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Objective To compare comorbidities, symptoms and end-of-life (EoL) palliative medication (antisecretories, opioids, antipsychotics and sedatives) use among decedents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design In a retrospective cohort study, decedent records in three acute care hospitals were abstracted, generating a prepandemic (November 2019–February 2020) group (pre-COVID) and two intrapandemic (March–August 2020, wave 1) groups, one without (COVID-ve) and one with COVID-19 infection (COVID+ve). Control group decedents were matched 2:1 on age, sex and care service (medicine/intensive care unit (ICU)) with COVID+ve decedents.Setting Three regional acute care teaching hospitals in Ottawa, CanadaParticipants Decedents (N=425): COVID+ve (n=85), COVID-ve (n=170) and pre-COVID (n=170).Main outcome measures Data were abstracted regarding demographics, admission comorbidities and symptoms, and EoL medication use; opioid doses were standardised to parenteral morphine equivalent daily dose (MEDD), and the predictors of upper quartile MEDD in the last 24 hours of life were examined in multivariable logistic regression with adjusted ORs (aORs) and 95% CIs.Results The prevalence of dementia (41% vs 28% and 26%, p=0.03), breathlessness (63.5% vs 42% and 47%, p

Uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) provide high temporal and spatial resolution information for crop health monitoring and informed management decisions to improve yields. However, traditional in-season yield prediction methodologies are often inconsistent and inaccurate due to variations in soil types and environmental factors. This study aimed to identify the best phenological stage and vegetation index (VI) for estimating corn yield under rainfed conditions. Multispectral images were collected over three years (2020-2022) during the corn growing season and over fifty VIs were analyzed. In the three-year period, thirty-one VIs exhibited significant correlations (r ≥ 0.7) with yield. Sixteen VIs were significantly correlated with the yield at least for two years, and five VIs had a significant correlation with the yield for all three years. A strong correlation with yield was achieved by combining red, red edge, and near infrared-based indices. Further, combined correlation and random forest an alyses between yield and VIs led to the identification of consistent and highest predictive power VIs for corn yield prediction. Among them, leaf chlorophyll index, Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) terrestrial chlorophyll index and modified normalized difference at 705 were the most consistent predictors of corn yield when recorded around the reproductive stage (R1). This study demonstrated the dynamic nature of canopy reflectance and the importance of considering growth stages, and environmental conditions for accurate corn yield prediction.

Abstract Background COVID-19 related stigma has been identified as a critical issue since the beginning of the pandemic. We developed a valid and reliable questionnaire to measure COVID-19 related enacted stigma, inflicted by the non-infected general population. We applied the questionnaire to measure COVID-19 related enacted stigma among Tehran citizens from 27 to 30 September 2020. Methods A preliminary questionnaire with 18 items was developed. The total score ranged from 18 to 54; a higher score indicated a higher level of COVID-19 related stigma. An expert panel assessed the face and content validity. Of 1637 randomly recruited Tehran citizens without a history of COVID-19 infection, 1064 participants consented and were interviewed by trained interviewers by phone. Results Item content validity index (I-CVI), Item content validity ratio (I-CVR), and Item face validity index (I-FVI) were higher than 0.78 for all 18 items. The content and face validity were established with a scale content validity index (S-CVI) of 0.90 and a scale face validity index (S-CVI) of 93.9%, respectively. Internal consistency of the questionnaire with 18 items was confirmed with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.625. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five latent variables, including “blaming”, “social discrimination”, “dishonor label”, “interpersonal contact”, and “retribution and requital attitude”. The median of the stigma score was 24 [25th percentile: 22, 75the percentile: 28]. A large majority (86.8%) of participants reported a low level of stigma with a score below 31. None of the participants showed a high level of stigma with a score above 43. We found that the higher the educational level the lower the participant’s stigma score. Conclusion We found a low level of stigmatizing thoughts and behavior among the non-infected general population in Tehran, which may be due to the social desirability effect, to the widespread nature of COVID-19, or to the adaptation to sociocultural diversity of the large city.

