RESUMO. Diante da necessidade de administração face a face de muitos testes de triagem cognitiva, nem sempre é viável rastrear amostras em grande escala. Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a validade discriminante da versão persa do Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) e do Miniexame do Estado Mental (MMSE) na população iraniana de meia-idade. Métodos: A versão persa do TICS-m (P-TICS-m) e do MMSE foi administrada a 210 adultos de meia-idade residentes na comunidade e selecionados aleatoriamente, que haviam sido registrados no Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Os participantes também foram submetidos a exame psicológico por dois neurologistas para serem avaliados quanto ao comprometimento cognitivo com base nos critérios do Manual de Diagnóstico e Estatística de Transtornos Mentais (DSM-V). Para avaliar a validade discriminante do P-TICS-m e do MMSE com os critérios do DSM-V, foram calculados a sensibilidade, a especificidade, os valores preditivos positivo e negativo (PPV e NPV) e a razão de verossimilhança positiva e negativa (LR+ e LR-). Resultados: A média de idade dos participantes foi de 59,6±6,8 anos. O TICS e o MMSE foram altamente correlacionados (r = 0,635, p <0,001). A sensibilidade, a especificidade, o PPV, o NPV, a LR+ e a LR- do MMSE para discriminar comprometimento cognitivo foram 83, 92, 68, 96%, 10, 0,182; e, para TICS-m, foram 100, 13, 19, 100%, 1,16 e zero, respectivamente. Os resultados da análise da curva característica de operação do receptor (ROC) não mostraram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre P-TICS-m e MMSE. Conclusões: Nossos achados mostram que o teste TICS-m pode ser utilizado como ferramenta de triagem em vez do MEEM. Por causa da baixa especificidade e do baixo PPV do TICS-m em relação ao MMSE, o diagnóstico deve ser confirmado por meio de testes diagnósticos definitivos quando um indivíduo é classificado como portador de comprometimento cognitivo.

ABSTRACT. Due to the need for face-to-face administration of many cognitive screening tests, it is not always feasible to screen large-scale samples. Objective: This study aimed to assess the discriminant validity of the Persian version of Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (P-TICS-m) and Mini-Mental State Examination in the middle-aged Iranian population. Methods: The P-TICS-m and MMSE were administered to 210 randomly selected middle-aged community-dwelling adults who had been registered in the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Participants also underwent psychological examination by two neurologists to assess cognitive impairment based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) criteria. To evaluate the discriminant validity of P-TICS-m and MMSE with DSM-V criteria, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV), and positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+ and LR−) were calculated. Results: The mean age of the participants was 59.6±6.8 years. The TICS and MMSE were highly correlated (r=0.635, p<0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, LR+, and LR− to discriminate cognitive impairment were, respectively, 83%, 92%, 68%, 96%, 10, and 0.182 for MMSE and 100%, 13%, 19%, 100%, 1.16, and 0 for TICS-m. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis results showed no statistically significant differences between P-TICS-m and MMSE. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the TICS-m test can be used as a screening tool instead of the MMSE. Due to the low specificity and low PPV of the TICS-m compared to MMSE, the diagnosis should be confirmed using definitive diagnostic tests when a subject is classified as having cognitive impairment.

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT: Description and prediction of water flow through unsaturated soils is necessary to understand their hydraulic properties, including soil water retention curve (SWRC). Many models have been developed for estimation of SWRC and many researchers compared water retention curve derived from these models with the measured values. In this paper, in addition to comparing measured and derived SWRC, a functional evaluation of SWRC for modeling of soil water movement was carried out using van Genuchten, Brooks-Corey, Campbell and Hutson-Cass models in three sites including Loamy sand, Loam and Clay loam soils. Therefore, the functional behavior of SWRC was quantitatively compared by applying mentioned SWRC to numerical code (HydroGeoSphere) to simulate soil profile drainage under steady-state and transient conditions. The agreement between simulated and measured free drainages values was evaluated using statistical criteria including mean absolute error (MAE), modified index of agreement (d’), modified coefficient efficiency (E’), and t-test. The results demonstrated that the van Genuchten model was slightly better than the other models for estimation of SWRC (MAE 0.014 – 0.016,E’ 0.80 – 0.87 and d’ 0.90 – 0.93) while according to t-test, it was found that the measured and estimated SWRC using various models did not differ significantly. Therefore, it is expected that the simulated free drainage using mentioned SWRC models did not differ significantly with observed values. But the results demonstrated that the simulated free drainage using Brooks-Corey model for Loamy sand soil and van Genuchten and Brooks-Corey models for Loam soil differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) with measured values.

