ali nikfarjam

Awareness about the epidemiological status of the disease in nursing homes is required for achieving accurate information about the disease status, its control among the high-risk groups, and proper policies. Due to the lack of a similar study in Iran, the current study was aimed to determine the prevalence and trend of COVID-19 infection in nursing homes in Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

In the current cross-sectional study, the studied data included the total number of elderly and non-elderly residents, the number of staff, the number of new cases, the number of deaths, and the number of performed tests separately in staff and residents. Statistical methods such as simple proportions with 95% confidence interval (CI) and line plots were used to analyze the data.

The overall prevalence of COVID-19 from the beginning of the epidemic to the beginning of December 2020 was 26% (95%CI: 25 27). The prevalence among staff was 23.7% (95%CI: 21 25). Also, among the elderly and non-elderly residents was 50.16% (95%CI: 48 52) and 9.33% (95%CI: 7-11), respectively. The highest number of cases occurred in November.

It seems that the pattern of infection occurrence in nursing homes is affected by the prevalence of the disease in the general population, but due to the vulnerability of residents living in nursing homes, prevention the infection from entering and spreading within  these centers requires fundamental planning.

The delayed Coker process as an upgrading process has the main impact on the productivity of the Refinery Complexes. To determine the impact of different operating conditions on the product yield distribution of the delayed coking process, several experiments were designed and conducted in a prefabricated pilot plant. The experiments were conducted on different Iranian vacuum residues at temperatures ranging from 420°C to 480°C and at atmospheric pressure. Reaction times were within the range of 5-120 minutes. A four lumps kinetic model has been developed based on the experimental results. The lumps—which included Volatile products, coke, feed, and an intermediate phase between coke and feed—were defined to precisely monitor the yield distribution of products throughout the reaction time. The feedstocks utilized were three different vacuum residues and their blends. The mixtures were produced by using different mixing ratios of the three vacuum residues. The Statistical analysis shows that this model has R-squared, RMSE, SSE, and MRE equal to 0.99, 0.022, 0.08, and 3.537%, respectively. This shows that the developed model is sufficiently accurate. The experimental and modeling results in this research reveal that by increasing the temperature, the yield of coke and gas is abated. However, the yield of the distillate is escalated. This investigation illustrates that the production of an intermediate reaction has the highest amount of activation energy in comparison with the other reactions. Also, the results indicate that the production reaction rate of coke has the highest amount compared to other reactions.

The process of identifying Covid 19 cases over time (the trend) can provide valuable information about the coverage of diagnostic and screening programs over time. This study aimed to investigate the outpatient trend of Covid-19 in selected comprehensive health service centers of Tehran University of Meical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The data collected inculded the number of referalls and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-positive individuals between April 13 and December 25, 2020. Central and dispersion indices (mean, median, standard deviation and interquartile range) were used to describe quantitative variables. In addition, linear and bar charts were used to describe the trend of the variables over time. All analyses were performed using the Excel 2016 and SPSS 22 software.

The highest numbers of suspected cases of Covid-19 were found to be in April, June and October. There were 2 peaks in the trend of positive cases of Covid 19, and the highest proportions of daily positive cases of Covid 19 was seen in late June and early July, as well as in late September, October, and December. The highest numbers of individuals referred and tested were observed in the South of Tehran Health Center.

Considering the occurrence  of two epidemic peaks during the study period, the occurrence  of further epidemic peaks is almost certain to occur if there is no proper planning for public health services and primary health care by the responsible health authorities and policy-makers.

Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a major public health problem in Iran. It imposes heavy costs on governments and affected people. Determining the survival duration of patients and recognizing the related factors can help the disease surveillance system.

The current study aimed at determining the survival rate and the related factors concerning patients with HIV/AIDS identified in Tehran, Iran.

The study population of the current retrospective cohort consisted of patients with HIV/AIDS covered by the Health Center of Southern Tehran. The data were obtained by referring to the HIV/AIDS care centers and reviewing the patients’ records. Survival rates of the study subjects during 10 years follow-up were calculated. The Cox proportional-hazards model was used to determine the relationship between independent variables and survival of patients with HIV/AIDS.

A total of 487 patients were investigated in the current study. Four-hundred thirty-three subjects (88.9%) were male, and 54 (11.1%) female. The mean ± standard deviation of the participants’ age was 44.08 ± 9.00 years. According to univariate analyses, the variables of gender, marital status, education level, occupational status, transmission way, infection with hepatitis C or tuberculosis, and history of antiretroviral treatment were significantly associated with the survival time of patients with AIDS. In the final model, a significant relationship was found between the variables of treatment, coinfection with tuberculosis, occupational status, education level, marital status, and mortality.

The current study was one of the few research that examined the survival rate of HIV-infected patients in Iran. Considering the expansion of AIDS epidemic in Iran, it is necessary to take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic and decrease the mortality rate of infected patients through early detection and timely treatment of HIV-positive people coinfected with tuberculosis, creation of employment opportunities for patients and addicted individuals, controlling substance abuse, and paying more attention to harm reduction programs in individuals that have unsafe sex as one of the most important high-risk groups to increase their survival time.