Search

Background: Emergency departments (ED) are characterized by highly dynamic environments. This study aimed to identify determinants of resilience and mental stress among ED nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional, analytical design was employed to assess 316 emergency nurses in Kermanshah hospitals using a convenience sampling method. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale measured resilience and mental stress, respectively. Data were analyzed using independent t-tests, ANOVA, chi-square tests, and Pearson's correlation in SPSS version 25. Results: The average mental stress score was 26.9, and the average resilience score was 64, indicating moderate levels. Significant relationships were found between employment status, emergency responsibility, economic status, and resilience (P < 0.01). Additionally, place of residence, number of children, education, shift work, social network presence, employment status, emergency responsibility, and economic status were significantly related to psychological stress (P < 0.01). Pearson's correlation showed an inverse relationship between resilience and mental stress (r = -0.123, P = 0.029). Age was inversely related to mental stress (r = -0.408, P < 0.001), while overtime hours per month were directly related to resilience (r = 0.135, P = 0.016) and inversely related to mental stress (r = -0.482, P = 0.029). Conclusion: The research highlights the importance of considering demographic variables in managing nurses' resilience and mental pressure, emphasizing the need for hospital officials to focus on work shifts, employment status, and economic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospitalization in intensive care units (ICUs) often leads to complications. One such complication is multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). This study aimed to determine the prevalence of MODS and its relationship with clinical variables in ICU patients in Iran, 2022. Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study included 194 ICU patients from Kermanshah hospitals, selected between 30 April and 1 September 2022. Data collection tools included patient demographic forms, Marshall et al.'s MODS calculation formula (1995), shock index, mNUTRIC, SOFA, APACHE II, and free water deficit. Data were analyzed using the SPSS-25 software. Results: The study found that 32% were aged 41–60, and 69.6% were male. The average MODS score was 6.87 ± 1.59 (ranging from 0 to 24), with a prevalence of 56.2%. MODS was significantly related to clinical variables such as the number of days in the hospital, days in ICU, number of involved organs, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), shock index, APACHE II score, SOFA score, mNUTRIC score, and free water deficit (P < 0.05). Conclusion: MODS is highly prevalent among ICU patients. Key clinical factors associated with MODS include the duration of hospitalization, ICU stay, mechanical ventilation, number of involved organs, GCS, PaO2, shock index, APACHE II, SOFA, mNUTRIC, and free water deficit. Attention to these factors in clinical planning and management could be beneficial in addressing MODS in ICU patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The present study was conducted to determine the effect of the superficial heat–cold application on the sleep quality of patients with restless leg syndrome. Design: This study was a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Methods: In the present study, the electronic databases Scopus, ProQuest, Web of Science, PubMed, SID and Google Scholar were searched from their inception to September 2023. The quality of included studies was evaluated through the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool, and finally, a meta‐analysis was conducted by calculating standardised mean differences (SMDs). Results: The meta‐analysis results revealed that superficial heat–cold application improved sleep quality in patients with RLS (SMD = 0.685, 95% CI: 0.421–0.950). The meta‐regression results showed that as the temperature increased, the intervention was more effective in improving sleep quality (β = 0.0182, 95% CI: 0.0096–0.0268, p < 0.05). Moreover, the effectiveness of the intervention in improving the sleep quality of patients with RLS reduced significantly as the duration of intervention in each session (β = −0.031, 95% CI: −0.059 to −0.001, p < 0.05) as well as participants' age increased (β = −0.013, 95% CI: −0.024 to −0.001, p = 0.0259). Patient or Public Contribution: This research showed that superficial heat–cold application had the capability to improve the sleep quality of patients with restless leg syndrome. In addition, in this study, settings were suggested according to which the maximum effectiveness of the intervention could be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates different actuator sector model implementation alternatives and how they compare to actuator line results. The velocity sampling method, tip/smearing correction, and time step are considered. A good agreement is seen between the line and sector model in the rotor plane and the wake flow. Using the sector model, it was possible to reduce the computational time by 75 % compared to the actuator line model as it is possible to run the simulations with a larger time step without compromising the accuracy considerably. The results suggest that the proposed velocity sampling method produces the closest results to the line model with different tip speed ratios. Moreover, the vortex-based smearing correction applied to the sector model results in the lowest error values, among the considered methods, to correct the radial load distributions. Also, it is seen that reducing the time step compared to the one used for the actuator disc/sector does not provide an advantage considering the increased computational time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of TLR3, TLR4, TLR7, TLR8 and TLR9 in ovary tissue of ovarian cancer patients. Methods: In the case control study, 122 paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of patients with ovarian cancer and control groups were collected. Immunohistochemistry technique was used for detecting the expression of TLR3, TLR4, TLR7, TLR8 and TLR 9 in ovary tissues. Results: The mean Immunoreactivity Score (IS) of TLR3 in the case and the control groups was 0.6±0.99 and 0.16±0.1, respectively. The mean IS of TLR7 in the case and the control