BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We analyzed the natural course of conservatively treated osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures from VERTOS II, a randomized trial of vertebroplasty and conservative therapy in 202 patients with vertebral compression fractures. We assessed the proportion of patients who developed chronic back pain and possible risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS In VERTOS II, the ...

OBJECTIVE Knowledge of injuries of earthquake victims is important to plan relief efforts. This cross-sectional study was conducted following the 08 October 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan to determine the pattern of injuries sustained and their relationship with age and gender in order to identify the medical needs in an earthquake-affected zone. METHODS The study was conducted between ...

BACKGROUND Shiftwork among health care workers impacts upon the safety and health of both employees and patients. AIMS To characterize shiftwork-related attitudes, behaviours, symptoms and coping strategies among health care workers, two validated questionnaires (the Standard Shiftwork Index and the Pressure Management Indicator) were used to identify factors predicting shiftwork adaptation. ...

Following the occurrence of unexpected events and natural disasters, a highly important relief operation is the transferring of relief commodities from the distribution centers (CDs) to shelters. In this paper, a three-level network consisting of depot of vehicles, distribution centers and shelters has been considered for routing and scheduling of relief vehicles through introducing a multi-obj...

In this study, we consider two different inequivalent formulations of the logistic difference equation $x_{n+1}= beta x_n(1- x_n), n=0,1,..., $ where $x_n$ is a sequence of fuzzy numbers and $beta$ is a positive fuzzy number. The major contribution of this paper is to study the existence, uniqueness and global behavior of the solutions for two corresponding equations, using the concept of Huku...

Food insecurity, as a multi-faceted problem with far-reaching health and societal consequences, is prevalent among disadvantaged households. Household food insecurity has made the notion operationally useful in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs and policies. This study was to investigate the socio-demographic associates contributing to severity of food insecurity among vuln...

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the anatomic and technical factors predicting stent malposition and embolization in patients undergoing endovascular stent implantation for relief of noncoronary vascular obstruction. BACKGROUND Endovascular stent implantation provides a highly effective, minimally invasive solution to vascular obstruction in patients with structural heart disease. However, stent impla...