Effect of point-contact transparency on coherent mixing of Josephson and transport supercurrents

The influence of electron reflection on dc Josephson effect in a ballistic point contact with transport current in the banks is considered theoretically. The effect of finite transparency on the vortex-like currents near the contact and at the phase difference $\phi =\pi ,$ which has been predicted recently \cite{KOSh}, is investigated. We show that at low temperatures even a small reflection on the contact destroys the mentioned vortex-like current states, which can be restored by increasing of the temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 8 Figures, Latex Fil

Pain characteristics of older residents in Iranian nursing homes Caractéristiques des douleurs ressenties par les résidents âgés dans les maisons de retraite iraniennes

Background: Pain is a common complaint among the aging population, particularly among the older residents of nursing homes. Aims: The main aim of the study was to examine the pain characteristics among older residents of nursing homes in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 394 older adults admitted to Tehran nursing homes. To gather the required data, Brief Pain Inventory and Abbreviated Mental Test score were used. Results: 51 of the female and 26 of the male participants suffered from pain. Lower extremity and lower part of back were the most frequently affected. Pain interfered with general activity (P < 0.001), mood (P = 0.016), walking (P < 0.001), normal work (P < 0.001), relations with others (P = 0.043), sleeping (P = 0.002) and enjoyment of life (P = 0.019) of the older residents and these effects were more prominent in female sex. Factors such as age, gender and schooling were of significant relationships with pain (P < 0.001) and its intensity (P <0.001). Conclusions: Chronic pain is common among older residents of nursing homes and deteriorates their quality of life. This study reconfirms the previously mentioned importance of using effective pain evaluation and pain management strategies in nursing homes. © World Health Organization (WHO) 2019. Some rights reserved

What has Iran achieved in under-five mortality in terms of equity and efficiency in the past decades?

Objective: Iran has made remarkable progress in reducing child mortality over the past few decades. However, this promising profile is mainly average driven, and inequalities are not counted in judgments about the progress. In the present study, we used an achievement index approach to combine average and inequalities to provide a better picture of Iran's achievement in under-five mortality over the last two decades. Study design: The study had a cross-sectional design. Methods: Data gathered in the two recent national demographic health surveys (DHSs) in 2000 and 2010 were used to conduct the analyses. Accordingly, 45,646 live births covered by DHS 2000 and 10,604 live births covered by DHS 2010 were investigated. An achievement index was constructed by incorporating some extensions to the concentration index, namely by incorporation of the average into the index. Results: The standard concentration index showed that under-five mortality was unequally distributed, hurting the poor, across all provinces and Iran overall in 2000 (concentration index = -0.1311 standard error {SE} = 0.0139) and 2010 (-0.1367 SE = 0.0381). The achievement index revealed that Iran has had achievements in under-five mortality (relative change in the mean has decreased from 29.5% to 25.8%), but the achievement was mostly due to reductions in the average mortality and not in its unequal distribution. The same result applied to a considerable number of provinces, and only a few have made achievements in both inequality and average. Conclusions: Considering the lack of progress in the reduction of inequalities in under-five mortality over the past decades, equity-oriented policies should be of prime importance for Iran's healthcare system. (C) 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Neuropathic Pain Prevalence of Older Adults in an Urban Area of Iran: A Population-Based Study

