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Global geopotential models (GGMs) are widely used in earth sciences, especially in geodesy and geophysics. In this paper, we aim at studying GGMs' capability in the geoidal height estimation at the geographical region of Iran. This will include verification of both satellite-only and combined GGMs. To compute the geoidal height at a point, keeping the longitude and latitude constant, we change its ellipsoidal height until the GGM-derived gravity potential at the resulting height equals the geoid's potential value. In this process, we consider the topographic bias effect once the computation of the potential is inside the topographic masses. As the benchmark for the performance analysis of GGMs, we use the known geoidal heights of 841GPS/Levelling stations with a country-wide distribution. The results indicate that the XGM2019e_2159 (n_max=2190) GGM is the best combined and the GO_CONS_GCF_2_DIR_R5 (n_max=330) GGM is the best satellite-only model for the computation of geoidal heights in the study area, Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims:About 10 percents of infants are born prematurely and their hospitalization is avoidable in many cases. This event can represent a considerable source of stress for parents. As well as many parents haven't enough knowledge about premature infants and their own parenting roles in NICU and this new situation. These problems can disrupt the expected development of interactive skills for both parent and infant. Nurses are persons, which can prevent of these problems with planning and implementing family centered cares. Objective: Our goal was to study the effects of premature infant's parent empowerment program in NICU, as a family centered intervention, on their beliefs about parental role and what behaviors and characteristics to expect of their premature infants in NICU. Materials & Methods: A quasi-experimental, posttest-only design with a comparison group was conducted with 65 families with preterm infants from 2010 to 2011 in NICUs in two Hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Science. All mothers and fathers were above 18 years of age and whose infants born at the study sites, below 37 weeks of gestational age. Parents in experiment group received information and behavioral activities about the appearance and behavioral characteristics of preterm infants and how best to parent them via verbal face to face education, audio taped in CD or Bluetooth and written materials. In order to measure the parent's beliefs about parental role and what behaviors and characteristics to expect of their premature infants in NICU, the 15-item PBS: NICU questionnaire was used. Results: Mothers in the empowerment program group reported significantly higher beliefs about their parental role and what behaviors and characteristics to expect of their infants during hospitalization (M: 23.27±5.09) compared with control mothers (M: 19.23±4.99) (p<0.001), as well as, fathers in the empowerment program group reported significantly higher beliefs (M: 24±4.34) compared with control fathers (M: 17.2±4.66) (p<0.001). Conclusion: Probably, parent's empowerment program can improve their beliefs about parental role and what behaviors and characteristics to expect of their infants in NICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Risk assessment of intensity & duration of cold episodes in vineyards. • Cold monitoring strategies in vineyards using robust multivariate approach. • Improving frost risk modelling using copula model. • Prediction of frost events return period with copula model. Frost, particularly during the spring, is one of the most damaging weather phenomena for vineyards, causing significant economic losses to vineyards around the world each year. The risk of tardive frost damage in vineyards due to changing climate is considered as an important threat to the sustainable production of grapes. Therefore, the cold monitoring strategies is one of the criteria with significant impacts on the yields and prosperity of horticulture and raisin factories. Frost events can be characterized by duration and severity. This paper investigates the risk and impacts of frost phenomenon in the vineyards by modeling the joint distribution of duration and severity factors and analyzing the influential parameter's dependency structure using capabilities of copula functions. A novel mathematical framework is developed within this study to understand the risk and uncertainties associate with frost events and the impacts on yields of vineyards by analyzing the non-linear dependency structure using copula functions as an efficient tool. The developed model was successfully validated for the case study of vineyard in Malayer city of Iran. The copula model developed in this study was shown to be a robust tool for predicting the return period of the frost events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self-care education is one method used to reduce the complications of chronic diseases like Multiple sclerosis which affects self-efficacy. The present study evaluated the effect of self-care training by nurses on the self-efficacy of patients with multiple sclerosis., Methods: This is a randomized clinical trial with pre-test/ post-test. The statistical population of this study included all patients with multiple sclerosis who were members of the Iranian Multiple Sclerosis Association, from whom 90 patients were selected and divided into two groups of intervention and control (n = 45 people in each group), through a table of random numbers. First, both groups completed the demographic information and Sherer's self-efficacy