

Type Ibn Supernovae Show Photometric Homogeneity and Spectral Diversity at Maximum Light

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hosseinzadeh, Griffin; Arcavi, Iair; McCully, Curtis

2017-02-20

Type Ibn supernovae (SNe) are a small yet intriguing class of explosions whose spectra are characterized by low-velocity helium emission lines with little to no evidence for hydrogen. The prevailing theory has been that these are the core-collapse explosions of very massive stars embedded in helium-rich circumstellar material (CSM). We report optical observations of six new SNe Ibn: PTF11rfh, PTF12ldy, iPTF14aki, iPTF15ul, SN 2015G, and iPTF15akq. This brings the sample size of such objects in the literature to 22. We also report new data, including a near-infrared spectrum, on the Type Ibn SN 2015U. In order to characterize the classmore » as a whole, we analyze the photometric and spectroscopic properties of the full Type Ibn sample. We find that, despite the expectation that CSM interaction would generate a heterogeneous set of light curves, as seen in SNe IIn, most Type Ibn light curves are quite similar in shape, declining at rates around 0.1 mag day{sup −1} during the first month after maximum light, with a few significant exceptions. Early spectra of SNe Ibn come in at least two varieties, one that shows narrow P Cygni lines and another dominated by broader emission lines, both around maximum light, which may be an indication of differences in the state of the progenitor system at the time of explosion. Alternatively, the spectral diversity could arise from viewing-angle effects or merely from a lack of early spectroscopic coverage. Together, the relative light curve homogeneity and narrow spectral features suggest that the CSM consists of a spatially confined shell of helium surrounded by a less dense extended wind.« less

SINA: accurate high-throughput multiple sequence alignment of ribosomal RNA genes.

PubMed

Pruesse, Elmar; Peplies, Jörg; Glöckner, Frank Oliver

2012-07-15

In the analysis of homologous sequences, computation of multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) has become a bottleneck. This is especially troublesome for marker genes like the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) where already millions of sequences are publicly available and individual studies can easily produce hundreds of thousands of new sequences. Methods have been developed to cope with such numbers, but further improvements are needed to meet accuracy requirements. In this study, we present the SILVA Incremental Aligner (SINA) used to align the rRNA gene databases provided by the SILVA ribosomal RNA project. SINA uses a combination of k-mer searching and partial order alignment (POA) to maintain very high alignment accuracy while satisfying high throughput performance demands. SINA was evaluated in comparison with the commonly used high throughput MSA programs PyNAST and mothur. The three BRAliBase III benchmark MSAs could be reproduced with 99.3, 97.6 and 96.1 accuracy. A larger benchmark MSA comprising 38 772 sequences could be reproduced with 98.9 and 99.3% accuracy using reference MSAs comprising 1000 and 5000 sequences. SINA was able to achieve higher accuracy than PyNAST and mothur in all performed benchmarks. Alignment of up to 500 sequences using the latest SILVA SSU/LSU Ref datasets as reference MSA is offered at http://www.arb-silva.de/aligner. This page also links to Linux binaries, user manual and tutorial. SINA is made available under a personal use license.

The Comparison of Biodistribution, Efficacy and Toxicity of Two PEGylated Liposomal Doxorubicin Formulations in Mice Bearing C-26 Colon Carcinoma: a Preclinical Study.

PubMed

Razavi-Azarkhiavi, K; Jafarian, A H; Abnous, K; Razavi, B M; Shirani, K; Zeinali, M; Jaafari, M R; Karimi, G

2016-06-01

Over the past several years, the considerable attention has been progressively given to liposomal formulations of anthracyclines. SinaDoxosome(®) (Exir Nano Sina Company, Iran) is a pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (DOX) which approved by Food and Drug Administration of IRAN for treatment of some types of cancer. The aim of this study was to compare the biodistribution, efficacy, cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity of SinaDoxosome(®) with Caelyx(®) in mice bearing C-26 colon carcinoma. Mice tumor size evaluation during the experimental period (28 days) showed comparable therapeutic efficacy of nano-formulations. The biodistribution studies showed no significant difference in DOX tissue concentration between Caelyx(®) and SinaDoxosome(®). DOX induced-ECG changes were not detected in nano-formulations. No significant alteration was found in biochemical indexes of myocardial injury in mice exposed to nano-formulations in comparison with control mice. The tissue oxidative parameters such as lipid peroxidation, glutathione, catalase and superoxide dismutase was significantly changed as the results of free DOX treatment. However, the oxidative status of Caelyx(®) and SinaDoxosome(®) treated animals did not showed any changes. The experiment also revealed that apoptotic pathway was not activated in the heart of mice exposed to nano-formulations. Although this investigation showed that Caelyx(®) and SinaDoxosome(®) are similar in terms of biodistribution, efficacy and toxicity, appropriate clinical evaluations in patients should be considered. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Dopamine Dysfunction in DYT1 Dystonia

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-07-01

20mM Tris-Cl (pH 7.6), 137 mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween 20, the membranes were incubated overnight at 4°C with rabbit anti-tor- sinA antibody (1:500; Abcam...during the juvenile period to changes in tor- sinA expression or function. Another consideration is the potential compensatory effects of torsinB, which...Buckley AC, Burdette AJ, et al. (2010) Chemical enhancement of tor- sinA function in cell and animal models of torsion dystonia. Dis Model Mech 3: 386–396

Contributions of Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) to the progress of surgery: a study and translations from his book Al-Taisir.

PubMed

Abdel-Halim, Rabie E

2005-09-01

This study of the original Arabic edition of the book Al-Taisir Fil-Mudawat Wal-Tadbeer (Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet) written by the Muslim physician Abu-Marwan Abdel-Malik Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar, 1093-1162 AD) aimed at evaluating his contributions to the progress of surgery and providing English translations of relevant excerpts. Ibn Zuhr s unique experiment performing a tracheotomy on a goat, proved the safety of this operation in humans and represented a further step in the development of the experimental school started by Al-Razi (Rhazes) of Baghdad in the ninth century who is known to have given monkeys doses of mercury to test it as a drug for human use. Ibn Zuhr also performed post mortems on sheep in the course of his clinical research on treatment of ulcerating diseases of the lungs. Same as all his predecessors in the Islamic Era, he stressed the importance of a practical and sound knowledge of anatomy for surgical trainees. Furthermore, Ibn Zuhr insisted on a well supervised and structured training program for the surgeon-to-be, before allowing him to operate independently. He also drew the red lines at which a physician should stop, during his general management of a surgical condition; a step forward in the evolution of general surgery as a specialty of its own. He believed in prophylaxis against urinary stone disease and reported the importance of dietary management for that purpose. Furthermore, Ibn Zuhr enriched surgical and medical knowledge by describing many diseases and treatment innovations not ever described before him.

Ballistic Phosphorene Transistor

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-19

IEEE Electron Devices Letters 35 (7): 795-797, 2014. 2. Yexin Deng, Zhe Luo, Nathan J. Conrad, Han Liu, Yongji Gong, Sina Najmaei, Pulickel M...IEEE Electron Devices Letters 35 (7): 795-797, 2014. 2. Yexin Deng, Zhe Luo, Nathan J. Conrad, Han Liu, Yongji Gong, Sina Najmaei, Pulickel M

SWOT analysis in Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center.

PubMed

Salamati, Payman; ashraf Eghbali, Ali; Zarghampour, Manijeh

2014-01-01

The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and evaluating the internal and external factors, affecting the Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and propose some of related strategies to senior managers. We used a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology. Our study population consisted of personnel (18 individuals) at Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center. Data-collection tools were the group discussions and the questionnaires. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. 18 individuals participated in sessions, consisting of 8 women (44.4%) and 10 men (55.6%). The final scores were 2.45 for internal factors (strength-weakness) and 2.17 for external factors (opportunities-threats). In this study, we proposed 36 strategies (10 weakness-threat strategies, 10 weakness-opportunity strategies, 7 strength-threat strategies, and 9 strength-opportunity strategies). The current status of Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center is threatened weak. We recommend the center to implement the proposed strategies.

Les brulures electriques chez les voleurs de cuivre

PubMed Central

Belmir, R.; Fejjal, N.; Achbouk, H.; El Mazouz, S.; Gharib, N.; Abassi, A.; Belmahi, A.

2011-01-01

Summary Les vols de biens fabriqués avec le cuivre semblent en hausse depuis un certain temps du fait de son prix élevé de revente, ce qui est à l’origine d’une augmentation du nombre d’accidents électriques par haut voltage (AEHV) qui sont graves du fait des brûlures profondes qu’elles provoquent le long des axes vasculo-nerveux. Les Auteurs rapportent une série de neuf cas d’AEHV traités au service de chirurgie plastique et de brûlés de l’Hôpital Ibn Sina de Rabat, Maroc, à travers laquelle ils étudient les caractéristiques épidémiologiques, cliniques et thérapeutiques. La population intéressée était jeune et active. Les brûlures étaient secondaires à un contact avec des câbles à haute tension lors de tentatives de vol par arrachement de conducteurs en cuivre dans les transformateurs dans 67% des cas, et lors de tentatives de coupure de caténaires alimentant les trains électriques sur le réseau ferroviaire dans 33% des cas. Le traitement des lésions électrothermiques a nécessité des interventions itératives avec amputation et désarticulation des segments de membres nécrosés dans 66% des cas, dont les suites étaient marquées par des séquelles fonctionnelles invalidantes. La prévention de ce type d’AEHV reste fondamentale. PMID:22262961

Diagnosis and treatment of cancer in medical textbooks of ancient Iran.

PubMed

Tabatabaei, Seyed Mahmoud; Ali Tabatabaei, Seyed Mohammad

2014-01-01

Research shows that ancient Iranians were among the pioneers of medical science, and are therefore admired and praised by non-Iranian scholars for their efforts and accomplishments in this field. Investigations of medical and historical texts indicate that between the 10(th) and the 18(th) century A.D., ancient Iran experienced a golden age of medicine. Great physicians such as Rhazes, al-Ahwazi, Avicenna and others reviewed the medical textbooks of civilizations such as Greece and India, Theories were scientifically criticized, superstitious beliefs were discarded, valuable innovations were added to pre-existing knowledge and the ultimate achievements were compiled as precious textbooks. Alhawi by Rhazes, Cannon by Avicenna, and Kamil al-Sina'ah by al-Ahwazi are among the works that were treasured by domestic and foreign scientists alike, as well as future generations who continued to appreciate them for centuries. The above-mentioned textbooks discuss diseases and conditions related to neurosurgery, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology, urology, skeletomuscular system and other specialties, as well as cancer and similar subjects. One of the richest texts on the description, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and prognosis of cancer and therapeutic approaches is Alhawi by Mohammad ibn Zakarya al Razi (Rhazes). This article presents a brief summary of Rhazes' views about the definition of cancer, types, signs and symptoms, prevalence, complications, medical care, treatment and even surgical indications and contraindications. Moreover, his opinions are compared against the views of other physicians and theories of modern medicine. It is also recommended to review the medical heritage of Iran and evaluate the proposed treatments based on modern methodologies and scientific approaches.

Discriminating bot accounts based solely on temporal features of microblog behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Junshan; Liu, Ying; Liu, Xiang; Hu, Hanping

2016-05-01

As the largest microblog service in China, Sina Weibo has attracted numerous automated applications (known as bots) due to its popularity and open architecture. We classify the active users from Sina Weibo into human, bot-based and hybrid groups based solely on the study of temporal features of their posting behavior. The anomalous burstiness parameter and time-interval entropy value are exploited to characterize automation. We also reveal different behavior patterns among the three types of users regarding their reposting ratio, daily rhythm and active days. Our findings may help Sina Weibo manage a better community and should be considered for dynamic models of microblog behaviors.

Analyzing user behavior of the micro-blogging website Sina Weibo during hot social events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, Wanqiu; Gao, Haoyu; Yang, Mingmin; Li, Yuan; Ma, Haixin; Qian, Weining; Cao, Zhigang; Yang, Xiaoguang

2014-02-01

The spread and resonance of users’ opinions on Sina Weibo, the most popular micro-blogging website in China, are tremendously influential, having significantly affected the processes of many real-world hot social events. We select 21 hot events that were widely discussed on Sina Weibo in 2011, and do some statistical analyses. Our main findings are that (i) male users are more likely to be involved, (ii) messages that contain pictures and those posted by verified users are more likely to be reposted, while those with URLs are less likely, (iii) the gender factor, for most events, presents no significant difference in reposting likelihood.

Has microblogging changed stock market behavior? Evidence from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Xi; Shen, Dehua; Zhang, Wei

2016-06-01

This paper examines the stock market behavior for a long-lived subset of firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen CSI 300 Index (CSI 300 Index) both before and after the establishment of firms' Microblogging in Sina Weibo. The empirical results show a significant increase in the relative trading volume as well as the decreases in the daily expected stock return and firm-level volatility in the post-Sina Weibo period. These findings suggest that Sina Weibo as an alternative information interaction channel has changed the information environment for individual stock, enhanced the speed of information diffusion and therefore changed the overall stock market behavior.

Thermal Cycle Annealing and its Application to Arsenic-Ion Implanted HgCdTe

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-26

Rao Mulpuri Sina Simingalam, Priyalal Wijewarnasuriya, Mulpuri V. Rao 1720BH c. THIS PAGE The public reporting burden for this collection of...Implanted HgCdTe Sina Simingalama,b,c, Priyalal Wijewarnasuriyab, Mulpuri V. Raoc a. School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences, George

Electrical Transport Properties of Polycrystalline Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-14

Lou, Sina Najmaei, Matin Amani, Matthew L. Chin, Zheng Se. TASK NUMBER Liu Sf. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAMES AND ADDRESSES 8...Transport Properties of Polycrystalline Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide Sina Najmaei,t.§ Matin Ama ni,M Matthew L. Chin,* Zhe ng liu/ ·"·v: A. Gle n

Ibn al-Haytham: An Answer to Multicultural Science Teaching?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bettany, Laurence

1995-01-01

Describes the major contributions to optics of Ibn al-Haytham, prolific Arab scientist. Recent partial translation of his "Book of Optics" enables an accounting of his work and provides the opportunity to connect this historical personage and his contributions to the current debates on multicultural science teaching. Contains 18 references. (DDR)

Ibn nafis - a forgotten genius in the discovery of pulmonary blood circulation.

PubMed

Akmal, M; Zulkifle, M; Ansari, Ah

2010-03-01

Scientific theories take centuries to come into existence and they keep on evolving. Uncountable intellectual minds work on these theories; some fail to do anything about it; some add a little after tremendous efforts, and some people give remarkable and unforgettable contribution.As far as credit is concerned, the person who is able to prove the theory by his facts and who clears the maximum doubts by his observations, experimentations, facts and reasoning, gets the credit for that theory, and this should be done with honesty.The theory of pulmonary circulation took more than 2000 years to come into existence as we know it today. With the passage of time different people were given credit. Some say that it was given to Galen; some say it was Michael Servetus; others say that Realdus Columbus was the real discoverer; some gave the credit to Ibn Nafis, and finally people gave the credit to William Harvey. But after the rediscovery of Ibn Nafis' manuscript no.62243 titled Sharah al Tashreeh al Qanoon, or "Commentary on the anatomy of Canon of Avicenna" in 1924 AD in Europe, it became clear that Ibn Nafis had described the pulmonary circulation almost 300 years before Harvey, and the historians like Aldo Mieli, Max Mayrhoff, Edward Coppola etc. clearly state that Ibn Nafis is the real discoverer of the pulmonary circulation and that he should be given the credit for the discovery of the pulmonary circulation.

Modeling of Causes of Sina Weibo Continuance Intention with Mediation of Gender Effects

PubMed Central

Wang, Lingyu; Zhao, Wenguo; Sun, Xianghong; Zheng, Rui; Qu, Weina

2016-01-01

Sina Weibo is a Twitter-like social networking site and one of the most popular microblogging services in China. This study aims to examine the factors that influence the intentions of users to continue using this site. This paper synthesizes the expectation confirmation model, constructs of habit and perceived critical mass, and the gender effect to construct a theoretical model to explain and predict these user intentions. The model is then tested via an online survey of 498 Sina Weibo users and partial least squares (PLS) modeling. The results indicate that the continuance intention of users is directly predicted by their perceived usefulness of the service (β = 0.299), their satisfaction (β = 0.208), and their habits (β = 0.389), which jointly explain 65.9% of the variance in intention. In addition to the effects of these predictors on the continuance intentions of Sina Weibo users, an assessment of the moderating effect of gender suggests that habit plays a more important role for females than for males in continuance intention, but perceived usefulness seems to be more important for males than for females. The implications of these findings are then discussed. PMID:27199850

Modeling of Causes of Sina Weibo Continuance Intention with Mediation of Gender Effects.

PubMed

Wang, Lingyu; Zhao, Wenguo; Sun, Xianghong; Zheng, Rui; Qu, Weina

2016-01-01

Sina Weibo is a Twitter-like social networking site and one of the most popular microblogging services in China. This study aims to examine the factors that influence the intentions of users to continue using this site. This paper synthesizes the expectation confirmation model, constructs of habit and perceived critical mass, and the gender effect to construct a theoretical model to explain and predict these user intentions. The model is then tested via an online survey of 498 Sina Weibo users and partial least squares (PLS) modeling. The results indicate that the continuance intention of users is directly predicted by their perceived usefulness of the service (β = 0.299), their satisfaction (β = 0.208), and their habits (β = 0.389), which jointly explain 65.9% of the variance in intention. In addition to the effects of these predictors on the continuance intentions of Sina Weibo users, an assessment of the moderating effect of gender suggests that habit plays a more important role for females than for males in continuance intention, but perceived usefulness seems to be more important for males than for females. The implications of these findings are then discussed.

The Saudi Initiative for Asthma - 2016 update: Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma in adults and children

PubMed Central

Al-Moamary, Mohamed S.; Alhaider, Sami A.; Idrees, Majdy M.; Al Ghobain, Mohammed O.; Zeitouni, Mohammed O.; Al-Harbi, Adel S.; Yousef, Abdullah A.; Al-Matar, Hussain; Alorainy, Hassan S.; Al-Hajjaj, Mohamed S.

2016-01-01

This is an updated guideline for the diagnosis and management of asthma, developed by the Saudi Initiative for Asthma (SINA) group, a subsidiary of the Saudi Thoracic Society. The main objective of SINA is to have guidelines that are up to date, simple to understand and easy to use by nonasthma specialists, including primary care and general practice physicians. SINA approach is mainly based on symptom control and assessment of risk as it is the ultimate goal of treatment. The new SINA guidelines include updates of acute and chronic asthma management, with more emphasis on the use of asthma control in the management of asthma in adults and children, inclusion of a new medication appendix, and keeping consistency on the management at different age groups. The section on asthma in children is rewritten and expanded where the approach is stratified based on the age. The guidelines are constructed based on the available evidence, local literature, and the current situation in Saudi Arabia. There is also an emphasis on patient–doctor partnership in the management that also includes a self-management plan. PMID:26933455

Thrombasthénie de Glanzmann: à propos de 11 cas

PubMed Central

Mukendi, Jean-Louis Ntumba; Benkirane, Souad; Masrar, Azlarab

2015-01-01

Introduction La thrombasthénie de Glanzmann est une pathologie hémorragique héréditaire rare due à une déficience ou un dysfonctionnement du complexe glycoprotéique IIb/IIIa de la membrane plaquettaire. Le but de notre étude est de décrire les caractéristiques démographiques, cliniques et biologiques d'une série de patients atteints de thrombasthénie de Glanzmann. Méthodes C'est une étude portant sur tous les patients atteints de thrombasthénie de Glanzmann diagnostiqués au Laboratoire Central d'Hématologie du Centre Hospitalier Ibn Sina de Rabat au Maroc pendant la période allant du 1er mars 2011 au 31 mars 2013, soit 25 mois. Après avoir recueilli les données épidémiologiques et cliniques de nos patients, nous avons réalisé une étude biologique comportant une numération plaquettaire et une agrégométrie. Résultats 11 patients ont présenté des profils agrégométriques compatibles à une TG. La majorité de ces malades étaient issus de mariages consanguins (54,5%) et originaires de régions situées dans le nord du Maroc. Le syndrome hémorragique s'est révélé principalement cutanéo-muqueux, avec une prédominance des gingivorragies (72,7%), des épistaxis (63,6%) et des ecchymoses (45,5%). Conclusion Nos résultats ont montré que la thrombasthénie de Glanzmann est une pathologie relativement fréquente au Maroc. PMID:26587119

The relationship between periapical lesions and the serum levels of glycosylated hemoglobin and C-reactive protein in type 2 diabetic patients.

PubMed

Al-Zahrani, Mohammad S; Abozor, Basel M; Zawawi, Khalid H

2017-01-01

To investigate the relationship between the presence of periapical lesions (PL) and levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with type 2 diabetes.  Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between September 2013 and February 2015. Medical and dental history and Sociodemographic data were obtained from participants. Dental and periodontal examinations were conducted and blood samples were obtained to determine levels of HbA1c and CRP. The presence of PL was recorded from panoramic and periapical radiographs. Descriptive statistics and multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used for data analyses.  Results: One hundred patients were included; mean age was 48.9 ± 8.5 years. Of these patients, 14% had no PL, whereas 25% had one or 2 lesions, 32% had 3 or 4 lesions, and 29% had ≥5 PL. The mean HbA1c was 9.8% (± 2.5) mg/L and CRP was 6.9 mg/L (± 6.3). The presence of PL was significantly associated with a higher level of HbA1c independent of age, gender, probing depth, and plaque index (p=0.023). Individuals with PL were also more likely to have a high CRP level (greater than 3 mg/L) independent of the previous covariates (odds ratio: 1.19; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.41).  Conclusion: Periapical lesions are associated with a poorer glycemic control and a higher CRP level in type 2 diabetic patients.

The relationship between periapical lesions and the serum levels of glycosylated hemoglobin and C-reactive protein in type 2 diabetic patients

PubMed Central

Al-Zahrani, Mohammad S.; Abozor, Basel M.; Zawawi, Khalid H.

2017-01-01

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between the presence of periapical lesions (PL) and levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between September 2013 and February 2015. Medical and dental history and Sociodemographic data were obtained from participants. Dental and periodontal examinations were conducted and blood samples were obtained to determine levels of HbA1c and CRP. The presence of PL was recorded from panoramic and periapical radiographs. Descriptive statistics and multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used for data analyses. Results: One hundred patients were included; mean age was 48.9 ± 8.5 years. Of these patients, 14% had no PL, whereas 25% had one or 2 lesions, 32% had 3 or 4 lesions, and 29% had ≥5 PL. The mean HbA1c was 9.8% (± 2.5) mg/L and CRP was 6.9 mg/L (± 6.3). The presence of PL was significantly associated with a higher level of HbA1c independent of age, gender, probing depth, and plaque index (p=0.023). Individuals with PL were also more likely to have a high CRP level (>3 mg/L) independent of the previous covariates (odds ratio: 1.19; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.41). Conclusion: Periapical lesions are associated with a poorer glycemic control and a higher CRP level in type 2 diabetic patients. PMID:28042628

Exploiting Information Diffusion Feature for Link Prediction in Sina Weibo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dong; Zhang, Yongchao; Xu, Zhiming; Chu, Dianhui; Li, Sheng

2016-01-01

The rapid development of online social networks (e.g., Twitter and Facebook) has promoted research related to social networks in which link prediction is a key problem. Although numerous attempts have been made for link prediction based on network structure, node attribute and so on, few of the current studies have considered the impact of information diffusion on link creation and prediction. This paper mainly addresses Sina Weibo, which is the largest microblog platform with Chinese characteristics, and proposes the hypothesis that information diffusion influences link creation and verifies the hypothesis based on real data analysis. We also detect an important feature from the information diffusion process, which is used to promote link prediction performance. Finally, the experimental results on Sina Weibo dataset have demonstrated the effectiveness of our methods.

Exploiting Information Diffusion Feature for Link Prediction in Sina Weibo.

PubMed

Li, Dong; Zhang, Yongchao; Xu, Zhiming; Chu, Dianhui; Li, Sheng

2016-01-28

The rapid development of online social networks (e.g., Twitter and Facebook) has promoted research related to social networks in which link prediction is a key problem. Although numerous attempts have been made for link prediction based on network structure, node attribute and so on, few of the current studies have considered the impact of information diffusion on link creation and prediction. This paper mainly addresses Sina Weibo, which is the largest microblog platform with Chinese characteristics, and proposes the hypothesis that information diffusion influences link creation and verifies the hypothesis based on real data analysis. We also detect an important feature from the information diffusion process, which is used to promote link prediction performance. Finally, the experimental results on Sina Weibo dataset have demonstrated the effectiveness of our methods.

Examination of the "Theory of Guidance" in the View of 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (A): An Exploration into the Nahj Al-Balaghah

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rostami-Nasab, Abas Ali; Tajedini, Oranus; Sadatmoosavi, Ali

2016-01-01

This study examines the "Theory of Guidance" according to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (a). This theory is based on three divine covenants or fundamentals in guidance including the divine Prophet, the divine Book, and the divine human nature ("fitrat"). Research in this regard seems essential because this theory has not been previously…

Militant Ideology Atlas: Research Compendium

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-11-01

since I thought it was interesting the source author was using a title that was reminiscent of titles in the Hebrew bible even though this is the...disenfranchised youth in Jordanian prison and elsewhere. Notes: See English -language materials on Maqdisi’s website: http://www.revivingislam.com...Ibn Taymiyya’s teachings, translated into many languages, including English ("Book of Emaan According to Ibn Taymiyya"). Notes: One site calls

[Egyptian medicine at the time of Bonaparte's expeditionary force].

PubMed

Hutin, Jean-François

2014-01-01

When the civils of the Commission for Sciences and Arts and the doctors from Bonaparte's expeditionary forces under Desgenettes and Larrey's orders arrived in Egypt, they described richly the state of medecine and surgery, the therapeutical knowledges and the medical organisation of the conquered land. They were surprised at first and desappointed to see how poorly Herophile and Ibn-An-Nafis' "Art of Healing" was considered. However they quickly managed to extract its most original qualities - in particular in the pharmacopoeia--all the more because the loss of the hospital-ships and Aboukir's defeat forced them to stay in Egypt and to find there the remedies they were lacking of.

A unified framework of image latent feature learning on Sina microblog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Jinjin; Jin, Zhigang; Zhou, Yuan; Zhang, Rui

2015-10-01

Large-scale user-contributed images with texts are rapidly increasing on the social media websites, such as Sina microblog. However, the noise and incomplete correspondence between the images and the texts give rise to the difficulty in precise image retrieval and ranking. In this paper, a hypergraph-based learning framework is proposed for image ranking, which simultaneously utilizes visual feature, textual content and social link information to estimate the relevance between images. Representing each image as a vertex in the hypergraph, complex relationship between images can be reflected exactly. Then updating the weight of hyperedges throughout the hypergraph learning process, the effect of different edges can be adaptively modulated in the constructed hypergraph. Furthermore, the popularity degree of the image is employed to re-rank the retrieval results. Comparative experiments on a large-scale Sina microblog data-set demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Sina and Sinb genes in triticale do not determine grain hardness contrary to their orthologs Pina and Pinb in wheat

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Secaloindoline a (Sina) and secaloindoline b (Sinb) genes of hexaploid triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) are orthologs of puroindoline a (Pina) and puroindoline b (Pinb) in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). It has already been proven that RNA interference (RNAi)-based silencing of Pina and Pinb genes significantly decreased the puroindoline a and puroindoline b proteins in wheat and essentially increased grain hardness (J Exp Bot 62:4025-4036, 2011). The function of Sina and Sinb in triticale was tested by means of RNAi silencing and compared to wheat. Results Novel Sina and Sinb alleles in wild-type plants of cv. Wanad were identified and their expression profiles characterized. Alignment with wheat Pina-D1a and Pinb-D1a alleles showed 95% and 93.3% homology with Sina and Sinb coding sequences. Twenty transgenic lines transformed with two hpRNA silencing cassettes directed to silence Sina or Sinb were obtained by the Agrobacterium-mediated method. A significant decrease of expression of both Sin genes in segregating progeny of tested T1 lines was observed independent of the silencing cassette used. The silencing was transmitted to the T4 kernel generation. The relative transcript level was reduced by up to 99% in T3 progeny with the mean for the sublines being around 90%. Silencing of the Sin genes resulted in a substantial decrease of secaloindoline a and secaloindoline b content. The identity of SIN peptides was confirmed by mass spectrometry. The hardness index, measured by the SKCS (Single Kernel Characterization System) method, ranged from 22 to 56 in silent lines and from 37 to 49 in the control, and the mean values were insignificantly lower in the silent ones, proving increased softness. Additionally, the mean total seed protein content of silenced lines was about 6% lower compared with control lines. Correlation coefficients between hardness and transcript level were weakly positive. Conclusions We documented that RNAi-based silencing of Sin genes resulted in significant decrease of their transcripts and the level of both secaloindoline proteins, however did not affect grain hardness. The unexpected, functional differences of Sin genes from triticale compared with their orthologs, Pin of wheat, are discussed. PMID:24279512

Sina and Sinb genes in triticale do not determine grain hardness contrary to their orthologs Pina and Pinb in wheat.

PubMed

Gasparis, Sebastian; Orczyk, Waclaw; Nadolska-Orczyk, Anna

2013-11-26

Secaloindoline a (Sina) and secaloindoline b (Sinb) genes of hexaploid triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) are orthologs of puroindoline a (Pina) and puroindoline b (Pinb) in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). It has already been proven that RNA interference (RNAi)-based silencing of Pina and Pinb genes significantly decreased the puroindoline a and puroindoline b proteins in wheat and essentially increased grain hardness (J Exp Bot 62:4025-4036, 2011). The function of Sina and Sinb in triticale was tested by means of RNAi silencing and compared to wheat. Novel Sina and Sinb alleles in wild-type plants of cv. Wanad were identified and their expression profiles characterized. Alignment with wheat Pina-D1a and Pinb-D1a alleles showed 95% and 93.3% homology with Sina and Sinb coding sequences. Twenty transgenic lines transformed with two hpRNA silencing cassettes directed to silence Sina or Sinb were obtained by the Agrobacterium-mediated method. A significant decrease of expression of both Sin genes in segregating progeny of tested T1 lines was observed independent of the silencing cassette used. The silencing was transmitted to the T4 kernel generation. The relative transcript level was reduced by up to 99% in T3 progeny with the mean for the sublines being around 90%. Silencing of the Sin genes resulted in a substantial decrease of secaloindoline a and secaloindoline b content. The identity of SIN peptides was confirmed by mass spectrometry. The hardness index, measured by the SKCS (Single Kernel Characterization System) method, ranged from 22 to 56 in silent lines and from 37 to 49 in the control, and the mean values were insignificantly lower in the silent ones, proving increased softness. Additionally, the mean total seed protein content of silenced lines was about 6% lower compared with control lines. Correlation coefficients between hardness and transcript level were weakly positive. We documented that RNAi-based silencing of Sin genes resulted in significant decrease of their transcripts and the level of both secaloindoline proteins, however did not affect grain hardness. The unexpected, functional differences of Sin genes from triticale compared with their orthologs, Pin of wheat, are discussed.

Islamic Education Philosophy Development (Study Analysis on Ta'lim Al-Kitab Al-Zarnuji Muta'allim Works)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asrori, H. Achmad

2016-01-01

"Ta'lim Muta'allim" is one of the monumental works of Shaykh Tajuddin Nu'man ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Khalil al-Zarnuji, who lived in the 6th century H/13-14 M. The reason for writing this study ie: (1) it is very rich with the basic values of Islamic education, (2) the values are already widely practiced in the world of education, especially…

The Caucasus Emirate: Emerging Force or Jihadist Fantasy?

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-22

attracted the attention of the international jihadist movement. Experienced mujahedeen, led by the Saudi Ibn al- Khattab , came to Chechnya to support the...included as objectives for independence and Muslim self-governance. In August 1999, forces led by al- Khattab and Chechen fighter Shamil Basayev invaded...considerably less than during the late 1990s and early 2000s when prominent jihadists such as Ibn al- Khattab were actively participating in operations.26

Wound and soft tissue infections of Serratia marcescens in patients receiving wound care: A health care-associated outbreak.

PubMed

Us, Ebru; Kutlu, Huseyin H; Tekeli, Alper; Ocal, Duygu; Cirpan, Sevilay; Memikoglu, Kemal O

2017-04-01

We described a health care-associated Serratia marcescens outbreak of wound and soft tissue infection lasting approximately 11 months at Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital. After identification of S marcescens strains from the clinical and environmental samples, and their susceptibility testing to antimicrobial agents, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed to detect molecular epidemiologic relationships among these isolates. The strains which were isolated from the saline bottles used for wound cleansing in the wound care unit were found to be 100% interrelated by PFGE to the strains from the samples of the outbreak patients. Reuse of the emptied bottles has no longer been allowed since the outbreak occurred. Besides, more efficient and frequent infection control training for hospital staff has been conducted. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

GPS Measurements of Crustal Deformation in Lebanon: Implication for Current Kinematics of the Sinaï Plate.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vergnolle, M.; Jomaa, R.; Brax, M.; Menut, J. L.; Sursock, A.; Elias, A. R.; Mariscal, A.; Vidal, M.; Cotte, N.

2016-12-01

The Levant fault is a major strike-slip fault bounding the Arabia and the Sinaï plates. Its kinematics, although understood in its main characteristics, remains partly unresolved in its quantification, especially in the Lebanese restraining bend. We present a GPS velocity field based on survey GPS data acquired in Lebanon (1999, 2002, 2010) and on continuous GPS data publicly available in the Levant area. To complete the measurements along the Levant fault, we combine our velocity field with previously published velocity fields. First, from our velocity field, we derive two velocity profiles, across the Lebanese fault system, which we analyze in terms of elastic strain accumulation. Despite the uncertainty on the locking depth of the main strand of the Levant fault, small lateral fault slip rates (2-4mm/yr) are detected on each profile, with a slight slip rate decrease (<1mm/yr) from south to north. The latter is consistent with published results south and north of Lebanon. Small compression (<0.5mm/yr), with most part of it located across Mount Lebanon, is also suggested. Second, we analyze the combined GPS velocity field in the Sinaï tectonic framework. We evaluate how well the Sinaï plate motion is described with an Euler pole. Due to heterogeneous velocity errors (5 times smaller for cGPS velocities wrt sGPS velocities), a unique pole estimation using all the data provides good statistical results. However, the residuals show systematic deviations at central and northern sGPS stations. Using only the velocities at these stations, the estimated pole is significantly different from the unique pole at 95% confidence level. This analysis highlights the difficulty to robustly resolve the rigid Sinaï plate motion while the uncertainties on the velocities are heterogeneous. New sGPS measurements on existing sites should improve the solution and help to conclude.

Long term effects of below-the-knee angioplasty in diabetic patients with critical ischemia of lower limbs referred to Sina Hospital during 2010-2011.

PubMed

Zafarghandi, Mohammad-Reza; Nazari, Iraj; Taghavi, Morteza; Rashidi, Abbas; Dardashti, Sanaz Karimi; Sadid, Donya; Esmaili, Leyli; Mahmoodi, Seyed Mostafa; Mousavi, Masood

2015-03-01

Despite significant advances in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and below-the-knee critical ischemia, there are ongoing efforts to achieve a method with low complication, high success rate and persistence of long-term effects. The aim of the study was to examine the outcome of angioplasty in patients with below-the-knee critical ischemia referred to Hospital. This semi-experimental study conducted on diabetics patients treated with PTA (Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty) with critical ischemia of lower limbs referred to Sina Hospital. After discharge, the patients were followed weekly for the first month and then monthly up to 12 months. The procedure short-term effects were examined through evaluation of wound healing as well as patients' recovery and pain relief, after one month. Given the distribution type, parametric and non-parametric test were used to compare the results before and after treatment. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between variables. Twenty four patients participated in this study. The mean ankle-brachial index (ABI) at baseline was 0.55 ± 0.17. A month after angioplasty, the index increased statistically significant to 0.93 ± 0.16. The mean health score expressed by the patients at baseline was 5.48 ± 1.39. A month after angioplasty, it was significantly increased (6.32 ± 1.24). The mean pain score before enrollment was 6.68 ± 2.52 (according to VAS scale). There was a significant decrease over time (3.45 ± 1.13). The overall mean score of all patients at Rutherford Classification was 3.88 ± 0.63 at baseline. During the 1st month and 6th month follow-up, it was changed to Class 0 that was statistically significant in the first month. This study represents the mid-term outcomes of PTA. Although PTA treatment was associated with improved pain scores, satisfaction with health, classification of limb ischemia and diabetic foot ulcers, the effects only remain short-term and mid-term. However, long-term efficacy of PTA needs to be investigated further.

Does microblogging convey firm-specific information? Evidence from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Dehua; Li, Xiao; Xue, Mei; Zhang, Wei

2017-09-01

This paper investigates the impact of opening microblogging account in Sina Weibo on the diffusion of firm-specific information in Chinese stock market. With the unique sample of firms opening their official accounts, the empirical results show that this newly emerged information diffusion channel, i.e., Sina Weibo, plays an important role in conveying firm-specific information to the market. Generally speaking, these empirical findings have practical implications to securities regulators who have interest in monitoring the diffused information via social media.

Infectious peritonitis profile in peritoneal dialysis at Ibn Sina University Hospital: a 6-year data report.

PubMed

Bekaoui, Samira; Haddiya, Intissar; Houti, Maria Slimani; Berkchi, Fatima Zahra; Ezaitouni, Fatima; Ouzeddoun, Naima; Bayahia, Rabia; Benamar, Loubna

2014-01-01

Infectious peritonitis (IP) is the most common complication in peritoneal dialysis (PD). The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of IP and to determine its clinical, biological, and evolutive characteristics. We conducted a five year, five months retrospective study from July 2006 to December 2011. All patients on peritoneal dialysis that have been followed on PD for a minimum of 3 months and who presented IP during follow-up were included. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. The 76 episodes of IP were identified in 36 patients. The peritonitis rate (months × patients/peritonitis), as calculated by the Registre de Dialyse Péritonéale de Langue Française (RDPLF Registry) [French peritoneal dialysis registry] in December 2011, was 18.59. Time to occurrence of peritonitis from the start of peritoneal exchange was 15.44±10 months. The mean age of our patients was 49.1±16.8 years [10-80]: the youngest patient's age was 10, while the oldest was 80 years old (male to female: sex ratio M/F=1,66). Also, 22% of our patients were diabetic. The mean follow-up in PD was 22.6±14 months. Abdominal pain was present in 79% of the cases. Fever and vomiting were noted in 42% and 38% of cases, respectively. The C-reactive protein rate was elevated in 77% of cases, and leukocytosis was found in 27% of cases. Bacteriological proof was present in 73.68% of cases. Gram-positive cocci were involved in 56.6% of microbiologically proven IP cases. Gram-negative bacilli were represented in 37.7%. The outcome was favorable in 89.4%. The PD catheter was removed in 2.63% of the cases. In addition, 7.89% of our patients were transferred to hemodialysis. The rate of IP remains high in our series. More than one-half of the peritonitis cases with positive cultures (56.6%) were caused by Gram-positive cocci. Gram-negative bacilli ranked second (27.7%). These results agree with data in the literature. Moreover, the rate of culture-negative IP in our series is high (26%). Evolution is good in most cases (89%). Despite the gradual decrease of its rate, peritonitis remains frequent in our center and calls for optimization of means of prevention. The high frequency of negative culture IP in our study urges us toward better collaboration with biologists to target antibiotic therapy and improve IP management.

Oman: The Present in the Context of a Fractured Past

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

from his capital at al-Rustaq. 55 Oman reasserted its naval power in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean challenging the naval power of the Persians...succession crisis. An Iraqi Shi’a assassinated Amir Abd- al-Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Saud (1765–1803) in the Saudi capital of Dir’iyah in retaliation... capital from Muscat to Zanzibar. The British actually “encouraged” Sa’id to do this because they believed that their longer-term goals in the Indian

Anatomy of the eye from the view of Ibn Al-Haitham (965-1039). The founder of modern optics.

PubMed

Unal, Nedim; Elcioglu, Omur

2009-03-01

Ibn Al-Haitham (known as Alhazen in Latin [965 Basra, Iraq-1039, Cairo, Egypt]) was a scientist who played an important role in the middle age Islam world. He wrote many books and novels, but only 90 of them are known. His main book Kitab al-Manazir was translated into Western languages in the late twelfth century, and in the early thirteenth century. In this book, he formulated many hypotheses on optical science. The book, which is also known as Optic treasure (opticae thesaurus), affected many famous Western scientists. He became an authority until the seventeenth century in the Eastern and Western countries. Roger Bacon (1212-1294), who made radical changes in the Western optical traditions, reconfirmed Ibn Al-Haitham's findings. Ibn al-Haitham began his book Kitab al-Manazir with the anatomy and physiology of the eye. He specifically described cornea, humor aqueous, lens, and corpus vitreum. He examined the effect of light on seeing. He caused changes in the prevailing ideas of his age, and suggested that light came from objects, not from the eye. He provided information regarding the optic nerve, retina, iris, and conjunctiva. He showed the system of the eye as a dioptric, and the relations between the parts of the eye. It is understood that he mastered all knowledge on the structure of the eye in his century. The best proof of this is the eye picture that he drew.

L’évaluation du syndrome du Burnout chez les médecins en formation au CHU Ibn Rochd de Casablanca

PubMed Central

El Kettani, Assiya; Serhier, Zineb; Othmani, Mohammed Bennani; Agoub, Mohamed; Battas, Omar

2017-01-01

Introduction Le Burnout est très répandu en milieu hospitalier et sa gravité est encore plus accrue chez les jeunes médecins. L'objectif est de déterminer la prévalence du burnout parmi les médecins en formation (internes et résidents) au CHU Ibn Rochd de Casablanca et chercher les facteurs associés. Méthodes Étude transversale descriptive menée en 2013- 2014 auprès d'un échantillon de 300 médecins à l'aide d'un questionnaire auto-administré; le burnout était évalué par la version française du Maslash Burnout Inventory (MBI). Résultats Un total de191 médecins a participé à l'étude (taux de réponse à 63,7%) avec une prédominance féminine à 79,1% et une moyenne d'âge de 26,7ans (ET = 3). Les scores moyens des sous-dimensions du MBI: l'épuisement émotionnel, la dépersonnalisation et l'accomplissement personnel étaient respectivement de (33,7 ± 10,7), (12,2 ± 6,5) et (30,6 ± 8,3). Le burnout sévère touchait 31,8% des participants. Il était associé aux problèmes de communication au sein de l'équipe soignante (p < 0,01), l'accompagnement insuffisant (p < 0,05), l'insatisfaction des séniors (p = 0,01), la crainte de faire des erreurs médicales (p < 0,05), le recours à un psychothérapeute (p < 0,001), la consommation de psychotropes (p = 0,001), les troubles anxieux (p < 0,01), la dépression (p < 0,01) et les idées suicidaires (p < 0,05). Les facteurs protecteurs étaient représentés par: le sentiment d'équité au sein de l'équipe soignante (p < 0,01) et la pratique de loisirs (p < 0,05). Le changement d'orientation de carrière était associé au burnout sévère (p < 0,05). Conclusion Ces résultats rejoignent ceux des études précédentes et justifient l'intérêt d'un programme de prévention à différents niveaux. Introduction Burnout is very widespread in the hospital setting and it becomes much more severe in young physicians. The objective of this study aims to evaluate the prevalence of burnout among doctors in training (internal and residents) at the Ibn Rochd University Hospital, Casablanca and to identify factors associated with it. PMID:28979644

Assessment of patient dose and radiogenic risks during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

PubMed

Sulieman, A; Elzaki, M; Alkhorayef, M; Babikir, E; Abuzaid, M; Dalton, A; Bradley, D

2016-11-01

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is an invasive technique that has been used for over 30 years in the diagnosis and management of pancreaticobiliary disorders. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the patient entrance surface air kerma doses (ESAK) and estimate the organ and effective doses during ERCP in three hospitals in Khartoum. A total of 55 patients were examined in three hospitals in Khartoum state, Sudan. Calibrated thermoluinescent dosimeters (TLD) were used to measure patients' ESAK. Organ and effective doses were estimated using National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) software. The overall mean of ESAK for all ERCP procedures was 42.4mGy. The mean patient ESAK in Fedail (A), Soba (B) and Ibn sena (C) hospitals were 26.7mGy, 26.0mGy and 72.4mGy, respectively. The effective doses in three hospitals were 1.60, 1.56 and 2.67mSv in that order and the overall mean effective dose was 1.94mSv. Patient radiation doses vary widely among the hospitals. Patient ESAK is low compared to previous studies in the light of the current practice. Patient dose was decreased significantly in the last two decades. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Miratü'lEbdan Fi Teşrih-i Azaül-İnsan: first printed illustrated anatomy book in Ottoman-Turkish medicine.

PubMed

Ortug, Gursel; Ortug, Alpen; Kurt, Namik Kemal

2018-04-13

Medical education in Ottoman-Turkish medicine was shaped by the influence of Claudius Galenus (c.130-c.210) and Ibn-i Sina (c.980-c.1037). These teachings were performed in madrasahs until the beginning of the 19th century period. Within the scope of master-apprentice relationship, medical training was also given in private clinics. As a result of religious and social pressures on scientific studies human cadavers were never used because they were considered sacred. For centuries, all books were handwritten during the Ottoman Empire until the first printing press was established in Istanbul during 1726. However, the first illustrated book on anatomy was not printed until another 100 years later. A comparative study was conducted on the anatomical drawings in"Miratü'l Ebdan Fi Teşrih-i Azau'l İnsan" (Ataullah ŞM, 17th),and significance of this book. 46 out of 56 figures were received from the book of physian and anatomist Jean Palfin (1650-1730). Remaining 9 figures were cited from author himself as collected from Bernard Siegfried Albinus (1697-1170), Raymond Vieussens (1614- 1715), R. Drake (1667-1707), Clopton Havers (1657-1702), Albrecht von Haller (1708- 1777), Joseph Guichard Duverney (1648-1730). The figures were drawn exactly the same way with minimal changes. Main text of the book is mostly translation from Italian edition of Bertin and Palfin's Works.The book is not only the first printed anatomical book but also the first printed work in Ottoman-Turkish medicine. Another very significant aspect is the illustrations are perspective drawing figures which differs from miniature style drawings of the past. Şânîzade Ataullah's work is a significant value not only for being the first printed illustrated anatomy book which makes it more approachable but also gives anatomical drawings as illustrations not as miniature style painting.

Knowledge and self-care practices in adolescent girls living in Nablus district during menstruation: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Shalabi-Abbas, Eatimad; Dweikat, Saba; Al Gazawy, Israa; Draghmah, Sajeda

2018-02-21

Menstruation is a natural phenomenon that occurs throughout the reproductive life of every woman. The aim of this study was to explore knowledge and self-care practices among Palestinian adolescent girls during their menstrual period. Reproductive health issues in adolescent girls is an important but neglected area of Palestinian research. For this cross-sectional study we recruited girls from grades seven, eight, and nine in the three biggest schools for girls in Nablus district. Participants were given a self-administered questionnaire that included questions about diet habits, daily activity, medication usage, and social norms related to the menstrual period. Data were analysed using SPSS version 17. The study protocol was approved ethically by Ibn Sina College for Health Sciences board. Verbal informed consent was obtained from the participants. 100 girls completed the questionnaire. 68 (68%) respondents referred to their mothers as the main source of information about dealing with menstrual periods. 52 (52%) respondents believed that salty food affects adversely on their health during the menstrual period, and 85 (85%) answered that showering is important during menstruation and that no harm comes from touching things during menstruation. 38 (38%) girls did not change food quality or quantity during menstruation, and 36 (36%) girls often take hot herbal drinks to relieve menstrual pain, whereas 63 (63%) girls reported use of analgesics. 94 (94%) respondents had a proper way of disposing of dirty pads. 45 (45%) girls said they used school toilets, 70 (70%) mentioned the availability of private doors, and 60 (60%) reported the availability of soap and water. Self-care practices during menstruation could be improved in adolescent Palestinian girls by establishing comprehensive puberty education programmes in schools and providing appropriate sanitation conditions in school toilets. None. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

App-assisted external ventricular drain insertion.

PubMed

Eftekhar, Behzad

2016-09-01

The freehand technique for insertion of an external ventricular drain (EVD) is based on fixed anatomical landmarks and does not take individual variations into consideration. A patient-tailored approach based on augmented-reality techniques using devices such as smartphones can address this shortcoming. The Sina neurosurgical assist (Sina) is an Android mobile device application (app) that was designed and developed to be used as a simple intraoperative neurosurgical planning aid. It overlaps the patient's images from previously performed CT or MRI studies on the image seen through the device camera. The device is held by an assistant who aligns the images and provides information about the relative position of the target and EVD to the surgeon who is performing EVD insertion. This app can be used to provide guidance and continuous monitoring during EVD placement. The author describes the technique of Sina-assisted EVD insertion into the frontal horn of the lateral ventricle and reports on its clinical application in 5 cases as well as the results of ex vivo studies of ease of use and precision. The technique has potential for further development and use with other augmented-reality devices.

The model of microblog message diffusion based on complex social network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Bai, Shu-Ying; Jin, Rui

2014-05-01

Microblog is a micromessage communication network in which users are the nodes and the followship between users are the edges. Sina Weibo is a typical case of these microblog service websites. As the enormous scale of nodes and complex links in the network, we choose a sample network crawled in Sina Weibo as the base of empirical analysis. The study starts with the analysis of its topological features, and brings in epidemiological SEIR model to explore the mode of message spreading throughout the microblog network. It is found that the network is obvious small-world and scale-free, which made it succeed in transferring messages and failed in resisting negative influence. In addition, the paper focuses on the rich nodes as they constitute a typical feature of Sina Weibo. It is also found that whether the message starts with a rich node will not account for its final coverage. Actually, the rich nodes always play the role of pivotal intermediaries who speed up the spreading and make the message known by much more people.

Sensors integration for smartphone navigation: performances and future challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aicardi, I.; Dabove, P.; Lingua, A.; Piras, M.

2014-08-01

Nowadays the modern smartphones include several sensors which are usually adopted in geomatic application, as digital camera, GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers, inertial platform, RFID and Wi-Fi systems. In this paper the authors would like to testing the performances of internal sensors (Inertial Measurement Unit, IMU) of three modern smartphones (Samsung GalaxyS4, Samsung GalaxyS5 and iPhone4) compared to external mass-market IMU platform in order to verify their accuracy levels, in terms of positioning. Moreover, the Image Based Navigation (IBN) approach is also investigated: this approach can be very useful in hard-urban environment or for indoor positioning, as alternative to GNSS positioning. IBN allows to obtain a sub-metrical accuracy, but a special database of georeferenced images (Image DataBase, IDB) is needed, moreover it is necessary to use dedicated algorithm to resizing the images which are collected by smartphone, in order to share it with the server where is stored the IDB. Moreover, it is necessary to characterize smartphone camera lens in terms of focal length and lens distortions. The authors have developed an innovative method with respect to those available today, which has been tested in a covered area, adopting a special support where all sensors under testing have been installed. Geomatic instrument have been used to define the reference trajectory, with purpose to compare this one, with the path obtained with IBN solution. First results leads to have an horizontal and vertical accuracies better than 60 cm, respect to the reference trajectories. IBN method, sensors, test and result will be described in the paper.

Alshamel fi Sana'at Tebbi'at: A Comprehensive Book on the Materia Medica.

PubMed

Mosaffa-Jahromi, Maryam; Kiani, Hossein

2016-05-01

Ala-al-din abu Al-Hassan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi, known as Ibn al-Nafis (1210-1288 AD), was a Muslim Syrian physician primarily famous for being the first to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood. The most voluminous of his books is Alshamel fi Sana'at tebbi'at, which is a comprehensive medical encyclopedia. It comprised 300 volumes of notes, from which only 80 volumes are published. His writings are cataloged in many libraries around the world. The aim of this review article, as a tribute to Ibn al-Nafis, was to introduce his valuable but neglected encyclopedia of Materia Medica. Ibn al-Nafis' traditional approach in his "Alshamel fi Sana'at tebbi'at" book is studied in the present article. Alshamel fi Sana'at tebbi'at covers three branches of knowledge. The first category is devoted to theoretical traditional medicine. The second is in four sections where much of it is not available yet. The third category is on Materia Medica covering the aspect of Unani medicine, from which only 28 volumes of the comprehensive book on the traditional medicine have been found so far. The latter, introduces mono-ingredient medications in alphabetical order. Each chapter, in several parts, is dedicated to the botanical characteristics and nature of each mono-ingredient medication. In addition, this book explains traditional pharmacokinetic of every single medication for each human body organs. Based on pharmaco-mechanistic perspective on Alshamel fi Sana'at tebbi'at, it could be considered as the main reference book on traditional medicine and pharmacy, worthy of revival.

Ibn al-Nafis, the pulmonary circulation, and the Islamic Golden Age

PubMed Central

West, John B.

2008-01-01

Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288) was an Arab physician who made several important contributions to the early knowledge of the pulmonary circulation. He was the first person to challenge the long-held contention of the Galen School that blood could pass through the cardiac interventricular septum, and in keeping with this he believed that all the blood that reached the left ventricle passed through the lung. He also stated that there must be small communications or pores (manafidh in Arabic) between the pulmonary artery and vein, a prediction that preceded by 400 years the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries by Marcello Malpighi. Ibn al-Nafis and another eminent physiologist of the period, Avicenna (ca. 980–1037), belong to the long period between the enormously influential school of Galen in the 2nd century, and the European scientific Renaissance in the 16th century. This is an epoch often given little attention by physiologists but is known to some historians as the Islamic Golden Age. Its importance is briefly discussed here. PMID:18845773

An Analysis of Anxiety-Related Postings on Sina Weibo.

PubMed

Tian, Xianyun; He, Fang; Batterham, Philip; Wang, Zheng; Yu, Guang

2017-07-13

This study examines anxiety-related postings on Sina Weibo to gain insight into social networking about mental health. The themes of a random sample of anxiety-related postings ( n = 1000) were assessed. The disclosure of anxiety was the most common theme. The prevalence of anxiety was higher in certain areas where the economy is stronger than others, and the people living there suffered from more stress. Users who talked about feeling anxious tended to be more active on social media during leisure hours and less active during work hours. Our findings may be developed to detect and help individuals who may suffer from anxiety disorders at a low cost.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Circumstellar-interacting supernovae (Taddia+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taddia, F.; Sollerman, J.; Fremling, C.; Pastorello, A.; Leloudas, G.; Fransson, C.; Nyholm, A.; Stritzinger, M. D.; Ergon, M.; Roy, R.; Migotto, K.

2015-11-01

In Table 1 we report the list of 60 transients included in our sample. Thirty-five of them are SNe IIn, six are SNe Ibn, one is a SN Ia-CSM, 18 are SN IMs (if we also count SN 2009ip in the SN IMs, then we have 19 of these transients). With the NOT, long-slit spectra were obtained for the host galaxies of 13 SNe IIn, five SNe Ibn, one SN Ia-CSM, and 16 SN IMs (the derived metallicity for SN 2007sv was published in Tartaglia et al. 2015MNRAS.447..117T). The host galaxies observed at the NOT are marked with the letter "o" in the third column of Table 1. With the NOT, we also obtained broad-band R and narrow-band Hα images for the SNe IIn (except for SN 1995G) and Ibn. We complemented our observed sample with host galaxies whose metallicities (at the center of the galaxy or at the SN position) were already available in the literature (marked with the letter "l" in the third column of Table 1) or whose spectra were available in public archives (marked with the letter "a" in the third column of Table 1). (7 data files).

Hebrew and Latin astrology in the twelfth century: the example of the location of pain.

PubMed

Burnett, Charles

2010-06-01

The formative period of Latin and Hebrew astrology occurred virtually simultaneously in both cultures. In the second quarter of the twelfth century the terminology of the subject was established and the textbooks which became authoritative were written. The responsibility for this lay almost entirely with two scholars: John of Seville for the Latins, and Abraham ibn Ezra for the Jews. It is unlikely to have been by coincidence that the same developments in astrology occurred in these two cultures. John of Seville and Abraham ibn Ezra were both brought up within the Islamic culture of Spain, and their astrology was Arabic astrology. Moreover, some scholars have thought that John's origins were Jewish, while Ibn Ezra is known to have collaborated with Latin scholars (whose names are not recorded). It cannot be a coincidence that they forged the science of astrology for their respect co-religionists at almost the same time. Yet, very little research has been done on the possible relations between the two scholars. The purpose of this paper is to begin to explore this relationship, and to illustrate it in particular by their shared doctrine concern the location of pain.

The highly luminous Type Ibn supernova ASASSN-14ms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallely, P. J.; Prieto, J. L.; Stanek, K. Z.; Kochanek, C. S.; Sukhbold, T.; Bersier, D.; Brown, J. S.; Chen, P.; Dong, S.; Falco, E.; Berlind, P.; Calkins, M.; Koff, R. A.; Kiyota, S.; Brimacombe, J.; Shappee, B. J.; Holoien, T. W.-S.; Thompson, T. A.; Stritzinger, M. D.

2018-04-01

We present photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations of the highly luminous Type Ibn supernova ASASSN-14ms, which was discovered on UT 2014-12-26.61 at mV ˜ 16.5. With a peak absolute V-band magnitude brighter than -20.5, a peak bolometric luminosity of 1.7 × 1044 erg s-1, and a total radiated energy of 2.1 × 1050 erg, ASASSN-14ms is one of the most luminous Type Ibn supernovae yet discovered. In simple models, the most likely power source for this event is a combination of the radioactive decay of 56Ni and 56Co at late times and the interaction of supernova ejecta with the progenitor's circumstellar medium at early times, although we cannot rule out the possibility of a magnetar-powered light curve. The presence of a dense circumstellar medium is indicated by the intermediate-width He I features in the spectra. The faint (mg ˜ 21.6) host galaxy SDSS J130408.52+521846.4 has an oxygen abundance below 12 + log (O/H) ≲ 8.3, a stellar mass of M* ˜ 2.6 × 108 M⊙, and a star formation rate of SFR ˜ 0.02 M⊙ yr-1.

Popliteal artery repair in massively transfused military trauma casualties: a pursuit to save life and limb.

PubMed

Fox, Charles J; Perkins, Jeremy G; Kragh, John F; Singh, Niten N; Patel, Bhavin; Ficke, James R

2010-07-01

Popliteal artery war wounds can bleed severely and historically have high rates of amputation associated with ligation (72%) and repair (32%). More than before, casualties are now surviving the initial medical evacuation and presenting with severely injured limbs that prompt immediate limb salvage decisions in the midst of life-saving maneuvers. A modern analysis of current results may show important changes because previous limb salvage strategies were limited by the resuscitation and surgical techniques of their eras. Because exact comparisons between wars are difficult, the objective of this study was to calculate a worst-case (a pulseless, fractured limb with massive hemorrhage from popliteal artery injury) amputation-free survival rate for the most severely wounded soldiers undergoing immediate reconstruction to save both life and limb. We performed a retrospective study of trauma casualties admitted to the combat support hospital at Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, between 2003 and 2007. US military casualties requiring a massive transfusion (> or = 10 blood units transfused within 24 hours of injury) were identified. We extracted data on the subset of casualties with a penetrating supra or infrageniculate popliteal arterial vascular injury. Demographics, injury mechanism, Injury Severity Score, tourniquet use, physiologic parameters, damage control adjuncts, surgical repair techniques, operative time, and outcomes (all-cause 30-day mortality, amputation rates, limb salvage failure, and graft patency) were investigated. Forty-six massively transfused male casualties, median age 24 years (range, 19-54 years; mean Injury Severity Score, 19 +/- 8.0), underwent immediate orthopedic stabilization and vascular reconstruction. There was one early death. The median operative time for the vascular repairs was 217 minutes (range, 94-630 minutes) and included all damage control procedures. Combined arterial and venous injuries occurred in 17 (37%). Ligation was performed for no arterial and 9 venous injuries. Amputations (transtibial or transfemoral) were considered limb salvage failures (14 of 48, 29.2%) and were grouped as immediate (< or = 48 hours, 5), early (>48 hours and < or = 30 days, 6), or late (>30 days, 3). Limb losses were from graft thrombosis, infection, or chronic pain. Combined arterial and venous injuries occurred in 17 (37%). Ligation was performed for no arterial and nine venous injuries. For a median follow-up (excluding death) of 48 months (range, 23-75 months), the amputation-free survival rate was 67%. This study, a worst-case study, showed comparable results to historical controls regarding limb salvage rates (71% for Iraq vs. 56-69% for the Vietnam War). Thirty-day survival (98%), 4-year amputation-free survival (67%), and complication-free rates (35%) fill knowledge gaps. Guidelines for managing popliteal artery injuries show promising results because current resuscitation practices and surgical care yielded similar amputation rates to prior conflicts despite more severe injuries. Significant transfusion requirements and injury severity may not indicate a life-over-limb strategy for popliteal arterial repairs. Future studies of limb salvage failures may help improve casualty care by reducing the complications that directly impact amputation-free survival.

When Health Information Meets Social Media: Exploring Virality on Sina Weibo.

PubMed

Liu, Xinchuan; Lu, Jia; Wang, Haiyan

2017-10-01

This study explored the impacts social media bring about on health communication. The impacts involved four factors: authority, privacy, evidence, and incentive appeals. They were adopted to predict virality of health messages on Sina Weibo in terms of retweeting, endorsing, and replying. A quantitative content analysis was conducted with a two-stage probability sample of 1,261 messages from 34 accounts. The results illustrated two modes Weibo users employed to process health information. The heuristic mode was used for retweeting that was sensitive to public messages, negative appeals, and nonprofessional authority. The systematic mode was used for endorsing and replying that were sensitive to private messages, positive appeals, and both professional and nonprofessional authorities.

The mystery of a supposed massive star exploding in a brightest cluster galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseinzadeh, Griffin

2017-08-01

Most of the diversity of core-collapse supernovae results from late-stage mass loss by their progenitor stars. Supernovae that interact with circumstellar material (CSM) are a particularly good probe of these last stages of stellar evolution. Type Ibn supernovae are a rare and poorly understood class of hydrogen-poor explosions that show signs of interaction with helium-rich CSM. The leading hypothesis is that they are explosions of very massive Wolf-Rayet stars in which the supernova ejecta excites material previously lost by stellar winds. These massive stars have very short lifetimes, and therefore should only found in actively star-forming galaxies. However, PS1-12sk is a Type Ibn supernova found on the outskirts of a giant elliptical galaxy. As this is extraordinary unlikely, we propose to obtain deep UV images of the host environment of PS1-12sk in order to map nearby star formation and/or find a potential unseen star-forming host. If star formation is detected, its amount and location will provide deep insights into the progenitor picture for the poorly-understood Type Ibn class. If star formation is still not detected, these observations would challenge the well-accepted hypothesis that these are core-collapse supernovae at all.