Sea Stars are one of the most incredible creatures in the coastal and open waters. In this study, 11 species of starfishes have been identified which belonging to six genera and five families in northern islands of Persian Gulf during May 2017 to September 2018. Among the species, Astropecten hemprichi (Müller & Troschel, 1842), Astropecten indicus (Döderlein, 1888), Astropecten polyacanthus polyacanthus (Muller and Troschel, 1842), Astropecten polyacanthus phragmorous (Muller and Troschel, 1842), Luidia hardwicki (Gray, 1840), Aquilonastra iranica (Mortensen, 1940), Linckia multifora (Lamarck, 1816), Culcita novaeguineae (Muller & Troschel, 1842) and Pentaceraster mammillatus (Audouin, 1826) have been reported in the past. The species of Aquilonastra watersi (O'Loughlin and Rowe, 2006) and Linckia laevigata (Linnaeus, 1758) are new recordsin the Persian Gulf.

Appropriate distribution of income and reduction of inequality are one of the government’s goals. Different policies and tools are used to achieve this and the minimum wage is one of them. In this study, the effects of minimum wages on income distribution, due to the most similarities in development and per capita income were studied in 7 selected developing countries including (Pakistan, Armenia, Iran, Belarus, Chile, Egypt, Georgia) and 7 selected developed/development countries including (USA, France, Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada) with generalized minimum squares from the years 2000 to 2020. The results show that, in developing and developed countries, an increase in the minimum wage, improves income distribution and the effects of this policy in developed countries are much greater than in developing countries. Therefore, developing and developed countries should increase the minimum wage in proportion to the rate of inflation to progress and improve income distribution.Appropriate distribution of income and reduction of inequality are one of the government’s goals. Different policies and tools are used to achieve this and the minimum wage is one of them. In this study, the effects of minimum wages on income distribution, due to the most similarities in development and per capita income were studied in 7 selected developing countries including (Pakistan, Armenia, Iran, Belarus, Chile, Egypt, Georgia) and 7 selected developed/development countries including (USA, France, Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada) with generalized minimum squares from the years 2000 to 2020. The results show that, in developing and developed countries, an increase in the minimum wage, improves income distribution and the effects of this policy in developed countries are much greater than in developing countries. Therefore, developing and developed countries should increase the minimum wage in proportion to the rate of inflation to progress and improve income distribution.

Green-synthesized nanoparticles can be applicable in designing an effective, efficient, and low-risk treatment for cancer. In this regard, we introduced a novel and eco-friendly method for preparing pure α-Bi2O3, Mn-doped Bi2O3, and Zn-doped Bi2O3 nanoparticles with potent cytotoxic activity through the application of Salvadora persica extract as the green reactive, reducing, and capping agent. The biosynthesis and characterization of our product was supported by the results of powder X-ray Powder Diffraction (PXRD), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDAX), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier-Transform Infrared (FT-IR), and Raman analysis. The outcomes of SEM analysis displayed the porous morphology of pure α-Bi2O3 nanoparticles, whereas the doping of Zn and Mn turned their structure into a conical shape. The TEM results presented the hexagonal shape of pure α-Bi2O3 NPs with a particle size mean of 46 nm. Additionally, the Zn-doped Bi2O3 nanoparticles consisted spherical particles with 32 nm of size mean, while the Mn-doped Bi2O3 NPs were approximately hexagonal with a particle size mean of 41 nm. The success of doping process was proven by the EDX analysis. Next to their high potential in cytotoxic performance against cancer cell line, the results of MTT assay confirmed the potent cytotoxic activity of synthesized nanoparticles against breast cancer (MCF-7) and human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC) cells as well. Considering these observations, these products can be suggested as a proper candidate for biological and medical applications.

