Physiology and health assessment,risk balance,and model for endstage liver disease scores:Postoperative outcome of liver transplantation

BACKGROUND Liver transplantation aims to increase the survival of patients with end-stage liver diseases and improve their quality of life.The number of organs available for transplantation is lower than the demand.To provide fair organ distribution,predictive mortality scores have been developed.AIM To compare the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IV(APACHE IV),balance of risk(BAR),and model for end-stage liver disease(MELD)scores as predictors of mortality.METHODS Retrospective cohort study,which included 283 adult patients in the postoperative period of deceased donor liver transplantation from 2014 to 2018.RESULTS The transplant recipients were mainly male,with a mean age of 58.1 years.Donors were mostly male,with a mean age of 41.6 years.The median cold ischemia time was 3.1 hours,and the median intensive care unit stay was 5 days.For APACHE IV,a mean of 59.6 was found,BAR 10.7,and MELD 24.2.The 28-day mortality rate was 9.5%,and at 90 days,it was 3.5%.The 28-day mortality prediction for APACHE IV was very good[area under the curve(AUC):0.85,P<0.001,95%CI:0.76-0.94],P<0.001,BAR(AUC:0.70,P<0.001,95%CI:0.58–0.81),and MELD(AUC:0.66,P<0.006,95%CI:0.55-0.78),P<0.008.At 90 days,the data for APACHE IV were very good(AUC:0.80,P<0.001,95%CI:0.71–0.90)and moderate for BAR and MELD,respectively,(AUC:0.66,P<0.004,95%CI:0.55–0.77),(AUC:0.62,P<0.026,95%CI:0.51–0.72).All showed good discrimination between deaths and survivors.As for the best value for liver transplantation,it was significant only for APACHE IV(P<0.001).CONCLUSION The APACHE IV assessment score was more accurate than BAR and MELD in predicting mortality in deceased donor liver transplant recipients.

Evaluation of the effects of health education interventions for hypertensive patients based on the health belief model

BACKGROUND Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke,and its prevalence is increasing worldwide.Health education interventions based on the health belief model(HBM)can improve the knowledge,attitudes,and behaviors of patients with hypertension and help them control their blood pressure.AIM To evaluate the effects of health education interventions based on the HBM in patients with hypertension in China.METHODS Between 2021 and 2023,140 patients with hypertension were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group.The intervention group received health education based on the HBM,including lectures,brochures,videos,and counseling sessions,whereas the control group received routine care.Outcomes were measured at baseline,three months,and six months after the intervention and included blood pressure,medication adherence,self-efficacy,and perceived benefits,barriers,susceptibility,and severity.RESULTS The intervention group had significantly lower systolic blood pressure[mean difference(MD):-8.2 mmHg,P<0.001]and diastolic blood pressure(MD:-5.1 mmHg,P=0.002)compared to the control group at six months.The intervention group also had higher medication adherence(MD:1.8,P<0.001),self-efficacy(MD:12.4,P<0.001),perceived benefits(MD:3.2,P<0.001),lower perceived barriers(MD:-2.6,P=0.001),higher perceived susceptibility(MD:2.8,P=0.002),and higher perceived severity(MD:3.1,P<0.001)than the control group at six months.CONCLUSION Health education interventions based on the HBM effectively improve blood pressure control and health beliefs in patients with hypertension and should be implemented in clinical practice and community settings.

Assessment of public perspectives and barriers towards dengue preventive practices using the Health Belief Model in Puducherry,India:A cross-sectional study

Objective:To assess the perspectives and barriers towards dengue preventive practices among the residents of Puducherry,India.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 300 households in Puducherry,using a population-proportionate(7:3)distribution from urban and rural areas by grid sampling.One adult interview per household was conducted and the participants were selected using a KISH grid.A semi-structured questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model(HBM)with additional questions on knowledge assessment was used.Knowledge was assessed based on the correctness of answers and the HBM scores were calculated on a 5-point Likert scale.Participants were categorized based on the median score under each domain.Logistic regression was used for adjusted analysis and models were built to predict the performances in each domain.Results:Four percent of the participants lacked basic knowledge regarding dengue transmission.While 208(69.3%)participants did not consider themselves at risk of contracting dengue within the next year,majority perceived dengue as a disease with low severity.Around 49.3%(148)were skeptical about the benefit of time and money spent on dengue prevention.Inadequate government efforts were stated as the major barrier(47.0%)and frequent reminders(142,47.3%)as the major cue to action.Age above 50 years(aOR 1.78,95%CI 1.04-3.06,P=0.037)and rural locality(aOR 2.68,95%CI 1.52-4.71,P=0.001)were found to be significantly associated with poor knowledge scores.Urban participants had a significantly higher chance to perceive low susceptibility as compared to the rural counterparts(aOR 1.74,95%CI 1.05-2.9,P=0.03).Participants with less than a high school education had low perceived benefits(aOR 2.46,95%CI 1.52-3.96,P<0.001)and low self-efficacy scores(aOR 2.66,95%CI 1.61-4.39,P<0.001).Conclusions:This study identifies key gaps in dengue prevention,including low perceived susceptibility,mild disease perception,limited knowledge of breeding sites,and overreliance on government efforts.Tailoring interventions to community needs,stratified to factors influencing the community perspectives can significantly improve dengue prevention efforts.

Discussion on the Impact of“Shift System”Teaching Model of Physical Education on Students’Mental Health

The“shift system”teaching model of physical education is an emerging education model that aims to improve students’independent choice and personalized development.However,there are also some challenges in the practical application of this model.For example,there are mental health issues for some students including difficulty in adaptation,social interaction,high psychological pressure,etc.Based on this,this article analyzes the impact of the“shift system”teaching model of physical education on students’mental health and explores the optimization path of the physical education“shift system”teaching model in order to promote students’mental health and all-round development.

Comparative Analysis of ARIMA and LSTM Model-Based Anomaly Detection for Unannotated Structural Health Monitoring Data in an Immersed Tunnel

Structural Health Monitoring(SHM)systems have become a crucial tool for the operational management of long tunnels.For immersed tunnels exposed to both traffic loads and the effects of the marine environment,efficiently identifying abnormal conditions from the extensive unannotated SHM data presents a significant challenge.This study proposed amodel-based approach for anomaly detection and conducted validation and comparative analysis of two distinct temporal predictive models using SHM data from a real immersed tunnel.Firstly,a dynamic predictive model-based anomaly detectionmethod is proposed,which utilizes a rolling time window for modeling to achieve dynamic prediction.Leveraging the assumption of temporal data similarity,an interval prediction value deviation was employed to determine the abnormality of the data.Subsequently,dynamic predictive models were constructed based on the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average(ARIMA)and Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM)models.The hyperparameters of these models were optimized and selected using monitoring data from the immersed tunnel,yielding viable static and dynamic predictive models.Finally,the models were applied within the same segment of SHM data,to validate the effectiveness of the anomaly detection approach based on dynamic predictive modeling.A detailed comparative analysis discusses the discrepancies in temporal anomaly detection between the ARIMA-and LSTM-based models.The results demonstrated that the dynamic predictive modelbased anomaly detection approach was effective for dealing with unannotated SHM data.In a comparison between ARIMA and LSTM,it was found that ARIMA demonstrated higher modeling efficiency,rendering it suitable for short-term predictions.In contrast,the LSTM model exhibited greater capacity to capture long-term performance trends and enhanced early warning capabilities,thereby resulting in superior overall performance.

Effect of health education based on information-motivationbehavioral skills model on patients with unilateral vestibular dysfunction

BACKGROUND Vestibular dysfunction(VH)is a common concomitant symptom of late peri-pheral vestibular lesions,which can be trauma,poisoning,infection,heredity,and neurodegeneration,but about 50%of the causes are unknown.The study uses the information-motivation-behavioral skills(IMB)model for health education,effectively improve the quality of life,increase their self-confidence,reduce anxiety and depression,and effectively improve the psychological state of patients.AIM To explore the effect of health education based on the IMB model on the degree of vertigo,disability,anxiety and depression in patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction.METHODS The clinical data of 80 patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction from January 2019 to December 2021 were selected as the retrospective research objects,and they were divided into the control group and the observation group with 40 cases in each group according to different nursing methods.Among them,the control group was given routine nursing health education and guidance,and the observation group was given health education and guidance based on the IMB model.The changes in self-efficacy,anxiety and depression,and quality of life of patients with unilateral VH were compared between the two groups.RESULTS There was no significant difference in General Self-Efficacy Scale(GSES)scale scores between the two groups of patients before nursing(P>0.05),which was comparable;after nursing,the GSES scale scores of the two groups were higher than those before nursing.The nursing group was higher than the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the scores of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale(HADS)and anxiety and depression subscales between the two groups before nursing(P>0.05).After nursing,the HADS score,anxiety,and depression subscale scores of the two groups of patients were lower than those before nursing,and the nursing group was lower than the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).After nursing,the Dizziness Handicap Inventory(DHI)scale and DHI-P,DHI-E and DHI-F scores in the two groups were decreased,and the scores in the nursing group were lower than those in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Health education based on the IMB model can effectively improve patients'quality of life,increase self-efficacy of patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction,enhance patients'confidence,enable patients to resume normal work and life as soon as possible,reduce patients'anxiety and depression,and effectively improve patients'psychological status.

Integrating the health belief model into health education programs in a clinical setting

The article demonstrates that health belief model(HBM)-based health education in hypertensive patients effectively improves blood pressure control and medication adherence at 3 months and 6 months.The HBM addresses perceived barriers,benefits,susceptibility,severity,and self-efficacy,leading to better health behaviors.HBM-based education has been effective in various contexts,including managing chronic diseases,promoting cancer screenings,and preventing infectious diseases.However,the model has limitations,such as cultural applicability and addressing complex health behaviors influenced by environmental factors.Future research should integrate HBM with other theories and conduct longitudinal studies to assess long-term impacts.Despite these limitations,HBM-based education significantly improves patient outcomes,highlighting its potential in health education and promotion when appropriately adapted and implemented.This reinforces the model's value in designing effective health interventions and advancing public health.

A Study on the Role of Tourism in Enhancing Personal Mental Health in the Post-Epidemic Era

With the advent of the post-epidemic era,a great wave of tourism has been ushered in everywhere.The relationship between tourism and mental health has become a hot topic in society.This paper investigates the enhancement of people’s mental health after tourism through social survey.Using Hangzhou as the sample collection site,this paper conducted a study on the role of tourism in enhancing personal mental health through descriptive analysis,factor analysis and structural equation modeling,and further specifically analyzed the role of mediating variables.The results showed that:(1)The purpose of tourism is to relax and relieve stress,and the effectiveness of tourism is mainly reflected in the alleviation of emotional conditions;(2)Factor Analysis reduced the dimensionality of personal mental health indicators,and finally obtained four factors,among which the comprehensive behavioral ability and physiological manifestation had the best improvement effect after tourism;(3)The structural equation model shows that the enhancing effect of tourism on mental health originates from the factor of inner psychological characteristic,and this factor works through two paths:Inner Psychological Characteristic-Social Adaptability-Physiological Manifestations-Enhancement of Mental Health by Tourism,and Inner Psychological Characteristic-Comprehensive Behavioral Ability-Enhancement of Mental Health by Tourism;(4)Tourism has an enhancing effect on personal mental health,and the enhancing effect is most significant among the middle-aged and young people who are unmarried and do not have children yet.These results have been reasonably analyzed and explained,and relevant suggestions are put forward.

