The Effect of Change in Auditor’s Opinion on Timely Disclosure of Financial Information

The main purpose of this research is studying the effect of change in auditor’s opinion on timely disclosure of financial information. The statistical population of the current research is all firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2010 to 2012. The sample size is 101 firms after screening. Findings, using multiple regressions, show that change in auditor’s opinion contributes to firms’ increased timely disclosure of financial information

Reported causal factors for research misconducts in Iranian research

Substantial concerns about the research integrity in Iran have caused research misconducts to be an issue for studies. But adequate recognition of causal factors is a necessary part of clear and explicit policy in order to manage the research misconducts and supply the research integrity. This study attempted investigating the available evidence on the reported research misconducts in Iranian research and its causal factors. Therefore, 30 studies on Iranian research misconducts were studied. The detected factors to research misconducts based on the reported evidence included: 1. Structural factors such as publication pressure, scientific promotion policies, research funding, and job preservation; 2. Organizational factors such as research environment, regulatory-control activities on research and teaching research activities; 3. Personal factors such as research skills, degree orientation, financial benefits, understanding, and moral judgment. The analytical model of causal factors was designed. Therewith, cultural and situational factors have received less attention in the literature and they have a major focus on the obvious types of research misconduct (data fabrication, Falsification, and Plagiarism), especially plagiarism

The extent of government intervention in the public health system and individual freedoms during the Covid-19 pandemic: a theoretical analysis

The concept of individual freedom has complex and multifaceted dimensions that significantly affect the limits of permissible government interventions aimed at restricting such freedoms and maintaining public health. Therefore, the boundary between individual freedom and the social obligations of the government must be carefully clarified.  During the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for such clarifications clearly increased. This study intended to investigate the concept of freedom according to major theories and to observe their application in analyzing the relations between individuals and the government in the health system, particularly during public health emergencies.The findings revealed that “justice-based”, “development-based” and “accountability-based” conceptions of freedom provide a more appropriate rationale for implementation of public health restrictive measures by health authorities during infectious disease outbreaks including pandemics such as COVID-19. Even in minimal governments that are built upon a free-market system and unrestricted conception of individuals’ freedom, such public health interventions are justifiable in the light of the ‘Catastrophic Moral Horror’ where there is an extreme risk to the health of citizens

Exercise training in polluted environment: A narrative review with focus on combat physical fitness

Air pollution is one of the most important problems of recent decades, which has serious toxic effects on human health and the environment. Sources of pollution vary from small units of cigarettes and natural sources such as volcanic activity to large volumes of emissions from car engines and industrial activities or even radioactive ones. Today, there are various pollutants around the world that negatively affect human health. Walking and being in a polluted environment can increase the penetration of pollutants such as lead in the body. Increasing physical activity such as long-term running, which is widely used in some jobs such as military jobs, can increase the activity of muscle tissue, and as a result, the cardiovascular system becomes more active and helps absorb more pollutants. Lead acetate is a possible carcinogen in humans, which is absorbed into the human body by pollutants. There is evidence that lead compounds can cause lung, brain, stomach, and kidney cancer in humans. However, pollution does not include air pollution only, and noise pollution can endanger human health as well. Since some occupations such as those of military experience various types of noise, as well as chemical and radioactive pollution and the point that having high physical fitness is essential for these people, this study examined the impact of various pollutants on the military personnel and also sought to see whether exercising and having high physical fitness of military personnel can reduce the stress caused by the pollution

Ethical Considerations in Conducting Clinical Trials

Background: Clinical trials are the golden key in medical science research with human participants. They have always been considered interesting topics by researchers and scientists working in this field. However, the samples are “human participants,” so the research should be carefully conducted.Methods: In the present study, the published articles on the ethical challenges of conducting clinical trials were evaluated between 2010 and 2019 in Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. The English search keywords were “clinical trial,” with at least one of the phrases of “ethical consideration” or “standard”.Results: In this article, we examined the ethical requirements and considerations in these research studies in four stages: research design and question, proposal review and approval, supervision and implementation, and publication of the results. We have examined them using relevant articles published between 2010 and 2019 and identified important and prominent issues or neglected ones. Conclusion: During this study, it was found that the “research design and question” stage was the most discussed and challenging stage, and the authors’ sensitivity about it has been more than the other three stages. On the other hand, the “results publishing” stage has been considered less sensitive with the least number of references in articles

Reported causal factors for research misconducts in Iranian research

Substantial concerns about the research integrity in Iran have caused research misconducts to be an issue for studies. But adequate recognition of causal factors is a necessary part of clear and explicit policy in order to manage the research misconducts and supply the research integrity. This study attempted investigating the available evidence on the reported research misconducts in Iranian research and its causal factors. Therefore, 30 studies on Iranian research misconducts were studied. The detected factors to research misconducts based on the reported evidence included: 1. Structural factors such as publication pressure, scientific promotion policies, research funding, and job preservation; 2. Organizational factors such as research environment, regulatory-control activities on research and teaching research activities; 3. Personal factors such as research skills, degree orientation, financial benefits, understanding, and moral judgment. The analytical model of causal factors was designed. Therewith, cultural and situational factors have received less attention in the literature and they have a major focus on the obvious types of research misconduct (data fabrication, Falsification, and Plagiarism), especially plagiarism

Ethical considerations in the biomedical research: analysis of national biomedical research ethics guidelines in Iran