questionnaire. Then, a self-care empowerment program was delivered to patients in the intervention group. Eight weeks later, the self-efficacy questionnaires were completed again by both intervention and control groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS-22 statistical software., Results: The mean self-efficacy score in the intervention group was (60.27 ± 8.63) and in the control group was (59.07 ± 6.84) before the intervention. After the intervention, a statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding the mean self-efficacy scores (p = 0.004). The mean self-efficacy scores in the intervention and control groups were (63.73 ± 6.97) and (59.21 ± 6.23) after the intervention., Conclusions: A Self-care training program can be used as one of the methods to improve self-efficacy in patients with multiple sclerosis., Trial Registration: The protocol of this clinical trial has been registered in the Iranian Clinical Trial Registration Center (registration code: IRCT20180914041036N1). Registered 18 January 2019- Retrospectively registered, date of first recruitment: 23 August 2017, https://www.irct.ir/ ., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The code of ethics (IR.TUMS.FNM.REC.1396.2939) for this study was obtained from the joint ethics committee of the Faculties of Nursing & Midwifery and Rehabilitation of Tehran University of Medical Science informed consent was obtained from all participants. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Missed care refers to the omission or delay in performing any aspect of patient's care (either a part of the care or the entire care). Currently, missed care has become a growing concern at the international level, which threatens the quality and safety of care and cases many unwanted consequences. This study aims to investigate the frequency and types of missed nursing care in the emergency departments of selected hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences., Methods: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive- observational study that was conducted with the aim of determining the frequency and types of missed nursing care in the emergency departments of selected hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences from January 2020 to June 2020. The research community included all nursing care offered in the designated areas, as well as all nurses working in the emergency departments of selected hospitals. Finally, 146 nurses were selected by census method. The information was collected by self-reporting method and the researcher's observation. Demographic information questionnaire, a researcher-made checklist were used to determine the frequency and types of missed nursing care. 384 observations were made for each item. Descriptive statistics methods were used to analyze the data., Results: The area of checking equipment and emergency trolley(mean = 81.80) had the lowest and the area of patient communication(mean = 55.72) had the highest level of missed care., Conclusions: The level of missed nursing care in the emergency departments of selected hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences was found to be high and the highest amount was related to the field of communication with the patient. Therefore, it is recommended that the details of missed nursing care in each area should be considered by nursing managers., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Boarding is a common problem in the emergency department (ED) and is associated with poor health care and outcome. Imam Khomeini Hospital is the main healthcare center in Urmia, a metropolis in the northwest of Iran. Due to the overcrowding and high patient load, we aim to characterize the rate, cause and consequence of boarding in the ED of this center., Methods: All medical records of patients who presented to the ED of Imam Khomeini Hospital from August 1, 2017 to August 1, 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with uncompleted records were excluded. Boarding was defined as the inability to transfer the admitted ED patients to a downstream ward in ≥2 h after the admission order. Demographic data, boarding rate, mortality and triage levels (1-5) assessed by emergency severity index were collected and analyzed. The first present time of patients was classified into 4 ranges as 0:00-5:59, 6:00-11:59, 12:00-17:59 and 18:00-23:59. Descriptive, parametric and non-parametric statistical tests were performed and the risk of boarding was determined by Pearson Chi-square test., Results: Demographic data analysis showed that 941 (58.5%) male and 667 (41.5%) female, altogether 1608 patients were included in this study. Five patients (0.3%) died. The distribution of patients with the triage levels 1-5 was respectively 79 (4.9%), 1150 (71.5%), 374 (23.3%), 4 (0.2%) and 0 (0%). Most patients were of level 2. Only 75 (4.7%) patients required intensive care. The majority of patients (84.2%) were presented at weekdays. The maximum patient load was observed between 12:00-17:59. Of the 1608 patients, 340 (21.1%) experienced boarding within a mean admission time of 13.70 h. Among the 340-boarded patients, 20.1% belonged to surgery, 12.1% to orthopedics, 10.9% to neurosurgery and 10.3% to neurology. The boarding rate was higher in females, patients requiring intensive care and those with low triage levels. Compared with the non-boarded, the boarded patients had a higher mean age., Conclusion: The boarding rate is higher in the older and female patients. Moreover, boarding is dependent on the downstream ward sections: patients requiring surgical management experience the maximum boarding rate., (Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.)

