ABSTRACT
The recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a highly transmissible virus with a likely animal origin, has posed major and unprecedented challenges to millions of lives across the affected nations of the world. This outbreak first occurred in China, and despite massive regional and global attempts shortly thereafter, it spread to other countries and caused millions of deaths worldwide. This review presents key information about the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and its associated disease (namely, coronavirus disease 2019) and briefly discusses the origin of the virus. Herein, we also briefly summarize the strategies used against viral spread and transmission.
ABSTRACT
Background: High hospital costs on one hand, and limited resources and facilities on the other hand, have led hospital managers to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Performance measurement is one of methods for assessing efficiency of hospital .in terms of resource utilization. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the efficiency of hospitals affiliated with Bushehr University of Medical Sciences before and after the implementation of the Health development Plan
Methods: This study is descriptive-analytic. The research population of this study was all hospitals affiliated with Bushehr University of Medical Sciences whose performance was evaluated in two years of 2013 and 2014. To measure the efficiency of these hospitals, data frontier analysis was used. The criteria of the total number of employees, the total number of physicians, the number of nurses and active beds were studied as input variables, and the percentages of cesarean section in total deliveries, number of surgeries, average residence. The data were collected in collaboration with the University's Center of Statistics as well as referring to the hospitals and analyzed using DEA software
Results: The mean technical efficiency, managerial and scale of performance before the implementation of health system development plan were reported 0.934 +/- 0.116, 1.00 +/- 0.0 and 0.934 +/- 0.116, respectively. Furthermore, six out of the eight hospitals studied were technically and scale-oriented efficient, and all eight hospitals were efficient regarding management. Only two hospitals had a surplus and two hospitals were inadequate. The mean efficiency after the implementation of the development plan was 0.9504 +/- 0.131, 0.977 +/- 0.059 and 0.966 +/- 0.088,respectively
Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the health system development plan has had a positive effect on the efficiency of hospitals, Although the efficiency of hospitals is desirable, it is essential that managers and policymakers of the health sector take measures to improve the efficacy and increase the use of resources
ABSTRACT
Nocturnal enuresis is a common diagnosis in patients referred to pediatric and pediatric nephrology clinics. Nocturnal polyuria is an important patho-physiologic factor in enuresis. Hypercalciuria, with altering concentrating capacity of the kidneys, can affect children's response to desmopressin. This is a double blind clinical trial starting September 2007 to March 2008. One hundred and twenty four enuretic children, 76 [61.3%] males, 48 [38.7%] females, mean age 7.7 [ +/- 1.7], were evaluated by measuring random morning urinary calcium to creatinine ratio. Patients were divided into group 1 with a calcium to creatinine ratio equal to or more than 0.2 mg/mg, and group 2 with a ratio less than 0.2 [Hypercalciuric and non hypercalciuric respectively]. All patients received 10 to 40 mcg of nasal desmopressin at bed time. The response was defined as reduction in wet nights, a "full response" [greater than 90% reduction], "partial response" [50% to 90% reduction] and "no response" [less than 50% reduction]. Chi-square method was used to compare the responses and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Nineteen patients in group 1 [Hypercalciuric] and 105 patients in group 2 [Non hypercalciuric] were studied. Response to desmopressin was "full" in 47.4% in group 1 and 64.8% in group 2. 42.1% and 26.7% had "Partial response" in group1 and 2 respectively [P < 0.04]. Hypercalciuria can affect negatively the responsiveness to desmopressin therapy