Tag: statistics

Biostatistics. 2023 Oct 26:kxad029. doi: 10.1093/biostatistics/kxad029. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The tree-based scan statistic is a data mining method used to identify signals of adverse drug reactions in a database of spontaneous reporting systems. It is particularly beneficial when dealing with hierarchical data structures. One may use a retrospective case-control study design from spontaneous reporting systems (SRS) to investigate whether a specific adverse event of interest is associated with certain drugs. However, the existing Bernoulli model of the tree-based scan statistic may not be suitable as it fails to adequately account for dependencies within matched pairs. In this article, we propose signal detection statistics for matched case-control data based on McNemar’s test, Wald test for conditional logistic regression, and the likelihood ratio test for a multinomial distribution. Through simulation studies, we demonstrate that our proposed methods outperform the existing approach in terms of the type I error rate, power, sensitivity, and false detection rate. To illustrate our proposed approach, we applied the three methods and the existing method to detect drug signals for dizziness-related adverse events related to antihypertensive drugs using the database of the Korea Adverse Event Reporting System.

PMID:37886808 | DOI:10.1093/biostatistics/kxad029

Public Health Nutr. 2023 Oct 27:1-30. doi: 10.1017/S1368980023002288. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Examining the height-for-age z-score (HAZ) of 0-35 months children along with stunting prevalence to identify trends, changes, and available nutrition-sensitive and specific determinants that could help explain the long-term variation in child linear growth using successive Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS) data from 1996 to 2018.

DESIGN: The BDHS pooled data is used for determining the key outcome variables HAZ, stunting, and severe stunting. Trends, kernel-weighted local polynomial smoothing illustrations, pooled multivariable Linear Probability Model (LPM), Ordinary Least Squares method (OLS), and regression decomposition were used.

PARTICIPANTS: Mothers having 0-35 months children, the most critical age range for growth faltering.

RESULTS: The mean HAZ increased by 0.91(±1.53) with 0.041 annual average change, while the percentages of stunting (-26.63 ±0.54) and severe stunting (-21.12 ±0.48) showed a reduction with 1.21 and 0.96 average annual changes, respectively. The average HAZ improvement (0.42 ±1.56) in urban areas was less than the rural areas (1.16 ±1.44). Similar patterns followed for stunting and severe stunting. The prenatal doctor visits (3064.65%), birth in a medical facility (1054.32%), breastfeeding initiation (153.18%), and asset index (144.73%) demonstrated a huge change. The findings of OLS, PLS, and regression decomposition identified asset index, birth order, paternal and maternal education, bottle-fed, prenatal doctor visit, birth in a medical facility, vaccination, maternal BMI, and ever-breastfed as influencing factors to predict the long-term changes of stunting and severe stunting.

CONCLUSION: The nutrition-sensitive and specific factors identified through regression decomposition describing long-term variation in child linear growth should be focused further to attain the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

PMID:37886806 | DOI:10.1017/S1368980023002288

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 17;9(10):e21089. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21089. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

The Yellow River Basin is one of the most important economic development belt and ecological management regions in China, it is of vital importance to study the coupling coordination between ecological protection and high-quality development. However, the systematic research from the perspective of ecological-production-living is still lacking. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation index system including 29 indicators is constructed from ecological, production and living dimension. To evaluate the high-quality development level and coupling coordination degree of 61 cities in the Yellow River Basin, a comprehensive measurement model and coupling coordination model are established using the entropy weight TOPSIS method. With the help of ArcGIS, the spatial characteristics of high-quality development level and coupling coordination are visually illustrated. The results showed that: (1) From 2011 to 2020, the high-quality development of 61cities in the Yellow River Basin showed an increasing trend, and the level of upper and lower reaches was higher than that of the middle reaches. (2) According to the high-quality development level of 61 cities, it was divided into three types: sustainable growth type with 44 cities, the fierce fluctuation type with 11 cities and the other 6 cities was stable type. (3) The coupling coordination degree of ecology, production and living system also showed an increasing trend, while the degree was not high. (4)About the year-on-year growth rate of coupling coordination degree for 61 cities in 2020 compared with 2011, there are 19 cities more than 30 %, and 23 cities between 20% and 30 %, 11cities was 10%-20 %, the other 8 cities was less than 10 %. (5) There is a significant spatial difference in the level of high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, while coupling coordination degree does not significant in spatial layout. Therefore, the development of different regions should adjust measures to local conditions, give full play to their advantages, and make up for their shortcomings to promote the overall development of the city.