Heavy metal pollution in food-producing ecosystems resulting from long-term fertilizing and other agricultural practices is causing major concern due to its health risk potential for human and other organisms. This study was designed to investigate heavy metal concentrations (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr and Cd) and assess their ecological risk using contamination factor (Cf), pollution load index (PLI) and ecological risk index. Health risk assessment (HRA) was also estimated by investigating non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of soil via oral ingestion, dermal contact, inhalation, and health risk of grape consumption. To this aim, 38 fertilized vineyards of the region were investigated during harvesting seasons of 2016 and 2017. The results showed a same ranking order of the metals in the soil and grape that was Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr > Cd. The average concentrations of Zn and Pb in the grape samples were significantly higher than the national permissible limits. According to Cf and PLI indices, Cd had the most ecological risk compared to the other studied metals. The HRA results showed that adults and children are not exposed to non-carcinogenic risk from the studied heavy metals in the vineyard soils. But, it was a tolerable level of carcinogenic health risk only by Cr in some of the vineyards. The PLI had most significant correlation (p < 0.01) with the other studied indices. So, it can be considered as a rapid and applicable index to assess ecological and health risk of heavy metals in the region. To food-chain security and community health, some comprehensive managing plans are necessary to increase farmer's awareness about the standard amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Furthermore, continuous monitoring of heavy metals in soil and grape of the vineyards should be performed.

This brief report provides a first look at self-reported instances of elder abuse by a sample of people 60 years and older living in Qazvin, Iran. Six hundred community-dwelling persons, drawn from the registry files of each health center in Qazin, completed questionnaires during April to October 2012. At least 80% of the participants reported experiencing some form of psychological abuse, financial abuse, and/or neglect at least once during a 2-month period. Physical and sexual abuse were rarely reported. Despite a strong Iranian cultural emphasis on respect for elders, the self-reporting of elder abuse, especially psychological abuse, is greater than our expectation. We recommend that health-related policies and programs begin to identify elder abuse and neglect as a first step in prevention.

Probiotic Iranian ultrafiltered Feta cheese was produced from ultrafiltration of milk with a volumetric concentration factor of 4.5:1. The heat-treated retentates were inoculated with 10(7) cfu of Lactobacillus casei LAFTI L26/mL. A mesophilic-thermophilic mixed culture of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris, and Streptococcus thermophilus was also used. Three percent (wt/wt) salt with different ratios of NaCl:KCl (100% NaCl, 50% NaCl:50% KCl, 75% NaCl:25% KCl, and 25% NaCl:75% KCl) were used in cheese formulation. The viability of L. casei was determined in treatments during the ripening period (90d at 5°C) within 15-d intervals. The pH, titratable acidity, and redox potential changes were monitored throughout the mentioned period. The mean pH drop rate, mean acidity increase rate, and mean redox potential increase rate were calculated at the end of the storage period. Also, total nitrogen, water-soluble nitrogen, lactic acid, and acetic acid concentrations, and syneresis and sensory characteristics of the product were measured during the mentioned period every 30d. The maximum viability of L. casei was observed within d 15 to 30 of the ripening period in the treatment containing the lowest amount of sodium. Addition of KCl enhanced syneresis. Cheeses with NaCl alone and with only 25% replacement by KCl have the highest sensory acceptability., (Copyright © 2012 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Respect for human dignity is a basic and crucial component of nursing care. Illness with restricted physical ability and being confined to bed can compromise the dignity of patients. The views of adolescents regarding dignity in care have not previously been researched. This article details a descriptive-analytic study in which survey data was collected from all nurses and compared with a convenience sample of 180 hospitalized adolescents in two hospitals in Iran. The data was analyzed with SPSS software. A significant difference between nurses and hospitalized ill adolescents' perceptions was identified in relation to: understanding the importance of privacy (p < 0.001); observance of privacy (p < 0.001); importance of interaction between nurses and patients (p = 0.019); and the observance of interaction between nurses and patients (p < 0.001). Attention to adolescents' views about dignity can help nurses to improve quality of care for this group.