Impact de la varicocèle sur le volume testiculaire et les paramètres spermatiques

PubMed Central

Benazzouz, Mohamed Hicham; Essatara, Younes; El Sayegh, Hachem; Iken, Ali; Benslimane, Lounis; Nouini, Yassine

2014-01-01

Introduction La varicocèle est une pathologie masculine fréquente dont l'incidence est encore plus importante dans dans la population des hommes infertiles. Si ses mécanismes sont à ce jour incomplètement expliqués il semble acquis que la varicocèle peut être associée a une dysfonction testiculaire avec diminution du volume testiculaire et de la concentration en spermatozoïde de l’éjaculat. Méthodes Dans un premier temps nous exposons les résultats d'une étude rétrospective sur 5 ans (de Mars 2009 à Mars 2014), réalisée au service d'urologie A de l'hôpital Ibn Sina de Rabat et ayant comme objectif d’évaluer l'impact de la varicocèle palpable sur le volume testiculaire et les paramètres spermatiques. Tous les patients inclus dans notre étude avaient une varicocèle palpable. Dans un deuxième temps, et à travers une revue de la littérature nous discutons l'impact du traitement de la varicocèle sur la fertilité. Résultats 39 patients ont été inclus dans notre étude. L’âge moyen était de 29,71 ans et la varicocèle siégeait dans 89,74% des cas du coté gauche. Une atrophie testiculaire homolatérale à la varicocèle était retrouvée dans 7% des cas alors que des anomalies du spermogramme se voyaient dans 69,23% des cas. Conclusion L'impact de la varicocèle sur l'altération des paramètres spermatiques a été clairement établi bien que sa physio pathogénie ne soit pas bien élucidée. Le traitement chirurgical de la varicocèle semble indiqué chez les hommes infertiles présentant une varicocèle clinique et une altération significative du sperme. PMID:25918574

La prise en charge du pneumothorax spontané: à propos de 138 cas

PubMed Central

Habibi, Bouchra; Achachi, Leila; Hayoun, Sohaib; Raoufi, Mohammed; Herrak, Laila; Ftouh, Mustapha El

2017-01-01

Le pneumothorax est définit par la présence d’air dans la cavité pleurale. L’objectif de notre étude rétrospective du pneumothorax spontanés au servie de pneumologie à l’hôpital Ibn Sina rabat (2009-2011) est de déterminer le profil épidémiologique, clinique, radiologique, thérapeutique et évolutif. Il s’agit de 138 patients: 128 hommes et 10 femmes (17 à 83 ans), un âge moyen de 44,5 +/- 17,4 ans; sexe ratio 12/8. Le tabagisme est noté chez 81,2%. La symptomatologie clinique est la douleur thoracique (92%), la dyspnée (60%). Et sur la radiographie thoracique: on trouve un PNO (pneumothorax) unilatéral total (110 cas); partiel (10 cas); localisé (6 cas); bilatéral (4 cas); à droite dans 51,4% et à gauche dans 45,7%. On a recensé 70% de pneumothorax spontanés primitifs et 30% de PNO secondaire à (BPCO 44%, et tuberculose pulmonaire 39%). La prise en charge initiale est l’hospitalisation de tous les patients : le drainage thoracique (95%), l’exsufflation à l’aiguille (1%). Le repos et l’O2 (4%). Le retour du poumon à la paroi a été obtenu avant 10 jours chez 63%. L’évolution est favorable chez 89%. Et les complications immédiates: l’emphysème sous cutané (5 cas); une infection (6 cas) et 3 décès (arrêt cardio-respiratoire); les complications à distance sont les récidives dans 11,6%; une 1ère récidive chez 13 cas (drainage thoracique chez 11 cas et oxygénothérapie chez 2 cas) et une 2ème récidive chez 3 cas (recours à la chirurgie). Ce travail montre l’intérêt du drainage thoracique et la surveillance dans la prise en charge du pneumothorax pour éviter les complications et surtout pour éviter les récidives avec un éventuel recours à la chirurgie. PMID:28533875

107: REVIEW OF THE QUALITY HOSPITALS WEBSITES IN KHORASAN RAZAVI PROVINCE

PubMed Central

Dastani, Meisam; Sattari, Masoume

2017-01-01

Background and aims The aim of the present study is to present a clear vision of the quality status of Khorasan Razavi hospitals websites in four dimensions of content, performance, management and usage of the website. Methods This is a survey study. The sample consisted of 49 hospital websites of Khorasan Razavi province. The instrument was used check list including 21 components and four criteria (content, performance, management and how to use the website). Its validity and reliability have proved through previous studies. Also, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results The findings showed that only %59 of hospitals in Khorasan Razavi, has been active website. The overall Status of website showed that the most popular websites of the situation, too weak (%51), moderate (%26.5) and weak (%16.3), respectively. In relation to criteria content, study, management and how to usage of the website and design, the findings showed that %40.8 of websites had an unfavorable condition. Of the 16 high quality website selected, only three websites Sina Hospital in Mashhad, Javdoll-Aemeh in Mashhad and Razavi were in good condition and the other of the websites had weak condition. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that, yet most websites do not regard minimal medical standards and also, they could not establish good relationships with their audiences. In fact, in Iran, still regard to the quality and performance of websites has not been one of the priorities for improving service quality in hospitals. The findings of this study can be effective in the identification and development of hospital websites quality criteria in terms of design, content, performance and management and how to use.

Ibn al-Haytham and His Influence on Post-Medieval Western Culture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falco, Charles

Born in Basra in 965, but doing most of his work in Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, Ibn al-Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen or Alhacen) wrote nearly one hundred works on topics as diverse as optics, poetry and politics. For nearly four hundred years his treatment of a particular geometry of reflection from flat and curved surfaces has been known as ''Alhazen's problem,'' and today al-Haytham is primarily known for his writings on geometrical optics, astronomy, and mathematics. However, as I will discuss, with his landmark seven-volume Kitāb al-Manāzir [Book of Optics], published sometime between 1028 and 1038, al-Haytham made intellectual contributions that subsequently were incorporated throughout the core of post-Medieval Western culture. His seminal work on the human vision system initiated what remains an unbroken chain of development that connects 21st century optical scientists with the 11th century Ibn al-Haytham. The noted science historian, David Lindberg, wrote that ''Alhazen was undoubtedly the most significant figure in the history of optics between antiquity and the seventeenth century.'' Impressive and accurate as that characterization is, our recent discoveries show that it significantly understates the impact that al-Haytham had on areas as wide-ranging as the theology, literature, art, and science of Europe. Portions of this work was done in collaboration with David Hockney.

Social Media's Initial Reaction to Information and Misinformation on Ebola, August 2014: Facts and Rumors.

PubMed

Fung, Isaac Chun-Hai; Fu, King-Wa; Chan, Chung-Hong; Chan, Benedict Shing Bun; Cheung, Chi-Ngai; Abraham, Thomas; Tse, Zion Tsz Ho

2016-01-01

We analyzed misinformation about Ebola circulating on Twitter and Sina Weibo, the leading Chinese microblog platform, at the outset of the global response to the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic to help public health agencies develop their social media communication strategies. We retrieved Twitter and Sina Weibo data created within 24 hours of the World Health Organization announcement of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (Batch 1 from August 8, 2014, 06:50:00 Greenwich Mean Time [GMT] to August 9, 2014, 06:49:59 GMT) and seven days later (Batch 2 from August 15, 2014, 06:50:00 GMT to August 16, 2014, 06:49:59 GMT). We obtained and analyzed a 1% random sample of tweets containing the keyword Ebola. We retrieved all Sina Weibo posts with Chinese keywords for Ebola for analysis. We analyzed changes in frequencies of keywords, hashtags, and Web links using relative risk (RR) and c(2) feature selection algorithm. We identified misinformation by manual coding and categorizing randomly selected sub-datasets. We identified two speculative treatments (i.e., bathing in or drinking saltwater and ingestion of Nano Silver, an experimental drug) in our analysis of changes in frequencies of keywords and hashtags. Saltwater was speculated to be protective against Ebola in Batch 1 tweets but their mentions decreased in Batch 2 (RR=0.11 for "salt" and RR=0.14 for "water"). Nano Silver mentions were higher in Batch 2 than in Batch 1 (RR=10.5). In our manually coded samples, Ebola-related misinformation constituted about 2% of Twitter and Sina Weibo content. A range of 36%-58% of the posts were news about the Ebola outbreak and 19%-24% of the posts were health information and responses to misinformation in both batches. In Batch 2, 43% of Chinese microblogs focused on the Chinese government sending medical assistance to Guinea. Misinformation about Ebola was circulated at a very low level globally in social media in either batch. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of social media posts can provide relevant information to public health agencies during emergency responses.

Comparison of Lamiaceae medicinal uses in eastern Morocco and eastern Andalusia and in Ibn al-Baytar's Compendium of Simple Medicaments (13th century CE).

PubMed

El-Gharbaoui, Asmae; Benítez, Guillermo; González-Tejero, M Reyes; Molero-Mesa, Joaquín; Merzouki, Abderrahmane

2017-04-18

Transmission of traditional knowledge over time and across culturally and historically related territories is an important topic in ethnopharmacology. Here, we contribute to this knowledge by analysing data on medicinal uses in two neighbouring areas of the Western Mediterranean in relation to a historical text that has been scarcely mentioned in historical studies despite its interest. This paper discusses the sharing of popular knowledge on the medicinal uses of plants between eastern Morocco and eastern Andalusia (Spain), focusing on one of the most useful plant families in the Mediterranean area: Lamiaceae. Moreover, we used the classical work of Ibn al-Baytar (13th century CE) The Compendium of Simple Medicaments and Foods as a basis to contrast the possible link of this information, analysing the influence of this historical text on current popular tradition of medicinal plant use in both territories. For data collection, we performed ethnobotanical field research in the eastern part of Morocco, recording current medicinal uses for the Lamiaceae. In addition, we systematically reviewed the ethnobotanical literature from eastern Andalusia, developing a database. We investigated the possible historical link of the shared uses and included in this database the information from Ibn al-Baytar's Compendium. To compare the similarity and diversity of the data, we used Jaccard's similarity index. Our field work provided ethnobotanical information for 14 Lamiaceae species with 95 medicinal uses, serving to treat 13 different pathological groups. Of the total uses recorded in Morocco, 30.5% were shared by eastern Andalusia and found in Ibn al-Baytar's work. There was a higher similarity when comparing current uses of the geographically close territories of eastern Morocco and eastern Andalucía (64%) than for eastern Morocco and this historical text (43%). On the other hand, coincidences between current uses in eastern Andalusia and the ones related in the Compendium are lower, 28%. The coincidence of the current ethnobotanical knowledge in the two territories is high for the Lamiaceae. Probably the shared historical background, recent exchanges, information flow, and the influence of the historical herbal texts have influenced this coincidence. In this sense, there is a high plant-use overlap between Ibn al-Baytar's text and both territories: nearly half of the uses currently shared by eastern Morocco and eastern Andalusia were included in the Compendium and are related to this period of Islamic medicine, indicating a high level of preservation in the knowledge of plant usage. The study of 14 species of Lamiaceae suggests that this classical codex, which includes a high number of medicinal plants and uses, constitutes a valuable bibliographical source for comparing ancient and modern applications of plants. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of some essential element levels in thalassemia major patients in Mosul district, Iraq.

PubMed

Al-Samarrai, Abdulmunaim H; Adaay, Mohaisen H; Al-Tikriti, Khudhair A; Al-Anzy, Muayed M

2008-01-01

To evaluate the levels of some essential elements in thalassemic patients in Mosul, Iraq. One hundred and five thalassemic blood transfusion dependent children, 2.5-18 years of age attending Ibn-Al-Atheer teaching hospital in Mosul City, Iraq, during 2005, were used in this study. Fifty-four healthy subjects served as a control group. Patients were allocated in a non-randomized prospective cross-sectional hospital based study. Essential elements levels were estimated. The mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficient, and z-test were used. P-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Low serum zinc, and magnesium, and high serum copper, and potassium levels were found among the 105 thalassemic patients compared to the 54 controls. Levels of calcium, phosphate, and sodium were within normal limits. Fluctuations in the essential elements levels seem to be related to the different complications associated with the disease. Zinc deficiency may be attributed to hyperzincuria resulted from the release of Zn from hemolyzed red cells. Hypercupremia occurs in acute and chronic infections and hemochromatosis, which is a principal complication of thalassemia. Increased Na levels may be due to renal damage. Hypomagnesemia may occur due to hypoparathyroidism.

Predicting the Trends of Social Events on Chinese Social Media.

PubMed

Zhou, Yang; Zhang, Lei; Liu, Xiaoqian; Zhang, Zhen; Bai, Shuotian; Zhu, Tingshao

2017-09-01

Growing interest in social events on social media came along with the rapid development of the Internet. Social events that occur in the "real" world can spread on social media (e.g., Sina Weibo) rapidly, which may trigger severe consequences and thus require the government's timely attention and responses. This article proposes to predict the trends of social events on Sina Weibo, which is currently the most popular social media in China. Based on the theories of social psychology and communication sciences, we extract an unprecedented amount of comprehensive and effective features that relate to the trends of social events on Chinese social media, and we construct the trends of prediction models by using three classical regression algorithms. We found that lasso regression performed better with the precision 0.78 and the recall 0.88. The results of our experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

Effects of ion irradiation on the mechanical properties of SiNa wO xC yH z sol-gel derived thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucca, D. A.; Qi, Y.; Harriman, T. A.; Prenzel, T.; Wang, Y. Q.; Nastasi, M.; Dong, J.; Mehner, A.

2010-10-01

A study of the effects of ion irradiation of hybrid organic/inorganic modified silicate thin films on their mechanical properties is presented. NaOH catalyzed SiNa wO xC yH z thin films were synthesized by sol-gel processing from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) precursors and spin-coated onto Si substrates. After drying at 300 °C, the films were irradiated with 125 keV H + or 250 keV N 2+ at fluences ranging from 1 × 10 14 to 2.5 × 10 16 ions/cm 2. Nanoindentation was used to characterize the films. Changes in hardness and reduced elastic modulus were examined as a function of ion fluence and irradiating species. The resulting increases in hardness and reduced elastic modulus are compared to similarly processed acid catalyzed silicate thin films.

The Chara-Sina dyke swarm in the structure of the Middle Paleozoic Vilyui rift system (Siberian Craton)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiselev, A. I.; Konstantinov, K. M.; Yarmolyuk, V. V.; Ivanov, A. V.

2016-11-01

The formation of the Vilyui rift system in the eastern Siberian Craton was finished with breakdown of the continent and formation of its eastern margin. A characteristic feature of this rift system is the radial distribution of dyke swarms of basic rocks. This peculiarity allows us to relate it to the breaking processes above the mantle plume, the center of which was located in the region overlain in the modern structure by the foreland of the Verkhoyan folded-thrust belt. The Chara-Sina dyke swarm is the southern part of a large area of Middle Paleozoic basaltic magmatism in the eastern Siberian Craton. The OIB-like geochemical characteristics of dolerite allow us to suggest that the melting substrate for Middle Paleozoic basaltic magmatism was represented by a relatively homogeneous, mid-depleted mantle of the plume with geochemical parameters similar to those of OIB.

Footprints of "experiment" in early Arabic optics.

PubMed

Kheirandish, Elaheh

2009-01-01

This study traces the early developments of the concept of experiment with a view of extending the subject in both content and approach. It extends the content of the subject slightly backward, prior to the methodological breakthroughs of the Optics of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen or Alhacen, d. ca. 1040), which are credited as a "significant landmark in the history of experimental science." And it extends the approach to the subject slightly forward, from the premise that early science was "largely carried out in books," to a close examination of the books through which the footprints of'experiment' may be traced. The point of departure is the Optics of Ahmad ibn 'Isă, a revealing text for the early developments of concepts such as 'demonstration' and 'experiment', and one through which some modern discussions are examined and extended with reference to this and other historical sources.

Artificial MicroRNA-Based Specific Gene Silencing of Grain Hardness Genes in Polyploid Cereals Appeared to Be Not Stable Over Transgenic Plant Generations

PubMed Central

Gasparis, Sebastian; Kała, Maciej; Przyborowski, Mateusz; Orczyk, Waclaw; Nadolska-Orczyk, Anna

2017-01-01

Gene silencing by RNA interference is a particularly important tool in the study of gene function in polyploid cereal species for which the collections of natural or induced mutants are very limited. Previously we have been testing small interfering RNA-based approach of gene silencing in wheat and triticale. In this research, artificial microRNAs (amiRs) were studied in the same species and the same target genes to compare effectiveness of both gene silencing pathways. amiR cassettes were designed to silence Puroindoline a (Pina) and Puroindoline b (Pinb) hardness genes in wheat and their orthologues Secaloindoline a (Sina) and Secaloindoline b (Sinb) genes in triticale. Each of the two cassettes contained 21 nt microRNA (miR) precursor derived from conserved regions of Pina/Sina or Pinb/Sinb genes, respectively. Transgenic plants were obtained with high efficiency in two cultivars of wheat and one cultivar of triticale after using the Pinb-derived amiR vector for silencing of Pinb or Sinb, respectively. Lack of transgenic plants in wheat or very low transformation efficiency in triticale was observed using the Pina-derived amiR cassette, despite large numbers of embryos attempted. Silencing of Pinb in wheat and Sinb in triticale was highly efficient in the T1 generation. The transcript level of Pinb in wheat was reduced up to 92% and Sinb in triticale was reduced up to 98%. Moreover, intended silencing of Pinb/Sinb with Pinb-derived amiR cassette was highly correlated with simultaneous silencing of Pina/Sina in the same transgenic plants. High downregulation of Pinb/Pina genes in T1 plants of wheat and Sinb/Sina genes in T1 plants of triticale was associated with strong expression of Pinb-derived amiR. Silencing of the target genes correlated with increased grain hardness in both species. Total protein content in the grains of transgenic wheat was significantly lower. Although, the Pinb-derived amiR cassette was stably inherited in the T2 generation of wheat and triticale the silencing effect including strongly decreased expression of silenced genes as well as strong expression of Pinb-derived amiR was not transmitted. Advantages and disadvantages of posttranscriptional silencing of target genes by means of amiR and siRNA-based approaches in polyploid cereals are discussed. PMID:28119710

Introduction to the special issue from the 2014 meeting of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.

PubMed

Young, Jared W; Hall, F Scott; Pletnikov, Mikhail; Kent, Stephen

2015-11-01

In 2013, President Obama launched what has been optimistically described as the "decade of the brain". The launch of this effort comes on the back of widespread acknowledgement that more is required to aid those suffering from mental health disorders. Specifically, a greater understanding of the neural circuitry related to behaviors specific to mental health disorders is needed. The field of research that relates the circuitry of the brain to specific aspects of behavior is referred to as behavioral neuroscience. The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) was founded in 1992 specifically to meet on an annual basis and present the latest research findings in this field, and to gather together the international research community to discuss issues important for the development and progress of this scientific discipline. This special issue includes reviews of topics of emerging interest and advancing knowledge in behavioral neuroscience, based on symposia presented at the 2014 IBNS meeting. Topics discussed at the annual IBNS meeting ranged from investigations of the neural mechanisms underlying bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, traumatic brain injury, and risk-taking behavior, to behavioral consequences of obesity and immune dysfunction. Novel treatment areas are covered such as the use of deep brain stimulation, as well as investigation of the behavioral impacts of nicotine withdrawal and how this research will influence the development of nicotine cessation treatments. Hence, this special issue covers a wide-range of topics in behavioral neuroscience offering an insight into the challenges faced by researchers in this decade of the brain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trends in Childhood Leukemia in Basrah, Iraq, 1993–2007

PubMed Central

Lafta, Riyadh; Hassan, Jenan; Davis, Scott; Mirick, Dana; Takaro, Tim

2010-01-01

Objectives. Through a sister-university relationship between the University of Basrah and the University of Washington, we analyzed Ibn Ghazwan Hospital's leukemia registry data to evaluate trends in childhood leukemia since 1993. Methods. We documented leukemia cases among children aged 0 to 14 years for each of the last 15 years. Population data were obtained from a 1997 census and various subsequent estimates to calculate rates. Results. We observed 698 cases of childhood leukemia between 1993 and 2007, ranging between 15 cases (2.6 per 100 000 annual rate) in the first year and 56 cases (6.9 per 100 000 annual rate) in the final year, reaching a peak of 97 cases in 2006 (12.2 per 100 000 annual rate). Conclusions. Childhood leukemia rates in Basrah more than doubled over a 15-year period. The test for trend was significant (P = .03). Basrah's childhood leukemia rate compared unfavorably with neighboring Kuwait and nearby Oman, as well as the United States, the European Union, and other countries. PMID:20167894

[Retrospective study of neuromeningeal cryptococcosis in patients infected with HIV in the infectious diseases unit of university hospital of Casablanca, Morocco].

PubMed

Dollo, I; Marih, L; El Fane, M; Es-Sebbani, M; Sodqi, M; Oulad Lahsen, A; Chakib, A; El Kadioui, F; Hamdani, A; El Mabrouki, M J; Soussi Abdallaoui, M; Karima, Z; Hassoune, S; Maaroufi, A; Marhoum El Filali, K

2016-12-01

To report the cases of neuromeningeal cryptococcosis and to describe the clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and outcomes of patients. Retrospective study of 43 patients infected with HIV admitted from January first 2010 to June 30th 2015 in the infectious disease unit of UHC Ibn Rochd, for neuromeningeal cryptococcus. The mean frequency of neuromeningeal cryptococcosis in patients infected with HIV was 1.4%. The mean age was 39 years and a sex ratio of 1.38. The mean CD4 count was 70 cells/mm 3 . The diagnosis of HIV was revealed by neuromeningeal cryptococcus in 77% of cases. Fifteen days interval was reported between the first symptom and hospital admission. Headache (77%) was the most represented clinical sign. The cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed hypoglycorachy (67%), hyperproteinorachy (65%) and lymphocytosis (63%). Chinese ink direct examination for Cryptococcus neoformans in CSF was positive in 86% of cases and all cases were positive after culture on Sabouraud's medium. Patients were treated with monotherapy amphotericin B (42%) or fluconazole (28%) and bitherapy amphotéricine B/fluconazole (28%). Fatal evolution was observed in 60% of cases. Neuromeningeal cryptococcosis remains a severe opportunistic infection in HIV patients with a heavy mortality rate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

[A pilot study of differences in behavioral and linguistic characteristics between Sina suicide microblog users and Sina microblog users without suicide idea].

PubMed

Guan, Li; Hao, Bibo; Liu, Tianli; Cheng, Qijin; Yip, Paul Siu Fai; Zhu, Tingshao

2015-05-01

To investigate how suicide microblog users in China "act" and "speak" differently from other microblog users without suicide idea. The suicide group consisted of 31 Chinese microblog users identified as suicide via online information provided by a Sina microblog user, and the control group consisted of 30 active microblog users without suicide idea screened by using suicide-related psychological scales. The differences in 10 microblog use behavioral characteristics and 88 linguistic characteristics between the suicide group and the control group were compared with normality test and rank sum test respectively. In the behavioral characteristics, the suicide group used hyperlinks and "@" less frequently than the control group [0.04 (0.04) vs. 0.06 (0.04), P=0.029; 0.60 (0.27) vs. 0.69 (0.18), P=0.028], and was more self-focused [0.47 (0.25) vs. 0.30 (0.10), P=0.010]. In the linguistic characteristics, the suicide group showed less frequency in using measure word, work related word and apostrophe than the control group (P<0.05), and showed more frequency in using pronoun, personal pronoun, third person singular, non-specific pronoun, word expressing social experience, word expressing anxiety, word expressing exclusion, sexual word, religious word, second person singular, human being related word, negative emotion related word, anger related word, sadness or death related word (P<0.05). Suicides seemed to interact less with others, showed more self-concern and more negative expressions, use more cognitively exclusive, death-related, religion-related words, and use less work-related words. The results of this study might be helpful for the research on suicide among netizen.

Media and public reactions toward vaccination during the 'hepatitis B vaccine crisis' in China.

PubMed

Chen, Bin; Zhang, Jueman Mandy; Jiang, Zhenggang; Shao, Jian; Jiang, Tao; Wang, Zhengting; Liu, Kui; Tang, Siliang; Gu, Hua; Jiang, Jianmin

2015-04-08

Public disputations affected vaccine confidence and vaccine rates particularly when adverse events occur. The vigorous development of Internet in China provides an opportunity to observe public reaction and sentiment toward vaccination when Kangtai Hepatitis B vaccine crisis happened and evolved to a widespread debate on the internet from December 12, 2013 to January 3, 2014. This study conducted Internet surveillance by examining three daily indicators including the daily number of relevant online news article, Sina Weibo posts and Baidu search index during the crisis. We also analyzed the sentiments of relevant original microblog posts collected from Sina Weibo platform in the crisis. A total of 17 infant deaths were reported to associated with Hepatitis B vaccination. Three major waves of high media and public attention were detected. The daily indicators reached their peaks in the second wave after the relevant vaccine was suspended by the authority (from December 20 to December 29, 2013) with 23,200 daily online news reports, 34,018 Sina Weibo posts and 17,832 Baidu search indices. There were significant correlations between the daily amount of online news, Weibo posts, and Baidu searches (p<.001). The contents analysis suggested 1343 out of 1608 (83.5%) original Weibo posts expressed negative sentiment with almost 90% in the second wave. This study found the Kangtai vaccine crisis raised great public attention and negative sentiment toward vaccinations on the internet in China. Policy change such as suspension of the suspected vaccine might trigger even greater reaction and more negative sentiment. The government should provide ways to address emerging public concerns after policy change to avoid misinformation and misunderstanding during such a vaccine crisis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design and performance evaluation of the imaging payload for a remote sensing satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abolghasemi, Mojtaba; Abbasi-Moghadam, Dariush

2012-11-01

In this paper an analysis method and corresponding analytical tools for design of the experimental imaging payload (IMPL) of a remote sensing satellite (SINA-1) are presented. We begin with top-level customer system performance requirements and constraints and derive the critical system and component parameters, then analyze imaging payload performance until a preliminary design that meets customer requirements. We consider system parameters and components composing the image chain for imaging payload system which includes aperture, focal length, field of view, image plane dimensions, pixel dimensions, detection quantum efficiency, and optical filter requirements. The performance analysis is accomplished by calculating the imaging payload's SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), and imaging resolution. The noise components include photon noise due to signal scene and atmospheric background, cold shield, out-of-band optical filter leakage and electronic noise. System resolution is simulated through cascaded modulation transfer functions (MTFs) and includes effects due to optics, image sampling, and system motion. Calculations results for the SINA-1 satellite are also presented.

Mentalizing and Information Propagation through Social Network: Evidence from a Resting-State-fMRI Study.

PubMed

Zhang, Huijun; Mo, Lei

2016-01-01

Microblogs is one of the main social networking channels by which information is spread. Among them, Sina Weibo is one of the largest social networking channels in China. Millions of users repost information from Sina Weibo and share embedded emotion at the same time. The present study investigated participants' propensity to repost microblog messages of positive, negative, or neutral valence, and studied the neural correlates during resting state with the reposting rate of each type microblog messages. Participants preferred to repost negative messages relative to positive and neutral messages. Reposting rate of negative messages was positively correlated to the functional connectivity of temporoparietal junction (TPJ) with insula, and TPJ with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results indicate that reposting negative messages is related to conflict resolution between the feeling of pain/disgust and the intention to repost significant information. Thus, resposting emotional microblog messages might be attributed to participants' appraisal of personal and recipient's interest, as well as their cognitive process for decision making.

Holding or Breaking with Ptolemy's Generalization: Considerations about the Motion of the Planetary Apsidal Lines in Medieval Islamic Astronomy.

PubMed

Mozaffari, S Mohammad

2017-03-01

Argument In the Almagest, Ptolemy finds that the apogee of Mercury moves progressively at a speed equal to his value for the rate of precession, namely one degree per century, in the tropical reference system of the ecliptic coordinates. He generalizes this to the other planets, so that the motions of the apogees of all five planets are assumed to be equal, while the solar apsidal line is taken to be fixed. In medieval Islamic astronomy, one change in this general proposition took place because of the discovery of the motion of the solar apogee in the ninth century, which gave rise to lengthy discussions on the speed of its motion. Initially Bīrūnī and later Ibn al-Zarqālluh assigned a proper motion to it, although at different rates. Nevertheless, appealing to the Ptolemaic generalization and interpreting it as a methodological axiom, the dominant idea became to extend it in order to include the motion of the solar apogee as well. Another change occurred after correctly making a distinction between the motion of the apogees and the rate of precession. Some Western Islamic astronomers generalized Ibn al-Zarqālluh's proper motion of the solar apogee to the apogees of the planets. Analogously, Ibn al-Shāṭir maintained that the motion of the apogees is faster than precession. Nevertheless, the Ptolemaic generalization in the case of the equality of the motions of the apogees remained untouchable, despite the notable development of planetary astronomy, in both theoretical and observational aspects, in the late Islamic period.

Mental Maps and Ethnocentrism: Geographic Characterizations in the Past.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elliott, Harold M.

1979-01-01

Reexamines geographic thought regarding ethnocentrism as expressed in the writings including Ellen Churchill Semple, Hendrick Willem Van Loon, Ellsworth Huntington, Roswell C. Smith, J. Olney, Henry Thomas Buckle, Georg Friedrich Hegel, Johann Gottfried Von Herder, Charles de Montesquieu, Ibn Khaldun, and Hippocrates. (DB)

78 FR 66989 - Designation of Six Individuals and Four Entities Pursuant to Executive Order 13581, “Blocking...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-07

... 86483143 (Russia); Public Registration Number 1087746669845 (Russia) [TCO]. 2. FASTEN TOURISM LLC (a.k.a. FASTEN TOURISM DUBAI; a.k.a. FASTEN TOURS LLC), P.O. Box 19583, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 171 Omar Ibn...

Islamic Medicine and Evolutionary Medicine: A Comparative Analysis

PubMed Central

Saniotis, Arthur

2012-01-01

The advent of evolutionary medicine in the last two decades has provided new insights into the causes of human disease and possible preventative strategies. One of the strengths of evolutionary medicine is that it follows a multi-disciplinary approach. Such an approach is vital to future biomedicine as it enables for the infiltration of new ideas. Although evolutionary medicine uses Darwinian evolution as a heuristic for understanding human beings’ susceptibility to disease, this is not necessarily in conflict with Islamic medicine. It should be noted that current evolutionary theory was first expounded by various Muslim scientists such as al-Jāḥiẓ, al-Ṭūsī, Ibn Khaldūn and Ibn Maskawayh centuries before Darwin and Wallace. In this way, evolution should not be viewed as being totally antithetical to Islam. This article provides a comparative overview of Islamic medicine and Evolutionary medicine as well as drawing points of comparison between the two approaches which enables their possible future integration. PMID:23864992

Islamic medicine and evolutionary medicine: a comparative analysis.

PubMed

Saniotis, Arthur

2012-01-01

The advent of evolutionary medicine in the last two decades has provided new insights into the causes of human disease and possible preventative strategies. One of the strengths of evolutionary medicine is that it follows a multi-disciplinary approach. Such an approach is vital to future biomedicine as it enables for the infiltration of new ideas. Although evolutionary medicine uses Darwinian evolution as a heuristic for understanding human beings' susceptibility to disease, this is not necessarily in conflict with Islamic medicine. It should be noted that current evolutionary theory was first expounded by various Muslim scientists such as al-Jāḥiẓ, al-Ṭūsī, Ibn Khaldūn and Ibn Maskawayh centuries before Darwin and Wallace. In this way, evolution should not be viewed as being totally antithetical to Islam. This article provides a comparative overview of Islamic medicine and Evolutionary medicine as well as drawing points of comparison between the two approaches which enables their possible future integration.

The "Prince of Medicine": Yūhannā ibn Māsawayh and the foundations of the western pharmaceutical tradition.

PubMed

De Vos, Paula

2013-12-01

This essay examines three medieval pharmaceutical treatises purportedly authored by Yūhannā ibn Māsawayh (anglicized to John Mesue) and traces their immense influence on the development of pharmacy in early modem Europe and the Hispanic world. Despite the importance of these works throughout the early modern period, Mesue is relatively unknown in the history of pharmacy and medicine, and his exact identity remains unclear. This essay argues that "Mesue" was most likely a pseudonym used by an unknown author of the Latin West and that the three works were crafted to meet the demands of the developing "medical marketplace" of late thirteenth-century Europe, where the manuscripts first appeared. At the same time, however, as the Arabic reference of the pseudonym suggests, these treatises were clearly products of the medieval Islamic world, including many innovations that would provide the basis for the theory and practice of pharmacy for centuries and arguably formed part of the artisanal epistemological influence on the Scientific Revolution.

77 FR 40059 - Findings of Research Misconduct

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-06

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Office of the Secretary Findings of Research Misconduct... Research Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in the following case: Sinae Kim, Ph.D., Emory University..., Department of Medicine, EU, engaged in research misconduct in research supported by National Heart, Lung, and...

Assessing Higher Education Learning Outcomes in Brazil

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pedrosa, Renato H. L.; Amaral, Eliana; Knobel, Marcelo

2013-01-01

Brazil has developed an encompassing system for quality assessment of higher education, the National System of Higher Education Evaluation (SINAES), which includes a test for assessing learning outcomes at the undergraduate level, the National Exam of Student Performance (ENADE). The present system has been running since 2004, and also serves as…

Functional interactivity in social media: an examination of Chinese health care organizations' microblog profiles.

PubMed

Jiang, Shaohai

2017-09-08

Social media hold enormous potentials as a communication tool for health care due to its interactive nature. However, prior research mainly focused on contingency interactivity of social media, by examining messages sent from health care organizations to audiences, while little is known about functional interactivity, which refers to social media's presence of functions for facilitating communication between users and its interface. That is, how health care organizations use interactive features on social media to communicate with the public. Thus, with a general basis of the functional interactivity framework proposed by Waters et al. (Engaging stakeholders through social networking: how nonprofit organizations are using Facebook. Pub Relat Rev 2009;35:102-106), the current study investigated three aspects of functional interactivity in microblogging, and its subsequent effects. Specifically, this study analyzed 500 Chinese hospitals' profiles on Sina Weibo, the most popular microblogging platform in China. The results showed that the most common functional interactivity feature was organization disclosure, followed by information dissemination, and audience involvement. These interactive features all positively predicted the number of followers. Also, Chinese private hospitals scored significantly higher than public hospitals to use interactive features offered by social media. The findings of this study provide important implications for health care organizations to understand new communicative functions available on social media, incorporate more functions into their profiles and thus provide audiences with greater opportunity to interact with them via social media. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Integration of Project-Based Methodology into Teaching in Machine Translation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madkour, Magda

2016-01-01

This quantitative-qualitative analytical research aimed at investigating the effect of integrating project-based teaching methodology into teaching machine translation on students' performance. Data was collected from the graduate students in the College of Languages and Translation, at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi…

Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martz, Carlton

2001-01-01

This publication explores issues related to Africa. It examines the U.S. response to the Barbary pirate states (Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli) in the early 19th century; the current AIDS crisis in Africa; and 14th century Mali and other Islamic lands through the eyes of Ibn Battuta, who traveled throughout the Muslim world. Each article…

Web Based Parallel Programming Workshop for Undergraduate Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcus, Robert L.; Robertson, Douglass

Central State University (Ohio), under a contract with Nichols Research Corporation, has developed a World Wide web based workshop on high performance computing entitled "IBN SP2 Parallel Programming Workshop." The research is part of the DoD (Department of Defense) High Performance Computing Modernization Program. The research…

Validity of Arabic version of the two-question Quick Inventory of Depression (QID-2-Ar): Screening for multiple sclerosis in an Arab environment and during the Syrian war.

PubMed

Kubitary, A; Alsaleh, M A

2018-03-01

This study aimed to validate the Arabic version of the two-question Quick Inventory of Depression (QID-2-Ar) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients living in Syria during the war. A total of 100 Syrian MS patients, aged 18-60 years, were recruited at Damascus Hospital and Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital to validate the QID-2-Ar, including analyses of its screening test parameters and its construct validity. The QID-2-Ar screening parameters for depression tested very positively, and its construct validity was also favorable (P<0.01). The QID-2-Ar is a good screening test for detecting depression. Using a threshold score of ≥1 rather than 2 resulted in more depressed patients being correctly identified. The Arabic version of the QID-2-Ar also has highly favorable psychometric properties. It is valid for assessing depression, especially the two main depressive symptoms (depressive mood and anhedonia) listed in DSM-V. This is a useful tool for researchers and practitioners, and a threshold score of 2 on the QID-2-Ar is recommended to be more certain that all those with depression are detected without having to use a complete depression questionnaire such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A Study of Users with Suicidal Ideation on Sina Weibo.

PubMed

Wang, Zheng; Yu, Guang; Tian, Xianyun; Tang, Jingyun; Yan, Xiangbin

2018-01-02

Suicide is a leading cause of death in China, and so suicide intervention on social media is an important issue in the field of public health. Sina Weibo (Weibo) is an emerging surveillance tool that may provide online assistance for users at the risk of suicide. Keyword-based methods and supervised classifiers were employed to conduct this research. A control group was established to explore the differences between Weibo users with suicidal ideation (USI) and the general population. A total of 114 USI were detected from 1 million active Weibo users. By studying the negative postings of these USI, disclosure of the reasons for their bad moods was the most common theme. The emotions of USI tend to be particularly down between 05:00 pm and midnight. Use of the first-person pronoun by Weibo USI is significantly frequent. Our findings may help to identify individuals with suicidal ideation who are not identified by the traditional clinical approach. Consequently, detecting and helping individuals who may be at risk of committing suicide may become more efficient.

Suicide in children and adolescents: a Tunisian perspective from 2009 to 2015.

PubMed

Majdoub, Wael; Mosbahi, Amal; Naouar, Maroua; Beji, Meriem; Mannai, Jihene; Turki, Elyes

2017-12-01

This study presents the characteristics of child and adolescent suicides which occurred in Kairouan, Tunisia. Data were collected from autopsy records of the Forensic Department of the University Hospital Ibn El Jazzar of Kairouan. General characteristics of suicides among children and adolescents (under the age of 18) between 2009 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 49 cases, with a female predominance (61.2%) and a mean age of 15.4 ± 2.1, were registered. Most of the victims were from rural areas (93.1%). In most cases, suicide occurred in the victim's home or the surrounding area (73.4%). The identified precipitating factors were family problems in 55.1%, and school issues in 12.2%. The most common suicide method was hanging (69.38%) for both genders, followed by self-immolation for males and poisoning for females, the majority using pesticides. This study offers useful information to understand the risk factors in Tunisian child and adolescent suicides and provides a basis for the development of urgently needed preventive strategies.

What are Chinese talking about in hot weibos?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yuan; Gao, Haoyu; Yang, Mingmin; Guan, Wanqiu; Ma, Haixin; Qian, Weining; Cao, Zhigang; Yang, Xiaoguang

2015-02-01

SinaWeibo is a Twitter-like social network service emerging in China recently. We analyzed the hot weibos (tweets), which exceed threshold of being reposted for 1000 times, from a data set of 650 million weibos during August 2009 and January 2012. We classified the hot weibos into eight categories, namely Entertainment & Fashion, Hot Social Events, Leisure & Mood, Life & Health, Seeking for Help, Sales Promotion, Fengshui & Fortune and Deleted weibos. There are several findings. Firstly, Leisure & Mood and Hot Social Events account for almost 65% of all the hot weibos. This may indicate a potential dual-structure of the current society of China: On the one hand, economy of the country as a whole is gaining sustaining growth, which enables people to enjoy a better life and spare more time on leisure and mood topics. On the other hand, there still exist considerable amount of serious social problems, such as government corruption and environmental pollution, which draw people's concern and worries all the time. Secondly, users' posting and reposting behaviors are associated with user profiles, namely: (1) Gender. Male users generate two thirds of hot weibos. (2) Verification status. Verified users contribute 46.5% of hot weibos, who comprise only 0.1% in SinaWeibo user population. Interestingly, 39.2% of the verified-user-generated weibos are written by SPA users (who generate weibos of a particular style, or in a consistent way, e.g. to say words of wisdom, 'chicken-soup-soul' like sentences, and jokes etc.). This complements the previous finding of Yu et al. (2012), implying that SinaWeibo is in an 'artificial inflation' not only on the reposting side but also on the posting side. Unfortunately, only 14.4% of the hot weibos are created by grassroots (not verified users). (3) Geographical location. Users from different areas of China show distinct posting and reposting behaviors, which partially reflect their indigenous cultures. Finally, homophily is also examined for people's reposting behaviors.

Two Development Theories: Ibn-I-Khaldoun and Wallerstein

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atousa, Amirabedini

2013-01-01

Purpose: Each day, many different people in different societies are striving within their daily work to advance society. Every society needs to create ideas for further development and in order to become recognised as developed. The purpose of this paper is to show how different cultures at different times created similar ideas and theories to…

Reason and Revelation for an Averroist Pursuit of "Convivencia" and Intercultural Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Habti, Driss

2011-01-01

Throughout medieval thought, a major issue raised was that of the relationship between religion and philosophy. Alternative frameworks see the problem as a conflict between faith and reason, tradition and speculation, mysticism and rationalism. The medieval Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd, or Averroes, (1126-98), who lived in medieval Spain, attempts…

Urinary bladder stone extraction and instruments compared in textbooks of Abul-Qasim Khalaf Ibn Abbas Alzahrawi (Albucasis) (930-1013) and Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu (1385-1470).

PubMed

Elcioglu, Omur; Ozden, Hilmi; Guven, Gul; Kabay, Sahin

2010-09-01

We investigated urinary bladder stone, surgical tools, and procedures in urologic sections of textbooks of Abul-Qasim Khalaf Ibn Abbas Alzahrawi (Albucasis) and Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu. In addition, we compared the relation of their textbooks with urologic surgery. Al-Tasreef Liman Aajaz Aan Al-Taaleef (Al-Tasreef), a surgery textbook written by Alzahrawi (who lived in Endulus between 930 and 1013) and Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye, written by Sabuncuoglu (who lived in Turkey between 1385 and 1470) were evaluated with regard to urinary bladder stone and surgical instruments. The textbooks give information about urinary bladder stones. They include definitions of diseases, etiologies, and surgical techniques, and describe surgical tools. Cerrahiyyetu'l Haniyye is a colorful miniaturized textbook. The urinary bladder stone section in Cerrahiyyetu'l Haniyye is the translation of Al-Tasreef with some additional information and illustrations. Surgical tools and procedures described by the two physicians have reached to our century. Tools and procedures invented by Alzahrawi come to the present day in similar or developed styles.

Public Response to "The MOOC Movement" in China: Examining the Time Series of Microblogging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jingjing; Perris, Kirk; Zheng, Qinhua; Chen, Li

2015-01-01

In China, microblogging is an extremely popular activity and is proving to be an effective mechanism to gauge perceptions about social phenomena. Between 2010 and 2015 Sina Weibo, China's largest microblogging website, generated 95,015 postings from 62,074 users referencing the term massive open online courses (MOOCs), a method of online course…

Can the United States Defeat Radical Islam

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-22

It strongly disapproves of idolatry, the popular cult of saints and tomb visitation. 11...twentieth century, Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), an Egyptian Islamic radical, referencing al-Wahhab, developed a modified concept of jahiliyya. In Qutb’s...It strongly disapproves of idolatry, the popular cult of saints and tomb visitation. When ibn Taymiyya was asked if the murderous. Mongols, who

Eight Sages over Five Centuries Share Oxygen's Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Severinghaus, John W.

2016-01-01

During the last century, historians have discovered that between the 13th and 18th centuries, at least six sages discovered that the air we breathe contains something that we need and use. Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288) in Cairo and Michael Servetus (1511-1553) in France accurately described the pulmonary circulation and its effect on blood color.…

The Introduction of Religious Charter Schools: A Cultural Movement in the Private School Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Marcia J. Harr; Cooper, Bruce S.

2009-01-01

Charter schools are opening, and religious associations are also sponsoring these schools since religious groups find private school tuitions to be high and prohibitive. This study includes studies of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a Minnesota Arabic charter school (Blaine and Inver Grove Heights, MN); Ben Gamla Charter School, a Florida English-Hebrew…

Electroencephalographic characteristics of Iranian schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Chaychi, Irman; Foroughipour, Mohsen; Haghir, Hossein; Talaei, Ali; Chaichi, Ashkan

2015-12-01

Schizophrenia is a prevalent psychiatric disease with heterogeneous causes that is diagnosed based on history and mental status examination. Applied electrophysiology is a non-invasive method to investigate the function of the involved brain areas. In a previously understudied population, we examined acute phase electroencephalography (EEG) records along with pertinent Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores for each patient. Sixty-four hospitalized patients diagnosed to have schizophrenia in Ebn-e-Sina Hospital were included in this study. PANSS and MMSE were completed and EEG tracings for every patient were recorded. Also, EEG tracings were recorded for 64 matched individuals of the control group. Although the predominant wave pattern in both patients and controls was alpha, theta waves were almost exclusively found in eight (12.5 %) patients with schizophrenia. Pathological waves in schizophrenia patients were exclusively found in the frontal brain region, while identified pathological waves in controls were limited to the temporal region. No specific EEG finding supported laterality in schizophrenia patients. PANSS and MMSE scores were significantly correlated with specific EEG parameters (all P values <0.04). Patients with schizophrenia demonstrate specific EEG patterns and show a clear correlation between EEG parameters and PANSS and MMSE scores. These characteristics are not observed in all patients, which imply that despite an acceptable specificity, they are not applicable for the majority of schizophrenia patients. Any deduction drawn based on EEG and scoring systems is in need of larger studies incorporating more patients and using better functional imaging techniques for the brain.

Discovering drugs for the treatment of Ebola virus

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-04

Discovering drugs for the treatment of Ebola virus Sandra L. Bixler, Allen J. Duplantier and Sina Bavari Address United States Army Medical...with the recent West African outbreak resulting in over 11,000 deaths. This review provides a summary of the status of drug discovery and development...disease, including small molecules, immunotherapeutics, host factors, and clinical disease management options. Introduction Drug development for

Characterizing Depression Issues on Sina Weibo.

PubMed

Tian, Xianyun; Batterham, Philip; Song, Shuang; Yao, Xiaoxu; Yu, Guang

2018-04-16

The prevalence of depression has increased significantly over the past few years both in developed and developing countries. However, many people with symptoms of depression still remain untreated or undiagnosed. Social media may be a tool to help researchers and clinicians to identify and support individuals who experience depression. More than 394,000,000 postings were collected from China's most popular social media website, Sina Weibo. 1000 randomly selected depression-related postings was coded and analyzed to learn the themes of these postings, and a text classifier was built to identify the postings indicating depression. The identified depressed users were compared with the general population on demographic characteristics, diurnal patterns, and patterns of emoticon usage. We found that disclosure of depression was the most popular theme; depression displayers were more engaged with social media compared to non-depression displayers, the depression postings showed geographical variations, depression displayers tended to be active during periods of leisure and sleep, and depression displayers used negative emoticons more frequently than non-depression displayers. This study offers a broad picture of depression references on China's social media, which may be cost effectively developed to detect and help individuals who may suffer from depression disorders.

Using social media for disaster emergency management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y. D.; Wang, T.; Ye, X. Y.; Zhu, J. Q.; Lee, J.

2016-06-01

Social media have become a universal phenomenon in our society (Wang et al., 2012). As a new data source, social media have been widely used in knowledge discovery in fields related to health (Jackson et al., 2014), human behaviour (Lee, 2014), social influence (Hong, 2013), and market analysis (Hanna et al., 2011). In this paper, we report a case study of the 2012 Beijing Rainstorm to investigate how emergency information was timely distributed using social media during emergency events. We present a classification and location model for social media text streams during emergency events. This model classifies social media text streams based on their topical contents. Integrated with a trend analysis, we show how Sina-Weibo fluctuated during emergency events. Using a spatial statistical analysis method, we found that the distribution patterns of Sina-Weibo were related to the emergency events but varied among different topics. This study helps us to better understand emergency events so that decision-makers can act on emergencies in a timely manner. In addition, this paper presents the tools, methods, and models developed in this study that can be used to work with text streams from social media in the context of disaster management.

Systematic Analysis of the Effects of Digital Plagiarism on Scientific Research: Investigating the Moroccan Context--Ibn Tofail University as Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ennam, Abdelghanie

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the phenomenon of "digital plagiarism" and its effects on scientific research in Moroccan universities. It subscribes itself in the recent research work that focuses on university students and Information Technology in this "soft age," if one may name it as such. Amid the catastrophic plummeting reading…

Memorizing the Words of God: Special Reference to 'Abdul Rahman Ibn Khaldun (D. 1406 A.D.)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bensaid, Benaouda; Machouche, Salah ben Tahar

2017-01-01

This study explores the position of the tradition of Qur'an memorization in the structure of Muslim primary education and intellectual hierarchy while drawing on the Khaldunian perspective regarding the problem of memorization versus comprehension of the Qur'an. This article concludes that the practice of Qur'an memorization is what shapes the…

Jihadist Cells and IED Capabilities in Europe: Assessing the Present and Future Threat to the West

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

provided cover and support for these activities—the Algerian Muhammad ibn al- Fat - mi, al-Shabli, al-‘Azizi, and Abu Dahdah himself.120 On May 26, al...158 haps the most shameful aspect of this entire affair, however, was the unwillingness of most Western newspapers, including in the United States, to

Assessment of vitamin K2 levels in osteoporotic patients: a case control study.

PubMed

Noori, Akram; Lashkari, Mahin; Oveisi, Sonia; Khair Khah, Mohamad Reza; Zargar, Ali

2014-07-14

The aim of this study was to measure the level of Vitamin K2 (Vit K2) in osteoporotic patients and individuals with normal bone density as controls. This case-control study was done in Outpatient Department of Rheumatology at Qazvin Boo-ali Sina Hospital in 2013. Participants were 50 patients with osteoporotic densitometry measured by DEXA (T score? -2.5) who were matched with 48 persons in control group with normal bone density (T score> -1). The level of Vit K2 in samples was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square test. The level of Vit K2 in patients with osteoporosis was not significantly different from the control group (Median: 75.95 vs. 71.35 nmol/L, respectively; P-value: 0.709). The authors determined cut-offs 75 percentile of vitamin K2 in all participants that was 85 nmol/L and percentages of persons in two groups were similar. Although Vit K2 level in patients with osteoporosis was not significantly different from the control group, further studies are necessary to confirm the association of osteoporosis and Vit K2.

Ultra-High Frequency Superconductive Devices

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-05-01

indicate that NbN, -,C sputtered from a Nb target in an Ar/ N1 /C4 ambient 4.s with inctions can be successfully employed as local oscillators at no...oic h eie austoe deece . Figurue oesotu o ja aA-te 3.riato Measehloa osciors sina htigh L eletoe tion~~~~~~~~~~~~~n frqunc ofqunc the shw nfgr

Ahdaf al-ta'lim al-fanni, al-tujari, al-zira'i, wal-sina'i (Vocational Education Objectives: Commercial, Agricultural and Industrial).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ministry of Education, Cairo (United Arab Republic).

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a publication outlining the objectives and problems of vocational education in the United Arab Republic. The data presented include both the general objectives of vocational education and the specific goals of each type. The goal of vocational education is to prepare…

Assessment and Evaluation of Higher Education in Business Management: An Analysis of the Brazilian Case in the Light of Social Learning Theory for Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brunstein, Janette; Jaime, Pedro; Curi, Denise Pereira; d'Angelo, Marcia Juliana; Mainardes, Emerson Wagner

2015-01-01

This article presents an analysis of Brazilian National System of Higher Education Assessment (SINAES) in the light of social learning for sustainability theory. The aim is to contribute to the advancement of debates surrounding education for sustainability and the improvement of public policy evaluation in higher education. The analysis is…

Large-scale landslide triggering mechanisms in Debre Sina area, Central Ethiopian Highlands at the western Afar rift margin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiros, T.; Wohnlich, S.; Hussien, B.

2017-12-01

The Central Highlands of Ethiopia have repeatedly experiencing large-scale landslide events. Debre Sina area is one of the most landslide prone areas located along the western Afar rift margin of Ethiopia, which is frequently affected by large-scale and deep-seated landslides. Despite that, urban and rural development is currently taking place in almost all constricted valleys as well as on the imposing cliffs. Therefore, understanding the major triggering factors and failure mechanisms in the Debre Sina area and surroundings is of critical importance. In the present study, we investigate the landslide in the area using geological and topographic analysis, structural settings, geophysical investigation (seismic refraction), rainfall data and seismicity. Furthermore, petrographical as well as X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis are conducted to explain the mineral composition of parent rock and its weathering products. The topographic analysis result revealed that the slope range from 100 - 400, with elevation of 1,800 - 2,500m, with aspect to east and southeast are highly prone to landslide. The seismic refraction method identified four main layers of geomaterials which contained a subsurface landslides anomaly within the layers. The results consist of clay, loosely cemented colluvial sediments and highly weathered agglomerates (1000-1500m/s) 7-15m, highly to moderately fractured porphyritic basalt, ignimbrite, rhyolite/trachyte and volcanic ash (1500-2500m/s) 10-30m, moderately to slightly fractured ignimbrite, rhyolite/trachyte and basalt (2500-3500m/s) 30-50m and very strong, massive, fresh rock/bed rock (>3500m/s) from 45m depth. The large-scale and deep-seated landslides problem in the study area appears to be caused by heavy rainfall, complex geology and rugged topography, the presence of geological structures oriented parallel to the rift margin N-S fault (NNE-SSW trending) of the central Ethiopian highlands and coinciding with the head scarp of the slides and seismicity. These findings could serve as a basis for planners and policy-makers, and will lead to an increased level of understanding of the natural geohazards problems in the country.

Yunus, Abu'l-Hasan ibn (950-1009)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murdin, P.

2000-11-01

Astronomer, born in Egypt, calculated trigonometric functions for use in astronomy and wrote an astronomical handbook, al-Zij al-Hakimi al-kabir, the Great Tables of Caliph al-Hakim, which contained observations made by Yunus, including 30 lunar eclipses used by SIMON NEWCOMB in his lunar theory. Yunus was also an astrologer, predicting the date of his own death in seven days' time. He made prepa...

Torture: A Feasible means for National Security Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-15

with sensory deprivation, stress, and hypnosis . Results as presented during testimony to Congress were unproductive and inconclusive (Miles 2006, 14...impaired concentration, impaired memory , difficulties in establishing trust and intimate relationships, increased risk of suicide, and fear of the medical...cite the fact that the prohibition on oppressing others is based on Jewish historical memories best summed up in the quote from ibn Ezra on Exodus 22

Israel's Quadrant: Weeping, Laughing, and the Measures of the Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Locci, A. A.

2011-06-01

In the Jewish culture of the Middle Ages, the astral bodies were constantly given a special attention. They were deeply admired in religious poetry, and studied and observed in scientific and technical works. In an elegy of an anonymous poet of the 11th century, which is usually read in the celebrations of the 9th day of Ab, constellations and stars share the grief for the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. Like the Israel Tribes, all constellations are said to weep; Pleiades and Orion are said to darken their face, the Scales turn asymmetrical, the pan of death overrides the pan of life; Scorpio is scared and trembles, Sagittarius turns his face back. Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon, born in Marseille in 1236, was physician, mathematician, and astronomer. He translated Euclides' Elements, the Treatise of the Armillar Sphere by Qusta ibn Luqa, the Treatise on the Astrolabe by abu al-Kasim Ahmad ibn al Saffar, and works of Ptolemy, Averroes, and Aristoteles. His most important work is the short treatise Rova' Israel ("Israel's Quadrant") which he later translated in Latin with the help of Armengaud from Blaise. In the first chapter, he discusses the Sun risings, the days of the month, the place of the Sun in the sky, and the lunar motion. In the second chapter, he discusses the relations between sunrise and sunset, between moonrise and moonset, and between solar year and lunar month. In the following chapters, he illustrates a technical device which he had developed and which he designates "Israel's Quadrant". This instrument could be used both for the sky and for the Earth, since it allowed to survey and measure the elevation of the stars, the elevation of terrestrial reliefs, and terrestrial horizontal distances. The quadrant is flat, and its area is that of a quarter of a circumference. This instrument was very versatile, it also allowed to calculate hours and time, and this favoured its exceptional diffusion. Thus, its name, "quadrant", was transferred to the visible surface of the clock, notwithstanding the fact that its shape is that of a complete circumference.

Discharge Against Medical Advice in the Pediatric Wards in Boo-ali Sina Hospital, Sari, Iran 2010.

PubMed

Mohseni Saravi, Benyamin; Reza Zadeh, Esmaeil; Siamian, Hasan; Yahghoobian, Mahboobeh

2013-12-01

Since children neither comprehended nor contribute to the decision, discharge against medical advice is a challenge of health care systems in the world. Therefore, the current study was designed to determine the rate and causes of discharge against medical advice. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done by reviewing the medical records by census method. Data was analyzed using SPSS software and x(2) statistics was used to determine the relationship between variables. The value of P<0.05 was considered significant. Rate of discharged against medical advice was 108 (2.2%). Mean of age and length of stay were 2.8±4 (SD).3 years old and 3.7±5.4 (SD) days, respectively. Totally, 95 patients (88.7%) had health insurance and 65 (60.2%) patients lived in urban areas. History of psychiatric disease and addiction in 22 (20.6%) of the parents were negative. In addition, 100 (92.3%) patients admitted for medical treatment and the others for surgery. The relationship of the signatory with patients (72.3%) was father. Of 108 patients discharged against medical advice, 20 (12%) were readmitted. The relationship between the day of discharge and discharge against medical advice was significant (ρ =0/03). Rate of discharge against medical advice in Boo-ali hospital is the same as the other studies in the same range. The form which is used for this purpose did not have suitable data elements about description of consequence of such discharge, and it has not shown the real causes of discharge against medical advice.

Barriers of the Development of Web-Based Training in Agricultural Higher Education System in Iran: A Case Study of Hamadan Bu Ali Sina University, Iran

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saadi, Heshmatollah; Mirzayi, Khalil; Movahedi, Reza

2016-01-01

Recently, higher education systems seek to use network-based and Internet-based information technologies in education, teaching and learning. E-learning in Iran higher education system has been started since 2003, however, its development has been very slow. The present study is a survey research. The participants of the study are faculty members,…

Tatwir al-ta'lim al-sina'i fi al-Jumhurriyah al-'arabiyah al-Muttahidah (Development of Industrial Education in the United Arab Republic).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ministry of Education, Cairo (United Arab Republic).

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a publication giving the steps to be taken to develop industrial education to conform to the socialist economic planning in the UAR. It is divided into eight sections dealing with various aspects of development: (1) curricula of technical schools; (2) general description…

Enrich the Physics Curriculum Scheduled for Students of Intermediate School E-Learning and Its Effectiveness in Scientific Thinking and Their Attitude towards the Development of Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hameed, Saddam Mohammed; Mohammed, Essam Mahmoud

2016-01-01

The current research aims know the effectiveness of enriching the physics curriculum for students in middle school electronic learning in the development of their thinking and scientific their direction towards physics, sample formed from second grade students in Sinae intermediate school 64 students (32) student as experimental group & (32)…

Mechanisms and Consequences of Ebolavirus-Induced Lymphocyte Apoptosis

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-31

PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR (S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES... authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Army. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Sina Bavari, U. S. Army Medical Research...common finding in many other hemorrhagic fever viruses, in- cluding Lassa, Marburg, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, and some Hantavirus infections

Using Social Media to Detect Outdoor Air Pollution and Monitor Air Quality Index (AQI): A Geo-Targeted Spatiotemporal Analysis Framework with Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter).

PubMed

Jiang, Wei; Wang, Yandong; Tsou, Ming-Hsiang; Fu, Xiaokang

2015-01-01

Outdoor air pollution is a serious problem in many developing countries today. This study focuses on monitoring the dynamic changes of air quality effectively in large cities by analyzing the spatiotemporal trends in geo-targeted social media messages with comprehensive big data filtering procedures. We introduce a new social media analytic framework to (1) investigate the relationship between air pollution topics posted in Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter) and the daily Air Quality Index (AQI) published by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection; and (2) monitor the dynamics of air quality index by using social media messages. Correlation analysis was used to compare the connections between discussion trends in social media messages and the temporal changes in the AQI during 2012. We categorized relevant messages into three types, retweets, mobile app messages, and original individual messages finding that original individual messages had the highest correlation to the Air Quality Index. Based on this correlation analysis, individual messages were used to monitor the AQI in 2013. Our study indicates that the filtered social media messages are strongly correlated to the AQI and can be used to monitor the air quality dynamics to some extent.

Modeling the heterogeneity of human dynamics based on the measurements of influential users in Sina Microblog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chenxu; Guan, Xiaohong; Qin, Tao; Yang, Tao

2015-06-01

Online social network has become an indispensable communication tool in the information age. The development of microblog also provides us a great opportunity to study human dynamics that play a crucial role in the design of efficient communication systems. In this paper we study the characteristics of the tweeting behavior based on the data collected from Sina Microblog. The user activity level is measured to characterize how often a user posts a tweet. We find that the user activity level follows a bimodal distribution. That is, the microblog users tend to be either active or inactive. The inter-tweeting time distribution is then measured at both the aggregate and individual levels. We find that the inter-tweeting time follows a piecewise power law distribution of two tails. Furthermore, the exponents of the two tails have different correlations with the user activity level. These findings demonstrate that the dynamics of the tweeting behavior are heterogeneous in different time scales. We then develop a dynamic model co-driven by the memory and the interest mechanism to characterize the heterogeneity. The numerical simulations validate the model and verify that the short time interval tweeting behavior is driven by the memory mechanism while the long time interval behavior by the interest mechanism.

Using Social Media to Detect Outdoor Air Pollution and Monitor Air Quality Index (AQI): A Geo-Targeted Spatiotemporal Analysis Framework with Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter)

PubMed Central

Tsou, Ming-Hsiang; Fu, Xiaokang

2015-01-01

Outdoor air pollution is a serious problem in many developing countries today. This study focuses on monitoring the dynamic changes of air quality effectively in large cities by analyzing the spatiotemporal trends in geo-targeted social media messages with comprehensive big data filtering procedures. We introduce a new social media analytic framework to (1) investigate the relationship between air pollution topics posted in Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter) and the daily Air Quality Index (AQI) published by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection; and (2) monitor the dynamics of air quality index by using social media messages. Correlation analysis was used to compare the connections between discussion trends in social media messages and the temporal changes in the AQI during 2012. We categorized relevant messages into three types, retweets, mobile app messages, and original individual messages finding that original individual messages had the highest correlation to the Air Quality Index. Based on this correlation analysis, individual messages were used to monitor the AQI in 2013. Our study indicates that the filtered social media messages are strongly correlated to the AQI and can be used to monitor the air quality dynamics to some extent. PMID:26505756

Impact of road traffic accidents on the elderly.

PubMed

Etehad, H; Yousefzadeh-Chabok, Sh; Davoudi-Kiakalaye, A; Moghadam Dehnadi, A; Hemati, H; Mohtasham-Amiri, Z

2015-01-01

Older adults are a vulnerable road user group with high mortality and morbidity in road crash. The aim of this study was to show pattern of road traffic injuries in this special aging group. In a cross sectional study, pre-hospital emergency system reports, hospital and police records of all motor vehicle collisions injured above 60 years old who were admitted to Pour-Sina hospital from April 2011 to March 2012 were studied. Demographic data, characteristic of road traffic incidents and in-hospital medical profiles were derived. Data were analyzed with SPSS ver. 18. Differences between demographic and injuries situation were calculated by chi square test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. One thousand three-hundred six old injured were admitted during study period that this amount accounted for 8.7% of total road accident injured. Mean age of them was 70.9 ± 6.7 years. Most of them were male (74.7%). 40.5% were pedestrians, 22.1% were car occupants and 19.1% were motorcyclists.76.7% had multiple trauma. Head and neck were the most prevalent regions of injured. Total in-hospital mortality rate was 10.1% that was higher in old elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists in comparison to young elderly (16.1% vs. 7.9%) and other type of victims (ρ<0.000). One thousand three-hundred six old injured were admitted during study period that this amount accounted for 8.7% of total road accident injured. Mean age of them was 70.9 ± 6.7 years. Most of them were male (74.7%). 40.5% were pedestrians, 22.1% were car occupants and 19.1% were motorcyclists.76.7% had multiple trauma. Head and neck were the most prevalent regions of injured. Total in-hospital mortality rate was 10.1% that was higher in old elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists in comparison to young elderly (16.1% vs. 7.9%) and other type of victims (ρ<0.000). High mortality rate of road traffic injuries in this group especially in pedestrians should be taken into consideration and strategies aimed at the road-user safety including periodic medical examination and improvement of road structure and facilities. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

[Acute renal failure requiring haemodialysis in obstetrics].

PubMed

Miguil, Mohamed; Salmi, Said; Moussaid, Ihssane; Benyounes, Ramdani

2011-06-01

Acute renal failure (ARF) requiring hemodialysis is a rare complication of pregnancy in western world, but in developing countries, it is still frequent. The objective of this study was to determine the epidemiology, etiologies, clinical data and outcomes for pregnant women with ARF requiring dialysis. We studied the records of 58 patients with ARF who had needed dialysis in the obstetric intensive care unit of the maternity teaching hospital of Ibn Rochd (Casablanca) between January 1st 2002 and 31st December 2008. Anterior renal diseases and post-renal causes were excluded. Epidemiological, clinical, biological data were recorded, the outcome of patients were studied 1 and 3 months after discharge from hospital. The incidence of ARF in our unit was 9.87 per 10,000 pregnancies; and constitutes 2.49% of all admissions in the obstetric ICU. The mean age and parity were respectively 28±7 years and 2.82. Main aetiology was preeclampsia-eclampsia (39 cases: 67.2%), haemorrhage (15 cases: 25.9%), sepsis (five cases: 8.6%), fetal death, (two cases: 3.6%) and acute fatty liver (one patient: 1.8%). Often, several causes were associated. In one case, we found no evident cause despite radiological imaging and histological exam. Recovery is faster in pre-eclampsia than others causes. The outcomes included renal recovery in 42 cases (72.4%), chronic renal failure in four cases (6.9%). Mortality rate was 13.8% (eight deaths). Preventive and early management of obstetrical complications could improve pregnancy-associated ARF. Copyright © 2010 Association Société de néphrologie. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Pre-modern Islamic medical ethics and Graeco-Islamic-Jewish embryology.

