Iranian Pediatric COVID-19 Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics

Background. Despite the worldwide spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), information about the epidemiological and clinical patterns of this infection is still largely unknown in children. In addition, the prevalence of this disease is still very high in some parts of the world, including Iran. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the epidemiological features, laboratory and imaging findings, and the type of treatments in children with novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Method. This study is conducted from March 2020–March 2021 by using the medical records of hospitalized confirmed COVID-19 children younger than 18 years in five cities of Iran: Tehran, Ahwaz, Isfahan, Bandar-Abbas, and Khorramabad. In addition to demographic and epidemiological data, we also studied clinical signs and treatments. Results. In total 278 confirmed COVID-19 children, the average age was 5.3 years, and 59.4%were boys. A total of 37.8% had an underlying disease, in which the most common was a malignancy. The most common symptoms were fever and cough. In this group of pediatrics, some abnormal laboratory findings have been seen. GGO (Ground-Glass Opacity) had been diagnosed in 58.6% of children. 3.6% needed oxygen therapy with ventilators, and 83.09% had received antibiotic treatments with the majority of ceftriaxone. Also, 10% had got steroids. In this study, the mortality rate was 4.3%. Conclusion. In this study, most of the children who died had an underlying disease, so timely care and action is important in them. Most children admitted to our study received antibiotics and were prescribed antivirals and steroids for a smaller number. Also, a small number of children received oxygen therapy, most of whom were in the age group of 1 to 5 years.

The Spatial Autocorrelation between Precipitation and Vegetation Indices in the Bandar Abbas Basin

This study aimed to investigate the spatial autocorrelation between precipitation and vegetation indices in the Bandar Abbas basin. For this purpose, the vegetation indices of DVI, EVI, IPVI, NDVI, NDWI, RVI, SAVI, TCI, VCI, and VHI were derived from Landsat satellite images over 20 years were studied. Precipitation data corresponding to rain gauge stations was extracted. The Pearson correlation coefficient and the GI * and I indices were used to investigate the relationship between precipitation and spatial autocorrelation. Moreover, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between precipitation and vegetation indices, and the GI * and I indices was used to correlate spatial autocorrelation patterns. The results showed that SAVI, VHI, VCI, and NDWI were most correlated with precipitation among the Bandar Abbas basin's vegetation indices, with the SAVI index being more closely correlated than the others. However, precipitation had the least impact on the TCI index. The spatial autocorrelation of rainfall with the vegetation indices, except for the IPVI index, had a scattered pattern in the study area’s southern and eastern parts. Of the indices studied in terms of spatial pattern, the IPVI and NDWI indices formed a positive spatial correlation pattern with precipitation over a greater spatial range.

Exergoeconomic Analysis of the Cycle of Cogeneration of Power, Cooling and Freshwater for a Residential Complex in Iran

This research presents a system to use natural gas to meet electricity, freshwater and cooling needs for a residential building in Bandar Abbas. The system includes a gas turbine, absorption chiller and multi-effect desalination (MED) plant. The energy produced in the gas turbine is used to generate electricity, and the excess energy is used to produce cooling and freshwater. Finally, an exergoeconomic evaluation of the system is performed. The effects of ambient temperature on the output power as well as the exergy current have been investigated. The COP of the absorption cycle has been investigated, and the results show that at an operating temperature of 150∘C compared to 90∘C, the efficiency rate increases to 20%. The highest exergoeconomic cost rate is related to absorption chiller, and the lowest is related to heat recovery steam generation. The results show that if the ambient temperature increases, the production capacity decreases. Increasing the fuel flow rate increases the power. Evaluation of two different solutions to reduce the ambient temperature and increase the fuel flow shows that increasing the fuel flow is a better solution, considering the exergy cost of the absorption chiller, which is 10 times higher than that of the gas turbine.

FIB-4, APRI, and AST/ALT ratio compared to FibroScan for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in Bandar Abbas, Iran

Background Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Researchers have tried to develop indices to assess liver fibrosis in NAFLD patients to avoid liver biopsy. In this study we aimed to compare fibrosis-4 (FIB-4), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI), and aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio with FibroScan for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. Methods This cross-sectional study included patients with NAFLD or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) referred to the Gastroenterology Clinic of Shahid Mohammadi Hospital, Bandar Abbas, Iran, in 2019. Demographic features of the participants including age and gender were recorded. All participants underwent FibroScan and had their AST, ALT, and platelet count measured in a random blood sample, taken within 1 month of the FibroScan. Results Of the 205 NAFLD patients included in this study with a mean age of 42.95 ± 10.97 years, 144 (70.2%) were male. Fibroscan results revealed that 94 patients (45.9%) had F1, 67 (32.7%) F2, 29 (14.1%) F3, and 15 (7.3%) F4 liver fibrosis. A significant correlation was found between FibroScan score and FIB-4 (r = 0.572), APRI (r = 0.667), and AST/ALT (r = 0.251) (P < 0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of APRI at the 0.702 cut-off for the differentiation of F3 and F4 from F2 and F1 were 84.1, 88.2, 66.1, 95.3, and 87.3%, FIB-4 at the 1.19 cut-off 97.7, 72.7, 49.4, 99.2 and 78%, and AST/ALT at the 0.94 cut-off 61.4, 77, 42.2, 87.9, and 73.7% respectively. Moreover, the area under the receiver operating curve of APRI, FIB-4, and AST/ALT for the differentiation of F3 and F4 from F2 and F1 was 0.923, 0.913, and 0.720, respectively. Conclusions Based on these results, APRI appears to be the most appropriate substitute of FibroScan for the detection of significant fibrosis in NAFLD patients. FIB-4 was the second best, suggesting that in case of FibroScan unavailability, APRI and FIB-4 are the best indices to assess liver fibrosis in NAFLD patients.

