Air pollution impact on the Covid-19 mortality in Iran considering the comorbidity (obesity, diabetes, and hypertension) correlations.

Since the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, several researchers stated the possibility of a positive relationship between Covid-19 spread and climatic parameters. An ecological study in 12 Iranian cities using the report of daily deaths from Covid-19 (March to August 2020) and validated data on air pollutants, considering average concentrations in each city in the last year used to analyze the association between chronic exposure to air pollutants and the death rate from Covid-19 in Iran. Poisson regression models were used, with generalized additive models and adjustment variables. A significant increase of 2.7% (IC(95%) 2.6-4.4) was found in the mortality rate due to Covid-19 due to an increase of 1 µg/m3 of NO2. The results suggest an association between Covid-19 mortality and NO2 exposure. As a risk approximation associated with air pollution, more precise analysis is done. The results also show a good consistency with studies from other regions; this paper's results can be useful for the public health policymakers and decision-making to control the Covid-19 spread.

Post-COVID-19 and globalization of oil and natural gas trade: Challenges, opportunities, lessons, regulations, and strategies.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak hit the global economy like a tsunami. Every aspect of human society, including the energy industry and market, is affected by this pandemic. The pandemic has affected prices, demand, supply, investment, and several other aspects of the energy sector, including the oil and gas industry. This article is aimed to analyze the impacts of COVID-19 on the oil and gas industry and give a perspective of the post-COVID-19 oil and gas market. Results of this article show that COVID-19 impacts the oil and gas industry. The short-term impact is nearly 25% decrease in petroleum consumption, slowly recovering to its former amount and even growing more. The long-term impacts are the 30% to 40% decrease in the CAPEX and R&D investments over the oil and gas market, which is a regional scale in the United States, caused oil exploitation projects to decrease from more than 800 in 2019 to 265 in 2021. And it is predicted to reduce the competitiveness of oil and gas vs other energy carriers such as ever price-decreasing renewable energies. Thus, the oil and gas industry has to change rapidly before losing a substantial energy market share. Finally, this article discusses acknowledging oil and gas trade as a part of World trade organization (WTO/ECT) regulations. And considering it a general energy commodity. An act that reduces the freedom of action of oil-exporting governments and great oil cartels and protects their interests in a globalizing competitive energy market.

When pandemics impact economies and climate change: Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on oil and electricity demand in China.

Despite all the scientific and technological developments in the past one hundred years, biologic issues such as pandemics are a constant threat to society. While one of the aspects of a pandemic is the loss of human life, the outbreak has multi-dimensional impacts across regional and global societies. In this paper, a comparative regressive and neural network model is developed to analyze the impacts of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on the electricity and petroleum demand in China. The environmental analysis shows that the epidemic severeness significantly affects the electricity and the petroleum demand, both directly and indirectly. The outputs of the model stated that the elasticity of petroleum and electricity demand toward the population of the infected people is -0.1% and -0.65%, respectively. The mentioned results show that pandemic status has a significant impact on energy demand, and also its impacts can be tracked into every corner of human society.

Effects of mitomycin-C on tear film, corneal biomechanics, and surface irregularity in mild to moderate myopic surface ablation: preliminary results.

PURPOSE: To assess the effect of mitomycin-C (MMC) on the tear film, corneal biomechanics, and surface irregularity in surface ablation (photorefractive keratectomy [PRK]) for low to moderate myopia. SETTING: Refractive Surgery Unit, Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, Iran. DESIGN: Double-masked randomized clinical trial. METHODS: In patients with spherical equivalent myopia of -0.75 to -3.87 diopters (D) and astigmatism up to -1.75 D, the first eye was randomly assigned to the application of MMC 0.02% or a balanced salt solution for 15 seconds. The fellow eye received the alternate in a masked fashion after excimer photoablation. RESULTS: The study enrolled 60 patients. In fellow eyes, the changes in the tear-film index were comparable 1 month and 6 months postoperatively. There was no significant difference in changes in total higher-order aberrations, spherical aberration, coma, or Q values (Pentacam HR) between fellow eyes at 1 month and 6 months. There was a trend toward a higher asymmetry index at 1 month; however, a statistically significant drop was observed at 6 months in the MMC group (P<.01). It was hypothesized that stromal remodeling was delayed, but better, in MMC-treated eyes. No haze was recorded at 6 months in either group. CONCLUSION: Use of MMC in PRK did not appear to contribute significantly to surface irregularity, transient tear-film dysfunction, or biomechanical weakening of the cornea compared with PRK without MMC. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.