Two-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of ion-to-electron mass ratio on the evolution of warm electron beam-plasma instability. Four cases are considered: A: mi/me = 0 (two-electron stream instability); B: mi/me = 1 (pair plasma); C: mi/me = 100; and D: mi/me = 1000. It is shown that the generation of Langmuir waves in the fundamental mode of electron plasma frequency and the subsequent dynamics of large-amplitude solitons are not affected by the ion species. However, it determines the decay process of solitons and the excitation of electromagnetic waves in the second harmonic. In the first two cases, mi/me = 0 and 1, there is no sign of emission in the second harmonic, while the strongest emission in the second harmonic is found for the case of largest mass ratio, mi/me = 1000. This confirms the two-step wave-wave coupling mechanism for the generation of second harmonic electromagnetic waves, which requires the excitation of ion-acoustic waves in the first step. Moreover, the dispersion diagrams of all excited waves are presented.

In this multicentre study, we compared the status of antibody production in healthcare personnel (HCP) before and after vaccination using different brands of COVID-19 vaccines between March 2021 and September 2021. Out of a total of 962 HCP enrolled in our study, the antibody against the S1 domain of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 48.3%, 95.5% and 96.2% of them before, after the first and the second doses of the vaccines, respectively. Our results showed post-vaccination infection in 3.7% and 5.9% of the individuals after the first and second doses of vaccines, respectively. The infection was significantly lower in HCP who presented higher antibody titres before the vaccination. Although types of vaccines did not show a significant difference in the infection rate, a lower infection rate was recorded for AstraZeneca after the second vaccination course. This rate was equal among individuals receiving a second dose of Sinopharm and Sputnik. Vaccine-related side effects were more frequent among AstraZeneca recipients after the first dose and among Sputnik recipients after the second dose. In conclusion, our results showed diversity among different brands of COVID-19 vaccines; however, it seems that two doses of the vaccines could induce an antibody response in most of HCP. The induced immunity could persist for 3–5 months after the second vaccination course.

These days, because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we have faced a number of challenges and scarcities in Iran. Lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) is one of the most remarkable problems that can have damaging consequences on the health system. In this letter, we introduce software that can help hospitals manage their PPE in terms of purchasing, distributing, and predicting the future needs in different time intervals. The software has several distinctive features such as superior speed, cost management, managerial dashboard, a wide range of applicability, comprehensiveness, supply chain management, and quality appraisal. We hope that our findings can assist health authorities in planning and optimizing the use of PPE for the response to COVID-19, where the shortage of resources may occur due to supply chain issues.

Schools have a significant role in disaster education to children. This study investigates the research works about school-based education programs in order to discover challenges and best practices. We conducted a systematic review of English language papers published in peer-review journals.

The search identified 2577 publications and 61 articles meeting selection criteria and included in the review. Reviewed studies indicated that disaster education in schools is effective but yet insufficient in many countries. Lack of equipment, financial resources, policy gaps, and teachers’ knowledge are common problems in programs. Main outcomes of this systematic review are showing methods used for health emergency preparedness of children of different ages and gender differences in school-based disaster preparedness, as well as the difference in their lifesaving skills in disasters.

This study shows that some disaster education programs reported in the papers reviewed were not high-quality enough, which may lead to insufficient preparedness of children in disasters and consequently may put their health at risk, considering the increasing number of natural hazards.

The last few decades have seen increased theoretical and empirical interest in multi-dimensional measures of social welfare. The objective of this paper is to measure social welfare in Iranian provinces. To achieve this, we used a composite social welfare index (SWI) for Iran. The SWI was developed through the methodology of constructing composite indicators. The index comprises information on different social indicators from various life domains, including: health, education, economy, social security, housing, and employment. We then categorized Iranian provinces on the basis of SWI scores. The results show that value of the SWI was poor in provinces located in the periphery of the country. Furthermore, we found the best and worst performances in Yazd and Sistan and Balochestan, respectively.

Here we report the use of luminescence thermometry to measure the temperature decay from single gold structure into the substrate of AlGaN:Er3+ film. We looked at Er3+ ion photoluminescence upon illumination by modulated 532 nm laser and recorded time-resolved luminescence of 2H11/2 → 4I15/2 and the 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 energy transitions. We calculated the heat generated from gold microdisk and observed the rate of heat dissipation to the environment. We directly calculated the absolute thermal conductivity of 1.7 W/mK for AlGaN: Er3+ film which was in agreement with the literature.

The mid-infrared provides a unique view of galaxy stellar populations, sensitive to both the integrated light of old, low-mass stars and to individual dusty mass-losing stars. We present results from an extended Spitzer/IRAC survey of M31 with total lengths of 6.6 and 4.4 degrees along the major and minor axes, respectively. The integrated surface brightness profile proves to be surprisingly difficult to trace in the outskirts of the galaxy, but we can also investigate the disk/halo transition via a star count profile, with careful correction for foreground and background contamination. Our point-source catalog allows us to report on mid-infrared properties of individual objects in the outskirts of M31, via cross-correlation with PAndAS, WISE, and other catalogs.

