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Efficient bandwidth utilization is significant in new communication systems where secondary users can be used besides of primary users considering interference issues and idle state of primary users. Using secondary users as relays to transmit their own signals in addition to the primary signals can be applied for more reliability of the system where opportunistic relay selection can significantly enhance the performance of the system. The best-condition secondary user is selected as the optimum relay for retransmission of primary/secondary signal. Outage probability is analyzed in this paper based on decode and forward techniques in secondary users while the closed-form statement for outage probability is provided and verified by numerical evaluations.

Abstract: Early diagnosis and accurate prognosis are significant important challenges against effective treatment of cancer and improving patient’s condition. Hitherto, many research works have tended to focus on the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) to detect cancers and estimate the survival rates of patients with multiple cancer types, including colorectal, breast, non-small cell lung, and pancreas cancer. Limited sensitivity and specificity of this traditional tumor marker make it an inappropriate biomarker to diagnose cancer, especially in the early stages while several lines of research have introduced miRNAs as reliable indicators of tumor initiation, development, and therapy response. Indeed, miRNAs have unique properties that provide considerable benefits, such as discriminating benign diseases from malignancies, predicting cancer development and progression, checking sensitivity to treatment, and initial detecting of tumors. This review summarizes the relationships between miRNAs and CEA, the diagnostic significance of CEA in combination with miRNAs, and the distinct advantages of miRNAs over CEA as tumor biomarkers. Advancement in our current understanding of miRNAs is very essential to discover new and effective biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic goals of cancer patients.

The costs of gas transportation and its environmental/security impacts in Iran have led to evaluating geothermal/solar renewable sources instead. Regarding the high potential of geothermal/solar in Sistan/Baluchestan province, Iran, which have still no access to the global gas network, these resources create a desirable plan. This paper attempted to present/compare four possible solar-assisted ground source heat pumps to supply four purposes of electricity demand, heating/cooling, and domestic hot water. First, the energy needed in the region was designed with DesignBuilder. Then, each proposed system was modeled in Polysun software using a photovoltaic-thermal and a vertical geothermal heat exchanger. Afterward, all probable plans were evaluated and compared technically, economically, and environmentally. The results indicated that the maximum/minimum values of the coefficient of heat pump performance for direct heat exchanger and series systems were 4.39/3.87. Also, the optimal plan was introduced with 4957/10667 kWh electricity consumption/production. Besides, an economic analysis was estimated for the optimal strategy with an investment return of 7years. The designed system prevented 5089kgCO2 emissions annually. By means of this integrating hybrid system, Sistan/Baluchestan province would become a significant renewable power plant globally, and a considerable techno-economic and environmental challenge would be dissolved in Iran.

Recently, the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) and its application to various fields have been an area of great interest. Despite the importance of CLSC, there remains a paucity of evidence on agriculture in this area. In this work, a CLSC network for the avocado industry is firstly designed by developing a bi-objective model considering the costs of the avocado industry and the social factor of job employment opportunities. The two objectives are the total costs minimization and job employment maximization in various opened locations. To validate the proposed model, a real case study in Puebla, Mexico, is addressed. The GAMS software and its CPLEX solver are utilized to find the best optimum solutions and determine the best locations to open different centers. The applicability of the proposed network is verified by conducting several sensitivity analyses on the important parameters of the problem. According to the obtained results, demand has the most effect on this network in which that a 25 percent decrease in demand can increase the total cost (the first objective) up to 40 percent and improve employment efficiency (the second objective) up to around 30 percent, simultaneously.

In this paper, nanoencapsulation of PCM n-Octadecane with PMMA polymeric shell enhanced with comonomer PEHA via miniemulsion polymerization was performed. The effects of comonomer addition to homopolymer shell were studied to achieve a qualified shell. Optimization of nanocapsules was carried out based on RSM to investigate the effects of design parameters of Monomer/PCM, Comonomer/Monomer, and Emulsifier/PCM on the percentage of encapsulation and production cost. Innovatively, the renewable energy system was employed to provide the required energy and water for the polymerization reaction. Moreover, by introducing the nanofluid slurry containing CuO nanoparticles, the performance of synthesized nanocapsules as thermal energy storage (TES) was investigated in the PV-thermal PTC/gas boiler heating system installed in the designed room. The result indicated that the addition of comonomer EHA could improve the thermal stability and morphology of the polymeric shell. According to the optimization outcomes, the encapsulation percentage of 83.3% at the cost of 0.083$ provided the nanocapsules with the latent heat of 66 Jg-1. Also, the results of room temperatures indicated the effectiveness of the proposed heating system providing thermal heat comfort along with the overall improvement of the system utilized with the TES.

The pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, causative pathogen of the known COVID-19 pandemic is not well clarified. In this regard oxidative stress is one of the topics that need to be investigated. Therefore, the present research was performed to explore the relationship between the oxidant/antioxidant system and COVID-19 exacerbation. Sera were collected from 120 patients with COVID-19 infection and 60 healthy volunteers as the control group. The patient group consisted of 60 cases with mild disease and 60 severely ill patients. Serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and nitric oxide (NO) as well as serum activities of the two main antioxidant defense enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), were measured. TAC levels were considerably lower in patients compared with healthy individuals (p 0.05) and also between patients with mild and severe diseases (p 0.05). A rather decreasing trend was also found in NO concentration as well as SOD and CAT activity, though, the observed differences were not statistically significant (p 0.05). These findings suggest that COVID-19 patients may be susceptible to depleted total antioxidant capacity. Moreover, showing such variations in blood samples of infected individuals could be considered as a predictive marker of COVID-19 severity.

Purpose This paper aims to identify, classify and rank the contributing factors to financial resilience. Design/methodology/approach The present study is of a mixed-method and significant contributing factors have been identified after analyzing and reviewing the literature on resilience and financial resilience. These factors were classified and ranked using the analytic hierarchy process method. This paper operationalizes the concept of financial resilience. Findings The study results show that consistency in production and sales, access to a reliable supply chain, management ability to environmental adaptability, regional dimension and social support from the government’s side are among the determining factors in financial resilience at the market level. Some elements such as flexibility, risk identification, income, foreign exchange benefits, innovation in presenting goods and services, firm size and responsiveness of partners and beneficiaries inside and outside the organization are among the leading contributing factors at the organization level and management manner. Finally, the staff’s efficiency in using organization resources, shareholder staff and learning culture in the organization are among the main contributing factors to financial resilience under the staff’s influence. Originality/value The study results may give managers direction to evaluate companies’ resilience, especially in the emerging economy; besides, it improves the literature on the topic.