The gas discharge visualization(GDV)order parameter model based on the principle of mastering both permanence and change

Objective To investigate the human body’s complex system,and classify and characterize the human body’s health states with“a comprehensive integrated method from qualitative to quantitative”.Methods This paper introduces the concept of“order parameters”and proposes a method for establishing an order parameter model of gas discharge visualization(GDV)based on the principle of“mastering both permanence and change(MBPC)”.The method involved the fol-lowing three steps.First,average luminous intensity(I)and average area(S)of the GDV im-ages were calculated to construct the phase space,and the score of the health questionnaire was calculated as the health deviation index(H).Second,the k-means++clustering method was employed to identify subclasses with the same health characteristics based on the data samples,and to statistically determine the symptom-specific frequencies of the subclasses.Third,the distance(d)between each sample and the“ideal health state”,which determined in the phase space of each subclass,was calculated as an order parameter describing the health imbalance,and a linear mapping was established between the d and the H.Further,the health implications of GDV signals were explored by analyzing subclass symptom profiles.We also compare the mean square error(MSE)with classification methods based on age,gen-der,and body mass index(BMI)indices to verify that the phase space possesses the ability to portray the health status of the human body.Results This study preliminarily tested the reliability of the order parameter model on data samples provided by 20 participants.Based on the discovered linear law,the current model can use d calculated by measuring the GDV signal to predict H(R^(2)>0.77).Combined with the symptom profiles of the subclasses,we explain the classification basis of the phase space based on the pattern identification.Compared with common classification methods based on age,gender,BMI,etc.,the MSE of phase space-based classification was reduced by an order of magnitude.Conclusion In this study,the GDV order parameter model based on MBPC can identify sub-classes and characterize individual health levels,and explore the TCM health meanings of the GDV signals by using subjective-objective methods,which holds significance for establishing mathematical models from TCM diagnosis principles to interpret human body signals.

Osteoporosis knowledge, beliefs, and calcium intake of college students: Utilization of the health belief model

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between osteoporosis knowledge, beliefs and calcium intake among college students. This study also examined perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers and self-efficacy related to osteoporosis prevention. Participants: Seven hundred and ninety two (n = 792) men and women ages 17 - 31 of all ethnicities at a mid-western regional university in the US participated in the study. Methods: The Osteoporosis Knowledge Test, Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale, and Osteoporosis Preventing Behaviors Survey were utilized. Each of these tools were previously validated and found reliable. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were completed. Results: Participants did not perceive themselves as susceptible to osteoporosis and perceived minimal barriers to calcium intake. Their knowledge was minimal concerning alternate sources of calcium. Conclusions: Prevention programs should aim to increase osteoporosis knowledge of risk factors and osteoprotective behaviors and to decrease high-risk behaviors during college years when behavior changes can have the strongest impact on bone health.

Observation on the Effect of Parental Participation in Nursing Under the IMCHB Model in Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy

Objective:To investigate the clinical effects of parental participation in nursing under the Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior(IMCHB)model in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE).Methods:The First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University included 46 newborns with HIE admitted from October 2021 to October 2023 into the study population.They were divided into a control group and an observation group according to the random number table method,with the control group adopting routine nursing,and the observation group implementing parental participation in nursing under the IMCHB model.The indicators of physical,intellectual,and psychomotor development of the two groups were compared before and after nursing.Results:The physical,intellectual,and psychomotor development of the observation group was higher than that of the control group after 3 months of nursing,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:The implementation of the IMCHB model of parental participation in the clinical care of HIE neonates can further promote their physical,intellectual,and psychomotor development.