The national guidelines for biomedical research ethics are approved by the "National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research" at the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education as the regulatory body for biomedical research in the country. The focus of these guidelines should be on the ethical issues related to different stages of the research process, which would lead to increased research integrity and better supervision of research activities. The present study analyzed the contents of these national guidelines to clarify the ethical considerations connected to the five stages of a research process including 1) proposing, 2) approval, 3) operation, 4) documentation and 5) publishing. The findings showed that the assessed guidelines laid more emphasis on the ethical considerations related to the research operation stage rather than the proposal stage. In other words, activities such as identification of the research problem, formulation of hypotheses and questions, financial evaluation, data analysis and data interpretation did not receive adequate attention in these guidelines. Most of the guidelines presented subject categories such as the rights of participants and supervisory considerations in the "research operation stage", ethical considerations in the "evaluation and approval procedure stage", and editorial responsibilities in the "research review and publication stage". In general, despite noticeable content for guiding researchers for ethical conduction of research the national guidelines are not adequately developed to cover comprehensive and sufficient ethical considerations regarding all the activities of research

Biallelic MED27 variants lead to variable ponto-cerebello-lental degeneration with movement disorders

MED27 is a subunit of the Mediator multiprotein complex, which is involved in transcriptional regulation. Biallelic MED27 variants have recently been suggested to be responsible for an autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder with spasticity, cataracts and cerebellar hypoplasia. We further delineate the clinical phenotype of MED27-related disease by characterizing the clinical and radiological features of 57 affected individuals from 30 unrelated families with biallelic MED27 variants. Using exome sequencing and extensive international genetic data sharing, 39 unpublished affected individuals from 18 independent families with biallelic missense variants in MED27 have been identified (29 females, mean age at last follow-up 17 ± 12.4 years, range 0.1-45). Follow-up and hitherto unreported clinical features were obtained from the published 12 families. Brain MRI scans from 34 cases were reviewed. MED27-related disease manifests as a broad phenotypic continuum ranging from developmental and epileptic-dyskinetic encephalopathy to variable neurodevelopmental disorder with movement abnormalities. It is characterized by mild to profound global developmental delay/intellectual disability (100%), bilateral cataracts (89%), infantile hypotonia (74%), microcephaly (62%), gait ataxia (63%), dystonia (61%), variably combined with epilepsy (50%), limb spasticity (51%), facial dysmorphism (38%) and death before reaching adulthood (16%). Brain MRI revealed cerebellar atrophy (100%), white matter volume loss (76.4%), pontine hypoplasia (47.2%) and basal ganglia atrophy with signal alterations (44.4%). Previously unreported 39 affected individuals had seven homozygous pathogenic missense MED27 variants, five of which were recurrent. An emerging genotype-phenotype correlation was observed. This study provides a comprehensive clinical-radiological description of MED27-related disease, establishes genotype-phenotype and clinical-radiological correlations and suggests a differential diagnosis with syndromes of cerebello-lental neurodegeneration and other subtypes of 'neuro-MEDopathies'

Adolescent transport and unintentional injuries: a systematic analysis using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Globally, transport and unintentional injuries persist as leading preventable causes of mortality and morbidity for adolescents. We sought to report comprehensive trends in injury-related mortality and morbidity for adolescents aged 10–24 years during the past three decades. Methods: Using the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2019 Study, we analysed mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributed to transport and unintentional injuries for adolescents in 204 countries. Burden is reported in absolute numbers and age-standardised rates per 100 000 population by sex, age group (10–14, 15–19, and 20–24 years), and sociodemographic index (SDI) with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). We report percentage changes in deaths and DALYs between 1990 and 2019. Findings: In 2019, 369 061 deaths (of which 214 337 [58%] were transport related) and 31·1 million DALYs (of which 16·2 million [52%] were transport related) among adolescents aged 10–24 years were caused by transport and unintentional injuries combined. If compared with other causes, transport and unintentional injuries combined accounted for 25% of deaths and 14% of DALYs in 2019, and showed little improvement from 1990 when such injuries accounted for 26% of adolescent deaths and 17% of adolescent DALYs. Throughout adolescence, transport and unintentional injury fatality rates increased by age group. The unintentional injury burden was higher among males than females for all injury types, except for injuries related to fire, heat, and hot substances, or to adverse effects of medical treatment. From 1990 to 2019, global mortality rates declined by 34·4% (from 17·5 to 11·5 per 100 000) for transport injuries, and by 47·7% (from 15·9 to 8·3 per 100 000) for unintentional injuries. However, in low-SDI nations the absolute number of deaths increased (by 80·5% to 42 774 for transport injuries and by 39·4% to 31 961 for unintentional injuries). In the high-SDI quintile in 2010–19, the rate per 100 000 of transport injury DALYs was reduced by 16·7%, from 838 in 2010 to 699 in 2019. This was a substantially slower pace of reduction compared with the 48·5% reduction between 1990 and 2010, from 1626 per 100 000 in 1990 to 838 per 100 000 in 2010. Between 2010 and 2019, the rate of unintentional injury DALYs per 100 000 also remained largely unchanged in high-SDI countries (555 in 2010 vs 554 in 2019; 0·2% reduction). The number and rate of adolescent deaths and DALYs owing to environmental heat and cold exposure increased for the high-SDI quintile during 2010–19. Interpretation: As other causes of mortality are addressed, inadequate progress in reducing transport and unintentional injury mortality as a proportion of adolescent deaths becomes apparent. The relative shift in the burden of injury from high-SDI countries to low and low–middle-SDI countries necessitates focused action, including global donor, government, and industry investment in injury prevention. The persisting burden of DALYs related to transport and unintentional injuries indicates a need to prioritise innovative measures for the primary prevention of adolescent injury. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND: Disorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021. METHODS: We estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined. FINDINGS: Globally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer. INTERPRETATION: As the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed