---

Aims: Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction (PS) is one of the most essential factors in improving the quality of healthcare systems. The aim of this study is to determine the norms and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Najmiyeh Outpatients Satisfaction Questionnaire (NOSQ). Methods and Materials: This study has been conducted on 240 outpatients in Najmiyeh subspecialty hospital (Tehran-Iran) in 2011. They were selected using the proportional simple random sampling method. Following the confirmation of the content validity, we considered the construct validity and reliability applying Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Cronbach's Alpha. Also, SPSS and AMOS version 18 were used for data analysis. Findings: The sample population consisted of 240 subjects, including 132 females (55.1%) and 108 males (44.9%). The EFA reported three important factors in this regard, with a variance of 54% and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index of 0.82, all approved by the CFA (RMSEA= 0.04, CFI= 0.96). The outpatients' satisfaction factors were: “hospital information system, treatment and conditions”. The reliability of the questionnaire was reported at %71 based on the Cronbach's alpha. Conclusions: Both validity and the reliability indexes of the NOSQ have been reported at a desirable level; therefore it can be used as a valid and reliable instrument to measure the outpatients' satisfaction.

---

Recently, flexible and environmental-friendly aerogel blankets have attracted considerable attention. In this work, the novel silica aerogel/basalt blanket was prepared using basalt fibers via a two-step sol-gel process followed by an ambient drying method and immersing the basalt fiber layer into silica sol. The silica aerogel particles were characterized by FTIR, FE-SEM and nitrogen adsorption analysis. The morphology, hydrophobic properties and surface roughness of neat basalt fiber and its aerogel blanket were also investigated. The density if 0.34 g/cm³, the porosity of 85%, mean pore size of 7±1.5 nm and the surface area of 750 m²/g for the nanostructured silica aerogel particles are obtained. The formation of nanostructured silica aerogel particles on the surface of basalt fibers in the sol-gel process were efficiently occurred leading to a strong hydrophobicity the blanket samples (contact angle of 114°) compared to the hydrophilic neat basalt fibers. The surface roughness of basalt fiber in the blanket samples was increased due to the fiber surface coating with silica aerogel particles. Increasing the sol volume in the synthesis process increased the basalt surface roughness from 3.6μ to 11μ. 

---

Aim: Patients' satisfaction (PS) is a dominant concept in medical care, due to the gap in the literature on Persian version of PS instruments, this study has conducted with aim to analyze the validity and reliability of self-designed Najmiyeh Inpatient Satisfaction Questionnaire (NISQ). Methods: This study was carried out on 247 inpatients that came in Najmiyeh subspecialty hospital in Tehran (the capital city of Iran) during year 2011 who were selected by proportional stratified sampling method. Statistical analysis used: In this study, after checking content validity we used confirmatory and explanatory factor analysis and Cronbach's Alpha in order to examine construct validity and reliability, respectively. SPSS (version18) and AMOS (version 20) programmer were used to analyze data. Findings: Samples consisted of 247 subjects (222 women (90%) and 25 men (10%)). The explanatory factor analysis showed 5 factors with 64% total variance and 0.91 Kaser-Meyer-Olkin Index, the result also confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis (PNFI=0.71, RMR=0.03, PCFI=0.76). Extracted factors consisted of: “satisfaction from nursing services and their behaviour”, “satisfaction from one’s doctor”, “satisfaction from inpatient department”, “companions’ satisfaction”, “satisfaction from one’s room”. Also the questionnaire’s reliability was 0.96 using the Cronbach's Alpha method. Conclusions: Because validity and reliability indexes of NISQ were reported in suitable range, we can confirm that this questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for measuring inpatient satisfaction.

---

Feminism and feministic critique of works of literature are the new topics in literature in the last century that has been highly regarded by writers and literary scholars. In contemporary Persian and Arabic literature, especially after the second half of the twentieth century, the growth of feminist approach to literature and poetry and prosing works of women-centered has been remarkable. Nawal El Saadawi and Shahrnoush Parsipour were feminist writers that protest a patriarchal system of social customs in their novels and look at the world with women mentality. Thus, due to the influence of feminist thinking and the current situation of women in novels of Saadawi and Parsipour, with an emphasis on descriptive - analytical and comparative approach, this article attempts to analyze the novels of "Diary of a doctor" and "The Dog and the Long Winter" based on feminist criticism. The findings suggest that the authors pay particular attention to factors such as protest against a patriarchal society, expression of oppression against women and women's identity an also have been trying to figure out individuality. In the field of differences, gender apartheid and hatred love and emotions of women in society are among feminist clear differences between the novels.