A systematic evaluation of the performance of GPT-4 and PaLM2 to diagnose comorbidities in MIMIC-IV patients

Background:Given the strikingly high diagnostic error rate in hospitals,and the recent development of Large Language Models(LLMs),we set out to measure the diagnostic sensitivity of two popular LLMs:GPT-4 and PaLM2.Small-scale studies to evaluate the diagnostic ability of LLMs have shown promising results,with GPT-4 demonstrating high accuracy in diagnosing test cases.However,larger evaluations on real electronic patient data are needed to provide more reliable estimates.Methods:To fill this gap in the literature,we used a deidentified Electronic Health Record(EHR)data set of about 300,000 patients admitted to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.This data set contained blood,imaging,microbiology and vital sign information as well as the patients'medical diagnostic codes.Based on the available EHR data,doctors curated a set of diagnoses for each patient,which we will refer to as ground truth diagnoses.We then designed carefully-written prompts to get patient diagnostic predictions from the LLMs and compared this to the ground truth diagnoses in a random sample of 1000 patients.Results:Based on the proportion of correctly predicted ground truth diagnoses,we estimated the diagnostic hit rate of GPT-4 to be 93.9%.PaLM2 achieved 84.7%on the same data set.On these 1000 randomly selected EHRs,GPT-4 correctly identified 1116 unique diagnoses.Conclusion:The results suggest that artificial intelligence(AI)has the potential when working alongside clinicians to reduce cognitive errors which lead to hundreds of thousands of misdiagnoses every year.However,human oversight of AI remains essential:LLMs cannot replace clinicians,especially when it comes to human understanding and empathy.Furthermore,a significant number of challenges in incorporating AI into health care exist,including ethical,liability and regulatory barriers.

The Criticism and Amendment for the Dual-Factor Model of Mental Health: From Chinese Psychological Suzhi Research Perspectives

Aiming at the limitations of psychopathology (PTH), the dual-factor model of mental health (DFM) was proposed as a new mental health concept and methodology under the background of positive psychology trend. In this paper we propose giving an overview of DFM, and doubt, criticize, and modify DFM from the perspective of Chinese psychological suzhi research. The available literature from 1983 to 2012 that is related to DFM and concerning psychological suzhi research in the past 20 years has been reviewed. In addition, we also absorbed the idea of positive psychology and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Constitution theory to develop theoretically the relationship model between psychological suzhi and mental health. The relationship model between psychological suzhi and mental health modifies and transcends PTH and DFM. It will be the new research area of mental health research.

The Clinical Study of a New Management Model Using Mobile Health for Senile Hypertension

Objective: To evaluate a new management model using mobile health for senile hypertension. Methods: This medical service combined traditional medical treatment with Mobile Health. We use it to explore a new and effective model of elderly hypertension management and the most effective and lowest cost management crowd. According to the randomized controlled design of trial, 105 old hypertensive patients participated in the study voluntarily in the Qingdao Municipal Hospital were randomly divided into the experimental group (75 cases) and control group (30 cases). Experimental group is divided into geriatric specialist group (25 cases), general practitioner group (25 cases) and nurse group (25 cases). Blood pressure was administered in experimental (with the new model) and control groups (with the traditional model) for 2 months to compare their blood pressure and the decrease of them. Results: Blood pressure was compared between the two groups before and after administration. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) of experimental group is 162.44 ± 13.970 mmHg before administration. SBP of experimental group is 147.69 ± 13.509 mmHg after administration, the difference is statistically significant (P = 0.000). The diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of experimental group is 91.58 ± 10.822 mmHg before administration. DBP of experimental group is 84.64 ± 10.412 mmHg after administration, P = 0.003. SBP of control group is 159.93 ± 15.238 mmHg before administration. The systolic blood pressure of control group is 152.33 ± 14.115 (mmHg) after administration. P is 0.167 (P > 0.05). The difference was not statistically significant. DBP of control group is 94.73 ± 12.401 (mmHg) before administration. DBP of control group is 90.60 ± 11.115 (mmHg) after administration. P is 0.345 (P > 0.05). The difference was not statistically significant. The decrease of SBP of geriatric specialist group, general practitioner group and nurse group is 18.40 ± 11.764 mmHg, 14.47 ± 9.44 mmHg, 10.80 ± 6.026 mmHg. The difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The decrease of DBP of geriatric specialist group, general practitioner group and nurse group is 9.33 ± 7.451 mmHg vs. 5.33 ± 6.287 mmHg vs. 6.13 ± 5.069 mmHg (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The new model is effective and it works well for controlling blood pressure of elderly hypertensive patients. Especially with the doctors and patients’ families, the management effect has been obviously improved. Medical interventions make the new model more scientific. The management of geriatric specialists, general practitioners and nurses is equally valid.