PMID:37886786 | PMC:PMC10597863 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21089

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 17;9(10):e21129. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21129. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To compare the differences in the removal of bandage contact lenses (BCLs) at 4 and 7 days after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (TransPRK) in term of visual rehabilitation, eye discomfort, and postoperative complications.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients with myopia undergoing TransPRK; in Group 1, the BCLs were removed on the 4th postoperative day, while in Group 2, the BCLs were removed on the 7th postoperative day. All patients underwent a 6-month follow-up, including slit-lamp examination and visual acuity assessment. Subjective evaluations of pain and eye discomfort were recorded after the BCLs removal.

RESULTS: In total, 376 eyes of 191 patients in Group 1 and 346 eyes of 177 patients in Group 2 were enrolled. The two groups were matched for sex, age, preoperative corrected distance visual acuity, and tear film break-up time. Patients in Group 1 exhibited slightly lower levels of myopia, resulting in a shallower ablation depth and shorter ablation time than those in Group 2. No statistically significant differences in visual acuity recovery, haze severity, and incidence of infectious keratitis were observed within 6 months after surgery between the two groups. However, patients in Group 2 experienced significantly fewer discomfort symptoms (discharge, foreign body sensation, and blurred vision) after BCLs removal than patients in Group 1 and had fewer postoperative complications (recurrent corneal epithelial erosion).

CONCLUSION: Delayed removal of the BCLs one week after TransPRK effectively alleviated early discomfort symptoms and reduced the risk of recurrent corneal epithelial erosion without increasing the likelihood of infectious keratitis.

PMID:37886779 | PMC:PMC10597848 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21129

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 16;9(10):e20831. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20831. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

Servitization and digitalisation are current trends in high-quality sustainable development in manufacturing firms. To clarify how manufacturing companies can improve their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance through servitization and digitalisation, this study develops a moderated mediating effects model for analysis and further investigates corporate heterogeneity. This study uses the CSMAR and WIND databases and official website of the National Bureau of Statistics of China to obtain relevant data from 2013 to 2020. Python software was used to crawl corporate annual report data from the CNINFO Website for collation and analysis, obtaining a total of 1261 companies with 9379 sample values. The findings are as follows: (i) Servitization of manufacturing enterprises can significantly enhance their performance. (ii) The service-oriented transformation of manufacturing enterprises can significantly enhance their performance through digitalisation. In contrast to the capabilities of the practical application of digital technology, digital transformation primarily manifests itself as the capability of digital underpinning technology and the practical application of digital technology. (iii) The ESG performance of companies can positively regulate the promotion of service-oriented manufacturing enterprises towards digital transformation, as well as directly foster the development of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. When examining the individual components of ESG performance, environmental and social performance have a positive effect on regulating the promotion of service-oriented manufacturing towards digital transformation and directly driving the digital transformation of manufacturing companies. However, the governance performance does not have a significant effect. Additionally, environmental performance can restrain the positive effect of digital transformation on performance in manufacturing companies. (iv) Manufacturing companies in the eastern part of the country are improving their performance mainly by promoting digitisation, whereas those in the central and western regions are improving their profitability mainly through servitization. This study reveals the mechanism of ESG performance and the role of servitization and digitalisation of manufacturing companies on performance and suggests new paths for the development of corporate sustainability strategies.

PMID:37886777 | PMC:PMC10597834 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20831

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 17;9(10):e20648. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20648. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

Privacy policies, intended to provide information to individuals regarding how their personal data is processed, are often complex and challenging for users to understand. Businesses often demonstrate non-compliance with personal data protection laws, ranging from the absence of privacy policies to the existence of policies that do not adhere to legal requirements. This paper aims to (1) develop a quantitative and systematic tool for evaluating privacy policies’ compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), (2) assess compliance among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand, and (3) provide recommendations for enhancing compliance practices. To achieve this, we proposed a multi-criteria privacy policy scoring model integrated with comprehensive statistical data analyses. The privacy policy scoring model consists of ten privacy principles and 31 privacy criteria, providing a structured framework for evaluating privacy policies. During a two-year postponement period for enforcing the PDPA law, we conducted a stratified random-sampling survey of 384 SMEs to evaluate their privacy policies using the proposed scoring model. The accomplished results revealed significantly lower scores than anticipated, with the nationwide average score of SMEs reaching only 6.1909 out of 100 points. More than half of the SMEs collected personal data without announcing privacy policies, and those with privacy policies adhered to an average of only 12.15 out of 31 privacy criteria. These findings highlight the pressing need to improve compliance practices among SMEs in Thailand. The proposed methodology can be customized and applied to align with the requirements of personal data protection laws in other countries. Additionally, our findings indicate that compliance with the PDPA is influenced by the Thailand Standard Industrial Classification (TSIC) sections, suggesting the adoption of tailored approaches by policymakers to address the specific needs of different TSIC sections.