Background. Pain prevalence would increase as the population grows older, but the exact prevalence rate is not apparent in Iran. Objectives. This study, therefore, set out to reveal the prevalence of pain, especially neuropathic type and explore its associated comorbidities among Iranian older adults in a large urban population-based survey. Methods. 5326 older people, aged � 60 years, were randomly chosen by a multistage, cluster sampling method. The selected people then were interviewed by using the following instruments: a standard questionnaire about pain, questions of interview part of Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questions (DN4) and its comorbidities, GHQ-28, and a sociodemographic checklist. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were conducted to analyze the gathered data. Results. The average of the participants' age was 68.92 ± 7.02 years. Of 5326 participants, 2529 (47.5) of participants were male. About one-third of this population had chronic pain. Chronic neuropathic pain prevalence was 13.7 and nociceptive in 30. Knee pain (20.6) and feet dysesthesia (7.8) were the most common sites of nociceptive and neuropathic pain, respectively. Results of multiple regression analysis revealed that the major comorbidities of chronic pain were osteoporosis, disability, diabetes mellitus, and stroke. Neuropathic pain experiences were significantly associated with GHQ-28 scores (t=-11.42, P<0.001). Conclusions. In addition to neuropathic pain, other subtypes of pain prevalence and the comorbidities are determined in the community-dwelling elder adults. This study highlights the importance of neuropathic pain and its adverse consequences and can be used to manage this populations' needs in Iran effectively. © 2019 Reza Salman Roghani et al

Relationship between oral health and demographic characteristics in retired elderly people in Iran بررس� ارتباط س�ا٠ت د�ا� با ٠شخصات ج٠ع� تش�اخت� سا�٠�دا� باز�شست�

Objectives The current study aimed to determine the relationship between oral health and demographic characteristics of retired elderly people. Methods & Materials This cross-sectional study was conducted on 158 older adults aged � 60 years. The subjects were selected using random sampling method and personnel codes. All the elderly participants were retired members of the Tehran Municipality Administration. The study data were collected by direct visit to the subjects' place of residence and conducting interviews. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that included 2 sections. The first section consisted of demographic, socioeconomic, and health profiles, while the second section consisted of Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). Results We collected data from 158 participants (90 men, 68 women). The mean age of the participants was 68.78 years. The obtained data suggested that 38 (24.05) participants had a poor state of oral health. About 50 of the participants mentioned high dental care costs as a reason for not referring to the dentist. According to the findings of this study, there is a direct relationship between educational level and oral health status in the elderly (P < 0.05). Conclusion Oral and dental health increase the quality of life in the elderly and reduce the high prevalence of dental problems among them. Therefore, designing and implementing practical policies to reduce oral and dental infections in the elderly and promote their health is necessary. © 2019. ا�دا� �د� از ا�� ٠طا�ع�� تع��� ارتباط س�ا٠ت د�ا� با ٠شخصات ج٠ع� تش�اخت� سا�٠�دا� باز�شست� ب�د. ٠�اد � ر�ش �ا ا�� پ���ش ب� ر�ش ت�ص�� �تح���� بر ر�� 158 ��ر سا�٠�د با�ا� 60 سا� تحت پ�شش ساز٠ا� باز�شستگ� ش�ردار� ت�را� ب� ر�ش �٠�� �گ�ر� تصاد�� ا�جا٠شد. داد ��ا ب� ص�رت ٠ست��٠� با ٠صاحب� ٠ست��٠گردآ�ر� شد. ابزار گردآ�ر� داد ��ا شا٠� پرس ش�ا٠� ٠شخصات ج٠ع� تش�اخت� � پرس ش�ا٠� شاخص س�جش س�ا٠ت د�ا� سا�٠�دا� ب�د. �ا�ت� �ا 90 ��ر ) 57 درصد( از پاسخگ��ا� سا�٠�دا� ٠رد � 68 ��ر ) 43 درصد( سا�٠�دا� ز� ب�د�د. ٠�ا�گ�� س� سا�٠�دا� ٠�رد ٠طا�ع� 78 / 68 سا� ب�د. س�ا٠ت د�ا� با س� ) 004 / P=0 (� ج�س ) 034 / P=0 (� � تحص��ات ) 0001 / P=0 ( رابط� ٠ع� �دار داشت. �ضع�ت س�ا٠ت د�ا� � د�دا� سا�٠�دا� ٠رد ب�تر از سا�٠�دا� ز� ب�د. �ت�ج� گ�ر� با ت�ج� ب� ا�٠�ت �را�ا� س�ا٠ت د�ا� � د�دا� در ا�زا�ش ک���ت ز�دگ� سا�٠�دا�� در ��گا٠طراح� ٠داخ�ات برا� ارت�ا� س�ا٠ت د�ا� سا�٠�دا�� ت�ج� ب� ���گ ��ا� ج٠ع� تش�اخت� آ ��ا ضر�ر� ب� �ظر ٠�رسد