Research on the Model of Consumer Health Information Seeking Behavior via Social Media

Purpose: We aim to create a model of consumer health information seeking behavior via social media, then to have a better understand of it. After that further efforts should be made to provide targeted recommendations for media managers to promote health communication via social media. Methods: Our custom model was derived from literature review, empirical research was tested by the use of questionnaire investigation, and then the collected data were analyzed by structural equation model tool SmartPLS. Finally, the custom model was modified according to the experimental results of SmartPLS. Results: A total of 239 (66.39%) of the respondents were female and 121 (33.61%) were male. The maximum of two stages of age were 18 - 29 (70.56%), 30 - 39 (13.89%). Wechat (60.28%), QQ Zone (55.22%), Micro-blog (48.89%) were the most commonly used social media to obtain health information. About 44.72% of respondents used social media to obtain health information multiple times a day. The whole numerical values of AVE, cronbach’s alpha, CR and square roots of AVE were above the benchmarks of themselves and showed great reliability and validity. All the 11 hypotheses had obvious statistical significance, the P-value of eight path coefficients exhibited <0.001, one path coefficient exhibited <0.01 and two path coefficients exhibited <0.05. Conclusions: A suitable model of consumer health information seeking behavior via social media was created and some inner relationships were found. Namely, gratification of health information and its platform had a positive effect on attitudes toward health information seeking behavior. Health information literacy and health status were proved to have a significant influence on attitudes toward health information seeking behavior, subject norms and perceived behavioral control respectively. In addition, attitudes toward the health information seeking behavior, subject norms and perceived behavioral control were proved to positively associate with health information seeking behavior intention.

Development and evaluation of the health belief model scale for exercise

Objectives:This study was aimed to develop a health belief model scale for exercise among Chinese residents to describe the relationships between health beliefs and exercise for promoting residents to adopt or maintain exercise programs.Methods:Participants were from two projects,Project 1 with 3833 participants and Project 2 with 7319 participants.A pool of 21 items was developed based on a small-scale qualitative study about health beliefs of exercise and literature.Internal consistency and construct validity of the scale were evaluated with Cronbach'sαcoefficient,exploratory factor analysis(EFA),confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)and second-order confirmatory factor analysis.Results:A final version of 18 items loaded on six factors which could explain 60.30-%of variance was observed after EFA.The internal consistency of the final version with 18 items performed in Project 1 was acceptable(0.609).The reliability of the six subscales was good with Cronbach'sαcoefficient of 0.628,0.713,0.628,0.801,0.676 and 0.838 for perceived benefits,perceived objective barriers,perceived subjective barriers,self-efficacy,perceived severity and cues to action,respectively.CFA and second-order CFA indicated a good fit to data.Conclusions:The Health Belief Model Scale for Exercise(HBMS-E)is a valid and reliable instrument to assess health beliefs of exercise among residents in China.Understanding the health beliefs of exercise will help health professionals to develop effective interventions for health and evaluate the effectiveness.

