regression

As of 2020, prostate cancer is the fifth most common cause of fatalities due to cancer in males and is also the second most common type of cancer overall. The purpose of this study was to look into the patterns of prostate cancer-related mortality and years of life lost (YLL) in the province of Fars.

Data on all prostate cancer-related fatalities in the province of Fars were gathered for this cross-sectional investigation via the electronic population-based death registration system (EDRS). We calculated the crude mortality rate, age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR), years of life lost (YLL), and YLL rate. The JoinPoint Regression method was used to analyze the patterns over time.

During the 16-year study period from 2004 to 2019, there were 1,836 deaths from prostate cancer in Fars province. The crude and standardized mortality rates showed an increasing trend over this period. The total number of years of life lost (YLL) due to prostate cancer during these 16 years was 15,785. The highest number of YLL occurred in the age group of 70-79 years, while the lowest was observed in individuals under 30. According to join point regression analysis, the YLL rate due to premature mortality increased over the 16 years, with an annual percent change (APC) of 2.3% (95% CI 0.2 to 4.4, p=0.034).

Prostate cancer-related death and YLL are on the rise, according to the study's findings. Therefore, it is necessary to improve diagnostic and therapeutic measures; more studies in this field are also recommended.

The Qazvin Plain is one of Iran’s largest and most important agricultural regions. It is situated on the Qazvin aquifer. Understanding the relationship between surface features such as topography, land use, and soil type with the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the aquifer is crucial for this region.

In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to delineate the hydrological response units (HRUs) of the plain. These units were calculated based on common characteristics, including land use, topography, and soil type. Additionally, the MODFLOW model was used to simulate groundwater levels based on the hydraulic conductivity (K) map, well pumping tests, and other parameters. This model served as a quantitative indicator of groundwater resources. Furthermore, the spatial distribution map of electrical conductivity (EC) values was used as a qualitative indicator of groundwater resources. In the Qazvin aquifer, EC is the most important limiting factor for water quality. The relationship between these factors was then analyzed using geographically weighted regression (GWR).

The values of EC with a statistic of R2 = 0.66 and groundwater level with a statistic of R² = 0.79 were controlled by surface characteristics, indicating a strong relationship between these variables and surface features.

This research can highly assist water and environmental resource managers and decision-makers in managing the quantity and quality of water in this region.

Lead (Pb) contamination in urban environments poses significant health risks, especially in densely populated areas. Urban parks, which offer vital green spaces, can serve as indicators of heavy metal pollution, including Pb from vehicular emissions. This study assesses Pb contamination and its spatial drivers in the surface dust of small parks in central Isfahan, Iran.

Dust samples were collected from 45 urban parks and analyzed for Pb concentration using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) were applied to assess the relationship between Pb levels and environmental spatial variables, including road density from Kernel Density analysis, elevation, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).

Pb concentrations ranged from 28.7 to 36.7 mg/kg, with road density showing a positive correlation, while elevation and NDVI were negatively associated with Pb levels. The model explained 50% of the variance in Pb concentrations, highlighting traffic and topography as significant contributors to Pb deposition.

The study underscores the need for targeted pollution control measures, particularly in low-lying, high-traffic areas. Increasing urban vegetation was found to mitigate Pb contamination, suggesting a potential role for urban greening in mitigating pollution.

This study aimed to investigate the trend of YLL created by four Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Fars province.

 Data on the total number of NCD fatalities in southern Iran from 2004 to 2019 were gathered for this research from the population-based Electronic Death Registry System (EDRS). The JoinPoint Regression method was used to analyze the trends in the crude and age-standardized mortality rate and YLL rate.

 During the study period, 54,825 deaths occurred in terms of four NCDs in 30-70 years Fars in the province. The total YLL due to premature death during the sixteen-year study period was 558,316 in males and 401,595 in females. The largest number of YLL was caused by cardiovascular diseases 599,189 (62.7%). The sixteen-year trend of years of YLL owing to CVD was declining for both men and women, according to the joinpoint regression analysis.  However, there was a constant tendency for females and a rising trend for men with cancer. Additionally, the YLL rate for diabetes in both boys and females showed steady trends. Furthermore, the trend of YLL rate due to chronic respiratory disease was increasing for males but had a stable trend for females. 