Protective psychosocial factors of geriatric depression in community dwelling older adults: A review article

Context: Depression is a major health problem in geriatric population and has many adverse consequences. The aim of this study was to review the existing literature on psychosocial factors that protect against depression in later life. Evidence Acquisition: A MEDLINE systematic search was done via Pubmed and Sciencedirect web pages to gather the published articles on psychosocial factors of late life depression First, the titles and abstracts reviewed and relevant articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria. Then full texts of the selected articles obtained, read, and data were extracted and categorized. Results: There were 204 articles on psychosocial factors of late life depression in community dwelling older adults and among them 29 articles included protective factors. Reading them carefully, protective factors were extracted and organized into 5 main categories: Demographic factors, psychological factors, social factors, health related factors and also spiritual factors. Conclusion: Psychosocial factors protecting older adults against depression are diverse. Identification of the modifiable ones and provision of appropriate interventions to enhance them, can be helpful in preventing geriatric depression. ©2018, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations

Prevalence of Dementia Among Older Patients: A Hospital-Based Study in Iran

Background: Dementia constitutes a public health hazard in developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of dementia and its associated factors in older hospitalized patients. Methods: The participants of this cross-sectional study consisted of older patients admitted to medical wards in Rasoul-e Akram hospital in Tehran, Iran. Mini-Mental State Examination, Mini-Cog test, Geriatric Depression Scale, Activities of Daily Living-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADL-IADL) scale, and socioeconomic questionnaires were used. Results: A total of 205 elderly inpatients were included. The mean age was 71.33 ± 7.35 years; 63.4 of the participants had normal cognitive function, while 36.6 had some degree of cognitive impairment. There was a statistically significant relationship between gender, age, number of children, and occupation and the prevalence of dementia. Conclusion: Appropriate cognitive screening of older patients upon admission to hospitals could help identify potential adverse events and enhance the quality of care for patients with comorbid dementia. © The Author(s) 2019

Social Algorithms

This article concerns the review of a special class of swarm intelligence based algorithms for solving optimization problems and these algorithms can be referred to as social algorithms. Social algorithms use multiple agents and the social interactions to design rules for algorithms so as to mimic certain successful characteristics of the social/biological systems such as ants, bees, bats, birds and animals.Comment: Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, 201

Use of multidimensional item response theory methods for dementia prevalence prediction: an example using the Health and Retirement Survey and the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study.

BACKGROUND: Data sparsity is a major limitation to estimating national and global dementia burden. Surveys with full diagnostic evaluations of dementia prevalence are prohibitively resource-intensive in many settings. However, validation samples from nationally representative surveys allow for the development of algorithms for the prediction of dementia prevalence nationally. METHODS: Using cognitive testing data and data on functional limitations from Wave A (2001-2003) of the ADAMS study (n = 744) and the 2000 wave of the HRS study (n = 6358) we estimated a two-dimensional item response theory model to calculate cognition and function scores for all individuals over 70. Based on diagnostic information from the formal clinical adjudication in ADAMS, we fit a logistic regression model for the classification of dementia status using cognition and function scores and applied this algorithm to the full HRS sample to calculate dementia prevalence by age and sex. RESULTS: Our algorithm had a cross-validated predictive accuracy of 88% (86-90), and an area under the curve of 0.97 (0.97-0.98) in ADAMS. Prevalence was higher in females than males and increased over age, with a prevalence of 4% (3-4) in individuals 70-79, 11% (9-12) in individuals 80-89 years old, and 28% (22-35) in those 90 and older. CONCLUSIONS: Our model had similar or better accuracy as compared to previously reviewed algorithms for the prediction of dementia prevalence in HRS, while utilizing more flexible methods. These methods could be more easily generalized and utilized to estimate dementia prevalence in other national surveys