Dynamic Cell Formation Problem (DCFP) seeks to cope with variation in part mix anddemands using machine relocation, replication, and removing; whilst from practical pointof view it is too hard to move machines between cells or invest on machine replication. Tocope with this deficiency, this paper addresses Reconfigurable Dynamic Cell FormationProblem (RDCFP) in which machine modification is conducted instead of their relocation orreplication in order to enhance machine capabilities to process wider range of productiontasks. In this regard, a mixed integer nonlinear mathematical model is proposed, which isNP-hard. To cope with the proposed model’s intractability, an Imperialist CompetitiveAlgorithm (ICA) is developed, whose obtained results are compared with those of GeneticAlgorithm’s (GA’s), showing superiority and outperformance of the developed ICA.

Hydatidosis is an important public health problem in several parts of Iran. The aim of this molecular study is to investigate Echinococcus granulosus genotypes as the causative agents of hydatidosis in the south-west of Iran (Khuzestan province). In this study, isolates of 334 hydatid cysts were collected from the liver and lungs of 141 sheep, 104 cattle, 84 goats and 5 human cases. DNA was extracted and examined by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)-PCR. In addition, fragments of genes coding for ITS1 were sequenced. The results of RFLP-PCR analysis revealed the presence of the G1 genotype in all human, cattle, goat and sheep isolates. Furthermore, no camel strain (G6) was detected among all samples in the regions studied. The molecular findings indicate that the predominant genotype involved in E. granulosus transmission in south-west Iran is the common sheep strain (G1 genotype), which occurs in human, cattle, sheep and goat populations. In conclusion, these results may have important implications for hydatid disease control in the areas studied.

Eosinophilia in human peripheral blood is caused by different agents, including toxocariasis. The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of toxocariasis in hypereosinophilic individuals in the city of Ahwaz, located in south-western Iran, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot techniques. Serum samples were examined from 100 individuals with peripheral blood eosinophilia and also from another 100 individuals without eosinophilia as the control group. In hypereosinophilic individuals seroprevalence antibodies against Toxocara were found in 19 (19%), of whom 12 (63.15%) were female and 7 (36.85%) were male. Positive sera were subsequently confirmed by Western blot. All of the observed bands ranged from 24 to 100 kDa. Antibodies against Toxocara were found in 1% of the control group, but were not confirmed by Western blot. The results showed significant differences between the frequency of infection within age and gender (P < 0.05); the highest prevalence of infection was observed in adults. Differences between the hypereosinophilic and healthy individuals, in terms of Toxocara infection frequency, also proved significant (P < 0.05).The present study thus confirmed the significant prevalence of toxocariasis as a hygienic problem among hypereosinophilic individuals in this area. It is, therefore, necessary to examine these individuals for toxocariasis.

We aimed to determine the effect of supplementation with coenzyme Q10 on conventional therapy of children with cardiac failure due to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. In a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, we randomized 38 patients younger than 18 years with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy to receive either coenzyme Q10, chosen for 17 patients, or placebo, administered in the remaining 21. Echocardiographic systolic and diastolic function parameters were determined for every patient at baseline, and after 6 months of supplementation. The index score for cardiac failure in children as established in New York was used for assessing the functional class of the patients. After 6 months supplementation, 10 patients randomized to receive coenzyme Q10 showed improvements in the grading of diastolic function, this being significantly more than that achieved by those randomized to the placebo group (p value = 0.011). The mean score for the index of cardiac failure index for those receiving coenzyme Q10 was also lower than the control group (p value = 0.024).

Our results, therefore, indicate that administration of coenzyme Q10 is useful in ameliorating cardiac failure in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy through its significant effect on improving diastolic function.

An ELISA was developed for serological detection of Echinococcus granulosus infection in dromedary camels. Antigen B (AgB) partially purified from hydatid cyst fluid of camels or sheep naturally infected with cystic echinococcosis (CE) due to E. granulosus, as well as a recombinant antigen B product (r-AgB) were used in an ELISA to screen panels of serum samples from slaughtered camels naturally infected with CE. Native hydatid cyst fluid antigen preparations were able to detect antibodies in sera from a significant proportion of camels with CE, as confirmed at post-mortem. Seroreactivity however, was variable. ELISA specificity for sera from naturally infected camels versus inspection-negative animals ranged from 90 to 99%. Native antigen B gave the highest sensitivity (97%) in ELISA for camel CE confirmed at slaughter. In contrast, r-AgB gave lower sensitivity for camel (84%) and sheep (28%) CE. The r-AgB-ELISA was, however, highly specific (90 and 95%) respectively for both camel and sheep natural CE infection. These results indicate that an ELISA based on serum antibody detection to AgB could be developed for immunodiagnosis of cystic echinococcosis in camels.