Timely diagnosis of post-intubation tracheal stenosis (PITS), which is one of the most serious complications of endotracheal intubation, may change its natural history. To prevent PITS, patients who are discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) with more than 24 hours of intubation should be actively followed-up for three months after extubation. This study aimed to evaluate the abilities of artificial neural network (ANN) and decision tree (DT) methods in predicting the patients' adherence to the follow-up plan and revealing the knowledge behind PITS screening system development requirements. In this cohort study, conducted in 14 ICUs during 12 months in ten cities of Iran, the data of 203 intubated ICU-discharged patients were collected. Ten influential factors were defined for adherences to the PITS follow-up (P<0.05). A feed-forward multilayer perceptron algorithm was applied using a training set (two-thirds of the entire data) to develop a model for predicting the patients' adherence to the follow-up plan three months after extubation. The same data were used to develop a C5.0 DT in MATLAB 2010a. The remaining one-third of data was used for model testing, based on the holdout method. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the developed ANN classifier were 83.30%, 72.70%, and 89.50%, respectively. The accuracy of the DT model with five nodes, 13 branches, and nine leaves (producing nine rules for active follow-up) was 75.36%. The developed classifier might aid care providers to identify possible cases of non-adherence to the follow-up and care plans. Overall, active follow-up of these patients may prevent the adverse consequences of PITS after ICU discharge. The developed classifier might aid care providers to identify possible cases of non-adherence to the follow-up and care plans. Overall, active follow-up of these patients may prevent the adverse consequences of PITS after ICU discharge. In the current study, we assessed the effect of vitamin D supplementation on improvement of symptoms in mild-to-moderate asthma patients with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency. This randomized, controlled clinical trial included 132 mild-to-moderate asthma patients with vitamin D insufficiency (n=66) and those with vitamin D deficiency (n=66). They were assigned randomly to two groups of cases (with two subgroups) and controls (with two subgroups). In the case subgroups, for patients with vitamin D deficiency, a dose of 50,000 U vitamin D supplementation was administered orally on a weekly basis and for six weeks followed by a maintenance dose of 1000 U daily. For patients with vitamin D insufficiency, a dose of 1000 U vitamin D supplementation was prescribed daily. In control group, we administered placebo. The information including asthma symptoms, parameters measured by spirometer (Forced Vital Capacity-FVC, Forced Expiratory Volume in one second-FEV1) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration was collected at baseline and three months later and analyzed using SPSS, Version 20. Improvement of FEV1/FVC ratios were found in both groups but this improvement in both case subgroups of patients with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency suggested more appropriate results compared to control group (P-value=0.022). Moreover, the correlation between changes in 25(OH)D level and changes in FEV1 was positive and significant in patients receiving vitamin D supplementation within a three-month follow up (r=0.202, P-value=0.042). According to the results, vitamin D supplementation can be associated with the improvement of asthma symptoms and lung function in mild-to-moderate asthma patients with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency. According to the results, vitamin D supplementation can be associated with the improvement of asthma symptoms and lung function in mild-to-moderate asthma patients with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency. The prevalence of heart failure, as a serious health problem, is increasing around the world due to underlying factors, such as hypertension and diabetes. Although the patient's cooperation in the treatment process plays a crucial role in treatment, only a few combinations of different approaches have been investigated so far. This study aimed to determine the effects of an empowerment program on the patients' self-care behaviors and hospital readmission. In this randomized clinical trial, 120 patients with heart failure were divided into experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, the empowerment program, including face-to-face training, educational booklets, and follow-up via Telegram messaging application, was implemented, while the control group only received standard care. Data were collected before the intervention and six months after the intervention, using a researcher-made questionnaire. The Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI) was completed for both groups. The results indicated that all three self-care scales, namely, self-care maintenance, self-care management, and self-care confidence, significantly improved in the experimental group compared to the baseline (P=0.000), while the scores of these scales decreased in the control group (P=0.000). The frequency of hospital admission and the length of hospital stay also reduced in the experimental group (P=0.000 and P<0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference in terms of the demographic characteristics between the two groups. The empowerment program significantly improved the patients' self-care behaviors and reduced the frequency and duration of hospitalization. Therefore, implementation of such programs is strongly suggested, especially in heart failure clinics. The empowerment program significantly improved the patients' self-care behaviors and reduced the frequency and duration of hospitalization. Therefore, implementation of such programs is strongly suggested, especially in heart failure clinics. The clinical characteristics of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were diverse and unspecific. Here, we identified the associated factors with surviving of COVID-19 ICU patients based on the clinical characteristics of patients admitted to one of the Corona Centre Hospitals of Iran. This cohort study was performed retrospectively from February to June 2020 on 133 COVID-19 patients admitted to 4 intensive care units of Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Demographic, medical, clinical manifestation at admission, laboratory parameters and outcome data were obtained from medical records. Also the SOFA and APACHE II scores were calculated. All data were analyzed using SPSS (version 23, IBM Corp.) software. The median (IQR) age of the patients was 62.0 (54.0-72.0) years in total. RT-PCR of throat swab SARS-CoV-2 in 80 patients (60.2%) was positive. Total mortality rate was 57.9 percent (77 patients). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/mizagliflozin.html Dyspnea, hypertension and chronic pulmonary diseases were significantly common in non-survivors than survivors (p<0.