PubMed

Ghaly, Mohammed

2014-02-01

This article examines the, hitherto comparatively unexplored, reception of Greek embryology by medieval Muslim jurists. The article elaborates on the views attributed to Hippocrates (d. ca. 375 BC), which received attention from both Muslim physicians, such as Avicenna (d. 1037), and their Jewish peers living in the Muslim world including Ibn Jumay' (d. ca. 1198) and Moses Maimonides (d. 1204). The religio-ethical implications of these Graeco-Islamic-Jewish embryological views were fathomed out by the two medieval Muslim jurists Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī (d. 1285) and Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350). By putting these medieval religio-ethical discussions into the limelight, the article aims to argue for a two-pronged thesis. Firstly, pre-modern medical ethics did exist in the Islamic tradition and available evidence shows that this field had a multidisciplinary character where the Islamic scriptures and the Graeco-Islamic-Jewish medical legacy were highly intertwined. This information problematizes the postulate claiming that medieval Muslim jurists were hostile to the so-called 'ancient sciences'. Secondly, these medieval religio-ethical discussions remain playing a significant role in shaping the nascent field of contemporary Islamic bioethics. However, examining the exact character and scope of this role still requires further academic ventures. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Numerical Optimization of Synergetic Maneuvers

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-06-01

7 A. EQ U A TION S O F M O TION ..................................................................... 7 B. CO N TRO L LA ...0O V2 AR =g-- r which yields the control programs D T=- cosa L + Tsina a = free variable 3. Aerobang The first step in modeling the aerobang control...coefficients as follows: sina cosa 7CL 37 where a is the angle of attack, CA is the axial direction aerodynamic coefficient, and CN is the normal direction

Toward Holistic Joint Force Structure Decisions

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-01

Annapolis to the Graduating Class of the United States Naval Academy‖ ( JFK Link: 7 June 1961, accessed 23 November 2008); available from http...www.jfklink.com/speeches/ jfk /publicpapers/1961/jfk232_61.html; Internet. 40 National Security Council, National Strategy for Victory in Iraq...Islamic Jihad, the assassins of Anwar Sadat, and Osama bin Laden, would use the logic in Ibn Taymiyya‘s fatwa on the Mongols to call for a jihad against

H. St. John Philby, Ibn Saud and Palestine.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-12-18

American. President Roosevelt decided to send a military/ ecnomic mission into the region to assess the situation and to reinforce America’s political... essential condition of such an agreement is missin. Your opposition to the probable findings of the Roya’ Commission is based - and here I agree with...Arab States would provide for a much larger population than they at present possess. Palestine is not, essentially , a country of immigration; before

Spatial Mapping of Agricultural Water Productivity Using the SWAT Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thokal, Rajesh Tulshiram; Gorantiwar, S. D.; Kothari, Mahesh; Bhakar, S. R.; Nandwana, B. P.

2015-03-01

The Sina river basin is facing both episodic and chronic water shortages due to intensive irrigation development. The main objective of this study was to characterize the hydrologic processes of the Sina river basin and assess crop water productivity using the distributed hydrologic model, SWAT. In the simulation year (1998-1999), the inflow to reservoir from upstream side was the major contributor to the reservoir accounting for 92 % of the total required water release for irrigation purpose (119.5 Mm3), while precipitation accounted for 4.1 Mm3. Annual release of water for irrigation was 119.5 Mm3 out of which 54 % water was diverted for irrigation purpose, 26 % was wasted as conveyance loss, average discharge at the command outlet was estimated as 4 % and annual average ground-water recharge coefficient was in the range of 13-17 %. Various scenarios involving water allocation rule were tested with the goal of increasing economic water productivity values in the Sina Irrigation Scheme. Out of those, only most benefited allocation rule is analyzed in this paper. Crop yield varied from 1.98 to 25.9 t/ha, with the majority of the area between 2.14 and 2.78 t/ha. Yield and WP declined significantly in loamy soils of the irrigation command. Crop productivity in the basin was found in the lower range when compared with potential and global values. The findings suggested that there was a potential to improve further. Spatial variations in yield and WP were found to be very high for the crops grown during rabi season, while those were low for the crops grown during kharif season. The crop yields and WP during kharif season were more in the lower reach of the irrigation commands, where loamy soil is more concentrated. Sorghum in both seasons was most profitable. Sorghum fetched net income fivefold that of sunflower, two and half fold of pearl millet and one and half fold of mung beans as far as crop during kharif season were concerned and it fetched fourfold that of groundnut, threefold of wheat, twofold of onion during rabi season and was sevenfold of sugarcane. Analysis suggests that maximization of the area by provision of supplemental irrigation to rainfed areas as well as better on-farm water management practices can provide opportunities for improving water productivity.

Identification and Pathological Characterization of Persistent Asymptomatic Ebola Virus infection in Rhesus Monkeys

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-12

and Use of Laboratory Animals, National 508 Research Council, 2011. 509 Author contributions 510 X.Z. conceived and designed the experiments. X.Z...Dye 1 , Sina Bavari 1 , 5 Gustavo Palacios 1 , Jens H. Kuhn 2 , Mei G. Sun 1 6 7 1 United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious...Diseases, 1425 Porter 8 Street, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA; 2 Integrated Research Facility at 9 Fort Detrick, National Institute of

Identification of a coumarin based antihistamine as an anti filoviral entry inhibitor

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-20

Gharaibeh2, Tara Kenny2, Cary Retterer2, Rouzbeh Zamani2, Sina Bavari2, Norton P. Peet3 and Lijun Rong1 1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology...authors: Han Cheng, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 8040 COMRB, 909 S. Wolcott Avenue, Chicago, IL 60612...Phone: (312)-996-0110 Fax: (312)- 996-6415 Email: hancheng@uic.edu Lijun Rong, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois at

Functional CD8+ T Cell Responses in Lethal Ebola Virus Infection

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-15

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (5), and Hantavirus (6). It is often hypothesized that induction of lymphocyte apoptosis by viral infection obstructs...recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Army. 2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Sina Bavari, United...infection. Journal of Immunology 180:4058-4066 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR (S) Bradfute /SB Warfield

Application of Digital Terrestrial Photogrammetry in Architectural Conservation: the Mosque of Abdullah Ibn Salam of Oran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boukerch, I.; Takarli, B.; Mahmoudi, R.; Tellai, S.; Chadli, D.

2016-10-01

Studies on the architectural heritage can now be supported by three-dimensional reconstruction of actual buildings. The 3D digital model can be an effective medium for documenting the current state of historic buildings but also to create a resource for researchers who conduct their analysis on historical evolution. Architectural photogrammetry has its own specifications in relation to other photogrammetric applications, however it meets these expectations. The traditional approach requires the use of metric cameras but with the development of computational techniques, this requirement is overcome and opens the way for the use of non-metric camera. The use of the shots that is no longer restricted to the parallel configuration of bundles, the images may be convergent, horizontal or oblique. Combining and modelling several cameras increasingly powerful in resolution and stability, has great scope and the same workflow can be used in varied applications. ISPRS and ICOMOS created CIPA because they both believe that a monument can be restored and protected only when it has been fully measured and documented and when its development has been documented several times, i.e. monitored, also with respect to its environment, and stored in proper heritage information and management systems. In this paper the 3D modelling of an important cultural site using terrestrial photogrammetric techniques for architectural preservation is presented. The site is the mosque of Abdullah Ibn Salam, Built in 1880 at the initiative of Simon Kanoui, also known as the Great Synagogue of Oran was inaugurated in 1918 only. It was one of the largest and most beautiful synagogues in North Africa. It was built with stone imported from Jerusalem. This place of worship became in 1975 the mosque of Abdullah Ibn Salam who was a rich Jew of Medina who was converted to Islam. The structure is modelled using 321 oriented photos taken in five series of shots that cover all the façade and the interior of the building where more than 9200 points are created. Also some orthophotos of the important elements are produced and used as materials in the final stage which is the edition in a 3D modelling software. And a video virtual tour is generated using this software.

A prospective study of psychomotor performance of driving among two kinds of shift work in Iran

PubMed Central

Saadat, Soheil; Karbakhsh, Mojgan; Saremi, Mahnaz; Alimohammadi, Iraj; Ashayeri, Hassan; Fayaz, Mahsa; Rostami, Reza

2018-01-01

Background and aim Driving after a night shift imposes a risk on health care professionals and other road users. The aim of this study was to measure psychomotor performance of driving of night shift nurses compared to day-shift nurses. Methods Forty-seven volunteer female nurses working at Sina hospital in Tehran, Iran, with a call in all departments of hospital, participated in this study (23 night shift and 24 day shift nurses) in 2016. The tests included RT for simple reaction time, ATAVT for perceptual speed, LVT for visual orientation and ZBA for time anticipation. Data collection tools were individual characteristics, 11-item circadian type inventory (CTI), Stanford sleepiness scale (SSS), and Swedish occupational fatigue inventory (SOFI-20) questionnaires. Psychomotor driving performance was assessed using validated computerized traffic psychological battery of Vienna Test System (VTS), before and after the shifts. Data analysis was performed using paired-samples t-test and Linear Regression. Results The mean age of day and night-shift nurses were 31.4±5.6 and 28.7±3.9 years respectively, no significant difference between two groups. Thirty percent of night shift and 16.7% of day shift nurses reported traffic accidents in the past year. The results revealed that, scores based on viewing times in visual orientation test (p=0.005), and median reaction time score in choice reaction time and reactive stress tolerance test (p=0.045), had a significant association with a 12-hour night shift with a 3-hour nap. Conclusions Twelve-hour night shift work impairs choice reaction time and visual orientation in nurses, even though they take a 3- hour nap during the shift. These skills are required for safe driving. PMID:29629067

The Power of Truth: Questions for Ayman al-Zawahiri (Part 1)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-21

by Zawahiri, include: Iskat Kalb Al-Awi (Silencing the Hounding Dog ) by Shaykh Muqbil Ibn Hadi Al-Wadi’I; Khulasat Ba’dh Afkar Al-Qaradawi (The...which was accompanied by Arabic and English transcripts. Zawahiri used the opportunity to publicly address topics that have been dogging him for...ulama of the Sultan, like the barking dog Yusuf al-Qardawi and the ulama of al-Salul? - Abu-Shakhshukha (Al-Hesbah) What is you opinion of Dr. Yusuf

A resolution honoring the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the 10th anniversary of the accession to the throne of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, and for other purposes.

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Sen. Inouye, Daniel K. [D-HI

2009-12-16

Senate - 12/16/2009 Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Agreed to in SenateHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

JPRS Report, Near East & South Asia

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-04-26

Arabs as through everyone’s cooperation and generosity, far from if they were in a new age of ignorance [i.e., pre-Islamic any quashing, invasion, or...Iraqi initiative encour- America claims authorized it to carry out its security role aged Iran and the Soviet Union to present initiatives, the in...America assigned refuge in another time in the past. He may choose to live higher priority to the Gulf crisis-which involved petro- in the age of Ibn

Falconry

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

adult female was radio -tagged on 1 December and followed over the next 30 days. She - 3 - roosted in the San Juan Islands, 11 miles southwest of...Wandel Bd. 11 . Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2005. Call Number: SF 994.52 .F34 M952 2005 This work is variously ascribed to Hasan ibn al-Husayn, bāzyār...Canada, 2007. Call Number: SK 321 .A4 2008 11 . Al-Timimi, Faris A. Falcons & Falconry in Qatar. Doha, Qatar: [s.n.], 1987. Call Number: SK 321 .A46

Presurgical Planning for Supratentorial Lesions with Free Slicer Software and Sina App.

PubMed

Chen, Ji-Gang; Han, Kai-Wei; Zhang, Dan-Feng; Li, Zhen-Xing; Li, Yi-Ming; Hou, Li-Jun

2017-10-01

Neuronavigation systems are used widely in the localization of intracranial lesions with satisfactory accuracy. However, they are expensive and difficult to learn. Therefore, a simple and practical augmented reality (AR) system using mobile devices might be an alternative technique. We introduce a mobile AR system for the localization of supratentorial lesions. Its practicability and accuracy were examined by clinical application in patients and comparison with a standard neuronavigation system. A 3-dimensional (3D) model including lesions was created with 3D Slicer. A 2-dimensional image of this 3D model was obtained and overlapped on the patient's head with the Sina app. Registration was conducted with the assistance of anatomical landmarks and fiducial markers. The center of lesion projected on scalp was identified with our mobile AR system and standard neuronavigation system, respectively. The difference in distance between the centers identified by these 2 systems was measured. Our mobile AR system was simple and accurate in the localization of supratentorial lesions with a mean distance difference of 4.4 ± 1.1 mm. Registration added on an average of 141.7 ± 39 seconds to operation time. There was no statistically significant difference for the required time among 3 registrations (P = 0.646). The mobile AR system presents an alternative technology for image-guided neurosurgery and proves to be practical and reliable. The technique contributes to optimal presurgical planning for supratentorial lesions, especially in the absence of a neuronavigation system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Feasibility and Outcomes of Oncology Teaching for 5th Year Medical Students.

PubMed

Al Suwayri, Saad Mohammed

2018-02-01

This study explored medical students' opinions of undergraduate oncology teaching, aiming to define optimal strategies for nonspecialist oncology teaching. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Al Imam Muhammed Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Between August 2014 and June 2015, 124 medical students completing the oncology course in the fifth year at the College of Medicine, Al Imam Muhammed Ibn Saud Islamic University, were given a 47-item questionnaire. One hundred and five students completed the questionnaire. Students reported that the oncology teaching fitted well with the course and that they gained knowledge and clinical skills, including understanding of how to break bad news. There was no consensus regarding whether physicians had an ongoing responsibility of care if patients were unable to embrace the treatment offered and whether pain was adequately controlled in patients with cancer. There was good understanding of the ethics of analgesia use and the need to involve patients in the decision-making process. There was a wide spread of opinion when asked if the physician should "decide for themselves how much information to give." Forty-four percent of students stated that they would attend an oncology summer school. This study shows the undergraduate oncology course to be effective in teaching knowledge, ethics, and skills and to be well received by fifth year medical students. Inclusion of appropriate teaching in medical school curricula may be the most effective way to ensure all clinicians acquire appropriate training in oncology.

[Evaluation of burnout syndrome among doctors in training at the Ibn Rochd University Hospital, Casablanca].

PubMed

El Kettani, Assiya; Serhier, Zineb; Othmani, Mohammed Bennani; Agoub, Mohamed; Battas, Omar

2017-01-01

We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study of a sample of 300 physicians using self-administered questionnaire over the period 2013- 2014. Burnout has been operationally defined through a French translation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). A total of 191 physicians participated in the study (response rate 63.7%) with a female predominance at 79.1% and an average age of 26.7 years (N = 3). The average scores of sub-dimensions of the MBI: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal fulfilment were (33.7±10.7), (12.2±6.5) and (30.6±8.3) respectively. 31.8% of participants suffered from severe burnout. It was associated with communication problems within the healthcare team (p < 0.01), insufficient accompaniment (p < 0.05), dissatisfaction among seniors (p = 0.01), fear of making medical errors (p<0.05), use of a psychotherapist (p<0.001), use of psychotropic drugs (p = 0.001), anxiety disorders (p < 0.01), depression (p < 0.01) and suicidal ideation (p < 0.05). Protective factors were: sense of equity within the healthcare team (p < 0.01) and practice of leisure (p<0.05). Changing career direction was associated with severe burnout (p<0.05). These results are consistent with those of previous studies and justify the importance of a prevention program at different levels.

The medieval Persian manuscript of Afyunieh: the first individual treatise on the opium and addiction in history.

PubMed

Moosavyzadeh, Abdolali; Ghaffari, Farzaneh; Mosavat, Seyed Hamdollah; Zargaran, Arman; Mokri, Azarakhsh; Faghihzadeh, Soghrat; Naseri, Mohsen

2018-03-01

According to historical evidence, the abuse of opium has been reported all over the globe-specifically throughout Eastern nations-since the sixteenth century. Before that, opium had mostly been applied as medication. Reference has been made in traditional Persian medical literature to the method of cultivation, properties, side effects and toxicity. In sixteenth century Iran, during the reign of the Safavids, opium abuse began. It was from then that prominent Persian scholars started to think of solutions to this societal problem. One of the most famous scholars was Imad al-Din Mahmud ibn Mas'ud Shirazi, who composed a book concerning addiction-Afyunieh, a comprehensive book on the topic of opium and all issues of opium. Furthermore, he recommended methods for reducing opium dose as well as substitution with other medications that had a narrower range of side effects, in order to eradicate dependency upon opium and opium-derived materials. This is most likely the first book that comprehensively addressed opium and discussed drug rehabilitation methodology, in traditional Persian medical literature. In this historical review, the authors have introduced the book Afyunieh, which presents methods for treating addiction to and giving up opium; the text comprises a synthesis of the author's opinions, professional experience and references to the work of other famous physicians. Copyright © 2018 Shanghai Changhai Hospital. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of Weibull and Lognormal Cure Models with Cox in the Survival Analysis Of Breast Cancer Patients in Rafsanjan.

PubMed

Hoseini, Mina; Bahrampour, Abbas; Mirzaee, Moghaddameh

2017-02-16

Breast cancer is the most common cancer after lung cancer and the second cause of death. In this study we compared Weibull and Lognormal Cure Models with Cox regression on the survival of breast cancer. A cohort study. The current study retrospective cohort study was conducted on 140 patients referred to Ali Ibn Abitaleb Hospital, Rafsanjan southeastern Iran from 2001 to 2015 suffering from breast cancer. We determined and analyzed the effective survival causes by different models using STATA14. According to AIC, log-normal model was more consistent than Weibull. In the multivariable Lognormal model, the effective factors like smoking, second -hand smoking, drinking herbal tea and the last breast-feeding period were included. In addition, using Cox regression factors of significant were the disease grade, size of tumor and its metastasis (p-value<0.05). As Rafsanjan is surrounded by pistachio orchards and pesticides applied by farmers, people of this city are exposed to agricultural pesticides and its harmful consequences. The effect of the pesticide on breast cancer was studied and the results showed that the effect of pesticides on breast cancer was not in agreement with the models used in this study. Based on different methods for survival analysis, researchers can decide how they can reach a better conclusion. This comparison indicates the result of semi-parametric Cox method is closer to clinical experiences evidences.

Proceedings of the Image Understanding Workshop (18th) Held in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 6-8 April 1988. Volume 2

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

solution to a information. There is thus a biological motivation for investi- specific problem, e.g., solving the visual obstacle avoidance gating the...narticular practically motivated aspect of the image, known as the optical flow, does not necessarily the general problem. correspond to the 2-D motion...on (Z Z * "inexact" vision jThom8fi] The obvious motivation stems from a = X tancosa b - Z tan3sina; (1) the fact that an obstacle in relative motion

Contributions of early Arab scholars to color science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2017-09-01

The Islamic world made important discoveries in the field of color science during the medieval era. These included many fundamental ideas on the nature of color. Some of the first hue scales, though partial were developed by these scholars. They also showed that color was a percept and light and color were ontologically distinct. Other contributions by these scholars include descriptions of the color mixtures, color tops, color theory, etc. A few of these contributions will be discussed in this paper with particular attention to the work of Ibn al-Haytham on color.

[The work of Hunayn ibn Ishāq in the Arabic manuscripts of Escurialense Library].

PubMed

Cano Ledesma, A

1994-01-01

After a short historical introduction about Hunayn's life and about the foundation and development of the Escurialense Library, the article deals with the Arabic collection which is kept in it. Hunayn is the author of some work in the Escurialense codices, and the translator of some others. Particularly, three codices containing original medical works by Hunayn are listed here and commented on in detail, together with twenty-five containing Hunayn's translations of Hippocratic and Galenic texts. Some astrological texts are also treated.

Integrated Bio-Entity Network: A System for Biological Knowledge Discovery

PubMed Central

Bell, Lindsey; Chowdhary, Rajesh; Liu, Jun S.; Niu, Xufeng; Zhang, Jinfeng

2011-01-01

A significant part of our biological knowledge is centered on relationships between biological entities (bio-entities) such as proteins, genes, small molecules, pathways, gene ontology (GO) terms and diseases. Accumulated at an increasing speed, the information on bio-entity relationships is archived in different forms at scattered places. Most of such information is buried in scientific literature as unstructured text. Organizing heterogeneous information in a structured form not only facilitates study of biological systems using integrative approaches, but also allows discovery of new knowledge in an automatic and systematic way. In this study, we performed a large scale integration of bio-entity relationship information from both databases containing manually annotated, structured information and automatic information extraction of unstructured text in scientific literature. The relationship information we integrated in this study includes protein–protein interactions, protein/gene regulations, protein–small molecule interactions, protein–GO relationships, protein–pathway relationships, and pathway–disease relationships. The relationship information is organized in a graph data structure, named integrated bio-entity network (IBN), where the vertices are the bio-entities and edges represent their relationships. Under this framework, graph theoretic algorithms can be designed to perform various knowledge discovery tasks. We designed breadth-first search with pruning (BFSP) and most probable path (MPP) algorithms to automatically generate hypotheses—the indirect relationships with high probabilities in the network. We show that IBN can be used to generate plausible hypotheses, which not only help to better understand the complex interactions in biological systems, but also provide guidance for experimental designs. PMID:21738677

Naval Outgoing Message Processing, A Study of Message Generation and Message Preparation for Transmission and the Impact of Automation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-12-01

AM AM .m Itp 3MM"fvob 3MMopo" INA 7M 3M. St Z is pu~ e posep 3MM 3MMoar INA 3M 3MM St. 3M. Y" M3L-SINA1I 334IopAsoe * w*; INAt e M IM0NA .6.6.36...C or 20 ma current loop Current loop (60V. 60 ma) High level (±80V, 20 ma) INA Yes Yes Yes Same sIBM SELECTRIC Yes INA INA INA INA INA INA INA INA

The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural play therapy on the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children aged 7-9 years.

PubMed

Abdollahian, Ebrahim; Mokhber, Naghmeh; Balaghi, Atena; Moharrari, Fatemeh

2013-03-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is considered to be the most prevalent disorder of childhood and adolescence, and a variety of methods have been used in its diagnosis and treatment. This study was conducted to study the efficacy of play therapy on the symptoms of ADHD in children aged 7-9 years. Using a clinical trial design, we selected 30 study participants among individuals who had been referred to the Ebne-sina hospital, child and adolescent outpatient clinic, Mashhad, Iran, and who had been diagnosed with ADHD by psychiatrists. The 30 study participants were then divided into two groups, experimental and control, based on similar characteristics (Birth order, parents' educational level, parents' occupation and average of last year school marks). Pre-tests (the Rutter Parental Questionnaire and the Rutter Children Behaviour Questionnaire for teachers) were performed prior to play therapy, and all patients in both groups had been receiving medication. Following play therapy, post-tests were also conducted for both groups. Eight sessions of sham play therapy has been performed for case group. (Cognitive-behavioural play therapy has not been performed basically.) All results were evaluated using an independent t test and a comparative test. Play therapy appeared to significantly reduce the symptoms of ADHD. The significant differences found between the experimental and control groups indicate that play therapy could be used as an effective treatment method for children with ADHD.

Razi's description and treatment of facial paralysis.

PubMed

Tabatabaei, Seyed Mahmood; Kalantar Hormozi, Abdoljalil; Asadi, Mohsen

2011-01-01

In the modern medical era, facial paralysis is linked with the name of Charles Bell. This disease, which is usually unilateral and is a peripheral facial palsy, causes facial muscle weakness in the affected side. Bell gave a complete description of the disease; but historically other physicians had described it several hundred years prior although it had been ignored for different reasons, such as the difficulty of the original text language. The first and the most famous of these physicians who described this disease was Mohammad Ibn Zakaryya Razi (Rhazes). In this article, we discuss his opinion.

Behavioral neuroscience and the media.

PubMed

Blakeslee, Sandra; DiChristina, Mariette; Raeburn, Paul; Lambert, Kelly

2012-12-05

To provide assurance that accurate summaries of behavioral neuroscience findings are presented in mainstream news sources, it is important for scientists to cooperate with science journalists and, on occasion, write informative articles for lay audiences or contribute scientific knowledge in other relevant venues. Accordingly, three influential science journalists were invited to a special Presidential Symposium at the 2011 IBNS annual meeting to discuss (1) the importance of public dissemination of scientific knowledge, (2) insightful recommendations for effective science writing for mainstream audiences and (3) the potential impact of science blogs on the communication of science information. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[The role of Hunayn, physician and translator].

PubMed

Habbi, J

1994-01-01

Hunayn ibn Ishāq is one of the most important translators of scientific and medical texts in the 'abbāsid era. He played a fundamental role in the transmission of Greek medical science to the Arab world, because of his deep knowledge of the Syriac, Arabic and Persian languages. He translated about 300 texts, especially medical ones, and he founded a school in which many disciples were instructed in the art of translation, like his son Ishāq and his nephew Hubays. Hunayn composed a lexicon of scientific terminology, using a new method of translation which represents his great innovation.

[Tuberculosis of the lung bases].

PubMed

Elkard, I; Zaghba, N; Benjelloun, H; Bakhatar, A; Yassine, N

2016-05-01

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in Morocco. Tuberculosis of the lung bases is a rare and atypical form and raises real diagnostic problems. We report a retrospective study of 21 cases of basal pulmonary tuberculosis, collected at the service of respiratory diseases in Ibn Rushd hospital in Casablanca between 2004 and 2015 (11 years). From a total of 21 patients having basal pulmonary tuberculosis, 13 (62%) were women versus eight men (48%), the average age was 33 years. The average time of diagnosis was 25 days. The disease was unilateral in 20 cases (95%). The right lower lobe was the most frequently affected (71%). Inhomogeneous opacities (66%) and consolidation (28%) were the main radiological findings. Associated comorbidities were dominated by diabetes in six cases (28%). Bronchoscopy had recovered thickening spurs in eight cases, endobronchial granules in seven cases and bronchial inflammation in six cases. Bronchial biopsies had found a necrotizing granulomatous inflammation tuberculoide in seven cases (33%). The smear was positive in sputum in three cases (14%), in the bronchial aspirate in four cases (19%), in induced sputum in one case (4.7%) and in post-bronchoscopic sputum in six cases (28%). The antituberculous treatment was started in all patients with good clinical and radiological evolution. The basal localization of the pulmonary tuberculosis is misleading; source of diagnostic delay, hence the need to think about it especially in patients with comorbidities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

['The spirit has left the bottle': the medieval Arabic physician 'Abd al-Latĭf ibn Yŭsuf al-Baghdădĭ: his medical work and his bizarre affiliation with twentieth-century spiritualism].

PubMed

Joosse, N Peter

2007-01-01

The Arabic physician 'Abd al-Latĭf ibn Yŭsuf al-Baghdădĭ, lived at the crossroads of the twelfth and the thirteenth century. His unbridled curiosity and his unquenchable thirst for knowledge of any kind brought him to far-away countries and regions and put him in contact with all sorts and conditions of people. The great Egyptian famine of the years 1200-1202 enabled him to study and examine thousands of human cadavers and skeletons at first hand. This led to a new understanding of the anatomical structure of the human body, and rejected the more or less antiquated ideas of the Greek doctor Galen of Pergamum. However, 'Abd al-Latĭf's vision was granted only a short life. After his death, his discovery sank into oblivion and as a consequence it was never again mentioned in Arabic medical manuals. From then on the Arabic physicians once more referred to the anatomical data which were developed and taught by Galen. Relatively few specimens of his remaining medical work were preserved for posterity. However, his Book of the two advices (or: K. al-Nasĭhatain) is of the utmost importance as a source for the medical thinking and the medical treatment in the late twelfth and the early thirteenth century A.D. During the years following World War I, 'Abd al-Latĭf's name reappeared within the spiritualistic movement in England. He became known as Abduhl Latif the great Persian physician and acted as a control of mediums. Until the late sixties, he practised the art of healing as the head of a medical mission somewhere in the Spheres.

Épidémiologie descriptive de la carcinose péritonéale d’origine digestive à l’Hôpital Universitaire Ibn Rochd de Casablanca (2008-2010)

PubMed Central

Benlahfid, Mohammed; Erguibi, Driss; Elhattabi, Khalid; Bensardi, Fatimazahra; Khaiz, Driss; Lafriekh, Rachid; Rebroub, Dounia; Fadil, Abdelaziz; Aboussaouira, Touria

2017-01-01

Introduction La carcinose péritonéale est une diffusion inéluctablement terminale chez les patients atteints de cancers abdominaux. C'est le signe d'une maladie avancée ou d'une ré-évolution le plus souvent associée à un pronostic sombre. Environ deux tiers de l'ensemble des carcinoses péritonéales sont d'origine digestive et un tiers d'origine non digestive. Méthodes Il s'agit d'une étude rétrospective descriptive menée entre janvier 2008 et décembre 2010, dans le but de dresser le profil épidémiologique et les facteurs de risques de la carcinose péritonéale d'origine digestive au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Casablanca. Résultats Quarante-sept cas de carcinose péritonéale d'origine digestive ont été recensées (22 femmes, 25 hommes) ce qui représente une prévalence de 6.19% et un nombre moyen de 15.6 cas par an. L'âge était le facteur de risque essentiel dans notre série avec un âge moyen de 55.55 ans ±12.32. Les antécédents familiaux présentaient aussi un facteur de risque à prendre en considération. Conclusion A travers notre étude, nous avons conclus que les principaux facteurs de risque de la carcinose péritonéale d'origine digestive au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn Rochd Casablanca, sont l'âge et les antécédents familiaux. PMID:28979636

Measuring Polycentricity of Mega-City Regions in China Based on the Intercity Migration Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mu, Xiaoyan; Yeh, Anthony G. O.

2016-06-01

This paper uses the intercity migration flows to examine relations between Chinese cities, identify the important mega-city regions and measure each region's polycentricity from an interaction perspective. Data set contains the long-term residential migration trajectories of three million Sina weibo users across 345 cities. Cities with close connectivity deployed around one or several mega cities are identified as mega-city regions. Features of the mega-city regions are characterized by the strength of migration flows, density of connections, and regional migration patterns. The results show that the disparities exist in different mega-city regions; most mega-city regions are lack of polycentricity.

Perspective of Islamic Self: Rethinking Ibn al-Qayyim's Three-Heart Model from the Scope of Dynamical Social Psychology.

PubMed

Briki, Walid; Amara, Mahfoud

2018-06-01

The present article proposes the perspective of Islamic self (PIS), which is guided by three core principles. First, the Islamic self is shaped by the God's predicament: The life test. Second, the structure of the self and its spiritual virtues represent means to succeed the life test. Third, the complex dynamics of the self can be mathematically formalized into a parsimonious framework. Specifically, the PIS considers the self as a dynamical system characterized by the emergence of self-organized stable and unstable patterns taking the form of positive ("illuminating heart") or negative ("darkened heart") dynamics.

Gondeshapur Revisited; What Historical Evidence?

PubMed

Nayernouri, Touraj

2017-04-01

In recent years, in European academic circles, there has been a trend to dismiss Gondeshapur as a myth perpetrated by the Bokhtishu family in early Islamic era, despite many historiographical attestations. The writings of Islamic historians such as Al-Qifti and Ibn Abi Usaibia have been discounted as exaggerations by non-contemporary historians, and the lack of primary Pahlavi sources blamed for historical hyperbole. In this essay, I have attempted to show through primary Syriac Christian texts, that there was both a medical school and a bimarestan in Gondeshapur in pre-Islamic Sassanid era, and that Galenic medical texts had been translated and taught in that institution.

The Frequency of Prediabetes and Contributing Factors in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

PubMed Central

Razeghi, Effat; Heydarian, Peimaneh; Heydari, Mahshid

2011-01-01

AIMS: Uremia is a prediabetic state, but abnormal glucose metabolism and relative risk factors in non-diabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are not studied extensively. This study aimed to evaluate prediabetes and contributing factors in patients with CKD. METHODS: We studied the frequency of prediabetes (defined as fasting plasma glucose 100-125 mg/dl and 2-h plasma glucose 140-199 mg/dl) and contributing risk factors in 91 (34 women and 57 men) non-diabetic CKD (GFR < 60) patients who were referred to Sina Hospital between November 2010 and November 2011. Impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance were regarded as prediabetic state. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients (41.8%), 28 male and 10 female, with mean age of 57.4 ± 17.1 yr, had prediabetes. Among these, 18.7% had impaired fasting glucose, 7.7% impaired glucose tolerance, and 15.4% combined impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance. CKD patients with impaired glucose tolerance had more frequently hypertriglyceridemia (85.7% vs. 42.0%, p = 0.001), hypertension (66.6% vs. 31.4%, p = 0.004), and metabolic syndrome according to National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (52.3% vs. 25.7%, p = 0.02). Also, mean systolic blood pressure (134.2 ± 13.9 vs. 124.5 ± 20.0, p = 0.004) was higher in CKD patients with impaired glucose tolerance compared to CKD patients with normal glucose. CONCLUSIONS: Prediabetes is a frequent condition in CKD patients. Also, hypertriglyceridemia and hypertension are more prevalent in prediabetic CKD patients than in non-diabetic CKD patients. PMID:22189551

Evaluation Effect of Shiatsu Technique on Labor Induction in Post-Term Pregnancy

PubMed Central

Batool, Teimoori; Shahin-Dokht, Navvabi-Rigi; Shahnaz, Rajabi; Azizollah, Arbabisarjou

2015-01-01

Objective: Labor induction in post-term pregnancy is considered as a conventional process of mothers’ care. Shiatsu technique is one of the complementary methods which use for post-term pregnancy induction. Therefore, the researchers decided to examine the effect of Shiatsu technique on the induction of post-term pregnancy. Materials and Methods: This is a randomized control trials which conducted on 288 women with post-term pregnancy who referred to consulting clinic at Ali- Ibn- Abi -Talib Hospital, in Zahedan-Iran in 2010-2011. Participants were selected based on random table. The participants divided into two groups: the first was shiatsu technique and the second group was control group (routine procedure). Shiatsu technique was conducted on the participants of intervention group for 30s on three points by an experienced midwife. The gathered data analyzed by SPSS version 15.00 and comparing tests were t-students tests, chi-square. Results: Mothers ages range were between 16 to 42 yr (mean 26.5-5.7) in shiatsu and 17 to 43 yr (mean 24.5-5.1) in control group. Regarding spontaneous initiation of labor, 82 women (56.9%) in Shiatsu group had spontaneous initiation of labor, whereas the number of women was only 12 (8.3%) in control group. Women who have used Shiatsu technique were significantly more likely to have spontaneous labour than those women who did not. Conclusions: Results of the study showed that shiatsu technique can be used as one of safe complementary methods for post-term pregnancy induction. PMID:25948426

[Post-partum eclampsia: epidemiology and prognosis].

PubMed

Sabiri, B; Moussalit, A; Salmi, S; El Youssoufi, S; Miguil, M

2007-05-01

The post-partum eclampsia occurs usually in the first 48 hours, its incidence is between 13 and 37% of all eclampsia. The goal of this prospective study was to analyse the epidemiologic data and the prognosis of this complication in the post-partum stage. We enrolled between January 1st 2000 to December 31st 2003 all eclampsia admitted to the intensive care unit of the maternity of the university hospital centre Ibn Rochd of Casablanca, Morocco. We noted for each patient epidemiologic, clinical, biological and radiologic data. We releaved outcomoe also. Two groups are individualized: 1) group 1 (N=247): when eclampsia diagnosed in the prepartum stage; 2) group 2 (N=58): when crisis diagnosed in the post-partum stage. We compared the groups (student test), p<0.05 was significative. The incidence of eclampsia in the post-partum in this study was 19% (58 over 305). Eighty-two percent had the crisis in the first 24 hours; we noted a crisis in the sixth, seventh and lately in the sixtieth day. The major proportion of patients are nulliparous (64%), young (mean age: 24 years), without prenatal care, and has high blood pressure (48%), low GCS (mean: 12) and massive proteinuria>3 g/24 hours (37%). The post-partum eclampsia has best out come than these occurring in prepartum, with significantly (p<0.05) less high blood pressure, hellp syndrome and less placental abruption. Eclampsia is still frequent in our service; it seems less bad when occurring in the post-partum stage. We must give more attention for severe preeclamptic patient in this period.

Nurses' Awareness of Preterm Neonates' Sleep in the NICU.

PubMed

Mahmoodi, Nasrin; Arbabisarjou, Azizollah; Rezaeipoor, Mahmood; Pishkar Mofrad, Zahra

2015-11-17

Fetus and neonate spend most of their time sleeping inside and outside the womb. Sleep is considered a crucial action of neonatal period similar to breathing and nutrition. It plays a key role in brain development. Today, it is shown that sleep plays a predominant role in body temperature regulation, energy saving and neuronal detoxification. Sleep is the most important behavioral state of neonates, particularly in preterm ones. Noise, light, invasive treatment and caring activities are among disturbing factors in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that leave negative impacts on brain development through disturbing the sleep process. This descriptive study assessed all NICU nurses of Ali-ibn-Abitaleb hospital using the census sampling method. Demographic data was collected through a questionnaire with 10 questions about active sleep (AS) cycles, also referred to as REM, methods for inducing AS and AS specifications in neonates. The questionnaire was distributed between the nurses. After completion, data was analyzed using SPSS 16 and descriptive statistics method. According to analyses, 24%, 20%, 48% and 92% of nurses gave correct answers to questions about AS cycle, AS in neonates, the role of sleep in saving energy and ideal noise level, respectively. According to results, nurses had a low level of knowledge towards neonatal sleep. All nurses need to know the importance of sleep in preterm neonates. The main role of inducing sleep is to protect the development of the neonates' brain in the NICU. Those nurses who spend a remarkable portion of their time for caring neonates in the NICU play a significant role in neonatal sleep care.

Doors and thresholds: Jeddi's approach to psychiatric disorders.

PubMed

Devisch, R; Vervaeck, B

1986-01-01

Professor Essedik Jeddi and his team have introduced a most significant institutional and therapeutic innovation at the Ibn Rochd and Pinel section of the Razi university long-term mental hospital in Tunis (Tunisia). The innovation focuses upon the ambiguity of doors and boundaries in the mental asylum. Doors and walls influence the rhythm of activity and the nature of contact between patients, therapists and the wider society and culture. If they are very rigid, they may disjoin the patient from him- or herself, from his/her body, social network and culture. On the other hand, if such boundaries are completely neglected they may merge these related dimensions as undifferentiated entities. Jeddi's innovation is primarily concerned with placing the spatio-temporal experience of the body and the intimate interpersonal interaction at the centre of treatment. It aims at establishing creative modes of expression, interaction and exchange such as tea-sessions, dancing, singing, verbal communication, clay-modelling, figurative or plastic expression, agricultural works. These relationships mediate and differentiate at the same time between the patient, his/her body-self, and his/her social and cultural world, thus avoiding both the disjunction and the merging. It would seem that the activities concerned with the distinction between 'inside' and 'outside', peasant and urban, self and other (e.g. dancing and singing) are of paramount importance in bringing about such mediating and differentiating relationships. In the present study we limit ourselves to one particularly revealing therapeutic activity, namely dancing to live music. Jeddi's innovation is a unique blend of current developments in psychiatry and psychotherapy with Arabo-Islamic science and philosophy.

Single-mode fibers to single-mode waveguides coupling with minimum Fresnel back-reflection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sneh, Anat; Ruschin, Shlomo; Marom, Emanuel

1991-04-01

Slantly polished fibers and waveguides coupling as a means for achieving both low optical power reflection and efficient power transmission is proposed. Return losses exceeding -70 dB can be obtained in fiber-to-Lithium Niobate waveguides operating at ) = 0.633 jm and ) = 1.3 pm by polishing the fiber at an angle of 6°. A phase matching condition between the propagation constants ,8 and the polishing angles in the fiber and the waveguide: fl(fiber)sincx(fiber) = fl(waveguide)sina(waveguide) must be fulifiled in order to enable efficient power coupling. Polishing angle tolerances of approximately lO are allowed for a maximum of 1 dB decrease in the coupling efficiency.

Efficiency of a General Pin Pallet Runaway Escapement

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-06-01

wheel angle corresponding to entrance and exit motion are obtained from 2 2 2 2 t- - L + M -t (5 =2 tan [ N-M where L = 2a (g sina - rcosa) (6) max M = 2a...1 and 2, the maximum values of the escape wheel angle corresponding to entrance and exit motion are given by 2 + 2 2 N -N 0 0 where L - -2ra cosa (12...cos(* - a)( l + plo) + pl(I-sOsin() a) (29 FI -P 3 + (28) 2 I+ l -siy + s+picosy’) + r (s sincos( - ( ) A 2 - p p p cp c c 30 2 ++ i~~ ~ ~ ~~i( - a)R(coy

CASE NOTES AND CLINICIANS: GALENS COMMENTARY ON THE HIPPOCRATIC EPIDEMICS IN THE ARABIC TRADITION

PubMed Central

Pormann, PE

2010-01-01

Galens Commentaries on the Hippocratic Epidemics constitute one of the most detailed studies of Hippocratic medicine from Antiquity. The Arabic translation of the Commentaries by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. c. 873) is of crucial importance because it preserves large sections now lost in Greek, and because it helped to establish an Arabic clinical literature. The present contribution investigate the translation of this seminal work into Syriac and Arabic. It provides a first survey of the manuscript tradition, and explores how physicians in the medieval Muslim world drew on it both to teach medicine to students, and to develop a framework for their own clinical research. PMID:20852724

A content analysis of depression-related discourses on Sina Weibo: attribution, efficacy, and information sources.

PubMed

Pan, Jiabao; Liu, Bingjie; Kreps, Gary L

2018-06-20

Depression is a mood disorder that may lead to severe outcomes including mental breakdown, self-injury, and suicide. Potential causes of depression include genetic, sociocultural, and individual-level factors. However, public understandings of depression guided by a complex interplay of media and other societal discourses might not be congruent with the scientific knowledge. Misunderstandings of depression can lead to under-treatment and stigmatization of depression. Against this backdrop, this study aims to achieve a holistic understanding of the patterns and dynamics in discourses about depression from various information sources in China by looking at related posts on social media. A content analysis was conducted with 902 posts about depression randomly selected within a three-year period (2014 to 2016) on the mainstream social media platform in China, Sina Weibo. Posts were analyzed with a focus on attributions of and solutions to depression, attitudes towards depression, and efficacy indicated by the posts across various information sources. Results suggested that depression was most often attributed to individual-level factors. Across all the sources, individual-level attributions were often adopted by state-owned media whereas health and academic experts and organizations most often mentioned biological causes of depression. Citizen journalists and unofficial social groups tended to make societal-level attributions. Overall, traditional media posts suggested the lowest efficacy in coping with depression and the most severe negative outcomes as compared with other sources. The dominance of individual-level attributions and solutions regarding depression on Chinese social media on one hand manifests the public's limited understanding of depression and on the other hand, may further constrain adoption of scientific explanations about depression and exacerbate stigmatization towards depressed individuals. Mass media's posts centered on description of severe outcomes of depression without suggestions of solutions' effectiveness, which may induce more anxiety among depressed individuals. Campaigns promoting comprehensive understandings about depression and popular works translating scientific findings on depression to the public are called for.

Social media as a sensor of air quality and public response in China.

PubMed

Wang, Shiliang; Paul, Michael J; Dredze, Mark

2015-03-26

Recent studies have demonstrated the utility of social media data sources for a wide range of public health goals, including disease surveillance, mental health trends, and health perceptions and sentiment. Most such research has focused on English-language social media for the task of disease surveillance. We investigated the value of Chinese social media for monitoring air quality trends and related public perceptions and response. The goal was to determine if this data is suitable for learning actionable information about pollution levels and public response. We mined a collection of 93 million messages from Sina Weibo, China's largest microblogging service. We experimented with different filters to identify messages relevant to air quality, based on keyword matching and topic modeling. We evaluated the reliability of the data filters by comparing message volume per city to air particle pollution rates obtained from the Chinese government for 74 cities. Additionally, we performed a qualitative study of the content of pollution-related messages by coding a sample of 170 messages for relevance to air quality, and whether the message included details such as a reactive behavior or a health concern. The volume of pollution-related messages is highly correlated with particle pollution levels, with Pearson correlation values up to .718 (n=74, P<.001). Our qualitative results found that 67.1% (114/170) of messages were relevant to air quality and of those, 78.9% (90/114) were a firsthand report. Of firsthand reports, 28% (32/90) indicated a reactive behavior and 19% (17/90) expressed a health concern. Additionally, 3 messages of 170 requested that action be taken to improve quality. We have found quantitatively that message volume in Sina Weibo is indicative of true particle pollution levels, and we have found qualitatively that messages contain rich details including perceptions, behaviors, and self-reported health effects. Social media data can augment existing air pollution surveillance data, especially perception and health-related data that traditionally requires expensive surveys or interviews.

Sequelles de Brulures au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn Rochd de Casablanca: Aspects Epidemio-Cliniques

PubMed Central

Chafiki, N.; Fassi Fihri, J.; Boukind, E.H.

2007-01-01

Summary Il s'agit d'une étude épidémiologique des séquelles de brûlures à propos de 100 cas colligés au service de chirurgie réparatrice et de brûlés du centre hospitalier universitaire Ibn Rochd (Casablanca). Les adultes représentent 55% de la population étudiée, l'âge moyen global est de 20 ans. Le sexe féminin est le plus touché avec 61% des cas. Les brûlures survenues à domicile sont les plus fréquentes avec 80%. L'agent causal le plus incriminé est la petite bouteille de butane avec 44,4%. Plus de la moitié de la population brûlée (55%) sont accueillis initialement au niveau d'hôpitaux régionaux. Le délai de cicatrisation moyen de 7 mois et 11 jours et par conséquent les séquelles mineures (dyschromie dans 90% des cas et prurit dans 49% des cas) et majeures (rétractions dans 86% et l'hypertrophie dans 51%) sont fréquentes. La répartition globale des séquelles montre une prédominance du segment cervicocéphalique avec 89% des cas et des membres supérieurs dans 82% des cas. Les différents aspects anatomocliniques essentiels ont été décrits au niveau de chaque segment corporel. Nos résultats ont été comparés aux données de la littérature, ce qui nous amène à considérer qu'une large campagne de prévention couplée à une meilleure prise en charge initiale, précoce, bien conduite et multidisciplinaire permet non seulement de réduire le nombre de séquelles mais aussi de diminuer leur sévérité. PMID:21991060

Forensic analysis of social networking application on iOS devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shuhui; Wang, Lianhai

2013-12-01

The increased use of social networking application on iPhone and iPad make these devices a goldmine for forensic investigators. Besides, QQ, Wechat, Sina Weibo and skype applications are very popular in China and didn't draw attention to researchers. These social networking applications are used not only on computers, but also mobile phones and tablets. This paper focuses on conducting forensic analysis on these four social networking applications on iPhone and iPad devices. The tests consisted of installing the social networking applications on each device, conducting common user activities through each application and correlation analysis with other activities. Advices to the forensic investigators are also given. It could help the investigators to describe the crime behavior and reconstruct the crime venue.

Empirical Research of Micro-blog Information Transmission Range by Guard nodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shan; Ji, Ling; Li, Guang

2018-03-01

The prediction and evaluation of information transmission in online social networks is a challenge. It is significant to solve this issue for monitoring public option and advertisement communication. First, the prediction process is described by a set language. Then with Sina Microblog system as used as the case object, the relationship between node influence and coverage rate is analyzed by using the topology structure of information nodes. A nonlinear model is built by a statistic method in a specific, bounded and controlled Microblog network. It can predict the message coverage rate by guard nodes. The experimental results show that the prediction model has higher accuracy to the source nodes which have lower influence in social network and practical application.

Extent, consequences and economic burden of road traffic crashes in Iran.

PubMed

Rezaei, Satar; Arab, Mohammad; Karami Matin, Behzad; Akbari Sari, Ali

2014-07-01

Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) as a result of road traffic crashes (RTCs) rank as the leading cause of death, disability and property loss worldwide, especially in low and middle-income countries. This study aims to analyze the costs of RTCs in Iran. A standard human capital approach was used to estimate the costs. Costs included medical, administrative and funeral costs, property damage, production lost and intangible costs. Data about the number of deaths and injuries resulting from RTIs between 20 March 2009 and 20 March 2010 was obtained from two national databases designed at the Center for Disaster Management and Medical Emergencies (CDMME) and the Legal Medicine Organization (LMO), respectively. The severity and medical costs of injuries were identified by reviewing 400 medical records that were selected randomly from patients who were admitted to two large trauma centers in Shariati and Sina hospitals in Tehran province. Moreover, information about production lost, property damage, rehabilitation cost, intangible costs and administration costs were collected by review of current evidence and consulting with expert opinion. In total 806,922 RTIs and 22,974 deaths resulted from the RTCs in the study period. The total cost of RTCs was about 72,465 billion Rials (7.2 billion US Dollars), which amounts to 2.19% of Iran's Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Direct costs were 3,516 billion Rials (around 48.6 % of the total costs), following by 24,785 billion Rials (around 34.2 % of the total costs) for production lost and 12,513 billion Rials (around 17.2 % of the total costs) for intangible costs. This study indicated that the burden of both RTCs and RTIs in Iran is substantial. Moreover, RTCs have significant economic consequences and are a large drain on healthcare resources. @ 2014 KUMS, All rights reserved.

Extent, consequences and economic burden of road traffic crashes in Iran

PubMed Central

Rezaei, Satar; Arab, Mohammad; Karami Matin, Behzad; Akbari Sari, Ali

2014-01-01

Abstract: Background: Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) as a result of road traffic crashes (RTCs) rank as the leading cause of death, disability and property loss worldwide, especially in low and middle-income countries. This study aims to analyze the costs of RTCs in Iran. Methods: A standard human capital approach was used to estimate the costs. Costs included medical, administrative and funeral costs, property damage, production lost and intangible costs. Data about the number of deaths and injuries resulting from RTIs between 20 March 2009 and 20 March 2010 was obtained from two national databases designed at the Center for Disaster Management and Medical Emergencies (CDMME) and the Legal Medicine Organization (LMO), respectively. The severity and medical costs of injuries were identified by reviewing 400 medical records that were selected randomly from patients who were admitted to two large trauma centers in Shariati and Sina hospitals in Tehran province. Moreover, information about production lost, property damage, rehabilitation cost, intangible costs and administration costs were collected by review of current evidence and consulting with expert opinion. Results: In total 806,922 RTIs and 22,974 deaths resulted from the RTCs in the study period. The total cost of RTCs was about 72,465 billion Rials (7.2 billion US Dollars), which amounts to 2.19% of Iran’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Direct costs were 3,516 billion Rials (around 48.6 % of the total costs), following by 24,785 billion Rials (around 34.2 % of the total costs) for production lost and 12,513 billion Rials (around 17.2 % of the total costs) for intangible costs. Conclusions: This study indicated that the burden of both RTCs and RTIs in Iran is substantial. Moreover, RTCs have significant economic consequences and are a large drain on healthcare resources. PMID:24045158

The relationship between serum and urinary Fetuin-A levels and kidney stone formation among kidney stone patients.

PubMed

Mehrsai, Abdolrasoul; Guitynavard, Fateme; Nikoobakht, Mohammad Reza; Gooran, Shahram; Ahmadi, Ayat

2017-01-01

Mineralization inhibitors are required to prevent the precipitation of minerals and inhibit the formation of kidney stones and other ectopic calcifications. In laboratory studies, Fetuin-A as a glycoprotein has inhibited hydroxyapatite precipitation in calcium and phosphate supersaturated solutions; however, information about patients with kidney stones is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of serum and urinary Fetuin-A levels with calcium oxalate kidney stones. In this case-control study, 30 patients with kidney stones and 30 healthy individuals without any history of urolithiasis who were referred to the urology ward of Sina Hospital of Tehran, Iran, in 2015 were entered into the study. All patients underwent computerized tomography scans. After collecting demographic information, serum and urine levels of Fetuin-A and some other calcification inhibitors and promoters, were measured and compared using T-test, Mann-Whitney and logistic regression between the two study groups. Patients with kidney stones, on average, had lower levels of Serum Fetuin-A (1522.27 ±755.39 vs. 1914.64 ±733.76 μg/ml; P = 0.046) as well as lower levels of Urine Fetuin-A (944.62 ±188.5 vs. 1409.68 ±295.26 μg/ml; P <0.001). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that urinary calcium and serum creatinine are the risk factors and Fetuin-A is a urinary protective factor for kidney stones. PFC Our study showed that patients with kidney stones had lower serum and urinary levels of Fetuin-A. In the logistic regression model, urinary Fetuin-A was reported as a protective factor for kidney stones.

The Association between Androgenic Hormone Levels and the Risk of Developing Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

PubMed

Allameh, Farzad; Pourmand, Gholamreza; Bozorgi, Ali; Nekuie, Sepideh; Namdari, Farshad

2016-01-01

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the serum levels of androgens and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) in an Iranian population. Male individuals admitted to Tehran Heart Center and Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran from 2011-2012 were categorized into CAD and control groups based on selective coronary angiography. Baseline demographic data, including age, BMI, diabetes, and a history of hypertension were recorded. Patients were also assessed for their serum levels of total testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol, dehydroepi and rosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG). Data analysis was carried out chi-square and ANOVA tests as well as logistic regression analysis. Two hundred patients were in the CAD group and 135 individuals in control group. In the CAD group, 69 had single-vessel disease, 49 had two-vessel diseases, and 82 had three-vessel diseases. Statistically significant differences were observed between the individuals in the two groups with respect to age (P<0.0001), diabetes (P<0.0001), and a history of hypertension (P=0.018). The serum levels of free testosterone (P=0.048) and DHEA-S (P<0.0001) were significantly higher in the control group than in the CAD group; however, the serum level of SHBG was higher in the CAD group than in the control group (P=0.007). Results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that only age (P=0.042) and diabetes (P=0.003) had significant relationships with CAD. Although the serum levels of some of the androgens were significantly different between the two groups, no association was found between androgenic hormone levels and the risk of CAD, due mainly to the effect of age and diabetes.

Epidemiology of tinea capitis in northeast Iran: a retrospective analysis from 1998 to 2012.

PubMed

Afshar, Parvaneh; Vahedi, Lale; Ghasemi, Maryam; Mardanshahi, Alireza

2016-06-01

Tinea capitis is a common disease of the pediatric population. This disease typically follows one of several clinical patterns, i.e., scaling, hair loss, and/or inflammatory lesions, which are usually caused predominantly by two dermatophytic genera: Microsporum and Trichophyton. The aim of this study was to investigate tinea capitis and its etiological agents in Sari city of Mazandaran province, Iran. We studied the spectrum of tinea capitis by means of a retrospective analysis involving 1745 patients referred to both the Reference Laboratory of Medical Mycology (RLMM) and Bo Ali Sina Hospital at Sari, Iran (1998-2012). Specimens were assessed by standard mycological techniques based on macroscopic and microscopic morphology. Among the patients, 480 (27.5%; 61 males and 39% females) were confirmed through a mycological examination. The peak incidence was in the 5-14 years age group. Endothrix (263 cases; 54.8%) was the most frequent clinical feature by direct exam. The predominant causative agents of tinea capitis were T. tonsurans (186 cases; 38.8%) and T. violaceum (119 cases; 24.8%), followed by T. mentagrophytes (46 cases; 9.6%), T. schoenleinii (28; 5.8%), T. rubrum (20 cases; 4.2%), M. gypseum (15 cases; 3.1%), T. verrucosum (14 cases; 2.9%), and Epidermophyton floccosum (1 cases; 0.2%). The present study showed that tinea capitis is mainly due to the anthropophilic species, and the most common species were T. tonsurans and T. violaceum. Owing to the high frequency of anthropophilic species, future studies may be useful in the development of preventive and educational strategies to reduce healthcare expenditure. © 2015 The International Society of Dermatology.

Effect of alpha-lipoic acid on asymmetric dimethylarginine and disability in multiple sclerosis patients: A randomized clinical trial.

PubMed

Khalili, Mohammad; Soltani, Madjid; Moghadam, Shirin Amiri; Dehghan, Parvin; Azimi, Amirreza; Abbaszadeh, Omid

2017-07-01

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Oxidative stress plays a major role in the onset and progression of MS. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) formation is dependent on oxidative stress status. We examined whether alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) as a potent antioxidant could improve the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and decrease plasma level of ADMA in multiple sclerosis patients. In a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial conducted at Sina Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from September 2009 to July 2011, 24 patients with relapsing-remitting MS were divided into a treatment group receiving ALA (1200mg/day) for 12 weeks and a control group receiving placebo. Then patients' EDSS and Plasma levels of ADMA were measured at baseline and 12 weeks later. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software version 16 using the K-S test, Chi square, Mann-Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon test. The plasma levels of ADMA in the intervention group were decreased significantly (p=0.04). Also, no patient had increased EDSS score in the supplement group, where 2 out of 12 patients in the placebo group experienced so. Comparing the serum level of ADMA between the two groups failed to show any significant change in the supplement group compared with the control group. Considering that ADMA is produced by oxidative stress in MS patients and leads to increase of inflammation, ALA may have the potential of beneficial effects in them, in part, by decreasing the plasma level of ADMA and stopping progression. The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.irct.ir) with the Irct ID: No. IRCT138812222602N2. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

"My reins admonish me at night" (Psalm 16:7): the kidneys in ancient and medieval Jewish sources.

PubMed

Kottek, Samuel S

2010-01-01

David Macht already stated that in several ancient languages the same term is used for kidneys and testes. "Preparation or elaboration of the semen was considered to be one of the functions of the kidneys in man". In the Bible, however, this confusion does not exist, at least not on the anatomical level. Together with the heart, the kidneys are paradigmatic of the innermost organs, wherefrom result their metaphoric association in being the seat of emotions and of wisdom. Some of these aspects will be delineated in the present study, briefly in Bible and Talmud, while stressing medieval Jewish sources, including the works of Shabtai Donnolo, Judah Halevi, Shem-Tov Falaquera, and Meir ibn Aldabi.

A brief history of the discovery of the circulation of blood in the human body.

PubMed

Azizi, Mohammad-Hossein; Nayernouri, Touraj; Azizi, Farzaneh

2008-05-01

The present article describes briefly the development of the theories regarding the circulation of blood in humans, from the time of Galen (second century C.E.) to the work of William Harvey (17th century C.E.).We shall summarize the views of Galen together with those of two prominent Iranian physicians of the Middle Ages (Razi and Ahwazi known in the West as Rhazes and Haly Abbas respectively) as well as that of Ibn-Nafis from Damascus (the discoverer of the pulmonary circulation) and the Spanish physician and cleric Michael Servetus and finally the definitive work of William Harvey, the English physician who described the mechanism of both the systemic and pulmonary circulation of blood in the human body.

[Miliary tuberculosis].

PubMed

Zaghba, N; El Hachimi, K; Benjelloun, H; Yassine, N

2018-02-01

Tuberculosis miliary is a severe and rare form of tuberculosis. It is often due to a haematogenous spread of the bacillus of Koch and represents less than 2 % of tuberculosis. We conducted a retrospective study of 81 cases of tuberculous miliary collected at the Department of respiratory diseases of the Ibn Rochd university hospital in Casablanca between September 2003 and November 2016. A female predominance was noted with 58 % of the cases. The average age was 36 years. The history of tuberculosis was found in eight cases and tuberculous tuberculosis in eleven cases, postpartum in five cases, diabetes in three cases and trisomy 21 in one case. The clinical picture was dominated by altered general status in all cases, and fever in 69 cases (86 %). Chest x-ray showed a miliary aspect in all cases, cardiomegaly in two cases, pyopneumothorax in three cases, and opacities excavated in five other cases. The intradermal tuberculin reaction, performed in all cases, was positive in 26 cases, and sputum oscillations were positive in 21 cases. The dissemination report found cerebromeningeal involvement in nine cases, with cerebral tuberculomas in five cases, pericarditis in four cases, mediastinal and peripheral adenopathies in nine cases each. Bouchut tubercles were found in nine cases. Antibacillary therapy was started as a matter of urgency, according to the national TB control program with the old regimen (2SHRZ/7RH) and the new regimen (2RHZEb/7RH) in all cases. The outcome was good in 55 cases (68.9 %), 17 patients were lost to follow-up, and 11 deaths were reported. We insist on this work on the severity of the tuberculous miliary and the need for early and urgent therapeutic management. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Predicting the global spread range via small subnetworks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Jiachen; Dong, Junyou; Ma, Xiao; Feng, Ling; Hu, Yanqing

2017-04-01

Modern online social network platforms are replacing traditional media due to their effectiveness in both spreading information and communicating opinions. One of the key problems in these online platforms is to predict the global spread range of any given information. Due to its gigantic size as well as time-varying dynamics, an online social network's global structure, however, is usually inaccessible to most researchers. Thus, it raises the very important issue of how to use solely small subnetworks to predict the global influence. In this paper, based on percolation theory, we show that the global spread range can be predicted well from only two small subnetworks. We test our methods in an artificial network and three empirical online social networks, such as the full Sina Weibo network with 99546027 nodes.

Online social activity reflects economic status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jin-Hu; Wang, Jun; Shao, Junming; Zhou, Tao

2016-09-01

To characterize economic development and diagnose the economic health condition, several popular indices such as gross domestic product (GDP), industrial structure and income growth are widely applied. However, computing these indices based on traditional economic census is usually costly and resources consuming, and more importantly, following a long time delay. In this paper, we analyzed nearly 200 million users' activities for four consecutive years in the largest social network (Sina Microblog) in China, aiming at exploring latent relationships between the online social activities and local economic status. Results indicate that online social activity has a strong correlation with local economic development and industrial structure, and more interestingly, allows revealing the macro-economic structure instantaneously with nearly no cost. Beyond, this work also provides a new venue to identify risky signal in local economic structure.

Geolocation Via Satellite: A Methodology and Error Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-05-01

o - sing cow0o sinoo (4.449) acoso = in a... ! (4.44b) asin1 _ acos = 0 (4.45) ax0 No0 2!!LO- = -cso sinI sinvo (4.46a) 89coso = io5s (4.46b) avo...CS6 av0 asinO = o (4.47a) acoso snocs (4.47b) asina = siflA acoso (4.48a) a9cosA - i + COS sin - sinqS0 asino aoo O-So COSOO c s sb aoo -COSA a9coso...4.48b) asinb __ cosa= 0 (4.49) ax0 ax0 asinA =_ sifl cosv - sinA acoso (4.50a) av0 cos OS v aCoSA CSflOO OS fl4o COSA ao ~ (4.50b) (9os acs a 0 * o4

Decline and Decadence in Iraq and Syria after the Age of Avicenna?

PubMed Central

Joosse, N. Peter; Pormann, Peter E.

2010-01-01

Summary 'Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī's (d. 1231) work Book of the Two Pieces ofAdvice (Kitāb al Nasīḥatayn) challenges the idea that Islamic medicine declined after the twelfth century AD. Moreover, it offers some interesting insights into the social history of medicine. 'Abd al-Laṭīf advocated using the framework of Greek medical epistemology to criticize the rationalist physicians of his day; he argued that female and itinerant practitioners, relying on experience, were superior to some rationalists. He lambasted contemporaneous medical education because it put too much faith in a restricted number of textbooks such as the Canon by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna, d. 1037) or imperfect abridgments. PMID:20632731

An effective convolutional neural network model for Chinese sentiment analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yu; Chen, Mengdong; Liu, Lianzhong; Wang, Yadong

2017-06-01

Nowadays microblog is getting more and more popular. People are increasingly accustomed to expressing their opinions on Twitter, Facebook and Sina Weibo. Sentiment analysis of microblog has received significant attention, both in academia and in industry. So far, Chinese microblog exploration still needs lots of further work. In recent years CNN has also been used to deal with NLP tasks, and already achieved good results. However, these methods ignore the effective use of a large number of existing sentimental resources. For this purpose, we propose a Lexicon-based Sentiment Convolutional Neural Networks (LSCNN) model focus on Weibo's sentiment analysis, which combines two CNNs, trained individually base on sentiment features and word embedding, at the fully connected hidden layer. The experimental results show that our model outperforms the CNN model only with word embedding features on microblog sentiment analysis task.

Discussing mental illness in Chinese social media: the impact of influential sources on stigmatization and support among their followers.

PubMed

Wang, Weirui; Liu, Yu

2016-01-01

A content analysis was conducted to examine depression-related discourses by public opinion leaders and mainstream media in the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, as well as the impact of these discourses on their followers. The study revealed that stereotypical presentations of people with depression by influential sources often promoted stigmatization of or reduced support for depressed individuals among their followers. Environmental and genetic attributions for the disease in the original posts reduced stigmatization in the response posts. Information about recovery and treatment proved to be a double-edged sword, reducing stigmatization and support among followers at the same time. The use of a crime context to discuss depression in the original posts often promoted stigmatization, while discussing it in a health context increased support in the response posts.

Illustration of the heart and blood vessels in medieval times.