---

The issue of earthquake and its destructive effects is constantly confronting human being communities as an extensive challenge. The ground, upon which we are constructing our buildings, is anything but solid. Hundreds of millions of years ago the continents were joined, but now they are dispersing ever so slowly. The idea that buildings are founded on stationary ground is only an illusion. From the viewpoint of geological time, the earth’s crust is in a continuous dynamic change. The scientific understanding of this process, known as continental drift or tectonic plate movement, which is the basic cause of most earthquakes, dates back only 100 years. Quakes strike at the heart of a community. When they damage buildings, people and animals are injured and killed. Earthquakes destroy the basic necessities of life, demolishing shelter, ruining food and water supplies and disrupting people’s livelihoods. Conversely, buildings that perform well during an earthquake, limit its impact on people and their basic needs. Scientists and building construction experts have strived in order to find the solutions for reducing structures damages which are caused by trembling of the earth and diminishing the casualty rate and also detriments, from some years ago. In our country, Iran, which is located in earthquake zone and has experienced some demolishing quakes before, this matter is more significant and remarkable. Apart from the poorest of communities for whom even partial earthquake protection is unaffordable, most of the disastrous effects of earthquakes are avoidable. Earthquake-resistant construction greatly reduces the rate of victims from a damaging quake, as well as lessening economic losses and disruption to public activities. Seismic retrofitting of existing buildings is of vital and crucial issues of our society. The purpose of rehabilitating is to reduce the vulnerability of a building’s inhabitants and the building itself, its structure, non-structural elements and possibly its contents to earthquake damage. To retrofit a building is to improve its seismic performance. One of the appropriate alternatives for enhancing the structural performance of available buildings is employing composites. These materials can be applied in order to increase the confinement, shear strength and ductility of columns and also enhance in-plane shear wall strength as well as out-of-plane resistance. In addition, with taking advantage of this kind of material, the secondary weight which would be added to the primarily structure is going to be significantly reduced and this would act as an optimum approach for rehabilitating the existing buildings. In this research, firstly the exact definition of composite materials and its components and different kinds are studied. Then, the essence of earthquake and seismic forces in addition to some topics on seismic retrofitting and the essential needs for it are discussed. Eventually, concerning the abilities of composites, employing them as a suitable technique for reconciliation of structural elements of existing buildings, which is one approach of seismic retrofitting, will be proposed with hope for presenting the essential knowledge of appropriate seismic retrofitting with efficient materials to architects and civil engineers in order to diminish the ruins of earthquake effects on structures and as a result, providing the next generations of our country with safer and much more protected circumstances.

---

In this study, the optimum combination of major factors affecting the acceptability of whey-based Ricotta cheese i.e. fat at three levels (0, 5, 10%), salt at three levels (0, 1, 2%), and starter culture at two levels (0, 3%) was determined in a complete randomized design method with a factorial experiment. Ricotta cheese trials made by mixing whey and milk in a ratio of 5:1 were then organoleptically judged on the basis of the main attributes such as color, flavor, texture, and overall acceptability. The collected data were then statistically analyzed using a seven point hedonic method. The results show that the addition of fat had a significant effect on all sensory attributes (p< 0.05). The incorporation of salt in the formulation also had a significant effect on flavor, color, and overall acceptability (p< 0.05) as well as on texture (p< 0.01), whereas the addition of starter culture had a significant effect only on texture (p< 0.01) and overall acceptability (p< 0.05). It was concluded that a combination of 5% fat, 2% salt, and 3% starter culture gains a higher score and could be recommended as the preferred formulation for Iranian consumers.

---

Bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV, Potyvirus, Potyviridae) causes serious disease in Gladiolus spp. In this work, the possibility of obtaining BYMV free plant material from virus infected gladiolus corms was studied. Thermotherapy, meristem-tip culture and combination of both techniques on infected corms/meristem-tip explants (0.5–1 mm in length) resulted in BYMV elimination up to 15.38, 78.04 and 86.66%, respectively, as determined by double antibody sandwich-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (IC-RT-PCR). Individual virus-free shoots readily rooted in vitro and were transferred to corm formation medium. The results showed that thermotherapy promotes the survival rate of explants during meristem-tip culture steps (except regeneration step) and also plantlet acclimatization. Statistical analysis showed that the BYMV elimination in gladiolus corms was significantly (P ≤ 0.01) affected by thermotherapy treatment of infected corms. Thermotherapy combined with meristem culture can greatly improve BYMV elimination efficiency from infected gladiolus corms, resulting in the production of BYMV free gladiolus plants.

