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Urban Heat Island (UHI) is one of the most serious difficulties that humans have faced in the twenty-first century resulted due to urbanization and industrialization. The main causes of UHI are the vast amounts of heat produced by urban structures, which solar energy should be used and re-radiated as well as anthropogenic heat sources. The two heat sources cause an urban area’s temperature to rise in comparison to its surrounding areas, which refers to a phenomenon of the urban heat islands. Large cities and diverse economic activities face even more serious difficulties. This paper defined the concept and types of UHIs. This paper explained a comprehensive review of the phenomenon of UHI from its first appearance with regard to causing factors, its influences on people’s lives and the urban environments, and widely used data for measuring and evaluating the intensity of UHIs. The finding of most studies mentioned that UHI values are different from city to city based on land-use changes. It is revealed that an increasing trend occurred mainly because expand in built-up areas and a reduction in green cover. Also, a number of studies showed that the UHI intensity was low during summer afternoons and high during winter nights in many places around the world.

In the twenty-first century, urban heat islands (UHIs) have become a major problem for humanity as a consequence of urbanization and industrialization. The main causes of UHI are the vast amounts of heat generated by urban structures as they consume and re-radiate solar energy and anthropogenic heat sources. The two heat sources cause an urban area’s temperature to rise above its surroundings, a phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island (UHI). Many approaches, methods, models, and investigative tools have been implemented to study and analysis this phenomenon. In general, green areas in cities are thought to be an effective approach to mitigate urban heat island effects and bring comfort to residents. The improvement of microclimatic conditions in urban environments is mostly influenced by evapotranspiration. Most of the studies show a rising trend in the UHI, which is linked to decreased plant cover and land-use changes. The main objectives of this paper were to explain the concept, formation factors, and influential factors of UHI. In addition, the most common strategies and tools that are applied in mitigating rising temperatures in urban areas were reviewed and summarized. The finding of several studies showed that increasing urban vegetation areas in addition to optimizing their spatial distribution and configuration is an effective strategy to reduce the impact of UHI.

Background: Many patients prefer treatment abroad in Afghanistan. The quality of treatment services is low and they cover the treatment of themselves. This causes both the loss of the national wealth of Afghanistan and poor satisfaction of the workers and patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction of health service providers and beneficiaries in the capital city of Kabil, Afghanistan on the quality of tertiary health services. Methods: Tertiary health facilities chosen from sixteen in Kabil according to their worker and patient capacity, randomly. Health professionals and service recipients recruited using face-to-face questionnaire method. Findings: The level of hospital services are above average for both employees and inpatients in Kabil whereas more hospital workers thinks that health services are weak (p=0.024). Workers spend more money for treatments made in abroad (p=0.043). Conclusions/Application to Practice: Quality of health services is a shared responsibility between hospital management, staff and patients. New governmental regulations should be found for tertiary hospitals and promotive changes should be made for hospital workers in order to increase total quality management.

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic aptitude of a modified Adams forward bending test (MAFBT), which addresses the coupling phenomenon of axial rotation with reference to the side-bending movement. Also, this evaluation was facilitated by the introduction of our rotational flexibility index (RFI). Thirty-two female and eight male AIS patients were included in this study from a single institution. In the MAFBT, subjects were asked to bend to the convex side of the curve in the forward bending position. Scoliometric measurements were done during the AFBT and MAFBT. Utilizing anteroposterior standing plain radiographs curve flexibility indices were calculated. The diagnostic aptitude of the MAFBT was evaluated based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the curve (AUC). The RFI was also assessed, which considered AFBT and MAFBT parameters as a specified function. Significant correlations were noted between the Cobb angle and AFBT (p = 0.005), fulcrum bending and the MAFBT (p = 0.0001), side-bending and MAFBT (p = 0.0001). There were significant positive correlations between rotational flexibility as based on fulcrum bending radiograph to that of the RFI (r = 0.4, p = 0.036) and side-bending technique (r = 0.4, p = 0.008). Based on ROC analyses (AUC range 0.7–0.8), the MAFBT demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity rates for flexible and rigid curves, respectively. This is the first study to report that the MAFBT is a simple and reliable test for the clinical assessment of rotational flexibility in AIS patients. The study further noted that the novel RFI has clinical utility in the assessment of AIS.