A hybrid system is the most suitable option for supplying the network demand in a renewable resource power plant. In this paper, a hybrid system of fuel cell-wind turbine was assessed based on energy. For a country region with a sustainable wind speed, the system was studied, and its benefits and limitations were evaluated. In this work, based on regional wind data, the specifications of the elements were determined, and a model was simulated, which can assess the power production of a power plant. In the case study region, Kohak Qazvin, by applying the model, wind turbine capacity increased about 2%, and wind turbines and fuel cells contributed 39% and 61% in demand supplying, respectively. Some undesirable environmental effects of renewable energy were evaluated in this paper, including changes in regional ecosystem, thermal pollution production, chemical pollution, and biological pollution due to the use of fuel cell systems and digestive power plants. This paper investigates the environmental effects of using a hybrid wind turbine system, electrolysis system, solid oxide fuel cell and gasifier. The results showed that the hybrid system reduced 34.62% of carbon dioxide production, compared to the single system. Also the price of the electrical energy produced by the wind farm was 20.6 cent/kWh but by applying the hybrid system, the cost reduced to 15.47 cent/kWh.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is found in about 1 of 3000 live births and is often complicated by pulmonary hypoplasia and alteration of the pulmonary arterial wall with resulting pulmonary hypertension. Since 2005, with the fusion of the children's hospital and the maternity clinic of the Kepler University Hospital Linz, affected neonates have been treated according to a standard protocol at our perinatal centre. Some prenatally measured parameters have been used to predict mortality, e.g., observed-to-expected lung-to-head ratio or lung volume measurements by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. We performed a retrospective chart review of 67 new-borns with CDH treated at our institution to detect any predictors of hospital mortality from parameters routinely collected within the first 24 h of life. The term "liver up" was identified as a predictor of hospital mortality; OR 9.2 (95% CI 1.9-51.1, p = 0.002, sensitivity 79%, specificity 71%). In addition, the need for application of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation during the first 24 h was associated with mortality; OR 44.4 (95% CI 6.3-412.1, p = 0.001, sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 88%).Eine angeborene Zwerchfellhernie tritt bei einem von 3000 Neugeborenen auf und ist oft mit einer Hypoplasie und Verdickung der Pulmonalarterien mit begleitender pulmonaler Hypertonie verbunden. Seit dem Jahr 2005 werden die betroffenen Neugeborenen an dem Perinatalzentrum der Klinik der Autor(inn)en nach einem Standardprotokoll behandelt. Dies wurde durch die Zusammenlegung der Frauen- und Kinderklinik des Kepler Universitätsklinikums Linz ermöglicht. Einige pränatale Parameter werden zur Vorhersage der Mortalität herangezogen, wie z. B. das beobachtete im Vergleich zum erwarteten Größenverhältnis der Lunge zum Kopfumfang oder Lungenvolumenmessungen durch Magnetresonanztomographie. Es wurde eine retrospektive Datenanalyse aus den Krankengeschichten von 67 betroffenen Neugeborenen durchgeführt, um einen Vorhersagewert der Krankenhausmortalität aus routinemäßig in den ersten 24 h erhobenen Werten zu ermitteln. Der Wert „Leber im Thorax“ wurde als Vorhersagewert der Krankenhausmortalität ermittelt; Odds Ratio (OR): 9,2 (95%-Konfidenzintervall [95%-KI]: 1,9–51,1; p = 0,002, Sensitivität 79 %, Spezifität 71 %). Zusätzlich war auch die Notwendigkeit einer Hochfrequenzbeatmung in den ersten 24 h mit der Krankenhausmortalität assoziiert; OR: 44,4 (95%-KI: 6,3–412,1; p = 0,001, Sensitivität 85,7 %, Spezifität 88 %).

Background and aim: We conducted a systematic review to apprise the efficacy of silymarin in conjunction with standard iron chelators on iron overload for transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia (TDT) patients.Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Sciencedirect, the Cochrane Library (the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) to 1 May 2020. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studies comparing the effect of iron chelators alone versus silymarin plus standard routine treatment on iron burden amid TDT were included in this review. Primary outcomes comprised serum ferritin level (ng/mL), liver iron concentration (LIC Fe/kg dry weight), and total iron binding capacity (TIBC mcg/dL)Results: Combination therapy of silymarin and iron chelators showed a significant improvement in serum ferritin level in TDT patients, compared to nonsilymarin users [eight studies, n = 477]; weighted mean difference (WMD) -1.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.86 to -0.72, I2 96.1%; P = 0.001. Concurrent treatment with silymarin failed to significantly decrease LIC in TDT patients [two studies, n = 106]; WMD 0.74, 95% CI -1.62 to 3.10, I2 96.6%; P = 0.54.Conclusion: There is no evidence of the effectiveness of adding silymarin to standard iron chelators to reduce iron load in TDT.

Long-term sustainability in water supply systems is a major challenge due to water resources depletion, climate change and population growth. This paper presents a scenario-based approach for performance assessment of intervention strategies in water resources and supply systems (WRSS). A system dynamics (SD) approach is used for modelling the key WRSS components and their complex interactions with natural and human systems and is combined with a multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainability performance assessment of strategies in each scenario. The scenarios combine population growth rates with groundwater extraction limits and three intervention strategies. The methodology was demonstrated on a real-world case study in Iran. Results show scenario-based analysis can provide suitable strategies leading to long-term sustainability of water resources for each scenario imposed on the water systems. For scenarios with either no threshold or one threshold of groundwater extraction limit, the only effective strategies for sustainable groundwater preservation are those involving agricultural water demand decrease with an average recovery rate of 130% for groundwater resources while other strategies of agricultural groundwater abstraction (constant/increase rates) fail to sustainably recover groundwater resources. However, all analysed strategies can provide sustainability of water resources with an average recovery rate of 33% for groundwater resources only when scenarios with two threshold limits are in place. The impact of scenarios on groundwater conservation is quite minor for population growth rates with an average recovery rate of 11% compared to groundwater extraction limits with an average recovery rate of 79% between no threshold and two threshold limits.