PubMed

Khalili, Majid; Shoja, Mohammadali M; Tubbs, R Shane; Loukas, Marios; Alakbarli, Farid; Newman, Andrew J

2010-08-06

Throughout history, illustrations had played a key role in the promotion and evolution of medicine by providing a medium for transmission of scientific observations. Due to religious prohibitions, color drawings of the human body did not appear in medieval Persia and during the Islamic Golden Age. This tradition, however, has been overlooked with the publication of the first color atlas and text of human anatomy, Tashrihi Mansuri (Mansur's Anatomy), by Mansur ibn Ilyas in the fourteenth century AD. Written in Persian and containing several vivid illustrations of the human body, this book gained widespread attention by both scholars and lay persons. In this article, a brief history of Mansur's Anatomy and an English translation of selected sections from this book regarding the heart and blood vessels are presented. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decline and decadence in Iraq and Syria after the age of Avicenna? 'Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī (1162-1231) between myth and history.

PubMed

Joosse, N Peter; Pormann, Peter E

2010-01-01

'Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī's (d. 1231) work Book of the Two Pieces of Advice (Kitāb al Nasīhatayn) challenges the idea that Islamic medicine declined after the twelfth century AD. Moreover, it offers some interesting insights into the social history of medicine. 'Abd al-Latīf advocated using the framework of Greek medical epistemology to criticize the rationalist physicians of his day; he argued that female and itinerant practitioners, relying on experience, were superior to some rationalists. He lambasted contemporaneous medical education because it put too much faith in a restricted number of textbooks such as the Canon by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna, d. 1037) or imperfect abridgments.

From Reading Stones, Glasses and Contact Lenses to Intraocular Lenses & Ophthalmic Lasers--A Short Overview over the History of Visual Aids.

PubMed

Scholtz, Sibylle K; Auffarth, Gerd U

2012-01-01

Alhazen, ibn al-Haytham, (965 Basra - c. 1040 in Cairo) was a Muslim polymath who made significant contributions to the principles of optics, being the first to recognize the optical effect by transparent objects in the 11th century. His insights led to a fundamental revolution, enabling older presbyopic persons to read again. Today many more options are available to help visually impaired people correct their sight defects. This article will give an historical overview of the sight aids which are available today and will describe the very first beginnings of the development of the "reading stone" or "glasses". Further, it will also give a chronological overview of more modern techniques, e.g., intraocular lenses, contact lenses and the options of refractive surgery.

Johannitius (809-873 AD), a medieval physician, translator and author.

PubMed

Dalfardi, Behnam; Daneshfard, Babak; Nezhad, Golnoush Sadat Mahmoudi

2016-08-01

The medieval physician, translator and author Abū Zayd Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq al-'Ibādī, best known in the West as Johannitius, is considered the best translator of Greek texts, particularly medical writings, into Arabic. He made great inroads in the art of translation in the Islamic world. In addition to his own translations, Johannitius put significant effort into training pupils and passing knowledge about translation to succeeding generations. He was also a great writer, compiling over 100 books on different subjects, especially medical. Among his own works, the illustrious Kitab al-Ashr Maqalat fil-Ayn (Ten Treatises on the Eye) contains the oldest known illustration of the structure of the eye. It served as the primary source for Galen's theory of vision and subsequent use by Western scholars. © The Author(s) 2016.

Emergence, evolution and scaling of online social networks.

PubMed

Wang, Le-Zhi; Huang, Zi-Gang; Rong, Zhi-Hai; Wang, Xiao-Fan; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2014-01-01

Online social networks have become increasingly ubiquitous and understanding their structural, dynamical, and scaling properties not only is of fundamental interest but also has a broad range of applications. Such networks can be extremely dynamic, generated almost instantaneously by, for example, breaking-news items. We investigate a common class of online social networks, the user-user retweeting networks, by analyzing the empirical data collected from Sina Weibo (a massive twitter-like microblogging social network in China) with respect to the topic of the 2011 Japan earthquake. We uncover a number of algebraic scaling relations governing the growth and structure of the network and develop a probabilistic model that captures the basic dynamical features of the system. The model is capable of reproducing all the empirical results. Our analysis not only reveals the basic mechanisms underlying the dynamics of the retweeting networks, but also provides general insights into the control of information spreading on such networks.

A mixing evolution model for bidirectional microblog user networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Wei-Guo; Liu, Yun

2015-08-01

Microblogs have been widely used as a new form of online social networking. Based on the user profile data collected from Sina Weibo, we find that the number of microblog user bidirectional friends approximately corresponds with the lognormal distribution. We then build two microblog user networks with real bidirectional relationships, both of which have not only small-world and scale-free but also some special properties, such as double power-law degree distribution, disassortative network, hierarchical and rich-club structure. Moreover, by detecting the community structures of the two real networks, we find both of their community scales follow an exponential distribution. Based on the empirical analysis, we present a novel evolution network model with mixed connection rules, including lognormal fitness preferential and random attachment, nearest neighbor interconnected in the same community, and global random associations in different communities. The simulation results show that our model is consistent with real network in many topology features.

Effect of users' opinion evolution on information diffusion in online social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hengmin; Kong, Yuehan; Wei, Jing; Ma, Jing

2018-02-01

The process of topic propagation always interweaves information diffusion and opinion evolution, but most previous works studied the models of information diffusion and opinion evolution separately, and seldom focused on their interaction of each other. To shed light on the effect of users' opinion evolution on information diffusion in online social networks, we proposed a model which incorporates opinion evolution into the process of topic propagation. Several real topics propagating on Sina Microblog were collected to analyze individuals' propagation intentions, and different propagation intentions were considered in the model. The topic propagation was simulated to explore the impact of different opinion distributions and intervention with opposite opinion on information diffusion. Results show that the topic with one-sided opinions can spread faster and more widely, and intervention with opposite opinion is an effective measure to guide the topic propagation. The earlier to intervene, the more effectively the topic propagation would be guided.

Effects of single antegrade hot shot in comparison with no hot shot administration during coronary artery bypass grafting

PubMed Central

Mirmohammadsadeghi, Pouya; Mirmohammadsadeghi, Mohsen

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND Superior results will be achieved from cardiac surgery by minimizing the effect of ischemia/reperfusion injury during cross-clamping of the aorta. Different cardioplegia solutions have been introduced, but the optimum one is still ambiguous. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of single antegrade hot shot terminal warm blood cardioplegia (TWBC) on patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS In total, 2488 patients who had CABG surgery in Sina Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, from 2003 to 2011 were enrolled in this case-control study. They were divided into two groups, those who received cold cardioplegia only and those who received a hot shot following cold cardioplegia. Demographics, and clinical data, such as; premature atrial contraction (PAC) arrhythmia, diabetes treatment, and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF), were collected and logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. RESULTS There were significant differences found between subjects receiving antegrade hot shot based on direct current (DC) shocks, with regard to; female, EF levels, diabetes treatment (P < 0.050). Those who did not receive the hot shot and were not diabetic received more DC shock (P = 0.019). The prevalence of subjects who did no need DC shock was significantly higher among male subjects who had good EF and acceptable diabetic treatment. Multiple logistic regression showed that PAC arrhythmia did not have a significant effect on receiving DC shock during CAGB [0.84 (0.25, 2.85), (P = 0.780)]. Having poor EF increased the risk of receiving DC shock among subjects by 2.81 [(1.69, 4.69), (P ≤ 0.001)] (P < 0.001). Among the diabetic subjects, receiving insulin decreased the risk of receiving DC shock by 0.54 (0.29, 0.98) (P = 0.042). CONCLUSION It was concluded that single antegrade hot shot following cold cardioplegia was not particularly effective in the CABG group. TWBC will decrease the need for DC shock. PMID:26405451

Effects of single antegrade hot shot in comparison with no hot shot administration during coronary artery bypass grafting.

PubMed

Mirmohammadsadeghi, Pouya; Mirmohammadsadeghi, Mohsen

2015-05-01

Superior results will be achieved from cardiac surgery by minimizing the effect of ischemia/reperfusion injury during cross-clamping of the aorta. Different cardioplegia solutions have been introduced, but the optimum one is still ambiguous. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of single antegrade hot shot terminal warm blood cardioplegia (TWBC) on patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In total, 2488 patients who had CABG surgery in Sina Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, from 2003 to 2011 were enrolled in this case-control study. They were divided into two groups, those who received cold cardioplegia only and those who received a hot shot following cold cardioplegia. Demographics, and clinical data, such as; premature atrial contraction (PAC) arrhythmia, diabetes treatment, and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF), were collected and logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. There were significant differences found between subjects receiving antegrade hot shot based on direct current (DC) shocks, with regard to; female, EF levels, diabetes treatment (P < 0.050). Those who did not receive the hot shot and were not diabetic received more DC shock (P = 0.019). The prevalence of subjects who did no need DC shock was significantly higher among male subjects who had good EF and acceptable diabetic treatment. Multiple logistic regression showed that PAC arrhythmia did not have a significant effect on receiving DC shock during CAGB [0.84 (0.25, 2.85), (P = 0.780)]. Having poor EF increased the risk of receiving DC shock among subjects by 2.81 [(1.69, 4.69), (P ≤ 0.001)] (P < 0.001). Among the diabetic subjects, receiving insulin decreased the risk of receiving DC shock by 0.54 (0.29, 0.98) (P = 0.042). It was concluded that single antegrade hot shot following cold cardioplegia was not particularly effective in the CABG group. TWBC will decrease the need for DC shock.

The invention of atmosphere.

PubMed

Martin, Craig

2015-08-01

The word "atmosphere" was a neologism Willebrord Snellius created for his Latin translation of Simon Stevin's cosmographical writings. Astronomers and mathematical practitioners, such as Snellius and Christoph Scheiner, applying the techniques of Ibn Mu'ādh and Witelo, were the first to use the term in their calculations of the height of vapors that cause twilight. Their understandings of the atmosphere diverged from Aristotelian divisions of the aerial region. From the early years of the seventeenth century, the term was often associated with atomism or corpuscular matter theory. The concept of the atmosphere changed dramatically with the advent of pneumatic experiments in the middle of the seventeenth century. Pierre Gassendi, Walter Charleton, and Robert Boyle transformed the atmosphere of the mathematicians giving it the characteristics of weight, specific gravity, and fluidity, while disputes about its extent and border remained unresolved. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A scholarly intermediary between the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Europe.

PubMed

Morrison, Robert

2014-03-01

This essay studies Moses Galeano, a Jewish scholar with ties to Crete and the Ottoman Sultan's court, who traveled to the Veneto around 1500. After describing Galeano's intellectual milieu, it focuses, first, on circumstantial evidence that he transmitted information central to the rise of Renaissance astronomy. Galeano knew of theories that strongly resemble portions of astronomy texts written by Giovanni Battista Amico and Girolamo Fracastoro at Padua a few decades later. He also knew about theories pioneered by the Damascene Ibn al-Shāţir (d. 1375) that strongly resemble portions of Copernicus's work. Next, the article turns to concrete evidence showing that Galeano was part of a network of Jewish scholars who did have contact with Christian scholars in Europe. The essay concludes that, while it is impossible to prove that Galeano had direct contact with Copernicus, he most likely had contact with some European astronomer(s) in the Veneto.

Akhawayni (?-983 AD): A Persian neuropsychiatrist in the early medieval era (9th-12th Century AD).

PubMed

Zargaran, Arman; Kordafshari, Gholamreza; Hosseini, Seyyed Rouhollah; Mehdizadeh, Alireza

2016-05-01

The early medieval era is also called the Islamic Golden Age because of the significant rise in sciences, including medicine. Abū Bakr Rabi' ibn Ahmad Akhawayni Bukhāri (better known as Akhawayni) was one of the notable medical practitioners in his lifetime. His fame was in neuroscience and he became known as Pezeshk-e-Divanegan (Physician to the Insane). His only surviving book, Hidāyat al-Muta'allimin fi al-Tibb (The Students' Handbook of Medicine), is the first medical textbook in Persian, after Islam. Akhawayni gathered and categorized available knowledge on neuropsychiatry and added his own. He was the first to describe sleep paralysis and to suggest pragmatic rather than supernatural treatment. He was also the first to present fever cure and his descriptions of meningitis (Lisarghos in Hidāyat), mania, psychosis (Malikhulia), dementia (Ghotrab), etc., are close to current concepts. © IMechE 2014.

A forensic hypothesis for the mystery of al-Hasan’s death in the 7th century: Mercury(I) chloride intoxication

PubMed Central

Burke, Nicole; Golas, Mitchell; Raafat, Cyrus L.

2015-01-01

The puzzle of a mysterious death in the Middle Ages has been hypothesized in terms of contemporary forensic legal and scientific methods. That al-Hasan ibn-‘Ali died in 669 aged just 45 has been forensically analyzed based on written sources that dictate eyewitness accounts of historical events. The report of the contemporaneous poisoning of another individual who resided under the same household as al-Hasan’s and experienced similar, yet non-lethal, symptoms has served as the beginning of the analysis. In light of ancient (medieval) documents and through using mineralogical, medical, and chemical facts, it has been hypothesized that mineral calomel (mercury(I) chloride, Hg2Cl2) from a certain region in the Byzantine Empire (present-day western Turkey) was the substance primarily responsible for the murder of al-Hasan. PMID:26377933

Rotating Band Torques and Stresses on AMCAWS 30mm Copper Banded Projectiles

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-05-01

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Impact of user influence on information multi-step communication in a micro-blog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yue; Hu, Yong; He, Xiao-Hai; Deng, Ken

2014-06-01

User influence is generally considered as one of the most critical factors that affect information cascading spreading. Based on this common assumption, this paper proposes a theoretical model to examine user influence on the information multi-step communication in a micro-blog. The multi-steps of information communication are divided into first-step and non-first-step, and user influence is classified into five dimensions. Actual data from the Sina micro-blog is collected to construct the model by means of an approach based on structural equations that uses the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Our experimental results indicate that the dimensions of the number of fans and their authority significantly impact the information of first-step communication. Leader rank has a positive impact on both first-step and non-first-step communication. Moreover, global centrality and weight of friends are positively related to the information non-first-step communication, but authority is found to have much less relation to it.

Investigation of hydrogen concentration and hardness of ion irradiated organically modified silicate thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Y.; Prenzel, T.; Harriman, T. A.; Wang, Y. Q.; Lucca, D. A.; Williams, D.; Nastasi, M.; Dong, J.; Mehner, A.

2010-06-01

A study of the effects of ion irradiation of organically modified silicate thin films on the loss of hydrogen and increase in hardness is presented. NaOH catalyzed SiNa wO xC yH z thin films were synthesized by sol-gel processing from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) precursors and spin-coated onto Si substrates. After drying at 300 °C, the films were irradiated with 125 keV H + or 250 keV N 2+ at fluences ranging from 1 × 10 14 to 2.5 × 10 16 ions/cm 2. Elastic Recoil Detection (ERD) was used to investigate resulting hydrogen concentration as a function of ion fluence and irradiating species. Nanoindentation was used to measure the hardness of the irradiated films. FT-IR spectroscopy was also used to examine resulting changes in chemical bonding. The resulting hydrogen loss and increase in hardness are compared to similarly processed acid catalyzed silicate thin films.

An information propagation model considering incomplete reading behavior in microblog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Qiang; Huang, Jiajia; Zhao, Xiande

2015-02-01

Microblog is one of the most popular communication channels on the Internet, and has already become the third largest source of news and public opinions in China. Although researchers have studied the information propagation in microblog using the epidemic models, previous studies have not considered the incomplete reading behavior among microblog users. Therefore, the model cannot fit the real situations well. In this paper, we proposed an improved model entitled Microblog-Susceptible-Infected-Removed (Mb-SIR) for information propagation by explicitly considering the user's incomplete reading behavior. We also tested the effectiveness of the model using real data from Sina Microblog. We demonstrate that the new proposed model is more accurate in describing the information propagation in microblog. In addition, we also investigate the effects of the critical model parameters, e.g., reading rate, spreading rate, and removed rate through numerical simulations. The simulation results show that, compared with other parameters, reading rate plays the most influential role in the information propagation performance in microblog.

ConformRank: A conformity-based rank for finding top-k influential users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiyao; Jin, Yuehui; Cheng, Shiduan; Yang, Tan

2017-05-01

Finding influential users is a hot topic in social networks. For example, advertisers identify influential users to make a successful campaign. Retweeters forward messages from original users, who originally publish messages. This action is referred to as retweeting. Retweeting behaviors generate influence. Original users have influence on retweeters. Whether retweeters keep the same sentiment as original users is taken into consideration in this study. Influence is calculated based on conformity from emotional perspective after retweeting. A conformity-based algorithm, called ConformRank, is proposed to find top-k influential users, who make the most users keep the same sentiment after retweeting messages. Emotional conformity is introduced to denote how users conform to original users from the emotional perspective. Conforming weights are introduced to denote how two users keep the same sentiment after retweeting messages. Emotional conformity is applied for users and conforming weights are used for relations. Experiments were conducted on Sina Weibo. Experimental results show that users have larger influence when they publish positive messages.

Social media microblogs as an HPV vaccination forum.

PubMed

Zhang, Chupei; Gotsis, Marientina; Jordan-Marsh, Maryalice

2013-11-01

The 2006 US FDA approval of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine brought new hope for cancer prevention. Gardasil and Cervarix are widely available vaccines that can deter HPV infection, which causes 70% of cervical cancer. Acceptance of vaccination varies due to a lack of HPV awareness and HPV vaccine knowledge. Recent observations of the Chinese microblog "SinaWeibo" suggest a new approach to engage health professionals and consumer website bloggers. Websites that present the latest fashion, fitness or beauty news and ways to obtain "deals" have created informative blogs or online communities that appeal to female users. Some users raise health questions of their peers. Health professionals, as website bloggers, can introduce vaccine news or respond to conversations between bloggers and their followers. By transforming medical vocabulary into ordinary chat, microblogs may promote efficiency in vaccine education and communication. A web-based, interactive social media-microblog could offer an ideal platform to speed up information dissemination and increase targeted communication.

Social media microblogs as an HPV vaccination forum

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chupei; Gotsis, Marientina; Jordan-Marsh, Maryalice

2013-01-01

The 2006 US FDA approval of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine brought new hope for cancer prevention. Gardasil and Cervarix are widely available vaccines that can deter HPV infection, which causes 70% of cervical cancer. Acceptance of vaccination varies due to a lack of HPV awareness and HPV vaccine knowledge. Recent observations of the Chinese microblog “SinaWeibo” suggest a new approach to engage health professionals and consumer website bloggers. Websites that present the latest fashion, fitness or beauty news and ways to obtain “deals” have created informative blogs or online communities that appeal to female users. Some users raise health questions of their peers. Health professionals, as website bloggers, can introduce vaccine news or respond to conversations between bloggers and their followers. By transforming medical vocabulary into ordinary chat, microblogs may promote efficiency in vaccine education and communication. A web-based, interactive social media-microblog could offer an ideal platform to speed up information dissemination and increase targeted communication. PMID:23842072

Effect of Heterogeneous Interest Similarity on the Spread of Information in Mobile Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Narisa; Sui, Guoqin; Yang, Fan

2018-06-01

Mobile social networks (MSNs) are important platforms for spreading news. The fact that individuals usually forward information aligned with their own interests inevitably changes the dynamics of information spread. Thereby, first we present a theoretical model based on the discrete Markov chain and mean field theory to evaluate the effect of interest similarity on the information spread in MSNs. Meanwhile, individuals' interests are heterogeneous and vary with time. These two features result in interest shift behavior, and both features are considered in our model. A leveraging simulation demonstrates the accuracy of our model. Moreover, the basic reproduction number R0 is determined. Further extensive numerical analyses based on the model indicate that interest similarity has a critical impact on information spread at the early spreading stage. Specifically, the information always spreads more quickly and widely if the interest similarity between an individual and the information is higher. Finally, five actual data sets from Sina Weibo illustrate the validity of the model.

New Mars meteorite fall in Morocco: collecting observations and determining the spatial distribution in the strewnfield

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibhi, Abderrahmane

2013-01-01

The existence of Martian meteorites in the region of Tissint (Tata, Morocco) dropped by a very bright fireball on July 18, 2011, had been notified to a group of scientists of the Ibn Zohr University of Agadir, Morocco, at the beginning of January 2012, by a nomad of Tata who had found a small fragment in the region. As soon as a scientific expedition arrived at the place of the meteorite fall, the members of the laboratory of Geo-heritage and Geo-materials Science started gathering information and collecting the debris of this Martian meteorite. The Tissint fireball has been observed and reported by numerous witnesses across the southeastern Morocco. The event was extremely valuable to the scientific community: it was the brightest and most comprehensively observed fireball in Morocco's known astronomical history. We are now in a position to draw the distribution ellipse of the fall, which starts at Jbel Al Gallab and continues in east-southeastern direction, above big rocky plateaus.

Diagnosis Protocol of Stomach Distemperament for Clinical Practice in Iranian Traditional Medicine: A Narrative Review

PubMed Central

ALIZADEH, Mahdi; KHADEM, Ebrahim; ALIASL, Jale

2017-01-01

Background: In Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) stomach is the important organ in the body. Its disorders can affect other organs such as liver, heart and also can cause depression. Stomach distemperaments can cause some disorders. The purpose of this study was to provide a diagnostic method of stomach distemperament for clinical practice. Methods: In this study authoritative ITM books such as Canon of Avicenna, Zakhirah-E-Kharazm Shahi by Hakim Esmail Jorjani, Kamel al-Sina’ah al-Tibbiyah by Ali ibn al-‘Abbas al-Majusi were assessed and symptoms and signs of stomach distemperament were collected. Results: Stomach has some normal temperament. The imbalance in temperament and humor can cause distemperments. There are 12 types of stomach distemperament and based on symptoms and signs a primary protocol is designed for diagnosis of stomach distemperament. Conclusion: There is no available guideline for gastric distemperamet diagnosis protocol. As a result, the presented protocol should be considered for use in clinical practice. PMID:28845397

Thermo-Mechanical Properties of SiC/SiC Composites with Hybrid CVI-PIP Matrices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhatt, R. T.; DiCarlo, J. A.

2004-01-01

For long term structural service, the upper temperature capability for slurry-cast melt infiltrated (MI) SiC/SiC composites is limited to approx. 1315 C because of silicon reaction with the SiC fibers. For applications requiring material temperatures in excess of 1315 C, alternate methods of manufacturing the SiC matrices without silicon are being investigated, such as a hybrid combination of CVI and PIP. In this study, stacked fabric plies of Sylramic i-BN SiC fibers were coated with a CVI BN interface layer followed by a partial CVI SiC matrix. The remaining porosity in the SiC/SiC preforms was then infiltrated with silicon carbide matrix by PIP. Thermo-mechanical property measurements indicate that these composites are stable to 1700 C in inert environments under no load conditions for 100 h and under load conditions to 1450 C in air for 300 h. The advantages, disadvantages, and potential of this composite system for high temperature applications will be discussed.

Ibn al-Haitham--father of optics and describer of vision theory.

PubMed

Masic, Izet

2008-01-01

Among famous Arabic doctor belongs also Ibn Al-Haitam (known in the west as Alhazen) which is considered to be the greatest Muslim doctor and one of the greatest researches of optics for all times. Al Haitam is born in city Basra and immigrated to Egypt during reign of Caliph Al Hakim. He is quoted as excellent astronomer, mathematician and doctor as well as one of the best commentators of the Galen and Aristotle's work. He is the first medical scholar who teaches that light "does not originates from the eye but on opposite enters the eye", and in that manner corrects the wrong opinion of the Greeks about the nature of vision. According to this scholar retina is the center of vision and the impressions that it receives are transferred to the brain by the optical nerve, in order that brain afterwards create visual image in the symmetrical relationship for both retinas. Al-Haitam was the most important researcher of optics in Islam. He was convinced that the adequate theory of vision must combine Euclid and Ptolemy "mathematical" approach and "physical doctrine of the naturalists. The result of his reflections in the paper "Optics", supported by the experimental approach, is the new theory of vision, much richer and perfected than any before. He thought that light and color, two physical features that exist independently from the observed subject, in strait lines originates from the each point of visible object. Al Haitam concludes that what we perceive is actually the object which is on a certain distance from the eye and which have certain shape and size, and vision itself is the result of intervention by the visual material received by the brain and stored information's from previous experiences. Reception hypothesis (intromission) Al-Haitam exposed to mathematical testing, and then incorporated into already developed perception theory, which is still not completely explored by historians. In his experiments he used "dark chambers", trying to confirm the features of light, such as expansion in straight lines, reflexion and refraction of the light beams. Basic stand point which he supported was that the vision is the result of impression which light leaves on the sight sense, he supported it based on the experience that the eye "retains an image" or has pain when looking into bright light. Theory of vision by Haitam Optics, written in Egypt during the first half of XI century, overmatches Galen, Euclid and Ptolemy ones.

Association between ABO blood/rhesus grouping and hepatitis B and C: a case-control study.

PubMed

Pourhassan, Abolfazl

2014-06-01

During past decades, a connection between hepatitis and the host ABO/Rh blood groups has been always under dispute, with no appropriately designed study yet. This study aimed to investigate possible association between ABO blood/Rh groups with both hepatitis B and C. In this case-control setting, 200 healthy individuals (controls), 200 patients with chronic Hepatitis-B infection (HB) and 200 patients with chronic Hepatitis-C infection (HC) were recruited from 2010 to 2013 in Tabriz Sina Hospital. ABO blood and Rh grouping was performed and the results were compared between the case and control groups. Both pair of the control and HB groups and the control and HC groups were matched for their subjects' age and sex. In the control group, 178 subjects (89%) were Rh+ and 22 subjects (11%) were Rh-. In the HB group, there were 180 Rh+ (90%) and 20 Rh- (10%) patients. In the HC group there were 168 Rh+ (84%) and 32 Rh-negative (16%) patients. Both pair of the control and HB groups (p = 0.74), as well as the control and HC groups (p = 0.14) were comparable for the status of Rh. In the control group there were 84 (42%), 32 (16%), 66 (33%) and 18 (9%) subjects with A, B, O and AB blood groups, respectively. The corresponding figures were 84 (42%), 34 (17%), 58 (29%) and 24 (12%) for the HB patients; and 80 (40%), 29 (14.5%), 85 (42.5%) and 6 (3%) for the HC patients. Comparing between the control and HB groups showed no significant difference in terms of the frequency of ABO blood groups (p = 0.70). However, with comparing the control and HC groups, the rate of O blood group was significantly higher in the HC group and concomitantly, the rate of AB blood group was significantly higher in the control group (p = 0.04). Although, there is not a significant association between ABO blood groups and HB, this association is significant between certain ABO blood groups and HC.

Quality of life in people with epilepsy in Sudan: An example of underserved communities in developing countries.

PubMed

Sokrab, M; Sokrab, A; Elzubeir, M

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of life (QOL) in people with epilepsy (PWE) living in Khartoum State, Northern Sudan. The region offers a model of urban and suburban communities in developing countries. A cross-sectional study was carried out in the neurology clinic of Khartoum State Hospital and Omer Ibn Alkhatab Health Center in the suburb of Khartoum State. We interviewed PWE living in the city, the suburbs and adjacent villages. Our subjects were known to have been on antiepileptic drugs (AED) for at least 6 months. The impact of epilepsy on the QOL was assessed in the clinic using a 23-item questionnaire with graded scales and check-lists to explored demographic characteristics, seizure control, adverse effects of antiepileptic medication, physical harm, social and psychological impact and stigmatization. Fifty-two females and 48 males between the ages of 10 and 80 years were interviewed. Sixty percent of participants were between 20 and 39 years of age. While on AED treatment, 63% developed at least one seizure at any given time, 49% in the past 6 months and 27% in the past week. Twenty six percent experienced one or more side effect of AEDs. A significant number of respondents admitted that epilepsy had a negative impact on several aspects of their daily life activities, education and social functioning. Of individuals eligible for work, 17% were unemployed or had their job terminated because of epilepsy. Relationships with spouses were affected in 20 % of cases. Fifteen percent felt stigmatized by their illness. None of the participants had received any formal health education or counseling about epilepsy. Epilepsy has a significant impact on several aspects of QOL, particularly physical injury and socioeconomic functioning affecting PWE living in Khartoum State. Poor seizure control, a risk factor for impaired QOL, was common. The overall perceptions of QOL and self satisfaction as stated by our PWE was more favorable when compared to those in developed countries and the Gulf. Nevertheless, this could be more reflective of social circumstances and better seizure control, health education and counseling for PWE and their families is still encouraged and recommended.

[Implementation and assessment of an HIV treatment training program (2000-2001) for patients in Casablanca (Morocco)].

PubMed

Marchand, Claire; Himmich, Hakima; Maaroufi, Abderahmane; Sohier, Nathalie; Chambon, Jean François; Gagnayre, Rémi

2005-01-01

An educational program to improve the management of HIV patients was introduced in the department of infectious diseases of Ibn Rochd hospital, Casablanca, Morocco in January 2000. The project, funded by the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, began by training ward physicians as well as volunteers from the ALLOCS (Association de lutte contre le sida) in pedagogy and patient education techniques (four-day course). Other sessions reviewed HIV management and treatment. Treatment training sessions were offered to all patients receiving antiretroviral treatment when the program began. All had been taking medication for at least two months and gave their informed consent to participation in the project. Each patient's sessions took place just after his or her medical consultation, in a room set aside for this purpose in the hospital. During the first session the educator established an educational diagnosis and defined educational objectives according to the individual patient's needs. Objectives were related to patients' knowledge about HIV transmission prevention and treatment management (including problem-solving for mild adverse events, delays, forgetting, vacations etc.). Trainers used several educational tools, including therapeutic planning (planning card with self-adhesive stickers showing the treatment medication); a folder of drawings depicting HIV transmission, prevention, and natural history, as well as the aims of antiretroviral therapy; decks of cards illustrating symptoms and psycho-sociological problems. Each patient had to attend at least 3 educational sessions. The program was evaluated at the end of one year. Patients' attendance, treatment adherence, laboratory test results (CD4 count, viral load), satisfaction about patient-staff relationships and knowledge about HIV disease and treatment were assessed on an on-going basis with various questionnaires and data collection systems. In all, 96 patients attended classes, with a mean of 14 sessions per patient per year. After 6 and 12 months of training, patients' CD4 cell counts increased, and the proportion with viral loads below the detection level rose, as did adherence scores. Patients' knowledge appeared to have improved at 6 months but regressed somewhat at 12 months. This may be explained by program timing: most educational sessions take place during the first 6 months of patient enrolment in the program. Patient satisfaction about the program and their care reveals that they acquired autonomy in managing their disease and treatment. Their satisfaction at 12 months, however, was lower than it was at 6 months. One explanation may be that more educated patients are more demanding, but another is the staff turnover in the program. New staff may have required more support and training than was then available. This pilot program allowed us to draft guidelines for setting up educational programs for HIV patients in relatively poor countries.

Understanding human dynamics in microblog posting activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Zhihong; Zhang, Yubao; Wang, Hui; Li, Pei

2013-02-01

Human activity patterns are an important issue in behavior dynamics research. Empirical evidence indicates that human activity patterns can be characterized by a heavy-tailed inter-event time distribution. However, most researchers give an understanding by only modeling the power-law feature of the inter-event time distribution, and those overlooked non-power-law features are likely to be nontrivial. In this work, we propose a behavior dynamics model, called the finite memory model, in which humans adaptively change their activity rates based on a finite memory of recent activities, which is driven by inherent individual interest. Theoretical analysis shows a finite memory model can properly explain various heavy-tailed inter-event time distributions, including a regular power law and some non-power-law deviations. To validate the model, we carry out an empirical study based on microblogging activity from thousands of microbloggers in the Celebrity Hall of the Sina microblog. The results show further that the model is reasonably effective. We conclude that finite memory is an effective dynamics element to describe the heavy-tailed human activity pattern.

[Meta-analysis on relationship between single nucleotide polymorphism of rs2231142 in ABCG2 gene and gout in East Asian population].

PubMed

Wu, Lei; He, Yao; Zhang, Di

2015-11-01

To systematically evaluate the association between single nucleotide polymorphism of rs2231142 genetic susceptibility and gout in East Asian population. The literature retrieval was conducted by using English databases (Medline, EMbase), Chinese databases (CNKI, Vip, Wanfang, SinaMed) and others to collect the published papers on the association between single nucleotide polymorphism of rs2231142 genetic susceptibility and gout by the end of December 2014. Meta-analysis was performed with software Stata 12.0. Nine studies were included. There were significant associations between increased risk of gout and single nucleotide polymorphism of rs2231142, the combined OR was 2.04 (95%CI: 1.82-2.28) for A allele and C allele, 1.97 (95%CI: 1.57-2.48) for CA and CC, 3.71 (95%CI: 3.07-4.47) for AA and CC. Sex and region specific subgroup analysis showed less heterogeneity. There is significant association between gout and single nucleotide polymorphism of rs2231142 in East Asian population, and A allele is a high risk gene for gout.

Effect of size and indium-composition on linear and nonlinear optical absorption of InGaN/GaN lens-shaped quantum dot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, S. Jbara; Zulkafli, Othaman; M, A. Saeed

2016-05-01

Based on the Schrödinger equation for envelope function in the effective mass approximation, linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients in a multi-subband lens quantum dot are investigated. The effects of quantum dot size on the interband and intraband transitions energy are also analyzed. The finite element method is used to calculate the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Strain and In-mole-fraction effects are also studied, and the results reveal that with the decrease of the In-mole fraction, the amplitudes of linear and nonlinear absorption coefficients increase. The present computed results show that the absorption coefficients of transitions between the first excited states are stronger than those of the ground states. In addition, it has been found that the quantum dot size affects the amplitudes and peak positions of linear and nonlinear absorption coefficients while the incident optical intensity strongly affects the nonlinear absorption coefficients. Project supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Iraq, Ibnu Sina Institute and Physics Department of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM RUG Vote No. 06-H14).

A model of spreading of sudden events on social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Jiao; Zheng, Muhua; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Wang, Wei; Gu, Changgui; Liu, Zonghua

2018-03-01

Information spreading has been studied for decades, but its underlying mechanism is still under debate, especially for those ones spreading extremely fast through the Internet. By focusing on the information spreading data of six typical events on Sina Weibo, we surprisingly find that the spreading of modern information shows some new features, i.e., either extremely fast or slow, depending on the individual events. To understand its mechanism, we present a susceptible-accepted-recovered model with both information sensitivity and social reinforcement. Numerical simulations show that the model can reproduce the main spreading patterns of the six typical events. By this model, we further reveal that the spreading can be speeded up by increasing either the strength of information sensitivity or social reinforcement. Depending on the transmission probability and information sensitivity, the final accepted size can change from continuous to discontinuous transition when the strength of the social reinforcement is large. Moreover, an edge-based compartmental theory is presented to explain the numerical results. These findings may be of significance on the control of information spreading in modern society.

Public Mood and Consumption Choices: Evidence from Sales of Sony Cameras on Taobao

PubMed Central

Ma, Qingguo; Zhang, Wuke

2015-01-01

Previous researchers have tried to predict social and economic phenomena with indicators of public mood, which were extracted from online data. This method has been proved to be feasible in many areas such as financial markets, economic operations and even national suicide numbers. However, few previous researches have examined the relationship between public mood and consumption choices at society level. The present study paid attention to the “Diaoyu Island” event, and extracted Chinese public mood data toward Japan from Sina MicroBlog (the biggest social media in China), which demonstrated a significant cross-correlation between the public mood variable and sales of Sony cameras on Taobao (the biggest Chinese e-business company). Afterwards, several candidate predictors of sales were examined and finally three significant stepwise regression models were obtained. Results of models estimation showed that significance (F-statistics), R-square and predictive accuracy (MAPE) all improved due to inclusion of public mood variable. These results indicate that public mood is significantly associated with consumption choices and may be of value in sales forecasting for particular products. PMID:25902358

Public mood and consumption choices: evidence from sales of Sony cameras on Taobao.

PubMed

Ma, Qingguo; Zhang, Wuke

2015-01-01

Previous researchers have tried to predict social and economic phenomena with indicators of public mood, which were extracted from online data. This method has been proved to be feasible in many areas such as financial markets, economic operations and even national suicide numbers. However, few previous researches have examined the relationship between public mood and consumption choices at society level. The present study paid attention to the "Diaoyu Island" event, and extracted Chinese public mood data toward Japan from Sina MicroBlog (the biggest social media in China), which demonstrated a significant cross-correlation between the public mood variable and sales of Sony cameras on Taobao (the biggest Chinese e-business company). Afterwards, several candidate predictors of sales were examined and finally three significant stepwise regression models were obtained. Results of models estimation showed that significance (F-statistics), R-square and predictive accuracy (MAPE) all improved due to inclusion of public mood variable. These results indicate that public mood is significantly associated with consumption choices and may be of value in sales forecasting for particular products.

VizPrimer: a web server for visualized PCR primer design based on known gene structure.

PubMed

Zhou, Yang; Qu, Wubin; Lu, Yiming; Zhang, Yanchun; Wang, Xiaolei; Zhao, Dongsheng; Yang, Yi; Zhang, Chenggang

2011-12-15

The visualization of gene structure plays an important role in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer design, especially for eukaryotic genes with a number of splice variants that users need to distinguish between via PCR. Here, we describe a visualized web server for primer design named VizPrimer. It utilizes the new information technology (IT) tools, HTML5 to display gene structure and JavaScript to interact with the users. In VizPrimer, the users can focus their attention on the gene structure and primer design strategy, without wasting time calculating the exon positions of splice variants or manually configuring complicated parameters. In addition, VizPrimer is also suitable for the design of PCR primers for amplifying open reading frames and detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). VizPrimer is freely available at http://biocompute.bmi.ac.cn/CZlab/VizPrimer/. The web server supported browsers: Chrome (≥5.0), Firefox (≥3.0), Safari (≥4.0) and Opera (≥10.0). zhangcg@bmi.ac.cn; yangyi528@vip.sina.com.

Creep Behavior and Durability of Cracked CMC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhatt, R. T.; Fox, Dennis; Smith, Craig

2015-01-01

To understand failure mechanisms and durability of cracked Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), Melt Infiltration (MI) SiCSiC composites with Sylramic-iBN fibers and full Chemical vapour infiltration SiCSiC composites with Sylramic-ion bombarded BN (iBN) and Hi-Nicalon -S fibers were pre-cracked between 150 to 200 megapascal and then creep and Sustained Peak Low Cycle Fatigue (SPLCF) tested at 13150 C at stress levels from 35 to 103 megapascal for up to 200 hours under furnace and burner rig conditions. In addition creep testing was also conducted on pre-cracked full Chemical vapour infiltration SiCSiC composites at 14500 C between 35 and 103 megapascal for up to 200 hours under furnace conditions. If the specimens survived the 200 hour durability tests, then they were tensile tested at room temperature to determine their residual tensile properties. The failed specimens were examined by Scanning electron microscope (SEM) to determine the failure modes and mechanisms. The influence of crack healing matrix, fiber types, crack density, testing modes and interface oxidation on durability of cracked Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) will be discussed.

AAVSO and the International Year of Light (Poster abstract)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, K.

2015-06-01

(Abstract only) The United Nations General Assembly has officially designated 2015 to be the International Year of Light (IYL). Modeled in part on the earlier International Year of Astronomy (IYA), this cross-disciplinary, international educational and outreach project will celebrate the importance of light in science, technology, cultural heritage, and the arts. It ties in with several important anniversaries, such as the 1000th anniversary of the publication of Ibn Al Haythem's “Book of Optics,” the 150th anniversary of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism, the centenary of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, and the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Because variable stars are defined as such due to the variability of the light we observe from them, all of the AAVSO programs, regardless of type of variable or instrumentation (eye, DSLR, PEP, or CCD) have natural tie-ins to the study of light. This poster will highlight a number of specific ways that AAVSO members and the organization as a whole can become intimately involved with this unique outreach opportunity.

IN THE TRANSLATOR’S WORKSHOP

PubMed Central

VAGELPOHL, UWE

2013-01-01

Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq’s Arabic translation of Galen’s commentary on the Hippocratic Epidemics is an invaluable source for our knowledge of Galenic medicine and its transmission history, not least because much of it is extant only in Arabic. Its importance for the Arabic medical tradition is amply attested in the later medical literature. It also tells us much about the methods and self-image of contemporary translators. Throughout the translation, we find remarks by Ḥunayn discussing the quality of his source text, his own interpretation and also his attempts to reconstruct problematic or damaged passages. Based on an edition of these notes, their analysis and comparison to similar texts and Galen’s own thought on editing and interpreting difficult medical texts, this article aims to situate Ḥunayn’s methods in the context of the Greek-Arabic translation movement. It argues that his approach differs in important respects from that of preceding Greek-Arabic and Greek-Syriac translators and that he was indebted to Galen not just as a physician, but also as a translator and exegete. PMID:24077025

Curiosity as an approach to ethoexperimental analysis: Behavioral neuroscience as seen by students and colleagues of Bob Blanchard.

PubMed

Pearson, Brandon L; Crawley, Jacqueline N; Eilam, David; Pentkowski, Nathan S; Summers, Cliff H

2017-05-01

This review is a synopsis of an International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) symposium which focused on the elements of Behavioral Neuroscience for which Robert J. Blanchard was a Pioneer, Leading Expert, Advocate, Mentor, and Sage. Bob Blanchard's work demonstrably changed our broad understanding of animal behavior, and led the way to experimental design and analysis for studies of animal behavior that helped to clarify the deep complexity and subtleties of behavior. Bob's impact on the field of Behavioral Neuroscience includes the behavior, neurocircuitry, neurochemistry, and pharmacology related to social interactions, aggressive behavior, defensive behaviors, flight, freezing, threat, attack, risk assessment, anxiety disorders, animal models, models of social behavior, and autism. The methods and designs developed by Bob Blanchard over a lifetime have been adopted by scientists around the world, and form a standard of excellence in the field. The article addresses these topics in a way that presents developments in the field, describes the newest research data, and pays tribute to a great scientist and founder of this field of work, Bob Blanchard. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal-Derived Anticancer Modalities: From Tradition to Molecular Mechanisms

PubMed Central

Zaid, Hilal; Silbermann, Michael; Ben-Arye, Eran; Saad, Bashar

2012-01-01

The incidence of cancer is increasing in the developed countries and even more so in developing countries parallel to the increase in life expectancy. In recent years, clinicians and researchers advocate the need to include supportive and palliative care since the establishment of the diagnosis and throughout the duration of treatment, with the goal of improving patients' quality of life. This patient-centered approach in supportive care is also shared by various traditional and complementary medicine approaches. Traditional Arab-Islamic medicine offers a variety of therapeutic modalities that include herbal, nutritional, and spiritual approaches. Physicians and scholars, such as Avicenna (980–1037), Rhazes (965–915), Al Zahrawi (936–1013), and Ibn al Nafis (1218–1288) referred to cancer etiology in various medicinal texts and suggested both preventive and therapeutic remedies to alleviate suffering. This review presents research data related to the anticancer activities of herbs used in Arab-Islamic medicine and allude to their potential role in improving the quality of life of cancer patients. PMID:22203868

[Physical violence during pregnancy in Morocco].

PubMed

Boufettal, H; Obaid, B; Belhouss, A; Hermas, S; Noun, M; Samouh, N

2012-02-01

Physical abuse are a serious social problem and an issue of perinatal health. This article presents the results of a survey conducted at the CHU Ibn Rochd of Casablanca (Morocco), over a period of one year, in order to determine their frequency, risk factors, maternal diseases and obstetric complications. The results of our survey found that women who reported physical abuse have a frequency of 12.3% (107 cases). The average age of these women is 22.3 years; 65.6% of parturients are illiterate, 45% are from a disadvantaged socioeconomic status, 47% originated from a rural county; 37% are unmarried; half of the abused are multiparous with an average of 3.2 living children; 23% of the pregnancies are unplanned. Lastly, 37.3% of pregnant partners are unemployed and 67% have toxic habits. Obstetric complications are fairly frequent and mental effects are not negligible with 3 attempted suicides and attempted homicide. Early identification of abuse suffered by pregnant women and taking measures to prevent them could reduce the occurrence of these adverse effects. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Pulsational Pair-instability Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woosley, S. E.

2017-02-01

The final evolution of stars in the mass range 70-140 {\\text{}}{M}⊙ is explored. Depending upon their mass loss history and rotation rates, these stars will end their lives as pulsational pair-instability supernovae (PPISN) producing a great variety of observational transients with total durations ranging from weeks to millennia and luminosities from 1041 to over 1044 erg s-1. No nonrotating model radiates more than 5× {10}50 erg of light or has a kinetic energy exceeding 5× {10}51 erg, but greater energies are possible, in principle, in magnetar-powered explosions, which are explored. Many events resemble SNe Ibn, SNe Icn, and SNe IIn, and some potential observational counterparts are mentioned. Some PPISN can exist in a dormant state for extended periods, producing explosions millennia after their first violent pulse. These dormant supernovae contain bright Wolf-Rayet stars, possibly embedded in bright X-ray and radio sources. The relevance of PPISN to supernova impostors like Eta Carinae, to superluminous supernovae, and to sources of gravitational radiation is discussed. No black holes between 52 and 133 {\\text{}}{M}⊙ are expected from stellar evolution in close binaries.

X-Ray Emission from Supernovae in Dense Circumstellar Matter Environments: A Search for Collisionless Shock

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ofek, E.O; Fox, D.; Cenko, B.; Sullivan, M.; Gnat, O.; Frail A.; Horesh, A.; Corsi, A; Quimby, R. M.; Gehrels, N.;

Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Organ Donation among Relatives of Patients Referred to the Emergency Department.

PubMed

Pouraghaei, Mahboob; Tagizadieh, Mohammad; Tagizadieh, Ali; Moharamzadeh, Payman; Esfahanian, Samaneh; Shahsavari Nia, Kavous

2015-01-01

Organ donation is one of the surviving procedures, which can increase the life expectancy of end-stage patients. Inappropriate beliefs and attitude of individuals to organ donation, their poor knowledge, and the socio-economic level are one of the most important barriers for organ donation. Therefore, here knowledge and attitude levels among relatives of trauma patients regarding organ donation were evaluated. This cross-sectional study was done on relatives of trauma patients referred to the emergency department of Sina Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, through 2013 to 2014. The questionnaire included parts of demographic data and socio-economic situations as well as status of knowledge and attitude regarding organ donation. A score between 0-7 was belonged to each person based on his/her level of knowledge. Attitude level had a score between 0-12. Chi- square, Fisher, and Mann-Whitney U test were performed to assess the relation between demographic variables and the level of knowledge and attitude. P<0.05 was considered as a significant level. 79 persons (57.1% male) with the mean age of 31.3±11.3 years were evaluated. 57 (73.1%) of subjects agreed with organ transplant. The main causes of disagreement among relatives regarding organ donation were dissatisfaction of the donor's relatives (25%) and religious issues (15%). 49 (62.02%) studied people had inappropriate attitude and 27 (34.2%) ones had good knowledge. male gender (OR=5.87; 95%CI: 3.32-8.42; p=0.001) and self-employed job (OR=7.78; 95%CI: 4.64-10.92; p=0.001) are independent factors associated with poor knowledge about organ donation. Self-employed job (OR=3.86; 95%CI: 1.41-6.11; p=0.009) and poor knowledge (OR=15.3; 95%CI: 9.03-21.57; p<0.001) were related to inappropriate attitude toward organ donation. The present study showed that 73.1% of participants agreed with organ donation. The major causes of disagreements were dissatisfaction of other relatives and religious beliefs. 62.0% of the studied people had positive view regarding organ donation and 34.2% of them well informed about. The most important causative factors for poor knowledge in this context were male gender and self-employed occupation. In addition, poor knowledge and self-employed job were two factors associated with inappropriate attitude toward organ donation.

How events determine spreading patterns: information transmission via internal and external influences on social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Chuang; Zhan, Xiu-Xiu; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Sun, Gui-Quan; Hui, Pak Ming

2015-11-01

Recently, information transmission models motivated by the classical epidemic propagation, have been applied to a wide-range of social systems, generally assume that information mainly transmits among individuals via peer-to-peer interactions on social networks. In this paper, we consider one more approach for users to get information: the out-of-social-network influence. Empirical analyzes of eight typical events’ diffusion on a very large micro-blogging system, Sina Weibo, show that the external influence has significant impact on information spreading along with social activities. In addition, we propose a theoretical model to interpret the spreading process via both internal and external channels, considering three essential properties: (i) memory effect; (ii) role of spreaders; and (iii) non-redundancy of contacts. Experimental and mathematical results indicate that the information indeed spreads much quicker and broader with mutual effects of the internal and external influences. More importantly, the present model reveals that the event characteristic would highly determine the essential spreading patterns once the network structure is established. The results may shed some light on the in-depth understanding of the underlying dynamics of information transmission on real social networks.

Weibo sentiments and stock return: A time-frequency view

PubMed Central

Liu, Zhixin; Zhao, Jichang; Su, Chiwei

2017-01-01

This study provides new insights into the relationships between social media sentiments and the stock market in China. Based on machine learning, we classify microblogs posted on Sina Weibo, a Twitter’s variant in China into five detailed sentiments of anger, disgust, fear, joy, and sadness. Using wavelet analysis, we find close positive linkages between sentiments and the stock return, which have both frequency and time-varying features. Five detailed sentiments are positively related to the stock return for certain periods, particularly since October 2014 at medium to high frequencies of less than ten trading days, when the stock return is undergoing significant fluctuations. Sadness appears to have a closer relationship with the stock return than the other four sentiments. As to the lead-lag relationships, the stock return causes Weibo sentiments rather than reverse for most of the periods with significant linkages. Compared with polarity sentiments (negative vs. positive), detailed sentiments provide more information regarding relationships between Weibo sentiments and the stock market. The stock market exerts positive effects on bullishness and agreement of microblogs. Meanwhile, agreement leads the stock return in-phase at the frequency of approximately 40 trading days, indicating that less disagreement improves certainty about the stock market. PMID:28672026

Competing for Attention in Social Media under Information Overload Conditions.

PubMed

Feng, Ling; Hu, Yanqing; Li, Baowen; Stanley, H Eugene; Havlin, Shlomo; Braunstein, Lidia A

2015-01-01

Modern social media are becoming overloaded with information because of the rapidly-expanding number of information feeds. We analyze the user-generated content in Sina Weibo, and find evidence that the spread of popular messages often follow a mechanism that differs from the spread of disease, in contrast to common belief. In this mechanism, an individual with more friends needs more repeated exposures to spread further the information. Moreover, our data suggest that for certain messages the chance of an individual to share the message is proportional to the fraction of its neighbours who shared it with him/her, which is a result of competition for attention. We model this process using a fractional susceptible infected recovered (FSIR) model, where the infection probability of a node is proportional to its fraction of infected neighbors. Our findings have dramatic implications for information contagion. For example, using the FSIR model we find that real-world social networks have a finite epidemic threshold in contrast to the zero threshold in disease epidemic models. This means that when individuals are overloaded with excess information feeds, the information either reaches out the population if it is above the critical epidemic threshold, or it would never be well received.

Competing for Attention in Social Media under Information Overload Conditions

PubMed Central

Feng, Ling; Hu, Yanqing; Li, Baowen; Stanley, H. Eugene; Havlin, Shlomo; Braunstein, Lidia A.

2015-01-01

Modern social media are becoming overloaded with information because of the rapidly-expanding number of information feeds. We analyze the user-generated content in Sina Weibo, and find evidence that the spread of popular messages often follow a mechanism that differs from the spread of disease, in contrast to common belief. In this mechanism, an individual with more friends needs more repeated exposures to spread further the information. Moreover, our data suggest that for certain messages the chance of an individual to share the message is proportional to the fraction of its neighbours who shared it with him/her, which is a result of competition for attention. We model this process using a fractional susceptible infected recovered (FSIR) model, where the infection probability of a node is proportional to its fraction of infected neighbors. Our findings have dramatic implications for information contagion. For example, using the FSIR model we find that real-world social networks have a finite epidemic threshold in contrast to the zero threshold in disease epidemic models. This means that when individuals are overloaded with excess information feeds, the information either reaches out the population if it is above the critical epidemic threshold, or it would never be well received. PMID:26161956

A passive noise control approach utilizing air gaps with fibrous materials in the textile industry.

PubMed

Monazzam-Esmaeelpour, Mohammad Reza; Hashemi, Zahra; Golmohammadi, Rostam; Zaredar, Narges

2014-01-01

Noise pollution is currently a major risk factor in industries in both developed and developing countries.The present study assessed noise pollution in the knitting industry in Iran in 2009 and presented a control method to reduce the rate of noise generation. The overall noise level was estimated using the network environmental noise assessment method in Sina Poud textile mill in Hamadan. Then, frequency analysis was performed at indicator target stations in the linear network. Finally, a suitable absorbent was recommended for the ceilings, walls, and aerial panels at three phases according to the results found for the sound source and destination environment. The results showed that the highest sound pressure level was 98.5 dB and the lowest was 95.1 dB. The dominant frequency for the industry was 500 Hz. The highest and lowest sound suppression was achieved by intervention at 4000 Hz equivalent to 14.6 dB and 250 Hz in the textile industry. When noise control at the source is not available or insufficient because of the wide distribution of the acoustic field in the workplace, the best option is to increase the absorptive surface of the workplace using adsorbents such as polystyrene.

Geometric and electronic structures of silicon-sodium binary clusters. I. Ionization energy of SinNam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kishi, Reiko; Iwata, Suehiro; Nakajima, Atsushi; Kaya, Koji

1997-08-01

Sodium doped silicon clusters (SinNam; 1⩽n⩽14, 1⩽m⩽5) produced by two types of laser vaporization were studied. The adsorption of Na atoms on the Sin clusters leads the substantial lowering of the ionization energy, Ei, of SinNam clusters. Their reactivity toward NO molecules was measured with a fast flow reactor, and the anticorrelation between the Eis and the reactivity was clearly observed; species having low Ei exhibit high reactivity and vice versa. Moreover, the clear parallelism between the Eis of SinNa and the EAs of Sin is found. This is consistent with the fact that the structure of SinNa clusters keeps the frame of the corresponding Sin cluster unchanged and that the electronic structure of SinNa is similar to that of the corresponding negative ion Sin-. In addition to the experimental studies, the geometries, adsorption energies, and vertical ionization energies of SinNa (n=1-7) were investigated with ab initio MO calculations including electron correlation; The Møller-Plesset perturbation theory was used and the configuration interaction (CI) calculation was carried out, particularly for a diatomic molecule, SiNa.

Study of Solid Particle Behavior in High Temperature Gas Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majid, A.; Bauder, U.; Stindl, T.; Fertig, M.; Herdrich, G.; Röser, H.-P.

2009-01-01

The Euler-Lagrangian approach is used for the simulation of solid particles in hypersonic entry flows. For flow field simulation, the program SINA (Sequential Iterative Non-equilibrium Algorithm) developed at the Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme is used. The model for the effect of the carrier gas on a particle includes drag force and particle heating only. Other parameters like lift Magnus force or damping torque are not taken into account so far. The reverse effect of the particle phase on the gaseous phase is currently neglected. Parametric analysis is done regarding the impact of variation in the physical input conditions like position, velocity, size and material of the particle. Convective heat fluxes onto the surface of the particle and its radiative cooling are discussed. The variation of particle temperature under different conditions is presented. The influence of various input conditions on the trajectory is explained. A semi empirical model for the particle wall interaction is also discussed and the influence of the wall on the particle trajectory with different particle conditions is presented. The heat fluxes onto the wall due to impingement of particles are also computed and compared with the heat fluxes from the gas.

Event-Based User Classification in Weibo Media

PubMed Central

Wang, Wendong; Cheng, Shiduan; Que, Xirong

2014-01-01

Weibo media, known as the real-time microblogging services, has attracted massive attention and support from social network users. Weibo platform offers an opportunity for people to access information and changes the way people acquire and disseminate information significantly. Meanwhile, it enables people to respond to the social events in a more convenient way. Much of the information in Weibo media is related to some events. Users who post different contents, and exert different behavior or attitude may lead to different contribution to the specific event. Therefore, classifying the large amount of uncategorized social circles generated in Weibo media automatically from the perspective of events has been a promising task. Under this circumstance, in order to effectively organize and manage the huge amounts of users, thereby further managing their contents, we address the task of user classification in a more granular, event-based approach in this paper. By analyzing real data collected from Sina Weibo, we investigate the Weibo properties and utilize both content information and social network information to classify the numerous users into four primary groups: celebrities, organizations/media accounts, grassroots stars, and ordinary individuals. The experiments results show that our method identifies the user categories accurately. PMID:25133235

Event-based user classification in Weibo media.

PubMed

Guo, Liang; Wang, Wendong; Cheng, Shiduan; Que, Xirong

2014-01-01

Weibo media, known as the real-time microblogging services, has attracted massive attention and support from social network users. Weibo platform offers an opportunity for people to access information and changes the way people acquire and disseminate information significantly. Meanwhile, it enables people to respond to the social events in a more convenient way. Much of the information in Weibo media is related to some events. Users who post different contents, and exert different behavior or attitude may lead to different contribution to the specific event. Therefore, classifying the large amount of uncategorized social circles generated in Weibo media automatically from the perspective of events has been a promising task. Under this circumstance, in order to effectively organize and manage the huge amounts of users, thereby further managing their contents, we address the task of user classification in a more granular, event-based approach in this paper. By analyzing real data collected from Sina Weibo, we investigate the Weibo properties and utilize both content information and social network information to classify the numerous users into four primary groups: celebrities, organizations/media accounts, grassroots stars, and ordinary individuals. The experiments results show that our method identifies the user categories accurately.

Quantum transport in chaotic and integrable ballistic cavities with tunable shape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Y.; Faini, G.; Mailly, D.

1997-10-01

We have performed magnetotransport measurements in ballistic cavities and obtained the average by small modulations on the shapes and/or on the Fermi level. We work with cavities whose underlying classical dynamics is chaotic (stadia and Sinaï billiards) and integrable (circles and rectangles). The former show a Lorentzian weak-localization peak, in agreement with semiclassical predictions and other averaging methods that have been used in recent measurements. For integrable cavities our measurements show that the shape of the weak localization is very sensitive to the exact geometry of the sample: a linear magnetoconductance has been observed for rectangles as expected by the theory for integrable cavities, whereas for circles the shape is always Lorentzian. These discrepancies illustrate the nongeneric behavior of scattering through integrable geometries, that we analyze taking into account the interplay of integrability with smooth disorder and geometrical effects. The power spectra of the conductance fluctuations are also analyzed, the deduced typical areas are in good agreement with those obtained from the weak localization. Periodic orbits in nonaveraged Fourier transforms of the magnetoconductance for regular cavities are clearly identified indicating the good quality of our samples.

Phylogenetic Relationships Based on DNA Barcoding Among 16 Species of the Ant Genus Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from China

PubMed Central

Chen, Yuan

2017-01-01

Abstract In this study, we sequenced fragments of cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1), internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1), and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) genes from 150 specimens belonging to 16 species of the ant genus Formica from China. Odontoponera transversa from Ponerinae and Polyergus samurai from Formicinae were added as distant relative and close relative outgroups, respectively. Neighbor-joining, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian interference methods were used to analyze their phylogenetic relationships based on CO1 gene sequence as well as combined sequence data of CO1 + ITS1, CO1 + ITS2, and CO1 + ITS1 + ITS2. The results showed that nine Formica species (i.e., Formica sinensis, Formica manchu, Formica uralensis, Formica sanguinea, Formica gagatoides, Formica candida, Formica fusca, Formica glauca, and Formica sp.) formed monophyletic clades, which in agreement with the results based on morphological taxonomy. By comparing the results of DNA barcoding and morphological taxonomy, we propose that Formica aquilonia maybe a junior synonym of F. polyctena and that cryptic species could likely existed in Formica sinae. Further studies on morphology, biology, and geography are needed to confirm this notion.

Smoking Prevention in China: A Content Analysis of an Anti-Smoking Social Media Campaign.

PubMed

Jiang, Shaohai; Beaudoin, Christopher E

2016-07-01

The China Tobacco Control Media Campaign on Sina Weibo is novel in the context of smoking prevention and cessation in China and has not to date been evaluated. This study draws on health behavior theories and dialogic theory in public relations to analyze microblog campaign postings and their relationships with the outcome of online audience engagement. Microblog postings from May 2011 to January 2015 were content analyzed, showing that the most common persuasive content characteristic was perceived risk, followed by subjective norms and self-efficacy. Perceived risk and self-efficacy postings positively influenced online audience engagement, whereas subjective norm postings was a nonsignificant predictor. Postings were more likely to share information than aim to interact with audience members. However, both information sharing and audience interaction postings were positive predictors of online audience engagement. There was also evidence of main and interactive effects of message originality on online audience engagement. The current study has, to the best of our knowledge, broken new ground in 2 regards: (a) using health behavior theories as a basis for analyzing the content of an anti-smoking social media campaign and (b) examining the content of an anti-smoking media campaign of any type in China.

Weibo sentiments and stock return: A time-frequency view.

PubMed

Xu, Yingying; Liu, Zhixin; Zhao, Jichang; Su, Chiwei

2017-01-01

This study provides new insights into the relationships between social media sentiments and the stock market in China. Based on machine learning, we classify microblogs posted on Sina Weibo, a Twitter's variant in China into five detailed sentiments of anger, disgust, fear, joy, and sadness. Using wavelet analysis, we find close positive linkages between sentiments and the stock return, which have both frequency and time-varying features. Five detailed sentiments are positively related to the stock return for certain periods, particularly since October 2014 at medium to high frequencies of less than ten trading days, when the stock return is undergoing significant fluctuations. Sadness appears to have a closer relationship with the stock return than the other four sentiments. As to the lead-lag relationships, the stock return causes Weibo sentiments rather than reverse for most of the periods with significant linkages. Compared with polarity sentiments (negative vs. positive), detailed sentiments provide more information regarding relationships between Weibo sentiments and the stock market. The stock market exerts positive effects on bullishness and agreement of microblogs. Meanwhile, agreement leads the stock return in-phase at the frequency of approximately 40 trading days, indicating that less disagreement improves certainty about the stock market.

Trace elements in fish from the Arabian Gulf and the Shatt al-Arab river, Iraq

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abaychi, J.; Al-Saad, H.T.

1988-02-01

In the Arabian Gulf region, recently, vast industrial, agricultural, economic and social developments have taken place, in addition to an increase in population. This may enhance the magnitude of environmental pollution year by year. No detailed study has been undertaken to assess the concentrations of trace elements in commercial species of fish from the Arabian Gulf and the Shatt al-Arab River, despite the fact that fish are considered an essential part of the diet in the region. Therefore, an investigation was carried out on the concentration of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V and Zn in themore » following fish species from the Arabian Gulf: Tylosurus strongylurus, Eleutheoronema tetradactum, Pomadasys arel, Platycephalus indicus, Ilisha elongata, Thryssa hamiltonii, Arius thalassinus, Acanthophagrus luteus, Johnieops sina, Liza dussumeiri, Hilsa ilisha, Nematolosa nasus and Otoliths argenteus, and on species from the Shatt al-Arab River: Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi, Barbus xanthopterus, Barbus scheich, Aspius vorax, Cyprinus carpio, and Barbus grypus. Trace element levels in sediment samples from the area were also determined since sediments can accumulate different elements and may reflect the extent of pollution by these elements.« less

Quality of life in people with epilepsy in Sudan: An example of underserved communities in developing countries

PubMed Central

Sokrab, M; Sokrab, A; Elzubeir, M

2012-01-01

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of life (QOL) in people with epilepsy (PWE) living in Khartoum State, Northern Sudan. The region offers a model of urban and suburban communities in developing countries. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the neurology clinic of Khartoum State Hospital and Omer Ibn Alkhatab Health Center in the suburb of Khartoum State. We interviewed PWE living in the city, the suburbs and adjacent villages. Our subjects were known to have been on antiepileptic drugs (AED) for at least 6 months. The impact of epilepsy on the QOL was assessed in the clinic using a 23-item questionnaire with graded scales and check-lists to explored demographic characteristics, seizure control, adverse effects of antiepileptic medication, physical harm, social and psychological impact and stigmatization. Results: Fifty-two females and 48 males between the ages of 10 and 80 years were interviewed. Sixty percent of participants were between 20 and 39 years of age. While on AED treatment, 63% developed at least one seizure at any given time, 49% in the past 6 months and 27% in the past week. Twenty six percent experienced one or more side effect of AEDs. A significant number of respondents admitted that epilepsy had a negative impact on several aspects of their daily life activities, education and social functioning. Of individuals eligible for work, 17% were unemployed or had their job terminated because of epilepsy. Relationships with spouses were affected in 20 % of cases. Fifteen percent felt stigmatized by their illness. None of the participants had received any formal health education or counseling about epilepsy. Conclusion: Epilepsy has a significant impact on several aspects of QOL, particularly physical injury and socioeconomic functioning affecting PWE living in Khartoum State. Poor seizure control, a risk factor for impaired QOL, was common. The overall perceptions of QOL and self satisfaction as stated by our PWE was more favorable when compared to those in developed countries and the Gulf. Nevertheless, this could be more reflective of social circumstances and better seizure control, health education and counseling for PWE and their families is still encouraged and recommended. PMID:25003042

The history of the theory of the circulation of the blood.