This study has investigated the effect of the number of stages, the blade outlet spacing, and the blade outlet angle of a selected industrial submersible pump on the pump performance. The main steps in the study are outlined below: Firstly, the operating characteristics in different stages of a selected industrial submersible pump were measured by the experiment. Following the measurements, the effects of two basic geometric parameters, such as impeller outlet width and impeller outlet angle on the pump performance were examined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations verified by the experimental measurements. It was seen that the geometric parameters, which were considered in the simulations, changed the size of the time-dependent variables, but the flow structure did not. Another striking finding from the CFD simulations carried out is it has been observed that while geometric arrangements have a partial effect on the flow structure along with the pump, they cause a difference in the critical values on the basic variables that define pump performance, such as pressure.

Alcohol is a unique addictive substance used by many people for different reasons. Alcohol use affects not only the users but also the family and the whole society in a negative way. Alcohol is one of the most commonly used substances for entertainment purposes in the world and one in three people is a current drinker. 2.348 billion people (43% of the population) aged 15 and over are current drinkers and males drink about 2 times more frequently than females (53.6% / 32.3%). According to the Global Alcohol and Health Report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2018), total alcohol per capita consumption (APC) worldwide aged 15 and over increased from 5.7 liters in 2000 to 6.4 liters in 2016. Harmful alcohol consumption is a major public health problem and it is known to be associated with more than 200 diseases and injuries. Policies and measures to prevent alcohol use are not implemented adequately and the burden of alcohol-related illnesses continues to increase tremendously. In order to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of alcohol, alcohol policies should be formulated based on the best evidence from a public health perspective.

Asthma is a complex disease defined by chronic airway inflammation and airflow limitation causing variable respiratory symptoms which include shortness of breath (SOB), wheezing, chest tightness and cough. Asthma guidelines advocate adding a second long acting bronchodilator to medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) rather using high doses of ICS alone to control moderate to severe persistent asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of three medication regimens indicated for Iraqi patients suffering from persistent asthma. This study was interventional randomized clinical study conducted on a sample of adult Iraqi asthmatic patients in Baghdad City. The study composed of three visits distributed over eight weeks; baseline visit followed by first follow up and second follow up visits after four and eight weeks respectively. The study enrolled 78 adult patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma as diagnosed by specialist physician according to patient history and baseline pulmonary function test (PFT) and allocated them randomly to three groups (each group included 26 patients) to receive equivalent medium doses of budesonide inhaler in addition to either formoterol inhaler, oral modified release aminophylline tablets or tiotropium inhaler (first, second and third group respectively). Sixty four patients completed this study. The mean ages of patients were above 35 years with slightly more male predominance. The study groups developed significant increase of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced vital capacity (FVC) values at the first follow up visit compared to baseline values (p

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector serotypes vary in their ability to transduce hepatocytes from different species. Chimeric mouse models harboring human hepatocytes have shown translational promise for liver-directed gene therapies. However, many variables that influence human hepatocyte transduction and transgene expression in such models remain poorly defined. Here, we aimed to test whether three experimental conditions influence AAV transgene expression in immunodeficient, fumaryl-acetoactetate-hydrolase-deficient (Fah−/−) chimeric mice repopulated with primary human hepatocytes. We examined the effects of the murine liver injury cycle, human donor variability, and vector doses on hepatocyte transduction with various AAV serotypes expressing a green fluorescent protein (GFP). We determined that the timing of AAV vector challenge in the liver injury cycle resulted in up to 7-fold differences in the percentage of GFP expressing human hepatocytes. The GFP+ hepatocyte frequency varied 7-fold between human donors without, however, changing the relative transduction efficiency between serotypes for an individual donor. There was also a clear relationship between AAV vector doses and human hepatocyte transduction and transgene expression. We conclude that several experimental variables substantially affect human hepatocyte transduction in the Fah−/− chimera model, attention to which may improve reproducibility between findings from different laboratories., Graphical Abstract, Liver chimeric mice are widely used to model human hepatocyte susceptibility to adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene vector transduction with inconsistent finding between laboratories. Zou et al. quantify to what extent three experimental conditions—namely, mouse liver injury, human donor variability, and AAV doses—affect human hepatocyte transduction in chimeric mice.