---

Aims: In the past decade, drug resistance in Gram negative bacilli has become a serious problem. The production of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL), AmpC beta-lactamase, and metallo beta-lactamase (MBL) enzymes in Klebsiella pneumoniae strains is the mechanism of drug resistance among these commonly isolated Gram negative bacteria from clinical specimens. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of β-lactamase enzymes, including extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), and AmpC beta-lactamases, in K. pneumonia strains isolated from urine samples referred to medical laboratories in Aliabad.
Materials & Methods: A total of 780 urine samples were collected from patients suspected of having UTI from March to June 2017. In positive urine samples, K. pneumonia isolates were identified by biochemical tests. Antibiotic resistance pattern was determined by disk diffusion method, and phenotypic confirmatory test was performed for detecting ESBLs, MBLs, and AmpC BLs producers.
Findings: Out of 378 positive samples for UTI, 97 K. pneumonia strains were isolated. Most of the isolates (more than 90%) were resistant to ampicillin and amoxicillin; however, imipenem and amikacin were effective antibiotics against the isolates. The frequency of ESBLs, MBLs, and AmpC BLs producers was determined as 33.3, 21.3, and 5.1%, respectively.
Conclusions: In this study, 14 isolates were simultaneously positive for ESBL and AmpC BL production, and 2 isolates were co-producer of ESBL and MBL. This finding could have a great impact on the management and treatment of UTI cases. Therefore, detection of beta‑lactamases is of great importance for controlling and reducing the spread of ESBL, AmpC BL, and MBL producing strains.

 

---

---

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV; genus Cucumovirus, family: Bromoviridae) has the widest host range of any known plant viruses. Seven virus isolates, originated from different ornamental plant species and greenhouses, were biologically purified, mechanically inoculated onto test plants and their serological differences were assayed based on reactivity with 11 CMV-specific monoclonal antibodies. Following total RNA extraction, coat protein (CP) coding region of CMV isolates was amplified. Based on biological, serological and phylogenetic analysis, only one isolate belonged to CMV subgroup II and other six isolates were equally distributed among the two IA and IB subgroups. Aphid transmission assay showed that no significant difference was observed between transmission efficiency of CMV subgroups IA, IB and II members by Aphis gossypii. The genetic variation and evolution of CMV in Iran was studied by sequence analysis of the CP gene and comparison with equivalent sequences of isolates from other continents that exhibited low genetic diversity and close evolutionary relationships among isolates in subpopulations. Analysis of various population genetics parameters and distribution of synonymous and nonsynonymous mutations revealed that most of the amino acid sites were under negative selection and only one site was under positive selection.
 

---

Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) is a potyvirus with a worldwide distribution. This virus causes serious economic losses in Iran in many cucurbits. During 2002-2003, sam-ples were collected from squash fields in Tehran Province. Five isolates (Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4 and Z5) were inoculated on 27 species of Cucurbitaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Amarantha-ceae,Solanacae, Leguminosae and Ranunculaceae. Chenopodium quinoa and C. amaranti-color showed chlorotic local lesions. Gomphrena globosa developed necrotic local lesions. Systemic symptoms were produced in the members of Cucurbitaceae and Ranunculus sardous. Z2, Z4 and Z5 caused mosaic symptoms on Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Red Kidney and P. vulgaris cv. Khorram but Z1 and Z3 caused chlorotic local lesions.Virus was puri-fied from Cucurbita pepo. Virus particles in immunoelectron microscopy were filamentous flexuous. The molecular weights of coat protein using SDS-PAGE and western blotting were estimated at 32 kDa. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed using one primer pairs designed by Desbiez et al. An approximately 458 bp fragment was amplified with a specific primer.

---

---

---

Slope instability due to landslides is particularly common in Iran. It is possible to fight against these hazards thanks to the roots of trees, which provide an important contribu-tion towards the stability of hillslopes. However, our knowledge of the effectiveness of roots for slope stability needs improvement. Therefore this study was carried out on the effect of tree roots on slope stability, in particular for the following species: tea (Thea sinensis L.) and citrus (Citrus spp.), which are of economic interest; and Lilaki (Gleditshia caspica Dsf.) and Angili (Parrotia persica D. C.), without economic interest. The study area was located at Roudsar Township in Gilan Province of Iran. A large part of the area had slopes of steep gradients on which natural vegetation was present. Other parts of the same area have been cleared and planted with tea and citrus crops. Soil samples with and without roots of the mentioned species were taken, on an area covering approximately 70 ha, for testing in the laboratory. Soil shear tests were carried out on these samples and the Factor of Safety (FS) was calculated. Results showed that the FS was increased in soils with tree roots present. The global slope FS was then determined using Bishop’s method. We calculated FS in order to protect slopes where the gradient exceeds 25%. In this case study, minimum FS corresponds to e.g. Parrotia sp. vegetation with 40-60% crown cover, a soil internal friction angle of 15° and slope angle of 21°. When the soil internal friction angle equals 15° and the slope angle is >31°, slope stability cannot be increased by any mentioned vegetation species. The most important results show that the main contribu-tory factors which affect slopes’ stability are: angle of slope, angle of internal friction, and percentage of vegetation cover.