PubMed

Rampling, M W

2016-01-01

An obvious candidate for the seminal event in the history of haemorheology is Harvey's presentation of the concept of the circulation of the blood. Prior to this, the ideas concerning the movement of blood were based, in Europe and Middle East, largely on the principles laid down by Galen, and these had been, in effect, dogma for nearly a millennium and a half. These principles were basically that blood is formed in the liver, thence it travels to the bodily organs and is consumed -hence there is one-way flow and no circulation of the blood at all. Harvey's revolutionary idea that blood circulates repeatedly around the cardiovascular system laid the foundation for haemorheology because once that idea was accepted then the fluidity of the blood immediately became potentially of crucial importance - and haemorheology was conceived. In this paper the ideas that preceded Harvey will be presented, i.e. those of Galen, Ibn al-Nafis, Vesalius, Fabricius and Colombo etc. Harvey's awareness of this background, due mainly to time spent in Padua, triggered his many experimental investigations and discoveries. Ultimately, these led to his astonishing insights published in De Mortu Cordis in 1628 which changed the understanding of the cardio-vascular system forever.

Bernard de Gordon (fl. 1270-1330): medieval physician and teacher.

PubMed

Pearn, John

2013-02-01

The Montpellier physician Bernard de Gordon flourished in the late Middle Ages in the era when university education first evolved in the training of European physicians. Fragmentary details of his life and medical influence are known from seven books, particularly his extensive (163 chapters) text Lilium Medicine and from Chaucer's reference to him in the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer lists Bernard de Gordon as one whose writings were part of the core curriculum of the best-trained European doctors of medieval Europe. Bernard de Gordon was one of that small group of medieval physicians who reverently followed Galenic lore which had endured for a thousand years yet who began to challenge its details and to experiment clinically with new methods of treatment. In his writings, Bernard de Gordon made the first reference to spectacles and to the hernial truss. His writings also contained detailed desiderata for the ethical best practice of medicine of his day, extending the principles of both Hippocrates and Haly ibn Abbas. Unlike many of the surviving writings of other medieval medical teachers, his texts have within them a tone of humility and acknowledged fallibility. Bernard de Gordon holds a small but significant place in the evolving pre-Renaissance chronology of medical professionalism.

Vascular knowledge in medieval times was the turning point for the humanistic trend.

PubMed

Ducasse, E; Speziale, F; Baste, J C; Midy, D

2006-06-01

Knowledge of the history of our surgical specialty may broaden our viewpoint for everyday practice. We illustrate the scientific progress made in medieval times relevant to the vascular system and blood circulation, progress made despite prevailing religious and philosophical dogma. We located all articles concerning vascular knowledge and historical reviews in databases such as MEDLINE, EMBASE and the database of abstracts of reviews (DARE). We also explored the database of the register from the French National Library, the French Medical Inter-University (BIUM), the Italian National Library and the French and Italian Libraries in the Vatican. All data were collected and analysed in chronological order. Medieval vascular knowledge was inherited from Greek via Byzantine and Arabic writings, the first controversies against the recognized vascular schema emanating from an Arabian physician in the 13th century. Dissection was forbidden and clerical rules instilled a fear of blood. Major contributions to scientific progress in the vascular field in medieval times came from Ibn-al-Nafis and Harvey. Vascular specialists today may feel proud to recall that once religious dogma declined in early medieval times, vascular anatomic and physiological discoveries led the way to scientific progress.

Dental and oral diseases in Medieval Persia, lessons from Hedayat Akhawayni

PubMed Central

Khodadoust, Kazem; Ardalan, Mohammadreza; Pourabbas, Reza; Abdolrahimi, Majid

2013-01-01

Persian physicians had a great role in assimilation and expansion of medical sciences during the medieval period and Islamic golden age. In fact the dominant medical figures of that period were of Persian origin such as Avicenna and Razes, but their works have been written in Arabic that was the lingua franca of the period. Undoubtedly the most substantial medical book of that period that has been written in Persian belongs to Abubakr Rabi ibn Ahmad al-Akhawayni al-Bokhari and his book, Hidayat al-Mutallimin fi-al-Tibb (Learner’s Guide to Medicine).There are two chapters related to oral and dental diseases in the Hidayat, a chapter on dental pain and a chapter on bouccal pain. Akhawayni’s views on dental diseases and treatments are mainly based on anatomical principles and less influenced by humeral theory and no mention about the charms, magic and amulets. False idea of dental worm cannot be seen among his writings. Cutting of the dental nerve for relieving the pain, using the anesthetizing fume, using the natural antiseptic and keeping the tooth extraction as the last recourse deserves high praise. PMID:24427486

Acoustic behavior of echolocating bats in complex environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moss, Cynthia; Ghose, Kaushik; Jensen, Marianne; Surlykke, Annemarie

2004-05-01

The echolocating bat controls the direction of its sonar beam, just as visually dominant animals control the movement of their eyes to foveate targets of interest. The sonar beam aim of the echolocating bat can therefore serve as an index of the animal's attention to objects in the environment. Until recently, spatial attention has not been studied in the context of echolocation, perhaps due to the difficulty in obtaining an objective measure. Here, we describe measurements of the bat's sonar beam aim, serving as an index of acoustic gaze and attention to objects, in tasks that require localization of obstacles and insect prey. Measurements of the bat's sonar beam aim are taken from microphone array recordings of vocal signals produced by a free-flying bat under experimentally controlled conditions. In some situations, the animal relies on spatial memory over reflected sounds, perhaps because its perceptual system cannot easily organize cascades of echoes from obstacles and prey. This highlights the complexity of the bat's orientation behavior, which can alternate between active sensing and spatial memory systems. The bat's use of spatial memory for orientation also will be addressed in this talk. [Work supported by NSF-IBN-0111973 and the Danish Research Council.

History of the 3 Theories of Light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyd, Jeffrey

2010-02-01

Plato, Euclid, & Ptolemy said that when we see a flower, something is emitted from our eyes that travels out to apprehend the flower. The alternative was called the intromission theory: something from the flower comes into our eye, which is how we see. The latter was an unpopular minority view defended by Aristotle, Lucretius and Galen. It wasn't widely accepted until 1021 (Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics). Einstein & DeBroglie assumed the intromission theory (wave-particle duality). That was fruitful but led to quantum weirdness, Schr"odinger's cat, & a sense that only mathematical formulas are ``real.'' In 2007 PhysicsWeb said, ``Quantum physics says goodbye to reality.'' The first hybrid emission-intromission theory was introduced by Little in 1996. Little says a wave goes out from your retina to the flower, & is followed backward by a photon. This theory has a weakness stated by Aristotle: ``Then how do we see the stars?'' What's the advantage of this theory? If quantum waves travel in the reverse direction from photons, then most of quantum physics can be explained without quantum weirdness or Schr"odinger's cat. Quantum mathematics would be unchanged. The diffraction pattern on the screen of the double slit experiment is the same. )

SN2005da: A Spectroscopic and Photometric Analysis of a Peculiar Type Ic Supernova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williamson, Jacob

2017-12-01

Core collapse supernovae are an important class of objects in stellar evolution research as they are the final life stage of high mass stars. Supernovae in general are classified into several spectral types; this paper explores SN 2005da, classified as a Type Ic, meaning it lacks hydrogen and helium lines. The supernova was originally classified as a broad-lined Type Ic (Type Ic-BL), with expansion velocities near maximum light greater than or approximately equal to 15000 km/s. However, some of the elements present in the spectrum, namely carbon and oxygen, have narrower lines (FWHM approximately equal to 2300 km/s) than other elements, indicating an interaction with a previously ejected envelope. The supernova is also found to have a decay time, with a change in magnitude over 15 days following maximum light of about 1.4 magnitudes, that is significantly faster than typical Type Ic or Ic-BL. This is more akin to a rarer object type known as a Type Ibn, although it lacks the characteristic narrow helium lines of this type. Therefore, SN 2005da appears to be unlike known examples of Type Ic supernovae.

Al-Bitrūjī's theory of the motions of the fixed stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mancha, J. L.

2004-01-01

The problem which this paper deals with is the following: were the homocentric models of Eudoxus alluded to by Aristotle (Metaphysics, xii.8) preserved in al-Bitrūjī's Kitab fi'l-hay'a, as argued by Kennedy in his reviews of Carmody's edition of Scot's Latin version and Goldstein's English translation based on the Arabic and Hebrew versions of the work - or, as asserted by Goldstein, was the essence of al-Bitrūjī's reform to place Ptolemaic models on the surface of a sphere, influenced by the tradition of the trepidation theory and especially by Ibn al-Zarqallu's contributions, without knowledge whatever of Eudoxus? To answer this question, this paper presents an analysis and new translation of the second chapter of al-Bitrūjī's work, devoted to the motion of the stars, based on the two extant Latin versions. From them it follows that the model described in this chapter is indeed a Eudoxan couple, whose hippopede accounts for the motions of the stars: in al-Bitrūjī's words, a true motion in declination and another, merely apparent, in accession and recession.

Advances in optics in the medieval Islamic world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Khalili, Jim

2015-04-01

This paper reviews the state of knowledge in the field of optics, mainly in catoptrics and dioptrics, before the birth of modern science and the well-documented contributions of men such as Kepler and Newton. The paper is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of the subject such as one might find in history of science journals; instead, it is aimed at the curious physicist who has probably been taught that nothing much of note was understood about the behaviour of light, beyond outdated philosophical musings, prior to the seventeenth century. The paper will focus on advances during the medieval period between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, in both the east and the west, when the theories of the Ancient Greeks were tested, advanced, corrected and mathematised. In particular, it concentrates on a multivolume treatise on optics written one thousand years ago by the Arab scholar, Ibn al-Haytham, and examines how it influenced our understanding of the nature of reflection and refraction of light. Even the well-informed physicist should find a few surprises here, which will alter his or her view of the debt we owe to these forgotten scholars.

Importance of Internet Surveillance in Public Health Emergency Control and Prevention: Evidence From a Digital Epidemiologic Study During Avian Influenza A H7N9 Outbreaks

PubMed Central

Zhu, Honghong; Jiang, Tao; Wang, Xinyi; Chen, Lei; Jiang, Zhenggang; Zheng, Dawei

2014-01-01

Background Outbreaks of human infection with a new avian influenza A H7N9 virus occurred in China in the spring of 2013. Control and prevention of a new human infectious disease outbreak can be strongly affected by public reaction and social impact through the Internet and social media. Objective This study aimed to investigate the potential roles of Internet surveillance in control and prevention of the human H7N9 outbreaks. Methods Official data for the human H7N9 outbreaks were collected via the China National Health and Family Planning Committee website from March 31 to April 24, 2013. We obtained daily posted and forwarded number of blogs for the keyword “H7N9” from Sina microblog website and a daily Baidu Attention Index (BAI) from Baidu website, which reflected public attention to the outbreak. Rumors identified and confirmed by the authorities were collected from Baidu search engine. Results Both daily posted and forwarded number and BAI for keyword H7N9 increased quickly during the first 3 days of the outbreaks and remained at a high level for 5 days. The total daily posted and forwarded number for H7N9 on Sina microblog peaked at 850,000 on April 3, from zero blogs before March 31, increasing to 97,726 on April 1 and to 370,607 on April 2, and remaining above 500,000 from April 5-8 before declining to 208,524 on April 12. The total daily BAI showed a similar pattern of change to the total daily posted and forwarded number over time from March 31 to April 12. When the outbreak locations spread, especially into other areas of the same province/city and the capital, Beijing, daily posted and forwarded number and BAI increased again to a peak at 368,500 and 116,911, respectively. The median daily BAI during the studied 25 days was significantly higher among the 7 provinces/cities with reported human H7N9 cases than the 2 provinces without any cases (P<.001). So were the median daily posted and forwarded number and daily BAI in each province/city except Anhui province. We retrieved a total of 32 confirmed rumors spread across 19 provinces/cities in China. In all, 84% (27/32) of rumors were disseminated and transmitted by social media. Conclusions The first 3 days of an epidemic is a critical period for the authorities to take appropriate action through Internet surveillance to prevent and control the epidemic, including preparation of personnel, technology, and other resources; information release; collection of public opinion and reaction; and clarification, prevention, and control of rumors. Internet surveillance can be used as an efficient and economical tool to prevent and control public health emergencies, such as H7N9 outbreaks. PMID:24440770

Importance of Internet surveillance in public health emergency control and prevention: evidence from a digital epidemiologic study during avian influenza A H7N9 outbreaks.

PubMed

Gu, Hua; Chen, Bin; Zhu, Honghong; Jiang, Tao; Wang, Xinyi; Chen, Lei; Jiang, Zhenggang; Zheng, Dawei; Jiang, Jianmin

2014-01-17

Outbreaks of human infection with a new avian influenza A H7N9 virus occurred in China in the spring of 2013. Control and prevention of a new human infectious disease outbreak can be strongly affected by public reaction and social impact through the Internet and social media. This study aimed to investigate the potential roles of Internet surveillance in control and prevention of the human H7N9 outbreaks. Official data for the human H7N9 outbreaks were collected via the China National Health and Family Planning Committee website from March 31 to April 24, 2013. We obtained daily posted and forwarded number of blogs for the keyword "H7N9" from Sina microblog website and a daily Baidu Attention Index (BAI) from Baidu website, which reflected public attention to the outbreak. Rumors identified and confirmed by the authorities were collected from Baidu search engine. Both daily posted and forwarded number and BAI for keyword H7N9 increased quickly during the first 3 days of the outbreaks and remained at a high level for 5 days. The total daily posted and forwarded number for H7N9 on Sina microblog peaked at 850,000 on April 3, from zero blogs before March 31, increasing to 97,726 on April 1 and to 370,607 on April 2, and remaining above 500,000 from April 5-8 before declining to 208,524 on April 12. The total daily BAI showed a similar pattern of change to the total daily posted and forwarded number over time from March 31 to April 12. When the outbreak locations spread, especially into other areas of the same province/city and the capital, Beijing, daily posted and forwarded number and BAI increased again to a peak at 368,500 and 116,911, respectively. The median daily BAI during the studied 25 days was significantly higher among the 7 provinces/cities with reported human H7N9 cases than the 2 provinces without any cases (P<.001). So were the median daily posted and forwarded number and daily BAI in each province/city except Anhui province. We retrieved a total of 32 confirmed rumors spread across 19 provinces/cities in China. In all, 84% (27/32) of rumors were disseminated and transmitted by social media. The first 3 days of an epidemic is a critical period for the authorities to take appropriate action through Internet surveillance to prevent and control the epidemic, including preparation of personnel, technology, and other resources; information release; collection of public opinion and reaction; and clarification, prevention, and control of rumors. Internet surveillance can be used as an efficient and economical tool to prevent and control public health emergencies, such as H7N9 outbreaks.

X-ray Emission from Supernovae in Dense Circumstellar Matter Environments: a Search for Collisionless Shocks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ofek, E. O.; Fox, D.; Cenko, Stephen B.; Sullivan, M; Gnat, O.; Frail, D. A.; Horesh, A.; Corsi, A.; Quimby, R. M.; Gehrels, N.;

The effect of design modifications to the typographical layout of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user preference and process time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arnold, Jeffery E.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different design layouts of the New York State elementary science learning standards on user processing time and preference. Three newly developed layouts contained the same information as the standards core curriculum. In this study, the layout of the core guide is referred to as Book. The layouts of the new documents are referred to as Chart, Map, and Tabloid based on the format used to convey content hierarchy information. Most notably, all the new layouts feature larger page sizes, color, page tabs, and an icon based navigation system (IBNS). A convenience sample of 48 New York State educators representing three educator types (16 pre-service teachers, 16 in-service teachers, and 16 administrators) participated in the study. After completing timed tasks accurately, participants scored each layout based on preference. Educator type and layout were the independent variables, and process time and user preference were the dependent variables. A two-factor experimental design with Educator Type as the between variable and with repeated measures on Layout, the within variable, showed a significant difference in process time for Educator Type and Layout. The main effect for Educator Type (F(2, 45) = 8.03, p <.001) was significant with an observed power of .94, and an effect size of .26. The pair-wise comparisons for process time showed that pre-service teachers (p = .02) and administrators (p =.009) completed the assigned tasks more quickly when compared to in-service teachers. The main effect for Layout (F(3, 135) = 4.47, p =.01) was also significant with an observed power of .80, and an effect size of .09. Pair-wise comparisons showed that the newly developed Chart (p = .019) and Map (p = .032) layouts reduced overall process time when compared to the existing state learning standards (Book). The Layout X Educator type interaction was not significant. The same two-factor experimental design on preference, showed the main effect for Layout (F(3, 135) = 28.43, p =.001) was significant. The observed power was 1.0, with an effect size of .39. Pair-wise comparisons for preference scores showed that the Chart (p = .001), Map (p = .001), and Tabloid (p = .001) were preferred over the Book layout. The Layout Type X Educator Type interaction and the main effect for Educator Type were not significant. This study provides evidence that the newly developed design layouts improve usability (as measured by process time and preference scores) of the New York State elementary science learning standard documents. Features in the new layout design, such as the IBNS, may provide a foundation for a visual language and aid users in navigating standard documents across grade level and subject areas. Implications for the next generation of standard documents are presented.

The data-driven null models for information dissemination tree in social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhiwei; Wang, Zhenyu

2017-10-01

For the purpose of detecting relatedness and co-occurrence between users, as well as the distribution features of nodes in spreading path of a social network, this paper explores topological characteristics of information dissemination trees (IDT) that can be employed indirectly to probe the information dissemination laws within social networks. Hence, three different null models of IDT are presented in this article, including the statistical-constrained 0-order IDT null model, the random-rewire-broken-edge 0-order IDT null model and the random-rewire-broken-edge 2-order IDT null model. These null models firstly generate the corresponding randomized copy of an actual IDT; then the extended significance profile, which is developed by adding the cascade ratio of information dissemination path, is exploited not only to evaluate degree correlation of two nodes associated with an edge, but also to assess the cascade ratio of different length of information dissemination paths. The experimental correspondences of the empirical analysis for several SinaWeibo IDTs and Twitter IDTs indicate that the IDT null models presented in this paper perform well in terms of degree correlation of nodes and dissemination path cascade ratio, which can be better to reveal the features of information dissemination and to fit the situation of real social networks.

Sentiment analysis of Chinese microblogging based on sentiment ontology: a case study of `7.23 Wenzhou Train Collision'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Wei; Wang, Hongwei; He, Shaoyi

2013-12-01

Sentiment analysis of microblogging texts can facilitate both organisations' public opinion monitoring and governments' response strategies development. Nevertheless, most of the existing analysis methods are conducted on Twitter, lacking of sentiment analysis of Chinese microblogging (Weibo), and they generally rely on a large number of manually annotated training or machine learning to perform sentiment classification, yielding with difficulties in application. This paper addresses these problems and employs a sentiment ontology model to examine sentiment analysis of Chinese microblogging. We conduct a sentiment analysis of all public microblogging posts about '7.23 Wenzhou Train Collision' broadcasted by Sina microblogging users between 23 July and 1 August 2011. For every day in this time period, we first extract eight dimensions of sentiment (expect, joy, love, surprise, anxiety, sorrow, angry, and hate), and then build fuzzy sentiment ontology based on HowNet and semantic similarity for sentiment analysis; we also establish computing methods of influence and sentiment of microblogging texts; and we finally explore the change of public sentiment after '7.23 Wenzhou Train Collision'. The results show that the established sentiment analysis method has excellent application, and the change of different emotional values can reflect the success or failure of guiding the public opinion by the government.

Diffusive shock acceleration at non-relativistic highly oblique shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meli, Athina; Biermann, P. L.

2004-10-01

Our aim here is to evaluate the rate of the maximum energy and the acceleration rate that Cosmic Rays (CRs) acquire in the non-relativistic diffusive shock acceleration as it could apply during their lifetime in various astrophysical sites. We examine numerically (using Monte Carlo simulations) the effect of the diffusion coefficients on the energy gain and the acceleration rate, by testing the role between the obliquity of the magnetic field at the shock normal, and the significance of both perpendicular cross-field diffusion and parallel diffusion coefficients to the aceleration rate. We find (and justify previous analytical work -Jokipii 1987) that in highly oblique shocks the smaller the perpendicular diffusion gets compared to the parallel diffusion coefficient values, the greater the energy gain of the CRs to be obtained. An explanation of the Cosmic Ray Spectrum in High Energies, between 1015 and 1018eV is claimed, as we estimate the upper limit of energy that CRs could gain in plausible astrophysical regimes; interpreted by the scenario of CRs which are injected by three different kind of sources, (i) supernovae (SN) which explode into the interstellar medium (ISM), (ii) Red Supergiants (RSG), and (iii) Wolf-Rayet stars (WR), where the two latter explode into their pre-SN winds Biermann (2001); Sina (2001).

Using geo-targeted social media data to detect outdoor air pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, W.; Wang, Y.; Tsou, M. H.; Fu, X.

2016-06-01

Outdoor air pollution has become a more and more serious issue over recent years (He, 2014). Urban air quality is measured at air monitoring stations. Building air monitoring stations requires land, incurs costs and entails skilled technicians to maintain a station. Many countries do not have any monitoring stations and even lack any means to monitor air quality. Recent years, the social media could be used to monitor air quality dynamically (Wang, 2015; Mei, 2014). However, no studies have investigated the inter-correlations between real-space and cyberspace by examining variation in micro-blogging behaviors relative to changes in daily air quality. Thus, existing methods of monitoring AQI using micro-blogging data shows a high degree of error between real AQI and air quality as inferred from social media messages. In this paper, we introduce a new geo-targeted social media analytic method to (1) investigate the dynamic relationship between air pollution-related posts on Sina Weibo and daily AQI values; (2) apply Gradient Tree Boosting, a machine learning method, to monitor the dynamics of AQI using filtered social media messages. Our results expose the spatiotemporal relationships between social media messages and real-world environmental changes as well suggesting new ways to monitor air pollution using social media.

Polynomial approximation of functions of matrices and its application to the solution of a general system of linear equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tal-Ezer, Hillel

1987-01-01

During the process of solving a mathematical model numerically, there is often a need to operate on a vector v by an operator which can be expressed as f(A) while A is NxN matrix (ex: exp(A), sin(A), A sup -1). Except for very simple matrices, it is impractical to construct the matrix f(A) explicitly. Usually an approximation to it is used. In the present research, an algorithm is developed which uses a polynomial approximation to f(A). It is reduced to a problem of approximating f(z) by a polynomial in z while z belongs to the domain D in the complex plane which includes all the eigenvalues of A. This problem of approximation is approached by interpolating the function f(z) in a certain set of points which is known to have some maximal properties. The approximation thus achieved is almost best. Implementing the algorithm to some practical problem is described. Since a solution to a linear system Ax = b is x= A sup -1 b, an iterative solution to it can be regarded as a polynomial approximation to f(A) = A sup -1. Implementing the algorithm in this case is also described.

A monograph of the Australopacific Saprininae (Coleoptera, Histeridae)

PubMed Central

Lackner, Tomáš; Leschen, Richard A.B.

2017-01-01

Abstract The Australopacific Saprininae, containing twelve genera and forty species, are reviewed, illustrated and keyed to genera and species. Two new genera, Australopachylopus gen. n. (New Zealand, type species Saprinus lepidulus Broun, 1881) and Iridoprinus gen. n. (Australia, type species I. myrmecophilus sp. n.) and four new species: Saprinus (Saprinus) rarus sp. n. (Australia), Saprinus (Saprinus) chathamensis sp. n. (Chatham Islands, New Zealand), Saprinus (Saprinus) pseudodetritus sp. n. (Chatham Islands, New Zealand) and Saprinus (Saprinus) pacificus sp. n. (Kiribati) are described. The Saprininae fauna of the Australopacific Region is a mixture of northern invaders that most likely arrived to the region in early Cenozoic by ‘island hopping’ from north (Hypocaccus, Hypocacculus, several Saprinus) and truly autochthonous taxa either with uncertain phylogenetic affinities (Iridoprinus gen. n., Saprinodes Lewis, 1891, Reichardtia Wenzel, 1944, Australopachylopus gen. n.), primitive Australopacific endemics (e.g. Tomogenius Marseul, 1862) or presumed relicts (several species of Saprinus Erichson, 1834). Several Saprininae taxa (Chalcionellus aeneovirens (Schmidt, 1890); (Gnathoncus rotundatus (Kugelann, 1792); G. communis (Marseul, 1862); Euspilotus (Neosaprinus) rubriculus (Marseul, 1855); Hypocaccus (Nessus) interpunctatus interpunctatus (Schmidt, 1885); Saprinus (S.) chalcites (Illiger, 1807) and Saprinus (S.) cupreus Erichson, 1834)) were introduced into the region with human activity. We report the first cases of myrmecophily (Iridoprinus myrmecophilus gen. et sp. n.) and termitophily (Saprinus rarus sp. n.) in the Saprininae from the Australopacific Region. Lectotypes and paralectotypes of the following taxa are designated herein: Saprinus amethystinus Lewis, 1900, Saprinus apricarius Erichson, 1834, Saprinus artensis Marseul, 1862, Saprinus auricollis Marseul, 1855, Saprinus australasiae Blackburn, 1903, Saprinus bistrigifrons Marseul, 1855, Saprinus certus Lewis, 1888, Saprinus communis Marseul, 1862, Saprinus cupreus Erichson, 1834, Saprinus cyanellus Marseul, 1855, Hister cyaneus Fabricius, 1775, Saprinus dentipes Marseul, 1855, Saprinus desbordesi Auzat, 1916, Saprinus gayndahensis MacLeay, 1871, Saprinus hyla Marseul, 1864, Saprinus incisisternus Marseul, 1862, Saprinus incisus Erichson, 1842, Saprinus irinus Marseul, 1862, Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834, Saprinus lepidulus Broun, 1881, Saprinus mastersii MacLeay, 1871, Saprinus nitiduloides Fairmaire, 1883, Saprinus pedator Sharp, 1876, Saprinus pseudocyaneus White, 1846, Saprinus rubriculus Marseul, 1855, Saprinus sinae Marseul, 1862, Saprinus tasmanicus Marseul, 1855, Saprinus tyrrhenus Blackburn, 1903, Saprinus varians Schmidt, 1890, Saprinus vernulus Blackburn, 1903, Saprinus viridanus Lewis, 1899, Saprinus viridipennis Lewis, 1901, and Saprinus westraliensis Blackburn, 1903. The synonymy of Saprinus tyrrhenus Blackburn, 1903 is revoked and the species is considered as valid (stat. n.). Seven new synonymies are proposed: Saprinus gayndahensis MacLeay, 1871 = Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834 syn. n., Saprinus pseudocyaneus White, 1846 = Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834 syn. n., Saprinus mastersii MacLeay, 1871 = Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834 syn. n., Saprinus dentipes Marseul, 1855 = Hypocaccus (Baeckmanniolus) gaudens (J.L. LeConte, 1851) syn. n., Hypocaccus (Hypocaccus) vernulus (Blackburn, 1903) = Hypocaccus (Hypocaccus) sinae (Marseul, 1862) syn. n., Saprinus (Saprinus) lindrothi Dahlgren, 1968 = Saprinus (Saprinus) prasinus Erichson, 1834 syn. n., and Saprinus (Saprinus) certus Lewis, 1888 = Saprinus (Saprinus) frontistrius Marseul, 1855 syn. n. The following new records are: Euspilotus (Neosaprinus) rubriculus (Marseul, 1855) (= Saprinus gnathoncoides Bickhardt, 1909) (Australia), Saprinus (Saprinus) laetus Erichson, 1834 (Lord Howe Island) and Saprinus (Saprinus) cyaneus cyaneus (Fabricius, 1775) (Lord Howe Island and Fiji). PMID:29200920

A monograph of the Australopacific Saprininae (Coleoptera, Histeridae).

PubMed

Lackner, Tomáš; Leschen, Richard A B

2017-01-01

The Australopacific Saprininae, containing twelve genera and forty species, are reviewed, illustrated and keyed to genera and species. Two new genera, Australopachylopus gen. n. (New Zealand, type species Saprinus lepidulus Broun, 1881) and Iridoprinus gen. n. (Australia, type species I. myrmecophilus sp. n. ) and four new species: Saprinus (Saprinus) rarus sp. n. (Australia), Saprinus (Saprinus) chathamensis sp. n. (Chatham Islands, New Zealand), Saprinus (Saprinus) pseudodetritus sp. n. (Chatham Islands, New Zealand) and Saprinus (Saprinus) pacificus sp. n. (Kiribati) are described. The Saprininae fauna of the Australopacific Region is a mixture of northern invaders that most likely arrived to the region in early Cenozoic by 'island hopping' from north ( Hypocaccus , Hypocacculus , several Saprinus ) and truly autochthonous taxa either with uncertain phylogenetic affinities ( Iridoprinus gen. n. , Saprinodes Lewis, 1891, Reichardtia Wenzel, 1944, Australopachylopus gen. n. ), primitive Australopacific endemics (e.g. Tomogenius Marseul, 1862) or presumed relicts (several species of Saprinus Erichson, 1834). Several Saprininae taxa ( Chalcionellus aeneovirens (Schmidt, 1890); ( Gnathoncus rotundatus (Kugelann, 1792); G. communis (Marseul, 1862); Euspilotus (Neosaprinus) rubriculus (Marseul, 1855); Hypocaccus (Nessus) interpunctatus interpunctatus (Schmidt, 1885); Saprinus (S.) chalcites (Illiger, 1807) and Saprinus (S.) cupreus Erichson, 1834)) were introduced into the region with human activity. We report the first cases of myrmecophily ( Iridoprinus myrmecophilus gen. et sp. n. ) and termitophily ( Saprinus rarus sp. n. ) in the Saprininae from the Australopacific Region. Lectotypes and paralectotypes of the following taxa are designated herein: Saprinus amethystinus Lewis, 1900, Saprinus apricarius Erichson, 1834, Saprinus artensis Marseul, 1862, Saprinus auricollis Marseul, 1855, Saprinus australasiae Blackburn, 1903, Saprinus bistrigifrons Marseul, 1855, Saprinus certus Lewis, 1888, Saprinus communis Marseul, 1862, Saprinus cupreus Erichson, 1834, Saprinus cyanellus Marseul, 1855, Hister cyaneus Fabricius, 1775, Saprinus dentipes Marseul, 1855, Saprinus desbordesi Auzat, 1916, Saprinus gayndahensis MacLeay, 1871, Saprinus hyla Marseul, 1864, Saprinus incisisternus Marseul, 1862, Saprinus incisus Erichson, 1842, Saprinus irinus Marseul, 1862, Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834, Saprinus lepidulus Broun, 1881, Saprinus mastersii MacLeay, 1871, Saprinus nitiduloides Fairmaire, 1883, Saprinus pedator Sharp, 1876, Saprinus pseudocyaneus White, 1846, Saprinus rubriculus Marseul, 1855, Saprinus sinae Marseul, 1862, Saprinus tasmanicus Marseul, 1855, Saprinus tyrrhenus Blackburn, 1903, Saprinus varians Schmidt, 1890, Saprinus vernulus Blackburn, 1903, Saprinus viridanus Lewis, 1899, Saprinus viridipennis Lewis, 1901, and Saprinus westraliensis Blackburn, 1903. The synonymy of Saprinus tyrrhenus Blackburn, 1903 is revoked and the species is considered as valid ( stat. n. ). Seven new synonymies are proposed: Saprinus gayndahensis MacLeay, 1871 = Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834 syn. n. , Saprinus pseudocyaneus White, 1846 = Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834 syn. n. , Saprinus mastersii MacLeay, 1871 = Saprinus laetus Erichson, 1834 syn. n. , Saprinus dentipes Marseul, 1855 = Hypocaccus (Baeckmanniolus) gaudens (J.L. LeConte, 1851) syn. n. , Hypocaccus (Hypocaccus) vernulus (Blackburn, 1903) = Hypocaccus (Hypocaccus) sinae (Marseul, 1862) syn. n. , Saprinus (Saprinus) lindrothi Dahlgren, 1968 = Saprinus (Saprinus) prasinus Erichson, 1834 syn. n. , and Saprinus (Saprinus) certus Lewis, 1888 = Saprinus (Saprinus) frontistrius Marseul, 1855 syn. n. The following new records are: Euspilotus (Neosaprinus) rubriculus (Marseul, 1855) (= Saprinus gnathoncoides Bickhardt, 1909) (Australia), Saprinus (Saprinus) laetus Erichson, 1834 (Lord Howe Island) and Saprinus (Saprinus) cyaneus cyaneus (Fabricius, 1775) (Lord Howe Island and Fiji).

Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Organ Donation among Relatives of Patients Referred to the Emergency Department

PubMed Central

Pouraghaei, Mahboob; Tagizadieh, Mohammad; Tagizadieh, Ali; Moharamzadeh, Payman; Esfahanian, Samaneh; Shahsavari Nia, Kavous

2015-01-01

Introduction: Organ donation is one of the surviving procedures, which can increase the life expectancy of end-stage patients. Inappropriate beliefs and attitude of individuals to organ donation, their poor knowledge, and the socio-economic level are one of the most important barriers for organ donation. Therefore, here knowledge and attitude levels among relatives of trauma patients regarding organ donation were evaluated. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on relatives of trauma patients referred to the emergency department of Sina Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, through 2013 to 2014. The questionnaire included parts of demographic data and socio-economic situations as well as status of knowledge and attitude regarding organ donation. A score between 0-7 was belonged to each person based on his/her level of knowledge. Attitude level had a score between 0-12. Chi- square, Fisher, and Mann–Whitney U test were performed to assess the relation between demographic variables and the level of knowledge and attitude. P<0.05 was considered as a significant level. Results: 79 persons (57.1% male) with the mean age of 31.3±11.3 years were evaluated. 57 (73.1%) of subjects agreed with organ transplant. The main causes of disagreement among relatives regarding organ donation were dissatisfaction of the donor's relatives (25%) and religious issues (15%). 49 (62.02%) studied people had inappropriate attitude and 27 (34.2%) ones had good knowledge. male gender (OR=5.87; 95%CI: 3.32-8.42; p=0.001) and self-employed job (OR=7.78; 95%CI: 4.64-10.92; p=0.001) are independent factors associated with poor knowledge about organ donation. Self-employed job (OR=3.86; 95%CI: 1.41-6.11; p=0.009) and poor knowledge (OR=15.3; 95%CI: 9.03-21.57; p<0.001) were related to inappropriate attitude toward organ donation. Conclusion: The present study showed that 73.1% of participants agreed with organ donation. The major causes of disagreements were dissatisfaction of other relatives and religious beliefs. 62.0% of the studied people had positive view regarding organ donation and 34.2% of them well informed about. The most important causative factors for poor knowledge in this context were male gender and self-employed occupation. In addition, poor knowledge and self-employed job were two factors associated with inappropriate attitude toward organ donation. PMID:26512367

A parametric model of muscle moment arm as a function of joint angle: application to the dorsiflexor muscle group in mice.

PubMed

Miller, S W; Dennis, R G

1996-12-01

A parametric model was developed to describe the relationship between muscle moment arm and joint angle. The model was applied to the dorsiflexor muscle group in mice, for which the moment arm was determined as a function of ankle angle. The moment arm was calculated from the torque measured about the ankle upon application of a known force along the line of action of the dorsiflexor muscle group. The dependence of the dorsiflexor moment arm on ankle angle was modeled as r = R sin(a + delta), where r is the moment arm calculated from the measured torque and a is the joint angle. A least-squares curve fit yielded values for R, the maximum moment arm, and delta, the angle at which the maximum moment arm occurs as offset from 90 degrees. Parametric models were developed for two strains of mice, and no differences were found between the moment arms determined for each strain. Values for the maximum moment arm, R, for the two different strains were 0.99 and 1.14 mm, in agreement with the limited data available from the literature. While in some cases moment arm data may be better fitted by a polynomial, use of the parametric model provides a moment arm relationship with meaningful anatomical constants, allowing for the direct comparison of moment arm characteristics between different strains and species.

Cardiac Expression of ms1/STARS, a Novel Gene Involved in Cardiac Development and Disease, Is Regulated by GATA4

PubMed Central

Kobayashi, Satoru; Peterson, Richard E.; He, Aibin; Motterle, Anna; Samani, Nilesh J.; Menick, Donald R.; Pu, William T.; Liang, Qiangrong

2012-01-01

Ms1/STARS is a novel muscle-specific actin-binding protein that specifically modulates the myocardin-related transcription factor (MRTF)-serum response factor (SRF) regulatory axis within striated muscle. This ms1/STARS-dependent regulatory axis is of central importance within the cardiac gene regulatory network and has been implicated in cardiac development and postnatal cardiac function/homeostasis. The dysregulation of ms1/STARS is associated with and causative of pathological cardiac phenotypes, including cardiac hypertrophy and cardiomyopathy. In order to gain an understanding of the mechanisms governing ms1/STARS expression in the heart, we have coupled a comparative genomic in silico analysis with reporter, gain-of-function, and loss-of-function approaches. Through this integrated analysis, we have identified three evolutionarily conserved regions (ECRs), α, SINA, and DINA, that act as cis-regulatory modules and confer differential cardiac cell-specific activity. Two of these ECRs, α and DINA, displayed distinct regulatory sensitivity to the core cardiac transcription factor GATA4. Overall, our results demonstrate that within embryonic, neonatal, and adult hearts, GATA4 represses ms1/STARS expression with the pathologically associated depletion of GATA4 (type 1/type 2 diabetic models), resulting in ms1/STARS upregulation. This GATA4-dependent repression of ms1/STARS expression has major implications for MRTF-SRF signaling in the context of cardiac development and disease. PMID:22431517

Chinese social media analysis for disease surveillance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cui, Xiaohui; Yang, Nanhai; Wang, Zhibo

Here, it is reported that there are hundreds of thou- sands of deaths caused by seasonal flu all around the world every year. More other diseases such as chickenpox, malaria, etc. are also serious threats to people’s physical and mental health. There are 250,000–500,000 deaths every year around the world. Therefore proper techniques for disease surveillance are highly demanded. Recently, social media analysis is regarded as an efficient way to achieve this goal, which is feasible since growing number of people have been posting their health information on social media such as blogs, personal websites, etc. Previous work on socialmore » media analysis mainly focused on English materials but hardly considered Chinese materials, which hinders the application of such technique to Chinese peo- ple. In this paper, we proposed a new method of Chinese social media analysis for disease surveillance. More specifically, we compared different kinds of methods in the process of classification and then proposed a new way to process Chinese text data. The Chinese Sina micro-blog data collected from September to December 2013 are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that a high classification precision of 87.49 % in average has been obtained. Comparing with the data from the authority, Chinese National Influenza Center, we can predict the outbreak time of flu 5 days earlier.« less

Leveraging social networking sites for disease surveillance and public sensing: the case of the 2013 avian influenza A(H7N9) outbreak in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Emma Xuxiao; Yang, Yinping; Di Shang, Richard; Simons, Joseph John Pyne; Quek, Boon Kiat; Yin, Xiao Feng; See, Wanhan; Oh, Olivia Seen Huey; Nandar, Khine Sein Tun; Ling, Vivienne Ruo Yun; Chan, Pei Pei; Wang, Zhaoxia; Goh, Rick Siow Mong; James, Lyn; Tey, Jeannie Su Hui

2015-01-01

We conducted in-depth analysis on the use of a popular Chinese social networking and microblogging site, Sina Weibo, to monitor an avian influenza A(H7N9) outbreak in China and to assess the value of social networking sites in the surveillance of disease outbreaks that occur overseas. Two data sets were employed for our analysis: a line listing of confirmed cases obtained from conventional public health information channels and case information from Weibo posts. Our findings showed that the level of activity on Weibo corresponded with the number of new cases reported. In addition, the reporting of new cases on Weibo was significantly faster than those of conventional reporting sites and non-local news media. A qualitative review of the functions of Weibo also revealed that Weibo enabled timely monitoring of other outbreak-relevant information, provided access to additional crowd-sourced epidemiological information and was leveraged by the local government as an interactive platform for risk communication and monitoring public sentiment on the policy response. Our analysis demonstrated the potential for social networking sites to be used by public health agencies to enhance traditional communicable disease surveillance systems for the global surveillance of overseas public health threats. Social networking sites also can be used by governments for calibration of response policies and measures and for risk communication.

Leveraging social networking sites for disease surveillance and public sensing: the case of the 2013 avian influenza A(H7N9) outbreak in China

PubMed Central

Zhang, Emma Xuxiao; Yang, Yinping; Di Shang, Richard; Simons, Joseph John Pyne; Quek, Boon Kiat; Yin, Xiao Feng; See, Wanhan; Oh, Olivia Seen Huey; Nandar, Khine Sein Tun; Ling, Vivienne Ruo Yun; Chan, Pei Pei; Wang, Zhaoxia; Goh, Rick Siow Mong; James, Lyn

2015-01-01

We conducted in-depth analysis on the use of a popular Chinese social networking and microblogging site, Sina Weibo, to monitor an avian influenza A(H7N9) outbreak in China and to assess the value of social networking sites in the surveillance of disease outbreaks that occur overseas. Two data sets were employed for our analysis: a line listing of confirmed cases obtained from conventional public health information channels and case information from Weibo posts. Our findings showed that the level of activity on Weibo corresponded with the number of new cases reported. In addition, the reporting of new cases on Weibo was significantly faster than those of conventional reporting sites and non-local news media. A qualitative review of the functions of Weibo also revealed that Weibo enabled timely monitoring of other outbreak-relevant information, provided access to additional crowd-sourced epidemiological information and was leveraged by the local government as an interactive platform for risk communication and monitoring public sentiment on the policy response. Our analysis demonstrated the potential for social networking sites to be used by public health agencies to enhance traditional communicable disease surveillance systems for the global surveillance of overseas public health threats. Social networking sites also can be used by governments for calibration of response policies and measures and for risk communication. PMID:26306219

Multiprocessing MCNP on an IBN RS/6000 cluster

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McKinney, G.W.; West, J.T.

1993-01-01

The advent of high-performance computer systems has brought to maturity programming concepts like vectorization, multiprocessing, and multitasking. While there are many schools of thought as to the most significant factor in obtaining order-of-magnitude increases in performance, such speedup can only be achieved by integrating the computer system and application code. Vectorization leads to faster manipulation of arrays by overlapping instruction CPU cycles. Discrete ordinates codes, which require the solving of large matrices, have proved to be major benefactors of vectorization. Monte Carlo transport, on the other hand, typically contains numerous logic statements and requires extensive redevelopment to benefit from vectorization.more » Multiprocessing and multitasking provide additional CPU cycles via multiple processors. Such systems are generally designed with either common memory access (multitasking) or distributed memory access. In both cases, theoretical speedup, as a function of the number of processors P and the fraction f of task time that multiprocesses, can be formulated using Amdahl's law: S(f, P) =1/(1-f+f/P). However, for most applications, this theoretical limit cannot be achieved because of additional terms (e.g., multitasking overhead, memory overlap, etc.) that are not included in Amdahl's law. Monte Carlo transport is a natural candidate for multiprocessing because the particle tracks are generally independent, and the precision of the result increases as the square Foot of the number of particles tracked.« less

Interacting Supernovae: Types IIn and Ibn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Nathan

Supernovae that show evidence of strong shock interaction between their ejecta and pre-existing slower circumstellar material (CSM) constitute an interesting, diverse, and still poorly understood category of explosive transients. The chief reason they are extremely interesting is because they tell us that in a subset of stellar deaths, the progenitor star becomes wildly unstable in the years, decades, or centuries before explosion. This is something that has not been included in standard stellar evolution models but may significantly change the end product and yield of that evolution and complicates our attempts to map SNe to their progenitors. Another reason they are interesting is because CSM interaction is an efficient engine for making bright transients, allowing superluminous transients to arise from normal SN explosion energy, and transients of normal supernova luminosity to arise from sub-energetic explosions or low radioactivity yield. CSM interaction shrouds the fast ejecta in bright shock emission, obscuring our view of the underlying explosion, and the radiation hydrodynamics is challenging to model. The CSM interaction may also be highly nonspherical, perhaps linked to binary interaction in the progenitor system. In some cases, these complications make it difficult to tell the difference between a core-collapse and thermonuclear explosion or to discern between a nonterminal eruption, failed supernova, or weak supernova. Efforts to uncover the physical parameters of individual events and connections to progenitor stars make this a rapidly evolving topic that challenges paradigms of stellar evolution.

The neurosciences in Averroes principles of medicine.

PubMed

Delgado, Fernando

2012-01-01

One of the fundamental advances of the transition of the Middle Ages to the Renaissance was the rediscovery of the Greek philosophers. Among the greatest representatives of this epoch we find the Cordovan doctor and philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd) who, with his commentaries on the works of Aristotle, brought a new philosophical vision to Western Europe. His contribution to medicine has been overshadowed to some extent by this great work of philosophy. Our intention is to evaluate, in the context of the neurosciences, the vision of health and sickness that he left us in his book "The Book of the Principles of Medicine. The organisation of the Kulliyat is based on Aristotelian concepts. Averroes regarded the nervous system not as single entity but rather as a complex of various elements. The anatomy of the nervous system is studied in two parts: the encephalus and the periphery. Both the encephalic nervous system and the sensory organs are regarded as heterogeneous organs. Averroes structures the anatomical order without taking into account the local movements of the living body. The mission of the senses is to maintain contact between external reality and the structure of the organism. This requires an external process, a point of union and an internal process. The ultimate goal is the preservation of health in a balanced disposition and the cure of disease in the organism in disequilibrium.

Pre-supernova outbursts via wave heating in massive stars - II. Hydrogen-poor stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuller, Jim; Ro, Stephen

2018-05-01

Pre-supernova (SN) outbursts from massive stars may be driven by hydrodynamical wave energy emerging from the core of the progenitor star during late nuclear-burning phases. Here, we examine the effects of wave heating in stars containing little or no hydrogen, i.e. progenitors of Type IIb/Ib SNe. Because there is no massive hydrogen envelope, wave energy is thermalized near the stellar surface where the overlying atmospheric mass is small but the optical depth is large. Wave energy can thus unbind this material, driving an optically thick, super-Eddington wind. Using 1D hydrodynamic MESA simulations of ˜5 M⊙ He stars, we find that wave heating can drive pre-SN outbursts composed of a dense wind whose mass-loss rate can exceed ˜0.1 M⊙ yr-1. The wind terminal velocities are a few 100 km s-1, and outburst luminosities can reach ˜106 L⊙. Wave-driven outbursts may be linked with observed or inferred pre-SN outbursts of Type Ibn/transitional/transformational SNe, and pre-SN wave-driven mass loss is a good candidate to produce these types of SNe. However, we also show that non-linear wave breaking in the core of the star may prevent such outbursts in stars with thick convective helium-burning shells. Hence, only a limited subset of SN progenitors is likely to experience wave-driven pre-SN outbursts.

The history of anatomy in Persia

PubMed Central

Shoja, Mohammadali M; Tubbs, R Shane

2007-01-01

The study of human anatomy can be found throughout the rich history of Persia. For thousands of years, morphological descriptions derived from this part of the world have contributed to and have helped form our current anatomical knowledge base. In this article we review the major influential Persian periods and the individuals who have contributed to the development of anatomy. We have divided the history of Persia into five eras: (1) the period of the Elamites, Medes, early Persians and Babylonians (10th millennium to 6th century BC); (2) following the establishment of the Persian Empire (6th century BC) to the 7th century AD; (3) after the Islamic conquest of Persia to the ascendency of Baghdad (7th to 13th century AD); (4) from the Mongol invasion of Persia to the foundations of modern anatomy (13th to 18th century AD); and (5) modern Persia/Iran (18th century AD to present). Evidence indicates that human dissection was commonplace in the first era, which led to a disciplined practice of surgery in the centuries leading to the foundation of the Persian Empire. By the emergence of Zoroastrianism in the Persian Empire, the microcosm theory was widely used to understand internal anatomy in relation to the external universe. The world's first cosmopolitan university and hospital were built in Gondishapur, south-western Persia, in the third century AD. Greek and Syriac knowledge influenced the second era. With the gradual ruin of Gondishapur and the foundation of Baghdad following the Islamic conquest of Persia (637–651 AD), a great movement took place, which led to the flourishing of the so-called Middle Age or Islamic Golden Age. Of the influential anatomists of this period, Mesue (777–857 AD), Tabbari (838–870 AD), Rhazes (865–925 AD), Joveini (?−983 AD), Ali ibn Abbas (930–994 AD), Avicenna (980–1037 AD) and Jorjani (1042–1137 AD) all hailed from Persia. There is evidence in the Persian literature as to the direct involvement of these scholars in human dissection. Syro-Indian, Byzantine, Greek, Chinese and Arabic knowledge all influenced the third era. In the fourth period, the first colour illustrated anatomical text (by Mansur, 14th century AD) was compiled. Chinese and Indian anatomical styles were embraced, though there was a strong religious siege of anatomy late in this era. By the 19th century, Persia had entered a new era of modernizing movements and academic contact with the West through the reforms of Mirza Tagi Khan Amir Kabir. Knowledge of anatomy for this region in the 20th century was greatly influenced by Europe and America. PMID:17428200

Efficacy of Surah Al-Rehman in Managing Depression in Muslim Women.

PubMed

Rafique, Rafia; Anjum, Afifa; Raheem, Shazza Shazdey

2017-09-12

The study empirically investigated the idea that Quranic verses (Surah Al-Rehman) can help manage depression. Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, "Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur'an is Surah Al-Rehman." Surah Al-Rehman is the most rhythmic surah of the Quran, so it was used for our experimental study. The idea of the study was drawn from the premise that music therapy helps reduce depression. The objective of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of Surah Al-Rehman for managing depression in Muslim women admitted for treatment of major depressive disorder in a psychiatry ward of a government hospital. It was hypothesized that women diagnosed with severe depression in the treatment group will have reduced level of depression as compared to control group at post-assessment level. It was further hypothesized that the amount of decrease in depression in treatment group at the post-assessment level will be greater as compared to the control group. A purposive sample of 12 female patients diagnosed with depression was randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 6) and control group (n = 6). Assessment was done at pre- and post-level by using Beck Depression Inventory-II. Both groups did not significantly differ on pre-assessment depression scores. Twelve structured group sessions of 22 min, two times a day, were conducted for a period of 4 weeks with the groups. Treatment group was made to listen to Surah Al-Rehman recited by Qari Abdul Basit, and control group was exposed to music used for relaxation and treatment of depression. Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to find the within-group differences between pre- and post-assessment scores. Both groups had decreased level of depression at post-assessment level, so it was important to assess if there was any difference in level of decrease. Mann-Whitney U test for comparison of groups on level of decrease at the post-assessment level endorsed that treatment group had significantly greater decrease than control group on depression. Our study highlights the efficacy of Surah Al-Rehman as a remedy to reduce depression. The Holy Quran intones, "This sacred book is 'shifa' for its followers." Hence, we recommend that researchers should focus on finding remedies for other psychological and physical diseases from Quranic verses. An exploration of possible mechanism (such as activated cognitions or associated emotions while listening to Quran) through which effects of recitation are reached, can also be subject of investigation for forthcoming studies.

The history of anatomy in Persia.

PubMed

Shoja, Mohammadali M; Tubbs, R Shane

2007-04-01

The study of human anatomy can be found throughout the rich history of Persia. For thousands of years, morphological descriptions derived from this part of the world have contributed to and have helped form our current anatomical knowledge base. In this article we review the major influential Persian periods and the individuals who have contributed to the development of anatomy. We have divided the history of Persia into five eras: (1) the period of the Elamites, Medes, early Persians and Babylonians (10th millennium to 6th century BC); (2) following the establishment of the Persian Empire (6th century BC) to the 7th century AD; (3) after the Islamic conquest of Persia to the ascendency of Baghdad (7th to 13th century AD); (4) from the Mongol invasion of Persia to the foundations of modern anatomy (13th to 18th century AD); and (5) modern Persia/Iran (18th century AD to present). Evidence indicates that human dissection was commonplace in the first era, which led to a disciplined practice of surgery in the centuries leading to the foundation of the Persian Empire. By the emergence of Zoroastrianism in the Persian Empire, the microcosm theory was widely used to understand internal anatomy in relation to the external universe. The world's first cosmopolitan university and hospital were built in Gondishapur, south-western Persia, in the third century AD. Greek and Syriac knowledge influenced the second era. With the gradual ruin of Gondishapur and the foundation of Baghdad following the Islamic conquest of Persia (637-651 AD), a great movement took place, which led to the flourishing of the so-called Middle Age or Islamic Golden Age. Of the influential anatomists of this period, Mesue (777-857 AD), Tabbari (838-870 AD), Rhazes (865-925 AD), Joveini (?-983 AD), Ali ibn Abbas (930-994 AD), Avicenna (980-1037 AD) and Jorjani (1042-1137 AD) all hailed from Persia. There is evidence in the Persian literature as to the direct involvement of these scholars in human dissection. Syro-Indian, Byzantine, Greek, Chinese and Arabic knowledge all influenced the third era. In the fourth period, the first colour illustrated anatomical text (by Mansur, 14th century AD) was compiled. Chinese and Indian anatomical styles were embraced, though there was a strong religious siege of anatomy late in this era. By the 19th century, Persia had entered a new era of modernizing movements and academic contact with the West through the reforms of Mirza Tagi Khan Amir Kabir. Knowledge of anatomy for this region in the 20th century was greatly influenced by Europe and America.

Frequently asked questions of individuals with spinal cord injuries: results of a web-based consultation service in Iran.

PubMed

Rezaei, Mojtaba; Omidbeigi, Mahmoud; Hanaei, Sara; Saeedi, Negin; Naghdi, Khatereh; Vaccaro, Alexander R; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa

2018-01-01

Descriptive study of the results of a web-based consultation service for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). To review frequently asked questions (FAQ) among individuals with SCI and determine the most important topics. Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. A cross-sectional study reviewing questions from patients with SCI that were collected from the Health and Safety Consultant Center (HSCC) between January and December 2015. The HSCC is a web-based medical consultation service that provides patients with information and counseling pertaining to SCI. A total of 113 questions were collected from 99 individuals. The mean age was 32.02 ± 13.28 years with a range of 3-70 years. Men accounted for 81.7% of the questions, while women accounted for 18.3%. The most common site of SCI was thoracic (40.6%), followed by lumbar (31.3%), and cervical (28.1%). Recovery potential (38.1%), sexual and reproductive issues (26.5%), urinary (10.6%), and motor (10.6%) problems were among the most commonly reviewed topics. FAQ provide insight on areas of concerns for individuals with SCI and help guide providers to determine high-yield topics. Discerning the specific areas of need or concern for patients is instrumental in developing pertinent educational materials and programs, in addition to efficiently counseling patients and caregivers on the aftercare of SCI.

Global Handwashing Day 2012: a qualitative content analysis of Chinese social media reaction to a health promotion event.

PubMed

Fung, Isaac Chun-Hai; Cai, Jingxian; Hao, Yi; Ying, Yuchen; Chan, Benedict Shing Bun; Tse, Zion Tsz Ho; Fu, King-Wa

2015-01-01

Global Handwashing Day (GHD) is a handwashing promotion campaign organized by the Global Public-Private Partnership of Handwashing with Soap. In China, it has been promoted by the Chinese public health authorities, international organizations and multinational corporations through various channels including social media such as Sina Weibo, the leading Chinese microblogging site similar to Twitter. The objective of this study is to qualitatively assess Chinese social media users' reactions to a health promotion campaign using Global Handwashing Day (GHD) 2012 as an example. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 552 Weibo posts generated on GHD 2012 by Weibo users with 1000 or more followers with the Chinese keyword for "handwashing." We categorized the Weibo posts into groups by keywords that frequently appeared in the data set. These groups were either exact reposts of an original post, or they conveyed similar information. We observed the interconnections between traditional media and social media in handwashing promotion. Social media were found to serve as amplifiers of contents provided by traditional media. We observed the contextualization of global hygiene messages in a unique national social media market in China. Our study showed that social media and traditional media are two interconnected arms of the GHD campaign in China. Our analysis demonstrated that public health campaigns in China can be evaluated using social media data. The themes and topics identified in this study will help public health practitioners evaluate future social media handwashing promotion campaigns.

Diet and dietetics in al-Andalus.

PubMed

Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Huetos-Solano, Maria D; García-Lorda, Pilar; Bulló, Mònica

2006-08-01

Al-Andalus society (711-1492) based its idea of health on the wisdom of Classical Greece, the Hippocratic-Galenic theories, as well as the Persian and Hindu cultures. The twelfth century in al-Andalus is considered to be the most prolific period for works of a scientific and technical nature. At the time, the main treatises on dietetics were written and this science reached its widest expression with such leading figures as Ibn Wāfīd, Avenzoar, Averroes and Maimonides, whose works revealed the first scientific knowledge on the nutritional processes of the human body. Diet was regarded as being essential for health and the prevention of disease. Dietary guidelines were written for different age groups, different body types and different seasons of the year. The amount of food to be ingested, the number of meals recommended and the order in which the food should be consumed were all issues that were discussed. A variety of foods were thought to have medicinal properties, some of which are known today. The diet in al-Andalus was varied and very probably made a substantial contribution to the origin of the present-day Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, wholemeal cereals, fruit and vegetables, fish, lamb, poultry, nuts and spices. We also find that many of the terms in current use in diet and agriculture are a living testimony to the Arabic influence, as are many of the dishes of our varied Mediterranean gastronomy.

A learning skills course for the 1st year medical students: an experience at a Saudi medical school.

PubMed

Siddiqui, Imran A; Bin Abdulrahman, Khalid A; Alsultan, Mohammed A

2015-01-01

Every year nearly 1,500 students enter into medical program after passing high school and national aptitude exams. However, many students experience frustration, failure, and psychological morbidities like stress, depression, and anxiety because they are not aware of their learning styles or do not have effective learning skills and strategies. The College of Medicine of Al-Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University has adopted the outcome based, community oriented, Spiral Curriculum. Although the curriculum is innovative, on the other hand, it is very demanding. The purpose of this paper is to share educational structure and evaluation results of the course on effective learning and study skills for the 1st year medical students. To prepare our students in order to cope with this demanding but promising curriculum, we conducted an effective and comprehensive learning skills course for 16 weeks in the first semester of year 1 in the medical program. Performance of each student was assessed and the course evaluation was done by students at the end of the course. The attendance of the students throughout the course was over 90%. The average performance of students in the summative assessment was 78% and the course was generally liked by the students. Students overall had a positive attitude toward the learning skills course. Majority of the students showed interest in attending the sessions regularly and realized the significance of this course to improve their learning skills.

Gerberto, gli Arabi e Gerusalemme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sigismondi, C.

Gerbert of Aurillac went in Catalonia from 967 to 970, to visit the bishop Atton of Vic, famous for mathematical knowledge, during the apogee of Cordova's reign of the Caliph Al-Hakam II ibn Abd al-Rahman (961-976). He maintained contacts with local personalities like Mirò Bonfill (Bishop of Girona) and Lupitus of Barcelona through letters (both dated 984). When he was pope, Gerbert sent five papal privileges to Catalan dignitaries, showing his attention to this territory. The Caliph's prime minister Al-Mansu'r depredated Barcelona in 985, and conquered Santiago de Compostela in 997, drawing to an end the cultural exchanges between Christian and Arabic world through Mozarabic and Jewish translators. Gerbert learned and after taught and used Indo-Arabic numbers, abaci, astrolabes, monochords and theoretical music. It was possible for pilgrims to reach Jerusalem at Gerbert's times, and a letter written by Gerbert probably for an abbot starting his pilgrimage seems to introduce the first ideas of crusade and indulgences related to offers. The change of attitude of the Al-Andalus' government toward Christianity is probably responsible of these words written in a time very close to the depredations of Barcelona. Jerusalem is also in the index of geographic places in the book of the astrolabe, attributed to Gerbert, as well as Santiago de Compostela. Finally the legend of the Golem and the mass celebrated in the church of Jerusalem in Rome, completes the panorama of Gerbert and the Holy City.

Rhazes, a genius physician in diagnosis and treatment of kidney calculi in medical history.

PubMed

Changizi Ashtiyani, Saeed; Cyrus, Ali

2010-04-01

Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya Razi, known in the west as Rhazes (865 to 925 AD), was born in the ancient city of Rayy, near Tehran, Iran. He was a renowned physician in medical history and not only followed Hippocrates and Galen, but also greatly extended the analytical approach of his predecessors. Based on the existing documents, he was known as the most distinguished character in the world of medicine up to the 17th century. A great number of innovations and pioneering works in the medical science have been recorded in the name of Rhazes. His fundamental works in urology as part of his research in the realm of medicine have remained unknown. Pathophysiology of the urinary tract, venereal diseases, and kidney and bladder calculi are among his main interests in this field. He also purposed and developed methods for diagnosis and treatment of kidney calculi for the first time in medical history. He also presented a very exact and precise description of neuropathic bladder followed by vertebral fracture. He advanced urine analysis and studied function and diseases of the kidneys. Rhazes recommendations for the prevention of calculi are quite scientific and practical and in accordance with current recommendations to avoid hypercalciuria and increased saturation of urine. Rhazes was not only one of the most important Persian physician-philosophers of his era, but for centuries, his writings became fundamental teaching texts in European medical schools. Some important aspects of his contributions to medicine are reviewed.

Surgical wisdom and Genghis Khan's Pax Mongolica.

PubMed

Köstenbauer, Jakob

2017-03-01

The unrivalled conquests of Genghis Khan (CE c.1162-1227) led to the establishment of the Greater Mongolian Empire. By 1279, the Mongol dynasty controlled a vast Empire which, for the first time in history, unified Europe and China via the famous Silk Road. The ensuing century of peace and stability is referred to by historians as the Pax Mongolica, which facilitated Europe's renaissance and remarkably contributed to the rise of modern medicine and surgery. Secondary sources from published literature, primary sources from manuscripts and illustrations courtesy of universities, museum libraries and archives. There is ample evidence detailing the Mongol Empire's power during the thirteenth century and the Silk Road's role as a vehicle of commercial, cultural and scientific exchange. Advances in medical knowledge and surgical skills were made in all parts of the Empire and exchanged from China to Constantinople and back. Prominent medical figures traversed these centres, and no doubt contributed to the spread of surgical science, including Rashid al-Din and Mansur Ibn Ilyas. Their works, it is argued, enriched the practice of surgery and may have indirectly ushered-in the rise of modern surgery in the early medical schools at Salerno, Bologna, Pavia, Oxford, Montpellier and Constantinople to name but a few. The blossoming and diversification of medical and surgical knowledge was an integral part of the great cultural exchange facilitated by the Pax Mongolica. This enhanced surgical practice in China, Persia and Arabia, while coinciding with the renaissance of surgical teaching in Europe. © 2017 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Medicinal exploitation of inorganic substances in the Levant in the Medieval and early Ottoman periods.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2002-11-01

Various minerals, metals, clays, and rocks were among the natural medicinal substances used by physicians and pharmacists in early times in different cultures, for example, the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Classical physicians such as Hippocrates and Dioscorides mention tens of inorganic medicinal substances in their writings. Many references to minerals and chemicals are also found in the Muslim medical literature of the Eastern and Western Caliphates. The historical research presented in this article focuses on the inorganic substances applied as remedies by the medieval and early Ottoman (7th-17th) inhabitants of the Levant. The article is based upon a literature review covering tens of different historical sources, from the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Relevant information was found in the works of physicians such as al-Tamimi, Benevenutus, Ibn al-Baytar, Daud al-Antaki, and Hayyim Vital. The research revealed evidences of the medicinal uses of fifteen inorganic substances: Alum, Arsenic, Sulphide, Asphalt, Jew's stone, Earth sp., Galena, Haematite, iron, Lead, Pyrite, Salt, Sulphur, Thermal water, Green Vitriol, and Zinc. Inorganic materials comprise 5.2% of the list of medicinal substances. The geographic origin of most of these substances is the Levant, in which two geo-historical centers have been recorded: the Rift Valley and the northern region of the Levant, including upper Galilee, Mount Lebanon and Mount Hermon. A notable tendency to use these substances for treating diseases of the skin, the eyes, the sexual organs, and haemorrhoids was detected.

Development of anatomophysiologic knowledge regarding the cardiovascular system: from Egyptians to Harvey.