The Effect of an Educational Program Based on the Health Belief Model on Self-Efficacy among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Referred to the Iranian Diabetes Association in 2014

Background: Patient self-efficacy is one of the most important factors in treating and overcoming disease. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an educational program based on the health belief model on self-efficacy among patients with type 2 diabetes referred to the Iranian Diabetes Association in 2014. Method: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted. Eighty patients with type 2 diabetes were selected randomly by the double block sample method. They were then divided into two groups of intervention and control (40 patients in each group) by random allocation. Data were collected by a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model and self-efficacy. The data were gathered two months after the educational program was held. The educational program was designed on the basis of data collected in the pre-test phase. Then, the educational program was executed for the intervention group in 8 sessions (each 30 minutes) using lectures and an educational booklet. Data analysis was done with Chi-square Test, Pearson’s correlation, Independent samples T-test and paired T-test. The significance level was considered at 0.05. Results: Before intervention, no significant difference was detected between the two groups. However, after intervention all variables were significantly different except for perceived threat. Moreover, there were significant linear relationships between Self-efficacy and all Health Belief Model components after the educational intervention in both groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The educational program based on the health belief model increased self-efficacy in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

Multi-scale modeling of hemodynamics in the cardiovascular system

The human cardiovascular system is a closed- loop and complex vascular network with multi-scaled het- erogeneous hemodynamic phenomena. Here, we give a selective review of recent progress in macro-hemodynamic modeling, with a focus on geometrical multi-scale model- ing of the vascular network, micro-hemodynamic modeling of microcirculation, as well as blood cellular, subcellular, endothelial biomechanics, and their interaction with arter- ial vessel mechanics. We describe in detail the methodology of hemodynamic modeling and its potential applications in cardiovascular research and clinical practice. In addition, we present major topics for future study： recent progress of patient-specific hemodynamic modeling in clinical applica- tions, micro-hemodynamic modeling in capillaries and blood cells, and the importance and potential of the multi-scale hemodynarnic modeling.

Modeling of forest soil and litter health using disturbance and landscape heterogeneity indicators in northern Iran

This paper focuses on the indicators of soil and litter health, disturbance, and landscape heterogeneity as a tool for prediction of ecosystem sustainability in the northern forests of Iran. The study area was divided into spatial homogenous sites using slope, aspect, and soil humidity classes. Then a range of sites along the disturbance gradient was selected for sampling. Chemical and physical indicators of soil and litter health were measured at random points within these sites. Structural equation modeling(SEM) was applied to link six constructs of landscape heterogeneity, three constructs of disturbance(harvest, livestock, and human accessibility), and soil and litter health. The results showed that with decreasing accessibility, the total N and organic matter content of soil increased and effective bulk density decreased. Harvesting activities increased soil organic matter. Therefore, it is concluded that disturbances through harvesting and accessibility inversely affect the soil health. Unexpectedly, it was found that the litter total C and C:N ratio improved with an increase in the harvest and accessibility disturbances, whereas litter bulk density decreased. Investigation of tree composition revealed that in the climax communities, which are normally affected more by harvesting activities, some species like Fagus orientalis Lipsky with low decomposition rate are dominant. The research results showed that changes in disturbance intensity are reflected in litter and soil indicators, whereas the SEM indicated that landscape heterogeneity has a moderator effect on the disturbance to both litter and soil paths.

Development and Evaluation of Innovative Recycling Intervention Program Using the Health Belief Model (HBM)

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of interventions based on health promotion theories in changing the recycling behavior of the targeted population. The study focused on the development and evaluation of innovative recycling education programs that address energy recovery, recycling, and waste management. The study applied Health Belief Model-(HBM) as an approach to motivate recycling behaviors and to evaluate the impact of the applied approaches on recycling set-out rates and participation. A total of 102 households from a Midwestern city participated in this study. The study was conducted over a period of six months. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect data on recycling and environmental knowledge, skills, behavior, and attitudes. The other set of data was the weight of recyclables that was obtained at each participant’s curb four times over the six months period of interventions. Results indicated a significant increase in average set out rates of recyclables among HBM participants (21.34 lbs. pre-test to 59.3 lbs. post-test). It was concluded that HBM educational approaches can be effective in motivating recycling. This study signifies the need for renewed effort in motivating individuals, households or businesses to recycle. Not every community or city significantly participates in recycling. Innovative strategies as well the application of approaches in the theories of behavioral change can positively influence recycling and overall waste reduction behaviors.