2019’un sonunda Çin’in Hubei eyaleti Wuhan şehrinde ortaya çıkan ve yayılanSARS-CoV-2 virüsü sonucu meydana gelen COVID-19 pandemisihalen ciddi bir halk sağlığı problemi olarak etkisini sürdürmektedir. Virüsün yarasa kaynaklı olduğu düşünülmektedir. Hastalık damlacık ve temas yolu ile insandan insana bulaşmaktadır. İnkübasyon süresi ortalaması 4-5 gün (0-14 gün) olarak gösterilmiştir. En yaygın semptomları ateş, kuru öksürük ve nefes darlığıdır. Hastalık ileri yaş ve komorbid hastalığı olan kişilerde şiddetli ve mortal seyredebilmektedir. Erkeklerde daha fazla fatalite hızı gösterilmiştir. Fatalite hızı dünya genelinde %2-3 olarak değişmektedir. Yaş arttıkça fatalite hızı artmaktadır. Rutin BCG aşısı politikasının mortaliteyi azalttığı düşünülmektedir. Teşhis olası vakalarda virüsün solunum sekresyonlarında özel moleküler testlerle gösterilmesi ile konur. Klinik şüphe varlığında tedavi planlamasında akciğer grafisi ve bilgisayarlı tomografi gibi görüntüleme yöntemleri kullanılmaktadır. Esas olarak destekleyii ve ampirik tedavi uygulanmakta olup spesifik tedavisi ve aşısı henüz yoktur. İnsanların temasının azaltılması, kesin ve şüpheli vakaların izolasyonu ve bulaştan korunmak için kişisel koruyucu ekipmanların etkin kullanımı salgın ile mücadelede çok büyük öneme sahiptir.

Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are actions apart from getting vaccinated and medications, in order to promote deceleration of the spread of illness among people and communities during pandemic. In this article, we aim to examine NPIs applied in Turkey and worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the NPIs such as isolation, quarantine, and contact tracing were maintained with updates of the Ministry of Health guidelines in Turkey. Some NPIs including travel and partial or full curfew mobilization restrictions were set in accordance with the various periods by the number of cases. Periods of restrictions at autumn 2021 to summer 2022 are national partial curfews, national extended curfews, local decision-making phase, revised local decision-making phase, partial lockdown, full lockdown and gradual normalization. Mitigation and suppression have been implemented in Turkey with restrictions of varying severity throughout the course of the epidemic. It is seen that the restrictions implemented in Turkey contributed to the flattening of the epidemic curve. Even some countries mainly applied the suppression method, and others applied the mitigation method, in general, it is seen that similar methods were applied with different weights. Examples of different countries demonstrated that NPIs are effective for flattening epidemic curve. NPI have been the main instrument for a year and a half from the beginning of the epidemic to mid-2021 in Turkey as well as worldwide.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic can increase anxiety levels of children with chronic respiratory disease and their primary caregivers. Aims: To evaluate the anxiety of children with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and their families during COVID-19 pandemic Methods: A total of 29 patients and 105 healthy children and their mothers were included in this questionnaire-based study conducted via teleconference. Their demographic characteristics, clinical information, and information about caregivers’ exercise at home during pandemic were recorded. State and trait anxiety levels of children’s and mothers’ were evaluated and compared between two groups. The anxiety levels of patients’ mothers were evaluated according to the children’s clinical features. Mothers’ knowledge about COVID-19 was evaluated, and the effect of teleconference on their anxiety was assessed. Results: The median age of patients was 13 years. State anxiety of children in patients aged 13–18 years and trait anxiety levels of their mothers were lower than control group (P Conclusions: Children with PCD were less anxious than healthy children during pandemic, and their mothers exhibited lower trait anxiety than healthy children’s mothers. Obtaining information about COVID-19 and exercising during pandemic may have decreased anxiety levels of PCD patients’ mothers.