 The result of this study indicates that the YLL rate because of cardiovascular diseases has been declining. The YLL rates for diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory diseases have either increased or remained stable. These results carry important implications for public health policies and educational initiatives aimed at enhancing the prevention, early detection, and treatment of these diseases.

The COVID-19 virus (Corona) is recognized as one of the greatest global health challenges in the 21st century. In addition to its unwanted effects on individual health, this disease has also had significant financial and economic impacts. Hospitals, as the most important centers for providing health services, play a very vital role.

This study investigated and analyzed direct costs of treating COVID-19 in Imam Sajjad (AS) State Hospital in Shahriar. To this end, after performing the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and confirming the non-normality of data distribution, non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used.

The results showed that the hypothesis of normality of the data distribution for the age parameter was rejected. Also, comparisons showed that gender and age variables had an impact on treatment costs, while having an underlying disease and disease severity had no significant impact on costs. In regression analyses, costs of testing, medication, CT scan, radiology, and echocardiography had an impact on the total cost of treatment. Moreover, the cost paid by insurance was strongly correlated with the total cost of treatment.

The analyses showed that some factors such as gender, age, and specific costs such as testing and medications had an impact on treatment costs. These findings can help improve financial resource management in dealing with similar diseases.

The growth of children aged 0–60 months can impact their subsequent growth and development. This study aims to identify the vulnerable age for boys and girls, who experience growth retardation within this age range. 

The study design used was a cross‑sectional approach in which each child’s measurement data was only taken once. The data were obtained from weighing results at the Health Integrated Service Post in South Sulawesi Province in 2022. The number of data analyzed was 698 children, namely 369 boys and 329 girls by considering the factors of age, weight, and height. We used a nonparametric bi‑response regression model estimated using a penalized spline. The knots used are 12, 24, 36, and 48 on each model.

The value of the penalized spline regression coefficient in the model indicates that the child’s growth is slowed down and is not within normal limits. This can be seen in the weight and height of boys from the age of reaching 12 months to 24 months, only increasing by about 0.3 kg and 0.3 cm. For girls, the problem occurs from the age of 24 to 36 months, namely their weight increases by about 0.6 kg, and their height increases by about 1 cm.

The analysis results show that boys’ growth slows down at 2 years of age and continues until 5 years of age. In the case of girls, their growth begins to slow when they are 3 years old until they reach 5 years old.

Health expenditures of countries have an increasing trend in general and identifying variables affecting health expenditure is an important step toward budget planning for financial sustainability. This study aimed to examine the health expenditure of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and identify influential variables.

The data for the years 2000-2018 of OECD countries’ current health expenditure (% of GDP) and economic, demographic, and health variables, considered to affect the health expenditure, to include in the anal-ysis were extracted using the World Bank database (World Bank 2021). Data analys using Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) decision tree technique. Fifteen variables in economic, demographic, and health categories are selected to build the CHAID decision tree.

As a result of CHAID analysis, five variables are identified as influential on current health expenditure, which are gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy at birth, death rate, out-of-pocket expenditure, and fertility rate. Thirty-seven OECD countries are classified into eleven groups by the decision rules in terms of the current health expenditure. The high value of the correlation coefficient between the predicted values and the actual values of health expenditure of countries indicates good prediction performance. Moreover, the regression models built using the identified influential variables as explanatory variables give good forecast accuracy.

As an effective tool, the CHAID decision tree technique provides a rule-based model in the form of a tree with nodes and branches, illustrating the splitting process graphically with identified variables and their cut-off points for classification and prediction.

 Pediatric lymphomas are a significant childhood malignancy primarily treated with chemotherapy. While CT imaging is crucial for disease evaluation, its prognostic value remains under-explored. This study investigates the potential of CT characteristics to predict treatment response and clinical outcomes in pediatric lymphoma patients. Investigate the prognostic value of CT characteristics in pediatric lymphoma treated with chemotherapy.

