there are many reports of serious problems of dust storm events in the western parts of iran. based on many researches, iraq is one of the main sources of dust storms in western parts of iran. the radial basis function network (rbfn) model has been used to assess wind erosion hazard in iraq as a main source area of dust storms over several western cities of iran. the percentage of vegetation is...

To investigate the recently described Lee mortality index as predictor of mortality after radical cystectomy. A total of 735 patients who underwent radical cystectomy for bladder cancer between 1993 and 2010 were studied. Median patient age was 67 years and the median follow-up was 7.8 years (censored patients). The Lee mortality index was assigned based on data derived from patient history, pr...

Main results Overall, 300 people had died from probable suicide at the time of follow up. Within one year of index episode: The overall risk of probable suicide was 0.7% (95% CI 0.6% to 0.9%). In males, the risk was 1.1% (95% CI 0.8 to 1.5). In females, the risk was 0.5% (95% CI 0.4 to 0.7). Within 15 years of index episode: The overall risk of probable suicide was 3.0% (95% CI 2.6 to 3.4). In ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to investigate the independent and joint effects of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and body mass index (BMI) on cancer mortality in a low body mass index population. METHODS We evaluated CRF and BMI in relation to cancer mortality in 8760 Japanese men. The median BMI was 22.6 kg/m2 (IQR: 21.0-24.3). The mean follow-up period was more than 20 years. Hazard ...

We review at first the principal concepts of system safety. Then we analyze hazards of robot – human interactions – human injury and unsafe communication. We focus on hazard of collision with a human and an appropriate robot behavior mitigating this hazard. After reviewing the principal classes of robot control architectures, we evaluate their effectiveness in obstacle avoidance. Index terms – ...

and commentary also appear in ACP Journal Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For correspondence: Dr B R Celli, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. [email protected] Source of funding: no external funding. BODE index for predicting death in chronic obstr...

Following the increasing demand of coal for power generation, activity concentrations of primordial radionuclides were determined in Nigerian coal using the gamma spectrometric technique with the aim of evaluating the radiological implications of coal utilization and exploitation in the country. Mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K were 8.18±0.3, 6.97±0.3, and 27.38±0.8 Bq kg-1...

Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS) and fallout 137Cs were estimated in surface soils from the highly mineralized Singhbhum region of Eastern India. The activity concentrations varied from 50.67-109.14 Bq/kg (238U), 48.12142.55 Bq/kg (226Ra), 28.73-89.78 Bq/kg (232Th), 494.84-1121.36 Bq/kg (40K) and 1.8-7.48 Bq/kg (137Cs). Correlation between radionuclides was studied. 232Th/238U ...

Mortality after hip fracture is a major problem in the Western world, but its mechanisms remain uncertain. This study assessed the 2-year mortality rate after hip fracture in elderly patients by including hospital factors (eg, intervention type, surgical delay), underlying health conditions, and, for a subset, lifestyle factors (eg, body mass index, smoking, alcohol). A total of 828 patients (1...