---

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) which belongs to the virus family Potyviridae, causes a disease in soybean that is present in soybean-growing areas of the world, and is widely distributed in northern Iran. Detection of SMV is very important for disease management. In the present study several serological and molecular (nucleic acid- based) methods of rapid virus detection were compared. Serological studies including DAS- ELISA, DAC-ELISA, TPIA and DIBA were optimized and compared to identify the virus by using a polyclonal antibody. Among the serological methods, TPIA and DIBA are simple and TPIA is rapidly and easily applicable in the field. However, TPIA was found to be preferable. TPIA is time-saving, not requiring conventional sap extraction and also nitrocellulose membranes used for printing can be used in the field and stored for a long time or transported to other laboratory to be processed. RT-PCR and Immunocapture RT-PCR (IC-RT-PCR) were performed as molecular methods for detecting SMV using a pair of primers designed to amplify a fragment in the coding region of the SMV coat protein. To extract total RNA for RT-PCR, two methods including RNAWIZ and phenol-chloroform were used. A part of the coat protein genome of SMV was converted to cDNA using a reverse transcription (RT) reaction. For IC-RT-PCR method, virus partial purification was carried out by solid-phase (0.2 ml microfuge tube) adsorbed polyclonal antibody, and then the RT reaction was carried out in the tube. In both methods cDNAs were amplified by PCR. Both methods amplified the expected fragment in virus-infected plants. Whereas RT-PCR requires total RNA extraction, ICRT- PCR do not have total RNA extraction problems. Our findings suggest that TPIA and IC- RT- PCR can be routinely used for SMV detection, with high efficiency.

---

Aims: Populations are generally susceptible to the new coronavirus, but the elderly are more susceptible to severe disease and are admitted to the intensive care unit, and the mortality rate is higher in elderly patients. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.
Instrument & Methods: The present cross-sectional survey was conducted on 461 Iranian elderly. Data collection tools include a questionnaire focusing on the quality of life in physical and mental dimensions. Stark quality of life questionnaire to adapt and be useful in COVID-19 disease outbreak conditions; only short phrases have been added to relate it to the disease. Data analysis was done using independent t and ANOVA tests.
Findings: Out of 461 participants in this study, 236 (51.2%) were men and the rest were women. Their average age was 70.46 years. The mean score of the mental component was 7.6±1.8 in women and 6.8±1.9 in men. The mean score of the physical component was 17.3±5.6 in women and 14.9±5.8 in men. There has been a significant relationship between the mental and physical components of gender. The results also showed that physical states of men enjoy better conditions compared to women (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that the quality of life of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic was low. Men also enjoyed better conditions in comparison with women.
 

---

---

---

---

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the antimould effect  of 19 Lactobacillus plantarum strains isolated from different production stages of  Lighvan cheese (3, 8 and 8 strains from raw milk, curd and fresh cheese stages, respectively) a traditional raw milk cheese, on  Penicillium expansum  (PTCC 89046) as an indicator  in fruit juice spoilage. This antimould spectrum was determined by agar spot and well diffusion method, followed by determination the influence of different technological or physico-chemical factors including  temperature (80°C for 1 h, 100°C for 10 min, 100°C for 30 min and 121° C for 15 min) and pH( 2 to 7) and different dilution (Titre test) . Serial twofold dilutions were conducted to the CFE in order to assess of CFE Titre against mould indicator. Findings revealed that Lactobacillus plantarum strain C28 has the highest antimould properties in both antimicrobial methods (Agar Spot and Well Diffussion Assay) and antimould effect showed decreasing trend with pH increasing. In 121 ° C for 15 min, no antimould effect was observed. The Lactobacillus plantarum strain C28  showed the highest titre  factor of 160 (AU / ml) .  Finally, we can assume that these strains which isolated from different production stages of Lighvan cheese or their Cell Free Extract (CFE) can be used as biopreservative in food systems.