PubMed

Bestetti, Reinaldo Bulgarelli; Restini, Carolina Baraldi A; Couto, Lucélio B

2014-12-01

Our knowledge regarding the anatomophysiology of the cardiovascular system (CVS) has progressed since the fourth millennium BC. In Egypt (3500 BC), it was believed that a set of channels are interconnected to the heart, transporting air, urine, air, blood, and the soul. One thousand years later, the heart was established as the center of the CVS by the Hippocratic Corpus in the medical school of Kos, and some of the CVS anatomical characteristics were defined. The CVS was known to transport blood via the right ventricle through veins and the pneuma via the left ventricle through arteries. Two hundred years later, in Alexandria, following the development of human anatomical dissection, Herophilus discovered that arteries were 6 times thicker than veins, and Erasistratus described the semilunar valves, emphasizing that arteries were filled with blood when ventricles were empty. Further, 200 years later, Galen demonstrated that arteries contained blood and not air. With the decline of the Roman Empire, Greco-Roman medical knowledge about the CVS was preserved in Persia, and later in Islam where, Ibn Nafis inaccurately described pulmonary circulation. The resurgence of dissection of the human body in Europe in the 14th century was associated with the revival of the knowledge pertaining to the CVS. The main findings were the description of pulmonary circulation by Servetus, the anatomical discoveries of Vesalius, the demonstration of pulmonary circulation by Colombo, and the discovery of valves in veins by Fabricius. Following these developments, Harvey described blood circulation.

Development of Anatomophysiologic Knowledge Regarding the Cardiovascular System: From Egyptians to Harvey.

PubMed

Bestetti, Reinaldo Bulgarelli; Restini, Carolina Baraldi A; Couto, Lucélio B

2014-10-10

Our knowledge regarding the anatomophysiology of the cardiovascular system (CVS) has progressed since the fourth millennium BC. In Egypt (3500 BC), it was believed that a set of channels are interconnected to the heart, transporting air, urine, air, blood, and the soul. One thousand years later, the heart was established as the center of the CVS by the Hippocratic Corpus in the medical school of Kos, and some of the CVS anatomical characteristics were defined. The CVS was known to transport blood via the right ventricle through veins and the pneuma via the left ventricle through arteries. Two hundred years later, in Alexandria, following the development of human anatomical dissection, Herophilus discovered that arteries were 6 times thicker than veins, and Erasistratus described the semilunar valves, emphasizing that arteries were filled with blood when ventricles were empty. Further, 200 years later, Galen demonstrated that arteries contained blood and not air. With the decline of the Roman Empire, Greco-Roman medical knowledge about the CVS was preserved in Persia, and later in Islam where, Ibn Nafis inaccurately described pulmonary circulation. The resurgence of dissection of the human body in Europe in the 14th century was associated with the revival of the knowledge pertaining to the CVS. The main findings were the description of pulmonary circulation by Servetus, the anatomical discoveries of Vesalius, the demonstration of pulmonary circulation by Colombo, and the discovery of valves in veins by Fabricius. Following these developments, Harvey described blood circulation.

Development of Anatomophysiologic Knowledge Regarding the Cardiovascular System: From Egyptians to Harvey

PubMed Central

Bestetti, Reinaldo Bulgarelli; Restini, Carolina Baraldi A.; Couto, Lucélio B.

2014-01-01

Our knowledge regarding the anatomophysiology of the cardiovascular system (CVS) has progressed since the fourth millennium BC. In Egypt (3500 BC), it was believed that a set of channels are interconnected to the heart, transporting air, urine, air, blood, and the soul. One thousand years later, the heart was established as the center of the CVS by the Hippocratic Corpus in the medical school of Kos, and some of the CVS anatomical characteristics were defined. The CVS was known to transport blood via the right ventricle through veins and the pneuma via the left ventricle through arteries. Two hundred years later, in Alexandria, following the development of human anatomical dissection, Herophilus discovered that arteries were 6 times thicker than veins, and Erasistratus described the semilunar valves, emphasizing that arteries were filled with blood when ventricles were empty. Further, 200 years later, Galen demonstrated that arteries contained blood and not air. With the decline of the Roman Empire, Greco-Roman medical knowledge about the CVS was preserved in Persia, and later in Islam where, Ibn Nafis inaccurately described pulmonary circulation. The resurgence of dissection of the human body in Europe in the 14th century was associated with the revival of the knowledge pertaining to the CVS. The main findings were the description of pulmonary circulation by Servetus, the anatomical discoveries of Vesalius, the demonstration of pulmonary circulation by Colombo, and the discovery of valves in veins by Fabricius. Following these developments, Harvey described blood circulation. PMID:25590934

Analysis of Human Activities in Nature Reserves Based on Nighttime Light Remote Sensing and Microblogging Data - by the Case of National Nature Reserves in Jiangxi Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, F.; Li, X.; Xu, H.

2017-09-01

The study used the mainstream social media in china - Sina microblogging data combined with nighttime light remote sensing and various geographical data to reveal the pattern of human activities and light pollution of the Jiangxi Provincial National Nature Reserves. Firstly, we performed statistical analysis based on both functional areas and km-grid from the perspective of space and time, and selected the key areas for in-depth study. Secondly, the relationship between microblogging data and nighttime light remote sensing, population, GDP, road coverage, road distance and road type in nature reserves was analyzed by Spearman correlation coefficient method, so the distribution pattern and influencing factors of the microblogging data were explored. Thirdly, a region where the luminance value was greater than 0.2 was defined as a light region. We evaluated the management status by analyzing the distribution of microblogging data in both light area and non-light area. Final results showed that in all nature reserves, the top three were the Lushan Nature Reserve, the Jinggangshan Nature Reserve, the Taohongling National Nature Reserve of Sikas both on the total number and density of microblogging ; microblogging had a significant correlation with nighttime light remote sensing , the GDP, population, road and other factors; the distribution of microblogging near roads in protected area followed power laws; luminous radiance of Lushan Nature Reserve was the highest, with 43 percent of region was light at night; analysis combining nighttime light remote sensing with microblogging data reflected the status of management of nature reserves.

Spatial and Social Media Data Analytics of Housing Prices in Shenzhen, China.

PubMed

Wu, Chao; Ye, Xinyue; Ren, Fu; Wan, You; Ning, Pengfei; Du, Qingyun

2016-01-01

Housing is among the most pressing issues in urban China and has received considerable scholarly attention. Researchers have primarily concentrated on identifying the factors that influence residential property prices and how such mechanisms function. However, few studies have examined the potential factors that influence housing prices from a big data perspective. In this article, we use a big data perspective to determine the willingness of buyers to pay for various factors. The opinions and geographical preferences of individuals for places can be represented by visit frequencies given different motivations. Check-in data from the social media platform Sina Visitor System is used in this article. Here, we use kernel density estimation (KDE) to analyse the spatial patterns of check-in spots (or places of interest, POIs) and employ the Getis-Ord [Formula: see text] method to identify the hot spots for different types of POIs in Shenzhen, China. New indexes are then proposed based on the hot-spot results as measured by check-in data to analyse the effects of these locations on housing prices. This modelling is performed using the hedonic price method (HPM) and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) method. The results show that the degree of clustering of POIs has a significant influence on housing values. Meanwhile, the GWR method has a better interpretive capacity than does the HPM because of the former method's ability to capture spatial heterogeneity. This article integrates big social media data to expand the scope (new study content) and depth (study scale) of housing price research to an unprecedented degree.

Spatial and Social Media Data Analytics of Housing Prices in Shenzhen, China

PubMed Central

Ye, Xinyue; Ren, Fu; Wan, You; Ning, Pengfei; Du, Qingyun

2016-01-01

Housing is among the most pressing issues in urban China and has received considerable scholarly attention. Researchers have primarily concentrated on identifying the factors that influence residential property prices and how such mechanisms function. However, few studies have examined the potential factors that influence housing prices from a big data perspective. In this article, we use a big data perspective to determine the willingness of buyers to pay for various factors. The opinions and geographical preferences of individuals for places can be represented by visit frequencies given different motivations. Check-in data from the social media platform Sina Visitor System is used in this article. Here, we use kernel density estimation (KDE) to analyse the spatial patterns of check-in spots (or places of interest, POIs) and employ the Getis-Ord Gi* method to identify the hot spots for different types of POIs in Shenzhen, China. New indexes are then proposed based on the hot-spot results as measured by check-in data to analyse the effects of these locations on housing prices. This modelling is performed using the hedonic price method (HPM) and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) method. The results show that the degree of clustering of POIs has a significant influence on housing values. Meanwhile, the GWR method has a better interpretive capacity than does the HPM because of the former method’s ability to capture spatial heterogeneity. This article integrates big social media data to expand the scope (new study content) and depth (study scale) of housing price research to an unprecedented degree. PMID:27783645

A Coupling Function Linking Solar Wind /IMF Variations and Geomagnetic Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyatsky, W.; Lyatskaya, S.; Tan, A.

2006-12-01

From a theoretical consideration we have obtained expressions for the coupling function linking solar wind and IMF parameters to geomagnetic activity. While deriving these expressions, we took into account (1) a scaling factor due to polar cap expansion while increasing a reconnected magnetic flux in the dayside magnetosphere, and (2) a modified Akasofu function for the reconnected flux for combined IMF Bz and By components. The resulting coupling function may be written as Fa = aVsw B^1/2 sina (q/2), where Vsw is the solar wind speed, B^ is the magnitude of the IMF vector in the Y-Z plane, q is the clock angle between the Z axis and IMF vector in the Y-Z plane, a is a coefficient, and the exponent, a, is derived from the experimental data and equals approximately to 2. The Fa function differs primary by the power of B^ from coupling functions proposed earlier. For testing the obtained coupling function, we used solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field data for four years for maximum and minimum solar activity. We computed 2-D contour plots for correlation coefficients for the dependence of geomagnetic activity indices on solar wind parameters for different coupling functions. The obtained diagrams showed a good correspondence to the theoretic coupling function Fa for a »2. The maximum correlation coefficient for the dependence of the polar cap PC index on the Fa coupling function is significantly higher than that computed for other coupling functions used researchers, for the same time intervals.

Research of the distribution of tourists’ attributes based on internet data: A case study of Kunming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Bingyang; Yang, Kun; Wang, Jiasheng

2017-09-01

With the development of the era of big data, the ever-growing user trajectory provides the basis for studying multi-scale tourist activity law. This paper selected 17 famous tourist attractions in Kunming. Sina Microblog, Ctrip Travel, Lvmama Travel Network and other platforms were used to extract 139727 records between Oct. 2015 and Sep. 2016. The methods of data mining and clustering analysis were used to explore the activity characteristics of tourists with different attributes in scenic spot and the activity differences of different age tourists in different scenic spots affected by season, not only considered gender, geographical, check-in time and other factors, but also the introduced age attributes. At the same time, the scenic area is divided into “Adolescent active pattern”, “Young and middle-aged women active pattern”, “Middle-aged and old men active pattern” and “General active pattern” according to different tourists’ activities law of different gender and age in spatial perspective. Research shows that female tourists are mainly distributed in the Green Lake Park, Nanping Street, Dounan Flower Market and other attractions, elderly male tourists are mainly distributed in Expo Park, Jindian area. Foreign tourists accounted for 86.32% of the total tourists, reflecting the rapid development of tourism in Kunming. The spatial distribution of tourist attractions has an impact on the distribution of tourists’ attributes. The number of tourists of Shilin, Jiuxiang, Guandu Ancient Town are accounted for 36.38% of the total tourists, which shows that the spatial distribution of tourist attributes is consistent with the development of key tourist areas in Kunming.

Detecting depression stigma on social media: A linguistic analysis.

PubMed

Li, Ang; Jiao, Dongdong; Zhu, Tingshao

2018-05-01

Efficient detection of depression stigma in mass media is important for designing effective stigma reduction strategies. Using linguistic analysis methods, this paper aims to build computational models for detecting stigma expressions in Chinese social media posts (Sina Weibo). A total of 15,879 Weibo posts with keywords were collected and analyzed. First, a content analysis was conducted on all 15,879 posts to determine whether each of them reflected depression stigma or not. Second, using four algorithms (Simple Logistic Regression, Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest), two groups of classification models were built based on selected linguistic features; one for differentiating between posts with and without depression stigma, and one for differentiating among posts with three specific types of depression stigma. First, 967 of 15,879 posts (6.09%) indicated depression stigma. 39.30%, 15.82%, and 14.99% of them endorsed the stigmatizing view that "People with depression are unpredictable", "Depression is a sign of personal weakness", and "Depression is not a real medical illness", respectively. Second, the highest F-Measure value for differentiating between stigma and non-stigma reached 75.2%. The highest F-Measure value for differentiating among three specific types of stigma reached 86.2%. Due to the limited and imbalanced dataset of Chinese Weibo posts, the findings of this study might have limited generalizability. This paper confirms that incorporating linguistic analysis methods into online detection of stigma can be beneficial to improve the performance of stigma reduction programs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Global Handwashing Day 2012: a qualitative content analysis of Chinese social media reaction to a health promotion event

PubMed Central

Cai, Jingxian; Hao, Yi; Ying, Yuchen; Chan, Benedict Shing Bun; Tse, Zion Tsz Ho; Fu, King-Wa

2015-01-01

Background Global Handwashing Day (GHD) is a handwashing promotion campaign organized by the Global Public-Private Partnership of Handwashing with Soap. In China, it has been promoted by the Chinese public health authorities, international organizations and multinational corporations through various channels including social media such as Sina Weibo, the leading Chinese microblogging site similar to Twitter. The objective of this study is to qualitatively assess Chinese social media users’ reactions to a health promotion campaign using Global Handwashing Day (GHD) 2012 as an example. Methods We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 552 Weibo posts generated on GHD 2012 by Weibo users with 1000 or more followers with the Chinese keyword for “handwashing.” We categorized the Weibo posts into groups by keywords that frequently appeared in the data set. These groups were either exact reposts of an original post, or they conveyed similar information. Results We observed the interconnections between traditional media and social media in handwashing promotion. Social media were found to serve as amplifiers of contents provided by traditional media. We observed the contextualization of global hygiene messages in a unique national social media market in China. Discussion Our study showed that social media and traditional media are two interconnected arms of the GHD campaign in China. Our analysis demonstrated that public health campaigns in China can be evaluated using social media data. The themes and topics identified in this study will help public health practitioners evaluate future social media handwashing promotion campaigns. PMID:26668765

Effects of silicate weathering on water chemistry in forested, upland, felsic terrane of the USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stauffer, Robert E.; Wittchen, Bruce D.

1991-11-01

We use data from the US EPA National Surface Water Survey (NSWS), the USGS Bench-Mark Station monitoring program, and the National Acid Deposition Program (NADP) to evaluate the role of weathering in supplying base cations to surface waters in forested, upland, felsic terrane of the northeastern, northcentral, and northwestern (Idaho batholith) United States. Multivariate regression reveals differential effects of discharge on individual base cations and silica, but no secular trend in the Ca/Na denudation rate over 24 yr (1965-1988) for the Wild River catchment in the White Mountains. Because the turn-over time for Na in the soil-exchange complex is only ca. 1.5 yr, the long-term behavior of the ratios Ca/Na and Si/Na in waters leaving this catchment indicates that weathering is compensating for base cation export. In every subregion, Ca and Mg concentrations in lakes are statistically linked to nonmarine Na, but the median Ca/Na ratio is greater than the ratio in local plagioclase. We attribute this inequality to nonstoichiometric weathering of calcium in juvenile (formerly glaciated) terrane, not to leaching of exchangeable cations by SO 4, because intraregional and cross-regional statistical analysis reveals no effect of atmospherically derived sulfate ion. The median base cation denudation rates (meq m -2 yr -1) for these American lake regions are: Maine granites (108); western Adirondack felsic gneiss (85); Vermilion batholith (42); Idaho batholith (52). The regional rates are high enough to compensate for present wet deposition of acidifying anions except in some vulnerable lake watersheds in the western Adirondacks.

Probing Late-Stage Stellar Evolution through Robotic Follow-Up of Nearby Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseinzadeh, Griffin

2018-01-01

Many of the remaining uncertainties in stellar evolution can be addressed through immediate and long-term photometry and spectroscopy of supernovae. The early light curves of thermonuclear supernovae can contain information about the nature of the binary companion to the exploding white dwarf. Spectra of core-collapse supernovae can reveal material lost by massive stars in their final months to years. Thanks to a revolution in technology—robotic telescopes, high-speed internet, machine learning—we can now routinely discover supernovae within days of explosion and obtain well-sampled follow-up data for months and years. Here I present three major results from the Global Supernova Project at Las Cumbres Observatory that take advantage of these technological advances. (1) SN 2017cbv is a Type Ia supernova discovered within a day of explosion. Early photometry shows a bump in the U-band relative to previously observed Type Ia light curves, possibly indicating the presence of a nondegenerate binary companion. (2) SN 2016bkv is a low-luminosity Type IIP supernova also caught very young. Narrow emission lines in the earliest spectra indicate interaction between the ejecta and a dense shell of circumstellar material, previously observed only in the brightest Type IIP supernovae. (3) Type Ibn supernovae are a rare class that interact with hydrogen-free circumstellar material. An analysis of the largest-yet sample of this class has found that their light curves are much more homogeneous and faster-evolving than their hydrogen-rich counterparts, Type IIn supernovae, but that their maximum-light spectra are more diverse.

NASE in the IYL2015: Light in Natural Sciences to teach Astronomy and Astrophysics in the new century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García, Beatriz; Ros, Rosa Maria

2015-08-01

An important series of milestones in the history of the science of light allow us to ensure that their study intersects with science and technology. In 1815, in France Fresnel exhibited the theory of wave nature of light; in 1865, in England Maxwell described the electromagnetic theory of light, the precursor of relativity; in 1915, in Germany Einstein developed general relativity which confirmed the role of light in space and time, and in 1965, in the United States Penzias and Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background, fossil remnant of the creation of universe. Moreover, 2015 will mark 1000 years since the great works of Ibn al-Haytham on optics, published during the Islamic Golden Age.The Network for Astronomy School Education (NASE) proposes two mono-graphic texts Geometry of Light and Shadow and Cosmic Lights, to show the possibilities offered by the light in teaching concepts in different areas of the natural sciences, from mathematics to biology and to create awareness of the great achievements and discoveries of mankind related to light and the need for responsible use of this energy to the balance on Earth.Although the texts can be worked independently, both covering all aspects of Astronomy and Astrophysics found in the programs of education around the Globe, and show how to teach basic and complex concepts in this era of the big telescopes on Earth and in the space. This material was prepared thinking in the new a audiences, which demand better scientists working in outreach and better tools for communication of science.

Type II Supernova Light Curves and Spectra from the CfA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hicken, Malcolm; Friedman, Andrew S.; Blondin, Stephane; Challis, Peter; Berlind, Perry; Calkins, Mike; Esquerdo, Gil; Matheson, Thomas; Modjaz, Maryam; Rest, Armin; Kirshner, Robert P.

2017-11-01

We present multiband photometry of 60 spectroscopically confirmed supernovae (SNe): 39 SNe II/IIP, 19 IIn, 1 IIb, and 1 that was originally classified as a IIn but later as a Ibn. Of these, 46 have only optical photometry, 6 have only near-infrared (NIR) photometry, and 8 have both optical and NIR. The median redshift of the sample is 0.016. We also present 195 optical spectra for 48 of the 60 SN. There are 26 optical and 2 NIR light curves of SNe II/IIP with redshifts z> 0.01, some of which may give rise to useful distances for cosmological applications. All photometry was obtained between 2000 and 2011 at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO), via the 1.2 m and 1.3 m PAIRITEL telescopes for the optical and NIR, respectively. Each SN was observed in a subset of the u\\prime {UBVRIr}\\prime I\\prime {{JHK}}s bands. There are a total of 2932 optical and 816 NIR light curve points. Optical spectra were obtained using the FLWO 1.5 m Tillinghast telescope with the FAST spectrograph and the MMT Telescope with the Blue Channel Spectrograph. Our photometry is in reasonable agreement with select samples from the literature: two-thirds of our star sequences have average V offsets within ±0.02 mag and roughly three-quarters of our light curves have average differences within ±0.04 mag. The data from this work and the literature will provide insight into SN II explosions, help with developing methods for photometric SN classification, and contribute to their use as cosmological distance indicators.

Extreme isolation of WN3/O3 stars and implications for their evolutionary origin as the elusive stripped binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Nathan; Götberg, Ylva; de Mink, Selma E.

2018-03-01

Recent surveys of the Magellanic Clouds have revealed a subtype of Wolf-Rayet (WR) star with peculiar properties. WN3/O3 spectra exhibit both WR-like emission and O3 V-like absorption - but at lower luminosity than O3 V or WN stars. We examine the projected spatial distribution of WN3/O3 stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud as compared to O-type stars. Surprisingly, WN3/O3 stars are among the most isolated of all classes of massive stars; they have a distribution similar to red supergiants dominated by initial masses of 10-15 M⊙, and are far more dispersed than classical WR stars or luminous blue variables. Their lack of association with clusters of O-type stars suggests strongly that WN3/O3 stars are not the descendants of single massive stars (30 M⊙ or above). Instead, they are likely products of interacting binaries at lower initial mass (10-18 M⊙). Comparison with binary models suggests a probable origin with primaries in this mass range that were stripped of their H envelopes through non-conservative mass transfer by a low-mass secondary. We show that model spectra and positions on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for binary-stripped stars are consistent with WN3/O3 stars. Monitoring radial velocities with high-resolution spectra can test for low-mass companions or runaway velocities. With lower initial mass and environments that avoid very massive stars, the WN3/O3 stars fit expectations for progenitors of Type Ib and possibly Type Ibn supernovae.

Terrestrial Magnetism in Ottoman Empire: Documents and Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozcep, Ferhat

2016-04-01

In the modern sense, geophysics started with geomagnetic works in the 1600s in Ottoman geography. The period between 1600 and 1800 includes the measurement of magnetic declination, inclination and magnetic field strength. Before these years, there is a little information, such as how to use a compass, in the Kitab-i Bahriye (the Book of Navigation) of Piri Reis, who is one of the most important mariners of the Ottoman Empire. However, this may not mean that magnetic declination was generally understood. The first Turkish scientific book relating to terrestrial magnetism is the book of Fuyuzat-i Miknatissiye that was translated by Ibrahim Müteferrika and printed in 1731. The subject of this book is earth's magnetism. Magnetic compass was mentioned in several books. These areMuhammed al Awfi's "Jami al- Hikayat" (translated into Turkish by Ibn Arabşah); Piri Reis's Kitab-I Bahriye (The Book of "Navigation" or "Seafaring" or "Sea"); Seydi Ali Reis's "Risale-i Mirat-I Kainat min Alat-I Irtifa" (The Treatise called the Mirror of Universe according to the instrument for measuring Altitude) and Kitab Al-"Muhit" Fi˙Ilm'al-Eflak Va'l Abhur (Book of the Regional Seas and the Science of Astronomy and Navigation). There are two original magnetic declination determinations in Istanbul in 1727 and 1893 by Ottoman Turks. Also, many geomagnetic measurements between 1600 and 1917 were carried out during international campaigns in Ottoman geography.This study was carried out in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge and supported by Istanbul University Reseach Project Unite (project Numbver: IRP-49162).

Effects of Mg substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of Co0.5Ni0.5-x Mg x Fe2O4 nanoparticle ferrites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

R, M. Rosnan; Z, Othaman; R, Hussin; Ali, A. Ati; Alireza, Samavati; Shadab, Dabagh; Samad, Zare

2016-04-01

In this study, nanocrystalline Co-Ni-Mg ferrite powders with composition Co0.5Ni0.5-x Mg x Fe2O4 are successfully synthesized by the co-precipitation method. A systematic investigation on the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of un-doped and Mg-doped Co-Ni ferrite nanoparticles is carried out. The prepared samples are characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The XRD analyses of the synthesized samples confirm the formation of single-phase cubic spinel structures with crystallite sizes in a range of ˜ 32 nm to ˜ 36 nm. The lattice constant increases with increasing Mg content. FESEM images show that the synthesized samples are homogeneous with a uniformly distributed grain. The results of IR spectroscopy analysis indicate the formation of functional groups of spinel ferrite in the co-precipitation process. By increasing Mg2+ substitution, room temperature magnetic measurement shows that maximum magnetization and coercivity increase from ˜ 57.35 emu/g to ˜ 61.49 emu/g and ˜ 603.26 Oe to ˜ 684.11 Oe (1 Oe = 79.5775 A·m-1), respectively. The higher values of magnetization M s and M r suggest that the optimum composition is Co0.5Ni0.4Mg0.1Fe2O4 that can be applied to high-density recording media and microwave devices. Project supported by the Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Physics Department of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the Ministry of Education Malaysia (Grant Nos. Q.J130000.2526.04H65).

Circadian rhythm disruption impairs tissue homeostasis and exacerbates chronic inflammation in the intestine.

PubMed

Pagel, René; Bär, Florian; Schröder, Torsten; Sünderhauf, Annika; Künstner, Axel; Ibrahim, Saleh M; Autenrieth, Stella E; Kalies, Kathrin; König, Peter; Tsang, Anthony H; Bettenworth, Dominik; Divanovic, Senad; Lehnert, Hendrik; Fellermann, Klaus; Oster, Henrik; Derer, Stefanie; Sina, Christian

2017-11-01

Endogenous circadian clocks regulate 24-h rhythms of physiology and behavior. Circadian rhythm disruption (CRD) is suggested as a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Intestinal biopsies from Per1/2 mutant and wild-type (WT) mice were investigated by electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and bromodeoxyuridine pulse-chase experiments. TNF-α was injected intraperitoneally, with or without necrostatin-1, into Per1/2 mice or rhythmic and externally desynchronized WT mice to study intestinal epithelial cell death. Experimental chronic colitis was induced by oral administration of dextran sodium sulfate. In vitro , caspase activity was assayed in Per1/2-specific small interfering RNA-transfected cells. Wee1 was overexpressed to study antiapoptosis and the cell cycle. Genetic ablation of circadian clock function or environmental CRD in mice increased susceptibility to severe intestinal inflammation and epithelial dysregulation, accompanied by excessive necroptotic cell death and a reduced number of secretory epithelial cells. Receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase (RIP)-3-mediated intestinal necroptosis was linked to increased mitotic cell cycle arrest via Per1/2-controlled Wee1, resulting in increased antiapoptosis via cellular inhibitor of apoptosis-2. Together, our data suggest that circadian rhythm stability is pivotal for the maintenance of mucosal barrier function. CRD increases intestinal necroptosis, thus rendering the gut epithelium more susceptible to inflammatory processes.-Pagel, R., Bär, F., Schröder, T., Sünderhauf, A., Künstner, A., Ibrahim, S. M., Autenrieth, S. E., Kalies, K., König, P., Tsang, A. H., Bettenworth, D., Divanovic, S., Lehnert, H., Fellermann, K., Oster, H., Derer, S., Sina, C. Circadian rhythm disruption impairs tissue homeostasis and exacerbates chronic inflammation in the intestine. © FASEB.

Closed-Loop Lifecycle Management of Service and Product in the Internet of Things: Semantic Framework for Knowledge Integration.

PubMed

Yoo, Min-Jung; Grozel, Clément; Kiritsis, Dimitris

2016-07-08

This paper describes our conceptual framework of closed-loop lifecycle information sharing for product-service in the Internet of Things (IoT). The framework is based on the ontology model of product-service and a type of IoT message standard, Open Messaging Interface (O-MI) and Open Data Format (O-DF), which ensures data communication. (1) BACKGROUND: Based on an existing product lifecycle management (PLM) methodology, we enhanced the ontology model for the purpose of integrating efficiently the product-service ontology model that was newly developed; (2) METHODS: The IoT message transfer layer is vertically integrated into a semantic knowledge framework inside which a Semantic Info-Node Agent (SINA) uses the message format as a common protocol of product-service lifecycle data transfer; (3) RESULTS: The product-service ontology model facilitates information retrieval and knowledge extraction during the product lifecycle, while making more information available for the sake of service business creation. The vertical integration of IoT message transfer, encompassing all semantic layers, helps achieve a more flexible and modular approach to knowledge sharing in an IoT environment; (4) Contribution: A semantic data annotation applied to IoT can contribute to enhancing collected data types, which entails a richer knowledge extraction. The ontology-based PLM model enables as well the horizontal integration of heterogeneous PLM data while breaking traditional vertical information silos; (5) CONCLUSION: The framework was applied to a fictive case study with an electric car service for the purpose of demonstration. For the purpose of demonstrating the feasibility of the approach, the semantic model is implemented in Sesame APIs, which play the role of an Internet-connected Resource Description Framework (RDF) database.

Closed-Loop Lifecycle Management of Service and Product in the Internet of Things: Semantic Framework for Knowledge Integration

PubMed Central

Yoo, Min-Jung; Grozel, Clément; Kiritsis, Dimitris

2016-01-01

This paper describes our conceptual framework of closed-loop lifecycle information sharing for product-service in the Internet of Things (IoT). The framework is based on the ontology model of product-service and a type of IoT message standard, Open Messaging Interface (O-MI) and Open Data Format (O-DF), which ensures data communication. (1) Background: Based on an existing product lifecycle management (PLM) methodology, we enhanced the ontology model for the purpose of integrating efficiently the product-service ontology model that was newly developed; (2) Methods: The IoT message transfer layer is vertically integrated into a semantic knowledge framework inside which a Semantic Info-Node Agent (SINA) uses the message format as a common protocol of product-service lifecycle data transfer; (3) Results: The product-service ontology model facilitates information retrieval and knowledge extraction during the product lifecycle, while making more information available for the sake of service business creation. The vertical integration of IoT message transfer, encompassing all semantic layers, helps achieve a more flexible and modular approach to knowledge sharing in an IoT environment; (4) Contribution: A semantic data annotation applied to IoT can contribute to enhancing collected data types, which entails a richer knowledge extraction. The ontology-based PLM model enables as well the horizontal integration of heterogeneous PLM data while breaking traditional vertical information silos; (5) Conclusion: The framework was applied to a fictive case study with an electric car service for the purpose of demonstration. For the purpose of demonstrating the feasibility of the approach, the semantic model is implemented in Sesame APIs, which play the role of an Internet-connected Resource Description Framework (RDF) database. PMID:27399717

[Nutritional status and socio-epidemiological features of schoolchildren, WHO 2007].

PubMed

Tobarra, S Esther; Castro, O Óscar; Badilla, C Rodrigo; Badilla, C Rodrillo

2015-01-01

Current Chilean childhood obesity fi res are within the highest in the world. To describe the nutritional status of Quilpué schoolchildren and its relationship with demographic and socioeconomic variables. The nutritional status (OMS 2007) of 1091 schoolchildren was assessed using measurements of height and weight obtained in the "Pilot School Health Program" conducted in the schools of the Municipal Corporation of Quilpué, which included pupils from kindergarten to 4th grade. The program described above, as well as SINAE databases, were used for the Healthcare and School Vulnerability Index (SVI) variables, respectively, as well as the the number of hours of physical education, type of lunches, and the presence of vendors at school, were obtained using a questionnaire in schools. Obesity was observed in 26.3% of students, and a further 27.7% were overweight. Obesity was more frequent in boys (32.3%) compared to girls (20.1%) (P<.01); in third grade (31.8%) (P=.01); if lunches were parental choices (26.7%) (P<.01); and with the presence of school vendors (26.3%) (P=.01). No significant differences in socioeconomic status regarding BMI were found, but the most vulnerable children (municipal schools, high SVI, Fonasa A healthcare) had lower average height and higher rates of chronic malnutrition (height <-2 SD). A high prevalence of obesity was found in this study, which highlights the need for monitoring and nutrtional intervention strategies at school age (which once finalized, the Healthy Child Surveillance does not carry out any more controls), taking into account the most vulnerable sectors. Copyright © 2015. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.

Development and application of a Chinese webpage suicide information mining system (sims).

PubMed

Chen, Penglai; Chai, Jing; Zhang, Lu; Wang, Debin

2014-11-01

This study aims at designing and piloting a convenient Chinese webpage suicide information mining system (SIMS) to help search and filter required data from the internet and discover potential features and trends of suicide. SIMS utilizes Microsoft Visual Studio2008, SQL2008 and C# as development tools. It collects webpage data via popular search engines; cleans the data using trained models plus minimum manual help; translates the cleaned texts into quantitative data through models and supervised fuzzy recognition; analyzes and visualizes related variables by self-programmed algorithms. The SIMS developed comprises such functions as suicide news and blogs collection, data filtering, cleaning, extraction and translation, data analysis and presentation. SIMS-mediated mining of one-year webpage revealed that: peak months and hours of web-reported suicide events were June-July and 10-11 am respectively, and the lowest months and hours, September-October and 1-7 am; suicide reports came mostly from Soho, Tecent, Sina etc.; male suicide victims over counted female victims in most sub-regions but southwest China; homes, public places and rented houses were the top three places to commit suicide; poisoning, cutting vein and jumping from building were the most commonly used methods to commit suicide; love disputes, family disputes and mental diseases were the leading causes. SIMS provides a preliminary and supplementary means for monitoring and understanding suicide. It proposes useful aspects as well as tools for analyzing the features and trends of suicide using data derived from Chinese webpages. Yet given the intrinsic "dual nature" of internet-based suicide information and the tremendous difficulties experienced by ourselves and other researchers, there is still a long way to go for us to expand, refine and evaluate the system.

Using Social Media to Explore the Consequences of Domestic Violence on Mental Health.

PubMed

Liu, Mingming; Xue, Jia; Zhao, Nan; Wang, Xuefei; Jiao, Dongdong; Zhu, Tingshao

2018-02-01

A great deal of research has focused on the negative consequences of domestic violence (DV) on mental health. However, current studies cannot provide direct and reliable evidence on the impacts of DV on mental health in a short term as it is not feasible to measure mental health shortly before and after an unpredictable event like DV. This study aims to explore the short-term outcomes of DV on individuals' mental health. We collected a sample of 232 victims (77% female) and 232 nonvictims (gender and location matched with 232 victims) on Sina Weibo. In both the victim and nonvictim groups, we measured their mental health status during the 4 weeks before the first DV incident and during the 4 weeks after the DV incident. We used our proposed Online Ecological Recognition (OER) system, which is based on several predictive models to identify individuals' mental health statuses. Mental health statuses were measured based on individuals' Weibo profiles and messages, which included "Depression," "Suicide Probability," and "Satisfaction With Life." The results showed that mental health in the victim group was impacted by DV while individuals in the nonvictim group were not. Furthermore, the victim group demonstrated an increase in depression symptoms, higher suicide risks, and decreased life satisfaction after their DV experience. In addition, the effect of DV on individuals' mental health could appear in the conditions of child abuse, intimate partner violence, and exposure to DV. These findings inform that DV significantly impacts individuals' mental health over the short term, as in 4 weeks. Our proposed new data collection and analyses approach, OER, has implications for employing "big data" from social networks to identify individuals' mental health.

Identification of genomic regions that interact with a viable allele of the Drosophila protein tyrosine phosphatase corkscrew.

PubMed Central

Firth, L; Manchester, J; Lorenzen, J A; Baron, M; Perkins, L A

2000-01-01

Signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) is critical for a multitude of developmental decisions and processes. Among the molecules known to transduce the RTK-generated signal is the nonreceptor protein tyrosine phosphatase Corkscrew (Csw). Previously, Csw has been demonstrated to function throughout the Drosophila life cycle and, among the RTKs tested, Csw is essential in the Torso, Sevenless, EGF, and Breathless/FGF RTK pathways. While the biochemical function of Csw remains to be unambiguously elucidated, current evidence suggests that Csw plays more than one role during transduction of the RTK signal and, further, the molecular mechanism of Csw function differs depending upon the RTK in question. The isolation and characterization of a new, spontaneously arising, viable allele of csw, csw(lf), has allowed us to undertake a genetic approach to identify loci required for Csw function. The rough eye and wing vein gap phenotypes exhibited by adult flies homo- or hemizygous for csw(lf) has provided a sensitized background from which we have screened a collection of second and third chromosome deficiencies to identify 33 intervals that enhance and 21 intervals that suppress these phenotypes. We have identified intervals encoding known positive mediators of RTK signaling, e.g., drk, dos, Egfr, E(Egfr)B56, pnt, Ras1, rolled/MAPK, sina, spen, Src64B, Star, Su(Raf)3C, and vein, as well as known negative mediators of RTK signaling, e.g., aos, ed, net, Src42A, sty, and su(ve). Of particular interest are the 5 lethal enhancing intervals and 14 suppressing intervals for which no candidate genes have been identified. PMID:11014820

Identification of genomic regions that interact with a viable allele of the Drosophila protein tyrosine phosphatase corkscrew.

PubMed

Firth, L; Manchester, J; Lorenzen, J A; Baron, M; Perkins, L A

2000-10-01

Signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) is critical for a multitude of developmental decisions and processes. Among the molecules known to transduce the RTK-generated signal is the nonreceptor protein tyrosine phosphatase Corkscrew (Csw). Previously, Csw has been demonstrated to function throughout the Drosophila life cycle and, among the RTKs tested, Csw is essential in the Torso, Sevenless, EGF, and Breathless/FGF RTK pathways. While the biochemical function of Csw remains to be unambiguously elucidated, current evidence suggests that Csw plays more than one role during transduction of the RTK signal and, further, the molecular mechanism of Csw function differs depending upon the RTK in question. The isolation and characterization of a new, spontaneously arising, viable allele of csw, csw(lf), has allowed us to undertake a genetic approach to identify loci required for Csw function. The rough eye and wing vein gap phenotypes exhibited by adult flies homo- or hemizygous for csw(lf) has provided a sensitized background from which we have screened a collection of second and third chromosome deficiencies to identify 33 intervals that enhance and 21 intervals that suppress these phenotypes. We have identified intervals encoding known positive mediators of RTK signaling, e.g., drk, dos, Egfr, E(Egfr)B56, pnt, Ras1, rolled/MAPK, sina, spen, Src64B, Star, Su(Raf)3C, and vein, as well as known negative mediators of RTK signaling, e.g., aos, ed, net, Src42A, sty, and su(ve). Of particular interest are the 5 lethal enhancing intervals and 14 suppressing intervals for which no candidate genes have been identified.

Perception of academic stress among Health Science Preparatory Program students in two Saudi universities.

PubMed

Alsulami, Saleh; Al Omar, Zaid; Binnwejim, Mohammed S; Alhamdan, Fahad; Aldrees, Amr; Al-Bawardi, Abdulkarim; Alsohim, Meshary; Alhabeeb, Mohammed

2018-01-01

The Health Science Preparatory Program (HSPP) is a special program that aims to enhance the educational preparedness of students for participation in a health sciences career. Students spend their first university year in a combined extensive teaching program before they can be assigned to a particular health science specialty. It is thought that students enrolled in a highly competitive environment such as HSPP with a long list of potential stressors, including developmental, academic overload, language barriers and competition, are more disposed to stress and stress-related complications. This study aims to measure the level of academic stress and to determine its risk factors in students enrolled in HSPP-adapted local universities in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted at two Saudi universities, King Saud University (KSU) and Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSU) with competition-based and non-competition-based HSPP learning models, respectively. Both universities adopt the HSPP system. The scale for assessing academic stress (SAAS) was used to assess students' perceived stress. A total of 290 students successfully completed the questionnaire (N=290), with a mean age of 18.66 years. Mean SAAS scores for KSU and IMSU students were 8.37 (SD = 4.641) and 7.97 (SD = 5.104), P =0.480, respectively. Only "satisfaction" and "associated social and health problems" have shown statistically significant correlation with university ( P =0.000 and P =0.049, respectively). This study has found mean SAAS score for two local universities with competition-based versus non-competition-based HSPP learning models. Academic stress correlation with age, gender and universities was discussed, and valuable future work guidance was recommended.

Computing differential refraction at all heliolatitudes and zenithal distances: a historical perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sigismondi, C.; Boscardin, S.

2014-10-01

Ptolemy (about 150 AC) modeled atmospheric refraction influencing Al Farghani (831), Alhazen (1020), Sacrobosco (1256) and Witelo (1278): the Sun was supposed bigger at horizon like a coin appears under water in a curved bottle. The correct work of Ibn Sahl (984) remained forgotten. Tycho measured the refraction on the 1572 supernova at various altitudes. Harriot, Kepler, Snell and Descartes found independently the refraction law after 1600. A modern formulation of vertical (0.5" zenithal to 35' at horizon) and horizontal (0.5" at all altitudes) differential refraction of solar diameter appears in Du Séjour (1786). Laplace's formula (1805) computes the vertical deformation of the solar disk, while the horizontal reduction of 0.5" is proportional to the chord's length. Dicke (1967) measured the solar oblateness to determine dynamical constraints to alternative theories of General Relativity. The Astrolabe of Rio de Janeiro measured in 1998-2009 the solar diameter at all heliolatitudes, by timing solar transits across fixed altitude circles: an equatorial excess larger than RHESSI (2008) and SDS (1992-2011) data remains after refraction's corrections. Meridian transits series measured at Rome Campidoglio (1877-1937) and Greenwich (1850-1940) behave as Rio data: the scatters between annual averages were larger than statistical dispersions of each value (Gething, 1955). Anomalous refractions measured with Rio Heliometer (2013) are low frequency seeing (0.01 Hz) acting to scales of the solar diameter (32'): they affect transits measurements with random perturbations hundreds times larger than the expected values calculated from the timing accuracy. These perturbations enlarge the differences between averages values binned either in time or heliolatitude: they are larger than statistical dispersions, suggesting a wider binning. The ``adiabatic" approach of Rio Heliometer with high frequency measurements ``freezes" the slow seeing image motion component.

A tribute to Zakariya Razi (865 - 925 AD), an Iranian pioneer scholar.

PubMed

Modanlou, Houchang D

2008-11-01

The resurgence of Islamic Civilization in the Near East in the 7th century AD and its expansion to Persian Empire and Westward provided opportunities of access Persian, Hellenic, and Roman writings in philosophy and medicine. Based on their observations and experiences, Islamic physician-philosophers expanded upon those writings and at times challenged them. Among these physician-philosophers admiring and challenging Galen was Zakariya Razi described as the greatest physician of Islam and Medieval Ages.A search of electronic and written materials about early Islamic Medicine was carried out focusing on Persian physician-philosophers Zakariya Razi. Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi, known in the West as Rhazes, was born in 865 AD in the ancient city of Rey, Near Tehran. A musician during his youth he became an alchemist. He discovered alcohol and sulfuric acid. He classified substances as plants, organic, and inorganic. At age 30, he undertook the study of medicine. He was a prolific writer with more than 184 texts in medicine attributed to him with 40 of them currently available. Among them are Kitab al-Mansoori, Kitab al-Hawi, and Kitab al -Judari wa al-Hasabah. The latter is the first scientific description for the recognition and differentiation of smallpox and measles. The Bulletin of the World Health Organization of May 1970 pays tribute to Razi by stating "His writings on smallpox and measles show originality and accuracy, and his essay on infectious diseases was the first scientific treatise on the subject". Razi established qualifications and ethical standards for the practice of medicine. Zakariya Razi was not only one of the most important Persian physician-philosophers of his era, but for centuries his writings became fundamental teaching texts in European medical schools. Some important aspects of his contributions to medicine are reviewed.

Poumon du puisatier

PubMed Central

Elidrissi, Amal Moustarhfir; Zaghba, Nahid; Benjelloun, Hanane; Yassine, Najiba

2016-01-01

Le puisatier a pour profession le creusement et l'entretien des puits pour fournir de l'eau. Il est au contact de divers minerais, particulièrement la silice, particule qui présente un risque certain de développement des maladies pulmonaires connues sous le nom de silicose. Le but de notre travail est de préciser le profil épidémiologique, clinique, radiologique et évolutif des patients puisatiers silicotiques. C'est une étude rétrospective concernant 54 cas de puisatiers ayant une silicose, colligés au service des maladies respiratoires du CHU Ibn Rochd de Casablanca, de Mars 1997 à Janvier 2016. Tous les malades étaient des puisatiers, de sexe masculin, avec une moyenne d'âge de 50 ans. Le tabagisme était retrouvé dans 36 cas et un antécédent de tuberculose était noté dans huit cas. La radiographie thoracique retrouvait des grandes opacités dans 39 cas, des petites opacités dans 15 cas, et un épaississement des septats dans 11 cas. Ce tableau de silicose s'était compliqué d'une surinfection bactérienne dans 37% des cas, d' un pneumothorax dans 4% des cas et d'une tuberculose dans 20% des cas. La prise en charge thérapeutique était celle des complications. La déclaration de la maladie professionnelle et de l'indemnisation était faite. L'évolution était bonne dans 12 cas, stationnaire dans 17 cas et mauvaise dans 16 cas. La silicose est une pneumoconiose fréquente chez les puisatiers. Elle retentit sur la fonction respiratoire. Nous soulignons l'association fréquente de tuberculose et nous insistons sur la prévention qui reste le meilleur traitement. PMID:28292119

Nephrotoxicity of ibandronate and zoledronate in Wistar rats with normal renal function and after unilateral nephrectomy.

PubMed

Bergner, R; Siegrist, B; Gretz, N; Pohlmeyer-Esch, G; Kränzlin, B

2015-09-01

A previous animal study compared the nephrotoxic effect of ibandronate (IBN) and zoledronate (ZOL), but interpretation of these study results was limited because of the model of minimal nephrotoxic dosage with a dosage ratio of 1:3. The present study investigated the nephrotoxicity of ibandronate and zoledronate in a 1.5:1 dose ratio, as used in clinical practice and compared the nephrotoxicity in rats with normal and with mildly to moderately impaired renal function. We compared rats with normal renal function (SHAM) and with impaired renal function after unilateral nephrectomy (UNX), treated either with ibandronate 1.5mg/kg, zoledronate 1mg/kg or placebo once (1×) or nine (9×) times. Renal function and markers of tubular toxicity were measured over a 27 week period. After last bisphosphonate treatment the rats were sacrificed and kidneys examined histologically. All bisphosphonate treated animals showed a significant tubular toxicity, which was temporary except in the ZOL-UNX-9×-group. Also the renal function was only transiently reduced except in the ZOL-UNX-9×-group. Histologically, bisphosphonate treatment led to cortical tubuloepithelial degeneration/necrosis and medullary tubuloepithelial swelling which were slightly more pronounced in ibandronate treated animals, when compared to zoledronate treated animals, especially with impaired renal function. In contrast to the previous study we found a similar nephrotoxicity of ibandronate and zoledronate in rats with normal renal function. In rats with impaired renal function the peak of toxicity had not even been fully reached until end of experiment in the zoledronate treated animals. The peak of toxicity seems to be more severe and delayed in rats with impaired renal function compared with rats with normal renal function. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brulures par Diluant

PubMed Central

Benbrahim, A.; Jerrah, H.; Diouri, M.; Bahechar, N.; Boukind, E.H.

2009-01-01

Summary La flamme de diluant est une cause non rare de brûlure dans le contexte marocain. Nous avons jugé intéressant de faire une étude épidémiologique sur la brûlure par flamme de diluant (BFD) au centre national des brûlés (CNB) du CHU Ibn-Rochd de Casablanca. Ce travail a été réalisé sur une période de 10 mois (septembre 2007/juin 2008). Le but du travail est de montrer les caractéristiques de ce type de brûlures pour les prévenir et ce par l'information sur le diluant, produit causant ces brûlures, et ses différents dangers, la brûlure notamment. Durant cette période, nous avons colligé 17 cas de BFD sur un total de 356 patients admis au CNB pour brûlures aiguës toute étiologie confondue. La moyenne d'age des patients concernés est de 32 ans. Ils sont presque tous de sexe masculin (16 hommes/1 femme) et ont des antécédents de toxicomanie et/ou de délinquance. Tous nos patients sont de bas niveau socio-économique et habitent dans des bidonvilles pour la plupart. La brûlure est souvent secondaire à une agression dans la rue (92% des cas). Concernant les caractéristiques de la brûlure, la surface cutanée brûlée moyenne est de 23%; elle est souvent profonde et siège surtout au niveau des membres supérieurs et du tronc. PMID:21991179

Épidémiologie des brûlures de la main chez les enfants vus dans le Centre National des Brûlés et de Chirurgie Plastique de Casablanca, Maroc

PubMed Central

Rafik, A.; Lahlou, M.; Diouri, M.; Bahechar, N.; Chlihi, A.

2015-01-01

Summary Les brûlures de la main chez l’enfant constituent une source de séquelles invalidantes. A cet régard, la conservation et la restauration complète de la fonction de la main demeurent le but primordial de la prise en charge. Afin de répertorier les caractéristiques épidémiologiques, cliniques et évolutives des mains brûlées, nous avons réalisé une étude rétrospective étalée sur 4 ans, de janvier 2011 à janvier 2015. Cette étude a permis de colliger les cas de 313 enfants atteints de brûlure de la main vus dans le Centre National des Brulés et de Chirurgie Plastique du CHU Ibn Rochd de Casablanca. La majorité des brûlures touche les enfants de 3 à 6 ans (70% des cas), avec une légère prédominance masculine. La principale cause des brûlures survenant à cet âge est l’ébouillantement. Les brûlures par flamme représentent 33% des cas, celles par électricité 4,5%. Les brûlures chimiques et par contact sont anecdotiques (1 cas chacune). L’accident survient le plus souvent à domicile. Soixante douze pour cent des brûlures ont guéri spontanément. Afin de diminuer l’incidence de ces accidents, une approche préventive faite de sensibilisation et d’éducation devrait faire partie du cursus scolaire. PMID:27777543

Scholars and scientists in the history of the lymphatic system.

PubMed

Natale, Gianfranco; Bocci, Guido; Ribatti, Domenico

2017-09-01

The discovery of the lymphatic system has a long and fascinating history. The interest in anatomy and physiology of this system paralleled that of the blood cardiocirculatory system and has been maybe obscured by the latter. Paradoxically, if the closed blood system appeared open in Galen's anatomy and physiology, and took a very long time to be correctly described in terms of pulmonary and general circulation by ibn Al-Nafis/Michael Servetus/Realdo Colombo and William Harvey, respectively, the open lymphatic system was incorrectly described as a closed circuit connected with arteries and veins. In ancient times only macroscopic components of the lymphatic system have been described, although misinterpreted, including lymph nodes and lacteals, the latter being easily identified because of their milk-like content. For about 15 centuries the dogmatic acceptance of Galen's notions did not allow a significant progress in medicine. After Vesalius' revolution in anatomical studies, new knowledge was accumulated, and the 17th century was the golden age for the investigation of the lymphatic system with several discoveries: gut lacteals (Gaspare Aselli), cloacal bursa (Hieronimus Fabricius of Acquapendente), reservoir of the chyle (Jean Pecquet), extra-intestinal lymphatic vessels (Thomas Bartholin and Olaus Rudbeck dispute), hepatic lymph circulation (Francis Glisson). In the Enlightenment century Frederik Ruysch described the function of lymphatic valves, and Paolo Mascagni provided a magnificent iconography of the lymphatic network in humans. In recent times, Leonetto Comparini realized three-dimensional reconstructions of the liver lymphatic vessels, and Kari Alitalo discovered the lymphatic growth factor/receptor system. Far from a complete understanding of its anatomy and function, the lymphatic system still needs to be profoundly examined. © 2017 Anatomical Society.

[Discordance between mitral valve area (MVA) and pressure gradient in patients with mitral valve stenosis: mean transmitral valve gradient is a severity index or a tolerance index of severity of mitralss valve stenosis?

PubMed

Najih, Hayat; Arous, Salim; Laarje, Aziza; Baghdadi, Dalila; Benouna, Mohamed Ghali; Azzouzi, Leila; Habbal, Rachida

2016-01-01

Rheumatic mitral valve stenosis (MVS) is a frequent valvulopathy in developing countries. However, industrialized countries have seen the emergence of new etiologies of MVS in recent years, in particular drug-induced and/or toxic valvular regurgitation and stenosis. For this reason, the echocardiographic assessment of MVS and especially the definition of objective diagnostic criteria for severe MVS remains relevant. The objectives are: to determine whether there is a direct causal link between mean transmitral gradient (MTG) and severity of MVS in patients with severe MVS or true severe MVS (primary criterion); to analyze different parameters determining mean transmitral gradient (MTG) (secondary criterion). We conducted a single-center cross-sectional study including all patients with severe or true severe MVS admitted to the Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Ibn Rushd, Casablanca over a period of one year (January 2014-December 2014). We analyzed data from two groups of patients separately: those with a mean transmitral gradient<10 mmHg (group 1) and those with a gradient>10mmHg (group 2). 50 patients with severe or true severe MVS have been included in the study. The average age of our patients was 41.7 years with a female predominance (sex ratio 0,25). 64% of patients had severe MVS and 36% of patients had true severe MVS. 52% (26 patients) had MTG < 10mmHg and 48% (24 patients) had mean gradient> 10mmHg, suggesting no direct correlation between the severity of MVS and MTG (Pearson's correlation coefficient R: -0,137). With regards to dyspnea, 80% of patients of group 1 had stage II NYHA dyspnea (classification system) and 70% of patients of group 2 had stage III NYHA dyspnea (41%) or IV NYHA dyspnea (29%), which means that there was a significant correlation between MTG and the severity of dyspnea (R: 0,586 and p: 0,001). The analytical study of heart rate and the presence of cardiac decompensation compared with mean gradient transmitral showed a significant correlation. Indeed, among patients in group 1, 96% had HR between 60 and 100 bpm and no patient had decompensated heart failure. In group 2, 54% (13 patients) had a HR> 100 bpm and 7 of them (53%) had left decompensated heart failure. The analysis of systolic pulmonary artery pressure conducted in both groups of the study revealed the existence of a statistically significant correlation (R: 0,518 and P: 0,001) between systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) and MTG. Ventricular rhythm regularity and right ventricular function were not correlated with MTG (R: 0,038 and R: - 0,002 respectively). Mean transmitral gradient is a good indicator of mitral stenosis tolerance but it imperfectly reflects mitral stenosis severity as this depends on several hemodynamic parameters. True severe mitral stenosis may have mean transmitral gradient < 10mmHg, that is why the value of MTG should never be interpreted as single value.

Combating QR-Code-Based Compromised Accounts in Mobile Social Networks.

PubMed

Guo, Dong; Cao, Jian; Wang, Xiaoqi; Fu, Qiang; Li, Qiang

2016-09-20

Cyber Physical Social Sensing makes mobile social networks (MSNs) popular with users. However, such attacks are rampant as malicious URLs are spread covertly through quick response (QR) codes to control compromised accounts in MSNs to propagate malicious messages. Currently, there are generally two types of methods to identify compromised accounts in MSNs: one type is to analyze the potential threats on wireless access points and the potential threats on handheld devices' operation systems so as to stop compromised accounts from spreading malicious messages; the other type is to apply the method of detecting compromised accounts in online social networks to MSNs. The above types of methods above focus neither on the problems of MSNs themselves nor on the interaction of sensors' messages, which leads to the restrictiveness of platforms and the simplification of methods. In order to stop the spreading of compromised accounts in MSNs effectively, the attacks have to be traced to their sources first. Through sensors, users exchange information in MSNs and acquire information by scanning QR codes. Therefore, analyzing the traces of sensor-related information helps to identify the compromised accounts in MSNs. This paper analyzes the diversity of information sending modes of compromised accounts and normal accounts, analyzes the regularity of GPS (Global Positioning System)-based location information, and introduces the concepts of entropy and conditional entropy so as to construct an entropy-based model based on machine learning strategies. To achieve the goal, about 500,000 accounts of Sina Weibo and about 100 million corresponding messages are collected. Through the validation, the accuracy rate of the model is proved to be as high as 87.6%, and the false positive rate is only 3.7%. Meanwhile, the comparative experiments of the feature sets prove that sensor-based location information can be applied to detect the compromised accounts in MSNs.

Combating QR-Code-Based Compromised Accounts in Mobile Social Networks

PubMed Central

Guo, Dong; Cao, Jian; Wang, Xiaoqi; Fu, Qiang; Li, Qiang

2016-01-01

Cyber Physical Social Sensing makes mobile social networks (MSNs) popular with users. However, such attacks are rampant as malicious URLs are spread covertly through quick response (QR) codes to control compromised accounts in MSNs to propagate malicious messages. Currently, there are generally two types of methods to identify compromised accounts in MSNs: one type is to analyze the potential threats on wireless access points and the potential threats on handheld devices’ operation systems so as to stop compromised accounts from spreading malicious messages; the other type is to apply the method of detecting compromised accounts in online social networks to MSNs. The above types of methods above focus neither on the problems of MSNs themselves nor on the interaction of sensors’ messages, which leads to the restrictiveness of platforms and the simplification of methods. In order to stop the spreading of compromised accounts in MSNs effectively, the attacks have to be traced to their sources first. Through sensors, users exchange information in MSNs and acquire information by scanning QR codes. Therefore, analyzing the traces of sensor-related information helps to identify the compromised accounts in MSNs. This paper analyzes the diversity of information sending modes of compromised accounts and normal accounts, analyzes the regularity of GPS (Global Positioning System)-based location information, and introduces the concepts of entropy and conditional entropy so as to construct an entropy-based model based on machine learning strategies. To achieve the goal, about 500,000 accounts of Sina Weibo and about 100 million corresponding messages are collected. Through the validation, the accuracy rate of the model is proved to be as high as 87.6%, and the false positive rate is only 3.7%. Meanwhile, the comparative experiments of the feature sets prove that sensor-based location information can be applied to detect the compromised accounts in MSNs. PMID:27657071

Therapeutic plasma exchange in a single center: Ibni Sina experience.

PubMed

Arslan, Onder; Arat, Mutlu; Tek, Ibrahim; Ayyildiz, Erol; Ilhan, Osman

2004-06-01

The number of therapeutic procedures is increasing steadily year by year with growing collaboration of departments other than Hematology. In the aim to demonstrate our single center activity we analyzed our data since four years. Between years 1998 and 2001, 658 therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) procedures were performed on 158 patients. Median age and male/female ratio were 37 (range, 15-87) and 80/78, respectively. Main indications were myastenia gravis (n=55, 34%), TTP (n=13, 8.5%), post ABO mismatched allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation aregeneratoric anemia (n=6, 7.5%), progressive systemic sclerosis (n=10, 6.5%), multiple myeloma (n=10, 6.5%), Gullian Barre Syndrome (n=9, 5.9%), multiple sclerosis (n=7, 4.6%), Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (n=5, 3.4%), polymyositis (n=4, 2.7%), sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation (n=4, 2.7%). Departments who referred the majority of the patients for TPE were neurology (n=199), hematology (n=153), immunology (n=78), intensive care unit (n=78) and thorax surgery (n=51). The median TPE procedure per patient was 4 (range, 1-50). All the procedures were performed on continuous flow cell separators and median plasma volume processed per cycle was 2471 ml (range 436-5000). The replacement fluids used were 3% hydroxyethylstarch (HES) (24%), 5% albumin (35%), fresh frozen plasma (25%), and HES and albumin (16%). HES was tolerated well even as a sole replacement fluid with acceptable minor side effects. In three patients with progressing hypoalbuminemia HES was replaced or combined with 5% albumin. Close monitoring of serum albumin and fibrinogen levels after repeated procedures is mandatory. In our four years of TPE experience we have increased our collaboration with other departments. 3% HES+/-5% Albumin is a feasible, well tolerated and cost effective replacement fluid combination especially for short-term plasma exchange therapy.

[Cutaneous manifestations of male breast cancer].

PubMed

Hali, Fouzia; Khadir, Khadija; Idhammou, Wassima; Bensardi, Fatima-Zahra; Lefriyekh, Mohamed-Rachid; Benider, Abdelatif; Zamiati, Soumia; Benchikhi, Hakima

2011-11-01

The appearance of skin symptoms in male breast is the main reason for consultation in our context. The aim of this study is to describe the various cutaneous manifestations of male breast cancer through a series of cases collected in a dermatology department. A retrospective study was conducted in the dermatology department at the CHU Ibn Rochd January 1988 to December 2009. All cases of male breast cancer initially diagnosed in dermatology were included. The various epidemiological, clinical, histological and therapeutic data were collected from medical records. Twenty cases were collected. The mean age was 61.25 years. Skin invasion by tumor was found in all patients, and it was the reason for consultation. It was a cutaneous involvement at the nipple and areola (17 cases) and at the periareolar skin (three cases). The clinical appearance of skin involvement was vegetative type in 12 cases, infiltrating with nipple retraction in five cases and nodule with skin change in three cases. The average period of consultation was 25 months. The axillary lymph nodes were noted in 11 patients and distant metastases in eight patients. The cutaneous metastases outside breast were noted in six patients. The histological types were: infiltrating ductal carcinoma in 15 cases (75%), papillary carcinoma in two cases (10%) and non-specific carcinoma in three cases (15%). The treatment was surgery in 14 patients and consisted of radical mastectomy with complete axillary nodal dissection according to Patey. Complementary therapies, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, were indicated in 14 patients. Our single-center study with dermatological recruitment illustrates the frequency and variety of skin disease in male breast cancer and demonstrates that they are still the main reason for consultation in our context. Better information for public and practitioners would allow earlier diagnosis and a more favourable prognosis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Métastase pleurale et pulmonaire d’une polyadénofibromatose dégénéréé: à propos d’un cas

PubMed Central

El Hachimi, Kawtar; Benjelloun, Hanane; Zaghba, Nahid; Yassine, Najiba

2017-01-01

La polyadénofibromatose ou l’adénofibromatose est définie par la présence d’au moins 3 adénofibromes, uni ou bilatéraux atteignant une taille importante responsable de troubles trophiques. Nous rapportons une observation colligée au service des maladies respiratoires du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ibn Rochd de Casablanca. Il s’agit d’une patiente âgée de 46ans, suivie depuis l’âge de 30 ans pour une adénofibromatose bilatérale opérée à 4 reprises. Suite à un bilan préopératoire d’une mastectomie bilatérale, une radio du thorax a été réalisée objectivant un hémithorax droit opaque avec refoulement des éléments du médiastin. L’examen clinique retrouvait un syndrome d’épanchement liquidien de l’hémithorax droit et une adénopathie cervicale sus claviculaire gauche. La ponction biopsie pleurale confirmait la localisation pleurale d’un carcinome peu différencié et invasif compatible avec une origine mammaire. La bronchoscopie après évacuation pleurale objectivait un aspect infiltré de tout l’arbre bronchique, dont les biopsies concluaient au même résultat anatomopathologique. Le traitement préconisé était une polychimiothérapie. L’évolution était marquée par l’apparition de métastases hépatiques. A travers cette observation, nous concluons que les adénofibromes nécessitent une surveillance régulière vu le risque de dégénérescence vers le cancer du sein qui est une cause fréquente de métastases pleuropulmonaires. PMID:29515733

[Not Available].

PubMed

Chafiki, N; Fassi Fihri, J; Boukind, E H

2007-03-31

Il s'agit d'une étude épidémiologique des séquelles de brûlures à propos de 100 cas colligés au service de chirurgie réparatrice et de brûlés du centre hospitalier universitaire Ibn Rochd (Casablanca). Les adultes représentent 55% de la population étudiée, l'âge moyen global est de 20 ans. Le sexe féminin est le plus touché avec 61% des cas. Les brûlures survenues à domicile sont les plus fréquentes avec 80%. L'agent causal le plus incriminé est la petite bouteille de butane avec 44,4%. Plus de la moitié de la population brûlée (55%) sont accueillis initialement au niveau d'hôpitaux régionaux. Le délai de cicatrisation moyen de 7 mois et 11 jours et par conséquent les séquelles mineures (dyschromie dans 90% des cas et prurit dans 49% des cas) et majeures (rétractions dans 86% et l'hypertrophie dans 51%) sont fréquentes. La répartition globale des séquelles montre une prédominance du segment cervicocéphalique avec 89% des cas et des membres supérieurs dans 82% des cas. Les différents aspects anatomocliniques essentiels ont été décrits au niveau de chaque segment corporel. Nos résultats ont été comparés aux données de la littérature, ce qui nous amène à considérer qu'une large campagne de prévention couplée à une meilleure prise en charge initiale, précoce, bien conduite et multidisciplinaire permet non seulement de réduire le nombre de séquelles mais aussi de diminuer leur sévérité.

Facteurs prédictifs de l’adhésion médicamenteuse chez les patients en insuffisance cardiaque chronique: expérience marocaine

PubMed Central

Ragbaoui, Yassine; Nouamou, Imad; Hammiri, Ayoub El; Habbal, Rachida

2017-01-01

L’adhésion médicamenteuse chez les patients ayant une insuffisance cardiaque chronique est reconnue comme l’un des problèmes majeurs dans la gestion de cette pathologie. L’état démographique et socioéconomique des pays africains peut avoir un impact sur l’adhésion au traitement de l’insuffisance cardiaque chronique. Nous avons réalisé une étude transversale de Septembre 2014 à Janvier 2015 portant sur les patients en insuffisance cardiaque chronique suivis au centre d’insuffisance cardiaque du département de cardiologie du centre hospitalier universitaire IBN ROCHD à Casablanca au Maroc. La mesure de l’adhésion médicamenteuse était basée sur un questionnaire: questionnaire CARDIA. Les informations relatifs aux facteurs prédictifs d’adhésion médicamenteuse était dérivés du model d’adhésion multidimensionnel. Nous avons inclus dans cette étude 147 patients insuffisants cardiaques chroniques. Le pourcentage de l’adhésion médicamenteuse était de 83.6% selon CARDIA-Questionary. Les facteurs prédictifs qui influencent significativement l’adhésion médicamenteuse était: La dépression (p=0.034), le niveau de support social (p=0.03) et la prise de médicaments par le patient lui-même (p=0.0001). Comme dans plusieurs régions au monde, l’adhésion médicamenteuse chez les patients ayant une insuffisance cardiaque chronique reste un problème de santé au Maroc. Les différentes stratégies qui agissent sur les facteurs prédictifs pourraient améliorer l’adhésion médicamenteuse. PMID:28533838

Hospital experience and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: which patients benefit most from treatment at highly experienced hospitals?

