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Using primary data from Brazil in 2019-2020, we quantify the link between religion, expectations and economic outcomes, suggesting a key complementarity that for religious networks to provide insurance in this life one also needs strong beliefs in the afterlife. Individuals invest more in their religious communities if they can also expect various forms of community support. The degree of this insurance channel varies across different religions and is highest for Pentecostals. Consistent with this, we build a lifecycle model with heterogeneous agents, imperfect insurance and afterlife beliefs. We discipline the value of model parameters with our data and show that under certain parameterizations the job support channel exists as a by-product of coordinated beliefs in the afterlife. Our results provide evidence that insurance by the community would not be enough to induce religious investments. It is complementarity with beliefs in the afterlife which raises the returns of religious investments above the threshold. The community support and afterlife channel together provide an average value worth 9.6% of consumption in each year.

In this paper, I study firms' strategic and anticompetitive behaviour, and the consequent role of antitrust law as a macroeconomic policy in promoting business dynamism. Over the past few decades, business dynamism has been declining in the US: firm entry has fallen, accompanied by a slowdown in the rate of productivity growth. Additionally, enforcement of antitrust law has been at historically low levels. Using firm-level and sector-level data from the US, I find that stronger antitrust enforcement is associated with higher entry and higher productivity growth but lower R&D investments. Next, I develop and structurally estimate a dynamic general equilibrium model with innovation and oligopolistic product market competition. The dynamic structure of the model allows firms to eliminate competition through strategic decision making. The model is calibrated to the recent US experience and quantitative exercises show that strengthening antitrust policies results in: (1) a higher firm entry rate, (2) a higher rate of productivity growth, (3) a larger labour share of GDP, and (4) a decline in the innovation rate. Overall, the model indicates that stronger antitrust policies are effective at restoring business dynamism and can deliver up to 16% higher welfare in consumption-equivalent terms. The improvement in welfare is mainly driven by an increase in the welfare of workers, without affecting the capitalists, suggesting that antitrust law has distributional implications, and therefore, has a potential role in reducing inequality.

Background and Objectives: To provide an overview of the national program of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever surveillance in Iran, its current achievements, and challenges. Methods: In this mixed method study, the relevant reports, documents, and guidelines, as well as published literature and surveillance data were gathered and critically reviewed. The opinions of the key informants at local and governmental levels were assessed through structured interviews. Results: The program was integrated into Iran’s primary healthcare (PHC) network in 1999. The involved organizations include CDC, medical universities, Pasteur Institute of Iran (PII), and Veterinary Organization. Case finding is based on standard definitions of suspected, probable, and confirmed cases. Laboratory confirmation is necessary for diagnosis and is provided within 48 hours after receipt of the specimen by the National Reference Laboratory of PII. CCHF treatment is primarily supportive. Antiviral therapy with ribavirin is also considered. Both therapeutic services are free. Education mainly focuses on high-risk groups and healthcare workers. Major achievements of the program include rapid diagnosis and treatment of cases, prevention of nosocomial transmission, identification of high-risk provinces and major transmission routes, improved outbreak preparedness, development of laboratory tests for detection of other arboviruses, and reduction of CCHF case fatality rate. Conclusion: Program implementation has had a positive impact on early detection and proper control of annual outbreaks. However, some aspects of the program still need improvement, including promotion of the general and high-risk populations’ awareness and regional collaborations (especially among neighboring countries) for infection control in humans, livestock, and vectors.

