Preparation and characterization of a novel highly hydrophilic and antifouling polysulfone/nanoporous TiO2 nanocomposite membrane

In this research, novel ultrafiltration nanocomposite membranes were prepared by incorporating self-synthesized nanoporous titanium dioxide (NTiO2) nanoparticles into polysulfone. The surface of the nanoparticle was treated with a silane-based modifier to improve its distribution in the host polymer. Atomic-force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, porosity and contact angle tests were conducted to characterize the properties of the particles as well as the fabricated nanocomposite membranes. The effects of the nanoparticle incorporation were evaluated by conducting ultrafiltration experiments. It was reported that the membrane pure water flux was increased with increasing NTiO2 loading owing to the high porosity of the nanoparticles embedded and/or formation of enlarged pores upon addition of them. The antifouling capacity of the membranes was also tested by ultrafiltration of bovine serum albumin fouling solution. It was found that both water flux and antifouling capacity tended to reach desired level if the NTiO2 added was at optimized loading.

Estimation of influenza and severe acute respiratory illness incidence (burden) in three provinces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2012 and 2013

There are few estimates of influenza burden in the WHO Region for the Eastern Mediterranean. In this study we estimated the burden of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and influenza-associated SARI (F-SARI) in selected provinces of Islamic Republic of Iran, the trends of SARI and confirmed cases of influenza (F-SARI) over 12 months (seasonality), and the age groups most at risk. Using the electronic Iranian influenza surveillance system and data of cases in sentinel hospitals of 3 selected provinces, we estimated the monthly trend (seasonality) of incidence for SARI and F-SARI, overall incidence of SARI and F-SARI and their disaggregation by age with the aid using the Monte Carlo technique. The age groups most at-risk were children aged under 2 years and adults older than 50 years.

Managing diabetes mellitus using information technology: a systematic review

Objective

To review published evidences about using information technology interventions in diabetes care and determine their effects on managing diabetes.

Design

Systematic review of information technology based interventions.

Research design and methods

MEDLINE®/PubMed were electronically searched for articles published between 2004/07/01 and 2014/07/01. A comprehensive, electronic search strategy was used to identify eligible articles.

Inclusion criteria were defined based on type of study and effect of information technology based intervention in relation to glucose control and other clinical outcomes in diabetic patients. Studies must have used a controlled design to evaluate an information technology based intervention.

A total of 3613 articles were identified based on the searches conducted in MEDLINE from PubMed. After excluding duplicates (n = 6), we screened titles and abstracts of 3607 articles based on inclusion criteria. The remaining articles matched with inclusion criteria (n = 277) were reviewed in full text, and 210 articles were excluded based on exclusion criteria. Finally, 67 articles complied with our eligibility criteria and were included in this study.

Results

In this study, the effect of various information technology based interventions on clinical outcomes in diabetic patients extracted and measured from selected articles is described and compared to each other.

Conclusion

Information technology based interventions combined with the usual care are associated with improved glycemic control with different efficacy on various clinical outcomes in diabetic patients.

Cross hospital bed management system

The lack of adequate numbers of hospital beds to accommodate the injured is a main problem in public hospitals. For control of occupancy of bed, we design a dynamic system that announces status of bed when it change with admission or discharge of a patient. This system provide a wide network in country for bed management, especially for ICU and CCU beds that help us to distribute injured patient in the hospitals.