AIMS Using the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND), the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) and the time-to-first-cigarette (TTFC), this study estimated prevalence, evaluated optimal scale cut-offs, identified predictors and assessed potential impact on health, productivity and health-care use of high nicotine dependence among US smokers. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sec...

BACKGROUND Among long-term care (LTC) residents, we explored the association between anemia status and hemoglobin (Hb) level with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). METHODS Data were derived from the AnalytiCare database, containing laboratory and Minimum Data Set (MDS) reports for 27 LTC facilities in Colorado. Study timeframe was 1/1/07-...

Hospitals are a symbol of social welfare and the last refuge of patients, which is the most important issue of the health system. Patient safety is the first and most important issue for the health system.  Before COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined the Hospital Safety Index (HSI) to measure hospital preparedness for disasters. During the COVID-19 crisis, hospitals faced many ...

BACKGROUND The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) is used for assessing nicotine dependence. A shorter test derived from the FTND used for the general population is the Heavy Smoking Index (HSI) (six questions vs. two). The objective of this study is to compare the validity of the HSI versus the FTND. METHODS A survey of tobacco use in the general population was carried out in the...

feeding habits of yellowfin seabream, acanthopagrus latus was investigated in coastal waters of the northern persian gulf. this investigation was conducted by monthly sampling of thirty fish from september 2011 through august 2012. fish size ranged from 17.98 ± 2.07 to 32.31 ± 6.52 cm in total length and from 134.01 ± 45.62 to 720.46 ± 292.58 g in weight. the highest value of gastro-somatic ind...

We present a systematic algorithm testing for the existence of collective self-organization in the behavior of agents in social systems, with a concrete empirical implementation on the Dow Jones Industrial Average index (DJIA) over the 20th century and on Hong Kong Hang Seng composite index (HSI) since 1969. The algorithm combines ideas from critical phenomena, the impact of agents’ expectation...

Introduction: Fatty liver is a condition in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of combined training on novel hepatic steatosis indices (fatty liver index (FLI), accumulation product (LAP), hepatic steatosis index (HSI), and Framingham steatosis index (FSI)) in women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: 35 female with type 2 diabetes wer...

BACKGROUND Population-based diagnosis- and condition-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores are required for decision-making and research purposes. These HRQoL scores do not exist for hospital-based long-term care (LTC) residents. OBJECTIVE To estimate the impact of 60 diseases and 15 conditions on caregiver-assessed preference-based HRQoL. METHODS Residents in hospital-base...