Category: Statistics

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):e0317671. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317671. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

The financialization of real enterprises presents a dilemma for China’s economic development. This study examines the impact of the financial asset allocation term structure on audit fees using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019. It also investigates the mediating role of financial risk and the moderating role of independent director characteristics. The results indicate that higher long-term financial assets is associated with higher audit fees, while short-term financial assets show no significant relationship with audit fees. These findings remain robust after several tests. Financial risk mediates the relationship between long-term financial assets and audit fees. Furthermore, among the characteristics of independent directors, the proportion of female independent directors and those with a financial background negatively moderate the relationship between long-term financial assets and audit fees, while independent directors with an overseas background and academic credentials positively moderate this relationship. Additional analysis reveals that firm size and financing constraints exhibit heterogeneity in their effects. This study contributes to the literature by enhancing our understanding of the factors influencing firms’ financial asset allocation and audit fees, and by expanding the literature on the financial risk and characteristics of independent directors.

PMID:39823494 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0317671

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):e0315101. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315101. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

With the popularity of circular economy around the world, transactions in the second-hand sailboat market are extremely active. Determining pricing strategies and exploring their regional effects is a blank area of existing research and has important practical and statistical significance. Therefore, this article uses the random forest model and XGBoost algorithm to identify core price indicators, and uses an innovative rolling NAR dynamic neural network model to simulate and predict second-hand sailboat price data. On this basis, we also constructed a regional effect multi-level model (RE-MLM) from three levels: geography, economy and country to clarify the impact of geographical areas on sailboat prices. The research results show that, first of all, the price of second-hand sailboats fluctuates greatly, and the predicted value better reflects the overall average price level. Secondly, there are significant regional differences in price levels across regions, economies and ethnic groups. Therefore, the price of second-hand sailboats is affected by many factors and has obvious regional effects. In addition, the model evaluation results show that the model constructed in this study has good accuracy, validity, portability and versatility, and can be extended to price simulation and regional analysis of different markets in different regions.

PMID:39823493 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0315101

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):e0316726. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316726. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

Undetected chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Syrian migrants are the largest non-European migrant group in the Netherlands with HBV and HCV prevalence rates above 2%. This study aimed to reach Syrian migrants for HBV and HCV testing using point-of-care tests (POCT). A multifaceted strategy was employed to reach Syrian migrants aged ≥16 years from two Dutch municipalities for free-of-charge HBsAg and anti-HCV POCT using finger prick blood at the regional Public Health Service. All were personally invited by the Public Health Service by postal mail, based on municipal registry data. Respondents’ medical history data were analysed descriptively and data on age, sex, and municipality were compared with non-participating invitees, using Pearson’s Chi-square test. Of the study population (N = 832), 32.3% (n = 269) attended the testing. The mean age of participants was 36 years (range 16-70), 59.1% were men, and 66.5% were unemployed. Non-participation was higher in the younger age groups (<30 years) (p < .001). The POCT using finger prick blood was well received. None tested HBsAg or anti-HCV positive. With approximately one-third of participation, this study demonstrated relatively high reach of Syrian migrants for testing, compared to studies with similar recruitment methods. However, while the reach could be considered successful, testing failed to demonstrate new infection in this key population. Thereby, other methods may be preferred to identify new HBV and HCV infections, such as opportunistic testing within existing care processes.

PMID:39823486 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0316726

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):e0299751. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299751. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Language barriers within clinical settings pose a threat to patient safety. As a potential impediment to understanding, they hinder the process of obtaining informed consent and uptake of critical medical information. This study investigates the impact of the current use of interpreters, with a particular focus on of engaging laypersons as interpreters, rather than professional interpreters potentially affecting patient safety. A further objective is to explore the reliability of phone-based telemedicine in terms of the retention of important medical facts.

METHODS: In three groups (N per group = 30), we compared how using lay or professional interpreters affected non-German speaking patients’ subjectively perceived understanding (understood vs. not understood) and recollection (recollected vs. not recollected) of information about general anaesthesia. Proficient German speaking patients served as the control group. Statistical analyses (χ2 tests and binomial) were calculated to show differences between and within the groups.

RESULTS: All three groups indicated similar, high self-reported levels of having understood the medical information provided. This was in stark contrast to the assessed objective recollection data. In the lay interpreter group, recollection of anaesthesia facts was low; only around half of participants recalled specific facts. For patients supported by professional interpreters, their recollection of facts about anaesthesia was significantly enhanced and elevated to the same level of the control group (fluent in German). Moreover, for these patients, providing information by means of phone-based telemedicine before anaesthesia yielded high levels of understanding and recollection of anaesthesia facts.