PMID:37886776 | PMC:PMC10597812 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20648

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 16;9(10):e21021. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21021. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

Laser beam absorption is the basic effect to enable many high-temperature applications and processes. However, high temperature absorption data of metals is often not available or based on theoretical assumptions. In this work, using a newly developed experimental arrangement to measure laser light absorption on liquid metal surfaces even above boiling temperature enabled the derivation of absorption values in those regimes. Results indicate that interband absorption must be considered even at such high temperatures against common theoretical predictions. It is shown that the simulated nearly constant absorption depth and absorption values between melting and boiling temperatures indicate that the increased atom distance due to thermal expansion, denoting a reduced absorption volume, is counterbalanced by the increased statistical availability of conduction electrons due to Fermi band broadening.

PMID:37886775 | PMC:PMC10597851 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21021

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 13;9(10):e20757. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20757. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers face a risk of infection during aerosol-generating procedures, such as nasal swabbing. Robot-assisted nasopharyngeal sampling aims to minimize this risk and reduce stress for healthcare providers. However, its effectiveness and safety require validation.

METHODS: We conducted a controlled trial with 80 subjects at two teaching hospitals and compared robot-collected vs manually-collected nasopharyngeal swabs. The primary outcomes included specimen quality and success rate of nasopharyngeal swab collection. We also recorded the pain index, duration of the collection, and psychological stress using a post-collection questionnaire.

RESULTS: During the study period, from September 23 to October 27, 2020, 40 subjects were enrolled in both the robotic and manual groups. The cycle threshold (Ct) value for nasopharyngeal specimens was statistically higher in the robotic group compared to the manual group (30.9 vs 28.0, p < 0.01). Both groups had Ct values under 35, indicating good quality specimens. In the robotic group, 3 out of 40 subjects required a second attempt at specimen collection, resulting in a success rate of 92.5 %. Further, although the pain levels were lower in the robotic group, the difference was not statistically significant (2.8 vs 3.6, p = 0.07). The manual group had a shorter sampling time, which was 29 s (201 vs 29, p < 0.05). However, when factoring in the time needed to put on personal protective equipment, the average time for the manual group increased to 251 s (201 vs 251, p < 0.05). Participants’ questionnaire results show comparable psychological stress in both groups. Medical staff expressed that using a robot would reduce their psychological stress.

CONCLUSIONS: We propose a safe and effective robotic technology for collecting nasopharyngeal specimens without face-to-face contact, which may reduce the stress of physicians and nurses. This technology can also be optimized for efficiency, making it useful in situations where droplet-transmitted infectious diseases are a concern.

PMID:37886772 | PMC:PMC10597818 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20757

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 17;9(10):e21085. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21085. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

As financial conditions become more complex and variable, capturing economic patterns becomes harder. The Financial Conditions Index (FCI) has gained traction as a tool to assess the performance of financial markets in nations or regions. This paragraph has created the China FCI using various financial indicators from 2002 to 2022. And with the use of statistical models like DMA-TVP-FAVAR, mixed-frequency Granger causality test, TVP-SV-VAR, and MS-VAR to analyze the relationship between China’s financial condition, real economy, and the crude oil market. Different impacts were observed over time and in response to economic shocks, Results show that the fluctuation of international oil price has a negative impact on our financial condition. Therefore, the government should consider the impact of external shock factors such as international crude oil price when formulating financial policies to prevent financial risks.

PMID:37886766 | PMC:PMC10597845 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21085

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 8;9(10):e20613. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20613. eCollection 2023 Oct.

ABSTRACT

Although the expression of ASPP family members in multiple tumors has been studied, especially in various cell lines of breast cancer (BC), but the expressions pattern of ASPP family members in invasive BC tissues are not clear. We studied the expression and expression pattern of ASPPs family member in BCs, the relationship between ASPP family members and clinic-pathologic features of BCs was also analyzed. The results showed that the expression of ASPP1, ASPP2 and iASPP was observed on AE1/AE3⁺ tumor cells, and not on infiltrated lymphocytes and capillaries. The relationship between ASPP1 expression and pTNM stage has statistical difference (p＜0.01). The relationship between expression of ASPP2 and SBR grade has statistical difference (p＜0.05). The relationship between expression of iASPP and clinic-pathologic feature of patients has no statistical difference (p＞0.05). The patients with positive expression of ASPP1 and the patients with negative expression of ASPP1 have statistical difference in 3-year survival rate and 5-year survival rate (χ² = 4.49, P = 0.03; χ² = 3.79, P = 0.048). Overall, our work demonstrated that the expression of ASPP1/2 contributes to predict the prognosis of patients with BC.

PMID:37886763 | PMC:PMC10597814 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20613