 Retrospective analysis of 69 patients' medical records and CT scans. CT features (regression, size, nodal appearance, site involvement) were correlated with treatment response (regression, stable disease, progression, relapse, resolution) via univariate analysis.

 Most patients (76.8%) achieved good outcomes with tumor regression. However, a subset displayed stable disease (11.6%), progression (7.2%), relapse (1.4%), or resolution (2.9%). CT characteristics associated with poor outcomes (p < 0.05) included: multiple site involvement (neck, chest, abdomen), larger tumor size (>3 cm), discrete nodal appearance

 CT features hold promise for prognostication in pediatric lymphoma. Integrating these findings into clinical practice may improve risk stratification and guide personalized treatment strategies.

In this note, we focus on statistical analysis and try to show the deleterious effects of inappropriate use of statistical analysis in medical research.Recently, Foji et al published an article entitled above and showed that the dermatology life quality index can predict the quality of life in patients with neurofibromatosis (1). However, these findings are doubtful due to the following reasons:1. The mean score of quality of life (the total score of the SF-36 questionnaire) is not clear.2. Although the correlation between SF-36 and DLQI can be informative, no correlation was found in the results section.3. The main aim of the study is to predict quality of life using the dermatology life quality index but there is no related model. The reported models are about the prediction of SF-36 dimensions.4. All the reported R-squares are very low (about 10%) indicating that the proposed models are not appropriate for the prediction aims.5. In regression modeling, statistical significance reflects no information regarding the prediction capability. Therefore, the interpretation of the results is not true. For more information, reading an article entitled “to explain or to predict” is highly suggested (2).6. To investigate the prediction capability of each variable, the amount of changes in the adjusted R-squares must be reported.7. In the data analysis section, it was claimed that the significant variables in simple regression were included in the multiple regression but it was not performed. For example, in the “role limitations due to emotional problems” dimension, all of the six variables are significant in the simple model, but just one variable was entered in the multivariate model.8. Finally, the linear regression is not appropriate for molding response variables with a limited range (the scores of SF-36 are between 0 and 100). The appropriate method for these outcomes is beta regression (3).In conclusion, the research hypothesis is rejected and the dermatology life quality index cannot predict the quality of life. Thus, the conclusion of Foji’s studies is not acceptable due to the fact that is not based on reported findings.Conflict of InterestNothing to declare.

This study aimed to identify the factors associated with suicidal ideation by classifying adolescents into three groups: no stress, interpersonal stress, as well as academic and career stress.

Using the data from the 16th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (2020), 15,343 adolescents were included in the study, and their socio-demographic characteristics as well as physical and psychological factors were assessed. A complex sample logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with suicide.

The following factors were significantly associated with suicide: fatigue recovery by sleep, body mass index, physical activity, and depression in the no stress group; current school, academic grade, drinking, depression, loneliness, and anxiety in the interpersonal stress group; and gender, current school, academic grade, father’s educational level, drinking, fatigue recovery by sleep, depression, loneliness, subjective health, smartphone overdependence, as well as anxiety in the academic and career stress group.

To prevent suicide among adolescents, it is necessary to consider these factors when developing educational policies.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive case of primary brain cancer which remains among the most fatal tumors worldwide. Although, some in vitro and in vivo models have been developed for a better understanding of GBM behavior; a natural model of GBM would improve the efficiency of experimental models of human GBM tumors. We aimed the present study to examine the survival and durability of U87 cells in the brain of wild-type rats.

U87 cells were intracranially implanted in twenty-one wild-type rats. Tumor size and morphology as well as infiltration of immune cells were investigated at three-time points by H&E and immunohistochemistry (IHC).

The results demonstrated that the inoculation of GBM cells led to the infiltration of host defense system cells which caused immunological regression of the tumor mass after six weeks. While the tumors successfully developed without any sign of host defense invasion in the second week of GBM inoculation. Also, a decrease in tumor size and infiltration of immune system cells were observed in the fourth week.

These data remarkably suggest that time plays a crucial role in activating the immune system against human GBM tumors in rats; it shows that the regression of tumor mass depends on a time slope.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of frequency and word length on the eye movements in dyslexic students while they were reading Persian textbooks.

The method applied to this study was quasi-experimental. The statistical population consisted of 56 male and female students in first, second, and third grades, referring to Learning Disorder Centers of Educational Organization in 2 and 10 districts in Tehran. Twenty-five students with dyslexia were selected using the available sampling method (participants included 12 boys and 13 girls who were in second, third, fourth, and fifth grade with 6, 8, 8, and 3 students, respectively). The eye-tracking device, SMI-RED-120Hz, was used for data collection. The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) method was applied to analyze the data. 

There are two significant findings the effect of words' length on the number of fixation, fixation time, and the number of regression, as well as the effect of words' frequency on the number of fixation, fixation time, and the number of regressions.

Frequency and word length on fixation and regression play an important role in the process of reading in dyslexic students.

COVID-19 is the serious ruin of the current century that emaciated health, economy, and everyday life.

This research assessed the condition and relation of tests, infections, recoveries, and deaths of SARS-CoV-2 from May 1 to June 30, 2021.

The research plan was carried out from May 1 to June 30, 2021 (N = 61 days) to state the position of Bangladesh towards widespread COVID-19. The information in this study was obtained from different government organizations.

The total cases, infections, recoveries, and deaths were 1100361, 149576, 136159, and 2864, respectively, during the study period. In May 2021, the total number of COVID-19 tests, infections, recoveries, and deaths was 439111, 36858, 49147, and 975, respectively. In June 2021, the total number of COVID-19 tests, infections, recoveries, and deaths was 661250, 112718, 87012, and 1889, respectively. The maximum number of COVID-19 infections was 1914 on May 4, recoveries 3870 on May 4, and deaths 69 on May 2. The minimum number of COVID-19 infections was 261 on May 15, recoveries 601 on May 16, and deaths 17 on May 26. The maximum number of COVID-19 infections was 8822, and recoveries were 4550 on June 30, while deaths were 119 on June 27. The minimum number of COVID-19 infections was 1447, and recoveries were 1667 on June 5, while deaths were 30 on June 3 and 7. In May and June, a positive correlation was observed between the tests and infections, recoveries, and deaths, and a negative relationship was found between a date with daily tests of COVID-19 (R2 = 0.8359, 0.2147, 0.1424, and 0.0035 and R2 = 0.6016, 1, 1, and 0.6488). At the 0.01 level of two-tailed Spearman, the relationships were positive and moderate to strong. The Spearman relationship for infections, recoveries, and deaths was 0.606, 0.756, 0.689, and 0.736. This research additionally showed a moderate to strong relationship between tests, infections, recoveries, and deaths of SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 has spread rapidly to 64 districts in Bangladesh. The continuing occurrence of COVID-19 infections has emphasized the importance of the quick and developed 118 laboratory diagnoses to limit its spread. In this situation, people should avoid public gatherings as much as possible and return home as soon as possible after finishing work.

Wisdom is considered as a concept based on cognition, deep understanding and insight, reflective thinking and also a combination of considering individual interests in interaction with the interests of others. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of academic experiences, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility in predicting the wisdom of Tehran University students. This research was a correlational study. Herein, 275 female postgraduate students in 2020 were selected through multistage random cluster sampling. In order to collect data, the questionnaires of wisdom, academic experience, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility were employed. Data were analyzed using SPSS-23 software and hypotheses were tested through multiple regression. The results showed that in academic experiences (P=0.002, β=0.13), critical thinking (P=0.001, β=0.19) and also in cognitive flexibility (P=0.001, β=0.57), the predictors were positive and significant. Also, wisdom and the predictor variables explained 51% of the variance in the criterion variable. According to the results of this study, academic experiences, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility play a role in increasing and fostering students’ wisdom, as a result of which students can make wise and realistic decisions in the process of solving real life problems.