CONCLUSION: Phone-based telemedicine is a safe and reliable method of communication in the professional interpreter group and German speaking control group, but not in the lay interpreter group. Compared to lay interpreters, professional interpreters significantly improve patients’ uptake of critical information about general anaesthesia, thus highlighting the importance of professional interpreters for patient safety and informed consent.

PMID:39823485 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0299751

Mol Biol Evol. 2025 Jan 17:msaf006. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaf006. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

A common problem when analyzing ancient DNA (aDNA) data is to identify the species which corresponds to the recovered aDNA sequence(s). The standard approach is to deploy sequence similarity based tools, such as BLAST. However, as aDNA reads may frequently stem from unsampled taxa due to extinction, it is likely that there is no exact match in any database. As a consequence, these tools may not be able to accurately place such reads in a phylogenetic context. Phylogenetic placement is a technique where a read is placed onto a specific branch of a phylogenetic reference tree, which allows for a substantially finer resolution when identifying reads. Prior applications of phylogenetic placement has deployed only on data from extant sources. Therefore, it is unclear how the aDNA damage affects phylogenetic placement’s applicability to aDNA data. To investigate how aDNA damage affects placement accuracy, we re-implemented a statistical model of aDNA damage. We deploy this model, along with a modified version of the existing assessment pipeline PEWO, to seven empirical datasets with four leading tools: APPLES, EPA-NG, pplacer, and RAPPAS. We explore the aDNA damage parameter space via a grid search in order to identify the aDNA damage factors that exhibit the largest impact on placement accuracy. We find that the frequency of DNA backbone nicks (and consequently read length) has the, by far, largest impact on aDNA read placement accuracy, and that other factors, such as misincorporations, have a negligible effect on overall placement accuracy.

PMID:39823473 | DOI:10.1093/molbev/msaf006

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):e0314318. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0314318. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more common in certain ethnic groups. This systematic review compares mortality risk between people with T2D from different ethnic groups and includes recent larger studies.

METHODS: We searched nine databases using PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO CRD42022372542). We included community-based prospective studies among adults with T2D from at least two different ethnicities. Two independent reviewers undertook screening, data extraction and quality assessment using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The primary outcome compared all-cause mortality rates between ethnic groups (hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals).

RESULTS: From 30,825 searched records, we included 13 studies (7 meta-analysed), incorporating 573,173 T2D participants; 12 were good quality. Mortality risk was lower amongst people with T2D from South Asian [HR 0.68 (0.65-0.72)], Black [HR 0.82 (0.77-0.87)] and Chinese [HR 0.57 (0.46-0.70)] ethnicity compared to people of White ethnicity. Narrative synthesis corroborated these findings but demonstrated that people of indigenous Māori ethnicity had greater mortality risk compared to European ethnicity.

CONCLUSIONS: People with T2D of South Asian, Black and Chinese ethnicity have lower all-cause mortality risk than White ethnicity, with Māori ethnicity having higher mortality risk. Factors explaining mortality differences require further study, including understanding complication risk by ethnicity, to improve diabetes outcomes.

PMID:39823451 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0314318

Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2025 Jan 14;27(1):24m03821. doi: 10.4088/PCC.24m03821.

ABSTRACT

Objective: US military veterans are at elevated risk for suicide. High levels of suicide-specific cognitions, an indicator of chronic suicide risk, have been found to predict suicidal behaviors. The objective of this study was to examine data from a large, nationally representative sample of US veterans to determine the prevalence and correlates of high chronic suicide risk, with the goal of providing population-level insight into veterans who may be most at risk.

Methods: This study utilized data from the 2019-2022 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, a nationally representative sample (N = 2,430), to determine the prevalence of veterans who screened positive for high chronic risk for suicide based on the Brief Suicide Cognitions Scale. The relative importance of sociodemographic, military, health, and psychosocial characteristics associated with high chronic risk was also examined.

Results: In total, 250 veterans screened positive for high chronic suicide risk. Analyses revealed that veterans at high risk were lower educated and more likely to report suicidal ideation and disability in activities of daily living. They also endorsed a higher number of adverse childhood experiences and scored lower on measures of protective psychosocial characteristics and social connectedness. Relative importance analyses revealed that lower levels of perceived resilience, social support, and purpose in life accounted for the majority of the explained variance in high chronic suicide risk.

Conclusions: Results suggest that interventions to bolster these positive psychological traits may help reduce suicide risk and death by suicide in veterans.

Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2025;27(1):24m03821.

Author affiliations are listed at the end of this article.

PMID:39823445 | DOI:10.4088/PCC.24m03821

ACS Chem Neurosci. 2025 Jan 17. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.4c00757. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme activity levels, oxidative stress parameters, histopathological findings, and serum melatonin levels in rat brain tissue. 32 male Wistar Albino rats were randomly divided into four groups: Control, Light, Dark, Dim light (n = 8 each group). After a 30 day experiment, brain tissues were collected to measure AChE, glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione (GSH), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and conduct histopathological analyses. Serum melatonin levels were also measured. In this study, we observed a significant increase in MDA levels in dim light, dark, and light groups. AChE and α-GST enzyme activity levels were significantly decreased in the dark group compared with the other groups. Additionally, there was a statistical difference in melatonin levels between the light and dark groups. In the light microscope examination of the sections stained with hematoxylin-eosin from the dark group brain tissue, mild perineuronal edema was observed in all areas. Our study is the first to compare the effects of three groups on the brain: continuous light, continuous darkness, and dim light at night. Additionally, it is the only study to examine the effects of light exposure differences on the brain AChE levels.

PMID:39818736 | DOI:10.1021/acschemneuro.4c00757

Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2025 Jan 17:S0889-5406(24)00524-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2024.11.010. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of dental model printing using 2 different layer height settings and how these settings affect the fabrication of thermoformed retainers.

METHODS: Subjects were recruited from the Department of Orthodontics at Case Western Reserve University and scanned according to specific selection criteria. A total of 30 stereolithography files were produced and used as reference files. The stereolithography files were printed at the recommended layer height of 100 μm and 170 μm with a Sprint Ray Pro 95 3-dimensional (3D) printer (Sprint Ray, Los Angeles, Calif). All printed models were scanned using the same iTero intraoral scanner (Align Technology, San Jose, Calif) as was used for the initial intraoral scan as well. The accuracy of the printed models was based on the evaluation of root mean square values resulting from 3D superimpositions. Afterward, vacuum-formed retainers were fabricated. The vacuum-formed retainers were evaluated by the patient and an American Board of Orthodontics-certified orthodontist.

RESULTS: No difference was observed in the maxillary arch (P = 0.85) and the mandibular arch accuracy (P = 0.08) by assessing the root mean square values. No difference was observed in the doctor retainer score of the maxillary retainers (P = 0.37) and the mandibular retainers (P = 0.77). There was no difference in the patient retainer score of the maxillary (P = 0.08) and the mandibular retainers (P = 0.22) when comparing retainers. Conversely, less printing time was observed when printing the models with 170 μm compared with 100 μm (P <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of a dental model printed with a Sprint Ray Pro 95 3D printer was not affected by the 100 or 170 μm layer height. Orthodontists and patients did not detect a statistically significant difference in retainer fit.

PMID:39818678 | DOI:10.1016/j.ajodo.2024.11.010

J Perianesth Nurs. 2025 Jan 16:S1089-9472(24)00487-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jopan.2024.10.002. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Understanding barriers to compliance can aid in mitigation strategies to address them. This study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the relationship between barriers to ERAS recommendations and perceived ability to assure compliance among multidisciplinary team (MDT) members who deliver Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) care.

DESIGN: Embedded mixed-methods survey analysis.

METHODS: A survey was distributed to ERAS professionals to assess for each recommendation: how much the recommendation was part of their role; how much they felt they could assure compliance with the recommendation; and the primary barrier to compliance. Imputed datasets were created within each MDT role, significant barriers retained, and prediction models developed. Qualitative data were thematically coded and a mind map visualized themes.

FINDINGS: Most respondents were surgeons with greater than 10 years’ experience. Surgeons and advanced practice providers reported highest averages of compliance assurance, nurses the lowest. Barriers most reported were patient factors and lack of agreement. Lack of familiarity and motivation predicted statistically significant decreases in compliance with oral carbohydrate loading. Qualitatively, nurses and surgeons reported lack of agreement from colleagues as the biggest barrier, followed by lack of resources and motivation to change. Other themes were the importance of teamwork, data audit, staff education, and informatics.

CONCLUSIONS: Standardized data collection and reporting of barriers to ERAS recommendations may help identify barriers and improve compliance in a multidisciplinary context. A rich, mixed-methods analysis revealed key insights into perceptions of barriers and compliance with ERAS.

PMID:39818665 | DOI:10.1016/j.jopan.2024.10.002