This paper is devoted to the new classes of analytical techniques called the Iteration Perturbation Method (IPM)and Hamiltonian Approach(HA) for solving the equation of motion governing the nonlinear vibration of Euler-Bernoulli beams subjected to the axial loads. It has been found that theIPMand HAare very prolific, rapid, functional and do not demand small perturbation and are also sufficiently accurate to both linear and nonlinear problems in engineering. Comparison of the results of these methods with together and with the results of numerical solution reveals that the IPM and HA are very effective and convenient, and can be easily extended to other nonlinear systems so that can be found widely applicable in engineering and other sciences.

JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: Esta pesquisa foi baseada na perspectiva biopsicossocial de dor crônica, que sugere a existência de interrelação dinâmica entre alterações biológicas, estado psicológico e contexto social, onde cada uma destas dimensões apresenta um papel diferenciado na dor crônica, incapacidade e ajuste emocional. Este estudo examinou a aplicabilidade de preditores de dor, incapacidade e sofrimento propostos pelos modelos biopsicossociais de dor em amostra de pacientes brasileiros com dor crônica. MÉTODO: Estudo de corte transversal realizado com amostra de conveniência de 311 participantes atendidos em diversos centros de dor localizados no Sul e Sudeste do Brasil. As análises estatísticas para examinar as propriedades dos testes e relações entre as variáveis incluíram teste t, Análise de Variância, correlações, regressão hierárquica múltipla e logística. Todas as análises estatísticas foram realizadas com o programa SPSS-14. RESULTADOS: Os fatores orgânicos, sócio-demográficos e cognitivos contribuíram para incapacidade, depressão, intensidade da dor e empregabilidade de forma diferenciada. Nessa amostra, grau de escolaridade, local da dor e autoeficácia contribuíram para incapacidade; pensamentos catastróficos foram o único preditor de depressão; gênero e autoeficácia contribuíram para a intensidade da dor; e idade, grau de escolaridade, incapacidade e autoeficácia foram fatores de risco para desemprego. CONCLUSÃO: As evidências descritas na literatura baseadas na perspectiva biopsicossocial, que enfatizam o papel distinto de fatores biopsicossociais na dor, incapacidade e sofrimento mental foram confirmadas nesse estudo.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This research is based on biopsychosocial chronic pain perspective, which suggests the presence of a dynamic interrelation among biological changes, psychological status and social context, where each dimension has a differentiated role in chronic pain, incapacity and emotional balance. This article has examined the applicability of pain, incapacity and distress predictors, proposed by biopsychosocial pain models, in a sample of Brazilian chronic pain patients. METHOD: This is a transversal study carried out with a convenience sample of 311 participants seen by different pain centers located in the Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil. Statistical analyses to evaluate tests properties and relationships among variables included t test, Variance Analysis, correlations, multiple and logistic hierarchical regression. All statistical analyses were performed with the SPSS-14 software. RESULTS: Organic, socio-demographic and cognitive factors have contributed to incapacity, depression, pain intensity and employability in a differentiated way. In this sample, education level, pain site and self-efficacy have contributed to incapacity; catastrophic thinking was the sole predictor of depression; gender and self-efficacy have contributed to pain intensity; and age, education level, incapacity and self-efficacy were risk factors for unemployment. CONCLUSION: Evidences described by the literature, based on the biopsychosocial perspective, which emphasizes the different role of biopsychosocial factors on pain, incapacity and mental distress were confirmed by this study.