AimsTens of millions of people worldwide use opiates but little is known about their potential role in causing cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to study the association of long-term opiate use with cardiovascular mortality and whether this association is independent of the known risk factors.Methods and resultsIn the population-based Golestan Cohort Study—50 045 Iranian participants, 40–75 years, 58% women—we used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (HRs, 95% CIs) for the association of opiate use (at least once a week for a period of 6 months) with cardiovascular mortality, adjusting for potential confounders—i.e. age, sex, education, wealth, residential place, marital status, ethnicity, and tobacco and alcohol use. To show independent association, the models were further adjusted for hypertension, diabetes, waist and hip circumferences, physical activity, fruit/vegetable intake, aspirin and statin use, and history of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. In total, 8487 participants (72.2% men) were opiate users for a median (IQR) of 10 (4–20) years. During 548 940 person-years—median of 11.3 years, >99% success follow-up—3079 cardiovascular deaths occurred, with substantially higher rates in opiate users than non-users (1005 vs. 478 deaths/100 000 person-years). Opiate use was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality, with adjusted HR (95% CI) of 1.63 (1.49–1.79). Overall 10.9% of cardiovascular deaths were attributable to opiate use. The association was independent of the traditional cardiovascular risk factors.ConclusionLong-term opiate use was associated with an increased cardiovascular mortality independent of the traditional risk factors. Further research, particularly on mechanisms of action, is recommended.

BackgroundMany diabetic individuals use prescription and non-prescription opioids and opiates. We aimed to investigate the joint effect of diabetes and opiate use on all-cause and cause-specific mortality.MethodsGolestan Cohort study is a prospective population-based study in Iran. A total of 50 045 people—aged 40–75, 28 811 women, 8487 opiate users, 3548 diabetic patients—were followed during a median of 11.1 years, with over 99% success follow-up. Hazard ratio and 95% confidence intervals (HRs, 95% CIs), and preventable death attributable to each risk factor, were calculated.ResultsAfter 533 309 person-years, 7060 deaths occurred: 4178 (10.8%) of non-diabetic non-opiate users, 757 (25.3%) diabetic non-users, 1906 (24.0%) non-diabetic opiate users and 219 (39.8%) diabetic opiate users. Compared with non-diabetic non-users, HRs (95% CIs) for all-cause mortality were 2.17 (2.00–2.35) in diabetic non-opiate users, 1.63 (1.53–1.74) in non-diabetic opiate users and 2.76 (2.40–3.17) in diabetic opiate users. Among those who both had diabetes and used opiates, 63.8% (95% CI: 58.3%–68.5%) of all deaths were attributable to these risk factors, compared with 53.9% (95% CI: 50%–57.4%) in people who only had diabetes and 38.7% (95% CI: 34.6%–42.5%) in non-diabetic opiate users. Diabetes was more strongly associated with cardiovascular than cancer mortality. The risk of early mortality in known cases of diabetes did not depend on whether they started opiate use before or after their diagnosis.ConclusionsUsing opiates is detrimental to the health of diabetic patients. Public awareness about the health effects of opiates, and improvement of diabetes care especially among individuals with or at risk of opiate use, are necessary.

Treatment of aortic valve disease has become less and less invasive during the last years, thanks to progress in anesthesiology, surgical techniques, and perfusion management. In fact, it has been demonstrated that shorter skin incision, combined with ultra-fast-track anesthesia and minimized extracorporeal circuit could improve clinical outcomes. Current evidence shows that minimally invasive extracorporeal circulation system is associated with reduced red blood cells’ transfusion rate, improved end-organ perfusion, decreased incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation, air embolism leakage, and so less cerebral accidents with better neurological outcomes. Moreover, the use of a closed circuit seems to be more physiologic for the patients, reducing systemic inflammatory response due to less air–blood contact and the use of biocompatible surfaces. In the literature, the benefits of minimally invasive extracorporeal circulation are described mostly for coronary surgery but few data are nowadays available for minimally invasive extracorporeal circulation during aortic valve replacement. In this article, we describe our perfusion protocol in minimally invasive aortic valve replacement.

Nowadays, polyethylene composes a large number of natural gas distribution pipelines installed under the ground. The focus of the present contribution is two fold. One of the objectives is to investigate the applicability of polyethylene fittings in joining polyethylene gas pipes which are electrofused onto the pipe ends and buried under the ground, by estimating stress distribution using finite element method. The second objective is to study the effectiveness of polyethylene repair patches which are used to mend the defected pipelines by performing a finite element analysis to calculate peak stress values. Buried polyethylene pipelines in the natural gas industry, can be imposed by sever loadings including the soil-structure interaction, traffic load, soil’s column weight, internal pressure, and thermal loads resulting from daily and/or seasonal temperature changes. Additionally, due to the application of pipe joints, and repair patches local stresses superimposed on the aforementioned loading effects. The pipe is assumed to be made of PE80 resin and its jointing socket, and the repair patch is PE100 material. The computational analysis of stresses and the computer simulations are performed using ANSYS commercial software. According to the results, the peak stress values take place in the middle of the fitting and at its internal surface. The maximum stress values in fitting and pipe are below the allowable stresses which shows the proper use of introduced fitting is applicable even in hot climate areas of Ahvaz, Iran. Although the buried pipe is imposed to the maximum values of stresses, the PE100 socket is more sensitive to a temperature drop. Furthermore, all four studied patch arrangements show significant reinforcing effects on the defected section of the buried PE gas pipe to transfer applied loads. Meanwhile, the defected buried medium density polyethylene gas pipe and its saddle fused patch can resist the imposed mechanical and thermal loads of 22°C temperature increase. Moreover, increasing the saddle fusion patch length to 12 inches reduces the maximum stress values in the pipe, significantly.

In this study, fracture energy and fracture toughness are used to investigate the fracture behaviour of Asphalt Concrete Composites (ACC) in pure mode I and III using Edge Notch Disc Bend (ENDB) ge...

BACKGROUND: Frequent premature ventricular contractions (PVC) can result in PVCinduced cardiomyopathy (PVC-iCMP), leading to reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) that can be improved by radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA). We performed a systematic review to determine the variables predicting LVEF improvement after RFCA in PVCiCMP. METHODS: We developed a “population, intervention, outcome and predictive factors” framework and searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Cochrane Collaboration and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) for full-text, peer-reviewed publications. These publications addressing predictive factors of LVEF improvement showed ≥5% improvement only if deemed significant by the respective study, ≥10% or ≥ 50% after RFCA ablation in patients with PVCiCMP with no type/date/language limitation until the end of 2017. RESULTS: Our initial search yielded 2226 titles, 1519 of which remained after removing the duplicates. Finally, 11 articles - 2 cohorts, 7 quasi-experimental studies, 1 case-control and 1 metaanalysis- were included. Sustained successful ablation, higher baseline PVC burden, LVEF, QRS duration, post-PVC systolic blood pressure rise and post-PVC pulse pressure change, the absence of an underlying cardiomyopathy, younger age, and variability of the frequency of PVCs during the day and lower left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) have been suggested as predictive factors for LVEF improvement in patients with PVC-iCMP. CONCLUSIONS: The mentioned factors may all be useful to identify PVC-iCMP patients who would benefit from RFCA, although the evidence is not yet strong enough.