The Effect of Mental Workload on the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders (Case Study: Bandar Abbas Zinc Production Company)

Introduction: One of the effective factors in the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders is the mismatch between the mental workload on the person and his abilities and limitations. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of mental workload on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in Bandar Abbas Production Company. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2019. The data collection tools included demographic information questionnaires, Nordic musculoskeletal disorders, and NASA-TLX mental workload. The participants were 172 people who were identified using Cochran's formula and simple random sampling. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS25 software. Results: The results indicated that 76.74% of the subjects had musculoskeletal disorders. Most of disorders were reported in the low back (51.16%), knees (38.95%), and neck (23.84%). The mean score of mental workloads in Bandar Abbas Production Company in this study was high (66.67). Among the mental workload subscales, the effort subscale had the highest score (85.32) and the performance subscale had the lowest score (20.00). Statistical tests showed that there was a significant relationship between mental workload and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Conclusion: According to the findings of the study, there was a direct relationship between mental workload and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, measures should be taken to reduce the perceived mental and psychological load, such as reducing working hours, interrupting and resting between working, increasing the variety of working postures, and

The Comparative Effectiveness of Adult Mosquito Sampling Methods Dealing With Odor-baited Resting Box Traps in a Malaria-endemic Area in Southern Iran

BackgroundIran is under threat of a potential outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria, Dengue fever, Chikungunya, and Zika. The study aimed to determine the efficiency and sustainability of some adult mosquito sampling methods for designing effective entomological surveillance systems in a malaria endemic area.MethodsDifferent rates of tap water, sugar, and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were mixed to provide CO2. Anopheles stephensi and Culex pipiens Bandar Abbas strains were reared in the insectary and used for tests. On a lab scale, CO2 orientation experiments were performed using a Y-tube olfactometer on the insectary mosquito strains. In the field trial, human landing catches (HLC), artificial pit shelter (APS), CO2-baited trap (CO2-BT), human and cow odor baited resting boxes (HOBT, COBT), cow urine baited trap (CUBT), and colored un-baited box (UB) were studied in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, south of Iran. Mean densities of An. stephensi and Cx. pipiens insectary strains, which oriented to CO2 as flowrate of 170, and 300 mL/minute was significantly higher compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The black un-baited inbox resting traps significantly more collected wild mosquito species compared to others colored UB (P ˂ 0.05). ResultsA total of 2722 collected mosquitoes comprises Culex pipiens (48.56%), Anopheles fluviatilis s.l.(14.21%), An. stephensi (11.68%), Cx. theileri (9.95%), Aedes caspius (7.01%), An. dthali (6.79%) An. culicifacies s.l. , An. pulcherrimus, An. sergentii,An. superpictus s.l., Cx. sitiens and, Ae.caspius less than 1%. Anopheles stephensi and, An.sergenti were most collected in CUBT. Anopheles fluviatilis s.l. and Ae. caspius were most found in HLC. Anopheles dthali, Cx. pipiens and, Cx. theileri were most abundant in APS. ConclusionsBlack CUBT and APS methods can be suggested as a perfect sampling strategy for malaria vectors surveillance. APS, and HLC methods were found useful to entomological surveillance systems for arboviral and filarial vector-borne diseases. Further modified sampling methods should be devoted to identify more effective sampling methods.

A Multi-Objective Optimization Model of Health, Safety, and Environmental Risks of Coastal Landfills (A Case Study of the Coastal City of Bandar Abbas)

Introduction: The increasing development of urban life is one of the fundamental challenges in urban management of waste disposal. Solid municipal waste is one of the major problems of governments and urban planners worldwide, especially in coastal cities. This study aimed to design of an advanced linear planning algorithm for coastal landfills with a focus on safety, health, and environmental risks. Method: This is a qualitative study. Multi-objective optimization presents a mathematical model by evaluating the three risks of health, safety, and environment. First, the data were collected using interviews and qualitative analysis, and then in the second stage, the analysis was presented using model linear planning. Results: In the risk assessment of the landfill site, the presented computational results can be found that stable models provide unfavorable answers compared to definitive models. This is a natural issue; since in stable models, the worst case scenario is considered to achieve the optimal solution, and therefore the resulting answers are always unfavorable compared to the definitive models. Conclusion: By analyzing the risk assessment at the landfill site, the causes of accidents and complications resulting from work in this place include unsafe practices or unsafe and unsanitary conditions. In fact, trying to create and improve health, safety, and environmental conditions of landfills in Bandar Abbas city and the increase in reliability confirmed that these two factors are the secondary causes of accidents. The root causes can be considered as a defect in the management system of the landfill site.