PubMed

Ward, Michael M

2002-06-01

To determine if hospitalization at a hospital experienced in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), compared to hospitalization at a less experienced hospital, is associated with decreased in-hospital mortality in all subsets of patients with SLE, or if the decrease in mortality is greater for patients with particular demographic characteristics, manifestations of SLE, or reasons for hospitalization. Data on in-hospital mortality were available for 9989 patients with SLE hospitalized in acute care hospitals in California from 1991 to 1994. Differences in in-hospital mortality between patients hospitalized at highly experienced hospitals (those hospitals with more than 50 urgent or emergent hospitalizations of patients with SLE per year) and those hospitalized at less experienced hospitals were compared in patient subgroups defined by age, sex, ethnicity, type of medical insurance, the presence of common SLE manifestations, and each of the 10 most common principal reasons for hospitalization. In univariate analyses, in-hospital mortality was lower among those hospitalized at a highly experienced hospital for women, blacks, and Hispanics, and those with public medical insurance or no insurance. The risk of in-hospital mortality was similar between highly experienced and less experienced hospitals for men, whites, and those with private insurance. Patients with nephritis also had lower risks of in-hospital mortality if they were hospitalized at highly experienced hospitals, but this risk did not differ in subgroups with other SLE manifestations or subgroups with different principal reasons for hospitalization. In multivariate analyses, only the interaction between medical insurance and hospitalization at a highly experienced hospital was significant. Results were similar in the subgroup of patients with an emergency hospitalization (n = 2,372), but more consistent benefits of hospitalization at a highly experienced hospital were found across subgroups of patients with an emergency hospitalization due to SLE (n = 405). Risks of in-hospital mortality for patients with SLE were similar between highly experienced hospitals and less experienced hospitals for patients with private medical insurance, but patients without private insurance had much lower risks of mortality if hospitalized at highly experienced hospitals. The benefit of hospitalization at highly experienced hospitals was more consistent across subgroups of patients with a hospitalization due to SLE, suggesting that differences specifically in the treatment of SLE, rather than differences in the general quality of medical care, account for the lower mortality among patients with SLE hospitalized at highly experienced hospitals.

From thrusting to transpressional tectonics in the Aghdarband Basin (NE Iran): evidence for Cimmerian oblique convergence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanchi, Andrea; Balini, Marco; Ghassemi, Mohammad Reza; Zanchetta, Stefano

2010-05-01

The Aghdarband Basin, consisting of a strongly deformed arc-related Triassic marine succession, is a key-area for the study of the Cimmerian events, as it is unconformably covered by mid-Jurassic gently folded sediments entirely sealing the Cimmerian compressive structures. The basin developed during part of the Triassic in a highly mobile tectonic context suggested by abrupt facies variations and local unconformities. In addition, syn-sedimentary tectonic activity is testified by the occurrence of carbonate olistholiths in the deepest parts of the basin. The marine succession, spanning from Olenekian to lowermost Carnian, shows at the base continental conglomerates andsandstones, as well as basaltic lava flows, possibly of Early Triassic age. They are followed by the shallow water Sefid Kuh Limestone, in which an intraformational unconformity has been now identified. This unit is locally covered by deep-water limestones of the Nazarkardeh Fm. which interfinger with slope facies of the Sefid Kuh Limestone. The volcaniclastic sandstone layers of the Sina Fm follow up-section with a deep unconformity, marked in several places by deep erosion and tilting of the underlying units. The Sina Fm. is in turn unconformably covered by the coal bearing shales of the Miankhui Fm., with a Norian-Rhaetian age testified by plant megafossils, marking the end of marine sedimentation and of volcanic-arc activity. The Triassic units are overthrusted to the south by Upper Palaeozoic siliciclastic successions showing in some cases a LG metamorphic imprint. They largely include the Qara Geithan Fm. consisting of granitic rocks, acidic to basic volcanics, and locally also large blocks of Permian bioclastic limestones derived from the erosion of the Palaeotethys accretionary wedge, exposed south of Aghdarband. The whole succession of the Aghdarband Basin, including the unconformable Miankhui Fm., is deeply involved in a north-verging thrust stack which interacts in the northern part of the area with an important strike-slip shear zone. Several tectonic units have been recognized within the Triassic succession, causing repetitions of the whole stratigraphic succession. Two main thrust sheets are exposed in the southern part of the basin under the Upper Palaeozoic thrust stack. Thrust faults and folds consistently show a N-directed tectonic transport, suggested by dip-slip motion along S-dipping reverse faults and axial plane geometry. Deformation occurred at shallow levels taking to the formation of cataclastic shear zones and to disjunctive and pencil cleavage in the shale layers of the succession. The thrust sheets comprise the Miankhui Fm. which shows a thick basal coal layer (up to 10 m) deeply excavated at the Aghdarband Mine. Nice examples of coal-related tectonics are exposed in open pits and tunnels of the mine. Intensive deformation of the coal, forming complex shear zones with s-c bands, causes the décollement of the Miankhui beds which show intensive tectonic thickening and repetitions mainly caused by polyphase thrust imbrications and disharmonic folding. The northernmost part of the Triassic basin shows a very complex setting, with traspressional structures given by vertical strike-slip faults and closed to tight folds with steeply plunging axes. According to our new data, up to four tectonic slices can be distinguished in this complex area. This structural zone is directly bounded to the north by severely deformed LG metamorphic rocks resulting from a volcaniclastic succession with Devonian and Carboniferous marble layers. Systematic asymmetry of major and parasitic folds, as well as rotation and torsion of axial surfaces indicate a general left-lateral transpressional regime, whereas kinematic indicators along the main fault planes show both left- and right-lateral motions. According to our relative chronology, dextral movements follow in time the sinistral ones reactivating previous Cimmerian structures and displacing also the surrounding Jurassic to Neogene succession of Kopeh Dagh in relatively recent times. Fold analyses along the area of interaction between thrust structure and the transpressional zone suggest an intricate interference pattern between thrust-related folds and strike-slip brittle shear zones, suggesting that the latter caused a strong reorientation of previously formed folds. The extension of the traspressional zone, which can be followed for some 20 km across the study area, indicates that important left-lateral movements, roughly parallel to the orientation of the convergence zone, were active during the last stages of the Late Triassic Cimmerian event, in contrast to what indicated by previous authors in the Mashhad area.

Association Between Teaching Status and Mortality in US Hospitals

PubMed Central

Burke, Laura G.; Frakt, Austin B.; Khullar, Dhruv; Orav, E. John

2017-01-01

Importance Few studies have analyzed contemporary data on outcomes at US teaching hospitals vs nonteaching hospitals. Objective To examine risk-adjusted outcomes for patients admitted to teaching vs nonteaching hospitals across a broad range of medical and surgical conditions. Design, Setting, and Participants Use of national Medicare data to compare mortality rates in US teaching and nonteaching hospitals for all hospitalizations and for common medical and surgical conditions among Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older. Exposures Hospital teaching status: major teaching hospitals (members of the Council of Teaching Hospitals), minor teaching hospitals (other hospitals with medical school affiliation), and nonteaching hospitals (remaining hospitals). Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcome was 30-day mortality rate for all hospitalizations and for 15 common medical and 6 surgical conditions. Secondary outcomes included 30-day mortality stratified by hospital size and 7-day mortality and 90-day mortality for all hospitalizations as well as for individual medical and surgical conditions. Results The sample consisted of 21 451 824 total hospitalizations at 4483 hospitals, of which 250 (5.6%) were major teaching, 894 (19.9%) were minor teaching, and 3339 (74.3%) were nonteaching hospitals. Unadjusted 30-day mortality was 8.1% at major teaching hospitals, 9.2% at minor teaching hospitals, and 9.6% at nonteaching hospitals, with a 1.5% (95% CI, 1.3%-1.7%; P < .001) mortality difference between major teaching hospitals and nonteaching hospitals. After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, the same pattern persisted (8.3% mortality at major teaching vs 9.2% at minor teaching and 9.5% at nonteaching), but the difference in mortality between major and nonteaching hospitals was smaller (1.2% [95% CI, 1.0%-1.4%]; P < .001). After stratifying by hospital size, 187 large (≥400 beds) major teaching hospitals had lower adjusted overall 30-day mortality relative to 76 large nonteaching hospitals (8.1% vs 9.4%; 1.2% difference [95% CI, 0.9%-1.5%]; P < .001). This same pattern of lower overall 30-day mortality at teaching hospitals was observed for medium-sized (100-399 beds) hospitals (8.6% vs 9.3% and 9.4%; 0.8% difference between 61 major and 1207 nonteaching hospitals [95% CI, 0.4%-1.3%]; P = .003). Among small (≤99 beds) hospitals, 187 minor teaching hospitals had lower overall 30-day mortality relative to 2056 nonteaching hospitals (9.5% vs 9.9%; 0.4% difference [95% CI, 0.1%-0.7%]; P = .01). Conclusions and Relevance Among hospitalizations for US Medicare beneficiaries, major teaching hospital status was associated with lower mortality rates for common conditions compared with nonteaching hospitals. Further study is needed to understand the reasons for these differences. PMID:28535236

Has competition increased hospital technical efficiency?

PubMed

Lee, Keon-Hyung; Park, Jungwon; Lim, Seunghoo; Park, Sang-Chul

2015-01-01

Hospital competition and managed care have affected the hospital industry in various ways including technical efficiency. Hospital efficiency has become an important topic, and it is important to properly measure hospital efficiency in order to evaluate the impact of policies on the hospital industry. The primary independent variable is hospital competition. By using the 2001-2004 inpatient discharge data from Florida, we calculate the degree of hospital competition in Florida for 4 years. Hospital efficiency scores are developed using the Data Envelopment Analysis and by using the selected input and output variables from the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey of Hospitals for those acute care general hospitals in Florida. By using the hospital efficiency score as a dependent variable, we analyze the effects of hospital competition on hospital efficiency from 2001 to 2004 and find that when a hospital was located in a less competitive market in 2003, its technical efficiency score was lower than those in a more competitive market.

[Continuity of hospital identifiers in hospital discharge data - Analysis of the nationwide German DRG Statistics from 2005 to 2013].

PubMed

Nimptsch, Ulrike; Wengler, Annelene; Mansky, Thomas

2016-11-01

In Germany, nationwide hospital discharge data (DRG statistics provided by the research data centers of the Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Offices of the 'Länder') are increasingly used as data source for health services research. Within this data hospitals can be separated via their hospital identifier ([Institutionskennzeichen] IK). However, this hospital identifier primarily designates the invoicing unit and is not necessarily equivalent to one hospital location. Aiming to investigate direction and extent of possible bias in hospital-level analyses this study examines the continuity of the hospital identifier within a cross-sectional and longitudinal approach and compares the results to official hospital census statistics. Within the DRG statistics from 2005 to 2013 the annual number of hospitals as classified by hospital identifiers was counted for each year of observation. The annual number of hospitals derived from DRG statistics was compared to the number of hospitals in the official census statistics 'Grunddaten der Krankenhäuser'. Subsequently, the temporal continuity of hospital identifiers in the DRG statistics was analyzed within cohorts of hospitals. Until 2013, the annual number of hospital identifiers in the DRG statistics fell by 175 (from 1,725 to 1,550). This decline affected only providers with small or medium case volume. The number of hospitals identified in the DRG statistics was lower than the number given in the census statistics (e.g., in 2013 1,550 IK vs. 1,668 hospitals in the census statistics). The longitudinal analyses revealed that the majority of hospital identifiers persisted in the years of observation, while one fifth of hospital identifiers changed. In cross-sectional studies of German hospital discharge data the separation of hospitals via the hospital identifier might lead to underestimating the number of hospitals and consequential overestimation of caseload per hospital. Discontinuities of hospital identifiers over time might impair the follow-up of hospital cohorts. These limitations must be taken into account in analyses of German hospital discharge data focusing on the hospital level. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Marketing fast food: impact of fast food restaurants in children's hospitals.

PubMed

Sahud, Hannah B; Binns, Helen J; Meadow, William L; Tanz, Robert R

2006-12-01

The objectives of this study were (1) to determine fast food restaurant prevalence in hospitals with pediatric residencies and (2) to evaluate how hospital environment affects purchase and perception of fast food. We first surveyed pediatric residency programs regarding fast food restaurants in their hospitals to determine the prevalence of fast food restaurants in these hospitals. We then surveyed adults with children after pediatric outpatient visits at 3 hospitals: hospital M with an on-site McDonald's restaurant, hospital R without McDonald's on site but with McDonald's branding, and hospital X with neither on-site McDonald's nor branding. We sought to determine attitudes toward, consumption of, and influences on purchase of fast food and McDonald's food. Fifty-nine of 200 hospitals with pediatric residencies had fast food restaurants. A total of 386 outpatient surveys were analyzed. Fast food consumption on the survey day was most common among hospital M respondents (56%; hospital R: 29%; hospital X: 33%), as was the purchase of McDonald's food (hospital M: 53%; hospital R: 14%; hospital X: 22%). McDonald's accounted for 95% of fast food consumed by hospital M respondents, and 83% of them bought their food at the on-site McDonald's. Using logistic regression analysis, hospital M respondents were 4 times more likely than respondents at the other hospitals to have purchased McDonald's food on the survey day. Visitors to hospitals M and R were more likely than those at hospital X to believe that McDonald's supported the hospital financially. Respondents at hospital M rated McDonald's food healthier than did respondents at the other hospitals. Fast food restaurants are fairly common in hospitals that sponsor pediatric residency programs. A McDonald's restaurant in a children's hospital was associated with significantly increased purchase of McDonald's food by outpatients, belief that the McDonald's Corporation supported the hospital financially, and higher rating of the healthiness of McDonald's food.

The impact of payer-specific hospital case mix on hospital costs and revenues for third-party patients.

PubMed

Lee, Keon-Hyung; Roh, M P H Chul-Young

2007-02-01

Competition among hospitals and managed care have forced hospital industry to be more efficient. With higher degrees of hospital competition and managed care penetration, hospitals have argued that the rate of increase in hospital cost is greater than the rate of increase in hospital revenue. By developing a payer-specific case mix index (CMI) for third-party patients, this paper examined the effect of hospital case mix on hospital cost and revenue for third-party patients in California using the hospital financial and utilization data covering 1986-1998. This study found that the coefficients for CMIs in the third-party hospital revenue model were greater than those in the hospital cost model until 1995. Since 1995, however, the coefficients for CMIs in the third-party hospital revenue model have been less than those in hospital cost models. Over time, the differences in coefficients for CMIs in hospital revenue and cost models for third-party patients have become smaller and smaller although those differences are statistically insignificant.

The impact of health maintenance organization penetration on the use of hospitals that serve minority communities.

PubMed

Gaskin, D J

1997-12-01

Health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration has made hospital markets more price competitive. Hospitals in minority communities may be at a competitive disadvantage because they serve patients who are, on average, sicker and more likely to be uninsured or underinsured. This study estimated the impact of HMO penetration on the use of hospitals in minority communities during 1987 to 1992. Using a sample of 1,413 short-term general hospitals from the 85 largest metropolitan statistical areas, the determinants of hospitals' patient volumes were estimated. Hospitals located in predominately nonwhite neighborhoods were designated minority hospitals, and other hospitals were designated nonminority hospitals. Using regression analysis, the impact of HMO penetration and concentration on hospitals' patient volumes were estimated. By interacting the HMO penetration and concentration variables with a minority hospital indicator variable, HMOs' impact on minority hospitals was calculated. Health maintenance organization penetration was correlated with lower patient volumes in minority hospitals and higher patient volumes in nonminority hospitals. Competition in HMO markets was correlated with lower patient volumes for all hospitals. This effect was stronger for minority hospitals. These findings suggest that minority hospitals may be at risk of losing patients as HMO penetration increases.

Influence of hospital type on survival in stage IV colorectal cancer.

PubMed

Hoshino, Nobuaki; Hasegawa, Suguru; Hida, Koya; Kawada, Kenji; Okamura, Ryosuke; Hamada, Madoka; Munemoto, Yoshinori; Sakai, Yoshiharu; Watanabe, Masahiko

2016-08-01

Hospital factors along with various patient and surgeon factors are considered to affect the prognosis of colorectal cancer. Hospital volume is well known, but little is known regarding other hospital factors. We reviewed data on 853 patients with stage IV colorectal cancer who underwent elective palliative primary tumor resection between January 2006 and December 2007. To detect the hospital factors that could influence the prognosis of incurable colorectal cancer, the relationships between patient/hospital factors and overall survival were analyzed. Among hospital factors, hospital type (Group A: university hospital or cancer center; Group B: community hospital), hospital volume, and number of colorectal surgeons were examined. In univariate analysis, Group A hospitals showed significantly better prognosis than Group B hospitals (p = 0.034), while hospital volume and number of colorectal surgeons were not associated with overall survival. After adjustment for patient factors in multivariate analysis, hospital type was significantly associated with overall survival (hazard ratio: 1.31; 95 % confidence interval: 1.05-1.63; p = 0.016). However, there was no significant difference in short-term outcomes between hospital types. Hospital type was identified as a hospital factor that possibly affects the prognosis of stage IV colorectal cancer patients.

Pediatric inpatient hospital resource use for congenital heart defects.

PubMed

Simeone, Regina M; Oster, Matthew E; Cassell, Cynthia H; Armour, Brian S; Gray, Darryl T; Honein, Margaret A

2014-12-01

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) occur in approximately 8 per 1000 live births. Improvements in detection and treatment have increased survival. Few national estimates of the healthcare costs for infants, children and adolescents with CHDs are available. We estimated hospital costs for hospitalizations using pediatric (0-20 years) hospital discharge data from the 2009 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) for hospitalizations with CHD diagnoses. Estimates were up-weighted to be nationally representative. Mean costs were compared by demographic factors and presence of critical CHDs (CCHDs). Up-weighting of the KID generated an estimated 4,461,615 pediatric hospitalizations nationwide, excluding normal newborn births. The 163,980 (3.7%) pediatric hospitalizations with CHDs accounted for approximately $5.6 billion in hospital costs, representing 15.1% of costs for all pediatric hospitalizations in 2009. Approximately 17% of CHD hospitalizations had a CCHD, but it varied by age: approximately 14% of hospitalizations of infants, 30% of hospitalizations of patients aged 1 to 10 years, and 25% of hospitalizations of patients aged 11 to 20 years. Mean costs of CHD hospitalizations were higher in infancy ($36,601) than at older ages and were higher for hospitalizations with a CCHD diagnosis ($52,899). Hospitalizations with CCHDs accounted for 26.7% of all costs for CHD hospitalizations, with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, coarctation of the aorta, and tetralogy of Fallot having the highest total costs. Hospitalizations for children with CHDs have disproportionately high hospital costs compared with other pediatric hospitalizations, and the 17% of hospitalizations with CCHD diagnoses accounted for 27% of CHD hospital costs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pediatric Inpatient Hospital Resource Use for Congenital Heart Defects

PubMed Central

Simeone, Regina M.; Oster, Matthew E.; Cassell, Cynthia H.; Armour, Brian S.; Gray, Darryl T.; Honein, Margaret A.

2015-01-01

Background Congenital heart defects (CHDs) occur in approximately 8 per 1000 live births. Improvements in detection and treatment have increased survival. Few national estimates of the healthcare costs for infants, children and adolescents with CHDs are available. Methods We estimated hospital costs for hospitalizations using pediatric (0–20 years) hospital discharge data from the 2009 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) for hospitalizations with CHD diagnoses. Estimates were up-weighted to be nationally representative. Mean costs were compared by demographic factors and presence of critical CHDs (CCHDs). Results Up-weighting of the KID generated an estimated 4,461,615 pediatric hospitalizations nationwide, excluding normal newborn births. The 163,980 (3.7%) pediatric hospitalizations with CHDs accounted for approximately $5.6 billion in hospital costs, representing 15.1% of costs for all pediatric hospitalizations in 2009. Approximately 17% of CHD hospitalizations had a CCHD, but it varied by age: approximately 14% of hospitalizations of infants, 30% of hospitalizations of patients aged 1 to 10 years, and 25% of hospitalizations of patients aged 11 to 20 years. Mean costs of CHD hospitalizations were higher in infancy ($36,601) than at older ages and were higher for hospitalizations with a CCHD diagnosis ($52,899). Hospitalizations with CCHDs accounted for 26.7% of all costs for CHD hospitalizations, with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, coarctation of the aorta, and tetralogy of Fallot having the highest total costs. Conclusion Hospitalizations for children with CHDs have disproportionately high hospital costs compared with other pediatric hospitalizations, and the 17% of hospitalizations with CCHD diagnoses accounted for 27% of CHD hospital costs. PMID:24975483

Hospital Characteristics Associated With Postdischarge Hospital Readmission, Observation, and Emergency Department Utilization.

PubMed

Horwitz, Leora I; Wang, Yongfei; Altaf, Faseeha K; Wang, Changqin; Lin, Zhenqiu; Liu, Shuling; Grady, Jacqueline; Bernheim, Susannah M; Desai, Nihar R; Venkatesh, Arjun K; Herrin, Jeph

2018-04-01

Whether types of hospitals with high readmission rates also have high overall postdischarge acute care utilization (including emergency department and observation care) is unknown. Cross-sectional analysis. Nonfederal United States acute care hospitals. Using methodology established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, we calculated each hospital's "excess days in acute care" for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries aged over 65 years discharged after hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure (HF), or pneumonia, representing the mean difference between predicted and expected total days of acute care utilization in the 30 days following hospital discharge, per 100 discharges. We assessed the multivariable association of 8 hospital characteristics with excess days in acute care and the proportion of hospitals with each characteristic that were statistical outliers (95% credible interval estimate does not include 0). We included 2184 hospitals for acute myocardial infarction [228 (10.4%) better than expected, 549 (25.1%) worse than expected], 3720 hospitals for HF [484 (13.0%) better and 840 (22.6%) worse], and 4195 hospitals for pneumonia [673 (16.0%) better, 1005 (24.0%) worse]. Results for all conditions were similar. Worse than expected outliers for pneumonia included: 18.8% of safety net hospitals versus 26.1% of nonsafety net hospitals; 16.7% of public hospitals versus 33.1% of for-profit hospitals; 19.5% of nonteaching hospitals versus 52.2% of major teaching hospitals; 7.9% of rural hospitals versus 42.1% of large urban hospitals; 5.9% of hospitals with 24-<50 beds versus 58% of hospitals with >500 beds; and 29.0% of hospitals with nurse-to-bed ratios >1.0-1.5 versus 21.7% of hospitals with ratios >2.0. Including emergency department and observation stays in measures of postdischarge utilization produces similar results as measuring only readmissions in that major teaching, urban and for-profit hospitals still perform disproportionately poorly versus nonteaching or public hospitals. However, it enables identification of more outliers and a more granular assessment of the association of hospital factors and outcomes.

Financial Loss for Inpatient Care of Medicaid-Insured Children.

PubMed

Colvin, Jeffrey D; Hall, Matt; Berry, Jay G; Gottlieb, Laura M; Bettenhausen, Jessica L; Shah, Samir S; Fieldston, Evan S; Conway, Patrick H; Chung, Paul J

2016-11-01

Medicaid payments tend to be less than the cost of care. Federal Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments help hospitals recover such uncompensated costs of Medicaid-insured and uninsured patients. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act reduces DSH payments in anticipation of fewer uninsured patients and therefore decreased uncompensated care. However, unlike adults, few hospitalized children are uninsured, while many have Medicaid coverage. Therefore, DSH payment reductions may expose extensive Medicaid financial losses for hospitals serving large absolute numbers of children. To identify types of hospitals with the highest Medicaid losses from pediatric inpatient care and to estimate the proportion of losses recovered through DSH payments. This retrospective cross-sectional analysis evaluated Medicaid-insured hospital discharges of patients 20 years and younger from 23 states in the 2009 Kids' Inpatient Database. The dates of the analysis were March to September 2015. Hospitals were categorized as freestanding children's hospitals (FSCHs), children's hospitals within general hospitals, non-children's hospital teaching hospitals, and non-children's hospital nonteaching hospitals. Financial records of FSCHs in the data set were used to estimate the proportion of Medicaid losses recovered through DSH payments. Hospital financial losses from inpatient care of Medicaid-insured children (defined as the reimbursement minus the cost of care) were compared across hospital types. For our subsample of FSCHs, Medicaid-insured inpatient financial losses were calculated with and without each hospital's DSH payment. The 2009 Kids' Inpatient Database study population included 1485 hospitals and 843 725 Medicaid-insured discharges. Freestanding children's hospitals had a higher median number of Medicaid-insured discharges (4082; interquartile range [IQR], 3524-5213) vs non-children's hospital teaching hospitals (674; IQR, 258-1414) and non-children's hospital nonteaching hospitals (161; IQR, 41-420). Freestanding children's hospitals had the largest median Medicaid losses from pediatric inpatient care (-$9 722 367; IQR, -$16 248 369 to -$2 137 902). Smaller losses were experienced by non-children's hospital teaching hospitals (-$204 100; IQR, -$1 014 100 to $14 700]) and non-children's hospital nonteaching hospitals (-$28 310; IQR, -$152 370 to $9040]). Disproportionate Share Hospital payments to FSCHs reduced their Medicaid losses by almost half. Estimated financial losses from pediatric inpatients covered by Medicaid were much larger for FSCHs than for other hospital types. For children's hospitals, small anticipated increases in insured children are unlikely to offset the reductions in DSH payments.

The relationship of hospital ownership and service composition to hospital charges

PubMed Central

Eskoz, Robin; Peddecord, K. Michael

1985-01-01

The relationship of hospital ownership and service composition to hospital charges was examined for 456 general acute hospitals in California. Ancillary services had higher profit margins, both gross and net profits, than daily hospital services. Ancillary services accounted for 55.3 percent of total patient revenue. Charges per day were 23 percent higher for ancillary services than for daily hospital services. Net profits for daily and ancillary services were lowest at county hospitals. Proprietary hospitals had the highest net profits for total ancillary services and the highest mean charges. Not-for-profit hospitals had the highest profit margins for daily hospital services. Neither direct nor total costs for ancillary services were significantly different among ownership groups, although direct costs for daily hospital services were significantly higher at proprietary hospitals. PMID:10311161

Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics of Psychiatric Inpatients Hospitalized Involuntarily and Voluntarily in a Mental Health Hospital

PubMed Central

GÜLTEKİN, Bülent Kadri; ÇELİK, Seda; TİHAN, Aysu; BEŞKARDEŞ, Ali Fuat; SEZER, Umut

2013-01-01

Introduction In this study, we aimed to investigate and compare the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of psychiatric inpatients hospitalized involuntarily and voluntarily. To our knowledge, there is no study analyzing involuntary psychiatric hospitalization in our country. Method In this retrospective study, we included a total of 504 patients who were involuntarily or voluntarily hospitalized in Bolu Izzet Baysal Mental Health Hospital between 1st of May and 31st October 2010. The data were obtained from the hospital records. Result In the 6-month period, 13.1% of 504 inpatients were hospitalized involuntarily. The number of male patients who were involuntarily hospitalized was higher than the number of female patients. Most of the patients in the involuntary hospitalized group were graduates of primary school, were not married and were not working at the time of hospitalization. Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis in the involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric patients and these patients needed longer stay in the hospital. The next hospitalization of the involuntarily hospitalized patients was mostly involuntary. Conclusion Most of the involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric inpatients were male, were not working and had the diagnosis of schizophrenia. These general psychiatric risk factors were more important in involuntary hospitalization compared to voluntary hospitalization. We concluded that the high prevalence of involuntary hospitalizations deserved further studies. PMID:28360546

Specialty and full-service hospitals: a comparative cost analysis.

PubMed

Carey, Kathleen; Burgess, James F; Young, Gary J

2008-10-01

To compare the costs of physician-owned cardiac, orthopedic, and surgical single specialty hospitals with those of full-service hospital competitors. The primary data sources are the Medicare Cost Reports for 1998-2004 and hospital inpatient discharge data for three of the states where single specialty hospitals are most prevalent, Texas, California, and Arizona. The latter were obtained from the Texas Department of State Health Services, the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Additional data comes from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database. We identified all physician-owned cardiac, orthopedic, and surgical specialty hospitals in these three states as well as all full-service acute care hospitals serving the same market areas, defined using Dartmouth Hospital Referral Regions. We estimated a hospital cost function using stochastic frontier regression analysis, and generated hospital specific inefficiency measures. Application of t-tests of significance compared the inefficiency measures of specialty hospitals with those of full-service hospitals to make general comparisons between these classes of hospitals. Results do not provide evidence that specialty hospitals are more efficient than the full-service hospitals with whom they compete. In particular, orthopedic and surgical specialty hospitals appear to have significantly higher levels of cost inefficiency. Cardiac hospitals, however, do not appear to be different from competitors in this respect. Policymakers should not embrace the assumption that physician-owned specialty hospitals produce patient care more efficiently than their full-service hospital competitors.

Burden of Clostridium difficile infection: Associated hospitalization in a cohort of middle-aged and older adults.

PubMed

Chen, Yingxi; Glass, Kathryn; Liu, Bette; Korda, Rosemary J; Riley, Thomas V; Kirk, Martyn D

2017-05-01

Clostridium difficile is the principal cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to describe and compare length of stay (LOS), costs, and in-hospital deaths for C difficile infection (CDI) and non-CDI hospitalizations, in a cohort of middle-aged and older Australians. We used survey data from the 45 and Up Study, linked to hospitalization and death data. We calculated the average LOS and costs per hospitalization, and the proportion of in-hospital deaths for CDI and non-CDI hospitalizations. We then compared hospitalizations with CDI as a secondary diagnosis to non-CDI hospitalizations by stratifying hospitalizations based on principal diagnosis and then using generalized linear models to compare LOS and in-hospital costs, and logistic regression for in-hospital deaths, adjusting for age and sex. There were 641 CDI hospitalizations during 2006-2012. The average LOS was 17 days; the average cost per hospitalization was AUD 12,704; and in 7.3% of admissions (47 out of 641) the patient died. After adjusting for age and sex, hospitalizations with CDI were associated with longer LOS, higher costs, and a greater proportion of in-hospital deaths compared with hospitalizations with similar principal diagnosis but without CDI. CDI places additional burden on the Australian hospital system, with CDI patients having relatively lengthy hospital stays and high costs. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Decrease in hospitalizations due to polyvalent medical day hospital].

PubMed

Escobar, M A; García-Egido, A A; Carmona, R; Lucas, A; Márquez, C; Gómez, F

2012-02-01

The day hospital is an alternative to hospitalization. This alternative improves accessibility and comfort of the patients, and avoids hospitalizations. Nevertheless, the efficacy of the polyvalent medical day hospital in avoiding hospitalizations has not been evaluated. To analyze hospital stays avoided by the polyvalent medical day hospital of a university hospital of the Andalusian Health Service. An observational prospective study of the patients studied and/or treated in the polyvalent medical day hospital of the Hospital Universitario Puerto Real over a one year period. A total of 9640 patients were attended to, with 1413 procedures and 4921 i.v. treatments. There were 3182 visits to the priority consultation of the polyvalent medical day hospital. The most frequent consultation complaints were constitutional symptoms (15.9%) and anemia (14.5%). After the first visit, 21.5% of the patients were discharged and fewer than 3% were hospitalized. Hospitalization was avoided in 16.8% of the patients, there being a 6.0% decrease in the need for hospital beds (5.0% reduction in the internal medicine unit). Inadequate hospitalizations and 30-day readmissions decreased 93.3% and 4.2%, respectively. The most frequent diagnosis was neoplasm (26.0%), and most of the beds freed up were generated by patients diagnosed of neoplasm (26.7%). With this type of polyvalent medical day hospital, we have observed improved efficiency of health care, freeing up hospital beds by reducing hospitalizations, inadequate hospitalizations and re-admissions in the medical units involved. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program in Surgery May Disproportionately Affect Minority-serving Hospitals.

PubMed

Shih, Terry; Ryan, Andrew M; Gonzalez, Andrew A; Dimick, Justin B

2015-06-01

To project readmission penalties for hospitals performing cardiac surgery and examine how these penalties will affect minority-serving hospitals. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program will potentially expand penalties for higher-than-predicted readmission rates to cardiac procedures in the near future. The impact of these penalties on minority-serving hospitals is unknown. We examined national Medicare beneficiaries undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting in 2008 to 2010 (N = 255,250 patients, 1186 hospitals). Using hierarchical logistic regression, we calculated hospital observed-to-expected readmission ratios. Hospital penalties were projected according to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program formula using only coronary artery bypass grafting readmissions with a 3% maximum penalty of total Medicare revenue. Hospitals were classified into quintiles according to proportion of black patients treated. Minority-serving hospitals were defined as hospitals in the top quintile whereas non-minority-serving hospitals were those in the bottom quintile. Projected readmission penalties were compared across quintiles. Forty-seven percent of hospitals (559 of 1186) were projected to be assessed a penalty. Twenty-eight percent of hospitals (330 of 1186) would be penalized less than 1% of total Medicare revenue whereas 5% of hospitals (55 of 1186) would receive the maximum 3% penalty. Minority-serving hospitals were almost twice as likely to be penalized than non-minority-serving hospitals (61% vs 32%) and were projected almost triple the reductions in reimbursement ($112 million vs $41 million). Minority-serving hospitals would disproportionately bear the burden of readmission penalties if expanded to include cardiac surgery. Given these hospitals' narrow profit margins, readmission penalties may have a profound impact on these hospitals' ability to care for disadvantaged patients.

Current status of nutritional support for hospitalized children: a nationwide hospital-based survey in South Korea.

PubMed

Kim, Seung; Lee, Eun Hye; Yang, Hye Ran

2018-06-01

The prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized children ranges between 12% and 24%. Although the consequences of hospital malnutrition are enormous, it is often unrecognized and untreated. The aim of this study was to identify the current status of in-hospital nutrition support for children in South Korea by carrying out a nationwide hospital-based survey. Out of 345 general and tertiary hospitals in South Korea, a total of 53 institutes with pediatric gastroenterologists and more than 10 pediatric inpatients were selected. A questionnaire was developed by the nutrition committee of the Korean Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. The questionnaires were sent to pediatric gastroenterologists in each hospital. Survey was performed by e-mails. Forty hospitals (75.5%) responded to the survey; 23 of them were tertiary hospitals, and 17 of them were general hospitals. Only 21 hospitals (52.5%) had all the required nutritional support personnel (including pediatrician, nutritionist, pharmacist, and nurse) assigned to pediatric patients. Routine nutritional screening was performed in 22 (55.0%) hospitals on admission, which was lower than that in adult patients (65.8%). Nutritional screening tools varied among hospitals; 33 of 40 (82.5%) hospitals used their own screening tools. The most frequently used nutritional assessment parameters were weight, height, hemoglobin, and serum albumin levels. In our nationwide hospital-based survey, the most frequently reported main barriers of nutritional support in hospitals were lack of manpower and excessive workload, followed by insufficient knowledge and experience. Although this nationwide hospital-based survey targeted general and tertiary hospitals with pediatric gastroenterologists, manpower and medical resources for nutritional support were still insufficient for hospitalized children, and nutritional screening was not routinely performed in many hospitals. More attention to hospital malnutrition and additional national policies for nutritional support in hospitals are required to ensure appropriate nutritional management of hospitalized pediatric patients.

Ownership and technical efficiency of hospitals: evidence from Ghana using data envelopment analysis.

PubMed

Jehu-Appiah, Caroline; Sekidde, Serufusa; Adjuik, Martin; Akazili, James; Almeida, Selassi D; Nyonator, Frank; Baltussen, Rob; Asbu, Eyob Zere; Kirigia, Joses Muthuri

2014-04-08

In order to measure and analyse the technical efficiency of district hospitals in Ghana, the specific objectives of this study were to (a) estimate the relative technical and scale efficiency of government, mission, private and quasi-government district hospitals in Ghana in 2005; (b) estimate the magnitudes of output increases and/or input reductions that would have been required to make relatively inefficient hospitals more efficient; and (c) use Tobit regression analysis to estimate the impact of ownership on hospital efficiency. In the first stage, we used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the efficiency of 128 hospitals comprising of 73 government hospitals, 42 mission hospitals, 7 quasi-government hospitals and 6 private hospitals. In the second stage, the estimated DEA efficiency scores are regressed against hospital ownership variable using a Tobit model. This was a retrospective study. In our DEA analysis, using the variable returns to scale model, out of 128 district hospitals, 31 (24.0%) were 100% efficient, 25 (19.5%) were very close to being efficient with efficiency scores ranging from 70% to 99.9% and 71 (56.2%) had efficiency scores below 50%. The lowest-performing hospitals had efficiency scores ranging from 21% to 30%.Quasi-government hospitals had the highest mean efficiency score (83.9%) followed by public hospitals (70.4%), mission hospitals (68.6%) and private hospitals (55.8%). However, public hospitals also got the lowest mean technical efficiency scores (27.4%), implying they have some of the most inefficient hospitals.Regarding regional performance, Northern region hospitals had the highest mean efficiency score (83.0%) and Volta Region hospitals had the lowest mean score (43.0%).From our Tobit regression, we found out that while quasi-government ownership is positively associated with hospital technical efficiency, private ownership negatively affects hospital efficiency. It would be prudent for policy-makers to examine the least efficient hospitals to correct widespread inefficiency. This would include reconsidering the number of hospitals and their distribution, improving efficiency and reducing duplication by closing or scaling down hospitals with efficiency scores below a certain threshold. For private hospitals with inefficiency related to large size, there is a need to break down such hospitals into manageable sizes.

Ownership and technical efficiency of hospitals: evidence from Ghana using data envelopment analysis

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In order to measure and analyse the technical efficiency of district hospitals in Ghana, the specific objectives of this study were to (a) estimate the relative technical and scale efficiency of government, mission, private and quasi-government district hospitals in Ghana in 2005; (b) estimate the magnitudes of output increases and/or input reductions that would have been required to make relatively inefficient hospitals more efficient; and (c) use Tobit regression analysis to estimate the impact of ownership on hospital efficiency. Methods In the first stage, we used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the efficiency of 128 hospitals comprising of 73 government hospitals, 42 mission hospitals, 7 quasi-government hospitals and 6 private hospitals. In the second stage, the estimated DEA efficiency scores are regressed against hospital ownership variable using a Tobit model. This was a retrospective study. Results In our DEA analysis, using the variable returns to scale model, out of 128 district hospitals, 31 (24.0%) were 100% efficient, 25 (19.5%) were very close to being efficient with efficiency scores ranging from 70% to 99.9% and 71 (56.2%) had efficiency scores below 50%. The lowest-performing hospitals had efficiency scores ranging from 21% to 30%. Quasi-government hospitals had the highest mean efficiency score (83.9%) followed by public hospitals (70.4%), mission hospitals (68.6%) and private hospitals (55.8%). However, public hospitals also got the lowest mean technical efficiency scores (27.4%), implying they have some of the most inefficient hospitals. Regarding regional performance, Northern region hospitals had the highest mean efficiency score (83.0%) and Volta Region hospitals had the lowest mean score (43.0%). From our Tobit regression, we found out that while quasi-government ownership is positively associated with hospital technical efficiency, private ownership negatively affects hospital efficiency. Conclusions It would be prudent for policy-makers to examine the least efficient hospitals to correct widespread inefficiency. This would include reconsidering the number of hospitals and their distribution, improving efficiency and reducing duplication by closing or scaling down hospitals with efficiency scores below a certain threshold. For private hospitals with inefficiency related to large size, there is a need to break down such hospitals into manageable sizes. PMID:24708886

Role of the Hospital Library Within the Hospital System *†

PubMed Central

Lorenzi, Nancy M.

1969-01-01

The results of a survey of hospital administrators, attending staff and house staff physicians, librarians, library committee chairmen, and nursing staff in five Northeastern Ohio hospitals concerning the status of the hospital library within the total hospital system are related. Results indicate that hospital libraries operate in the “fringe” area of the hospital system. A concentric-circle figure indicates the present position of the majority of hospital libraries surveyed. The future relationship of the library within the hospital system has also been represented by a concentric-circle figure. PMID:5778727

[Assessment and comparison of hospital operating efficiency under different management systems].

PubMed

2017-06-18

To assess and analyze the operation efficiency of 8 commission general public hospitals managed directly by National Health and Family Planning Commission and 8 municipal general hospitals managed directly by Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals in Beijing and to provide suggestions on improving service capacity and designing relevant health policy. Input and output data of 8 commission hospitals and 8 municipal hospitals were obtained from Beijing Direct-Reported Health Statistics data from 2011 to 2014. Data envelopment analysis was used as the hospital operation efficiency measurement tool. The CCR and BCC models were built to calculate technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE), scale efficiency (SE) and the status of scale efficiency of 16 hospitals in 2011 and 2014; the Malmquist index model was built to analyze the total factor productivity change (TFPC), technological change (TC), technical efficiency change, pure technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change of the 16 hospitals from 2011 to 2014. In 2011, the TE, PTE and SE of the commission hospitals were higher than those of the municipal hospitals, and the TEs of the commission hospitals and the municipal hospitals were 0.918 and 0.873 respectively. In 2014, the TE, PTE and SE of commission hospitals were lower than those of the municipal hospitals, and the TE of the commission hospitals and the municipal hospitals were 0.906 and 0.951, respectively, which was contrary to the results in 2011. According to the Malmquist index model, the average of TFPC of the municipal hospitals was larger than that of the commission hospitals, the former increased 5.9% and the latter increased 2.8% per year; the average of TC was greater than the one in both the municipal hospitals and the commission hospitals, with a growth of 3.2% and 2.9% per year, respectively; the average growth of PTE in the commission hospitals was lower than that of the municipal hospitals, and the average descent of SE in the commission hospitals was larger than that in the municipal hospitals. There are significant differences in the operation efficiency between different management systems and the main factors associated with operation efficiency are the technological and management level. Given scale efficiency status and macroeconomic medical policies, the commission hospitals and the municipal hospitals require further adjusting the distribution of medical resources, and it is of great significance for all the commission hospitals and the municipal hospitals to improve the management level and resource integration capability.

Is Hospital Teaching Status a Key Factor in Hospital Charge for Children with Hip Fractures?

PubMed Central

Gao, Yubo; Pugely, Andrew; Karam, Matthew; Phisitkul, Phinit; Mendoza, Sergio; Johnston, Richard C.

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE Proximal femur fractures cause significant pain and economic cost among pediatric patients. The purposes of this study were (a) to evaluate the distribution by hospital type (teaching hospital vs non-teaching hospital) of U.S. pediatric patients aged 1-20 years who were hospitalized with a closed hip fracture and (b) to discern the mean hospital charge and hospital length of stay after employing propensity score to reduce selec-tion bias. METHODS The 2006 Healthcare Cost and Uti-lization Project (HCUP) Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) was queried for children aged up to 20 years that had principle diagnosis of hip fracture injury. Hip fractures were defined by International Classifi-cation of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modifica-tion codes 820.0, 820.2 and 820.8 under Section “Injury and Poisoning (800-999)” with principle internal fixation procedure codes 78.55, 79.15 and 79.35. Patient demographics and hospital status were presented and analyzed. Differences in mean hospital charge and hospital length of stay by hospital teaching status were assessed via two propensity score based methods. RESULTS In total, 1,827 patients were nation-ally included for analysis: 1,392 (76.2%) were treated at a teaching hospital and 435 (23.8%) were treated at a non-teaching hospital. The average age of the patients was 12.88 years old in teaching hospitals vs 14.33 years old in nonteaching hospitals. The propensity score based ad-justment method showed mean hospital charge was $34,779 in teaching hospitals and $32,891 in the non-teaching hospitals, but these differences were not significant (p=0.2940). Likewise, mean length of hospital stay was 4.1 days in teaching hospitals and 3.89 days in non-teaching hospitals, but these differences were also not significant (p=0.4220). Conclusions Hospital teaching status did not affect length of stay or total hospital costs in children treated surgically for proximal femur fractures. Future research should be directed at identifying factors associated with variations in hospital charge and length of stay. PMID:24027472

Is hospital teaching status a key factor in hospital charge for children with hip fractures?: preliminary findings from KID database.

PubMed

Gao, Yubo; Pugely, Andrew; Karam, Matthew; Phisitkul, Phinit; Mendoza, Sergio; Johnston, Richard C

2013-01-01

Proximal femur fractures cause significant pain and economic cost among pediatric patients. The purposes of this study were (a) to evaluate the distribution by hospital type (teaching hospital vs non-teaching hospital) of U.S. pediatric patients aged 1-20 years who were hospitalized with a closed hip fracture and (b) to discern the mean hospital charge and hospital length of stay after employing propensity score to reduce selection bias. The 2006 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) was queried for children aged up to 20 years that had principle diagnosis of hip fracture injury. Hip fractures were defined by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification codes 820.0, 820.2 and 820.8 under Section "Injury and Poisoning (800-999)" with principle internal fixation procedure codes 78.55, 79.15 and 79.35. Patient demographics and hospital status were presented and analyzed. Differences in mean hospital charge and hospital length of stay by hospital teaching status were assessed via two propensity score based methods. In total, 1,827 patients were nation-ally included for analysis: 1,392 (76.2%) were treated at a teaching hospital and 435 (23.8%) were treated at a non-teaching hospital. The average age of the patients was 12.88 years old in teaching hospitals vs 14.33 years old in nonteaching hospitals. The propensity score based adjustment method showed mean hospital charge was $34,779 in teaching hospitals and $32,891 in the non-teaching hospitals, but these differences were not significant (p=0.2940). Likewise, mean length of hospital stay was 4.1 days in teaching hospitals and 3.89 days in non-teaching hospitals, but these differences were also not significant (p=0.4220). Hospital teaching status did not affect length of stay or total hospital costs in children treated surgically for proximal femur fractures. Future research should be directed at identifying factors associated with variations in hospital charge and length of stay.

Population characteristics of markets of safety-net and non-safety-net hospitals.

PubMed

Gaskin, D J; Hadley, J

1999-09-01

To compare and contrast the markets of urban safety-net (USN) hospitals with the markets of other urban hospitals. To develop profiles of the actual inpatient markets of hospitals, we linked 1994 patient-level information from hospital discharge abstracts from nine states with 1990 data at the ZIP code level from the US Census Bureau. Each hospital's market was characterized by its racial and ethnic composition, median household income, poverty rate, and educational attainment. Measures of hospital competition were also calculated for each hospital. The analysis compared the market profiles of USN hospitals to those of other urban hospitals. We also compared the level of hospital competition and financial status of USN and other urban hospitals. The markets of USN hospitals had higher proportions of racial and ethnic minorities and non-English-speaking residents. Adults residing in markets of USN hospitals were less educated. Families living in markets of USN hospitals had lower incomes and were more likely to be living at or below the federal poverty level. USN hospitals and other urban hospitals faced similar levels of competition and had similar margins. However, USN hospitals were more dependent on Medicare disproportionate share payments and on state and local government subsidies to remain solvent. USN hospitals disproportionately serve vulnerable minority and low-income communities that otherwise face financial and cultural barriers to health care. USN hospitals are dependent on the public subsidies they receive from federal, state, and local governments. Public policies and market pressures that affect the viability of USN hospitals place the access to care by vulnerable populations at risk. Public policy that jeopardizes public subsidies places in peril the financial health of these institutions. As Medicare and Medicaid managed care grow, USN hospitals may lose these patient revenues and public subsidies based on their Medicaid and Medicare patient volumes. The loss of these funds would hinder the ability of USN hospitals to finance uncompensated care for uninsured and underinsured patients.

Physician-Owned Surgical Hospitals Outperform Other Hospitals in Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program.

PubMed

Ramirez, Adriana G; Tracci, Margaret C; Stukenborg, George J; Turrentine, Florence E; Kozower, Benjamin D; Jones, R Scott

2016-10-01

The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program measures value of care provided by participating Medicare hospitals and creates financial incentives for quality improvement and fosters increased transparency. Limited information is available comparing hospital performance across health care business models. The 2015 Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program results were used to examine hospital performance by business model. General linear modeling assessed differences in mean total performance score, hospital case mix index, and differences after adjustment for differences in hospital case mix index. Of 3,089 hospitals with total performance scores, categories of representative health care business models included 104 physician-owned surgical hospitals, 111 University HealthSystem Consortium, 14 US News & World Report Honor Roll hospitals, 33 Kaiser Permanente, and 124 Pioneer accountable care organization affiliated hospitals. Estimated mean total performance scores for physician-owned surgical hospitals (64.4; 95% CI, 61.83-66.38) and Kaiser Permanente (60.79; 95% CI, 56.56-65.03) were significantly higher compared with all remaining hospitals, and University HealthSystem Consortium members (36.8; 95% CI, 34.51-39.17) performed below the mean (p < 0.0001). Significant differences in mean hospital case mix index included physician-owned surgical hospitals (mean 2.32; p < 0.0001), US News & World Report honorees (mean 2.24; p = 0.0140), and University HealthSystem Consortium members (mean 1.99; p < 0.0001), and Kaiser Permanente hospitals had lower case mix value (mean 1.54; p < 0.0001). Re-estimation of total performance scores did not change the original results after adjustment for differences in hospital case mix index. The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program revealed superior hospital performance associated with business model. Closer inspection of high-value hospitals can guide value improvement and policy-making decisions for all Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program Hospitals. Copyright © 2016 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unit Cost of Medical Services at Different Hospitals in India

PubMed Central

Chatterjee, Susmita; Levin, Carol; Laxminarayan, Ramanan

2013-01-01

Institutional care is a growing component of health care costs in low- and middle-income countries, but local health planners in these countries have inadequate knowledge of the costs of different medical services. In India, greater utilisation of hospital services is driven both by rising incomes and by government insurance programmes that cover the cost of inpatient services; however, there is still a paucity of unit cost information from Indian hospitals. In this study, we estimated operating costs and cost per outpatient visit, cost per inpatient stay, cost per emergency room visit, and cost per surgery for five hospitals of different types across India: a 57-bed charitable hospital, a 200-bed private hospital, a 400-bed government district hospital, a 655-bed private teaching hospital, and a 778-bed government tertiary care hospital for the financial year 2010–11. The major cost component varied among human resources, capital costs, and material costs, by hospital type. The outpatient visit cost ranged from Rs. 94 (district hospital) to Rs. 2,213 (private hospital) (USD 1 = INR 52). The inpatient stay cost was Rs. 345 in the private teaching hospital, Rs. 394 in the district hospital, Rs. 614 in the tertiary care hospital, Rs. 1,959 in the charitable hospital, and Rs. 6,996 in the private hospital. Our study results can help hospital administrators understand their cost structures and run their facilities more efficiently, and we identify areas where improvements in efficiency might significantly lower unit costs. The study also demonstrates that detailed costing of Indian hospital operations is both feasible and essential, given the significant variation in the country’s hospital types. Because of the size and diversity of the country and variations across hospitals, a large-scale study should be undertaken to refine hospital costing for different types of hospitals so that the results can be used for policy purposes, such as revising payment rates under government-sponsored insurance schemes. PMID:23936088

Hospital Report Cards for Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers: How good are the grades?

PubMed Central

Meddings, Jennifer A.; Reichert, Heidi; Hofer, Tim; McMahon, Laurence F.

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND Value-based purchasing programs will use administrative data to compare hospitals by rates of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs) for public reporting and financial penalties. Validation of administrative data for these purposes, however, is lacking. OBJECTIVE To assess the validity of the administrative data used to generate HAPU rates to compare hospitals for public reporting and financial penalty, by comparing hospital performance as assessed by HAPU rates generated from administrative and surveillance data. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of 2 million all-payer administrative records for 448 California hospitals and quarterly hospital-wide surveillance data for 213 hospitals from the California Nursing Outcomes and Prevalence Study (as publicly reported on CalHospitalCompare). SETTING 196 acute-care hospitals with >=6 months of available administrative and surveillance data PATIENTS Non-obstetric adults discharged in 2009. MEASUREMENTS Hospital-specific HAPU rates were computed as the percentage of discharged adults (from administrative data) or examined adults (from surveillance data) with >=1 HAPU stage II and above (HAPU2+). Categorization of hospital performance using administrative data was compared to the grade assigned using the surveillance data. RESULTS By administrative data, the mean (CI) hospital-specific HAPU2+ rate was 0.15% (0.13, 0.17); by surveillance data, the mean (CI) hospital-specific HAPU2+ rate was 2.0% (1.8, 2.2). Of the 49 hospitals with HAPU2+ rates from administrative data in the highest (worst) quartile, the surveillance dataset assigned these hospitals performance grades of “Superior” for 3 hospitals, “Above Average” for 14 hospitals, “Average” for 15 hospitals, and “Below Average” for 17 hospitals. LIMITATIONS Data are from 1 state, 1 year. CONCLUSIONS Hospital performance scores generated from HAPU2+ rates varied considerably from administrative data and surveillance data, suggesting administrative data may not be appropriate for comparing hospitals. PMID:24126644

Patient and hospital correlates of clinical outcomes and resource utilization in severe pediatric sepsis.

PubMed

Odetola, Folafoluwa O; Gebremariam, Achamyeleh; Freed, Gary L

2007-03-01

Our goal was to describe patient and hospital characteristics associated with in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and charges for critically ill children with severe sepsis. Our study consisted of a retrospective study of children 0 to 19 years of age hospitalized with severe sepsis using the 2003 Kids' Inpatient Database. We generated national estimates of rates of hospitalization and then compared in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and total charges according to patient and hospital characteristics using multivariable regression methods. Severity of illness was measured by using all-patient refined diagnosis-related group severity of illness classification into minor, moderate, major, and extreme severity. There were an estimated 21,448 hospitalizations for severe pediatric sepsis nationally in 2003. The in-hospital mortality rate was 4.2%. Comorbid illness was present in 34% of hospitalized children. Most (70%) of the extremely ill children were admitted to children's hospitals. Length of stay was longer among patients with higher illness severity and nonsurvivors compared with survivors (13.5 vs 8.5 days). Hospitalizations at urban or children's hospitals were also associated with longer length of stay than nonchildren's or rural hospitals, respectively. Higher charges were associated with higher illness severity, and nonsurvivors had 2.5-fold higher total charges than survivors. Also, higher charges were observed among hospitalizations in urban or children's hospitals. In multivariable regression analysis, multiple comorbid illnesses, multiple organ dysfunction, and greater severity of illness were associated with higher odds of mortality and longer length of stay. Higher hospital charges and longer length of stay were observed among transfer hospitalizations and among hospitalizations to children's hospitals and nonchildren's teaching hospitals compared with hospitals, which had neither children's nor teaching status. Mortality from severe pediatric sepsis is associated with patient illness severity, comorbid illness, and multiple organ dysfunction. Many characteristics are associated with resource consumption, including type of hospital, source of admission, and illness severity.

Specialty hospital market proliferation: Strategic implications for general hospitals.

PubMed

Al-Amin, Mona; Zinn, Jacqueline; Rosko, Michael D; Aaronson, William

2010-01-01

Since the early 1990s, specialty hospitals have been continuously increasing in number. A moratorium was passed in 2003 that prohibited physicians' referrals of Medicare patients to newly established specialty hospitals if the physician has ownership stakes in the hospital. Although this moratorium expired in effect in 2007, many are still demanding that the government pass new policies to discourage the proliferation of specialty hospitals. This study aimed at examining the regulatory and environmental forces that influence specialty hospitals founding rate. Specifically, we use the resource partitioning theory to investigate the relationship between general hospitals closure rates and the market entry of specialty hospitals. This study will help managers of general hospitals in their strategic thinking and planning. We rely on secondary data resources, which include the American Hospital Association, Area Resource file, census, and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services data, to perform a longitudinal analysis of the founding rate of specialty hospital in the 48 states. Specifically, we use the negative binomial generalized estimating equation approach available through Stata 9.0 to study the effect of general hospitals closure rate and environmental variables on the proliferation of specialty hospitals. Specialty hospitals founding rate seems to be significantly related to general hospitals closure rates. Moreover, results indicate that economic, supply, regulatory, and financial conditions determine the founding rate of specialty hospitals in different states. The results from this study indicate that the closure of general hospitals creates market conditions that encourage the market entry of specialized health care delivery forms such as specialty hospitals. Managers of surviving general hospitals have to view the closure of other general hospitals not just as an opportunity to increase market share but also as a threat of competition from new forms of health care organizations.

Physician-owned Surgical Hospitals Outperform Other Hospitals in the Medicare Value-based Purchasing Program

PubMed Central

Ramirez, Adriana G; Tracci, Margaret C; Stukenborg, George J; Turrentine, Florence E; Kozower, Benjamin D; Jones, R Scott

2016-01-01

Background The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program measures value of care provided by participating Medicare hospitals while creating financial incentives for quality improvement and fostering increased transparency. Limited information is available comparing hospital performance across healthcare business models. Study Design 2015 hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program results were used to examine hospital performance by business model. General linear modeling assessed differences in mean total performance score, hospital case mix index, and differences after adjustment for differences in hospital case mix index. Results Of 3089 hospitals with Total Performance Scores (TPS), categories of representative healthcare business models included 104 Physician-owned Surgical Hospitals (POSH), 111 University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), 14 US News & World Report Honor Roll (USNWR) Hospitals, 33 Kaiser Permanente, and 124 Pioneer Accountable Care Organization affiliated hospitals. Estimated mean TPS for POSH (64.4, 95% CI 61.83, 66.38) and Kaiser (60.79, 95% CI 56.56, 65.03) were significantly higher compared to all remaining hospitals while UHC members (36.8, 95% CI 34.51, 39.17) performed below the mean (p < 0.0001). Significant differences in mean hospital case mix index included POSH (mean 2.32, p<0.0001), USNWR honorees (mean 2.24, p 0.0140) and UHC members (mean =1.99, p<0.0001) while Kaiser Permanente hospitals had lower case mix value (mean =1.54, p<0.0001). Re-estimation of TPS did not change the original results after adjustment for differences in hospital case mix index. Conclusions The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program revealed superior hospital performance associated with business model. Closer inspection of high-value hospitals may guide value improvement and policy-making decisions for all Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program Hospitals. PMID:27502368

An advanced look at surgical performance under Medicare's hospital-inpatient value-based purchasing program: who is winning and who is losing?

PubMed

Dupree, James M; Neimeyer, Jennifer; McHugh, Megan

2014-01-01

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is beginning to shift from paying providers based on volume to more explicitly rewarding quality of care. The hospital value-based purchasing (VBP) program is the first in a series of mandatory programs to financially reward and penalize US hospitals based on quality measure performance. Our objective was to identify the characteristics of hospitals that perform well (and those that perform poorly) on the surgical measures in CMS' hospital VBP program. Using 2008 to 2010 performance data from CMS' Hospital Compare website and the 2009 American Hospital Association annual survey, we examined surgical measure performance for all acute care general hospitals in the US. Outcomes were determined by a composite surgical performance score indicating the percentage of eligible surgical performance points that a hospital received. There were 3,030 hospitals included in our study. Composite surgical performance scores were 15.6% lower at public hospitals than at for-profit hospitals (p < 0.01). Additionally, there were significant differences in the routes by which hospitals achieved points, with smaller hospitals, for-profit hospitals, Magnet hospitals, and NSQIP hospitals all more likely to obtain points via the achievement route. The results of our study indicate that public hospitals perform worse on the surgical measures in the hospital VBP program. This study raises important questions about the impact that this new, mandatory program will have on public hospitals, which serve an important safety-net role and appear to be disadvantaged in the hospital VBP program. This issue should continue to be investigated as these mandatory quality programs are updated in future years. Copyright © 2014 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Specialty and Full-Service Hospitals: A Comparative Cost Analysis

PubMed Central

Carey, Kathleen; Burgess, James F; Young, Gary J

2008-01-01

Objective To compare the costs of physician-owned cardiac, orthopedic, and surgical single specialty hospitals with those of full-service hospital competitors. Data Sources The primary data sources are the Medicare Cost Reports for 1998–2004 and hospital inpatient discharge data for three of the states where single specialty hospitals are most prevalent, Texas, California, and Arizona. The latter were obtained from the Texas Department of State Health Services, the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Additional data comes from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database. Study Design We identified all physician-owned cardiac, orthopedic, and surgical specialty hospitals in these three states as well as all full-service acute care hospitals serving the same market areas, defined using Dartmouth Hospital Referral Regions. We estimated a hospital cost function using stochastic frontier regression analysis, and generated hospital specific inefficiency measures. Application of t-tests of significance compared the inefficiency measures of specialty hospitals with those of full-service hospitals to make general comparisons between these classes of hospitals. Principal Findings Results do not provide evidence that specialty hospitals are more efficient than the full-service hospitals with whom they compete. In particular, orthopedic and surgical specialty hospitals appear to have significantly higher levels of cost inefficiency. Cardiac hospitals, however, do not appear to be different from competitors in this respect. Conclusions Policymakers should not embrace the assumption that physician-owned specialty hospitals produce patient care more efficiently than their full-service hospital competitors. PMID:18662170

Vital pathways for hospital librarians: present and future roles

PubMed Central

Holst, Ruth; Funk, Carla J.; Adams, Heidi Sue; Bandy, Margaret; Boss, Catherine Mary; Hill, Beth; Joseph, Claire B.; Lett, Rosalind K.

2009-01-01

Objectives: The research objectives were to (1) describe the current and future roles of hospital librarians and the challenges they face and (2) find evidence supporting the hypothesis that librarians are essential to hospitals in achieving the organizations' mission-critical goals. Method: The authors used results from a previous research study that identified the five organizational mission-critical goals important to hospital administrators and then searched the literature and solicited examples from hospital librarians to describe the librarian's role in helping hospitals achieve these goals. Results: The literature supports the hypothesis that hospital librarians play important roles in the success of the hospital. Librarians support quality clinical care, efficient and effective hospital operations, continuing education for staff, research and innovation, and patient, family, and community health information needs. Conclusion: Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today's hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian. PMID:19851493

Vital pathways for hospital librarians: present and future roles.

PubMed

Holst, Ruth; Funk, Carla J; Adams, Heidi Sue; Bandy, Margaret; Boss, Catherine Mary; Hill, Beth; Joseph, Claire B; Lett, Rosalind K

2009-10-01

The research objectives were to (1) describe the current and future roles of hospital librarians and the challenges they face and (2) find evidence supporting the hypothesis that librarians are essential to hospitals in achieving the organizations' mission-critical goals. The authors used results from a previous research study that identified the five organizational mission-critical goals important to hospital administrators and then searched the literature and solicited examples from hospital librarians to describe the librarian's role in helping hospitals achieve these goals. The literature supports the hypothesis that hospital librarians play important roles in the success of the hospital. Librarians support quality clinical care, efficient and effective hospital operations, continuing education for staff, research and innovation, and patient, family, and community health information needs. Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today's hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.

Bed capacities and disinfection practices in hospitals in Istanbul are correlated.

PubMed

Teker, Bahri; Ogutlu, Aziz; Yilmaz, Mesut; Gencer, Serap; Karabay, Oguz

2015-03-19

Disinfection, antisepsis and sterilization (DAS) practices are of critical importance in hospital practice. This study aims to investigate the daily DAS practices of private hospitals in Istanbul, Turkey. The DAS practices of 155 private hospitals in Istanbul province were investigated using a questionnaire including 26 questions. The questionnaire forms were faxed to all private hospitals located in Istanbul. A p value < 0.05 accepted as significant. The 75 [48%] hospitals out of 155 hospitals responded. The quality of DAS practice was correlated with hospital bed capacity. In these hospitals, glutaraldehyde (27%) was the most common chemical used to disinfect endoscopy instruments. The rate of availability of air gun in endoscopy units in these hospitals was significantly associated with hospital bed capacity (p <0.001). Sticky mats placed at doors of risky areas were not reported to be used in the large bed capacity (LBC) hospitals unlike the small bed capacity (SBC) hospitals where 50% of these hospitals reported to use the sticky door mats (p =0.0144). Private hospitals in Istanbul need in-service training towards sterilization and disinfection issues. It is concluded that private hospitals need policies and educational activities for DAS practices.

Efficiency disparities among community hospitals in Tennessee: do size, location, ownership, and network matter?