Background: Few studies have evaluated patients’ motivations for seeking minimally invasive cosmetic procedures. Objective: This study aimed to assess the demographic characteristics and motivation of patients who seek minimally invasive cosmetic procedures in two academic referral dermatology centers. Methods: The study included adult patients seeking minimally invasive facial cosmetic procedures at two academic dermatology centers in Tehran, Iran, between January 2019 and June 2019. Results: The majority of patients were married, employed women with a mean age of 39.6 ± 10.74 years. The most common region of the face they expected to change was the eyes (56%). Patients who requested fillers desired their cheeks to improve significantly more than patients who requested toxin injections (20.5% vs. 3%; p = .005). Patients had mostly heard about the procedures from friends (40.4%). Approximately one third of patients had experienced a major life event during the preceding year (loss of a family member [50%], marriage [26.9%]). A minority of patients had ever visited a psychiatrist (13.9%), and 15.3% had a history of using psychiatric drugs. The procedure type requested by men was significantly different from that requested by women (88.2% vs. 60.8 % for Botox; 11.8% vs. 34.9% for fillers, and 0% vs. 4.3 % for fat injections; p = .044). The most common motivating factor for patients was gaining rejuvenation (39.2%). The most common preventive factors for patients to undergo the procedures earlier were financial issues (41.7%). Conclusion: Patients seeking minimally invasive cosmetic procedures were married, educated, employed women in their 30s desiring rejuvenation and commonly were not influenced by external factors, such as relationships or the media.

With the expansion and enhancement of cloud data centers in recent years, increasing the energy consumptionand the costs of the users have become the major concerns in the cloud research area. Service quality parametersshould be guaranteed to meet the demands of the users of the cloud, to support cloud service providers,and to reduce the energy consumption of the data centers. Therefore, the data center's resources must be managedefficiently to improve energy utilization. Using the virtual machine (VM) consolidation technique is animportant approach to enhance energy utilization in cloud computing. Since users generally do not use all thepower of a VM, the VM consolidation technique on the physical server improves the energy consumption andresource efficiency of the physical server, and thus improves the quality of service (QoS). In this article, a serverthreshold prediction method is proposed that focuses on the server overload and server underload detectionto improve server utilization and to reduce the number of VM migrations, which consequently improves theVM's QoS. Since the VM integration problem is very complex, the exponential smoothing technique is utilizedfor predicting server utilization. The results of the experiments show that the proposed method goes beyondexisting methods in terms of power efficiency and the number of VM migrations.

Phishing is a significant security concern for organizations, threatening employees and members of the public. Phishing threats against employees can lead to severe security incidents, whereas those against the public can undermine trust, satisfaction, and brand equity. At the root of the problem is the inability of Internet users to identify phishing attacks even when using anti-phishing tools. We propose the phishing funnel model (PFM), a framework for predicting user susceptibility to phishing websites. PFM incorporates user, threat, and tool-related factors to predict actions during four key stages of the phishing process: visit, browse, consider legitimate, and intention to transact. We evaluated the efficacy of PFM in a 12-month longitudinal field experiment in two organizations involving 1,278 employees and 49,373 phishing interactions. PFM significantly outperformed competing models in terms of its ability to predict user susceptibility to phishing attacks. A follow-up three-month field study revealed that employees using PFM were significantly less likely to interact with phishing threats relative to comparison models and baseline warnings. Results of a cost-benefit analysis suggest that interventions guided by PFM could reduce annual phishing-related costs by nearly $1,900 per employee relative to comparison prediction methods.

Background: Thyroid cancer patient discharge patterns from specialists are heterogeneous, with some specialists following patients for a longer period of time than others. With no well-established ...

Olive trees are drought-tolerant ones cultivated in several regions around the world to be used as olive oil and conserve. Regarding threats like water scarcity and drought, supplying the required irrigation water is one of the major problems in expanding olive cultivation industry. Deficit irrigation is a proper method in horticulture which is offered for improving water use efficiency. The present research was conducted in Kermanshah province, Iran. The irrigation regimes are as follows: T1: full irrigation, T2: 100% of full irrigation during the growing season plus 25% irrigation during pit hardening, T3: 100% of full irrigation during the growing season plus 75% irrigation from the beginning of pit hardening up to Harvesting, T4: 100% of full irrigation during the growing season plus 25% irrigation during fruit color change, T5: T2 + T4, T6: 50% of full irrigation, and T7: no irrigation. The results showed that vegetative growth, fruit yield, and oil yield were affected by the irrigation regimes. The highest fruit yield and oil yield were observed in the ‘Mission’ trees which were treated by T5. As a result, deficit irrigation can be performed without any damages to the trees and this can save irrigation water in olive orchards.

Objective There is wide variation in the management of pregnancies complicated by abnormal placental cord insertion (PCI), which includes velamentous cord insertion (VCI) and marginal cord insertion (MCI). We tested the hypothesis that abnormal PCI is associated with small for gestational age (SGA) infants. Study Design This is a retrospective cohort study of all pregnant patients undergoing anatomic ultrasound at a single institution from 2010 to 2017. Patients with abnormal PCI were matched in a 1:2 ratio by race, parity, gestational age at the time of ultrasound, and obesity to patients with normal PCIs. The primary outcome was SGA at delivery. Secondary outcomes were cesarean delivery, preterm delivery, cesarean delivery for nonreassuring fetal status, 5-minute Apgar score Results Abnormal PCI was associated with an increased risk of SGA (relative risk [RR]: 2.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.26–4.69), increased risk of preterm delivery Conclusion Abnormal PCI is associated with an increased risk of SGA and preterm delivery. These results suggest that serial fetal growth assessments in this population may be warranted. Key Points

