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This paper aims to estimate a demand model for health insurance and medical care in Iran, in the presence of heterogeneous and latent health status of individuals; moreover it tests the asymmetry of information in the health insurance market. Our data set have been taken from the Households expenditures survey (2006) of Iran. Parameters of the model are estimated by the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and the presence of asymmetric information (adverse selection and moral hazard) is tested by a non-parametric econometric method. The analytical model is specified under minimal assumptions on the selection process of different insurance categories and the statistical distribution of... 

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) encompass a wide range of compounds containing carbon–fluorine bonds. Due the strength of this bond and the high electronegativity of fluorine atoms, PFAS display stability, wettability and other characteristics that are unique for industrial applications and products. However, PFAS induce adverse effects on the environment and human health. Here we review the chemistry, synthesis, properties, analysis, occurrence in water, filtration, removal and oxydation of PFAS. We highlight emerging hybrid treatments to remove PFAS from water. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG  

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) encompass a wide range of compounds containing carbon–fluorine bonds. Due the strength of this bond and the high electronegativity of fluorine atoms, PFAS display stability, wettability and other characteristics that are unique for industrial applications and products. However, PFAS induce adverse effects on the environment and human health. Here we review the chemistry, synthesis, properties, analysis, occurrence in water, filtration, removal and oxydation of PFAS. We highlight emerging hybrid treatments to remove PFAS from water. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG  

A part of resilience and sustainability in any urban environment is establishing and maintaining health. Sustainability in health is a dynamic process in which growth of physical, mental, and social health is guaranteed. A city is sustainable when all aspects of life, such as economy, environment, health, and infrastructure, are well defined and very often subjected to optimization  

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate socioeconomic factors related to COVID-19 mortality rates in New York City (NYC) to understand the connections between socioeconomic variables, including race and income and the disease. Design/methodology/approach: Using multivariable negative binomial regression, the association between health and mortality disparities related to COVID-19 and socioeconomic conditions is evaluated. The authors obtained ZIP code-level data from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the US Census Bureau. Findings: This study concludes that the mortality rate rises in areas with a higher proportion of Hispanic and Black residents, whereas areas... 

This study is an effort to quantify potential cost savings of children's walking, as a form of active travel to school. The data were collected in Tehran, from a cross-sectional cohort of more than 4700 high school and middle school students. This study looks at a wide range of policy sensitive variables, such as safety and distance to school in various scenarios. The findings indicate if the safety concerns of parents associated with their children walking to school are alleviated, the direct and indirect annual costs of obesity decreases by US$719 per student. Further, a 1% decrease in the distance from home to school diminishes the annual per capita health costs associated with obesity by... 

This study is an effort to quantify potential cost savings of children's walking, as a form of active travel to school. The data were collected in Tehran, from a cross-sectional cohort of more than 4700 high school and middle school students. This study looks at a wide range of policy sensitive variables, such as safety and distance to school in various scenarios. The findings indicate if the safety concerns of parents associated with their children walking to school are alleviated, the direct and indirect annual costs of obesity decreases by US$719 per student. Further, a 1% decrease in the distance from home to school diminishes the annual per capita health costs associated with obesity by... 

The reliability of data driven prognostics algorithms severely depends on the volume of data. Therefore in case of limited data availability, life estimations usually are not acceptable; because the quantity of run to failure data is not sufficient to train prognostics model efficiently. To board this problem, a life clustering prognostics (LCP) framework is proposed. LCP regenerates the train data at different ages and outcomes to increment of the training data volume. So, the method is useful for limited data conditions. In this research, initially LCP performance is studied in normal situation is; successively robustness of the framework under limited data conditions is considered. For... 

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate socioeconomic factors related to COVID-19 mortality rates in New York City (NYC) to understand the connections between socioeconomic variables, including race and income and the disease. Design/methodology/approach: Using multivariable negative binomial regression, the association between health and mortality disparities related to COVID-19 and socioeconomic conditions is evaluated. The authors obtained ZIP code-level data from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the US Census Bureau. Findings: This study concludes that the mortality rate rises in areas with a higher proportion of Hispanic and Black residents, whereas areas... 