Background and aims: Endurance training has a potential ability to prevent breast cancer by strengthening the immune system and reducing inflammation, and can reduce cachexia which is effects of cancer in advanced stages. This study aims to investigate the effect of endurance training with moderate intensity on the serum levels of TNF-α and weight of the mice suffered from breast cancer. Methods: 24 female BALB/c mice were randomly allocated to 3 groups: negative control (Rest-Healthy); positive control (Rest-Tumor) and experimental (Exercise-Tumor) groups. The experimental group carried out the continuous endurance exercise 5 days per week for 12 weeks. Training intensity was begun from 15.4 meter per minutes in the first week and gradually raised up to 23.8 meters per minutes in the last week. 24 hours after the end of training program, the 4T1 cancer cell line was injected subcutaneously to mice in positive control and experimental groups. After tumor formation, TNF-α concentration was measured by ELISA. The weight of mice was measured regularly from the beginning to the end of the study after each two-week training period subsequently. Results: The Mean of TNF-α in the experimental group as compared to the positive control decreased significantly (P=0.030), but there was no significant difference between experimental and negative control groups. The mean of weight of rats in the experimental group was significantly lower than both positive and negative control groups during tumor formation and after two weeks was lower compared to positive control group. Conclusion: It seems that participating in moderate-intensity training can play a role by decreasing the cytokine TNF-α and cachexia to prevent breast cancer.

Background Increasing blood supply safety is one of the most important goals of blood services in the world. In this study, we reviewed the prevalence rate and the trends of three main infections in whole blood donations and strategies for improving blood safety in Yazd blood transfusion center, Iran. Materials and Methods In this cross sectional study, data on hepatitis B, C and HIV infection were extracted from Iranian Donor Database of blood donation from 2004 to 2010 in Yazd province. All donors with positive confirmatory test were included. The data was analyzed by SPSS software due to demographic factors. Results The prevalence rate of hepatitis B, C and HIV infection decreased during these years (From 0.37%, 0.14% and 0 percent in 2004 to 0.14%, 0.05% and 0 in 2010, respectively). Both hepatitis B and C infections were significantly more in first-time blood donors with BSc or BA educational level. The prevalence rate of hepatitis B was significantly higher in donors with less than 20 year-old and female donors. The prevalence rate of hepatitis C was higherin30-39 age group (P-value= 0.014). Conclusion The results showed that the strategies used for improving blood safety were efficient. Increasing public knowledge on blood-borne infections and their routes of transmission, importance of donating blood only by healthy donors are necessary to have a safe blood supply in future.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the moral distress among Iranian registered nurses. Methods: This was a descriptive -analytic study, in which 264 out of 1000 nurses were randomly selected as a sample group and completed the questionnaire. The nurses' moral distress was assessed using Corley's 30-item Moral Distress Scale adapted for use in an Iranian population. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS version 19. Results: In this study, no correlation was found between the level of moral distress and any of the demographic data. The mean moral distress score ranged from 3.56 to 5.83, indicating moderate to high levels of moral distress. The item with the highest mean score was "working with unsafe levels of nurse staffing". The item with the lowest mean score was "giving medication intravenously to a patient who has refused to take it". Nurses working in EMS and NICU units had the highest levels of moral distress. Conclusion: A higher degree of moral distress is observed among nurses who work in health care systems. The results of this study highly recommend practical and research-oriented evaluation of moral distress in the medical society in Iran. Our findings suggest that Iranian version of MDS is a reliable instrument to measure moral distress in nurses.

In the Zagros structural zone of Iran, there is a broad range of emergent salt domes, a unique morphology in the world that is developed in tectonic environment. In the Zagros fold-thrust belt, emergent salt domes exhibit linear patterns. Such trends appear to be related to linear structural features that are observable by Landsat imagery. Detection of fault lineaments and their spatial relationship with salt dome locations from statistics point of view have been the concerns of this study. Based on the remote sensing analyses, horizontal displacements of parts of folded structures and distribution of Hormuz series salt domes, 34 fault lineaments were detected. A statistical method called the weight of evidence method is used to determine the relationship between salt dome locations and fault lineament trends. For this purpose, a map of the fault lineaments and a map of the salt dome centers were converted to raster model and some buffers were extracted around the fault lineaments; then, the spatial relationship between the salt domes and fault lineaments were quantified using weights of evidence method. Results indicate that the salt domes are associated spatially with the fault lineaments within lateral distances of 1 km. Weights of evidence method shows that the fault lineaments related to tectonics of the region could be the most important factor in emplacement of the salt domes in the study area.

The impact of failure of financial institutions is beyond just the failure of a public corporation. The failure of financial institutions in the USA, is a clear evidence that the greater macro impact is beyond just the failure of few financial institutions. It can bring down the entire economy and can have global devastating impact.