BACKGROUND: Suicide is a major global health problem, especially among youth. Suicide is known to be associated with a variety of social, economic, political and religious factors, vary across geographical and cultural regions. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of socioeconomic factors on suicide mortality rate across different regions in Iran.METHODS: The data on distribution of

It is estimated that the number of devices connected to the Internet will be 50 billion by 2020. How should a not-so-tech-savvy end user be able to discover and directly interact with a myriad of connected things in an intuitive and comfortable manner? Up until now, smartphones have shown potential for managing the Internet of Things (IoT) environments, but we cannot rely on that technology. Weara

In response to the challenge of socializing new IT employees, some IT departments are exploring the incorporation of enterprise social media (hereinafter ESM) as an informal organizational socialization tool. Because this is a relatively new phenomenon, little is known about how ESM facilitate employee socialization. In order to contribute to our understanding of how ESM affects employee socializa

The purpose of this research is to explore the link between plasma amylase and insulin levels in growing pigs. Blood was obtained from piglets ranging in age from preterm (8 days to full gestation period), up to postnatal day 90 (2 months post-weaning) that underwent either duodenal-jejunal bariatric interposition surgery or a sham-operation. Plasma amylase activities in preterm and full-term neon

Epithelial cells have been suggested as potential drivers of lung fibrosis, although the epithelial-dependent pathways that promote fibrogenesis remain unknown. Extracellular matrix is increasingly recognized as an environment that can drive cellular responses in various pulmonary diseases. In this study, we demonstrate that transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-stimulated mouse tracheal basal (M

Transcription factors normally regulate gene expression through their action at sites where they bind to DNA. However, the balance of activating and repressive functions that a transcription factor can mediate is not completely understood. Here, we showed that the transcription factor PU.1 regulated gene expression in early T cell development both by recruiting partner transcription factors to its

In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to use matrices, such as acellular dermal matrices, in implant-based breast reconstruction. To lower the cost and to avoid implanting biological material, the use of synthetic meshes has been proposed. This is the first study examining TIGR® Mesh in a larger series of immediate breast reconstruction. The aims of the study were to examine complica

Rapid economic growth, urbanization and increasing population have caused (materially intensive) resource consumption to increase, and consequently the release of large amounts of waste to the environment. From a global perspective, current waste and resource management lacks a holistic approach covering the whole chain of product design, raw material extraction, production, consumption, recycling

From an environmental perspective, a separate collection and recycling system for post-consumer discards could contribute to improved environmental protection as well as economic benefits. This paper investigates the environmental potential of a business model proposed in Sweden in order to improve the utilization of plastic shopping bags. The business model aims to reduce the consumption of plast

A circular economy has been proposed as a sustainable alternative to our current linear economic system, mainly by recirculating material resources for new product development. To understand resource recirculation in practice, this paper analyses over 50 examples of products developed from discarded materials, categorising them into the recovery routes described in the circular economy literature.

Global economies have been characterised by a large dependency of material inflows from natural stocks, an exponential growth of material stock-in-use in the built environment, and the extensive disposal of waste material outflows to anthropogenic sinks. In this context, the concept of the circular economy has emerged, promising to circulate the stock-in-use of materials and transforming output wa

BACKGROUND: Falls are the most common cause of injury for older people in the general population as well as among those with intellectual disability. There are many risk factors for falls, including a range of drugs which are considered to be fall-risk-increasing (FRIDs). The aim of the present study was to describe prescription patterns of FRIDs in itself as well as in relation to falls requiring

Background: There is a need for providing sensory feedback for myoelectric prosthesis users. Providing tactile feedback can improve object manipulation abilities, enhance the perceptual embodiment of myoelectric prostheses and help reduce phantom limb pain. Many amputees have referred sensation from their missing hand on their residual limbs (phantom maps). This skin area can serve as a target for