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The benefits of tracking, identifying, measuring features of interest from structure responses have endless applications for saving cost, time and improving safety. To date, structural health monitoring (SHM) has been extensively applied in several fields, such as aerospace, automotive, and mechanical engineering. However, the focus of this paper is to provide a comprehensive up-to-date review of civil engineering structures such as buildings, bridges, and other infrastructures. For this reason, this article commences with a concise introduction to the fundamental definitions of SHM. The next section presents the general concepts and factors that determine the best strategy to be employed for SHM. Afterward, a thorough review of the most prevalent anomaly detection approaches, from classic techniques to advanced methods, is presented. Subsequently, some popular benchmarks, including laboratory specimens and real structures for validating the proposed methodologies, are demonstrated and discussed. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of each method are summarized, which can be helpful in future studies.

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a growing global health problem with faster progression in developing countries such as Iran. Here we aimed to evaluate the prevalence and determinants of CKD stage III+. Methods This research is part of the Khuzestan Comprehensive Health Study (KCHS), a large observational population-based cross-sectional study in which 30,041 participants aged 20 to 65 were enrolled. CKD was determined with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 60 ml/min/1.73m2, based on two equations of Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) and Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI). The multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the CKD stage III+ determinants. Results Prevalence of CKD stage III+ is estimated to be 7.1, 5.5, and 5.4% based on MDRD, CKD-EPI, and combination of both equations, respectively. More than 89% of CKD subjects aged higher than 40 years. In regression analysis, age more than 40 years had the strongest association with CKD stage III+ probability (OR: 8.23, 95% CI: 6.91–9.18). Higher wealth score, hypertension, High-Density Lipoprotein levels less than 40 mg/dl, and higher waist to hip ratio were all associated with CKD stage III+ while Arab ethnicity showed a protective effect (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57–0.78). Conclusion Our findings provide detailed information on the CKD stage III+ and its determinants in the southwest region of Iran. Due to strong association between age and CKD stage III+, within a few decades we might expect a huge rise in the CKD prevalence.

A temperature-related seizure is a febrile seizure that affects the QT interval. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in the QT interval caused by febrile convulsion compared with healthy children. Method This case-control study considered the distribution of 180 children equally shared between patients and controls. The study was conducted at the "Ali Ebne Abi Talib" Hospital in Zahedan, Iran. The disease diagnosed and confirmed based on standard definitions of febrile convulsion. QT interval measured by ECG and interpreted by a pediatric cardiologist and collected data were analyzed with SPSS 19 considering 0.05 as significant error. Results Among the ECG parameters, HR, R in aVL, S in V3, LVM, QTd, QTc and QTcd were significantly different in children with febrile convulsion compared to the peers. From those who had abnormal QTd, FC children were more frequented but not significant (CHI SQUARE=1.053, p=0.248), when children with FC were more in abnormality regarding QTc (CHI SQUARE=13.032, p24 months (p>0.05). LVM had the highest value in the age group of >24 months significantly (CHI SQUARE= 52.674, P0.05). Conclusion From the study concluded that dispersion corrected QT, corrected QT and dispersion QT changed significantly in children with febrile convulsion in comparing with the healthy children but with constant values in children with FC in different age groups.

Objectives: To compare conventional echocardiography, aortic elasticity and lipid profiles in overweight or obese children with healthy controls. Methodology: This case control study was conducted on 49 obese or overweight children aged 4 to 16 years, equally matched in age and sex of control that were normal regarding body mass index. Echocardiography and aortic elasticity findings measured for both groups and lipid profiles measured for overweight or obese children only. Data analyzed by SPSS 20 considering 0.05 as significant level. Results: Most of the echocardiography findings such as LVDS(P130. Those who had abnormal LDL (>130) had lower value of AOS (p=0.017). Systolic BP was correlated with AD (p=0.007), Diastolic BP with AS beta Index (p=0.006), AoD with AS (p=0.002), with AD (p

Concrete columns are the most important load-bearing components in civil structures. The potential damage in reinforced concrete (RC) columns could be categorized into three different failure modes: flexural shear (FS) failure, flexural-failure (FF), and shear failure (SF). The corresponding hysteresis loops for each mode differ significantly. Therefore, a multi-parameter hysteretic restoring force model is needed to describe the hysteretic energy dissipation phenomenon and behavior. Identification of the optimal parameter values of a multi-parameter hysteresis model of RC columns under different failure modes is essential in the evaluation of structural inelastic seismic performance. In this paper, a multi-objective optimization algorithm called NSGA-II is employed to identify the parameters of Bouc–Wen–Baber–Noori model (BWBN) hysteresis model, this model has been used for describing the response and modelling restoring force behavior in several structural and mechanical engineering systems, that can fully describe the hysteretic restoring force characteristics of RC columns. An objective function for the restoring force is proposed to identify the parameters of BWBN model. In order to ensure the accuracy of identification, based on the sensitivity analysis, the parameters distribution law of RC columns in different failure modes is obtained. Furthermore, the reference values under different failure modes are proposed. The results presented in this paper will significantly reduce the calculation of subsequent identification. Twelve groups of experimental data are randomly selected to verify the feasibility of the above algorithm. It is demonstrated that using the multi-objective optimization algorithm leads to better identification accuracy with minimum prior experience. Performance of the algorithm is verified using simulated and experimental data. The experimental data of the RC columns were collected from the database of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center.

A critical problem encountered in structural health monitoring of civil engineering structures, and other structures such as mechanical or aircraft structures, is how to convincingly analyze the nonstationary data that is coming online, how to reduce the high-dimensional features, and how to extract informative features associated with damage to infer structural conditions. Wavelet transform among other techniques has proven to be an effective technique for processing and analyzing nonstationary data due to its unique characteristics. However, the biggest challenge frequently encountered in assuring the effectiveness of wavelet transform in analyzing massive nonstationary data from civil engineering structures, and in structural health diagnosis, is how to select the right wavelet. The question of which wavelet function is appropriate for processing and analyzing the nonstationary data in civil engineering structures has not been clearly addressed, and no clear guidelines or rules have been reported in the literature to show how the right wavelet is chosen. Therefore, this study aims to address an important question in this regard by proposing a new framework for choosing a proper wavelet that can be customized for massive nonstationary data analysis, disturbances separation, and extraction of informative features associated with damage. The proposed method takes into account data type, data and wavelet characteristics, similarity, sharing information, and data recovery accuracy. The novelty of this study lies in integrating multi-criteria which are associated directly with features that correlated well with change in structures due to damage, including common criteria such as energy, entropy, linear correlation index, and variance. Also, it introduces and considers new proposed measures, such as wavelet-based nonlinear correlation such as cosh spectral distance and mutual information, wavelet-based energy fluctuation, measures-based recovery accuracy, such as sensitive feature extraction, noise reduction, and others to evaluate various base wavelets’ function capabilities for appropriate decomposition and reconstruction of structural dynamic responses. The proposed method is verified by experimental and simulated data. The results revealed that the proposed method has a satisfactory performance for base wavelet selection and the small order of Daubechies and Symlet provide the best results, especially order 3. The idea behind our proposed framework can be applied to other structural applications.

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how assessment of seismic vulnerability can be effective in protection against earthquakes. Findings are reported from a case study in a densely populated urban area near an active fault, utilizing practical methods and exact engineering data. Vulnerability factors were determined due to technical considerations, and a field campaign was performed to collect the required data. Multi-criteria decision making was carried out by means of an analytical hierarchy process including a fuzzy standardization. Earthquake scenarios were applied through an implicit vulnerability model. GIS was utilized and the results were analyzed by classifying the state of vulnerability in levels as very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Seismic resilience was evaluated as vulnerabilities below the moderate state, being about 40% in an intensity of 6 Mercalli and less than 10% in 10 Mercalli. It is concluded that seismic resilience in the area studied is not acceptable, the area is vulnerable in the expected scenarios, and due to the high seismicity of the region, proper crisis management planning is required in parallel with attempts toward retrofitting. In this regard, an emergency map was developed with reference to the assessed vulnerabilities.

Aims Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death in the world. Many modifiable risk factors have been reported to synergistically act in the development of CVDs. We aimed to compare the predictive power of anthropometric indices, as well as to provide the best cut-off point for these indicators in a large population of Iranian people for the prediction of CVDs and CVD risk factors. Methods and results All the data used in the present study were obtained from Khuzestan comprehensive health study (KCHS). Anthropometric indices, including BMI (body mass index), WC (waist circumference), HC (hip circumference), WHR (waist-to-hip ratio), WHtR (waist-to-height ratio), ABSI (a body shape index), as well as CVD risk factors [dyslipidaemia, abnormal blood pressure (BP), and hyperglycaemia] were recorded among 30 429 participants. WHtR had the highest adjusted odds ratios amongst anthropometric indices for all the risk factors and CVDs. WC had the highest predictive power for dyslipidaemia and hyperglycaemia [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.622, 0.563; specificity 61%, 59%; sensitivity 69%, 60%; cut-off point 87.95, 92.95 cm, respectively], while WHtR had the highest discriminatory power for abnormal BP (AUC = 0.585; specificity 60%; sensitivity 65%; cut-off point 0.575) and WHR tended to be the best predictor of CVDs (AUC = 0.527; specificity 58%; sensitivity 64%; cut-off point 0.915). Conclusion In this study, we depicted a picture of the Iranian population in terms of anthropometric measurement and its association with CVD risk factors and CVDs. Different anthropometric indices showed different predictive power for CVD risk factors in the Iranian population.

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disease with no exact laboratory or imaging findings. IBS is more common in areas with a history of psychological trauma and war. This study aims to report the prevalence and possible determinants of IBS in southwestern Iran, an area with a notable history of war. Methods: We randomly enrolled 1849 permanent residents in 29 cities aged 20 to 65 years. A validated for Farsi version Rome III criteria and a questionnaire, including demographic data and health history, were administered to each subject. Participants who fulfilled the Rome III criteria were categorized into three groups: Diarrhea dominant (IBS-D), Constipation dominant (IBS-C), and Mixed type (IBS-M). Results: The total prevalence of IBS was 3.2%, with 70% of subjects being of Arab descent (P=0.004). IBS was more common in females, singles, illiterate subjects, and people younger than 30 years; however, none of these differences were statistically significant. People with depression, anxiety, self-report of psychological disorders, and very low socioeconomic status had a significantly higher prevalence of IBS (PConclusion: This study shows a higher prevalence of IBS symptoms in a population-based study in the region compared to counterparts in other regions of Iran. Considering the higher prevalence of self-reported psychological disorders, further studies are recommended to focus on the exact diagnosis of mental disorders and their influence on IBS.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide, with a disproportionally rising burden among low- and middle-income populations. While preventable risk factors highly contribute to this burden, population-based studies assessing these factors and the health status of these populations, are scarce. Methods: The Khuzestan Comprehensive Health Study (KCHS)—a cross sectional study—was conducted between 2016-2019, including 30,506 Iranians aged 20 to 65 years, from 27 counties of Khuzestan province, southwest of Iran. KCHS aimed to provide a comprehensive health overview by investigating the prevalence and risk factors of NCDs and psychological disorders, along with viral hepatitis as a common communicable disease. Upon registration, 15 mL of blood and anthropometric measurements were obtained from participants. Afterwards, several interviewer-administered questionnaires were completed to gather data on demographics, socioeconomic status, sleep quality, physical activity, lifestyle habits, nutrition, and medical history. Results: The mean ± SD age of participants was 41.7 ± 11.9 years. The majority were female (64.3%), of the Arab ethnicity (49%), married (83%), and urban residents (73.1%). About 70% had an educational level below high school diploma. Overall, 10.8%, 5.2%, and 2.8% of participants had used cigarettes, hookah, and drugs at least once in their lifetime, respectively. While body mass index and serum cholesterol levels were higher in females, blood pressure was higher in males (PConclusion: KCHS assessed many aspects of health in the Khuzestan province. In addition to develop a biobank along with a comprehensive dataset, KCHS will serve as a valuable infrastructure for future research.

Background Self-care behaviors and positive changes in lifestyle are essential for successful hypertension control. We used a behavioral model based on the theory of planned behavior to assess which factors influence self-care behaviors for controlling hypertension. Methods In this cross-sectional study, five hundred patients with at leastaone-year history of diagnosed hypertension participated in this study. The data collection tool was designed based on the theory of planned behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the main parameters. Results For self-care behaviors, ninety-six (19.2%) and forty-five (9.1%) participants had good knowledge and acceptable behavior(≥8 out of 10 points). Having perceived behavioral control regarding quitting smoking and alcohol intake was associated with the patient’s intention and behavior [b:1.283 ± .095 and b:1.59 ± .014 (p p = .045)]. Subjective norms had a positive effect on behavioral intention in younger patients [b:4.52 ± 2.24 (P = .04)]. Conclusions Group-specific behavioral barriers are important when improving self-care behaviors in patients with hypertension. Perceived control over self-care behaviors is more important in vulnerable patients, such as the elderly and women.

Epilepsy and febrile convulsion are the most common neurological diseases with significant effect on cardiac functions. This study aimed to evaluate electrocardiography parameters alterations in epilepsy and febrile convulsion children compared with controls. In this comparison study, 270 children analyzed who shared equally in epilepsy, febrile convulsion, and healthy that aged from 0.5 to 5 years. The participants were collected from Ali ibn Abi Talib Hospital of Zahedan, Iran. Epilepsy confirmed based on definition of having at least two unprovoked seizures in 24 hours. Febrile convulsion was confirmed based on its definition by the International League against Epilepsy. Healthy children selected from those referred to the hospital with fever and without any underline diseases. Electrocardiography was performed by a pediatric cardiologist. Data were analyzed using SPSS 19 with p

Vibration-based structural damage identification through optimization techniques has become an interesting research topic in recent years. Dynamic characteristics such as frequencies and mode shapes are used to construct the objective function. The objective functions based on only frequencies are not very sensitive to damage in large structures. However, objective functions based on both mode shapes and frequencies are very effective. In real measurement condition, the number of installed sensors is limited, and there are no economic reasons for measuring the mode shapes at all degrees of freedom. In this kind of circumstances, mode expansion methods are used to address the incompleteness of mode shapes. In this article, the system equivalent reduction and expansion process is applied to determine the unmeasured mode shapes. Two experimental examples including a cantilever beam and a truss tower are investigated to show system equivalent reduction and expansion process’ efficiency in estimating unmeasured mode shapes. The results show that the technique used for expansion is influential. Damage identification is formulated as an optimization problem, and the residual force vector based on expanded mode shapes is considered as an objective function. In order to minimize the objective function, grey wolf optimization and Harris hawks optimization are used. Numerical studies on a 56-bar dome space truss and experimental validation on a steel frame are performed to demonstrate the efficiency of the developed approach. Both numerical and experimental results indicate that the combination of the grey wolf optimization and expanded mode shapes with system equivalent reduction and expansion process can provide a reliable approach for determining the severities and locations of damage of skeletal structures when it compares with those obtained by Harris hawks optimization.

Background and Aim: Infertility is a common condition that affects many couples. Although current cutting-edge therapeutic methods have been found promising in this regard, their success still is not sufficiently high. Accordingly, researchers are working to develop new methods to augment the likelihood of successful results of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Recently, coenzyme Q10 has been recognized an important and influential factor in the process of reproduction and some scarce studies have been along favorable results in this regard. This study aims to examine the effect of oral administration of coenzyme Q10 on embryo implantation in ART cycles. Methods and Materials: In this randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial, a total of 128 infertile females who were candidates for ART were randomized in two groups receiving either a daily capsule of coenzyme Q10 by the commencement of gonadotropin through to pregnancy test result (case group, 64 patients), or placebo (control group, 64 patients). Finally, oocyte count, fertilization rate, embryo count, quality of embryos, transferred embryo count, implantation rate and pregnancy rate were compared between the two groups. Results: The mean age of the patients was 32.77±6.01 years (20-41) in the case group and 32.45±5.93 years (20-42) in the case group, with no significant difference between the two groups (p=0.77). In comparison between the case and control groups, in spite of better results in the case group, no significant difference was found in terms of oocyte count (10.47±7.16 and 9.38±7.52, respectively; p=0.40), fertilization rate (66.88±16.08 % and 66.73±21.50 %, respectively; p=0.96), embryo count (7.03±4.78 and 5.84±4.85, respectively; p=0.17), quality of embryos (71.9% grade I and 28.1% grade II in cases, 68.8% grade I and 31.3% grade II in controls; p=0.70) transferred embryo count (10.9% one, 56.3% two-three and 32.8% more than three in cases, 14% one, 56.3% two-three and 29.7% more than three in controls; p=0.84), implantation rate (8.39±12.73 % and 7.22±12.80 %, respectively; p=0.60), and pregnancy rate (34.4% and 26.6%, respectively; p=0.34). Conclusion: Although using coenzyme Q10, in comparison with placebo, was along with better results in terms of outcome variables of ART, the difference was statistically insignificant possibly because of a small sample size and short duration of the intervention.

Magnetorheological elastomeric (MRE) material is a novel type of material that can adaptively change the rheological property rapidly, continuously, and reversibly when subjected to real-time external magnetic field. These new type of MRE materials can be developed by employing various schemes, for instance by mixing carbon nanotubes or acetone contents during the curing process which produces functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). In order to study the mechanical and magnetic effects of this material, for potential application in seismic isolation, in this paper, different mathematical models of magnetorheological elastomers are analyzed and modified based on the reported studies on traditional magnetorheological elastomer. In this regard, a new feature identification method, via utilizing curvelet analysis, is proposed to make a multi-scale constituent analysis and subsequently a comparison between magnetorheological elastomer nanocomposite and traditional magnetorheological elastomers in a microscopic level. Furthermore, by using this “smart” material as the laminated core structure of an adaptive base isolation system, magnetic circuit analysis is numerically conducted for both complete and incomplete designs. Magnetic distribution of different laminated magnetorheological layers is discussed when the isolator is under compressive preloading and lateral shear loading. For a proof of concept study, a scaled building structure is established with the proposed isolation device. The dynamic performance of this isolated structure is analyzed by using a newly developed reaching law sliding mode control and Radial Basis Function (RBF) adaptive sliding mode control schemes. Transmissibility of the structural system is evaluated to assess its adaptability, controllability and nonlinearity. As the findings in this study show, it is promising that the structure can achieve its optimal and adaptive performance by designing an isolator with this adaptive material whose magnetic and mechanical properties are functionally enhanced as compared with traditional isolation devices. The adaptive control algorithm presented in this research can transiently suppress and protect the structure against non-stationary disturbances in the real time.

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common illness that needs special medical care in thalassemia particularly in children and adolescents. We aimed to compare aortic stiffness in thalassemia major and healthy children. The study included 65 asymptomatic thalassemia major 6 to 19-year–old children without known history of heart disease and 65 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Arterial stiffness indices determined using two-dimensional (2D) and Doppler echocardiography. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 with 0.05 as significant error. From the study, results showed that systolic (p = 0.009) and diastolic (p

There are inconsistencies regarding the association of blood lead level (BLL) in opium addicts with severe abdominal pain. In present study, we aimed to assess BLL in opium addicts presented with severe abdominal pain. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 opium-addicted individuals admitted to our rehabilitation center in Zabol city during February-October 2016. BLL was measured using potentiometric-stripping analysis (PSA) method. Statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS 20 software. From 60 addicts re-cruited, 47 (78.3%) were males. The mean age was 40.3±18.1 years old. The mean BLL was 43.1±117.4 µg/ dl. Considering a threshold of 18 µg/dl, 22 (37.6%) of the addicts had elevated BLL. The mean BLL in addicts with oral, inhalation and mixed method of consumptions were 54.9±1.5 µg/dl, 47.4±9.2 µg/dl, and 10.1±95 µg/dl respectively (P=0.5). No differences were found regarding the mean BLL among different age groups or between different genders. Furthermore, there were no significant difference in neither hematological pa-rameters or liver enzyme in addicts with normal and elevated BLL. The BLL was not of significant difference in addicts with different methods of opium usage and severe abdominal pain. It is recommended to investigate the effects of factors such as the duration of opium usage and the concentration of lead in opium to influ-ence BLL., Postoje nedosljednosti u vezi povezanosti razine olova u krvi (OUK) u ovisnika o opijumu s jakim bolovima na području abdomena. U ovome radu nam je bio cilj odrediti OUK u ovisnika o opijumu s jakim bolovima u trbuhu. Provedeno je presječno instraživanje na 60 ovisnika o opijumu primljenih u naš rehabilit-acijski centar u gradu Zabol od veljače do listopada 2016. OUK je mjereno metodom potenciometrijske strip-ing analize. Statističke analize su učinjene programom SPSS 20. Od ispitanih 60 ovisnika, 47 (78,3 %) su bili muškarci. Srednja dob je bila 40.3 ± 18.1 godina. Srednja vrijednost OUK je bila 43.1 ± 117.4 μg/DL. S obzirom na prag od 18 μg/DL, 22 (37,6 %) ovisnika imalo je povišeno OUK. Srednje vrijednosti OUK u ovisnika koji su sredstvo konzumirali peroralno, inhalacijski i mješano su iznosile 54.9 ± 1,5 μg/DL, 47.4 ± 9,2 μg/DL i 10.1 ± 95 μg/DL (P = 0,5). Nisu pronađene značajne razlike srednje vrijednosti OUK među različitim dobnim skupinama ili između spolova. Nadalje, nije bilo značajne razlike ni u hematološkim parametrima ili jetrenim enzimima u ovisnika s normalnim i povišenim OUK. OUK se nije značajno razlikovalo u ovisnika s različitim načinima konzu-miranja droge i jakim bolovima u trbuhu. Preporuča se istražiti kako čimbenici kao što su trajanje konzumacije opijuma i koncentracija olova u opijum utječu na razinu OUK.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life among children with congenital heart defect (CHD) and to determine the associated factors based on parents' proxy-reports. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 263 children with CHD using inventory of PedsQoL 3.0. The PedsQoL 3.0 scores reported by parents of children. The association between quality of life and patients characteristics were assessed using multivariate linear regression method. Results: The mean score of total quality of life was 51.6 (SD=9.68). Re-hospitalization cost was high for the majority of families (46.8%). Heart problem scale of quality of life was significantly associated with mothers’ education and age. On treatment scale, only age had significant correlation. Physical appearances, was associated with number of household and type of diseases. Anxiety was significantly associated with age and re-hospitalization status. Cognition correlated with household numbers and age. Total quality of life was significantly associated with income, age and number of household. Conclusion: The study found some important predictors of quality of life in children with CHD. The results can be used for further educational and supportive programs for these patients.

Objective: Cardiovascular changes are related to some of epilepsy disorders such as seizures and breath holding. The study objective was to evaluate ECG findings in breath-holding and febrile convulsion compared to healthy individuals. Methodology: This Cross-sectional study was conducted on 270 children of 90 with febrile convulsion, 90 with breath-holding patients and 90 healthy children in 2019. Electrocardiography parameters of; QT interval, dispersion QT, corrected QT and dispersion QTc measured for participants. Consent form was asked to be signed by the parents before the study execution. Data analysis done by SPSS 20.0 considering 0.05 as significant error. Results: Females were 46(51.1%), 38(42.2%) and 35(38.9%) in control, febrile convulsion and breath holding, respectively. QTc was normal in 97.8%, 76.7% and 71.1% of controls, febrile convulsion and breath holding respectively. A significant association observed between QTc measures in different groups (p

Structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures has become one of the fastest-growing research areas over the past two decades. SHM has evolved into measuring, processing, collecting, and storing massive amounts of data to provide valuable information for owners and managers to control and manage their structure’s integrity. One of the challenges in SHM is how to draw inferences and useful features about structural conditions from measurements collected by sensors. The structural dynamic response is often a complex time-varying process and is disposed to dynamic changes in time–frequency contents. To extract the signal components and capture the useful features associated with damage to infer structural conditions from collected data, a technique that combines the time and frequency analysis and shows the signal evolution in both time and frequency is required. Wavelet transform (WT) has proven to be an effective tool in this regard. It can decompose the signal into different signal components and then compare each component’s characteristics with a resolution matched to its scale. However, the challenge is how to select a proper wavelet. This paper is aimed to choose appropriate wavelets for time–frequency analysis of structural dynamic response to detecting informative regions and transient events due to damage. Towards this purpose, various analytic wavelet and nonanalytic wavelets are used. For validation, quantitative measures based on novel correlation measures, Maximal information coefficient, energy distribution, sharing information, and Instantaneous Mean Frequency are investigated. The results reveal that the analytic wavelets show promising results, especially the Bump wavelet shows the best results than the others.

A cable-supported bridge is usually a key junction of a highway or a railway that demands a higher safety margin, especially when it is subjected to harsh environmental and complex loading conditions. In comparison to short-span girder bridges, long-span flexible structures have unique characteristics that increase the complexity of the structural mechanical behavior. Therefore, the system safety of cable-supported bridges is critical but difficult to evaluate. This study proposes a novel and intelligent approach for system reliability evaluation of cable-supported bridges under stochastic traffic load by utilizing deep belief networks (DBNs). The related mathematical models were derived taking into consideration the structural nonlinearities and high-order statically indeterminate characteristics. A computational framework is presented to illustrate the steps followed for system reliability evaluation using DBNs. In a case study, a prototype suspension bridge is selected to investigate the system reliability under stochastic traffic loading based on site-specific traffic monitoring data. The numerical results indicated that DBNs provide an accurate approximation for the mechanical behavior accounting for structural nonlinearities and different system behaviors, which can be treated as a meta-model to estimate the structural failure probability. The dominant failure modes of the suspension bridge are the fracture of suspenders followed by the bending failure of girders. The degradation of suspenders due to fatigue-corrosion damage has a significant effect on the system reliability of a suspension bridge. The numerical results provide a theoretical basis for the design on cable replacement strategies.

The authors investigated the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for the treatment of death anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with eight adult women in Iran. The ACT protocol was conducted in weekly solo sessions with each participant for 8 weeks (45 minutes each). The results were analyzed by visual analysis method and improvement percentage. ACT resulted in a 60%–80% decrease in death anxiety and a 51%–60% decrease in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, thereby indicating promise for ACT as a treatment for OCD and death anxiety.

Background: In 2017, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) provided a new guideline for hypertension prevention and management. We aimed to update the prevalence, awareness, control and risk factors of hypertension based on this guideline and to estimate the number of people who are eligible for non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic intervention. Methods: This population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in Khuzestan, a large province in the southwest of Iran. Comprehensive information about the potential risk factors of hypertension was collected and blood pressure, blood biomarkers, and anthropometric were measured. Moreover, the dietary pattern was evaluated in 10% of the participants, using a qualitative food frequency questionnaire.Results: A total number of 30,506 individuals aged 20-65 years was included in this study. In comparison to previous guideline (JNC8), the prevalence of hypertension in Khuzestan dramatically increased by 27.04% after implementation of ACC/AHA (15.81% vs 42.85%), which was more dominant in the male population and the 50-59 age group. The sex and age adjustment of the hypertension prevalence was estimated to be 39.40%. The number of individuals required antihypertensive treatment was slightly increased from 15.53% to 21.18%; however, the level of awareness and control dramatically dropped by 23.17% & 31.78%, respectively. All hypertension-related risk factors remained significant after applying the new guideline; however, the strength of the association was reduced in the risk factors like age, waist-hip ratio, body mass index, alcohol consumption, water pipe usage, and physical activity. Similarity, the association between hypertension and history of diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases were decreased by 38%, and 62%, respectively.Conclusions: In the ACC/AHA guideline, a higher number of individuals with the pre-hypertension condition had been shifted into the hypertension category and the level of awareness, treatment, and control was dramatically fallen, which highlight a great need to expand the public health infrastructure for further managing the substantial increase in the public health burden of hypertension.

In addition to economic issue, an emission issue should also be considered in the operation of an industrial consumer in order to reduce greenhouse gases like NO2, SO2 and CO2 to the atmosphere. Also, multi-carrier energy hub system can be used to supply heat and power demand by an industrial consumer. Therefore, this paper proposes a conflict bi-objective model for cost-emission based operation of industrial consumer in the presence of peak load management. Compromise programming is proposed to solve the proposed bi-objective model in order to obtain the Pareto solutions. Furthermore, fuzzy decision making approach is provided to select the trade-off solution from the Pareto solutions. Finally, peak load management is employed to flat the load profile in order to reduce the operation cost and emission. The proposed model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program which is solved by using CPLEX solver in the GAMS optimization software. Two case studies have been used and obtained results are compared to validate the performance of proposed model.

AimThis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of prebiotics on some common clinical ailments in healthy term infants. MethodsSixty healthy-term, breastfed (BF) infants were included. Along with these infants, 120 healthy-term formula-fed infants were randomly assigned to either the prebiotic formula (PF, n = 60) or regular formula (RF, n = 60) groups. Ready-to-use prebiotic-supplemented formula containing galacto-oligosaccharides and polydextrose (ratio 1:1) was used. ResultsAt 2 months of age, PF infants demonstrated significantly higher weight gain than BF and RF. At 6 months of age, bodyweight was significantly higher in the RF group compared to BF and PF groups (P < 0.05). Similar results were seen at 8, 10 and 12 months of age. At 10 months of age, the duration of diarrhoea was significantly shorter in PF-fed compared to the RF (P = 0.03) group. A significant difference was found between PF and RF (P < 0.0001) and BF and RF groups (P = 0.002) for diarrhoea duration. Means of constipation episodes per year were 0.03 0.18, 0.433 +/- 0.77 and 0.1 +/- 0.30 for the BF, RF and PF groups, respectively, with significant difference found between BF and RF (P = 0.006) and PF and RF (P = 0.02). The means of episodes of respiratory tract infections per year for BF, RF and PF groups were 1 +/- 0.69, 1.6 +/- 0.88 and 1 +/- 0.58, respectively (P = 0.01). ConclusionPrebiotic-supplemented and regular formula were similar to breast milk regarding prophylactic effects for diarrhoea, constipation and respiratory tract infections in the first year of life. Prebiotic-supplemented formula may be an appropriate substitution for breast milk when breast milk in unavailable.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been one of the most important antibiotic-resistant pathogen in many parts of the world over the past decades. This cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate MRSA isolated between July 2013 and July 2014 in Karaj, Iran. All tested isolates were collected in teaching hospitals from personnel, patients, and surfaces and each MRSA was analyzed by SCCmec and spa typing. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was accomplished by disk diffusion method. Out of 49 MRSA isolates from the Karaj’s teaching hospitals, 82%, 10%, and 6% of the isolates were SCCmec types III, II, and I, respectively. The main spa type in this study was spa t030 with frequency as high as 75.5% from intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospitals and high rate of resistance to rifampicin (53%) was found in MRSA isolates. In conclusion, high frequency of spa t030 with SCCmec type III and MRSA phenotype illustrated circulating of one of the antibiotic-resistant strains in ICU of Karaj’s teaching hospitals and emphasizes the need for ongoing molecular surveillance, antibiotic susceptibility monitoring, and infection control.

Objectives: Sodium disorders are one of the most important electrolyte disturbances in children admitted to intensive care unit (ICU). The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of electrolyte disturbances and the associated factors in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients. Methods: All patients hospitalized in PICU of Ali Ebne Abi Talib Hospital during a year since October 2015 considered for the study. Electrolyte disturbances involving; sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium were identified in PICU. Statistical tests were determined at 5% error level. Results: The prevalence of sodium, calcium and magnesium abnormalities was not significantly different in gender of patients (P > 0.05), but, the prevalence of hypokalemia (9.5% versus 1.7%) and hyperkalemia (37.8% vs. 31.3%) were higher in girls compared with boys. (P = 0.021). The rate of hyponatremia (29.3% vs. 13.1%) and hypernatremia (18.3% vs. 15.9%) in children who had died were significantly higher than in alive children. (P = 0.013). The prevalence of all electrolyte disorders was not significantly different from those of diuretics consumption (P > 0.05). Hyperkalemia though (41% versus 27.3%) was significantly higher in children with diuretic use than in other children. (P = 0.022). The frequency of electrolytes abnormalities in children was not significantly different between diseases (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The study concluded that the frequency of electrolytes was significantly different in deceased children compared to alive children. However, hyperkalemia was significantly higher in children with diuretic use than in other children. Therefore, it is much necessary to measure these electrolytes in course of hospitalization.

Background Alongside many complications in understanding the etiology of Preeclampsia (PE), several determinants, such as the imbalanced proportion of anti-angiogenic/proangiogenic T-cell subsets, especially CD4+ (Th17/Treg), as well as alterations in the expression profile of related cytokines, miRNAs, and transcription factors might have been implicated in PE pathogenesis. Material and method After sample collection and preparation, CD4+ cells were isolated from PE and non-PE pregnant woman and were cultured. Furthermore, analysis such as flow cytometry, real-time PCR, western blotting, and ELISA were performed to assess determinants related to PE manifestation, including sFlt-1, sEng, STAT-3, RORγt, SMAD-7, Foxp3, IL-17, IL-22, Ets-1, and miRNA-326. Results Our results showed that the miRNA-326 expression level increased in CD4+ Cells and Th17 in PE patients which downregulated Ets-1 expression that acts as a negative control for Th17 development. Furthermore, we showed that the number and expression level of Th17 s and transcription factor RORγt escalated, respectively. While Treg and its related transcription factor (Foxp3) demonstrated a decrease. Flow cytometry analysis illustrated that the Th17/Treg ratio increased in PE. Additionally, we demonstrated that expression and concentration levels of cytokines (IL-17 and IL22) and anti-angiogenic molecules (sEng and sFlt-1) soared in isolated CD4+ cells from PE patients, which could be correlated with PE pathogenicity. Conclusion In conclusion, we comprehensively evaluated immunological factors and molecules involved in PE manifestation. Interestingly, the CD4+ T-cell subset could be an extra source of antiangiogenic factors for the maintenance of this hypertension disorder.

Background: It is suggested that constipation could be due to celiac disease (CD); therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of positive tissue transglutaminase (tTG) IgA test among children with functional constipation (FC). Methods: In this case-control study, 182 consecutive patients with FC who fulfilled the Rome III criteria as cases were compared with 240 healthy children as the control group in terms of suspicious CD by measuring the serum tTG IgA level. Results: There was a significant difference in favor of the case group in terms of serum tTG IgA levels (P = 0.000). The probability of having CD would change based on belonging to each group (case/control odds ratio [OR] = 0.222). Conclusion: With respect to these data, tTG IgA level was observed to be significantly higher in patients relative to healthy children; therefore, it is recommended that patients be screened for CD through the tTG IgA.

Different sources of uncertainties contribute to the collapse and safety assessment of structures. In this paper, impact of construction quality (CQ) is considered in developing analytical collapse fragility curves for moment resisting steel frames. Furthermore, the interaction of this source of uncertainty with epistemic uncertainty inherent in modeling parameters, due to lack of knowledge and inaccuracy of predictor equations, is investigated. Beam strength, column strength, beam ductility, and column ductility meta-variables are defined as modeling parameters which are being suffered by informal uncertainty. Quadratic equations for the mean and the standard deviation of collapse fragility curves are derived by utilizing response surfaces, which are interpolated to analytically-derived values considering realizations for modeling variables and for various levels of construction quality. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, interaction of modeling and CQ uncertainty in analytical collapse fragility curve has not been considered in previous investigations. A fuzzy rule-based method is applied to employ the effects of uncertainty due to CQ. Using Monte Carlo simulation for the modeling variables and the construction quality index, and subsequently computing response surface coefficients via a fuzzy inference system, and finally deriving collapse fragility curve parameters through response surfaces, result in collapse fragility curves of structures. In developing these curves, different sources of uncertainties are involved, ranging from lexical to informal and stochastic types. It is concluded that neglecting the effects of these sources leads to the underestimation of collapse fragility probability. This shows the importance of considering modeling and construction quality uncertainty effects on collapse fragility curves. It is shown that for a sample moment resisting steel frame collapse probability is increased 53% and 60% for 10% and 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years seismic hazard levels, respectively, while interaction of CQ and modeling uncertainties are considered in comparison with neglecting them. Otherwise, if only modeling uncertainty is involved, this increment is evaluated at 42% and 16%, respectively for the aforementioned probabilities of exceedance.

Community resilience against major disasters is a multidisciplinary research field that garners an ever-increasing interest worldwide. This paper provides summaries of the discussions held on the subject matter and the research outcomes presented during the Second Resilience Workshop in Nanjing and Shanghai. It, thus, offers a community view of present work and future research directions identified by the workshop participants who hail from Asia - including China, Japan and Korea; Europe and the Americas.