Randomised complete block design with the three-factor factorial test was executed with three replications in the garden 10 km away from Maragheh-Hashtrud road in the 2017-2018 agricultural year to study the effect of various resources and amounts of selenium, yield components, and stress susceptibility indexes to wheat cultivars. The experimental treatments include factor (a) of various selenium resources (sodium selenate and selenite index), factor (b) of various selenium amounts (0, 18, and 36 g/ha), and factor (c) of three wheat cultivars (Azar 2, Pishtaz, and Sardari). The characteristics of yield, yield components, stress susceptibility index (SSI), tolerance index (TOL), mean productivity (MP), geometrical mean productivity (GMP), yield index (YI), and yield stability index (YSI) were examined. The yield of wheat cultivars in drought stress conditions (not using selenium) (Ys) and in normal conditions (using selenium) (Yp) was used to estimate the tolerance index and drought susceptibility index. The mean factor a level from various selenium resources (sodium selenate and selenite) showed that using selenite is prior than selenate in all three characteristics of grain weight, yield in spike, and weight of thousand grains. The selenite treatment was selected as the prior treatment, and then it was examined based on the mentioned characteristics and estimation of SSI and TOI. The results from variance analysis showed a significant difference between the yield and yield components of cultivars in the normal conditions (18 and 36 g/ha of sodium selenite) and water stress (non-usage of selenium). The grain means yield and weight in the spike of the studied genotypes in the normal condition (18 and 36 g/ha selenite) were 1752.83 kg/ha 0.591 g and 1790.82 kg/ha and 0.59 g, respectively. Pishtaz and Sardari genotypes in normal conditions (18 and 36 g/ha sodium selenite) and water stress (non-usage of selenium) had the maximum and minimum yield. The grain yield of Pishtaz is significantly higher than Azar 2 and Sardari cultivars in the normal conditions (18 and 36 g/ha sodium selenite), while it was indicated by imposing the water stress (non-usage of selenium) that water stress has a weaker effect on grain yield of Azar 2 and Sardari cultivars but it significantly reduced the grain yield of Pishtaz cultivar as grain yield of Pishtaz cultivar was more than Azar 2 and Sardari cultivars in water stress condition (non-usage of selenium). In this research, the Pishtaz cultivar had the maximum stress tolerance in both conditions of 18 and 36 g/ha sodium selenite with a mean of 1.05 and 1.02, respectively whereas the Sardari cultivar showed the minimum stress tolerance with a mean of 0.94 and 0.92, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the criticality in finance and economics is an important topic for scholars. The crises are conditions in which unpredictable behavior have been emerged. On the other hand, the contagion from one market to another one due to the complex nature of them is a crucial concept. Therefore, we should consider economies and financial markets as entangled systems that interact with each other, and studying one's behavior without considering its interacting structures will not provide us with adequate information. In this paper, we have considered the critical states of some emerging and mature markets' indices. S&P500 and Nikkei 225 as representatives of mature markets, and SSE Composite and TEDPIX as representatives of emerging markets have been analyzed. Coupled criticality emerges when two interacting systems reach their critical state due to their interactions. One of the efficient methods to study the coupled criticality is the bi-variate multifractal random walk model. This method is useful to assess the correlation of rare events and coupled criticality in entangled systems such as financial markets. The observations in this paper show that TEDPIX and S&P500 have higher critical states among others in most time lags by assessing criticality parameter explained in the model, and in longer time lags criticality parameter decreases in all indices. Coupled criticality parameter explained in the model is assessed between each index mentioned and TEDPIX. Results show that TEDPIX and S&P500 have the highest level of coupled criticality. To figure out how long-range time correlation between rare events in each index affect its critical behavior, the data of each index are shuffled, and the criticality parameter is calculated for the shuffled data. From the observations, it can be concluded that this matter has more substantial effect on mature markets. As it is known, shuffling removes the effect of the long-range time correlations. Therefore, the coupled criticality parameter is calculated for the shuffled S&P500 data and TEDPIX. Results show that the long-range correlation of S&P500 data has a significant effect on the coupled criticality behavior of S&P500 and TEDPIX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND While computer vision has gained traction in medical applications, models specifically engineered for intensive care unit (ICU) activities are limited. METHODS We present Clinical Behavioral Atlas (CBA), a computer vision system that can identify 40 clinically relevant activity categories and 55 object categories solely through RGB video data. The system was developed using a dataset comprising over 140,000 hours of continuous video and over 350,000 densely annotated frames, collected from 16 sensors in 8 ICU rooms at an academic medical center. RESULTS The model demonstrated strong performance in entity and activity detection, with sensitivities of 0.75∼0.81 and average precisions of 0.64∼0.73, respectively. Permutation tests yielded P values of less than 0.05 for most activity categories. We observed a positive correlation between the performance and both the number and size of entities. The model excelled at identifying common and large objects, even with limited samples, but struggled with small items like oral swabs. Activity detection performance correlated linearly with video duration. The model showed robust performance (>0.85 average precision) for most clinical activities, but activities of daily living exhibited greater variation and lower average precision (0.23–0.95), indicating potential for further refinement due to their complexity and relative scarcity in the dataset. Experiments against other popular activity recognition models reveal that our method substantially outperforms all baselines, with improvements of 0.30 and 0.45 in average precision over the next best method. CONCLUSIONS CBA expands automated identification of clinically important bedside clinical actions such as ICU preventive bundle elements. While we have demonstrated the feasibility of computer vision as a tool to assist in clinical care in high-intensity settings such as the ICU, the development of a full clinical-level performance CBA model will require larger datasets, ideally from multiple locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstructing large, inflammatory maxillofacial defects using stem cell-based therapy faces challenges from adverse microenvironments, including high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inadequate oxygen, and intensive inflammation. Here, inspired by the reaction mechanisms of intracellular antioxidant defense systems, we propose the de novo design of an artificial antioxidase using Ru-doped layered double hydroxide (Ru-hydroxide) for efficient redox homeostasis and maxillofacial bone regeneration. Our studies demonstrate that Ru-hydroxide consists hydroxyls-synergistic monoatomic Ru centers, which efficiently react with oxygen species and collaborate with hydroxyls for rapid proton and electron transfer, thus exhibiting efficient, broad-spectrum, and robust ROS scavenging performance. Moreover, Ru-hydroxide can effectively sustain stem cell viability and osteogenic differentiation in elevated ROS environments, modulating the inflammatory microenvironment during bone tissue regeneration in male mice. We believe this Ru-hydroxide development offers a promising avenue for designing antioxidase-like materials to treat various inflammation-associated disorders, including arthritis, diabetic wounds, enteritis, and bone fractures. Reconstructing inflammatory maxillofacial defects is a global health challenge. This study presents an artificial antioxidase with rapid proton/electron transfer for efficient redox homeostasis and maxillofacial bone regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) majorly affects premature infants, causing not only necrosis and inflammation but also feeding intolerance and gastrointestinal dysmotility, hinting at gut hormone secretion impairment. Particularly critical is the gestation period before 26 weeks where intestinal hormonal activity is partially developed, rendering preterm neonates highly susceptible to NEC. Emerging evidence suggests a role of gut hormones, especially glucagon-like peptides (GLP) in ileum development. Herein, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of modulating GLP signaling during normal intestinal development and during intestinal injury. Methods: We employed a human intestinal organoid (HIO) model derived from ileum tissue. After ethical approval, we obtained ileal biopsies from infants with NEC in uninjured (distant from site of NEC injury) and injured intestine (site of injury). After collection, crypt isolation was performed, and HIOs were cultured for 2–3 days before glucagon peptide agonists added daily in culture media. Organoids were harvested and analyzed for morphological measures of maturation including organoid size and budding. Results: Within the same patient, injured HIOs had a decreased budding compared to uninjured HIOs. Treatment with GLP agonists improved morphology and promoted maturation compared to the untreated organoid in both uninjured and injured HIOs. Conclusion: Patient-derived organoids provide a suitable ex vivo model to study NEC pathogenesis. Increasing GLP signaling in HIOs enhanced maturation of organoids derived from uninjured and injured neonatal human intestine. Further studies are underway to assess in vivo, the efficacy of GLP agonist administration in NEC. This study opens the way to future development of precision medicine in the treatment of NEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promotes sustainable development in the participating countries by facilitating technology transfer, talent development, and industrial upgrading. Technological cooperation under the BRI plays a crucial role in helping these countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, BRI cooperation also faces significant challenges, including geopolitical, economic, social, environmental, and legal risks. This paper reviews the current research on BRI technological cooperation, covering cooperation models, influencing factors, mechanisms, and the economic and social impacts of such cooperation. It examines both the opportunities and challenges involved and provides policy recommendations and action plans. This review offers valuable insights for researchers interested in BRI technological cooperation and contributes to advancing sustainable development in BRI countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]