The aim of the study was to predict disability, psychological wellbeing, and somatic health in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with the mediating variable of religiosity. A sample of 128 patients was recruited, and were administered the Expanded Disability Status Scale, the World Health Organization-5 Well-Being Index, the Patient Health Questionnaire-15, and a Self-Rating Scale of Religiosity. Religiosity did not predict disability, psychological well-being, or somatic health. Religiosity was positively associated with MS duration and disability, but only in male patients. The predictors for predicting psychological wellbeing were age, disability, and somatic health. Patients with... 

Being the second-largest country in the Middle East, Iran has a long history of civilisation during which several dynasties have been overthrown and established and health-related structures have been reorganised. Iran has had the replacement of traditional practices with modern medical treatments, emergence of multiple pioneer scientists and physicians with great contributions to the advancement of science, environmental and ecological changes in addition to large-scale natural disasters, epidemics of multiple communicable diseases, and the shift towards non-communicable diseases in recent decades. Given the lessons learnt from political instabilities in the past centuries and the... 

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) measures the relative efficiency of a homogenous set of decision-making units (DMUs) when multiple inputs and outputs are present. The DEA-based Malmquist productivity index measuring the productivity change of DMUs over time has proven itself to be a valid tool to compare group performance. However, in the previous models developed for this purpose, it was supposed that all factors were controllable or discretionary. It is noteworthy that in most real cases, there are some inputs and outputs that are non-discretionary or semi-discretionary. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to develop the DEA-based Malmquist productivity index on such... 

Background: Comprehensive and comparable estimates of health spending in each country are a key input for health policy and planning, and are necessary to support the achievement of national and international health goals. Previous studies have tracked past and projected future health spending until 2040 and shown that, with economic development, countries tend to spend more on health per capita, with a decreasing share of spending from development assistance and out-of-pocket sources. We aimed to characterise the past, present, and predicted future of global health spending, with an emphasis on equity in spending across countries. Methods: We estimated domestic health spending for 195... 

Urban air quality is a major concern throughout the world. The concentration of human activities in a relatively small area puts enormous pressure on urban systems and has led to numerous environmental problems which have created major problems for urban air quality management. The complex nature of air pollution, especially with respect to health impacts in urban areas, has prompted attempts to define the so-called indicators that condense and simplify the available monitoring data to make them suitable for public reporting and decision makers. Several concepts and indicators exist to measure and rank urban areas in terms of their infrastructural, socioeconomic and environment-related... 

Retinoblastoma is the most frequent primary intraocular tumour in childhood. Early detection of retinoblastoma is the key to successful management with a higher chance of survival. This study aims to assess the knowledge of the general population and healthcare providers about retinoblastoma in term of presentation, risk factors, timing for diagnosis, and complications. A cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted in three Arab countries (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq) between 28 August and 16 September 2020. The questionnaire tool was constructed based on an extensive literature review to explore the study's aim and objectives. Logistic regression was used to identify... 

System health management based on condition monitoring is of great value and significance for improving system performance and reliability. As more data from condition monitoring is obtained, the efficiency of system health monitoring improves. However, increasing the amount of data by installing new sensors on system components is restricted by a variety of factors such as budget, weight and space allowance. Therefore, sensor selection in the most optimal manner in order to achieve maximum valuable information from system is an important issue. In this study, a novel concept is introduced that can be used in sensor combination optimization problems. This concept employs failure modes and... 

Central heating system faults affect building energy consumption and indoor thermal comfort significantly. The interdependencies among system components and multiple failure modes present a challenge for system health diagnostics and prognostics. A reliable diagnosis and prognosis can only be ensured when all component conditions are monitored with minimum uncertainty. In this regard, sensors should be selected based on their priority in providing system health information. Currently, most of the research on sensor optimization models optimize sensors position and orientation. However, in this study sensor type is optimized as well. In addition, the proposed method is based on the Bayesian...