In this paper, basic concepts of resilience, ecology and sustainability are introduced first. Then, associated performance metrics and interdependency of critical infrastructure systems are presented and discussed. Moreover, the importance of big data (BD) and data mining (DM), as emerging themes in this field, is discussed. Other relevant issues such as how to foster decision making and accountability to plan for any expansion in resilience services, resources, and the associated performance metrics and interdependency of critical infrastructure systems are presented. It is the recommendation of this study that due to the difficulty and complexity of resilience, and its definitional ambiguity, the ability to assess such a concept helps to bridge the gap between theory and application, and between the academic and the policy circles. A framework for creating resilient, ecological and sustainable infrastructure systems is also proposed, as a recommendation, in a more holistic and comprehensive way.

Background Different genetic and epigenetic variations are implicated in congenital heart diseases (CHDs). GATA4 and DNMT1 genes play an important role in embryonic heart development. We aim to investigate the correlation between rs4841587 in GATA4 and rs6999593 in DNMT1 genes with susceptibility and severity of symptoms in ventricular septal defects (VSDs) and tetralogy of fallot (TF) diseases in the southeast of Iran. Materials This case-control study was evaluated 200 children diagnosed with VSDs or TF as well as 200 healthy controls. SNPs genotyping were performed using T-ARMS-PCR. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI), as well as Chi-square, was used to assess the strength of the association. Results TT genotype at rs4841587 in GATA4 was associated with the susceptibility of CHDs (OR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.06–3.83, P = .031). Rs4841587 was related with VSDs under the dominant model (GT + TT vs. GG: OR = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.08–2.65, P = .020). However, no significant differences were observed in genotype frequencies between TF cases and controls at this position. AG genotype at rs6999593 in DNMT1 was strongly correlated with the risk of CHDs (OR = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.43–3.60, P = .000). Significant differences also were found between AG genotype with VSDs (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.19–3.77, P = .011) and TF (OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.19–5.57, P = .016). Conclusions rs4841587 and rs6999593 can be proposed as a significant marker for CHDs. Rs4841587 T/G polymorphism correlated with the susceptibility and severity of symptoms in VSDs. Moreover, rs6999593 A/G affects the susceptibility of VSDs and TF, in the southeast of Iran. However, further investigations are necessary to confirm these results.

Modal macro strain-based damage identification is a promising approach since it has the advantages of high sensitivity and effectiveness over other related methods. In this paper, a basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) pipeline system is used for analysis by using long-gauge distributed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. Dynamic macro strain responses are extracted to form modal macro strain (MMS) vectors. Both longitudinal distribution and circumferential distribution plots of MMS are compared and analyzed. Results show these plots can reflect damage information of the pipeline based on the previous work carried out by the authors. However, these plots may not be good choices for accurate detection of damage information since the model is 3D and has different flexural and torsional effects. Therefore, by extracting MMS information in the circumferential distribution plots, a novel deep neural network is employed to train and test these images, which reflect the important and key information of modal variance in the pipe system. Results show that the proposed Deep Learning based approach is a promising way to inherently identify damage types, location of the excitation load and support locations, especially when the structural types are complicated and the ambient environment is changing.

Objectives: The current study aimed at finding the frequency of MRSA infections, contamination, and colonization in the teaching hospitals of Karaj city, Iran for the first time. Methods: The current cross sectional study was conducted in Karaj on three teaching hospitals from July 2013 to July 2014. Sample collection from personnel and surfaces was conducted twice and monthly, respectively, during the study period. Also, all Staphylococcus aureus species isolated from patients were included in the study. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed by the standard disk diffusion method. All isolates were subjected to mupA and mecA-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR)to identify high-level mupirocin-resistant and MRSA isolates, respectively. Chi-square test was employed for data analysis. Results: The majority of S. aureus species were isolated from personnel and surfaces of the hospitals. One hundred sixty-eight S. aureus and 49 MRSA species were isolated from Karaj teaching hospitals. The main frequency of MRSA was isolated from intensive care unit (ICU) (75%) and high rate of resistance to rifampicin (53%) was observed in MRSA isolates. Although 10 S. aureus species were resistant to mupirocin by disk diffusion, no mupA gene was detected in the isolates. Conclusions: In conclusion, in comparison with the other studies from Iran, low frequency of MRSA was observed in the investigated hospitals. However high frequency (75%) of MRSA in ICU indicated that antibiotic policy is urgently needed to prevent the resistance development. Moreover, antibiotic susceptibility monitoring and regular screening surfaces and personnel of hospitals in terms of MRSA colonization, especially ICU, are indispensable.

Engineering structures are most statically indeterminate structures consisting of various types of components and their failure modes exhibit randomness under random loads. A new adaptive support vector regression method is proposed for structural system reliability assessment. Compared with traditional support vector regression, the proposed adaptive support vector regression method involves two updating procedures to estimate structural limit state functions. Three verification examples involving a nonlinear limit state function, a truss bridge structure, and a geometrically nonlinear suspended structure are provided to illustrate the accuracy and the efficiency of the adaptive support vector regression method. A pre-stressed concrete cable-stayed bridge is utilized to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. The verification studies show that the proposed adaptive support vector regression method is an efficient method with reasonable accuracy for problems where closed-form failure functions are not available and the failure sequences exist in the structural system. The main failure sequences of the cable-stayed bridge are identified. The application studies of the cable-stayed bridge indicate that (a) the foremost failure sequence is the strength failure of side-span cables followed by the bending failure of towers and (b) the secondary failure sequence is the strength failure of mid-span cables followed by bending failure of mid-span girders.