groups was 1.03±1.05 and 0.66±1.07, respectively. A significant difference was observed between the case and control groups in terms of IS of TLR3 (p=0.001) and TLR7 (p=0.013). However, no significant difference was observed between the case and control groups regarding IS of TLR 4, 8 and 9 (p>0.05). Conclusion: High IS of TLR3 and TLR7 in these patients may confirm the likelihood of association of viral infection with ovarian cancer. Also, considering that TLR3 is one of the receptors that have viral and bacterial ligands, there is a possibility that a bacterial infection is also involved in the development of ovarian cancer. In addition, the expression of TLR4, TLR8 and TLR9 was not different in ovarian tissue of the case and control groups. It is proposed to conduct this study with RT-PCR technique on the paraffin block sample and compare the results with the above results in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented paper investigates the flutter phenomenon in a rectangular-shaped plate in supersonic air flow. First, the phenomenon of flutter and its identification method based on the analysis of eigenvalues are presented. Then, using the assumptions of Kirchhoff plate, the plate motion equation is derived and coupled with the first-order piston aerodynamic model. Next, the coupled structure-fluid equation is solved in matrix form using the differential quadrature method (DQM). Using the DQM numerical method in matrix form provides advantages such as high accuracy for solving the flutter problem. The obtained results show that the first phenomenon of flutter in an aluminum plate with a length and width of 1 meter and a thickness of 5 mm with clamped-free-clamped-free boundary conditions occurs in dimensionless dynamic pressure 617 (equivalent to Mach 3.395). The presented formulation can be used as a benchmark for solving and calculating the flutter speed of various objects in the supersonic air flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water containing Cr(VI) causes health effects, which makes their treatment necessary. In this work, biochar from sunflower seeds waste was used to remove Cr(VI) from water. The biochar was modified by magnesium and optimized. The Mg-biochar was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy, and ASAP methods. The SEM images of Mg-biochar showed magnesium oxide spherical particles with nanoflakes. The Mg-biochar specific surface area and pore volume were 67.85 m2/g and 0.061 m3/g, respectively. Cr(VI) adsorption decreased from 87.16% to 50.76% with an increase in pH from 2 to 10. The isotherm of the Cr(VI) adsorption by Mg-biochar followed the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic studies showed the endothermic nature of the adsorption. Kinetics of Cr(VI) adsorption by Mg-biochar was in agreement with the pseudo-second-order model and its rate constant was 2.1 g/mg·min which was large in comparison with other works showing advantage of fast removal kinetics of Mg-biochar. The Mg-biochar adsorbent had the removal of 74.5% under the operating conditions of Cr(VI) initial concentration of 10 mg/L, adsorbent dose of 15 g/L, pH of 5, and time of 15 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular health promotion in children has the potential to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis in both the individual child and the population at large. It thus seems eminently [...]

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effects of competency‐based education on the clinical performance of health care providers. Background: Having in mind the importance of developing an intervention to enhance the clinical performance of health care providers, the researchers carried out the present study to investigate the effect of competency‐based education on the clinical performance of health care providers. Methods: This was a systematic review and meta‐analysis carried out by searching six international electronic databases including PubMed, Ovid, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ProQuest, Scopus and Google Scholar, as well as two national electronic databases including IranMedex and SID. The studies relevant to the research aims were included in the study. To assess the quality of the studies, the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool was used. Results: Based on the random effects model, competency‐based education could enhance the clinical performance of the health care providers in the intervention group compared with that of the control group (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −2.717, 95% CI: −3.722 to −1.712). However, more recent studies have shown that competency‐based education has little effect on clinical performance (β = −.255, 95% CI: −0.319 to −0.192, P <.001). Conclusion: Competency‐based education can enhance the clinical performance of health care providers. However, there is increasing concern over the attenuation of the positive effect of competency‐based education on the clinical performance of health care providers, which deserves further studies. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? The lack of clinical skills and competencies leads to high turnover rates, decreased job satisfaction, increased presenteeism, decreased patient safety and increased medical errorsAlthough some studies have been carried out to designate the effect of competency‐based education (CBE) on the clinical performance of health care providers, there is no consensus on the effectiveness of the approach. What this paper adds? This study evaluated the impact of CBE on the clinical performance of health care providers (physicians, nurses, nursing students and medical students).CBE improved the clinical performance of health care providers.The effect of CBE increases with the age of study samples. The implication of this paper: This review offers implementation of CBE to enhance the clinical performance of health care providers. With this approach, the learning time is flexible, and learners are constantly provided with feedback; the teacher takes on the role of a cognitive guide who encourages active learning.The learning environment aims at enhancing competencies that entails identifying and defining professional competencies to make it possible to designate and evaluate the due outcomes properly. In other words, the approach departs from the acquisition of knowledge to its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]