Post-Mastectomy Radiotherapy Involving Supraclavical Nodes – Matchline Dose, Tumour Dose And Organs At Risk Dose

The purposes of this study were investigated the effect of the overlap resulting from the beam divergence of the tangential fields onto a supraclavicular field in breast irradiation of patients undergoing breast radiotherapy, to examine the absorbed dose to the skin of patients in such treatments. Tujuan kajian ini ialah untuk menyelidiki kesan pertindihan akibat daripada pencapahan alur medan tangen terhadap medan supraklavikal dalam penyinaran payu dara pesakit yang menerima rawatan radioterapi payu dara, meneliti dos terserap dalam kulit pesakit untuk rawatan tersebu

Proposing conceptual framework for reducing earning management using ownership structure mechanism: Jordanian companies perspective

This paper evaluates as well as synthesizes the empirical studies results of the relationship between one mechanism of corporate governance and financial reporting quality (FRQ).The authors study one oversight mechanism that is ownership structure.For the mechanism, the authors recapitulate the links between variable monitoring effectiveness contribution and monitoring outcomes of FRQ namely earnings management (EM).The system arrangement affords synthesizing the empirical findings allegation, highlighting the mechanism of corporate governance role in improving FRQ. This probable synthesis inform regulators, board of directors and accountants who are apprehensive with enhancing the public and private corporations oversight in addition to decreasing managers and others the opportunities to engage in EM. The ownership structure components are insider managers, institutional investors, and block-holders that can improve the FRQ

A1: An energy efficient topology control algorithm for connected area coverage in wireless sensor networks

Energy consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks(WSN’s) is of paramount importance, which is demonstrated by the large number of algorithms, techniques, and protocols that have been developed to save energy, and thereby extend the lifetime of the network. However, in the context of WSN’s routing and dissemination, Connected Dominating Set (CDS) principle has emerged as the most popular method for energy-efficient topology control (TC) in WSN’s. In a CDS-based topology control technique, a virtual backbone is formed which allows communication between any arbitrary pair of nodes in the network. In this paper, we present a CDS based topology control protocol – A1 – which forms an energy efficient virtual backbone. In our simulations, we compare the performance of A1 with three prominent CDS-based protocols namely Energy-efficient CDS (EECDS), CDS Rule K and A3. The results demonstrate that A1 performs consistently better in terms of message overhead and other selected metrics. Moreover, the A1 protocol not only achieves better connectivity under topology maintenance but also provides better sensing coverage when compared with the other protocols

The contemporary management accounting practices adoption in the public industry: Evidence from Jordan

The present study examines the effect of variables on contemporary management accounting practices' adoption in the public sector. The present research further investigates the relationship between the uptake of contemporary management accounting practices and organizational performance and change. 520 surveys were mailed to the public sector in Jordan to gather data, which was subsequently analyzed employing SEM. The findings of the research indicate that there are substantial relationships between accounting staff qualifications and management accounting practices. Results indicate that modern management accounting practices could help public sector practitioners enhance performance and promote organizational change. The investigation offers concrete insight into the public sector's uptake of management accounting practices. The research conducted offers a field study of the impact of implementing a suite of management accounting practices in the public sector

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

Board characteristics and financial reporting quality: Evidence from Jordan

This paper aims outspreading preexisting researches by assessing practically and empirically how board characteristics play a vibrant role in magnitude of earning management (EM) for the Jordanian listed companies. In particular, the paper throws its light on the principle features of the board of directors, i.e. board independence, CEO duality, financial expertise, governance expertise, firm-specific expertise and size.In this paper, a cross-sectional version of the Modified Jones Model is applied to ensure the accurate assessment of the key impacts of board characteristics on EM for a sample of 86 industrial listed companies on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the years 2008 to 2010. Discretionary accruals are used as proxy for EM. This study, on the basis of findings, reveals the significant correlation between salient board features and EM. Findings of this systematic observation demonstrate that board independence, financial expertise, governance expertise and size have a negative relation with EM. It also found that CEO duality and board firm-specific expertise have an obvious positive relation with discretionary accruals. The findings suggested that the board character has an effective role in detecting EM and in turn improve financial reporting quality (FRQ).In real fields, the discoveries of this paper portray valuable information for the regulators in different countries.The results also provide useful information for investors in assessing the impact of board characteristics on FRQ. In fact, previous studies on this very issue in this context do not meet the demand of comprehensive observation appropriately.To make input in this area, particularly among Jordanian companies, this study will extend the scope through providing empirically tested findings of the role of board directors’ characteristics on EM.In addition, this paper is the first empirical study to investigate the relationship between the board of directors’ characteristics and EM in Jordan

Association between Resistin Gene Polymorphisms and Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing, and inflammatory skin disorder. It is characterized by an inappropriate skin barrier function, allergen sensitization, and recurrent skin infections. Resistin is an adipokine expressed mainly in macrophages and monocytes; it has a role in the inflammatory process and is associated with multiple inflammatory human diseases; however, only few studies linked resistin to atopic dermatitis. This study tested the association between G>A (rs3745367) and C>T (rs3219177) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the RETN gene with atopic dermatitis. In addition, it explored the relationship between serum resistin protein and atopic dermatitis. To achieve objectives of this study, 162 atopic dermatitis patients and 161 healthy participants were recruited in the study. A significant association was detected between rs3745367 and atopic dermatitis with age and gender specificity (p < 0.05), while no significant association between rs3219177 and atopic dermatitis was found (p > 0.05). For the serum resistin levels, a significant decrease was indicated in atopic dermatitis patients compared to healthy subjects (p < 0.05). In conclusion, rs3745367 may play a gender and age-specific role in atopic dermatitis. In addition, the significant decrease in the resistin protein level confirmed this association