In this article, a novel hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) is designed, introduced, and constructed to supply power, heat, and pure water. The proposed HRES is comprised of ground source heat pump/microalgal culture pond to produce microalgae biomass, parabolic trough collector/Solar still desalination/Photovoltaic panels to supply heat/electricity/water required for encapsulation of n-Octadecane with polymer shell via miniemulsion polymerization and conversion of bio-oil into biodiesel, and wind turbine/Proton exchange membrane to produce hydrogen in the strategic region of the Persian Gulf, Bandar Abbas. In this system, hybrid Nanofluid is used to increase the efficiency of the solar collector system. Moreover, for the first time, a transesterified conversion reactor (TCR) enhanced with thermal energy storage (TES) powered by renewable energies is introduced to yield more biodiesel. The produced Biodiesel along with diesel fuel with a mixture of air and hydrogen combine to form the fuel of diesel-fueled generator. In order to achieve the highest performance and efficiency of the proposed system, each part of the system is optimized based on the most influencing parameters using experimental design techniques. According to the results, the produced nanocapsules with an Encapsulation production efficiency of 67.1% and an average latent heat of 163.1 kJ/kg had enough potential to be used as TES in the TCR system. As the implementation of TES in the designed TCR could increase the biodiesel production by 34.9%. Also, with a power generation of 2.48 kW, the proposed HRES emitted 12% less NOx than the pure diesel.

En el contexto del cine español del tardofranquismo, a finales de los años sesenta, surge un particular círculo de cinefilia conocido como la Escuela de Argüelles (EA). Los miembros de la EA encuentran serios obstáculos para incorporarse a la industria del cine español, por los cambios fundamentales que sufre el sector en el umbral de la transición a la democracia. En busca de una alternativa, algunos miembros del círculo encuentran a la televisión como un laboratorio idóneo para experimentar sus ambiciones estéticas. Este artículo es el estudio de caso de Emilio Martínez Lázaro, cuya colaboración con TVE hasta la llegada de la Ley Miró a principios de los ochenta, aporta importantes datos para analizar nuestra propuesta: la TVE durante la Transición se convierte en un laboratorio estético alternativo al cine, y en un espacio transitorio que paradójicamente posibilita la carrera cinematográfica de una generación de cinefilia española. Escuela de Argüelles (EA) was a cinephilia circle that emerged in Madrid in the late 60’s. The young EA’s members encountered serious obstacles for initiating their career in the Spanish film industry, since some fundamental political changes of late Francoism had made difficulties for new filmmaker’s accessibilities. Some EA members found opportunities for filmmaking, paradoxically in Spanish TV (TVE). This study analyses the historical circumstances that transform TVE as a perfect laboratory for experiencing the aesthetical ambitions of this mentioned members of EA. By focusing on the case of Emilio Martínez Lázaro, an outstanding member of EA, this paper will explore the result of this mentioned collaboration. As the hypothesis, this study proposes considering TVE during the Spanish Transition as an alternative educational space for experiencing with film aesthetics. In this regard, the TV series, literary adaptations made in film format, gave an opportunity for, and contributed to the emergence of a new generation of Spanish filmmakers. Este trabajo fue llevado a cabo en el marco del Proyecto de Investigación (I+D+i) “Televisión y cultura popular durante el franquismo: programación, programas y consumo televisivo (1956-1975)” [Har2011-27937] aprobado por el Ministerio de Ciencias e Innovación y dirigido por Julio Montero Díaz y María Antonia Paz Rebollo. 2011-2015.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental disorder following traumatic events. The present study was conducted to understand the prevalence of PTSD after the earthquake in Iran and Pakistan. The review includes all articles published from inception to March 2019. The pooled prevalence for overall PTSD was 55.6% (95% CI: 49.9–61.3). It was 60.2% (95% CI: 54.1–66.3) and 49.2% (95% CI: 39.4–59) for Iranian and Pakistani survivors, respectively. Women experienced higher incidence of PTSD than men. The variation of PTSD based on the clinical interview was lower than the self-report approach. The interval time between the earthquakes and the assessment showed that the prevalence of PTSD decreased over time. The prevalence of PTSD in Iran and Pakistan was higher than the global average, and the rate of the disorder in Iran was higher than in Pakistan. Sex, method of assessment, and time lag between the occurrence of disaster and assessment of PTSD affect the prevalence.

People living with HIV (PLWH) often have worse health outcomes compared to HIV-uninfected individuals. We characterized PLWH followed at a tertiary care clinic in Montreal who acquired COVID-19 and described their outcomes during the first wave of the pandemic. A retrospective chart review was performed for PLWH followed at the Chronic Viral Illness Service with a positive COVID-19 nasopharyngeal PCR or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 between 1 March and 15 June 2020. Data on demographics, socioeconomic status, co-morbidities and severity of COVID-19 and outcomes were extracted. Of 1702 individuals, 32 (1.9%) had a positive COVID-19 test (n = 24) or symptoms suspicious for COVID-19 (n = 3). Median age was 52 years [IQR 40, 62]. Nearly all (97%) earned $34,999 Canadian dollars or less. Eleven (34%) individuals worked in long-term care (LTC) homes while 5 (6%) lived in LTC homes. Median CD4 count was 566 cells/mm3 [347, 726] and six had detectable plasma HIV viral loads. Median duration of HIV was 17 years [7, 22] and 30 individuals had been prescribed antiretroviral therapy. Five persons were asymptomatic. Of symptomatic persons, 21 (12%), 1 (4%) and 3 (12%) individuals had mild, moderate and severe disease, respectively. Three individuals died with COVID-19. In one case, the cause of death was due to COVID-19, whereas in the other two cases, the individuals died with positive COVID-19 test results but the immediate cause of death is unclear. PLWH who tested positive for COVID-19 had low socioeconomic status and had employment or living conditions that put them at high risk. PLWH may be disproportionately impacted by the social determinants of health which predispose them to COVID-19.

Alzheimer’s disease is known as a most common dementia disorder in the world. The famous hypothesis about the cause of this disease is beta-amyloid (Aβ ) accumulation in the brain. There is a widespread neuroinflammation in the patient’s brain, leading to neuronal apoptosis and brain atrophy. Curcumin is a well-known anti-inflammation and anti-oxidant ingredient. It can easily cross the blood-brain barrier. There are controversial results about the effects of curcumin on Aβ clearance and metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease and the elderly. The aim of this meta-analysis and systematic review was to review the effect of curcumin on Aβ clearance in clinical studies. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on the three randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and one pilot study that assessed the effect of curcumin on Aβ plasma level in Alzheimer’s disease. For this purpose, we searched PubMed and Scopus databases up to December 2020. Our result showed there was no significant change in serum Aβ level (weighted mean difference [WMD]: 5.3, 95% CI: 0.78-9.97) following curcumin consumption in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Further clinical trials should be done to evaluate the effects of curcumin in Aβ level in Alzheimer’s disease.