PubMed

Roh, Chul-Young; Moon, M Jae; Jung, Kwangho

2013-11-01

This study examined the impact of ownership, size, location, and network on the relative technical efficiency of community hospitals in Tennessee for the 2002-2006 period, by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure technical efficiency (decomposed into scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency). Data envelopment analysis results indicate that medium-size hospitals (126-250 beds) are more efficient than their counterparts. Interestingly, public hospitals are significantly more efficient than private and nonprofit hospitals in Tennessee, and rural hospitals are more efficient than urban hospitals. This is the first study to investigate whether hospital networks with other health care providers affect hospital efficiency. Results indicate that community hospitals with networks are more efficient than non-network hospitals. From a management and policy perspective, this study suggests that public policies should induce hospitals to downsize or upsize into optional size, and private hospitals and nonprofit hospitals should change their organizational objectives from profit-driven to quality-driven.

From cottage to community hospitals: Watlington Cottage Hospital and its regional context, 1874-2000.

PubMed

Hall, John

2012-01-01

The appearance in England from the 1850s of 'cottage hospitals' in considerable numbers constituted a new and distinctive form of hospital provision. The historiography of hospital care has emphasised the role of the large teaching hospitals, to the neglect of the smaller and general practitioner hospitals. This article inverts that attention, by examining their history and shift in function to 'community hospitals'within their regional setting in the period up to 2000. As the planning of hospitals on a regional basis began from the 1920s, the impact of NHS organisational and planning mechanisms on smaller hospitals is explored through case studies at two levels. The strategy for community hospitals of the Oxford NHS Region--one of the first Regions to formulate such a strategy--and the impact of that strategy on one hospital, Watlington Cottage Hospital, is critically examined through its existence from 1874 to 2000.

Hospitals Known for Nursing Excellence Associated with Better Hospital Experience for Patients.

PubMed

Stimpfel, Amy Witkoski; Sloane, Douglas M; McHugh, Matthew D; Aiken, Linda H

2016-06-01

To examine the relationship between Magnet recognition, an indicator of nursing excellence, and patients' experience with their hospitalization reported in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. This secondary analysis includes cross-sectional data from the 2010 HCAHPS survey, the American Hospital Association, and the American Nurses Credentialing Center. We conducted a retrospective observational study. Using common hospital identifiers, we created a matched set of 212 Magnet hospitals and 212 non-Magnet hospitals. Patients in Magnet hospitals gave their hospitals higher overall ratings, were more likely to recommend their hospital, and reported more positive care experiences with nurse communication. Magnet recognition is associated with better patient care experiences, which may positively enhance reimbursement for hospitals. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

[Anesthesia practice in Catalan hospitals and other health care facilities].

PubMed

Villalonga, Antonio; Sabaté, Sergi; Campos, Juan Manuel; Fornaguera, Joan; Hernández, Carmen; Sistac, José María

2006-05-24

The aim of this arm of the ANESCAT study was to characterize anesthesia practice in the various types of health care facilities of Catalonia, Spain, in 2003. We analyzed data from the survey according to a) source of a facility's funding: public hospitals financed by the Catalan Public Health Authority (ICS), the network of subsidized hospitals for public use (XHUP), or private hospitals; b) size: facilities without hospital beds, hospitals with fewer than 250 beds, those with 251 to 500, and those with over 500; and c) training accreditation status: whether or not a facility gave medical resident training. A total of 131 facilities participated (11 under the ICS, 47 from the XHUP, and 73 private hospitals). Twenty-six clinics had no hospital beds, 78 facilities had fewer than 250, 21 had 251 to 500, and 6 had more than 500. Seventeen hospitals trained medical residents. XHUP hospitals performed 44.3% of all anesthetic procedures, private hospitals 36.7%, and ICS facilities 18.5%. Five percent of procedures were performed in clinics without beds, 42.9% in facilities with fewer than 250 beds, 35% in hospitals with 251 to 500, and 17.1% in hospitals with over 500. Anesthetists in teaching hospitals performed 35.5% of all procedures. The mean age of patients was lower in private hospitals, facilities with fewer than 250 beds, and hospitals that did not train medical residents. The physical status of patients was worse in ICS hospitals, in facilities with over 500 beds, and in teaching hospitals. It was noteworthy that 25% of anesthetic procedures were performed on an emergency basis in XHUP and ICS hospitals, in facilities with more than 250 beds, and in teaching hospitals. Anesthesia for outpatient procedures accounted for 40% of the total in private hospitals and 31% of the practice in ICS and XHUP hospitals. The duration of anesthesia and postanesthetic recovery was longer in ICS hospitals, in facilities with over 500 beds, and in those with medical resident training programs. The numbers of postoperative admissions to critical care units and of specialized analgesic techniques performed were higher in ICS hospitals, in facilities with over 500 beds, and in teaching hospitals. The complexity of both anesthesia and surgical practice and the severity of patient condition increased with hospital size and public funding status.

42 CFR 412.534 - Special payment provisions for long-term care hospitals within hospitals and satellites of long...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... meets the criteria of § 412.22(h) from another hospital that is not the co-located hospital are made... hospital satellite facility from the co-located hospital are made under either of the following: (1) For... percent were admitted to the hospital or its satellite facility from the co-located hospital, payments are...

Hospital Evaluations by Social Media: A Comparative Analysis of Facebook Ratings among Performance Outliers.

PubMed

Glover, McKinley; Khalilzadeh, Omid; Choy, Garry; Prabhakar, Anand M; Pandharipande, Pari V; Gazelle, G Scott

2015-10-01

An increasing number of hospitals and health systems utilize social media to allow users to provide feedback and ratings. The correlation between ratings on social media and more conventional hospital quality metrics remains largely unclear, raising concern that healthcare consumers may make decisions on inaccurate or inappropriate information regarding quality. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which hospitals utilize social media and whether user-generated metrics on Facebook(®) correlate with a Hospital Compare(®) metric, specifically 30-day all cause unplanned hospital readmission rates. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted among all U.S. hospitals performing outside the confidence interval for the national average on 30-day hospital readmission rates as reported on Hospital Compare. Participants were 315 hospitals performing better than U.S. national rate on 30-day readmissions and 364 hospitals performing worse than the U.S. national rate. The study analyzed ratings of hospitals on Facebook's five-star rating scale, 30-day readmission rates, and hospital characteristics including beds, teaching status, urban vs. rural location, and ownership type. Hospitals performing better than the national average on 30-day readmissions were more likely to use Facebook than lower-performing hospitals (93.3 % vs. 83.5 %; p < 0.01). The average rating for hospitals with low readmission rates (4.15 ± 0.31) was higher than that for hospitals with higher readmission rates (4.05 ± 0.41, p < 0.01). Major teaching hospitals were 14.3 times more likely to be in the high readmission rate group. A one-star increase in Facebook rating was associated with increased odds of the hospital belonging to the low readmission rate group by a factor of 5.0 (CI: 2.6-10.3, p <  0.01), when controlling for hospital characteristics and Facebook-related variables. Hospitals with lower rates of 30-day hospital-wide unplanned readmissions have higher ratings on Facebook than hospitals with higher readmission rates. These findings add strength to the concept that aggregate measures of patient satisfaction on social media correlate with more traditionally accepted measures of hospital quality.

42 CFR 412.331 - Determining hospital-specific rates in cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... each hospital's base period data, the intermediary determines a combined average discharge-weighted... payment determination: (1) Revised hospital-specific rate. Using each hospital's base period data, the... hospital-specific rates are determined as follows: (1) Hospital-specific rate—(i) Adequate base year data...

42 CFR 424.13 - Requirements for inpatient services of hospitals other than psychiatric hospitals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... other than psychiatric hospitals. 424.13 Section 424.13 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID... other than psychiatric hospitals. (a) Content of certification and recertification. Medicare Part A pays for inpatient hospital services of hospitals other than psychiatric hospitals only if a physician...

77 FR 60315 - Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-03

... Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Fiscal Year 2013 Rates; Hospitals' Resident Caps for Graduate Medical Education Payment Purposes; Quality... entitled ``Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and...

Hospital Characteristics Associated With Penalties in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program.

PubMed

Rajaram, Ravi; Chung, Jeanette W; Kinnier, Christine V; Barnard, Cynthia; Mohanty, Sanjay; Pavey, Emily S; McHugh, Megan C; Bilimoria, Karl Y

2015-07-28

In fiscal year (FY) 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) instituted the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, which reduces payments to the lowest-performing hospitals. However, it is uncertain whether this program accurately measures quality and fairly penalizes hospitals. To examine the characteristics of hospitals penalized by the HAC Reduction Program and to evaluate the association of a summary score of hospital characteristics related to quality with penalization in the HAC program. Data for hospitals participating in the FY2015 HAC Reduction Program were obtained from CMS' Hospital Compare and merged with the 2014 American Hospital Association Annual Survey and FY2015 Medicare Impact File. Logistic regression models were developed to examine the association between hospital characteristics and HAC program penalization. An 8-point hospital quality summary score was created using hospital characteristics related to volume, accreditations, and offering of advanced care services. The relationship between the hospital quality summary score and HAC program penalization was examined. Publicly reported process-of-care and outcome measures were examined from 4 clinical areas (surgery, acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia), and their association with the hospital quality summary score was evaluated. Penalization in the HAC Reduction Program. Hospital characteristics associated with penalization. Of the 3284 hospitals participating in the HAC program, 721 (22.0%) were penalized. Hospitals were more likely to be penalized if they were accredited by the Joint Commission (24.0% accredited, 14.4% not accredited; odds ratio [OR], 1.33; 95% CI, 1.04-1.70); they were major teaching hospitals (42.3%; OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.09-2.29) or very major teaching hospitals (62.2%; OR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.55-4.39; vs nonteaching hospitals, 17.0%); they cared for more complex patient populations based on case mix index (quartile 4 vs quartile 1: 32.8% vs 12.1%; OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.44-2.71); or they were safety-net hospitals vs non-safety-net hospitals (28.3% vs 19.9%; OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.11-1.68). Hospitals with higher hospital quality summary scores had significantly better performance on 9 of 10 publicly reported process and outcomes measures compared with hospitals that had lower quality scores (all P ≤ .01 for trend). However, hospitals with the highest quality score of 8 were penalized significantly more frequently than hospitals with the lowest quality score of 0 (67.3% [37/55] vs 12.6% [53/422]; P < .001 for trend). Among hospitals participating in the HAC Reduction Program, hospitals that were penalized more frequently had more quality accreditations, offered advanced services, were major teaching institutions, and had better performance on other process and outcome measures. These paradoxical findings suggest that the approach for assessing hospital penalties in the HAC Reduction Program merits reconsideration to ensure it is achieving the intended goals.

Mortality, Length of Stay, and Inpatient Charges for Heart Failure Patients at Public versus Private Hospitals in South Korea

PubMed Central

Kim, Sun Jung; Park, Eun-Cheol; Kim, Tae Hyun; Yoo, Ji Won

2015-01-01

Purpose This study compared in-hospital mortality within 30 days of admission, lengths of stay, and inpatient charges among patients with heart failure admitted to public and private hospitals in South Korea. Materials and Methods We obtained health insurance claims data for all heart failure inpatients nationwide between November 1, 2011 and May 31, 2012. These data were then matched with hospital-level data, and multi-level regression models were examined. A total of 8406 patients from 253 hospitals, including 31 public hospitals, were analyzed. Results The in-hospital mortality rate within 30 days of admission was 0.92% greater and the mean length of stay was 1.94 days longer at public hospitals than at private hospitals (mortality: 5.18% and 4.26%, respectively; LOS: 12.08 and 10.14 days, respectively). The inpatient charges were 11.4% lower per case and 24.5% lower per day at public hospitals than at private hospitals. After adjusting for patient- and hospital-level confounders, public hospitals had a 1.62-fold higher in-hospital mortality rate, a 16.5% longer length of stay, and an 11.7% higher inpatient charge per case than private hospitals, although the charges of private hospitals were greater in univariate analysis. Conclusion We recommend that government agencies and policy makers continue to monitor quality of care, lengths of stay in the hospital, and expenditures according to type of hospital ownership to improve healthcare outcomes and reduce spending. PMID:25837196

Recentralization within decentralization: County hospital autonomy under devolution in Kenya

PubMed Central

Manyara, Anthony M.; Molyneux, Sassy; Tsofa, Benjamin

2017-01-01

Background In 2013, Kenya transitioned into a devolved system of government with a central government and 47 semi-autonomous county governments. In this paper, we report early experiences of devolution in the Kenyan health sector, with a focus on public county hospitals. Specifically, we examine changes in hospital autonomy as a result of devolution, and how these have affected hospital functioning. Methods We used a qualitative case study approach to examine the level of autonomy that hospitals had over key management functions and how this had affected hospital functioning in three county hospitals in coastal Kenya. We collected data by in-depth interviews of county health managers and hospital managers in the case study hospitals (n = 21). We adopted the framework proposed by Chawla et al (1995) to examine the autonomy that hospitals had over five management domains (strategic management, finance, procurement, human resource, and administration), and how these influenced hospital functioning. Findings Devolution had resulted in a substantial reduction in the autonomy of county hospitals over the five key functions examined. This resulted in weakened hospital management and leadership, reduced community participation in hospital affairs, compromised quality of services, reduced motivation among hospital staff, non-alignment of county and hospital priorities, staff insubordination, and compromised quality of care. Conclusion Increasing the autonomy of county hospitals in Kenya will improve their functioning. County governments should develop legislation that give hospitals greater control over resources and key management functions. PMID:28771558

Decentralization and centralization of healthcare resources: investigating the associations of hospital competition and number of cardiologists per hospital with mortality and resource utilization in Japan.

PubMed

Park, Sungchul; Lee, Jason; Ikai, Hiroshi; Otsubo, Tetsuya; Imanaka, Yuichi

2013-11-01

To investigate the associations of hospital competition and number of cardiologists per hospital (indicating the decentralization and centralization of healthcare resources, respectively) with 30-day in-hospital mortality, healthcare spending, and length of stay (LOS) among patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Japan. We collected data from 23,197 AMI patients admitted to 172 hospitals between 2008 and 2011. Hospital competition and number of cardiologists per hospital were analyzed as exposure variables in multilevel regression models for in-hospital mortality, healthcare spending, and LOS. Other covariates included patient, hospital, and regional variables; as well as the use of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Hospitals in competitive regions and hospitals with a higher number of cardiologists were both associated lower in-hospital mortality. Additionally, hospitals in competition regions were also associated with longer LOS durations, whereas hospitals with more cardiologists had higher spending. The use of PCI was also associated with reduced mortality, increased spending and increased LOS. Centralization of cardiologists at the hospital level and decentralization of acute hospitals at the regional level may be contributing factors for improving the quality of care in Japan. Policymakers need to strike a balance between these two approaches to improve healthcare provision and quality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross border hospital use: analysis using data linkage across four Australian states.

PubMed

Spilsbury, Katrina; Rosman, Diana; Alan, Janine; Boyd, James H; Ferrante, Anna M; Semmens, James B

2015-06-15

To determine the quality and effectiveness of national data linkage capacity by performing a proof-of-concept project investigating cross-border hospital use and hospital-related deaths. Analysis of person-level linked hospital separation and death registration data of all public and private hospital patients in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia and of public hospital patients in South Australia, totalling 7.7 million hospital patients from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2009. Counts and proportions of hospital stays and patient movement patterns. 223 262 patients (3.0%) travelled across a state border to attend hospitals, in particular, far northern and western NSW patients travelling to Queensland and SA hospitals, respectively. A further 48 575 patients (0.6%) moved their place of residence interstate between hospital visits, particularly to and from areas associated with major mining and tourism industries. Over 11 000 cross-border hospital transfers were also identified. Of patients who travelled across a state border to hospital, 2800 (1.3%) died in that hospital. An additional 496 deaths recorded in one jurisdiction occurred within 30 days of hospital separation from another jurisdiction. Access to person-level data linked across jurisdictions identified geographical hot spots of cross-border hospital use and hospital-related deaths in Australia. This has implications for planning of health service delivery and for longitudinal follow-up studies, particularly those involving mobile populations.

Financial and organizational determinants of hospital diversification into subacute care.

PubMed Central

Wheeler, J R; Burkhardt, J; Alexander, J A; Magnus, S A

1999-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To examine the financial, market, and organizational determinants of hospital diversification into subacute inpatient care by acute care hospitals in order to guide hospital managers in undertaking such diversification efforts. STUDY SETTING: All nongovernment, general, acute care, community hospitals that were operating during the years 1985 through 1991 (3,986 hospitals in total). DATA SOURCES: Cross-sectional, time-series data were drawn from the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Annual Survey of Hospitals, the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) Medicare Cost Reports, a latitude and longitude listing for all community hospital addresses, and the Area Resource File (ARF) published in 1992, which provides county level environmental variables. STUDY DESIGN: The study is longitudinal, enabling the specification of temporal patterns in conversion, causal inferences, and the treatment of right-censoring problems. The unit of analysis is the individual hospital. KEY FINDINGS: Significant differences were found in the average level of subacute care offered by investor-owned versus tax-exempt hospitals. After controlling for selection bias, financial performance, risk, size, occupancy, and other variables, IO hospitals offered 31.3 percent less subacute care than did NFP hospitals. Financial performance and risk are predictors of IO hospitals' diversification into subacute care, but not of NFP hospitals' activities in this market. Resource availability appears to expedite expansion into subacute care for both types of hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Investment criteria and strategy differ between investor-owned and tax-exempt hospitals. PMID:10201852

Factors influencing the use of registered nurse overtime in hospitals, 1995-2000.

PubMed

Berney, Barbara; Needleman, Jack; Kovner, Christine

2005-01-01

To assess nurse overtime in acute care general hospitals and the factors that influence overtime among various hospitals and in the same hospitals from year to year. Staffing data from 1995 to 2000 from 193 acute general hospitals in New York State were used to examine hospital characteristics (size, location, RN unionization, hospital ownership, and teaching status) to determine whether they were associated with nurse overtime. The average weekly overtime RNs worked was 4.5% of total hours, varying from almost none to 16.6%. At mean overtime levels, nurses were working less overtime than the mean for manufacturing workers, but, at the extreme, nurses were working more than 6 hours overtime per week. Significant differences were observed in the use of overtime by hospital ownership and by union status. Nurses in government hospitals worked less overtime than did those in nongovernment hospitals. Nurses in unionized hospitals worked slightly more overtime than did nurses in nonunionized hospitals. Hospitals varied dramatically in their overtime use. That some categories of hospitals (e.g., government-owned) used little overtime indicates that hospital management can find substitutes for overtime to meet fluctuating staffing needs. The finding that hospitals with similar characteristics varied greatly in their number of overtime hours also supported this conclusion.

The effects of health information technology adoption and hospital-physician integration on hospital efficiency.

PubMed

Cho, Na-Eun; Chang, Jongwha; Atems, Bebonchu

2014-11-01

To determine the impact of health information technology (HIT) adoption and hospital-physician integration on hospital efficiency. Using 2010 data from the American Hospital Association's (AHA) annual survey, the AHA IT survey, supplemented by the CMS Case Mix Index, and the US Census Bureau's small area income and poverty estimates, we examined how the adoption of HIT and employment of physicians affected hospital efficiency and whether they were substitutes or complements. The sample included 2173 hospitals. We employed a 2-stage approach. In the first stage, data envelopment analysis was used to estimate technical efficiency of hospitals. In the second stage, we used instrumental variable approaches, notably 2-stage least squares and the generalized method of moments, to examine the effects of IT adoption and integration on hospital efficiency. We found that HIT adoption and hospital-physician integration, when considered separately, each have statistically significant positive impacts on hospital efficiency. Also, we found that hospitals that adopted HIT with employed physicians will achieve less efficiency compared with hospitals that adopted HIT without employed physicians. Although HIT adoption and hospital-physician integration both seem to be key parts of improving hospital efficiency when one or the other is utilized individually, they can hurt hospital efficiency when utilized together.

A comparative study of the costliness of Manitoba hospitals.

PubMed

Shanahan, M; Loyd, M; Roos, N P; Brownell, M

1999-06-01

In light of ongoing discussions about health care policy, this study offered a method of calculating costs at Manitoba hospitals that compared relative costliness of inpatient care provided in each hospital. This methodology also allowed comparisons across types of hospitals-teaching, community, major rural, intermediate and small rural, as well as northern isolated facilities. Data used in this project include basic hospital information, both financial and statistical, for each of the Manitoba hospitals, hospital charge information by case from the State of Maryland, and hospital discharge abstract information for Manitoba. The data from Maryland were used to create relative cost weights (RCWs) for refined diagnostic related groups (RDRGs) and were subsequently adjusted for Manitoba length of stay. These case weights were then applied to cases in Manitoba hospitals, and several other adjustments were made for nontypical cases. This case mix system allows cost comparisons across hospitals. In general, hospital case mix costing demonstrated variability in hospital costliness, not only across types of hospitals but also within hospitals of the same type and size. Costs at the teaching hospitals were found to be considerably higher than the average, even after accounting for acuity and case mix.

[Benchmarking in patient identification: An opportunity to learn].

PubMed

Salazar-de-la-Guerra, R M; Santotomás-Pajarrón, A; González-Prieto, V; Menéndez-Fraga, M D; Rocha Hurtado, C

To perform a benchmarking on the safe identification of hospital patients involved in "Club de las tres C" (Calidez, Calidad y Cuidados) in order to prepare a common procedure for this process. A descriptive study was conducted on the patient identification process in palliative care and stroke units in 5medium-stay hospitals. The following steps were carried out: Data collection from each hospital; organisation and data analysis, and preparation of a common procedure for this process. The data obtained for the safe identification of all stroke patients were: hospital 1 (93%), hospital 2 (93.1%), hospital 3 (100%), and hospital 5 (93.4%), and for the palliative care process: hospital 1 (93%), hospital 2 (92.3%), hospital 3 (92%), hospital 4 (98.3%), and hospital 5 (85.2%). The aim of the study has been accomplished successfully. Benchmarking activities have been developed and knowledge on the patient identification process has been shared. All hospitals had good results. The hospital 3 was best in the ictus identification process. The benchmarking identification is difficult, but, a useful common procedure that collects the best practices has been identified among the 5 hospitals. Copyright © 2017 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The Role of the Curator in Modern Hospitals: A Transcontinental Perspective.

PubMed

Moss, Hilary; O'Neill, Desmond

2016-12-13

This paper explores the role of the curator in hospitals. The arts play a significant role in every society; however, recent studies indicate a neglect of the aesthetic environment of healthcare. This international study explores the complex role of the curator in modern hospitals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten arts specialists in hospitals across five countries and three continents for a qualitative, phenomenological study. Five themes arose from the data: (1) Patient involvement and influence on the arts programme in hospital (2) Understanding the role of the curator in hospital (3) Influences on arts programming in hospital (4) Types of arts programmes (5) Limitations to effective curation in hospital. Recommendations arising from the research included recognition of the specialised role of the curator in hospitals; building positive links with clinical staff to effect positive hospital arts programmes and increasing formal involvement of patients in arts planning in hospital. Hospital curation can be a vibrant arena for arts development, and the role of the hospital curator is a ground-breaking specialist role that can bring benefits to hospital life. The role of curator in hospital deserves to be supported and developed by both the arts and health sectors.

Chinese Public Attention to the Outbreak of Ebola in West Africa: Evidence from the Online Big Data Platform.

PubMed

Liu, Kui; Li, Li; Jiang, Tao; Chen, Bin; Jiang, Zhenggang; Wang, Zhengting; Chen, Yongdi; Jiang, Jianmin; Gu, Hua

2016-08-04

The outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 exerted enormous global public reaction via the Internet and social media. This study aimed to investigate and evaluate the public reaction to Ebola in China and identify the primitive correlation between possible influence factors caused by the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and Chinese public attention via Internet surveillance. Baidu Index (BDI) and Sina Micro Index (SMI) were collected from their official websites, and the disease-related data were recorded from the websites of the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and U.S. National Ministries of Health. The average BDI of Internet users in different regions were calculated to identify the public reaction to the Ebola outbreak. Spearman's rank correlation was used to check the relationship of epidemic trends with BDI and SMI. Additionally, spatio-temporal analysis and autocorrelation analysis were performed to detect the clustered areas with the high attention to the topic of "Ebola". The related news reports were collected from authoritative websites to identify potential patterns. The BDI and the SMI for "Ebola" showed a similar fluctuating trend with a correlation coefficient = 0.9 (p < 0.05). The average BDI in Beijing, Tibet, and Shanghai was higher than other cities. However, the disease-related indicators did not identify potential correlation with both indices above. A hotspot area was detected in Tibet by local autocorrelation analysis. The most likely cluster identified by spatiotemporal cluster analysis was in the northeast regions of China with the relative risk (RR) of 2.26 (p ≤ 0.01) from 30 July to 14 August in 2014. Qualitative analysis indicated that negative news could lead to a continuous increase of the public's attention until the appearance of a positive news report. Confronted with the risk of cross-border transmission of the infectious disease, online surveillance might be used as an innovative approach to perform public communication and health education through examining the public's reaction and attitude.

Clinical results with two different pharmaceutical preparations of riboflavin in corneal cross-linking: an 18-month follow up.

PubMed

Hashemi, Hassan; Seyedian, Mohammad Amin; Miraftab, Mohammad; Bahrmandy, Hooman; Sabzevari, Araz; Asgari, Soheila

2015-01-24

Comparison of long-term clinical results of two different pharmaceutical formulations used in corneal cross-linking (CXL) in keratoconus patients. Sixty eyes of 60 keratoconus patients underwent CXL in two groups. We used riboflavin preparations from Sina Darou, Iran in group A, and Streuli Pharma, Switzerland in group B. Here we made inter-group comparison of changes in vision, refraction, Pentacam indices, corneal biomechanical indices, and endothelial cell count (ECC) 18 months after CXL. Since four patients were lost to follow-up, 56 eyes (28 eyes in each group) were compared. Mean improvement in uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) was 0.31 ± 0.65 LogMAR (P=0.014) in group A and 0.24 ± 0.62 LogMAR (P=0.082) in group B. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) remained quite unchanged in both groups (P=0.774). Mean spherical refractive error reduced by 0.45 ± 1.15 diopter (D) (P=0.041) in group A and 0.27 ± 1.73 D (P=0.458) in group B (P=0.655). Cylinder error and spherical equivalent had a similar trend without any change. Max-K (P=0.006) and mean-K (P=0.044) decreased significantly more in group A compared to group B. The reduction in CCT was significantly more in group A than group B (P=0.004). Q-value was quite unchanged in both groups (P=0.704). The inter-group difference in CH reduction was borderline significant statistically (P=0.057). Changes in corneal resistance factor and endothelial cell count were not significantly different between two groups (P=0.117 and P=0.229). Clinical results of CXL with the domestic preparation of riboflavin are similar to that achieved with the Swiss made product in some aspects, and it is the preferred brand in some other aspects. This study will continue to report longer follow-up results. IRCT201212034333N2.

The use of microblog-based case studies in a pharmacotherapy introduction class in China.

PubMed

Wang, Tiansheng; Wang, Fei; Shi, Luwen

2013-09-08

Microblog is a Web 2.0 technology that provides an online social networking platform for communicating and sharing information among web users. Pharmacy educators have previously used microblog to promote active engagement of students. However, there is very little research to demonstrate how to use microblogging effectively to enhance pedagogy in a blended or face-to-face classroom environment. We used the most popular microblog website in China to create a "space" within the classroom to evaluate an interactive microblogging forum for the integration of pharmacotherapy case studies. This study is aimed to determine students' attitudes toward microblog-based case studies (MBC) in a pharmacotherapy class. We created a group on Sina Weibo, the most popular microblog website in China, to explore the possibilities of using microblog-based case discussions in pharmacy education to promote and motivate student learning. The class teaching activities began in November 2011; individual group assignments to a single case study were administered to 21 groups with a total of 126 participating pharmacy students. Each group was required to share a discussion care plan on the microblogging platform. Individual students were expected to participate in an online discussion related to at least two other group cases by posting their comments on the microblog platform. All postings were tracked and analyzed, and then a post MBC survey was administered anonymously to determine students' opinions towards MBC. A total of 126 students posted 592 messages and 112 students (89%) completed the survey. More than 80% of students agreed that MBC improved communication; nearly 70% agreed that MBC increased the amount of interaction, and over 50% found value in reading other students' messages. However, 25% students believed the collaborative learning was not effective and 22% indicated the quality of interaction was low. MBC appears to be well-accepted learning method to students in this study. Educators who wish to use MBC for pharmacy courses should balance the potential advantages, such as improving communication and the amount of interaction, with potential disadvantages, such as inefficient collaborative learning and the low quality of interaction.

Effects of annealing temperature on shape transformation and optical properties of germanium quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alireza, Samavati; Othaman, Z.; K. Ghoshal, S.; K. Mustafa, M.

2015-02-01

The influences of thermal annealing on the structural and optical features of radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtered self-assembled Ge quantum dots (QDs) on Si (100) are investigated. Preferentially oriented structures of Ge along the (220) and (111) directions together with peak shift and reduced strain (4.9% to 2.7%) due to post-annealing at 650 °C are discerned from x-ray differaction (XRD) measurement. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images for both pre-annealed and post-annealed (650 °C) samples reveal pyramidal-shaped QDs (density ˜ 0.26× 1011 cm-2) and dome-shape morphologies with relatively high density ˜ 0.92 × 1011 cm-2, respectively. This shape transformation is attributed to the mechanism of inter-diffusion of Si in Ge interfacial intermixing and strain non-uniformity. The annealing temperature assisted QDs structural evolution is explained using the theory of nucleation and growth kinetics where free energy minimization plays a pivotal role. The observed red-shift ˜ 0.05 eV in addition to the narrowing of the photoluminescence peaks results from thermal annealing, and is related to the effect of quantum confinement. Furthermore, the appearance of a blue-violet emission peak is ascribed to the recombination of the localized electrons in the Ge-QDs/SiO2 or GeOx and holes in the ground state of Ge dots. Raman spectra of both samples exhibit an intense Ge-Ge optical phonon mode which shifts towards higher frequency compared with those of the bulk counterpart. An experimental Raman profile is fitted to the models of phonon confinement and size distribution combined with phonon confinement to estimate the mean dot sizes. A correlation between thermal annealing and modifications of the structural and optical behavior of Ge QDs is established. Tunable growth of Ge QDs with superior properties suitable for optoelectronic applications is demonstrated. Project supported by Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Study, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia through Vote Q.J130000.2526.02H94, O5 and Postdoctoral Research Grant.

Modeling cascading failures with the crisis of trust in social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Chengqi; Bao, Yuanyuan; Jiang, Jingchi; Xue, Yibo

2015-10-01

In social networks, some friends often post or disseminate malicious information, such as advertising messages, informal overseas purchasing messages, illegal messages, or rumors. Too much malicious information may cause a feeling of intense annoyance. When the feeling exceeds a certain threshold, it will lead social network users to distrust these friends, which we call the crisis of trust. The crisis of trust in social networks has already become a universal concern and an urgent unsolved problem. As a result of the crisis of trust, users will cut off their relationships with some of their untrustworthy friends. Once a few of these relationships are made unavailable, it is likely that other friends will decline trust, and a large portion of the social network will be influenced. The phenomenon in which the unavailability of a few relationships will trigger the failure of successive relationships is known as cascading failure dynamics. To our best knowledge, no one has formally proposed cascading failures dynamics with the crisis of trust in social networks. In this paper, we address this potential issue, quantify the trust between two users based on user similarity, and model the minimum tolerance with a nonlinear equation. Furthermore, we construct the processes of cascading failures dynamics by considering the unique features of social networks. Based on real social network datasets (Sina Weibo, Facebook and Twitter), we adopt two attack strategies (the highest trust attack (HT) and the lowest trust attack (LT)) to evaluate the proposed dynamics and to further analyze the changes of the topology, connectivity, cascading time and cascade effect under the above attacks. We numerically find that the sparse and inhomogeneous network structure in our cascading model can better improve the robustness of social networks than the dense and homogeneous structure. However, the network structure that seems like ripples is more vulnerable than the other two network structures. Our findings will be useful in further guiding the construction of social networks to effectively avoid the cascading propagation with the crisis of trust. Some research results can help social network service providers to avoid severe cascading failures.

Chinese Public Attention to the Outbreak of Ebola in West Africa: Evidence from the Online Big Data Platform

PubMed Central

Liu, Kui; Li, Li; Jiang, Tao; Chen, Bin; Jiang, Zhenggang; Wang, Zhengting; Chen, Yongdi; Jiang, Jianmin; Gu, Hua

2016-01-01

Objective: The outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 exerted enormous global public reaction via the Internet and social media. This study aimed to investigate and evaluate the public reaction to Ebola in China and identify the primitive correlation between possible influence factors caused by the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and Chinese public attention via Internet surveillance. Methods: Baidu Index (BDI) and Sina Micro Index (SMI) were collected from their official websites, and the disease-related data were recorded from the websites of the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and U.S. National Ministries of Health. The average BDI of Internet users in different regions were calculated to identify the public reaction to the Ebola outbreak. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to check the relationship of epidemic trends with BDI and SMI. Additionally, spatio-temporal analysis and autocorrelation analysis were performed to detect the clustered areas with the high attention to the topic of “Ebola”. The related news reports were collected from authoritative websites to identify potential patterns. Results: The BDI and the SMI for “Ebola” showed a similar fluctuating trend with a correlation coefficient = 0.9 (p < 0.05). The average BDI in Beijing, Tibet, and Shanghai was higher than other cities. However, the disease-related indicators did not identify potential correlation with both indices above. A hotspot area was detected in Tibet by local autocorrelation analysis. The most likely cluster identified by spatiotemporal cluster analysis was in the northeast regions of China with the relative risk (RR) of 2.26 (p ≤ 0.01) from 30 July to 14 August in 2014. Qualitative analysis indicated that negative news could lead to a continuous increase of the public’s attention until the appearance of a positive news report. Conclusions: Confronted with the risk of cross-border transmission of the infectious disease, online surveillance might be used as an innovative approach to perform public communication and health education through examining the public’s reaction and attitude. PMID:27527196

Creating a Chinese suicide dictionary for identifying suicide risk on social media.

PubMed

Lv, Meizhen; Li, Ang; Liu, Tianli; Zhu, Tingshao

2015-01-01

Introduction. Suicide has become a serious worldwide epidemic. Early detection of individual suicide risk in population is important for reducing suicide rates. Traditional methods are ineffective in identifying suicide risk in time, suggesting a need for novel techniques. This paper proposes to detect suicide risk on social media using a Chinese suicide dictionary. Methods. To build the Chinese suicide dictionary, eight researchers were recruited to select initial words from 4,653 posts published on Sina Weibo (the largest social media service provider in China) and two Chinese sentiment dictionaries (HowNet and NTUSD). Then, another three researchers were recruited to filter out irrelevant words. Finally, remaining words were further expanded using a corpus-based method. After building the Chinese suicide dictionary, we tested its performance in identifying suicide risk on Weibo. First, we made a comparison of the performance in both detecting suicidal expression in Weibo posts and evaluating individual levels of suicide risk between the dictionary-based identifications and the expert ratings. Second, to differentiate between individuals with high and non-high scores on self-rating measure of suicide risk (Suicidal Possibility Scale, SPS), we built Support Vector Machines (SVM) models on the Chinese suicide dictionary and the Simplified Chinese Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (SCLIWC) program, respectively. After that, we made a comparison of the classification performance between two types of SVM models. Results and Discussion. Dictionary-based identifications were significantly correlated with expert ratings in terms of both detecting suicidal expression (r = 0.507) and evaluating individual suicide risk (r = 0.455). For the differentiation between individuals with high and non-high scores on SPS, the Chinese suicide dictionary (t1: F 1 = 0.48; t2: F 1 = 0.56) produced a more accurate identification than SCLIWC (t1: F 1 = 0.41; t2: F 1 = 0.48) on different observation windows. Conclusions. This paper confirms that, using social media, it is possible to implement real-time monitoring individual suicide risk in population. Results of this study may be useful to improve Chinese suicide prevention programs and may be insightful for other countries.

Creating a Chinese suicide dictionary for identifying suicide risk on social media

PubMed Central

Liu, Tianli

2015-01-01

Introduction. Suicide has become a serious worldwide epidemic. Early detection of individual suicide risk in population is important for reducing suicide rates. Traditional methods are ineffective in identifying suicide risk in time, suggesting a need for novel techniques. This paper proposes to detect suicide risk on social media using a Chinese suicide dictionary. Methods. To build the Chinese suicide dictionary, eight researchers were recruited to select initial words from 4,653 posts published on Sina Weibo (the largest social media service provider in China) and two Chinese sentiment dictionaries (HowNet and NTUSD). Then, another three researchers were recruited to filter out irrelevant words. Finally, remaining words were further expanded using a corpus-based method. After building the Chinese suicide dictionary, we tested its performance in identifying suicide risk on Weibo. First, we made a comparison of the performance in both detecting suicidal expression in Weibo posts and evaluating individual levels of suicide risk between the dictionary-based identifications and the expert ratings. Second, to differentiate between individuals with high and non-high scores on self-rating measure of suicide risk (Suicidal Possibility Scale, SPS), we built Support Vector Machines (SVM) models on the Chinese suicide dictionary and the Simplified Chinese Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (SCLIWC) program, respectively. After that, we made a comparison of the classification performance between two types of SVM models. Results and Discussion. Dictionary-based identifications were significantly correlated with expert ratings in terms of both detecting suicidal expression (r = 0.507) and evaluating individual suicide risk (r = 0.455). For the differentiation between individuals with high and non-high scores on SPS, the Chinese suicide dictionary (t1: F1 = 0.48; t2: F1 = 0.56) produced a more accurate identification than SCLIWC (t1: F1 = 0.41; t2: F1 = 0.48) on different observation windows. Conclusions. This paper confirms that, using social media, it is possible to implement real-time monitoring individual suicide risk in population. Results of this study may be useful to improve Chinese suicide prevention programs and may be insightful for other countries. PMID:26713232

42 CFR 486.322 - Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... access hospitals, and tissue banks. 486.322 Section 486.322 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID... Measures § 486.322 Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks. (a... hospital and critical access hospital staff. (c) Standard: Cooperation with tissue banks. (1) The OPO must...

42 CFR 486.322 - Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... access hospitals, and tissue banks. 486.322 Section 486.322 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID... Measures § 486.322 Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks. (a... hospital and critical access hospital staff. (c) Standard: Cooperation with tissue banks. (1) The OPO must...

42 CFR 486.322 - Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... access hospitals, and tissue banks. 486.322 Section 486.322 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID... Measures § 486.322 Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks. (a... hospital and critical access hospital staff. (c) Standard: Cooperation with tissue banks. (1) The OPO must...

42 CFR 486.322 - Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... access hospitals, and tissue banks. 486.322 Section 486.322 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID... Measures § 486.322 Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks. (a... hospital and critical access hospital staff. (c) Standard: Cooperation with tissue banks. (1) The OPO must...

42 CFR 486.322 - Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... access hospitals, and tissue banks. 486.322 Section 486.322 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID... Measures § 486.322 Condition: Relationships with hospitals, critical access hospitals, and tissue banks. (a... hospital and critical access hospital staff. (c) Standard: Cooperation with tissue banks. (1) The OPO must...

42 CFR 412.331 - Determining hospital-specific rates in cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. 412.331 Section 412.331 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE... cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. (a) New hospital merger or consolidation. If... dissolution. If a hospital separates into two or more hospitals that are subject to capital payments under...

42 CFR 412.331 - Determining hospital-specific rates in cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. 412.331 Section 412.331 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE... cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. (a) New hospital merger or consolidation. If... dissolution. If a hospital separates into two or more hospitals that are subject to capital payments under...

42 CFR 412.331 - Determining hospital-specific rates in cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. 412.331 Section 412.331 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE... cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. (a) New hospital merger or consolidation. If... dissolution. If a hospital separates into two or more hospitals that are subject to capital payments under...

42 CFR 412.331 - Determining hospital-specific rates in cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. 412.331 Section 412.331 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE... cases of hospital merger, consolidation, or dissolution. (a) New hospital merger or consolidation. If... dissolution. If a hospital separates into two or more hospitals that are subject to capital payments under...

76 FR 51475 - Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-18

... Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment... Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective...-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with...

78 FR 50495 - Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-19

... Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long Term Care; Hospital Prospective Payment... Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective... prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to...

75 FR 50041 - Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-16

... Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment... Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment... inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals...

The Role of Hospital Information Systems in Universal Health Coverage Monitoring in Rwanda.

PubMed

Karara, Gustave; Verbeke, Frank; Nyssen, Marc

2015-01-01

In this retrospective study, the authors monitored the patient health coverage in 6 Rwandan hospitals in the period between 2011 and 2014. Among the 6 hospitals, 2 are third level hospitals, 2 district hospitals and 2 private hospitals. Patient insurance and financial data were extracted and analyzed from OpenClinic GA, an open source hospital information system (HIS) used in those 6 hospitals. The percentage of patients who had no health insurer globally decreased from 35% in 2011 to 15% in 2014. The rate of health insurance coverage in hospitals varied between 75% in private hospitals and 84% in public hospitals. The amounts paid by the patients for health services decreased in private hospitals to 25% of the total costs in 2014 (-7.4%) and vary between 14% and 19% in public hospitals. Although the number of insured patients has increased and the patient share decreased over the four years of study, the patients' out-of-pocket payments increased especially for in-patients. This study emphasizes the value of integrated hospital information systems for this kind of health economics research in developing countries.

Uncompensated care provided by for-profit, not-for-profit, and government owned hospitals.

PubMed

Cram, Peter; Bayman, Levent; Popescu, Ioana; Vaughan-Sarrazin, Mary S; Cai, Xueya; Rosenthal, Gary E

2010-04-07

There is growing concern certain not-for-profit hospitals are not providing enough uncompensated care to justify their tax exempt status. Our objective was to compare the amount of uncompensated care provided by not-for-profit (NFP), for-profit (FP) and government owned hospitals. We used 2005 state inpatient data (SID) for 10 states to identify patients hospitalized for three common conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), or childbirth. Uncompensated care was measured as the proportion of each hospital's total admissions for each condition that were classified as being uninsured. Hospitals were categorized as NFP, FP, or government owned based upon data obtained from the American Hospital Association. We used bivariate methods to compare the proportion of uninsured patients admitted to NFP, FP and government hospitals for each diagnosis. We then used generalized linear mixed models to compare the percentage of uninsured in each category of hospital after adjusting for the socioeconomic status of the markets each hospital served. Our cohort consisted of 188,117 patients (1,054 hospitals) hospitalized for AMI, 82,261 patients (245 hospitals) for CABG, and 1,091,220 patients for childbirth (793 hospitals). The percentage of admissions classified as uninsured was lower in NFP hospitals than in FP or government hospitals for AMI (4.6% NFP; 6.0% FP; 9.5% government; P < .001), CABG (2.6% NFP; 3.3% FP; 7.0% government; P < .001), and childbirth (3.1% NFP; 4.2% FP; 11.8% government; P < .001). In adjusted analyses, the mean percentage of AMI patients classified as uninsured was similar in NFP and FP hospitals (4.4% vs. 4.3%; P = 0.71), and higher for government hospitals (6.0%; P < .001 for NFP vs. government). Likewise, results demonstrated similar proportions of uninsured patients in NFP and FP hospitals and higher levels of uninsured in government hospitals for both CABG and childbirth. For the three conditions studied NFP and FP hospitals appear to provide a similar amount of uncompensated care while government hospitals provide significantly more. Concerns about the amount of uncompensated care provided by NFP hospitals appear warranted.

Customer awareness and preferences toward competing hospital services.

PubMed

Woodside, A; Shinn, R

1988-03-01

Does unaided awareness of a hospital affect former patients' preferences for and intention to use the medical services of that hospital? Do customer preferences toward hospitals influence their intentions to use the medical services of those hospitals? To what extent does satisfaction with previous hospital stays affect former patients' intentions to return to the same hospital? The authors provide some tentative answers to these questions. The results of an exploratory field study of former inpatients of one hospital are reported. Several recommendations for research and hospital marketing strategies are provided.

Hospital sector choice and support for public hospital care in New Zealand: Results from a labeled discrete choice survey.

PubMed

Brown, Paul; Panattoni, Laura; Cameron, Linda; Knox, Stephanie; Ashton, Toni; Tenbensel, Tim; Windsor, John

2015-09-01

This study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to measure patients' preferences for public and private hospital care in New Zealand. A labeled DCE was administered to 583 members of the general public, with the choice between a public and private hospital for a non-urgent surgery. The results suggest that cost of surgery, waiting times for surgery, option to select a surgeon, convenience, and conditions of the hospital ward are important considerations for patients. The most important determinant of hospital choice was whether it was a public or private hospital, with respondents far more likely to choose a public hospital than a private hospital. The results have implications for government policy toward using private hospitals to clear waiting lists in public hospitals, with these results suggesting the public might not be indifferent to policies that treat private hospitals as substitutes for public hospitals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Measuring distance through dense weighted networks: The case of hospital-associated pathogens

PubMed Central

Smieszek, Timo; Henderson, Katherine L.; Johnson, Alan P.

2017-01-01

Hospital networks, formed by patients visiting multiple hospitals, affect the spread of hospital-associated infections, resulting in differences in risks for hospitals depending on their network position. These networks are increasingly used to inform strategies to prevent and control the spread of hospital-associated pathogens. However, many studies only consider patients that are received directly from the initial hospital, without considering the effect of indirect trajectories through the network. We determine the optimal way to measure the distance between hospitals within the network, by reconstructing the English hospital network based on shared patients in 2014–2015, and simulating the spread of a hospital-associated pathogen between hospitals, taking into consideration that each intermediate hospital conveys a delay in the further spread of the pathogen. While the risk of transferring a hospital-associated pathogen between directly neighbouring hospitals is a direct reflection of the number of shared patients, the distance between two hospitals far-away in the network is determined largely by the number of intermediate hospitals in the network. Because the network is dense, most long distance transmission chains in fact involve only few intermediate steps, spreading along the many weak links. The dense connectivity of hospital networks, together with a strong regional structure, causes hospital-associated pathogens to spread from the initial outbreak in a two-step process: first, the directly surrounding hospitals are affected through the strong connections, second all other hospitals receive introductions through the multitude of weaker links. Although the strong connections matter for local spread, weak links in the network can offer ideal routes for hospital-associated pathogens to travel further faster. This hold important implications for infection prevention and control efforts: if a local outbreak is not controlled in time, colonised patients will appear in other regions, irrespective of the distance to the initial outbreak, making import screening ever more difficult. PMID:28771581

Rural versus urban academic hospital mortality following stroke in Canada.

PubMed

Fleet, Richard; Bussières, Sylvain; Tounkara, Fatoumata Korika; Turcotte, Stéphane; Légaré, France; Plant, Jeff; Poitras, Julien; Archambault, Patrick M; Dupuis, Gilles

2018-01-01

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in Canada. While stroke care has improved dramatically over the last decade, outcomes following stroke among patients treated in rural hospitals have not yet been reported in Canada. To describe variation in 30-day post-stroke in-hospital mortality rates between rural and urban academic hospitals in Canada. We also examined 24/7 in-hospital access to CT scanners and selected services in rural hospitals. We included Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data on adjusted 30-day in-hospital mortality following stroke from 2007 to 2011 for all acute care hospitals in Canada excluding Quebec and the Territories. We categorized rural hospitals as those located in rural small towns providing 24/7 emergency physician coverage with inpatient beds. Urban hospitals were academic centres designated as Level 1 or 2 trauma centres. We computed descriptive data on local access to a CT scanner and other services and compared mean 30-day adjusted post-stroke mortality rates for rural and urban hospitals to the overall Canadian rate. A total of 286 rural hospitals (3.4 million emergency department (ED) visits/year) and 24 urban hospitals (1.5 million ED visits/year) met inclusion criteria. From 2007 to 2011, 30-day in-hospital mortality rates following stroke were significantly higher in rural than in urban hospitals and higher than the Canadian average for every year except 2008 (rural average range = 18.26 to 21.04 and urban average range = 14.11 to 16.78). Only 11% of rural hospitals had a CT-scanner, 1% had MRI, 21% had in-hospital ICU, 94% had laboratory and 92% had basic x-ray facilities. Rural hospitals in Canada had higher 30-day in-hospital mortality rates following stroke than urban academic hospitals and the Canadian average. Rural hospitals also have very limited local access to CT scanners and ICUs. These rural/urban discrepancies are cause for concern in the context of Canada's universal health care system.

Hospital markup and operation outcomes in the United States.

PubMed

Gani, Faiz; Ejaz, Aslam; Makary, Martin A; Pawlik, Timothy M

2016-07-01

Although the price hospitals charge for operations has broad financial implications, hospital pricing is not subject to regulation. We sought to characterize national variation in hospital price markup for major cardiothoracic and gastrointestinal operations and to evaluate perioperative outcomes of hospitals relative to hospital price markup. All hospitals in which a patient underwent a cardiothoracic or gastrointestinal procedure were identified using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for 2012. Markup ratios (ratio of charges to costs) for the total cost of hospitalization were compared across hospitals. Risk-adjusted morbidity, failure-to-rescue, and mortality were calculated using multivariable, hierarchical logistic regression. Among the 3,498 hospitals identified, markup ratios ranged from 0.5-12.2, with a median markup ratio of 2.8 (interquartile range 2.7-3.9). For the 888 hospitals with extreme markup (greatest markup ratio quartile: markup ratio >3.9), the median markup ratio was 4.9 (interquartile range 4.3-6.0), with 10% of these hospitals billing more than 7 times the Medicare-allowable costs (markup ratio ≥7.25). Extreme markup hospitals were more often large (46.3% vs 33.8%, P < .001), urban, nonteaching centers (57.0% vs 37.9%, P < .001), and located in the Southern (46.4% vs 32.8%, P < .001) or Western (27.8% vs 17.6%, P < .001) regions of the United States. Of the 639 investor-owned, for-profit hospitals, 401 hospitals (62.8%) had an extreme markup ratio compared with 19.3% (n = 452) and 6.8% (n = 35) of nonprofit and government hospitals, respectively. Perioperative morbidity (32.7% vs 26.4%, P < .001) was greater at extreme markup hospitals. There is wide variation in hospital markup for cardiothoracic and gastrointestinal procedures, with approximately a quarter of hospital charges being 4 times greater than the actual cost of hospitalization. Hospitals with an extreme markup had greater perioperative morbidity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparing safety climate in naval aviation and hospitals: implications for improving patient safety.

PubMed

Singer, Sara J; Rosen, Amy; Zhao, Shibei; Ciavarelli, Anthony P; Gaba, David M

2010-01-01

Evidence of variation in safety climate suggests the need for improvement among at least some hospitals. However, comparisons only among hospitals may underestimate the improvement required. Comparison of hospitals with analogous industries may provide a broader perspective on the safety status of our nation's hospitals. The purpose of this study was to compare safety climate among hospital workers with personnel from naval aviation, an organization that operates with high reliability despite intrinsically hazardous conditions. We surveyed a random sample of health care workers in 67 U.S. hospitals and, for generalizability, 30 veterans affairs hospitals using questions comparable with those posed at approximately the same time (2007) to a census of personnel from 35 squadrons of U.S. naval aviators. We received 13,841 (41%) completed surveys in U.S. hospitals, 5,511 (50%) in veterans affairs hospitals, and 14,854 (82%) among naval aviators. We examined differences in respondents' perceptions of safety climate at their institution overall and for 16 individual items. Safety climate was three times better on average among naval aviators than among hospital personnel. Naval aviators perceived a safer climate (up to seven times safer) than hospital personnel with respect to each of the 16 survey items. Compared with hospital managers, naval commanders perceived climate more like frontline personnel did. When contrasting naval aviators with hospital personnel working in comparably hazardous areas, safety climate discrepancies increased rather than decreased. One individual hospital performed as well as naval aviation on average, and at least one hospital outperformed the Navy benchmark for all but three individual survey items. Results suggest that hospitals have not sufficiently created a uniform priority of safety. However, if each hospital performed as well as the top-performing hospital in each area measured, hospitals could achieve safety climate levels comparable with naval aviation. Major interventions to bolster hospital safety climate continue to be required to improve patient safety.

Charity care: do not-for-profits influence for-profits?

PubMed

Clement, Jan P; White, Kenneth R; Valdmanis, Vivian

2002-03-01

This study further examines whether not-for-profit hospitals exert pressure on for-profit hospitals to provide charity care and whether for-profit hospitals react differently than not-for-profit hospitals to managed care pressures and hospital competition in providing charity care. A two equation model is estimated using 1996 data from California hospitals. The results indicate that in mixed ownership markets, for-profit hospitals provide significantly less charity care as not-for-profit hospitals in the market provide more. Unexpectedly, study for-profit hospitals were not more influenced by price competition than other hospitals with respect to charity care. Having a unique role in providing charity care may justify continuing tax exemption for not-for-profit hospitals and enhance interest in payment and other policies with regard to conversions to ensure that not-for-profit hospitals continue to be represented in market areas.

[The role of patient flow and surge capacity for in-hospital response in mass casualty events].

PubMed

Sefrin, Peter; Kuhnigk, Herbert

2008-03-01

Mass casualty events make demands on emergency services and disaster control. However, optimized in- hospital response defines the quality of definitive care. Therefore, German federal law governs the role of hospitals in mass casualty incidents. In hospital casualty surge is depending on resources that have to be expanded with a practicable alarm plan. Thus, in-hospital mass casualty management planning is recommended to be organized by specialized persons. To minimise inhospital patient overflow casualty surge principles have to be implemented in both, pre-hospital and in-hospital disaster planning. World soccer championship 2006 facilitated the initiation of surge and damage control principles in in-hospital disaster planning strategies for German hospitals. The presented concept of strict control of in-hospital patient flow using surge principles minimises the risk of in-hospital breakdown and increases definitive hospital treatment capacity in mass casualty incidents.

The association of strategic group and organizational culture with hospital performance in China.

PubMed

Xue, Di; Zhou, Ping; Bundorf, M Kate; Huang, Jin Xin; Chang, Ji Le

2013-01-01

The policy environment in China is rapidly changing. Strategic planning may enable hospitals to respond more effectively to changes in their external environment, little evidence exists on the extent to which public hospitals in China adopt different strategies and the relationship between strategic decision-making and hospital performance. The purposes of our study were to determine the extent to which different hospitals adopt different strategies, whether strategies are associated with organizational culture and whether hospital strategies are associated with hospital performance. Presidents (or vice presidents), employees, and patients from 87 public hospitals were surveyed during 2009. Measures of strategic group were developed using cluster analysis based on the three dimensions of product position, competitive posture, and market position. Culture was measured using a tool developed by the investigators. Performance was measured based on profitability, patient satisfaction, and employee satisfaction with overall hospital development in the recent 5 years. The association of strategic group and organizational culture with hospital performance was analyzed using multivariate models. Chinese public general hospitals were classified into five strategic groups that had significant differences in product positioning, competitive posture, and market position. Hospitals of similar types based on regulation adopted different strategies. Organizational culture was not strongly associated with hospital strategic group. Although strategic group was associated with hospital profitability and patient satisfaction in the models with or without control for hospital location, these effects did not persist after controlling for organizational culture, hospital level, and hospital location. It is important for public hospitals in China to make effective strategic planning and align their organizational culture with the strategies for better execution and therefore better performance. Moreover, the method of hospital strategic grouping in the study provides a new way to analyze management issues within a strategic group and between strategic groups.

An Intervention to Increase Availability of Healthy Foods and Beverages in New York City Hospitals: The Healthy Hospital Food Initiative, 2010–2014

PubMed Central

Krepp, Erica M.; Johnson Curtis, Christine; Lederer, Ashley

2016-01-01

Background Hospitals serve millions of meals and snacks each year; however, hospital food is often unhealthy. Hospitals are ideal settings for modeling healthy eating, but few programs have sought to improve nutrition in all venues where food is served. Community Context The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene created the Healthy Hospital Food Initiative (HHFI) to improve the healthfulness of food served in hospitals. The HHFI built on prior work implementing mandatory nutrition standards for patient meals and vending in public hospitals. Public hospitals joined the HHFI by voluntarily adopting standards for cafeterias and cafés. Private hospitals joined by implementing nutrition standards for patient meals, food and beverage vending machines, and cafeterias and cafés. Methods Hospitals were recruited from 2010 through 2014 and provided technical assistance from health department staff. Implementation in each of the 4 areas was monitored through on-site assessments and menu review. Twenty-eight hospital cafeterias and cafés were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the HHFI to assess changes. Outcome Sixteen public hospitals and 24 private hospitals joined the HHFI. Most (n = 18) private hospitals implemented standards in at least 2 areas. In cafeterias, most hospitals introduced a healthy value meal (n = 19), removed unhealthy items from the entrance and checkout (n = 18), increased whole grains to at least half of all grains served (n = 17), and reduced calories in pastries and desserts (n = 15). Interpretation Most New York City hospitals joined the HHFI and voluntarily adopted rigorous nutrition standards. Partnerships between hospitals and local government are feasible and can lead to significant improvements in hospital food environments. PMID:27281392

Impact of Hospital Variables on Case Mix Index as a Marker of Disease Severity

PubMed Central

Mendez, Carmen M.; Harrington, Darrell W.; Christenson, Peter

2014-01-01

Abstract Case mix index (CMI) has become a standard indicator of hospital disease severity in the United States and internationally. However, CMI was designed to calculate hospital payments, not to track disease severity, and is highly dependent on documentation and coding accuracy. The authors evaluated whether CMI varied by characteristics affecting hospitals' disease severity (eg, trauma center or not). The authors also evaluated whether CMI was lower at public hospitals than private hospitals, given the diminished financial resources to support documentation enhancement at public hospitals. CMI data for a 14-year period from a large public database were analyzed longitudinally and cross-sectionally to define the impact of hospital variables on average CMI within and across hospital groups. Between 1996 and 2007, average CMI declined by 0.4% for public hospitals, while rising significantly for private for-profit (14%) and nonprofit (6%) hospitals. After the introduction of the Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG) system in 2007, average CMI increased for all 3 hospital types but remained lowest in public vs. private for-profit or nonprofit hospitals (1.05 vs. 1.25 vs. 1.20; P<0.0001). By multivariate analysis, teaching hospitals, level 1 trauma centers, and larger hospitals had higher average CMI, consistent with a marker of disease severity, but only for private hospitals. Public hospitals had lower CMI across all subgroups. Although CMI had some characteristics of a disease severity marker, it was lower across all strata for public hospitals. Hence, caution is warranted when using CMI to adjust for disease severity across public vs. private hospitals. (Population Health Management 2014;17:28–34) PMID:23965045

Substantial shifts in ranking of California hospitals by hospital-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection following adjustment for hospital characteristics and case mix.

PubMed

Tehrani, David M; Phelan, Michael J; Cao, Chenghua; Billimek, John; Datta, Rupak; Nguyen, Hoanglong; Kwark, Homin; Huang, Susan S

2014-10-01

States have established public reporting of hospital-associated (HA) infections-including those of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-but do not account for hospital case mix or postdischarge events. Identify facility-level characteristics associated with HA-MRSA infection admissions and create adjusted hospital rankings. A retrospective cohort study of 2009-2010 California acute care hospitals. We defined HA-MRSA admissions as involving MRSA pneumonia or septicemia events arising during hospitalization or within 30 days after discharge. We used mandatory hospitalization and US Census data sets to generate hospital population characteristics by summarizing across admissions. Facility-level factors associated with hospitals' proportions of HA-MRSA infection admissions were identified using generalized linear models. Using state methodology, hospitals were categorized into 3 tiers of HA-MRSA infection prevention performance, using raw and adjusted values. Among 323 hospitals, a median of 16 HA-MRSA infections (range, 0-102) per 10,000 admissions was found. Hospitals serving a greater proportion of patients who had serious comorbidities, were from low-education zip codes, and were discharged to locations other than home were associated with higher HA-MRSA infection risk. Total concordance between all raw and adjusted hospital rankings was 0.45 (95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.51). Among 53 community hospitals in the poor-performance category, more than 20% moved into the average-performance category after adjustment. Similarly, among 71 hospitals in the superior-performance category, half moved into the average-performance category after adjustment. When adjusting for nonmodifiable facility characteristics and case mix, hospital rankings based on HA-MRSA infections substantially changed. Quality indicators for hospitals require adequate adjustment for patient population characteristics for valid interhospital performance comparisons.

Can National Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) Data Differentiate Hospitals in the United States?

PubMed

Masnick, Max; Morgan, Daniel J; Sorkin, John D; Macek, Mark D; Brown, Jessica P; Rheingans, Penny; Harris, Anthony D

2017-10-01

OBJECTIVE To determine whether patients using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website (http://medicare.gov/hospitalcompare) can use nationally reported healthcare-associated infection (HAI) data to differentiate hospitals. DESIGN Secondary analysis of publicly available HAI data for calendar year 2013. METHODS We assessed the availability of HAI data for geographically proximate hospitals (ie, hospitals within the same referral region) and then analyzed these data to determine whether they are useful to differentiate hospitals. We assessed data for the 6 HAIs reported by hospitals to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RESULTS Data were analyzed for 4,561 hospitals representing 88% of registered community and federal government hospitals in the United States. Healthcare-associated infection data are only useful for comparing hospitals if they are available for multiple hospitals within a geographic region. We found that data availability differed by HAI. Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) data were most available, with 82% of geographic regions (ie, hospital referral regions) having >50% of hospitals reporting them. In contrast, 4% of geographic regions had >50% of member hospitals reporting surgical site infections (SSI) for hysterectomies, which had the lowest availability. The ability of HAI data to differentiate hospitals differed by HAI: 72% of hospital referral regions had at least 1 pair of hospitals with statistically different risk-adjusted CDI rates (SIRs), compared to 9% for SSI (hysterectomy). CONCLUSIONS HAI data generally are reported by enough hospitals to meet minimal criteria for useful comparisons in many geographic locations, though this varies by type of HAI. CDI and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) are more likely to differentiate hospitals than the other publicly reported HAIs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1167-1171.

The effect of chain membership on hospital costs.

PubMed Central

Menke, T J

1997-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cost structures of hospitals in multihospital systems and independently owned hospitals. DATA SOURCES: The American Hospital Association's Annual Survey from 1990 for data on hospital costs and attributes. Area characteristics came from the Area Resource File, and the Medicare case-mix index came from the Health Care Financing Administration. Data on wages are from the Bureau of the Census' State and Metropolitan Area Data Book. The Guide to Hospital Performance from HCIA, Inc. provided data on quality of care. STUDY DESIGN: Separate cost functions were estimated for chain and independent hospitals. Hybrid translog cost functions included measures of outputs, input prices, and hospital and area characteristics. The estimation method accounted for the simultaneous determination of costs and chain membership, and for any nonrandom selection of hospitals into chains. Several economic cost measures were calculated to compare the cost structures of the two types of hospitals. DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: Data from all sources were merged at the hospital level to form the study sample. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Hospitals in multihospital systems were less costly than independently owned hospitals. Among independent hospitals, for-profits had the highest costs. There were no statistically significant differences in costs by ownership among chain members. Economies of scale were enjoyed in both types of hospitals only at high volumes of output, while economies of scope occurred at all volumes for chain hospitals, but only at low and medium volumes for independent hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides support for the idea that growth of the multihospital system sector can provide a market solution to the problem of constraining costs. It does not, however, support the property rights theory that proprietary hospitals are more efficient than nonprofit hospitals. PMID:9180615

In-hospital mortality for children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome after stage I surgical palliation: teaching versus nonteaching hospitals.

PubMed

Berry, Jay G; Cowley, Collin G; Hoff, Charles J; Srivastava, Rajendu

2006-04-01

Teaching hospitals are perceived to provide a higher quality of care for the treatment of rare disease and complex patients. A substantial proportion of stage I palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) may be performed in nonteaching hospitals. This study compares the in-hospital mortality of stage I palliation between teaching and nonteaching hospitals. The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Kids' Inpatient Database 1997 and 2000. Patients with HLHS undergoing stage I palliation were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnostic and procedural codes. Seven hundred fifty-four and 880 discharges of children with HLHS undergoing stage I palliation in 1997 and 2000, respectively, were identified. The in-hospital mortality for the study population was 28% in 1997 and 24% in 2000. Twenty percent of stage I palliation operations were performed in nonteaching hospitals in 1997. Two percent of operations were performed in nonteaching hospitals in 2000. In 1997 only, in-hospital mortality remained higher in nonteaching hospitals after controlling for stage I palliation hospital volume and condition-severity diagnoses. Low-volume hospitals performing stage I palliation were associated with increased in-hospital mortality in 1997 and 2000. Patients with HLHS undergoing stage I palliation in nonteaching hospitals experienced increased in-hospital mortality in 1997. A significant reduction in the number of stage I palliation procedures performed in nonteaching hospitals occurred between 1997 and 2000. This centralization of stage I palliation into teaching hospitals, along with advances in postoperative medical and surgical care for these children, was associated with a decrease in mortality. Patients in low-volume hospitals performing stage I palliation continued to experience increased mortality in 2000.