Examining financial leverage, profitability and firm life influencing nonfinancial information disclosure quality

Modern accounting emphasizes on  nonfinancial measures as a device to compensate the financial measures’ weakness and the financial measures are recommended to be used with nonfinancial ones. This study is to examine the factors influencing the nonfinancial information disclosure quality in the firms listed in Tehran stock exchange. So the necessary information were gathered from 102 firms listed in Tehran stock exchange in 2008–2012. The regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. A model including 50 indexes based on Iran accounting standards and other regulations concerning disclosure were used to measure nonfinancial information disclosure quality. The findings indicate firm life and profitability have positive and significant effect on nonfinancial information disclosure quality and financial leverage has negative and significant effect on it

The relationship between information content of depreciation and abnormal return and future benefits in manufacturing companies in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)

In present study by virtue of the importance of  the fiscal statement contents and illiquid items ignored by the merchant the depreciation contents relation with abnormal return of the shares and future benefits are examined in order to influence the items under consideration of the investors to take related decisions; 94 companies were selected from the accessible universe in five years (2006-2010) to have the data necessary for the study in order to achieve the goal & with the base of keeping attention to the manufacturing & nonmanufacturing companies in the whole industries of stock market except banks & insurance companies. The simple and multivariable regression statistical techniques Chow and Hausman Test were used to test the hypotheses. The significant test was conducted for the paradigms by using the ‘F’ and ‘T’ statistics. The study findings show local high inflation have affection on the both variable results & makes no relation for first variable,for future benefits shows parallel  movements

Fetishism Due to Methamphetamine (Glass) Abuse: A Case Report

Abstract Background: Fetishism is a type of paraphilia. The focus of sexual arousal in fetishism is oriented towards inanimate objects. Sexual arousal and craving are some of the reasons the youth resort to crystal (glass). Drug abuse may cause disorders in sexual function. Case Report: The patient was a 41 years old man. He married in age 22 years and experienced frequent intercourses with his wife from which he gained pleasure and it was his preferable method. Her wife left ten years ago. The patient started crystal administration through insufflations since seven months ago. Simultaneous with crystal abuse, wearing women’s underwear was the only medium through which the patient reached sexual orgasm. Discussion: A lot of psychological symptoms related to new substances (for example glass) are new to psychiatrists treating dependency in medical clinics. Fetishism may coexist with addiction as comorbidity. Another point to be mentioned is that, symptoms of fetishism increased and decreased with more and less glass administration, indicating that symptoms of paraphilia emerge as a result of glass use. In addition, prior to glass use, the patient maintained normal sexual tendencies, had experienced sexual intercourse and did not suffer from any type of paraphilia. Keywords: Paraphilia, Methamphetamine, Fetishis

A mini‑review of the validity, quality and efficacy of candidate vaccines in controlling the COVID-19

Few would have thought that in this century, a new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 would kill many people around the world, cripple the economy, and leave the medical staff helpless. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a virus that first appeared in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly around the world, and strict quarantines did not prevent the severe prevalence from spreading worldwide. Antiviral drugs do not work well enough for everyone. The mortality rate in the world is still significant. The only thing that gives hope to the people of the world is the hope of being vaccinated, so by producing vaccines in the shortest possible time, science has once again saved humanity. Thus, from the very beginning, pharmaceutical companies started to produce safe vaccines. Currently, more than 200 types of vaccines around the world are undergoing various stages of production, and about 30 vaccines have entered the clinical trial phase, of which 9 vaccines have entered phase 1 to 3 of clinical trials. DNA and RNA-based vaccines were first developed and were not licensed before coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Other types of vaccines, including non-replicating viral vectors as well as inactivated vaccines, are undergoing clinical phases. There are currently 9 common vaccines Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Moderna, BioNTech/Pfizer, AstraZeneca, CanSino Biological, Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V), Wuhan Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm, Beijing Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm, and Sinovac Institutes in the world. Vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine, which is approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), is underway in many countries. The WHO predicts that by the end of 2021, one billion people worldwide will be vaccinated by the company

A survey on the effects of the exchange rate changes and financial flexibility on the usage of financial leverage in accepted companies of Tehran stock exchange