Introduction: According to Rome IV, functional dyspepsia is diagnosed with the presence of dyspepsia in the absence of organic or metabolic causes. FD caused by several factors, such as impaired gastric accommodation and hypersensitivity to gastric distention. Several studies have reported the effectiveness of herbal medicine on FD. This article, thus, reviews Persian herbal medicine in FD. Methods: Electronic databases, including Pubmed, Scopus, Cochrane, Embase, Web of science and Ovid, were searched so as to find clinical articles related to dyspepsia and herbal medicine by July 2019. Our search strategies were traditional medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, herb, plant, and dyspepsia. We excluded all articles except Persian clinical trials. Results: We found 34 clinical trials with 15 herbs and 4 compound herbal remedies like Asparagus racemosus, Brassica oleracea, Cynara scolymus, Ocimum basilicum, Mentha longifolia, Mentha pulegium, Mentha piperata, Pimpinella anisum, Nigella sativa, Mastic gum, Curcuma longa, Pistatio Atlantica, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Solanum tuberosum and Zingiber officinale and compound remedies of Rosa damascene & Crocus sativus, Trachyspermum copticom & Apium graveolence, Carum carvi & Mentha pipperata, Gingiber officinalis & Cynara scolymus are effective in functional dyspepsia. Conclusion: Many people use herbal and traditional remedies for the treatment of disorders such as gastrointestinal disorders, especially in Asian countries. Several studies reported the efficacy of herbal medicine in functional dyspepsia. Although their mechanisms are not fully understood, it seems they can modulate GI motility and improve symptoms of FD.

Nasal septal abscess and hematoma are rare clinical entities. To the best of our knowledge, there have only been 2 cases of nasal septal abscess associated with haematological malignancy reported in the literature. Herein, we present a unique case of recurrent spontaneous nasal septal hematoma and abscess in a patient prior to and after the diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia. Its rarity in immunocompromised population, clinical presentation, treatment and complications are further discussed.

Current national and international regulations, along with growing environmental concerns, have deeply influenced the design of supply chain networks. These decisions stem from the fact that decision-makers try to design the supply chain network to align with their economic and environmental objectives. In this paper, a new closed-loop supply chain network with sales agency and customers is formulated. The proposed model has four echelons in the forward direction and five echelons in the backwards direction. The model not only considers several constraints from previous studies, but also addresses new constraints in order to better explore real-life problems that employ different transportation modes and that rely on sale agency centers. The objective function is to maximize the total profit. In addition, this study firstly considers distinct cluster of customers based on the product life cycle. These customers are utilized in different levels of the proposed network in order to purchase the final products, returned products, and recycled products. The structure of the model is based on linear mixed-integer programming, and the proposed model has been investigated through a case study regarding the manufacturing industry. To verify the model efficiency, a set of metaheuristics and hybrid algorithm are applied in various test problems along with a data from a real-world case study in a building construction industry. The findings of the proposed network illustrated that using the attributes of sale agency centers and clusters of customers both increase the problem total revenue and the number of the collected returned products.

OBJECTIVEThis investigation is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the factors that lead to mechanical failure of shunts used for the treatment of hydrocephalus, including shunt catheter-valve disconnection and shunt catheter fracture.METHODSTo determine the root cause of mechanical failure, the authors created a benchtop mechanical model to mimic mechanical stressors on a shunt system. To test shunt fracture, cyclical loading on the catheter-valve connection site was tested with the shunt catheter held perpendicular to the valve. Standard methods were used to secure the catheter and valves with Nurolon. These commercial systems were compared to integrated catheters and valves (manufactured as one unit). To test complete separation/disconnection of the shunt catheter and valve, a parallel displacement test was conducted using both Nurolon and silk sutures. Finally, the stiffness of the catheters was assessed. All mechanical investigations were conducted on shunts from two major shunt companies, assigned as either company A or company B.RESULTSCyclical loading experiments found that shunts from company B fractured after a mean of 4936 ± 1725 cycles (95% CI 2990–6890 cycles), while those of company A had not failed after 8000 cycles. The study of parallel displacement indicated complete disconnection of company B’s shunt catheter-valve combination using Nurolon sutures after being stretched an average 32 ± 5.68 mm (95% CI 25.6–38.4 mm), whereas company A’s did not separate using either silk or Nurolon sutures. During the stiffness experiments, the catheters of company B had statistically significantly higher stiffness of 13.23 ± 0.15 N compared to those of company A, with 6.16 ± 0.29 N (p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONSMechanical shunt failure from shunt catheter-valve disconnection or fracture is a significant cause of shunt failure. This study demonstrates, for the first time, a correlation between shunt catheters that are less mechanically stiff and those that are less likely to disconnect from the valve when outstretched and are also less likely to tear when held at an angle from the valve outlet. The authors propose an intervention to the standard of care wherein less stiff catheters are trialed to reduce disconnection.

In this study, a hybrid system containing two main sections is designed, optimized, and constructed to make wind power more sustainable. Power generation section contains wind turbine (WT), alkaline electrolysis system (AES), biodiesel generator (BDG), and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), and water supply section for AES/PEMFC contains ground source heat pump (GSHP), microalgal culture pond (MCP), parabolic trough collector (PTC) and solar still desalination (SSD). First, light intensity, salinity, and air injection are investigated in the MCP system for maximum biomass production of 0.81 gL−1. In the PTC unit, operating fluid's flow rate, hybrid nanoparticles (MWCNT/MgO), and their ratios are considered for obtaining the highest thermal efficiency of 61.8%. Pressure, fluid flow rate, and still's height in the SSD unit are investigated for the highest water production of 23.1 Lday−1. Next, several AES based on different electrolytes are examined. Then, PEMFC with a maximum power density of 472 mWcm−2 is studied based on oxidant/polyaniline (PANI) ratio, PANI, and Pt amount as important parameters of the membrane-catalyst complex. Finally, catalyst, temperature, and reaction time are investigated for maximum biodiesel production of 81.4%. The capacity factor of the WT increases to 82.3% and the cost of electricity is 0.161 $kW−1h−1.

Background Previous studies reported that common functional variants (rs780093, rs780094, and rs1260326) in the glucokinase regulator gene (GCKR) were associated with metabolic syndrome despite the simultaneous association with the favorable and unfavorable metabolic syndrome components. We decided to evaluate these findings in a cohort study with a large sample size of Iranian adult subjects, to our knowledge for the first time. We investigated the association of the GCKR variants with incident MetS in mean follow-up times for nearly 10 years. Methods Analysis of this retrospective cohort study was performed among 5666 participants of the Tehran Cardiometabolic Genetics Study (TCGS) at 19–88 years at baseline. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the metabolic syndrome (JIS criteria) association and its components with rs780093, rs780094, and rs1260326 in an additive genetic model. Cox regression was carried out to peruse variants’ association with the incidence of metabolic syndrome in the TCGS cohort study. Results In the current study, we have consistently replicated the association of the GCKR SNPs with higher triglyceride and lower fasting blood sugar levels (p Conclusions Elevated triglyceride levels had the strongest association with GCKR selected variants among the metabolic syndrome components. Despite the association of these variants with decreased fasting blood sugar levels, T alleles of the variants were associated with metabolic syndrome incidence; so whether individuals are T allele carriers of the common functional variants, they have a risk factor for the future incidence of metabolic syndrome.

More than 25% of older adults (age ≥75 years) have diabetes and may be at risk of adverse events related to treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of intensive glycaemic control in this group, potential overtreatment among older adults and the impact of overtreatment on the risk of serious events. We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study of community-dwelling older adults in Ontario using administrative data. Participants were ≥75 years of age with diagnosed diabetes treated with at least one anti-hyperglycaemic agent between 2014 and 2015. Individuals were categorised as having intensive or conservative glycaemic control (HbA1c

Keratosis lichenoides chronica (KLC) is a rare dermatosis which represents different clinical characteristics between adult‐ and pediatric‐onset cases. We described a childhood case of KLC with features typical for adult‐onset disease. Acitretin led to partial improvement of her skin, but not mucosal, lesions., Keratosis lichenoides chronica (KLC) is a rare dermatosis which often manifests in adults and less commonly in childhood. Although its manifestation in children is described to be distinct from that of adults, its presentation could be analogous in both.

Schools in India typically provide teachers with professional development in the form of workshops with a one-size-fits-all approach. However, a large body of international studies show this to be ineffective in transforming classroom practice, and the draft National Education Policy of India released in 2020 lists several shortcomings of current in-service professional development practices across the country. On the other hand, a large body of international research has emerged to show that professional learning communities (PLCs) are one of the most effective means to improving teacher practice and student learning. Yet, the National Education Policy does not make any explicit mention of PLCs. This study shows that the benefits of PLCs researched in international contexts may apply to the Indian context too because it was found that participation in PLCs might have supported increased collaboration among teachers, improved classroom teaching, and increased unity and consistency in practice across classrooms, at two schools in India. Also, this paper presents important findings related to the successful planning and operationalization of PLCs in the context of Indian schooling. It is hoped that with the publication of this study, public and private schools in India will be encouraged and better prepared to take steps towards the establishment of PLCs in their institutions as a key lever for school improvement.

This study is the first study that aims to assess the association between SNPs located at the PPARG gene with long term persistent obesity. In this cohort association study, all adult individuals who had at least three consecutive phases of BMI (at least nine years) in Tehran genetic Cardio-metabolic Study (TCGS) were included. Individuals who always had 30 ≤ BMI

Background: Since the Coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19) rampaged in Iran, three waves of the epidemic occurred. Objective: In the present study, two issues are considered. First: What proportion of the people adhere to the mitigation approaches towards the disease? Second: Which are the reasons to disobey these rules? Methods: A cross-sectional, population-based phone survey was applied among the population aged over 16 years in Mashhad between November 5 and December 1, 2020. A valid and reliable knowledge, attitude, and performance (KAP (designed questionnaire was used and logistic regression was performed with STATA 14. Results: The final sample size was 776; 90.59, 89.8 and 48.1% of the participants had sufficient reliable knowledge, attitude, and practice, respectively; 20.1% of the participants did not wear masks; nearly half of them visited traditional healers for the prevention and cure; 97.8% of them believed the efficiency of the vaccine and stated that they will consume it if it is distributed. Among the sociodemographic factors, only the unemployed had low adherence to the preventive approach; 51.7% of the main worry was the weak economic situation and 69% of jobs and expenditures were poorly affected. The odds ratio (OR) for optimising attitude reduced from 4.64 to 3.22, and for good performance from 5.64 to 5.43 after adjusting for the economic, knowledge and perception factors. Conclusion: Despite all the health rules and probably COVID-19 vaccines global access (COVAX), it seems that the most effective way to reverse this horrific wave and its economic consequences is the improvement of the economy and livelihood of the society.

BACKGROUND: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) main product is Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) which cause mitogenesis and inflammation. COX-2 is the product of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) gene expression. COX-2 dysregulation can cause angiogenesis, differentiation, and promotion of cancer and its suppression related to control of the tumor's size, number, and cell shape. This study focused on the association of COX-2 expression with colorectal carcinoma (CRC) among Iranian patients on mRNA level and in the Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) colon and rectum RNAseq dataset, and its relation with pathological features. METHODS: PTGS2 expression was assayed by quantitative-PCR method from 90 tissue samples collected from 45 participants. The control samples come from the non-tumor area of the same patients. The data analyzed based on ΔΔCq. The PTGS2-RNAseq data extracted and analyzed by UCSC Xena browser, and its association assessed the occurrence of CRC and invasive-features. RESULTS: PTGS2 showed very significant over-expression in tumor tissues (p< 0.0001) with an N-fold expression of 2.25. But, there was not any significant association between PTGS2 and CRC invasive-pathological features such as Lymphatic, vascular and perineural invasion, the Grades of cancer, and Pathologic-M in both parts of this study. CONCLUSION: The increase in PTGS2 is related to the occurrence of CRC among patient samples. But in both part of this study, PTGS2 is not an invasive factor, and it does not affect the cell differentiation of tumors and metastasis. Based on the high N-fold for patient samples, it can be a strong candidate as a CRC initiator biomarker.

