Allameh Tabataba'i University

Defined by uneven responsibilities, burdens, and resource distribution in the pursuit of carbon neutrality, carbon emission inequality is simultaneously embedded in global structures of production, consumption, and trade that produce pronounced disparities across regions, sectors, and populations. Despite growing attention, existing studies often rely on national-level data or single accounting perspectives, limiting understanding of regional dynamics and long-term structural drivers. This study addresses these gaps by integrating both production-based and consumption-based emission measures within a regional analytical framework. Employing the Theil index and Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) from 1995 to 2020, the research decomposed emission inequality into emission intensity, economic structure, and per capita value-added effects, enabling a comprehensive assessment of underlying drivers across five major regions: Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and South America. Findings reveal a marked decline in global emission inequality, with production-based and consumption-based indices decreasing by 64% and 59%, respectively. Consumption-based inequality remained higher due to the carbon embedded in traded goods, highlighting the role of global supply chains in transferring environmental burdens from developed to developing regions. Emission intensity emerged as the most recurrent driver of inequality in Asia, Africa, North America, and globally, while structural factors dominated in Europe, and per capita value-added was most influential in South America. Regional convergence was observed, particularly driven by industrial growth and efficiency improvements in Asia, though disparities persisted in less industrialized regions.

Abstract Background Psychological pain is a well-established predictor of suicidal ideation and behavior. However, the ways in which this pain is subjectively experienced and made sense of during midlife, particularly among individuals who experience this period as a crisis, remain insufficiently understood. Midlife often involves intensified existential reflection and confrontation with discrepancies between imagined and lived life trajectories, a process that may be especially salient in non-Western sociocultural contexts where qualitative evidence remains limited. Within this context, the present study examined how adults who self-identified as experiencing a midlife crisis understand, describe, and live with psychological pain. Methods Using a qualitative design, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 urban Iranian adults aged 40 to 57 years who reported experiencing a midlife crisis. Data were analyzed following Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory approach, with data collection and analysis proceeding concurrently. Results Psychological pain emerged not as a discrete emotional state, but as a dynamic and cyclical process conceptualized as existential grief. This process arose through confrontation with an irreversible discrepancy between the ideal self and the lived self. Participants described ongoing mourning for symbolic losses, including unrealized life possibilities and foreclosed identities. Regret, sorrow, helplessness, and profound loneliness were closely intertwined and mutually reinforcing. This experience unfolded as a self-perpetuating cycle, in which unresolved symbolic losses continuously reactivated psychological pain. Midlife-specific pressures and the lack of effective emotional relationships further intensified this process. When unresolved, existential grief culminated in psychological burnout, crisis of meaning, and suicidal ideation. Conclusion These findings suggest that psychological pain in midlife is better understood as an unfinished grieving process for symbolic, self-related losses rather than as emotional distress alone. Conceptualizing psychological pain as existential grief may sharpen clinical assessment by directing attention to self-discrepancy, histories of symbolic loss, and pain-related escape cognitions, with implications for suicide risk formulation and meaning-oriented clinical work with midlife adults.

BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is highly prevalent and clinically relevant in immunocompromised populations, underscoring the need for reliable serological tools to support epidemiological monitoring and clinical follow-up. This study aimed to generate a recombinant VP1-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a baculovirus-Sf9 insect cell system and to explore its application in a human serum cohort. Recombinant VP1 was produced by baculovirus-mediated expression, purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid affinity chromatography, and used to establish an indirect IgG ELISA. A plasmid-based transient expression approach in Sf9 cells was evaluated only as a feasibility experiment and did not yield sufficient VP1 for assay development. Analytical performance was assessed using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-defined serum panel (n = 30), and the assay was subsequently applied to 149 sera with unknown BKPyV status. Baculovirus-mediated expression generated high-purity VP1 with an average yield of approximately 1.55 mg/mL from a 10 mL culture. PCR-confirmed positive sera showed markedly higher optical density values than PCR-negative sera, with very good analytical discrimination in this small validation set (area under the curve = 0.996). In the cohort analysis, overall seroreactivity was 89.7%, antibody reactivity increased with age, and higher ELISA signals were observed in renal transplant and hemodialysis patients than in healthy individuals. Detectable reactivity in young children may reflect early exposure or passive maternal antibodies. These findings indicate that insect cell-derived BKPyV VP1 is a suitable antigen for serological assays and a practical platform for preliminary seroepidemiological applications, which require confirmation in larger independent validation cohorts.

Purpose The benefits of motor control-based therapeutic exercise and its combination with whole-body vibration in individuals with nonspecific Low Back Pain (NSLBP) are not well established. Methods Seventy-five females with NSLBP were randomly assigned to control, motor control, and combination groups. The experimental group received 3 therapeutic exercise sessions per-week for 8 weeks. The pre- and post-intervention measurements used in the current research included trunk muscle activation, the VAS, and postural stability assessments. Results The results indicated a decrease in the center of pressure path length in both the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions, a drop in pain, and an increase in all studied muscle activation following the intervention in the freestyle lifting task in the motor control and combination groups (p < 0.05). However, post-hoc analysis revealed no significant difference between the motor control and combination groups at post-test in any of the measured parameters (p > 0.05). Conclusion Both motor control exercises and their combination with whole-body vibration effectively improve pain, postural stability, and trunk muscle activation in individuals with NSLBP. Effects were generally comparable, with the combination offering only a slight additional pain reduction. Motor control exercises alone may be sufficient, while the combination can be an alternative.

IRCT20231101059923N2 (Registration date: 2023-12-16).

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest membrane receptor family, are central to regulating physiological processes such as cellular signaling, metabolism, and immunity. Age-related decline in GPCR function causes the systemic inflammation progression, increased oxidative stress, and diminished cellular communication, all of which contribute to the aging pathophysiology. Emerging evidence suggests that exercise may exert beneficial effects by modulating GPCR-related signaling pathways. This systematic review evaluates human interventional studies investigating the physical activity impact on GPCR-associated biological processes in healthy older adults. The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, searching PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and SportDiscus databases. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other interventional designs involving participants aged 60 and older, assessing outcomes relevant to GPCR-mediated signaling. Animal model studies, diseased clinical populations, reviews, and meta-analyses were excluded. Out of 913 records screened, 10 met the inclusion criteria. The findings indicate various forms of physical activity reduce GPCR-linked inflammatory biomarkers, enhance mitochondrial antioxidant responses, and favorably modulate metabolic markers. Collectively, the evidence supports physical activity as a non-pharmacological approach to mitigate age-related alterations in GPCR signaling, contributing to healthy aging.

The present study aims to investigate the effect of a software-based mind map for educational design in the electrical engineering students' learning level development. The qualitative phase of the research featured deductive method of content analysis while the quantitative phase was characterised by a quasi-experimental design. The analytical framework employed for the first phase of the research entailed open and axial coding, whereas the second stage involved the utilisation of descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. Results of the first phase of the study including 54 participants revealed the components of instructional design for mind map. The lesson plans for the treatment phase were prepared with respect to the educational design elements, and they were conducted by the experimental group including 23 students. Results also showed that applying mind map into the instructional design has improved students' learning level.