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Introduction. This study aimed to investigate safety climate and its structural dimensions as well as establish a relationship between safety climate and demographic variables in a power distribution company. Method. This cross-sectional study included 200 workers. The safety climate questionnaire recommended by the UK Health and Safety Executive was applied containing 43 questions in 11 dimensions. Demographic information was also assessed. SPSS version 22.0 was applied to analyze the data. Results. In total, 179 workers participated in this survey. The response rate was high (89.5%). Safety climate had the highest correlation with the management commitment dimension (r = 0.754). The total score of safety climate in this company was 3.37 on a scale ranging from 1 to 5. Among safety climate factors, the highest score was for safety-related training (3.87) but work pressure had the lowest score (2.80). Among demographic variables, a significant relationship was observed between safety climate and age (r = 0.180). Conclusions. Management as an organizational power can exert great influence on the promotion of safety climate. Moreover, adopting efficient training programs and making a balance in workload for decreasing work pressure can improve safety climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is commonly seen in elderly populations, in part due to increased presence of predisposing comorbidities as well as physiological changes. We aimed at comparing the effectiveness of different doses of steroid using the ultrasound- guided hydrodissection method in elderly patients with CTS. Methods: We conducted a prospective, triple-blind, randomized, controlled trial in elderly patients with CTS. Patients were allocated to one of three groups by simplified randomization. Groups I-III received 80 mg triamcinolone (2 mL) and 1 mL of 2% lidocaine; 40 mg triamcinolone (1 mL), 1 mL of 2% lidocaine, and 1 mL normal saline; and 1 mL of 2% lidocaine and 2 mL normal saline, respectively to make up to 3 mL volume. A wrist splint was then applied for support. Outcome measures included the visual analog scale (VAS) and the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, and median motor and sensory nerve conduction and its sonographic inlet cross-sectional area were used as objective measures. All data were recorded at baseline and 2, 12, and 24 weeks after injection. The investigators, patients, and statistician were blinded to the treatment assignment. Results: 1n total, 161 patients were recruited without statistically significant demographic differences between the three groups. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in any outcome, with the exception of the median distal motor latency, which was greater in Group II at all three follow-up visits, and significant baseline VAS difference between Groups I and III. Conclusion: Hydrodissection with lidocaine and normal saline is as effective as hydrodissection with low- and high-dose steroid medication in elderly patients with CTS in this study, but further studies with matched baseline measures and also a sham group are suggested for definitive recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Separate exposure to microwaves (MWs) or heat had effects on expression levels of Bax and Bcl-2 and sperm parameters in studied group. Aims: The objectives of this research were to determine the effects of separate and combined exposure to 900-MHz MW (as representative of cell phone radiation) and heat on gene expression and spermogram of male mice. Settings and Design: This experimental animal study was conducted in the school of public health. Materials and Methods: The study was done on 12 male mice randomly divided into four groups (21-23 g): control, test group 1 with separate exposure to 900-MHz MW, test group 2 with separate exposure to hot and sultry climate, and test group 3 with simultaneous whole body exposures to 900-MHz MW and hot and sultry climate. In all studied groups, gene expression and sperm parameters were measured. Results: Tissue samples in all test groups showed integrity of the seminiferous tubule followed by all types of germ line cells. Significant increases in the number of dead sperms in mice with separate exposure to heat were observed in comparison with the other studied groups (P < 0.05). The ratio of Bax expression was elevated to 0.015 ± 0.006 in mice after combined exposures to 900-MHz MW and heat. Conclusion: Separate and combined exposure to 900-MHz MW and heat may induce adverse effects on sperm parameters and gene expression of studied male mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative filtering (CF) systems help address information overload, by using the preferences of users in a community to make personal recommendations for other users. The widespread use of these systems has exposed some well-known limitations, such as sparsity, scalability, and cold-start, which can lead to poor recommendations. During the last years, a great number of works have focused on the improvement of CF, but they do not solve all its problems efficiently. In this article, we present a new approach that applies semantic similarity fusion as well as biclustering to alleviate the aforementioned problems. The experimental results verify the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach over the benchmark CF methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, nanocomposites are a special class of materials having unique physical properties and wide application potential in diverse areas. The present research work describes an efficient method for synthesis of a series of polypyrrole/titanium dioxide (PPy/TiO2) nanocomposites with different TiO2 ratios. These nanocomposites were prepared by one-step in situ deposition oxidative polymerization of pyrrole hydrochloride using ferric chloride (FeCl3) as an oxidant in the presence of ultra fine grade powder of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles cooled in an ice bath. The obtained nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. The obtained results showed that TiO2 nanoparticles have been encapsulated by PPy with a strong effect on the morphology of PPy/TiO2 nanocomposites. Also, the synthesized PPy/TiO2 nanocomposites had higher thermal stability than that of pure PPy. The investigation of electrical conductivity of nanocomposites by four-point probe instrument showed that the conductivity of nanocomposite at low TiO2 content is much higher than of neat PPy, while with the increasing contents of TiO2, the conductivity decreases. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]