Background. Self-efficacy in diabetes management can empower patients and result in their more active participation in the treatment process. In addition, a patient’s behavior is influenced by their knowledge of and attitude toward their illness. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine the association of knowledge of diabetes, attitude toward diabetes, and health literacy with diabetes management self-efficacy in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in 2019. The sample included 115 patients with diabetes (59 women and 56 men) attending diabetes centers of Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Iran, who were selected using a convenience sampling method. The Brief Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT), the Diabetes Attitude Scale (DAS), the Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA) scale, and the Diabetes Management Self-Efficacy Scale (DMSES) were used to gather data. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise regression analysis. All the analyses were perfumed using SPSS, version 16. The significance level was set at 0.05 for all the tests. Results. The mean age of participants was 46.61 ± 13.73 years. Health literacy (r = 0.585) and attitude (r = 0.396) were significantly correlated with self-efficacy (P = 0.001). According to the results of stepwise regression analysis, 34.3% and 36.6% of the variance of self-efficacy was explained by health literacy alone and health literacy together with attitude, respectively. One standard deviation change in health literacy and attitude was associated with 0.51 and 0.71 standard deviation change in self-efficacy, respectively. Conclusion. Health literacy and attitude toward diabetes are positively associated with self-efficacy in diabetes management, and improving these variables can improve self-efficacy in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Obesity is a risk factor for several diseases including metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and is underlying cause of liver diseases. Researches indicate that life style modification via changes in physical activity levels and healthy diet can be beneficial for liver function. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of aerobic training and garlic supplementation on serum levels of ALT and AST. Methods: In a clinical trial, forty obese men (BMI>30 kg/m2) were randomly assigned into four groups (10 per each) including 1- Exercise+Sepplement (ES) 2- Supplement (S) 3- Exercise+Placebo (EP) and 4- Placebo (P). The subjects received garlic capsule two times per day (each capsule contained 500 mg garlic powder) or placebo (starch) over a period of eight weeks. The subjects in exercise groups performed a supervised progressive aerobic training (3 times a week, %50-%70 HRmax, 20-40 mins) at the same time. Before and after the experimental period body composition analysis was performed and blood samples were taken in a fasting state. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, One-Way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc tests at the significance level of P

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of customer-assisted knowledge production capacity on customer capital. Research methodology: The statistical population of the study consisted of 70 managers, researchers and experts of a scientific center and the statistical sample was counted and estimated 70 persons. The research instrument of the researcher-made questionnaire consists of six dimensions: ability to identify customer needs, create and manage a customer information system, customer loyalty, market share, customer service capability and target customer identification. The validity of the questionnaire was estimated 0.94%. Results: The results show that the impact of customer knowledge production capacity on all dimensions of customer capital is significant. Also, most influential among customer capital factors is customer service capability. Finally, by confirming the research hypotheses, suggestions were made based on the results of the research to improve the client's capital of the statistical society. Limitation: This research only described Knowledge Based Center. Contribution: Organizations realized that relying on existing knowledge alone was not enough to compete in a competitive environment, and went beyond the boundaries of their organization to acquire knowledge. Organizations considered customers as a very useful and knowledgeable resource, and activities should be done to interact with customers in leading organizations. Keywords: Customer assisted knowledge production capacity, Customer capital, Intellectual capital, Knowledge management

In this study, a novel renewable hybrid system was designed and constructed to efficiently produce biodiesel through various methods. First, a parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) was used as a renewable source for producing desalinated water in a solar still. Then, the heat dissipated by PTC and water produced by the solar still were used to generate biodiesel. Finally, the combined cycle of PTC/desalination/biodiesel generator was applied to produce heat and steady power. Necessary electricity in the hybrid system containing pumps, mixing tools, etc. was provided by photovoltaic panels. After launching the hybrid system and performing experiments to produce biodiesel on Palm and Chlorella bioenergy carriers, the percentage of the biodiesel production for these two species in different ways were as follows: alkaline catalyzed transesterification (79.17,81.46), acid-catalyzed transesterification (79.1,81.43), two-step transesterification (78.07,81.42), supercritical transesterification (75.16,80.68), microemulsion (76.3,81.4), electrolysis (50.25, 58.87), and pyrolysis (13.677,14.833). Moreover, the lowest price belonged to the alkaline catalyzed transesterification which for palm/chlorella was 0.65/0.972. In most methods, the cetane number of palm-based biodiesel was higher (∼58). Consequently, it had a better combustion quality compared to chlorella-based biodiesel (∼44). This study also modeled various processes for the bioenergy carrier conversion. The results were consistent with experimental data.

Background Reducing HIV transmission using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) requires focussing on individuals at high acquisition risk, such as men who have sex with men with a history of nonoccupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP). This study aims to characterize longitudinal trends in PrEP uptake and its determinants among nPEP users in Montreal. Methods Eligible attendees at Clinique medicale l'Actuel were recruited prospectively starting in October 2000 (nPEP) and January 2013 (PrEP). Linking these cohorts, we characterized the nPEP-to-PrEP cascade, examined the determinants of PrEP uptake after nPEP consultation using a Cox proportional-hazard model, and assessed whether PrEP persistence differed by nPEP history using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results As of August 2019, 31% of 2682 nPEP cohort participants had 2 or more nPEP consultations. Subsequent PrEP consultations occurred among 36% of nPEP users, of which 17% sought nPEP again afterward. Among 2718 PrEP cohort participants, 46% reported previous nPEP use. Among nPEP users, those aged 25-49 years [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1 to 1.7], with more nPEP episodes (HR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3 to 1.5), who reported chemsex (HR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1 to 1.7), with a sexually transmitted infection history (HR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.3 to 1.7), and who returned for their first nPEP follow-up visit (HR = 3.4, 95% CI: 2.7 to 4.2) had higher rates of PrEP linkage. There was no difference in PrEP persistence between nPEP-to-PrEP and PrEP only participants. Conclusion Over one-third of nPEP users were subsequently prescribed PrEP. However, the large proportion of men who repeatedly use nPEP calls for more efficient PrEP-linkage services and, among those who use PrEP, improved persistence should be encouraged.

In this study, a new high step-up non-isolated three-port DC–DC converter is proposed. A bidirectional buck–boost converter is used to interface photovoltaic battery and non-isolated load port. Compared to the other three-port converters, the presented topology has fewer component counts, which is the main merit of the proposed converter. The output voltage of the converter can be increased by using a three winding coupled inductor, a diode and a capacitor. Furthermore, since both main switches are turned on with zero voltage switching, switching losses is reduced and the efficiency of the converter is improved. Maximum power point tracking and maintaining the output voltage at a suitable level during the charging and discharging of the battery can be achieved by a simple controller. Moreover, according to the load power demand, three power flow paths will occur. The operation principle will be described in detail for three modes. Finally, the experiments with 400 W, 100 W, 40 V/400 V are implemented to verify the effectiveness of the converter.