In the present study we try to examine the exchange rate changes and financial flexibility as the economic stable indexes on the financial leverage use in the companies so the main issue in this study is to define the financial leverage relation with exchange rate changes and financial flexibility. That is why 88 companies of the companies listed in Tehran stock exchange in 2005–2011. The study type is descriptive–correlative and the multivariable linear regression was used to analyze the data. The findings from the hypotheses test state there is a significant relation between financial leverage and financial flexibility while there isn't relationbetween financial leverage and exchange rate changes

Fetishism Due to Methamphetamine (Glass) Abuse: A Case Report

Background: Fetishism is a type of paraphilia. The focus of sexual arousal in fetishism is oriented towards inanimate objects. Sexual arousal and craving are some of the reasons the youth resort to crystal (glass). Drug abuse may cause disorders in sexual function. Case Report: The patient was a 41 years old man. He married in age 22 years and experienced frequent intercourses with his wife from which he gained pleasure and it was his preferable method. Her wife left ten years ago. The patient started crystal administration through insufflations since seven months ago. Simultaneous with crystal abuse, wearing women’s underwear was the only medium through which the patient reached sexual orgasm. Discussion: A lot of psychological symptoms related to new substances (for example glass) are new to psychiatrists treating dependency in medical clinics. Fetishism may coexist with addiction as comorbidity. Another point to be mentioned is that, symptoms of fetishism increased and decreased with more and less glass administration, indicating that symptoms of paraphilia emerge as a result of glass use. In addition, prior to glass use, the patient maintained normal sexual tendencies, had experienced sexual intercourse and did not suffer from any type of paraphilia. Keywords: Paraphilia, Methamphetamine, Fetishis

Quality assessment of conventional X-ray diagnostic equipment by measuring X-ray exposure and tube output parameters in Great Khorasan Province, Iran

Introduction: Regular implementation of quality control (QC) program in diagnostic X-ray facilities may affect both image quality and patient radiation dose due to the changes in exposure parameters. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the status of randomly selected conventional radiographic X-ray devices installed in radiology centers of Great Khorasan Province, Iran, to produce the data needed to formulate QC policies, which are essential to ensure the accuracy of the diagnosis while minimizing the radiation dose. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed using a calibrated Piranha multi-purpose detector to measure QC parameters in order to unify X‐ray imaging practices using international guidelines. The QC parameters included voltage accuracy, voltage reproducibility, exposure time accuracy, exposure time reproducibility, tube output linearity with time andmilliampere (mA), and tube output reproducibility. Data analysis procedures were performed based on the type of an X-ray generator, which has not been reported in previous studies. Results: The results showed that the implementation of high-frequency X-ray generators were more advantageous compared to alternative current generators, due to their efficient, better accuracy, linearity, and reproducibility. Conclusion: The survey revealed that the QC program was not conducted at regular intervals in some of the investigated radiology centers, mostly because of inadequate enforcement by national regulatory authorities for implementation of QC program

Assessment of Radiation Dose to the Lens of the Eye and Thyroid of Patients Undergoing Head and Neck Computed Tomography at Five Hospitals in Mashhad, Iran

Introduction: In recent years, the number of computed tomography (CT) scans, which is a high-dose technique, has increased significantly. Head and neck CT is performed frequently and thyroid, particularly in children, has always been considered a sensitive organ. In recent years, radiobiologists and health physicists have been more concerned about the safety of lenses of the eyes, as cataract is no longer considered a deterministic effect. Material and Methods: In the present study, incurred doses to the thyroid and lens of the eye of 140 patients who underwent common head and neck CT at five hospitals were measured by thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD-100). The patients were divided into two age groups of pediatrics and adults. TLD chips were placed on the patient’s skin surface. For each patient, scan parameters, sex and age were recorded. Exposed TLDs were read by a manual TLD reader. Results: The verage absorbed dose of the thyroid, as well as the lenses of the left and right eyes were 5.89±1.74, 15.84±2.81 and 16.25±2.57, respectively, for the pediatric patients and 5.00±1.17, 17.64±1.69 and 24.41±1.89 for adults. Patient-specific organ doses were influenced by the scanned region, scan protocol and patient's age. Conclusion: In the present study, the mean eye dose was much lower than the 500 mGy threshold recommended by International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) for lens of the eye damage, thus, it appears to be clinically safe. While CT scan remains a crucial tool, further dose reduction can be achieved by controlling different factors affecting patient doses

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation